Getting there...
Today was one of the most productive days I've had here in the city. I actually got several boxes of stuff packed up, reassembled what was left of the "donor" laptop, and cleared out most of the recycling. Just so there's no confusion, the "donor" laptop was the one I bought to repair the one that got "Lotz'ed" back at the end of October. I used it's screen and DVD-Rom drive to repair and upgrade the laptop that I had damaged. It had since been sitting in pieces on my workbench downstairs, but since I need to pack all that up and move it, I thought I had best put it back together; At least, put as much of it back together as it has parts for. If I were to plug a normal monitor and keyboard (and mouse) into it, it would be a perfectly functional computer. Perhaps it can have a second life as a robotic platform or something...
At any rate, there were two showings on the house today; One in the afternoon, and one in the evening. During the afternoon showing, I made myself scarce (ideally, the agents prefer you not be home while showing the house) by taking the recycling to the depot and doing some other errands, and this evening I had the pleasure of going to see the Zoo Lights with qualin , calzephyr77 , and wolfmatix . Zoo Lights is an annual light festival at the Calgary Zoo, where they put up huge (and often animated) displays using Christmas lights. They've started switching things over to LED lighting, which is probably saving them a few thousand dollars over the several weeks that the show runs. I haven't checked my camera yet to see how the images came out, but here's hoping that I managed to get some decent shots. The hardest thing is getting a clear shot, as people are constantly walking between you and the object you're trying to take a picture of. Actually, the hardest thing is biting your tongue and not yelling at them to get a clue. I don't understand how people can be so oblivious to what's going on around them. Aside from that, it was a beautiful night for this, since the temperature was actually above freezing, and the full moon added to the ambience of the evening.
Getting out of the house for a few hours the last two nights has certainly made things a lot easier on me emotionally. I now have the energy and drive to keep up with the packing, and it should be done by tomorrow evening. If the weather continues to hold, I'll be heading back to the farm in a couple of days. Must remember to pick up more horse-feed and wood-shavings first...