Back to work / Introducing Wee Fat Bob
In bed by 8 last night. Only woke up a few times and slept until 9-ish, but still incredibly tired. Hoping that work will wake me up. (Yes, I'm going to work.) I'm too close to the endgame to stop now. West Africa, Indonesia and Malawi have been sent off for final review, and I'm looking at what might be the final round of corrections on India, then it's getting UK off for first review. (48-page contract in French - the French version is easier to read than the 18-page English redaction.) Then the Final Five, which are small, but less urgent. Then I'll be caught up (omg!) I'll be like the dog chasing the car for a year...finally getting the car.....Then August billing starts. With the backlog / mopup done, I should be able to get August out the door (about 36 active projects) in record time on half a brain cell.
I've built up a ton of time off. Unfortunately Gary is a contractor, which means no paid time off for him. If he takes a day off, it's expensive. We can do that from time to time, but in other (related) news.....
...In the course of replacing the croaked starter on Topless Mexican Party Wagon / aka Fat Ass / aka Shake and Bake (rattles a bunch with no AC), Gary got a good look at the undercarriage and decided that it was time to trade up, so we now have a new Blindingly White Chevy Silverado 2500. Just a regular truck this time - not a dualie, not a long bed crew cab. We went from an 8-foot to a 6-foot bed. It's small in comparison to Fat Ass, but somehow it looks bigger, so the one of the names that popped into my head is "Wee Angus." It also drives like a wet sponge, so lately I've been leaning more towards "Wee Fat Bob."
So now we have a vehicle payment, which means austerity. No murder mystery dinner theatre train ride in September. My Mom has been wanting us to come down to New Orleans with them in November, but it would be too soon for Gary to take time off. I'm overdue for a visit with my Mom, so it might be just me this time.