I realize it’s become something of a cycle for me to go several weeks without posting here and then make a post which mostly consists of an apology about how little I’m posting. I’m going to try to stop doing that. Which is not to say I’m going to make an immediately-to-be-broken vow to post more; I’m just going to try to stop apologizing for it.

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So I’ve been in a moderately quiet period again and haven’t made any mention here of the fact that today - well, now yesterday - was my birthday. A few other people have mentioned it, both in LiveJournal and elsewhere; thank you all.

I also haven’t mentioned that it’s not just a birthday, but my 40th birthday. I can’t help but wonder if my recent ( Read more... )

Even though it’s a Saturday, I woke up later than I expected to, getting out of bed around 9:30. I can blame it in part on the weather: it’s not only cloudy, but drizzly out, and so the change in light level from night to morning was modest.

This isn’t to say that I dislike this kind of weather, though. This is what I’ve come to think of as “ ( Read more... )

I’m currently preparing for a visit from mom, which happens in… less than 24 hours. Eek. It’ll be something of a mini-vacation, even though we’re staying in the San Jose area: we’re renting a room for a few nights at the Inn at Saratoga, and will be sticking to Bay Area locations rather than going too far afield.

One of the highlights for me, food ( Read more... )

Christmas was good, as it always is. This trip has been the longest chosen vacation I’ve taken in years (as opposed to “enforced vacations” of unemployment) and it felt a little surreal. Of course, I don’t get paid time off, so the tacit trade is that I don’t have to worry about how many vacation days I have.

I spent yesterday hanging around with ( Read more... )

So: it’s my birthday.

Birthdays haven’t been big deals to me in years, although as I approach 40 they’re starting to be sources of trepidation. I have no party planned, other than having vague thoughts of seeing if I can get a few people to go to The Melting Pot soon. (Or perhaps the Zuni Café in San Francisco if I’m feeling particularly ambitious ( Read more... )

There’s a brief bio of a staff writer for the Tidewater Times, a magazine published on and about the Eastern Shore of Maryland, I found in a quick Google search:

Originally from Texas, the Tidewater Times critic, John Goodspeed, has lived and reviewed books in Maryland for half a century. His reviews, 2,500 or more, have appeared in the ( Read more... )

I’m skimming through my LiveJournal entries over the last few years and there’s a recurring pattern there, which goes something like this:

• I’ve lost my IT job. Crap.
• Hmm, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate my life and figure out what I want to do, and-
• Look, an IT job! This could lead somewhere good! Let’s take it.
• I’ve lost my IT job. Crap.

It’d be nice ( Read more... )

I’ve finished updating my résumé, and put versions of it on Monster.com and Dice.com. Craigslist will be coming this weekend, I suspect. I’ve actually already sent it to one job-one at my current employer.

Spending a few days in a funk over this was, I suppose, inevitable; I was starting to think of the position as permanent, and of course it was ( Read more... )

The dinner with ladyperegrine and hellesfarne, which also included Mirage at the last minute, was wonderful, as was the company.

Christmas day itself was quiet but nice. hellesfarne came up again during the day, after the gifts had been exchanged. My big gift was a set of Cuisinart pots and pans to my mom, to replace the battered Teflon-flaking and glass-chipping ad hoc set she's ( Read more... )