For the last couple of years, we've been ramping up to switch database software at work. This makes sense--the old database software was 19 years old and has been running on twine and duct tape for roughly the last decade, never conclusively overhauled because we were just going to replace it, so why put too much effort into it? Well, we finally ( Read more... )

Just a grab-bag of things that have been happening lately ( Read more... )

It's a yearly tradition from softlykarou and a friend and I--and I can say that, because this is the third year we've gone--to go to Svea in Andersonville for brunch. They have a Christmas Plate they offer for the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas that's $16.50 for a giant smörgåsbord with pickled herring, cheese, ham, korv, limpa bread, potatoes, ( Read more... )

I never used to care about the leaves changing or the flowers blooming. When we'd take trips to Oregon, my parents would go to a garden and I'd sit by the pond and watch the water striders because whatever, who cares about flowers. But I got into the mood of leaf-watching when we lived in Japan, both the cherry blossoms in the spring and the colors ( Read more... )

softlykarou doesn't like the dark. I do. That's the way of it. Left up to myself, I leave most if not all the lights in the apartment out, since the light filtering in from the alley outside through what few openings are left in the curtains we have up is enough for me to see by. Even at night, I usually don't bother to turn on the lights when I get up and ( Read more... )

Not at the same time, obviously.

Yesterday, my parents came into town and softlykarou and I went down to meet them at the Shedd Aquarium. They're members and go a few times a year. They're much better about it than we are--while we were members of the Field Museum for the last year, I'm not sure we went once--and often we only end up going when they come in ( Read more... )

I didn't get to sleep until 1:30 or so last night despite going to bed at 11:15. Some of that is on me--I was up later than usual finishing up my Baldur's Gate II post and getting the last few steps in to make it to 10,000--but some of it is definitely due to our neighbors downstairs ( Read more... )

Nearly every year since we moved back from Japan, softlykarou and I have made time to go out to visit my parents in October because in addition to seeing them and getting to eat my mother's delicious food, St. Charles's Scarecrow Festival is held that month. We last went two years ago, noting that the scarecrows were better than when we went three years ago, ( Read more... )

Got a new computer at work as part of the upgrade process for our upcoming database overhaul. The computer itself is pretty neat. It's about as wide as my hands together and square, and then maybe 3 cm thick, and it works great. But ( Read more... )

I signed up with the iPhone upgrade program last year when I got a 6S, so my time had come, and yesterday I made an appointment and went down to the Apple Store to pick up a 7 ( Read more... )