Ben's Busy Blog

Today, I dropped my car off at Pep Boys around 8 AM. I dropped it off for an inspection along with tire rotation and an oil change. They finally finished my car at 8 PM... just barely. They almost wanted me to leave my car for tomorrow to finish the brake work, but I wasn't going for that. Although I didn't say anything, I think they knew that I wasn't about to fucking come back, and they wanted to squeeze my wallet. But enough about that, I am completely sick of the issue.

I really need to get that Mozilla Firefox extension built. I spent some time today staring blankly at pages purporting to explain and simplify extension development. They did not do so, sir. They did not do so.

Achievements:
+ Biking, although rather slow today
+ Lots of Wiki-ing today
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ STUPID F*(+ING PEP BOYS!!!
Other:
+ Blarg

Well, I'm going to try to make this short since I have to get up early tomorrow to drop off the car for inspection/oil change/tire rotation/wallet rape.

I haven't been able to get the paint out of the grout on the bathroom floor. I'm not sure what to do.

Oh well, I'm going to lame out on this entry. I'm staring blankly at it too much.

Achievements:
+ Biking
+ Small wiki update
+ Spent some time pseudocoding
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Doctor's appointment plus requisite travel time
+ Hours spent in fruitless floor scrubbing experimentation
Other:
+ Grocery store trip
+ Setup new account for paying bills

Today was a vacation day. I've been distracted a bit lately, so I thought that it might be nice to just sleep in then take a mental vacation.

I sorted out the rips of the Buffy DVDs that Dom did for me a while back. Since we wound up owning the series legitimately when Nat was down for her spinal surgery, I have no need for these now, but will most likely pass them on to Dave. Except I haven't found the last disc of season 2 yet.

Speaking of Nat's spinal surgery, the fact that I couldn't locate the pictures from around the time of Nat's surgery compelled me to get going and finally access the drive, which had been installed as a secondary on my Ubuntu box. Originally that box was going to be a server, but it proved to be too hot and noisy. Also, the connection's pretty slow.

I'm still going to mod the Xbox and have ordered a modchip for it. I haven't quite worked out how to transfer media for XboxMediaCenter. Oh wait, here I was about to complain about the cost of the Xbox wireless adaptor, but then I rediscovered that my DVD drive is actually a DVD+RW. Natty was so sweet as to buy this for me before I'd really even realized the usefulness :)

I dug through Webolodeon's guts for a bit today. Apparently the guy used this odd Greasemonkey variable thing in order to store persistant information for when the script isn't running. After I managed to sort it all out, I came to the unfortunate realization that a Greasemonkey script is not immediately interchangable with the JavaScript guts of a Firefox extension....

Oh guh-jebus... On an ADHD whim, I googled for information on converting Greasemonkey scripts into Firefox extensions... THERE'S A FREAKING FREE WEB APPLET THAT AUTOMATES THIS!!! I admire this man's panache. I'm not sure whether I should feel like I've been denied the chance to learn or something... Oh well, back to Monkeying around.

I swear I've learned more today from side-thoughts while composing this blog entry than any other attempts today. Anyway, for a change, I'm going to publish this early and then edit it in the field later.

Achievements:
+ Biking still
+ Got Ubuntu to read NTFS and share drive via SAMBA
+ Spent a little time analyzing Webolodeon's guts
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Slept in past noon
+ Spent hours reading 52 spoilers and speculation
+ Sorted out and labelled Dom's Buffy rips
+ Read. So. Much. Useless. Wikipedia.
Other:
+ Cleared some stuff out of the bathroom so Natty could paint the baseboards

When I sat down to begin this post, I looked at the posts which I had already formulated and cursed. "DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT! I forgot to do Monday's post" Being that today was Monday, I realized that I had not yet had a chance to forget, and that in fact, I was on pace.

We scoped out the Children's Museum today. Cute, just big enough to tire out the average kid, but not for us. Not for our wedding. Our wedding planner is still throwing spaces at us, but Nat's still enraptured of the Mattress Factory. When considering the disparity of nigh unto a thousand dollars betwixt the competitors and the "Mattrory", I consider it due dilligence to peep out the other locations.

Tomorrow, I am going to let myself sleep in as much as I want. I haven't taken a 'weekend' and I think I need it. I just have been shitty at getting things done today.

Achievements:
+ Broke 400 on the bike without realizing it
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ A few hours enjoyably spent at the Children's Museum.
+ Waaay too much time spent with the duplicate file finder's output list
Other:
+ Installed shiney chromey toilet papery holdy
+ Failed at getting AGK video to playback on the iMac, mostly due to lack of patience

I don't have much to say today. I've been rather foggy in the head for some reason. And here I thought I was doing better on the sleep hours last night than I have on average lately.

Achievements:
+ Broke 400 calories on the bike again
+ Got PDA working on wireless
+ Researched options for doing wiki from PDA
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Tired and a bit spacey today, this caused general attrition of time
Other:
+ Worked in the bathroom, not much left to do! YAY!
+ Trash, recycling & litter boxes
+ A couple trips to the grocery store

Today, over all, was a pretty good day. I got up and biked. Read a little over breakfast. Used a little wood glue to attach the lacquered borders to the backing for my new bulletin/marker board. It looks really great. I'll post a picture sometime.

The rest of the day went well, with programming of both the Torque variety and the Firefox extension kind. Bathroom's coming along well. Went out for yummy sashimi and chilled at Borders. All in all, a good day

Achievements:
+ Still biking every day, haven't broken 400 again in a few though
+ Did some programming
+ Put border on bulletin/marker board project, looks great!
+ Did some Firefox extension research/work
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Totally spaced out at end of night, fair enough though
+ Chilled at Borders for a few hours
Other:
+ Last night I finally beat that damned level in Trauma Center (It's important to me!)
+ a few hours on detail work in bathroom
+ Went out for sushi and sashimi, yummy!
+ Read Grey King for a bit

I don't have a lot of words in my head to use for this post. I think I'll just throw this one out on the field as-is.

Achievements:
+ Biking
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
Other:
+ Added second layer of lacquer to border pieces
+ Painted detail work in bathroom
+ Visited Mattress Factory
+ Talked with wedding planner
+ Dropped by Verizon store to have my smartphone looked at
+ Examined some options for wedding bands, establishing a base on that
+ Went to Kohls for the 50%~70% off sale

Biking was crappy today. I think that on a day after I break 400, I seem to be laggy. Another insight is that both Nat and I were very sleepy today, so perhaps that factored in also.

I went to the doctor for just some prescription dandruff shampoo. No, he wants me to go to dermatologist. Idiot. It also took like two freaking hours for this. Luckily I had the DS with me and played Super Mario World so the wait didn't feel like anything.

I also am done shopping at Office Depot. I just realized that everytime I go there, I walk out irritated. Sometimes it's the poor service, sometimes it's the lack of selection, sometimes they don't have an item they have online. Sometimes I'm just sickened by the overflowing garbage can outside of the store. Seriously, if you remember having seen a garbage can overflowing multiple times, it's getting bad.

Oh well, off to bed for me.

Achievements:
+ Biking
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Doctor's appointment at 11:45, finally got home at 2. "Redicklous!"
+ Wasted a trip to Office Depot, they're useless
+ Thawing fish under tap water takes freaking forever)
Other:
+ Passed on another trip to the Mattress Factory
+ Put screen protector on Smartphone
+ Played with the kittens
+ Cleaned the broiling pan
+ Mixed up kitten dry food
+ Burnt DVDs for Dom
+ Sanded 1st layer of lacquer on border pieces
+ Emailed Pgh Parking to complain about broken meter ticket

How odd. I could have sworn I did this last night, but I guess I got too caught up programming late

Achievements:
+ Biking biking biking again
+ Spent a few quality hours programming
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Ran white paint roller around bathroom
Other:
+ Made preparations to go to Mattress Factory, but Nat had to call it off
+ Lacquered bulletin board parts
+ Ran to Home Depot for 220 grit sandpaper
+ Grocery store

I can only think of a couple things that happened today. Up front, I look at the smartphone and the wedding planner meeting as things that could only possibly have taken up an hour or two each... but at the same time, I don't know what the hell happened to the rest of my day. This was definately one of those days where I didn't actually pause and say "Hey, I'm goofing off way too much" *sigh* I'll just try to crank up the strictness on the Greasemonkey plug-ins and hope that my productivity loss has been all interwebs... I've got a bad feeling it ain't though.

I think I'm coming to realize the necessity of management. Resolving other people's problems is a lot easier than managing your own. If someone's a manager, then they have to resolve everybody else's issues. I'm sure that there are plenty of areas in management where you can still wander off and get lost, but I'm sure that being a guiding hand for someone else is a lot easier than finding your own way.

I wish that I could get something symbiotic going on with mutual guidance with someone

Achievements:
+ Biking again
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Not unproductive, but spent a few hours with the wedding co-ordinator
+ Still can't get PDA to work on wireless, despite lots of fiddling
Other:
+ Spent an hour or plus switching over data and files from old PDA to new Smartphone
+ Updated router BIOS
+ Updated Firefox from 1.0 to 1.5 on laptop
+ Cleaned up my desktop... a little, but it's a start!

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97, stay off the Office Depot Benadryl. I have no basis aside from my own meandering experience today, but again I say: Stay off the Office Depot Benadryl. It doesn't matter if you're out shopping for assorted junk and you suddenly find yourself the victim of an atypical, uncharacteristic allergy attack. It's better to sneezy and irritated than to completely zone out and zonk out for the rest of the day. You'll have to trust me on this.

Achievements:
+ Broke 400 calories again on bike
+ Skinned a fish fillet for the first time, easier than I thought it would be
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ 1.5 hour Benadryl nap
+ Completely freakin mentally gone since taking Benadryl
Other:
+ Stained the border for my home-made bulletin/marker board, it looks really good
+ Bathroom work
+ Activated the new XV6700, it's sweet, but I need to do some work with it to sync and get wireless and shit

GOT-DAMNED SNAKES!!!! Okay, now I've gotten that out of my head, but I will also add that through all of the snake-related maimings and killings I've viewed today, it was mostly the high-heeled shoe breaking off in that dude's ear that made me wince the worst.

Back on track, I almost had an unproductive day, but then I pulled it out by finally getting that got-damned Invisibility Cloak to work. That took me several hours. I finally had to cut back from my original aspirations of also including a lunch hour break in there too. The booleans for the second set of time window parameters were just sucking it up frustratingly. Ah well, tomorrow I'll put together a web-page to distribute it, and then send a link to the people at Lifehacker. Hopefully it won't wind up hosing my bandwidth, but getting credit for my work is worth the investment.

I've also added in the Webolodeon for Greasemonkey. I like the concept, but not the execution... well, mostly the antiquated name and the pop-up's text. Furthermore, the initial popup on visiting a site isn't that smart. Those are just periphral details though. I really want to add in some sort of lameness filter so it's not just the number of characters that dictates response. In the end, creating a full XUL plugin combining both would rock.

Achievements:
+ Biked
+ Rebuilt and upgraded the Invisibility Cloak script for Greasemonkey
+ Also grabbed Webolodeon from Lifehacker
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ A few hours at the theater
+ iCloak took forever to get to work right
Other:
+ Saw Snakes on a Plane
+ Sold A/C
+ Took out trash
+ Recycled
+ Tried to create an original sauce for broiling fish, apparantly created a salad dressing instead (probably due to the ranch)

Another day with nothing to show for it but several hours of bathroom renovation. I am not putting up with this anymore. I'm getting to sleep earlier. I'm putting painting shit under time sinks every day, even if I feel good about it. I am going to make my life more orderly, even if I have to do the same with Nat's in order to get there.

Oh, and I got my new PDA/Smartphone today. It seems pretty sweet up front, although I need to get it set up as my phone and I need to figure out how the hell to get it on our wireless network. Why is wireless something that is such a mess?

Achievements:
+ Nothing really
+ Biked a new high, burnt 400 calories in 15 minutes
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Got to bed really really late
+ Out of it all day
+ Lots of time working in bathroom
Other:
+ Went to a wedding at Phipps for 15 minutes to meet caterer and see her in action

Today was not an achievement of personal project stuff, at least not directly.

I got up, biked, and then did detail work in the bathroom for a few hours. The painting was one thing, but then I took the tape off and painstakingly cleaned up the edges. I found that taking a folded corner of paper towel and wetting it, created the best tool for cleaning the edges. This took a few hours and it was 3ish when I finally washed and cleaned myself up.

After that we went down to the cattle call for extras for Mysteries of Pittsburgh. That was fun and didn't take as long as I thought... but it was still an hour or so.

At 6:30 PM we went over to the little get-together with Ginger's crew. I'm not sure what to make of Ginger's attitude. I guess she's trying to be her usual forceful self while going through this huge paradigm change, and it's making her a bit... frictious?

After an hour or so, we cut out of there and went down to Dom and Amanda's amazing new house. They have got it so nice. I envy the way that they've fearlessly put down roots, but at the same time, I can't believe that they don't want to go out and do more travelling while still young. I'm also staggered and yet inspired by the amount of work they've done with their place. They took a really nice find, and they're making it into an amazing house. Dom's busting out all these home improvement skills I find myself envious of. I should remind myself that if he can pick it up, then I should get off my ass and learn this shit too. It's different when you see a friend suddenly doing it. I'm still so stunned at how much of their shit they've got together. Almost makes me feel like I've got no business getting married or doing home improvement... seriously. Well, not quite. I'll have to look to them for pointers on how to do it right.

Oh yeah, and after breakfast, I think I spent 15 minutes just petting Willow. That was good :)

Too bad I didn't get any useful work shit done today, aside from adding a few sites to Invisibility Cloak for Greasemonkey. I'm impressed with how well it's worked already, but I'm going to have to tweak the damned script to allow for better time window control. Hopefully if I re-release it out into the community, I can get some props.

Achievements:
+ Nothing at all, aside from biking, but I did keep busy
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Damned fucking Carnegie exit closure and poorly marked detour!
Other:
+ Spent a few hours painting detail work in bathroom (looks great!)
+ Auditions for extras in Mysteries of Pittsburgh
+ Get-together at Ginger's
+ Visited Dom and Amanda
+ Lotsa cute Anya photos and videos

Ugh... today wasn't too awe inspiring at all. Nat wasn't comfortable with going to see the investment guy, for understandable politics and stuff I won't go into here. We both have our money invested right now, so it wasn't a burning imperative that we do this, although I'll admit understandable doubts about what the hell my mutual fund is up to.

So passing on that experience, I turned my alarm off and went back to sleep. Then I f**king managed to sleep in to almost noon. Note to self: Just change the alarm instead of turning it off completely.

I spent a good portion of the day taping up the detail work in the bathroom, and doing some touch up work. We also ran out to the Waterfront for a few odds and ends. That also managed to be disappointing.

So I'm going to cut this off now. I'll probably get bitched at for this crappy day tomorrow.

Achievements:
+ Still biking...
+ Minor wiki work
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ I feel like I wasted this whole day...
Other:
+ Painting touch-up and prep for extensive detail work

Woof, today we introduced our mothers to each other at Phipps. Natty was extremely nervous that something would go terribly awry. But then it also turned out that Nat's sister was going to be there too. And also, our wedding planner suddenly was able to make it also. It got complex. Luckily nothing horrid happened, but I feel a bit like what I imagine it must feel like after a thesis defence.

Achievements:
+ Sat down on the back porch and typed some RM
+ Getting to bed early (have to, early morning tomorrow)
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Not a setback, but several hours were spent at Phipps
+ Played video games, trying to relax after Phipps
Other:
+ Read for a while
+ Worked in bathroom, put another coat of white on the door

I got up and in lieu of painting, I decided to spend the day cleaning the hell out of this place, as the cat-allergic wedding planner was coming over. Furthermore, there's an outside chance that parental units might be putting in an appearance.

I'm going to cut this short, so I can get my beauty sleep for tomorrow. We're having our mother's meet at Phipps. It's their first time meeting and Natty is absolutely dreading it.

Achievements:
+ Biked more
+ More wiki work
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Didn't implement lockdown on logon account yet
+ Got caught up finishing Over Sea, Under Stone for a few hours
+ Definately not a setback, but it was like two hours with the wedding planner
Other:
+ Cooked dinner with some assistance from Nabby
+ Updated blogger personal info, furthing web of links to my name and website (hopefully)
+ Hardcoded profile on my other blog so there won't be any self-incriminating links back
+ Did a little spackling in bathroom
+ Cleaned the hell out of this place this morning for several hours

I'd consider today mostly a success, although there was some time loss. I apparently had made a mistake about when Nat's doctor's appointment was, so we got there an hour early, leaving us with an hour to kill in the waiting room. There were some cute kids there and Natty struck up a conversation. I felt a little uncomfortable because the mother wasn't obviously giving us yes or no signs as to whether we should be chatting with her kids. When Natty's appointment started, I stayed in the lobby typing on the laptop, and the muse struck me.

When we got home, Natty's shy friend was finally ready to come over and set up her drumkit "professionally" for her. Since he's so afraid of people, I agreed to head out and grab dinner solo while this was going on. I took the laptop with me, as I was still having a brainstorm. I ate at Five Guys Burgers and Fries for dinner, while typing away. After a while I migrated to a Panera closer to home, still typing. After a while Nat came in to let me know that the coast was clear. I came home and when I tried to do more work, I found myself promptly distracted by Wikipedia, dammit.

I have to honestly say, my experience today shows that I'm going to need to start leaving the house in order to type. Maybe I should see if there's a coffee discount membership at Panera.

Achievements:
+ Woke up in a timely manner!
+ Sticking to my morning biking!
+ Wrote up storm and now I'm wiki'ing it
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Doctor's appointment, plus drive time
+ Oh, and did I mention we were there an hour early?
+ Sidetracked by wiki articles about Halo (research?)
Other:
+ Worked on bathroom for a few hours, mostly detail painting is left
+ Went to Giant Eagle

Today, I'm tired, but for good reasons. Once again, I got up and went straight on the exercise bike. I haven't been keeping track, but I'm certain that I've been doing that for at least a week now. Even when I've been dog tired, like this morning, I have still done well with keeping with it.

And then I went and spent about five hours working on the bathroom: Painting, sanding, spackling, taping, cleaning, etc.

The rest of the day was a bit downhill, but I honestly felt rather tired

Achievements:
+ Did a lot of renovation work, I don't normally count this, but today was a good effort. I got a lot done
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Trip to Home Depot for stuff
+ Went to bed late, woke up late
+ Edited Wikipedia (last night before crashing)
+ Played Lego Star Wars (but only for a half hour)
Other:
+ Watched another Boondocks with Nattie
+ Ripped and re-encoded Boondocks
+ Cleaned out about a gig of redundant MP3s from the data drive. There's still more though.

The internet and videogames: My two great time wasters. I can deal with the videogames easily enough, but blocking the 'net is going to be difficult. I'm making plans on how to deal with this, but I am going to hold off on this, since I need to get my act together and start getting to bed earlier. I'm going to have to put a damned nanny program on this computer at this rate. Anyway...

Achievements:
+ None, aside from realizing that I need to crack down
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Woke up late
+ Went out shopping for a bit
+ Played Spiderman II (PS2)
+ Played Lego Star Wars
+ Edited Wiki articles about the Eternals The freaking Eternals?!? I hate the Eternals. They're a mess!
+ Woo, porn
Other:
+ Read some Over Sea, Under Stone today. I still like it after all these years
+ Was going to paint in bathroom in the evening, but then Nat's mom showed up
+ Where did this day go?

I was in the kitchen today, when Nat burst in, blasting with the can of air, having mistaken me for a kitten on the counter. It was quite funny.

I also painted in the bathroom.

I was lazy today and I'm getting this in late.

Achievements:
+ Updated Gunpowder War
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ painting & prep work took up a lot of time
Other:
+ Went out for sushi with Natty and split the bill
+ Put painters tape all over the bathroom again
+ Painted primer in the bathroom
+ Did some wiki edits
+ Watched Dark City
+ Finished Big O

Today didn't do well. It's been rough. I'm posting... I'll edit it up better later

I decided I'd give myself a day off, in hopes that it would reset my ambition. I still wound up finishing the sink cover and driving to a doctor's appointment, but it was relaxing anyway.

Achievements:
+ Nothing special
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Doctor's appointment plus drive time takes a while
Other:
+ Finished "cat-proof" sink cover, with easy access hatch (it's ugly)
+ Bought me a carpenter's saw, woo

Hey hey! It's an on-time Tuesday wrap-up. It's not late! Woo... okay, not that exciting for you, I bet.

I haven't got much of interest to yak about today, so I'm keeping this short.

Achievements:
+ None, I intentionally relaxed today
+ But I am working on the wiki right now
+ After a lot of work, got image uploading enabled on Wiki
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Relaxed today
Other:
+ Took it easy on the bathroom, celebrating the end of paint removal
+ But I did spackle some
+ Went to Homestead Waterworks: Target & Petco
+ Natty picked up some more fishies
+ Came home, I did laundry

I slept in really late today, due to trying to set my clock while it was too late for thinking. Nothing big to report, but I am proud that I installed my first showerhead today. That took some experimentation, as the instructions and advice I found seemed to suggest applying plumber's tape in a different manner than I worked out. Basically, I advise that you leave the first two centimeters of the thread bare, and then apply five to seven layers of tape going clockwise (or whatever the direction of the thread's rotation. The reason is that the beginning of the thread needs clear so that you can start screwing it in with ease, and also that part is going to be rotated multiple times inside the socket. It's going to get stripped anyway, I found after several unsuccessful attempts. By putting a big lump a short ways along, you're leaving the thread clear to get started screwing in nicely, but then you're going to have built-up barrier against water seepage.

All this experimentation wound up using the whole tiny complimentary roll of Teflon tape that came with the new showerhead. Since the new showerhead was long with multiple pivot points, I decided to get a replacement 'neck' for the shower. I got one that was just a few inches long and straight. It worked perfectly and as an added bonus, it wasn't marred by all of the scratches and dents I'd made before I remembered to put a rag over my pliers.

Oh, and I have removed all paint-stripping material from the bathroom. I still need to scrub the floors to get paint off the tile, but that'll wait until we're done repainting. I also did some sanding and applied some spackle.

I'm currently poking at the wiki, but inspiration seems lacking. I'm not going to stay up too late trying.

This sounds interesting, perhaps disturbingly so.

Achievements:
+ Finished paint stripping in bathroom
+ Attempting wiki work
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Went to bed late, woke up late
+ Took another trip to Home Depot for a 'neck' pipe and more plumber's tape
Other:
+ Sanded and spackled in bathroom
+ Reviewed completed auctions for the XV6700, I still want one

Getting this in late. I got all caught up editing

Achievements:
+ More wiki-ing of battle stuff
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Went out to South Hills Village
Other:
+ Spent lots of time working in bathroom
+ Took out trash, recycling
+ Cleaned out litter boxes
+ Got a present for my brother (shh, it's a USB thumbdrive)
+ Natty got fish
+ I bought some fun black shoes on clearance, and also a pair of pliers
+ I bought Natty a body pillow

I woke up late and spent most of the day working in the bathroom. I want to get that project done as I'm so damned sick of being shut in there, applying or removing paint. When I install the toilet paper holder I will be excited for the variety, I swear.

Achievements:
+ Biked after waking up, but before eating this time (will try drinking juice tomorrow)
+ Worked on RM battle system entries on wiki
Setbacks or Time Sinks:
+ Stayed up late
+ Woke up late
Other:
+ Nat put together her aquarium

Today just was an off day. I did wake up in a somewhat timely manner, and rode the exercise bike after breakfast for over fifteen minutes. I'm not doing this directly after breakfast again. Then I showered and started working in bathroom… That was a good start, which promptly went to hell when the alarm repair guy showed up.

At first, I puttered around, unsure how available to make myself, but eventually I thought I could get back to work. Unfortunately I had to buzz him back in a few times as he had to go back to his van for various obscure widgets. This was a minor distraction, but then the alarm repair guy locked his keys in the van. This fucked me. I sat around for an hour making conversation while he waited for someone else with keys to drop by. The guy was nice, but this was frustrating.

Much later, after keys arrived, I did a little work in bathroom, but found myself hampered by the fact that I'd loaned him the stepladder. Here I was trying to strip paint off of the top of the windowframe and precariously leaning off the toilet lid. I just said to hell with it finally.

Luckily when I poked my head out, Natty said he was wrapping up. Well, he said this, but then was another half hour. Anyway, he finally got out of there around two. After the dude left, I shaved and washed up, because now it was time to go to the bank with Natty. We opened up a small joint checking account for mutual expenses. Hopefully this will be a good exercise in sharing expenses and also will allow us to better track responsibility. And to give us an idea of how much we spend on shit.

After that Natty felt up to going to the Waterfront. I was happy because I thought I might be able to return a cell phone battery and an XM satellite radio receiver my brother bought for me sans subscription. Instead, I twiddled my thumbs while Natty bought an aquarium. I'd ducked in there for cat treats to find that our finicky kitten's favorite brand wasn't in stock, and then it became an aquarium expedition.

And then I couldn't even return the damn radio. Natty was getting uncomfortable, so I didn't even make it to Verizon.

I got home and was pissy and pissed time away. Eventually I took a nap while she set up her aquarium. Unfortunately I wound up sleeping for almost two hours instead. The rest of the night was off-kilter. I did make a last minute effort with the wiki though and I think I did some useful thinking

I'm still disgusted with productivity of late, and I'm putting the blame on my sleep schedule, so I'm outta here.

Achievements:
+ Got up and exercised
+ Laid groundwork for RM battle system LiquidWiki entries
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ A repair guy is a timesink, locking keys in van just made it last longer
+ I didn't get anything at the Waterfront, but Natty bought an aquarium while I twiddled my thumbs
+ Irritable and unable to concentrate I lay down for a minute, and slept for like 2 hours
Other:
+ Opened bank acct w/ Natty

Since I don't count renovation work, today doesn't count for a lot of achievements. On the other hand, I'm proud of how the bathroom's coming along. It's a dirty bitch, but it's looking a lot better. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it soon-ish, as my paint stripping skills are reaching a watershed point. Hopefully I'll do alright with attaining other new skills, like showerhead-replacement.

I got up a bit late, having stayed up late (for good reasons) again. I zombied for a while after that. I suck at mornings, but today I repaired the exercise bike, so now I'll have a way to get my blood moving in the morning.

Hopefully tomorrow will be another somewhat productive day. I'll try to engage myself with either programming or LiquidWiki work when I feel the urge to laze about.

Achievements:
+ Fixed exercise bike
+ Read programming book
+ Discussed RM battle system with Dave and agreed to publish to Wiki on this
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Woke up late
+ Doctor's trip ate up about 3.5 hours
+ Kinda vegetational for a few hours, just spacey
Other:
+ Again, lots of headway made with renovating bathroom
+ Watched a couple episodes of Mission Hill DVD, I need to rip this

As a bonus today, I struggled out of bed around when I wanted to, then showered and zombied about for about an hour. Then I worked in the bathroom until it was time to go to Nat's doctor's appointment. I put some stripper on, and while I waited for that to do it's evil work, I used painter's tape and Q-Tips to finesse the edges between paint colors. I'm not hyper-anal, but I want it to look good. Ugh, my wrist hurts from all of the paint scraping and scrubbing I did after that. I was working on the little square foot access door to the plumbing, along with the windowframe edges that peeled. The damned little door only allowed me to remove the 3 or 4 layers of acryllic that were on it. A layer of lead paint remained to mock me. I realized that I was running short on time and went to clean the window's textured glass right up until I was running late for taking Natty to her appointment.

A few hours later, we got back. Got some fresh salmon at the grocery with Nat. It was kind of weird there because they had the freezer aisles blocked off as the freezers were apparently broken down.

When we got back I relaxed for a few and edited a few Eternals-related articles on Wikipedia while Natty did dinner, which was delicious. She invented a new sauce for the salmon involving Ranch dressing, HP and some other stuff.

Can't quite remember where the rest of the night went exactly from there, but I took out the trash and recycling, and emptied the cat boxes. I also went back to the bathroom and took off most of the lead paint that had been loosened by the stripper. I had to put on another coat though, because it's going to need scrubbed yet.

Oh, and at some point I found time to do some programming. And I ran to Home Depot and got a refund replacement for that little storage drawer that broke on the way home yesterday.

Achievements:
+ Programmed for a bit
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ Doctor's appointment, plus drive time and preparation eats up half a workday
+ Edited a few Eternals-related articles on Wikipedia
Other:
+ Trash, recycling, litter boxes
+ Remembered to water the flowers
...Oh, just read the crap up above in narrative format

Once again, I went to bed late, then wound up staying up late. I reviewed wedding dresses in bridal magazines for Natty, which I suppose has some worth, but I still went to sleep hours after intended time. Although Nat says I crashed around 3 AM, I remember being awake and seeing the clock hit 4 AM... ugh.

Thanks to my bastard watch's evil alarm, I found myself with the frustration-borne energy to pull myself from bed a little before 10 AM. I then accomplished nothing for a few hours, as I was half asleep and trapped by the latest Fables TPB. Following this, I am officially done reading for a little while. I am losing waaaay too much time to it.

I then worked in the bathroom until around 1:45 PM, when I got sick of the project again. Then it was time to get ready to visit Uncle John. I did some computer work for him and had dinner. Of some interest, I saw Ryan Arbaugh and his father for the first time in years, but we didn't speak. Not really any interest there. Also saw Kerri Zilla too, so that's two people from high school.

Anyway, I'm cutting myself off so I can crash.

Achievements:
+ None I care to name
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ hours driving to and from Kittanning
+ Getting ready for trip always takes too long when I have to ignite fires under bums including my own
Other:
+ Spent a few hours with Uncle John
+ Spent a few hours refinishing the bathroom
+ Hit Home Depot for more CitrisStrip, have to peel the windowframe yet
+ Played ICO for what seemed like 20 minutes

Well, I got up on time today, but I can't exactly recall how I spent the day. I think that I might have been tired from re-adjusting my schedule... or maybe I just am having problems getting back into the swing of things.

Achievements:
+ None
Setbacks and Time Sinks:
+ No achievements!
Other:
+ Used up the last of the CitrusStrip in the bathroom, I am so sick of that project
+ Finally finished the last Otherland book. I'm not picking up another heavy book until I get some more done around here.
+ Visited main Carnegie Library to activate my card
+ Took Nat for a drive through the park
+ Started autopsy on exercise bike, still trying to open plastic shell
+ Killed off the old Angelfire webpage that was turning up as #1 in Google searches on my name
+ Discovered that Prez Warren G-funk Harding's brother-in-law married Nona Younkins-Hinaman