Renovations and Explosions

Quite a bit has happened since my return to work. Been a little nuts, truth be told. The title of tonight's entry pretty much sums it up.

We've been gearing up at work, and are quickly approaching the point that we start advertising our new VDP services. The digital presses and equipment are (for the most part) functioning well, and we almost sound like we know what we're doing. This whole digital thing is a completely different endeavor from anything I've previously worked on -- you find new challenges daily. The best analogy I can come up with is relearning how to walk following some sort of accident.

Not that I'm saying that there's been any such accident. We've struggled a little bit, sure, and had a couple of emergencies causing me to put in some extended hours. It's a finicky art. A recent upgrade to some of the software wasn't done correctly, and broke some of the color management systems (a vital component), and took a couple of days for me and some engineers to test and resolve. Last minute prep by our product manager for a meeting with the bosses caused a little bit of a scramble for me a couple of days ago (I wasn't informed of several things he needed until thirty minutes before I was supposed to go home the night before). All that said, I think our team has become experts, and I'm feeling confident in our abilities. I've learned a lot over the past couple of months, all on the cutting edge of the industry.

I don't want to drone on about work. It's been most of my existence lately, but some other things have gone on.

Back on another reading kick. I've poured through six and a half books since my last entry, most of them in the past two weeks. The urge comes and goes, and I'm in full-swing right now. Like crack, only cheaper.

Put in my first shift as the babysitter last weekend. Uncle Adam. Heh. The kid slept though my entire shift, and I read several chapters while Amy and Gary had a Father's Day sushi dinner. They even brought me some rolls!

[start using a Mr. Burns voice]
Excellent.
[back to a normal-ish Adam]

The apartment complex replaced my toilet, and now it's scary. They're sweeping through all the units upgrading the cans with water-conserving ones. It wasn't broken or anything. There's no water visible inside the tank now, just this black monstrosity of equipment. The toilet is high-pressure, and sounds like an explosion when flushed. I damn near leaped off of it the first time. That and the seat sucks (I swear it was designed for someone with the fattest possible ass in the world) -- it's uncomfortable as all hell.

I compensated by replacing furniture in the main room. When we moved out of the last pad I ended up pitching the sectional couch that John's mom had donated to us. Tiffany's husband had a pair of cats who soiled ever inch of it in urine. Luckily a friend was able to donate a futon to my cause, so I've had something besides a bed to sit on these past couple of months. Futons, I've found, were not built for either comfort nor appearance, and the one I've been using had a crack in the frame and the tendency to wail (squeaks of anguish, if I've ever heard them). Earlier today I made the trek into the local IKEA and splurged on something nice.

Right now there's a weird spot where the old futon used to be (four little depressions in the carpet marking the former occupant). Tomorrow (sometime between 11am and 3pm) they'll be delivering and incredibly comfortable leather armchair with matching footstool, my very first purchase of "real" furniture (that doesn't require assembly, or is largely constructed from particleboard). Adult furniture!

And, finally, I'll take a few moments to update folks of the search to be not-single. Umm... nothing. eHarmony's not doing much at the moment (I hit the point that it takes multiple pages to see the "closed" matches), and I still haven't advanced past step two with anyone. I've been so busy at work that I haven't found much opportunity to socialize/flirt with those of the female persuasion (of course most, if not all, of them aren't single anyways). I haven't found the time to go out anywhere in a while, so nothing there either.

One of these days, I know. The waiting part sucks. But at least I've got a kick-ass chair to pass the time in.

Time Off

I never thought the day would come where I was forced to take a vacation. Well, I wasn't quite forced –- there were no shoving or prodding, but I maxed out on vacation hours. It became a "use it or lose it" situation, so here I am. On vacation.

I don't quite know what to do with myself. Without a social life to speak of, and not having a girlfriend, I've spent most of my time just lounging around. Sloth be thy name. I didn't have any plans going into my hiatus, short of burning enough hours to create a buffer (while leaving enough behind for a real vacation later). It's been relaxing, and to tell you the truth I think I needed it.

On the first day of my break, Saturday, I received a text message from John. I'd gotten an overwhelming urge to clean my apartment, and was knee-deep in bathtub scum when my phone started chirping. "Dude I'm in Times Square." His mom (who still lives locally) travels frequently on business, and John had decided to join her in the Big Apple for the Memorial Day weekend. He'd flown out on a whim, and spent the entire trip doing tourist-y things in Manhattan, something I've always wanted to do. My counter was to cleanse the apartment and go to the grocery store. Hmph.

On Tuesday I actually left the pad for some fun. I went to a mid-day screening of X-Men: The Last Stand. My least favorite film of the franchise, but at least I went somewhere.

I've been camped out for the past few days. Sleeping in until I feel like getting up, barbecuing steaks at 11am, watching TNT's Prime Time in the Day Time. That sort of stuff. I've also been playing my game, DragonRealms, pretty heavily.

It's been a good break. I've still got a couple of days to come next week, so hopefully I'll be able to do some other more traditional vacation things.

Anyways, I just thought I'd check-in here, considering that I've left the blog barren as of late.