neurotwitch

hodgepodge

An interesting work week. Worked a lot, got a lot done, but, as usual, never enough. One project is on the brink of launching. One moving into a new phase. And a couple of major features to add to still another site, including an ad-management system and a photos-for-sale application—both of which are partially implemented. A lot of learning to do as one ecommerce application we use completely upgraded—I mean from the first line of code to the last, moving from cgi to php/mysql. Enewsletters gotten out, a marketing mailing, troubleshooting ... a lot of different tasks. Didn’t get all the January billing done yet, which moves it into a weekend task, alas.

I LOATHE INTUIT
I found out yesterday that my copy of Quickbooks is not compatible with Vista, which really pisses me off. I had to upgrade from a perfectly functional version of QB to a newer version when I changed to Windows XP, and now it looks like I’ll have to upgrade again when I get a new computer and switch to Vista—all because Intuit didn’t bother getting XP certification on current versions. Forcing an upgrade at nearly $200—it’s already annoying enough that it doesn’t work with IE7.

It wouldn’t bother me to upgrade QB every couple of years or so if the cost were reasonable—but $200 a pop is insane especially when it doesn’t really improve the basics of what I need it for: bookkeeping. QB 98 would still be just fine for me if it ran on any of the platforms I have now. I dumped the Intuit tax programs when they pulled the baloney with the rootkit installation—now I wish I could easily switch to another accounting program that does what I need it to do without being tied to the OS.

OUR ANNIVERSARY
Tuesday, January 23 was our second anniversary. Cotton. Or china. We don’t need china, so we decided to make it cotton. I got Stanley some cotton t-shirts (two of which have yet to arrive) since that’s what he likes and I thought underwear would be mean. He got me some sheets I wanted, weird sheets, for the guest room (the room that’s mine except when we have guests). They’re turquoise, with embroidery on them. I love them. He also got me a huge bunch of Peruvian lilies in three different colors and they’re lovely, and took me to dinner at Lime Restaurant, which is our favorite.

The Lime was bizarre that night as it was extremely busy for a Tuesday night and there was only one waitress. So it was kind of like getting our food thrown at us, and they ran out of salmon (which Stanley usually gets) and no lava cake ... but it was ok, since we like just about anything you can get there, we really like the waitress, and were feeling pretty mellow. We felt sorry for our waitress because it was so insane. So we had steak with dijon sauce, caught up, and Stanley told me the plot of a book he’d just finished about a man-eating vine which I of course later dreamt about. Twice so far. We watched the Prez bullshit for an hour. Or rather, we watched the picture and I spent an hour trying to ignore Stanley’s muttering about the idiot so I could hear what the idiot had to say. Then we watched Webb’s response (and thought it was really well done). And then ... well it was a very nice anniversary.

IT’S DAMN COLD!
It dipped to a low of 4°F this morning, and now, about 6:30ish, it’s 15°F and dropping. Proof that it is COLD: last night, Stanley put the thermostat at 60° instead of 50°. Really. The other day, he took a picture of the kitties keeping warm on the shelf above the radiator in our bedroom (I couldn’t fix the eyes properly—but then, they really do look this satanic sometimes!):

Slink is an interesting kitty. He’s starting to feel more comfortable and bolder and has taken to teasing the dog—he knows Ginger will never be able to catch him.

ANOTHER LURID SUNSET
The sky was like this tonight, too, though not quite as lurid. I took this about a week ago—this is the view out my office window—I went outside to take this.

So it’s officially the weekend and I as usual have more plans than time, but that’s ok.

It’s really hard to type with a cat sitting on my shoulder.

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