[something clever and obscure here]

I may not be normal, but at least I'm regular.

Dude, my co-worker had dinner with Lou Ferrigno last night. Why haven't I been so lucky? I mean, I saw Al Sharpton the other morning at breakfast, but the Hulk is in a different category altogether. The Hulk kicks Al Sharpton's ass.

I have lost my mind. It's kind of funny to me, though it may be scary to an outside observer.

Good morning. Everything is going splendidly in Central Florida. It's going to be 80 degrees today with a 20% chance of rain.

I passed a couple of guys standing around a trash can and they told me that I'd have to pay a dollar to throw away my banana peel. "Nothing is free," they said.
"Love is free. Graciousness is free," I said, and the secret was out: I am a hippie in IT consultant's clothing.

Please don't attack my punctuation. I haven't finished reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves yet.

I've been thinking a lot, but not writing a lot.

Virginia Tech beat Duke in a close game last night. Not that I would revel in a Duke loss (wink), but it is nice to see the unfavored team win once in a while.

This weekend is the Daytona 500, and there is not a single hotel room available in Orlando. There actually might be one or two, but they'll soon be gone as well. Many of the hotels in Daytona Beach are still damaged from the hurricanes and aren't able to be at full occupancy, so race fans are settling into Orlando. They're also taking the opportunity to take their kids to Disney World while they're down here. It's madness, and I'll be working from home tomorrow so I don't have to brave the traffic. ("Home" is where the heart is, but it's also a hotel an hour outside of Orlando)

Our President. I try to hold on to the belief that he can't possibly be as much of a nincompoop as he looks, but I'm afraid, very afraid.

On the Baby Front, Brendan Reef was born this week, weighing in at 10 lbs and 2 ounces. ten pounds! Unfortunately, he's in Intensive Care, because he's not breathing well on his own, but he's getting better and should be out in a couple of days. I can't imagine what it must be like for Virginia and Corey to not be able to hold their son and smother him with kisses every second, but they're being strong for each other.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. -Aristotle

I drove to NC last Tuesday, which, as you might have gathered from the posts from that day, was not a pleasant drive. The trip took 50% longer than it should have, mostly because the first 50 miles took 6 hours.

The purpose of the trip was to help with the delivery of my cousin's baby. I was going to attend to her every need and be her advocate with the hospital, because I know and understand her desire for a medication-free birth. She has a husband who is perfectly capable of doing all of these things, but he doesn't like to see her in pain and would suggest that she have pain medication when I would tell her to stick it out a little longer.

The doctor's had told her that her baby (Brendan Reef) was getting too big and if he wasn't born soon, he might need to be delivered surgically. This is not an appealing option. They can induce labor with drugs (also not appealing, but better than surgery) and the plan was that Ginny would have her labor induced at 6AM Thursday morning. I drove up Tuesday with the plan of coaxing the baby out before then. Long story short, the doctor was sick and Ginny wasn't going into the hospital. I had to be back for work, so I flew home, having witnessed no miracle of life.

At the airport after I had landed and secured a rental car, I picked up my bags from baggage claim and walked to my car. I had 4 heavy bags, so I stopped once or twice along the way to readjust. When I got to the car, I realize that my purse had fallen off its detachable strap during my trek to the car. I retraced my steps but found no purse. Fortunately I had no cash other than a couple of dollars in coins. All of my credit cards were in there and my license. I'm looking on the bright side, because it could have been worse, but it still is a horrible event to lose so much. I cancelled my cards immediately, but I haven't gotten a replacement license. I'm looking into if I can do that online, or if I actually have to show up at a NC DMV.

Ginny called me this morning and she is in labor. She's not going to the hospital yet, because she's not that far along. I don't think that I can go back to NC, because I took 3 days off last week to go up there, AND I don't know if I can get on a plane with just my government ID. I'll just have to see babies being born once I've become a midwife/computer programmer.

I hope you have a lovely day. I've got to get back to work.

14 hours in the car, in the car, in the car. 14 hours in the car and I have lost my mind. (Repeat)

I've moved all of a 1/2 mile since last I posted. I figured out at 7:30 that i wasn't going to make my 8 o'clock meeting, but now I'm supposed to be on my way to NC. My cousin Virginia is having a baby this week, and i'm going to be her doula!

I don't wanna be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately
I'm stuck in traffic, but it's not like any traffic I've been in lately. It's like on-the-way-to-DelMarVa-beaches-from-DC traffic. I've got my computer out, playing spider solitaire. Bored, bored.

I've been busy redesigning this site, but it's hard to squeeze in time to do it, because I have so little free time. Here's a preview of some of the things I've been working on. It's not terribly pretty yet, but it's got potential.