Weekly Wrap-up 2005_44

It was another Autumn week with foggy mornings and crisp, blue afternoons.

Rich and I turned off the porch light and closed the blinds on Halloween night. Living as we do in a hilly neighborhood, we rarely get any trickertreaters in any case. Plus, the cats don't like the doorbell ringing and we don't need leftover candy. So we just act as if we "aren't home" on Halloween night.

I reworked my web pages last week. They hadn't had a style change in a decade. Now everything uses CSS and PHP. The site looks better (or at least, I think so :-) and I learned some things.

Rich and I have been also reworking our "brochure".

We attended a talk on "Ruby on Rails" at the Silicon Valley BSD group meeting. Rich has been learning about Ruby and Rails. Now I know more too.

I took advantage of a program by the County Bar Association. For an flat $30 fee, you get a half hour chat with a lawyer about, well, whatever you want to talk to a lawyer about. Then, if you need more help, or want someone to look at (or draw up) papers, you schedule more time at standard rates.

I made an appointment and talked with a lawyer about the "separation agreement" I was given when The Company I Worked For recently decided my position was superfluous. I asked a lot of questions and had them answered. I was much more sanguine about signing the "agreement" after that. I'm still deeply annoyed at The Company but I've signed their paper and am moving forward (aka "Getting on With My Life").

(As the saying goes: Never Attribute to Malice That Which can be Explained by Stupidity." Although, in this case, I think I could make an exception...)

This week I read a lot again. I started (but did not finish) More Bitter Than Death", by Dana Cameron. I like this series. I disliked this book. If this had been the first book of the series I would never have read the second. This one takes place at a conference - the people drink too much, play poker, act out of character... and I thought the dialog was annoying. By the time I got to the actual plot of the book I was thoroughly annoyed with all of the characters, including the protagonist.

I read two books by Kristine Grayson: Absolutely Captivating and Totally Spellbound. This series is fun — contemporary romantic fantasy. These two are the most tightly related books in the set; Spellbound takes place where Captivating leaves off (actually overlapping by a few hours).

I also finished The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell (see my review). And I read Catering to Nobody, the first book in a series by Diane Mott Davidson. I enjoyed this and ordered the rest of the series; I was happy to find all but one of the other books available from the same used-book store (thus saving on both books and shipping costs).

In between and around the rest, I've had almost enough naps and plenty of snuggles with the cats. There have been good meals and interesting conversations with Spouse and friends. I've had a few e-chats with my Dad as well as with a friend in Texas.

Onward and Upward.

Weekly Wrap-up 2005_44 ( in category Gemisch/Gallimaufry ) - posted at Wed, 09 Nov, 10:34 Pacific | «e»