(no subject)

At 8 am sharp Z went upstairs and began work again.
He's put in 14 hours since 5pm on Friday.

He's got a lot done: he did a quick demo yesterday and said, "I know it doesn't look like much, but those categories there on the left, I didn't type those in, those are pulled live from the database." Which I am smart enough to know is actually quite something. He then explained the fourteen or fifteen steps that were now required to update the database, and the additional steps required to convert said database from database format to the format that they print in the paper and put up on the website (two separate formats, I might mention). The process often doesn't work right, he says, because of user error: and that is not because the user is incompetent, but rather because the process is nearly impossible. Hence the urgency of him finally just getting this done, because they're so short-staffed that they don't have time to be wasting the few people they have left in hours of converting things into other things.
Part of it is selfish, of course: when he started, the website was sort of, er, minimal, and so maintaining it didn't take long. Now it's cool, so everyone looks at it, so all the boss-types want more stuff on it, so it now takes most of Z's time to keep the website updated-- using processes that could be automated. Hence, having no time to write this sort of program during work hours, because it takes him most of his time just to keep up. Hence the extra time needed. Once he's got this program up and running, hell, he won't need to go into work at all. (Just kidding. Sigh.)

The downside to his industriousness is that he is in the attic and is making all kinds of crazy noises up there, and it is taking every ounce of self-control I have not to storm up there and yell "WOULD YOU QUIT BANGING AROUND". But he has been so cheerful I would not want to jeopardize the mood. He will settle down, and I will not go crazy.

Last night, by the way, I did another restaurant review. I had completely forgotten, but when I came home on Friday there were two envelopes with the review letters in them sitting there waiting for me, and I said "oh goody!" and moved them out of the way and promptly forgot about them until I had dozed off yesterday afternoon. Whereupon I said, "I ought to do one tonight!" and did. Which was fun.
( but i am so totally suffering from PTSD: terrorists ruin EVERYTHING )

So that's not going in the review. Just had to get that out of my system.

Have just made Z coffee and reheated pancackes and brought them up to him. He has nearly worked 16 hours, which is 2 days off. They seemed not to object to his explanation that he would be taking comp time later. Which proves that they are smart. So he has promised that we will hang out and do fun things.
This weekend was actually pretty fun regardless, but today I think I'm going to be left on my own to face the massive backlog of Things To Do-- such as one of those grocery shopping trips where you have to buy everything you normally stock up on and buy once or twice a year. (Paper towels, toilet paper, cases of pop, peanut butter, tuna fish, etc.) Our stocks on all the random supplies are suddenly real low. It doesn't help that we've been sort of not grocery shopping lately.


Non-sequitur: I wonder if someday when I'm a famous author I'll still keep this blog and still be as boring?
Probably.
And the gossip columnists will have no jobs. 'Live at eleven: Local celebrity author goes grocery shopping for toilet paper!'

would the tabloids go out of business if Paris Hilton just kept her own blog, and posted her own nude photos there? Or would it be a case of it being freely available so noone wants it? That'll be my defense, as a celebrity: there's no mystery so nobody will ever bother me because everyone already knows.

Right, back to work.

library progress

It didn't feel like a transitional point in my life until I got the new computer and started to organize the data that make up my life into chunks to put neatly onto the new computer.
(I hadn't actually realized I was thinking this until I started writing that very sentence, so, there's how little thought I'd given to it.)

( the record collection and its eras )

My point is that I've imported everything I had that I think I actually want, that predates Z now, and I'm only at 9.25 GB. So I guess his music collection's pretty big. I've got the Morphine to start with but will probably take a break and do some grocery shopping (and, er, write that restaurant review) before I dive into the Barenaked Ladies and Parliament and B.B. King box set and They Might Be Giants and the such that await me.

But just because I'm not moving or changing jobs or starting a new relationship doesn't mean that I'm not sliding into a new era of my life. We'll see if there are any changes, but things are definitely not the way they were before. Whether I get this novel published or not will sort of determine what kind of era this new one is. But not entirely. It's not just about that.

(no subject)

How did I just manage to spend $294 in a single trip to the grocery store?

That's what happens when you haven't been shopping in a month.

For the record, I would like to state that I had eaten just prior to the trip, and upon reflection I bought nothing extravagant. That's what happens when you run down your supplies of all your staples at once.

There's still stuff I didn't get, though. I'm almost out of safety razor cartridges and cream of mushroom soup, to name two things I know of already.

Sigh.

A lie: there was one extravagant and unneccessary thing. We got a whole duckling for half price. It's in the freezer for some mysterious future occasion. (It had a sell-by date of today: "use or freeze by 9/25". The whole thing was marked $22 but on sale for $10.) Given Z's feelings on duck, I don't think this was a bad idea. But now I have to find out how to prepare duckling. With any luck he'll feel adventurous and do it up himself one of these days.

Tonight was beef stroganoff. The rest of the week will be beef stew, swiss cheese soup, split pea soup, and probably a couple different kinds of baked goods. See? Not extravagant.

iTunes library is at 12.41 GB after the addition of Z's albums. I know I've missed out a lot: the library on my old computer is 28.9 GB. But there's a lot of stuff I don't listen to, so I might just leave it be until I miss it. I still do have to add in everything I've acquired since I acquired Z, of course, but that's mostly my Recent playlist, so it'll be relatively easy to find it all.