This time next week…I’ll probably be drunk. Well, not really. But it’s finally starting to hit me that at the end of this week, I will be in Austin for Southby. Included in that realization is that I really don’t have a lot of time to get done all of the stuff I need to get done before I disappear for a week. My “to do” list currently includes:

• Get a haircut.
• Find a travel charger/sync cable for my Palm.
• Reconfirm my air, hotel, and rental car bookings for Austin.
• Pick up some new clothes and a new pair of brown casual shoes (to replace my old ones, which are worn out).

(I actually got this done this weekend – I was a good little consumer…)

• Run the score-match processes and select recipients for one of the scholarships I administer.
• Dig up historical data from the last two years for another one of my programs to assist the client with an audit.
• Prep my boss for a application review committee meeting that’ll be taking place in Sacramento on…yep, you guessed it, Friday.
• Finish producing the various materials for said meeting and FedEx them to the Sacramento office.
• Make sure that Performance Scoring Services is prepped for the application review committee meeting on the 17th – since I’m only getting back to work on…yep, you guessed it, the 17th.
• Get my father’s computer equipment connected to a router and bridged to their wireless network (attempt #2).
• Pack. (Duh.)
• Figure out how the hell I’m going to wake up at…oh dear Brak…4:30am…for a 7am flight on Friday.

And that’s just the stuff I could remember off the top of my head. Admittedly, the timing for the trip isn’t the best, but…really, it’s not like there’s a better time of the year to be away, so I figured, what the hell.

A side note: I was at DSW looking for shoes earlier today (don’t laugh – they have a good selection of men’s shoes in wide widths – and I’ll take any bargain I can get), when I noticed a tag that I’d never seen before. “Security Friendly”. There was a picture of an airplane on the tag, but no explanation of what the hell it means – I mean, last time I checked, most airport security checkpoints make you take your shoes off and run them through the x-ray machine. So how, exactly, are these shoes any more “security friendly” than any other shoe?

In reviewing my archives from the last few years, it seems that I fall into a February lull every year. It’s not like I’m depressed, or bored, or anything like that – it’s just that February is my busiest month of the year at work (excluding the Siemens competition, which is actually an ongoing thing), so I don’t find myself really thinking about my blog. That, or something will pop into my head, like this little nugget:

Random Thought: Political bumper stickers should have self-decaying glue.
Read the rest of this entry »

Since it seems to be what all the cool kids are doing, here’s a quick shot (via my cameraphone) of the scenic vista from my balcony. What you can’t see (because it’s on the other side of the building) is the parking lot. Sometime after I woke up this morning, it occurred to me that I might want to go outside and clean my truck off today, because I’d be all grumpy if I had to do it tomorrow before work. I was greeted by a good foot of snow on the roof and hood of my truck, and a 2-3 foot wall of tightly packed snow all around my truck, courtesy of the Canal Pointe snowplow. *grumble* In the end, it took about 1 hour to clear all the snow and move my truck into another, cleaner parking spot. (And before I forget, a quick shout-out to Neighbor With Shovel Whose Name I Can Never Remember, for giving me a hand clearing some of the snow in front of the truck.)

There seems to be a concensus that the snowstorm this weekend was a waste of snow, seeing as how the roads are going to be clear enough for me to get to work in the morning. Granted, I’d rather have the storm happen this weekend than, say, on one of my committee weekends for work (when even 3 inches of snow equals a really bad day for me). But I had things I needed to do this weekend – like go to the supermarket (which I haven’t done in about 2 weeks, and my kitchen cabinets are looking especially pathetic for it), and had the snow waited a good 24 hours, I could have done what I needed to AND gotten a snow day from work out of it. Oh well.

In other news, I guess I might as well mention that I’m all registered, booked and confirmed for South By Southwest Interactive 2005. Ostensively, I’m going for work – to support my personal development as it relates to our department’s efforts to move online. But really, I had wanted to go anyway – especially after being in Austin last year and meeting all the DFW Bloggers. So, this year I’m going to find out what all the hubub is about. Can’t wait to go.

Not a whole lot else to report right now, although I have been negligent in thanking Amanda for playing Siskel to my Ebert, as well as tour guide around DC on the tail end of New Year’s Weekend. Looking forward to the sequel. =)

Update, 10:00pm: Alright, so I got a delayed opening for work tomorrow. So I guess that’s something.