Yesterday… Well, my plans for the day were to spend the day working on actual work. I’m falling behind again, and need to do some catching up, so the plan was to tear into it about 9am and get lots done during the day.
Then about 8:45 I got a call from Mom. She’d had some storm damage to the house, and wanted me to come up and deal with calling the insurance company and getting the claim filed. It’s the kind of thing that I don’t mind doing, but it threw my whole day for a loop.
On the way up there, I stopped and did a couple errands. That burned another hour. And then it turns out that the storm damage was just a few holes in the vinyl siding that I probably would have just fixed with duct tape and then never gotten around to fixing “correctly” (sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t have bought a trailer instead of a real house). Anyway, after calling in the report and eating lunch, I headed home, and got a few more errands done on the way home.
It was about 2pm by the time I was thinking of going back to work, and I was exhausted, more emotionally than anything else, since this is all the kind of thing that mom would have taken care of herself a year or two ago. So I took a nap. That stretched until 5pm, when it was time for dinner. Not a bad day if it had been a weekend, but the grand plans to have a productive day turned out to be nothing but a pipe-dream.
So today’s plan is to try again. Wish me luck.
- Because of new technologies like aluminum and composite body parts, plus many more electronics, New cars are getting too expensive to fix. I’m thinking about this a bit, as the crappy factory paint job that fell off my car has finally led to a hole rusting all the way through the driver’s door, and I’m trying to decide whether I spent a couple grand fixing up a 1992 car or look at buying a new one. Then again, the buses are running and maybe I don’t need a car at all. Well, except for the drive up to mom’s. [slashdot]
- For those of us who still use metaphorical stone-knives and bear-skins, here’s a handy little vi tip that I seldom remember until after I’m done needing it. Maybe my pointing to it here will help me remember it. [holy schmoly]
- EFF has started a Patent Busting Project to point out and attack bad software patents that threaten the ’net. As Cory says:
This is so freaking cool.
[boing boing] - President Bush says we have to Renew Patriot Act or Else, but there are more and more Congress-critters thinking that might not be the best idea. Bush also says that the Patriot Act marks a major shift in law enforcement priorities from the investigation of past crimes to prevention of future attacks. Gotta keep people from committing those thought-crimes, y’know. [wired]
- Now that the strike is done, Metro Transit will offer perks to win back riders. They’re lifting the beverage ban, giving out free newspapers, discounts on monthly passes and coupons for Twins tickets. The Daily also editorialized that the Strike’s over; get back on the bus to show support for transit. [daily]
- This is kinda spiffy: Opinion Duel is A Joint Presentation of National Review & The New Republic. It looks like they’re planning to alternate days so each has time to respond to the other. [101-280]