Why Does Vacation Just Zip By?
December 12, 2007
Wow, the time just flies by when you are on vacation. It hardly seems like its been a week so far, but it has. Luckily, I will still be on vacation for almost another three weeks.
The worst part is that it seems like I have accomplished almost nothing of substance done while on vacation. Or at least nothing done except computer work and a bunch of work done on my websites. The kids are still in school, so we don’t get to play around as much as I like when on my yearly end of the year vacation. Unfortunately, they dont get much vacation before Christmas this year. They get the week of Christmas and the week of New Years off. I am slated to go back to work on the 2nd of January but am contemplating just taking that whole week off to enjoy the family.
Speaking of website work, its the holiday season, so it must be time to give Cruise Talk Central another facelift. I was pretty happy when I finished with the theme about a year ago, but every week, the happiness left a bit. The theme is just to wordy and too tubular. The information is good, but needs a different sort of presentation. So, I have been sitting down and sketching out how I wanted it too look. I plan to give it more of magazine look.
I had just started coding up the CSS for the new design when I came across a brand newly released theme that met like 80% of my requirements. So, I have shifted gears and am now customizing that theme for Cruise Talk Central. I hope to launch the new theme there before the first of the year.
I am also continuing my work on the Simple Forum plugin for WordPress. I am helping the main developer prepare the next major release of the software, version 3.0. We are hoping for a Beta release in January, but that may be overly aggressive considering with both have Christmas things to do.
The cold which hit me the first day of my vacation is slowly fading away. Luckily, it never really hit that hard, but it did let me know it was here. Suzanne appears that she may be coming down with a mild case of it too.
The two day snow storm that hit Southern Arizona yesterday has left. It actually was mostly rain for everyone except for folks in the higher elevations. The mountains around us are covered in a wonderful layer of snow. Some mountains received a couple feet of snow. At our elevation of 5000 feet, we had several brief snow showers, but no accumulation. In an average year here, we end up with some accumulation about twice a year. I wouldn’t actually mind a few more in a year. Having grown up in Michigan, though, I wouldn’t want to go back to those winters.
Okay, time to go do something useful with the vacation time, like maybe clean the house for Suzanne while she is off volunteering at the VA Hospital today.
First Day Of My Yearly Xmas Vacation
December 7, 2007
Today, I began my annual Christmas vacation. Inevitably, the year has been very busy and I have a hard time taking vacation. Thus, at the end of the year, I always have a bunch of vacation that I have to take or lose. This year wasn’t any different. I haven’t decided if I will be going back to work on the 2nd of January or the 7th.
Things have been heating up at work too and its likely I may have to go in a day or two to work on some new efforts. It’s one of those catch-22 things. I’d rather not go into work, but yet, it would be really nice to land those new efforts. So, we shall see.
Unfortunately, I woke up with a bit of a cold this morning. That’s not exactly the way I wanted to start my vacation. Hopefully, it will be short lived and be long gone by the time Christmas gets here.
Suzanne and the kids are really busy right now. Next Saturday is their Christmas recital for the Alma Dolores International Dance Studio. So most nights and then all day tomorrow will be done rehearsing. It gives me a chance to get some work in on my internet open source project. We are shooting for a Beta release of the next version in January, so I could use the time.
We finally got our Christmas tree and got it up. Next step will be to put some lights on it and decorate it. Suzanne and the kids like to be part of that, but are really busy right now. Maybe we can get to it on Sunday. We are thinking about throwing up a few decorations outside too. Its always a hard decision because living in the country, not many people would see what we do.
We have started looking for travel reservations for the Klasen family reunion in Michigan next June/July, but its not pretty. The lowest priced tickets right now are going for over $425. For four family members, that gets expensive. We also have to go to San Antonio in March for a Pechuls family reunion. They will make for a busy family year. We are still undecided if we will book a cruise next year. We really want to, but have to consider all the other commitments.
Incidentally, doing this post from my new laptop while watching a movie. The movie, Hair Spray, is pretty bad and not very enjoyable. Suzanne and the kids seem to be enjoying but I needed to do something to stay awake.
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