A Letter

I'm back from my Arizona trip (more on that later), so I stopped by the Post Office to pick up my mail. In my box, I found a letter that left me speechless and full of a melancholy mix of feelings ranging from happiness to relief to longing. I'll be writing extensively about its contents and how they are affecting me, but for now, I will say this: If I ever have to abandon my home on short notice for some reason, this letter will be in my hands as I go out the door. It's that good.

Unexpected Message

I just received a message from a close friend. What surprised me is that it was delivered by proxy via a mutual friend of ours. Given the situation, I'm not entirely surprised about the method or the content, but it was unexpected. Unfortunately, it is now in my mind taking up space that should be used to enjoy the short vacation that starts when I finish this posting.

Wish I could write more about this topic, but I can't. There are things I just have to accept in the now, even as I hope for a different outcome in the future.

Brilliant Article about the Debacle Known as Confederate History Month

Read this piece by Ta-Nehisi Coates, who is one of only two or three writers still worth reading at the wretched publication that calls itself The Atlantic. Nothing I could say could add to the impact of what I felt when I read it. The picture at the top of the article is remarkable, as well.

(h/t: Dennis G.'s posting @ Balloon-Juice)

A Great Ending to a Down Week

Woke up this morning to a dark, dreary, and rainy "Spring" morning. Was expecting the lousy week to continue, especially after figuring out that I owe a whole bunch of hundreds of dollars on my taxes (it's good; I don't mind paying them, but ouch). However, on the train into the city, I decided to be open-minded about the possibilities. After all, any Friday is usually a good day, so who knew what could happen?

After one large delicious cup of coffee, the morning was already starting to look up. My third product demo at work was ready to go with only a minor tweak to make it pretty damned good. I figured out the LDAP problem that's been bugging me all week (failed post-install script...argh...should have written the installer myself), and think I have a solution. The demo went well. I caught up on some of my backlog. Throughout the day, I cheered as I watched a series of updates about how President Obama's administration went to town on the banksters. But, best of all, someone very special to me told me about some joyous news she received.

And then, Friday's work was done, and I was on the train home, listening to some great indie rock on my iPod with a smile on my face. Good stuff, indeed. What could be better?

Oh, I don't know. How about another perfect panini and a cold Fisherman's Bavarian Wheat?

Yeah. Life is grand. Hope your Friday was a good one, too.

Balloon-Juice Commentors Savage the Snowbilly Grifter

Love Balloon-Juice; it's my favorite blog. No offense to my own little space here, mind you, but it'll be a while before it can keep up with its level of snarky brilliance. This post's comments, as with most postings on B-J, are well worth the read. However, comments 41, 43, 45, and 46 are excellent, and worthy of being called out.

I mean, how can you not love this comment?

I’ve invited Sarah Palin to send me a 1000 word explanation

Do you seriously want to wade into that linguistic killing field?

Perfection!

Mmm...Pressed Sammich!

I'm waiting for a nice sammich to finish heating up on my panini press/griddle (definitely in the top ten list of favorite presents). Today's deliciousness is a smoked turkey and cheddar on whole wheat, with a nice bonus of thin gala apple slices that I browned on the press before putting them in the sammich.

I know this isn't profound, but I never cease to be amazed at how pressing almost any sammich turns it into something sublime. Discuss.

Update: Went with triangles (2), but I'm agnostic about that sort of thing. And I always eat my crusts.

Tuesday Evening Repair

It's been a while. I'll see what I can do about writing more often, even if it's nothing big.

Spent an hour this evening fixing the drawer in my kitchen island, and was surprisingly satisfied when my fix worked as planned. I say this because repairs are a mixed bag when it comes to how I feel when they're finished. Some of them (car repairs, for one) can be so messy, expensive, and annoyingly drawn-out in scope that I mainly feel relief when they're finished. Think about how you feel when you've just collapsed after a hot and humid day of moving heavy boxes, and you'd be close.

In contrast, tonight's table fix was enjoyable. Yes, it helps that I didn't have to scrub grease off my hands (nothing wrong with that, but still), but repairing the drawer made me happy. Perhaps it's something about working with wood; I almost always enjoy woodworking, so that could be it.

Anyway, for anyone keeping track of such things, I didn't wear the tool belt tonight, but I did pull out my favorite small drill and my standard tool bag, and I sat underneath the island while I measured, drilled, and fixed the broken slide mounts. Imagine away, if you're into that sort of thing. :)