White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Busy day, this is going to be a rather curt entry. I suppose the Saturday events are the most pleasing so starting with them would be chronologically correct and aesthetically pleasing as well. But for the rain. The cold, bone penetrating October rains. If only that were true. The manor ended up being a steam-box as the thermostat steadily inched up to 80 degrees. Fortunately, we were out on errands for a large chunk of the day. The time I was home was spent primarily in the basement where I was breaking down old card-board boxes so I could move some of the old children's stuff to rest along a wall. It's time we removed a load of our belongings so that the kids can take possession of the finished basement. Then, we can retake the living room and affect repairs to the food-splattered walls.

Earlier in the day, we had the swim lessons to attend where the Mrs would stand by and watch the kids while I would put the uber-expensive gasoline in the SuperSaturn. Yes, we are taking my vehicle now instead of the Family Tank. It saves us a gallon or two of gas and we don't buy as much 'stuff' since the storage space is limited. When we got to the club though, we noticed that there was an open-admission policy since they were having a St Judes Fundraiser at the time. It really did not make much of an impression on me since we are in an area of the gym where very little activity takes place. While I was off, the Mrs wandered about a bit and found that there was a 'Moon Bounce' inflated in one of the basketball gyms. Well, we certainly could not pass this up. The kids ran about the gym, kicking balls, flinging hand balls and doing their best to keep the moon bounce occupied for a good hour. The Mrs and I held out a glimmer of hope that the kids would tire themselves out and ask to have a nap. But alas, there was no nap to be requested. Even later in the day, around 1500 hours, the alarm inspection/repair technician from Zechman Alarm Systems stopped by to do the annual 'kick the wheels' thing to make sure every thing was in order. He normally would be out at his children's soccer games but since the field was quickly becoming flooded, he opted to get some things done ahead of schedule. My little Twin Tyrants must have sensed that he was of sufficiently 'Daddy' material since they took an immediate shine to him. I'll have to kidnap him and learn his secrets.

Sunday was a bit of a downer. I had big plans to get the basement polished off and to do a bit of cleaning to boot. It was much to wet outside to muck around with the wood. It's all wet now so it does not matter all that much as to when I bring it up to the staging platform. So, I've convinced the Mrs that it would be a great idea (TM) if she came with me to church and helped me look after both the kids. The were fighting on Saturday over who got to come with me to Mass. Far be it from me to deny either of them but I would not be able to handle them should things get out of hand. Right around the time that I was about to set out on my hallowed sojourn, the cell phone rang. It was my primary contact at the client site. They have a problem. Someone decided to launch an online store that I had done some work for. On Saturday. They need me to come in and deploy my untested software. Now. Needless to say, I was a bit miffed. It takes me a good hour to drive to work for which I receive no compensation. This, on top of gasoline and Turnpike tolls. That's two hours and 9$ cost to me. So, I'm off to do some marginal work with the family in tow. We'll an hour or two pushing some untested code (it works, it just has not been blessed) and minimal data (they have not produced the input file that I need for a week now, have to use old data) into production for which I'll probably get chewed out for not acting too fast or being too late. Alas, there is no happy middle ground to retreat to. This is the thing that makes my job interesting.

After spending WAY too much time at the King of Prussia Mall (waaayyyy to much time AND money), we headed back to the Manor. Along the way, Alexis started to show signs of her trade-mark car sickness so I made a plan to stop just short of our destination so she could get a bit of fresh air before completing our journey. So I dropped in at one of the local parks and was really quite surprised at how nice it was. I pass this particular play-ground in Masons Mill Park every day but never actually got a good look at it. After a goodly hour, we tear the kids away to get our rear ends back home. Unknown to us, Thor has already determined that we were never coming back again and crapped a mountain on the floor. Good dog, just make sure that we are indeed not returning so I wont have to drag you outside to chew you out for fear of you pissing on the floor to boot. Katie is smart, she knows better. Better dog, except she feels the primal urge to put her cold nose on the back of your knee every time she can. Better than cleaning up several metric tons of semi-digested dog food I suppose. Of course, with all the rain we have been getting there was a good chance that if I did let the dogs out back, they could have been washed away.

Finally, this morning was a good case to take a 'do-over'. Got up late, feel cranky. Lots of trees and wires down. Flood damage in low-lying areas. Traffic is bad, accidents everywhere they are the most inconvenient. Calgon, take me away!

# posted by mdmhvonpa @ 10:14 AM