Done last week (20150405Su - 11Sa)

[mdlbear]

As often happens, I managed to end the week feeling frustrated and unproductive despite getting, actually, quite a lot done. Past failings have the most to do with it, as in I didn't restart working on taxes until Saturday evening, at which point I got around to noticing that the printed returns from the last two tax years have gone missing. And I couldn't find the final sale documents from the Starport, either, so made do with the estimates. Doesn't matter because everything but the depreciation I took last year was excluded. And of course I hadn't yet gone through my charity and business receipts. AAARGH!

Clearly, my record-keeping sucks. And I haven't been practicing. And things are somewhat behind at work. I need to work on these things.

On the plus side, though, I did make progress on my work project, and even got one of my more questionable design decisions validated (so that's work I *don't* have to redo). And I made a phone call I've been putting off for months, and got the thing done, and it wasn't as bad or as embarrassing as I expected it to be. And I've gotten a lot done on house projects (because anything is more than fun than taxes, including shifting boxes around and taking out the garbage).

And my laptop is fixed. Also in the computer area, I'm getting pretty good at configuring new Ubuntu installs. :/ And I found a ThinkPad USB Keyboard w Integrated Touchpad on eBay, at a price way too good to pass up. (I've been seeing them going for over $400!) Unlike more recent versions, this one has a built-in 2-port USB hub, and a small touchpad that recognizes 2-finger scrolling. (But not, ironically, on a Mac. Though since it doesn't have a logo key, it's useless on a Mac anyway.) I'm not expecting to get the leather carrying case, since this is a used item.

And my family is, as usual, awesome. Including the four-footed members. My health is holding out pretty well. Physical health, anyway. (Notice how I resisted the temptation to add a string of qualifications that amount to me not taking as good care of myself as I could.) (Notice how I used "could" in that sentence instead of "should".) That's progress, of a sort. I'll take it.

On the whole, looking at the above, I think this has been a pretty decent week, even with the taxes unfinished. Links in the notes, as usual.

0405Su
  * up 6ish; W=212.4; Shower, laundry
  * headboard and side rails after breakfast
  * Trundle bed after _second_ breakfast
    -> trundle warped, but flattens out pretty well with a futon in it.
    -> bed slats really crappy; at least 4 need replacing.  I have a couple of VGF 1x4s;
       10 more and we could replace the lot.  That sounds really attractive.
  * Home Depot run for 10 vertical-grain DF 1x4x6's
  * 5:20 slats cut.  Made the stupid mistake of assuming all the pieces I got from HD were
    actually 6' long.  Fortunately the rails are 2x2s, so there's plenty of slop, and none
    of the slats I cut were more than .5" short.
  * Pay bills:  mortgage
  * Seder, using the Haggadah that N wrote.

0406Mo
  * Up 4:40ish; W=210.2; laundry
  " QOTD: (Glenn) Cats -- sometimes it's easier to pick them up than to herd them. "
  @ Stephen Savitzky - Google Scholar Citations
  * Productive at work.  Unit tests.  Oddly enough, most things kind of worked the way I
    expected them to.
  * ordered a different collection of cat food.  Petco's site was a nightmare, even with
    PrivacyBadger turned off.  Next time I won't bother.  Ordered a variety pack from $A
  : 9:40 Curio on the desk nuzzling and purring up a storm.  Wonder if there's any
    connection to the previous item.

0407Tu
  * up 5:55; W=208.4; laundry, dishes
  * not quite so productive at work; fighting with Mockito.  The class I was testing
    worked fine, though.
  : Somebody called claiming that we won a large sum of money from Publishers'
    Clearinghouse.  I'll wait until the check clears before celebrating.  But if it comes
    in time to pay the taxes, I'll take it. 
  @ solarbird | on buying some hugo awards, and voting NO AWARD

0408We
  * up 6:35; W=207.2; laundry, dishes
  & Got home late.  Unit tests are engrossing.

0408Th
  * up 6:30; W=208.4; ... dishes
  & called pch.com and confirmed that it was a scam.  What Colleen reached when she told
    me she'd confirmed it is an open question.  I'm guessing she looked on the website,
    didn't find a number (it's not all that easy to find), called back the number that
    she'd called, and didn't remember that she'd done it that way.
  * heard from ProgressiveTech -- Cygnus is back in operation.  Will probably pick up
    Saturday.
  * rummaged around in the garage and found my drawknife.
  : gnome has pretty much gone to hell.
    apt-get --install-suggests xfce4 # the --install-suggests hauls in a *lot* of goodies.
    -> mistake.  pretty much everything, which ran me out of disk space (on a 150G
       partition).  So... don't do that.
  @ software recommendation - What kinds of desktop environments and shells are
    available? - Ask Ubuntu good list.

0410Fr
  * up 5:50; W=207.8; ... laundry
  * call Chase re: due date on card.  Should have been done months ago; not clear why it
    took me so long.  Denial, I guess.  Same thing that got me into the mess in the first
    place.
  * Mostly-productive day at work, with some good conversations at the end because Friday.
  : Interesting question from a coworker:  how have I kept up to date in our field?
    Reading, mostly.  Including reading a lot of code, as it turns out.
  " QOTD: (me) Don't want to drive downtown, nope -- too many people like me on the
    sidewalks. "
  * found a TouchPad keyboard on eBay for $69; jumped on it.  It's half to a third of what
    I've been seeing.
  * 15min:  sort stack of papers on toolbox.  Locate other stacks.  There are boxes of
    2013 and 2014 receipts that will want sorting but probably not before tax time.


0411Sa
  * up 6:30ish; W=208.8; laundry
  : Something I did on Trantor killed sound.  Grump.  Annoying, but nothing more than
    that.  The disk isn't being used very efficiently, and ought to be reformatted anyway.
  @ Albedo100 | Reflective Sprays
    Volvo Cars Life Paint
  * Some sorting in the garage, followed by conversation with N and, later, G.
  * go to Progressive Tech and pick up (repaired laptop) Cygnus
  * Colleen took me out to lunch at Bahama Breeze in Southcenter.  Tasty; not for spice
    wimps.  Made for a rather long trip.
  * 15min:  Installed the hook for G's hanging lamp
  * 15min:  Went on a tool hunt for my router and bits; also found the jointer plane.
  * 15min:  Sorting statements.  Ugh.
  * Made slider.  Attached suitable bit to router.  
    Still to go:  add spacers, mount router. 
  * 15min:  brought up a box of cookbooks.
  * Taxes.  Need business expenses and deductions.  
    -> my printed forms from 2014 and 2013 seem to have gone missing.  GLEEP.  My
       record-keeping the last few years has been really abysmal.
  * Re-installed Trantor with an 80GB partition for Ubuntu instead of 16.  Much more
    comfortable.  Still installing when I went to bed.

Comments

[amaebi]

Catching up sucks till it's done-- congratulations on getting so much done!

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

Hang in there!

[mdlbear]

Thanks!