Ahh Spring! A time of new beginnings…after the ones from New Year’s that have fallen through. But this time, I mean it!
On a more serious note, I’m feeling somewhat better so I apologize if my written tone has been a tad morose or dour. You may recall our end-of-the-year health scare. Although Somara still doesn’t have cancer, she still needs some follow-through with a doctor to tackle the matters related to her well-being. It’s a rather routine matter many women experience, the iffy part will be how to treat it: surgery, medication, a change in lifestyle or some combination of all three. What the doctor determines will guide our finances. Due to the lack of information, I’ve had to cancel the Vegas Trip for this Summer. It remains over 160 days away (the goal of dates) and it could happen if Somara’s treatment is relatively inexpensive (when measured against a mortgage payment).
Don’t panic or worry. Somara is fine! The gears are in motion and I added her to my insurance at the end of 2007. I do want to thank all of you I have discussed this with. Your conversations have been invaluable to me and have raised my spirits, namely my co-worker/friend Bryant.
The happier note is that I’m expanding the Picayune staff by one, Somara will be my editor. It’ll work in the same manner the Onion’s AV Club does. She’ll e-mail (or tell me in person) the errors to the stories after they’re posted. It’s not the best system compared to my experience in print (GDW and The Milwaukee Sentinel) but the key to this site is immediacy. You are all still free to point out mistakes too, or opinions as some have been. How big was the staff? I think it has been me because Tom and Jose haven’t contributed anything in over a year. I did appreciate their writing as I felt it broadened the site’s perspective.
Regarding the Spring Cleaning element. Picayune is creeping up on 1000 entries by me since I started it in this fashion on July 2005. I’m thinking of altering the categories (again) and I know how to tweak the code on it so it will only display 10 stories at a time instead of 15. I plan to take its server offline for very overdue maintenance in the near future because I need to back it up, upgrade the OS to 10.4’s last incarnation and use a copy of its image to see how much 10.5 Server will alter it. I doubt the server will be make the jump, not enough RAM is the primary qualm.
The changes around the house are off to a better start. Somara and I will probably post some before and after pictures, namely the repair we need to do in the laundry room. I would also like to de-clutter my office and make it a productive area. Based upon my current writing habits, I think a restaurant booth will need to be installed. It works for John Swartzwelder, the man who has written the most episodes of The Simpsons. Twenty years ago I scoffed at Dr. Havice’s advice on finding my groove when it came to writing, might be why he has the PhD. I will be unloading beaucoup junk too. I miss how “mobile” I was when I left North Carolina. Ten years later I’ve accumulated a whole bunch of things I must ditch or it will drive me crazy for I am trying bring a Minimalism look to the common areas of the house. Our friend Leslee’s home is the template to follow.
Wish us luck across the spectrum and some leftovers when we do finally get to Las Vegas.