I am now a "boyfriend". *grin* Conversely, that means I have a girlfriend...and her name is Stephanie. This probably surprises some of you, while for others it helps explain why I've been so happy over the past few weeks!

Stephanie might be reading this, so I won't elaborate too much, lest she become embarassed. Suffice it to say, she is an amazing person and I think we will grow together.

In other news...I got my first message in the "Comments" area here. My uncle Ladell wrote one and hopefully that breaks the ice for others. (hint, hint)

As a PDA update, I think I know which one I want but it seems that Rob wants to talk me out of it and get a different one. He knows the choices and capabilities better than I do given his work at Franklin-Covey, so I value his opinions on this subject.

Had a breakfast meeting with John from church this morning. Yummy little place near my house called the Breakfast Corner. Good food and nice conversation.

Bowling again this evening, but with people from work this time. 2 weeks in a row that I'll be out bowling!! Relaxation before that time -- maybe reading some of Oliver and catching up with Buffy and Enterprise on tape.

Listening to the soundtrack from Vanilla Sky as I write this. Great music! Dowload the mp3 files or buy yours today!

Rolling into the weekend now. Fun planned for Friday night and then more bowling (a big group from the office) on Saturday night!! I do have to wake up by 8:30 am for a conference call, but I get to do that from home in my pj's. *laugh*

Still shopping for a PDA. Thought I knew what I wanted and then looked at some other options, so now I'm not sure! Isn't that the story of my life, though?

Can it be true that none of my friends have websites?

Mike has some pictures up, so go check 'em out!

There are others with pictures and I will add links in subsequent days, but does anyone have a series of pages or a journal?

Playing with the possibility of having any of you out there add comments to what I write...5th attempt here.

Yesterday, 2 people mentioned things which they read in this journal. (you know who you are) The reference via email was specific and included a request for the story behind some terminology in Cribbage. Still working on finding the answer to that one.

In the meantime, check out cribbage.org from the "American Cribbage Congress". A south-east Michigan group is forming now!!

The other reference came during a phone call. I said something and the response was "oh yeah, you wrote about that" (or something similar).

It's odd. I sent out the address for this journal so that I could share it with people, yet it still feels mostly like I'm writing to/for myself. Every so often, it's nice to have a reminder that people are reading! *smile*

Note: this post was written during lunchtime.

Maybe that is the purpose of this journal? Answering odd questions and providing definitions for odd cliches and phrases.

Any suggestions/requests?

Microsoft Outlook and Adobe PDF have been the bane of my existence these past few days.

What does "bane of my existence" mean, anyway?

Well, according to MerriamWebster, "bane" is "a source of harm or ruin".
So, "bane of my existence" is "a source of harm or ruin of my existence".

Yeah, that about covers what Outlook and PDF files have been doing to me today!

Trying to relax now. Perhaps music from Jack Johnson will help?

Listened to Mode earlier, but it was a bit too lively -- given my current mood.

In other news...the comments have been pouring in about this new journal. Okay, one person wrote and said they skimmed it. Thanks Mary! Anyone else lurking out there?

All I have to say right now is...

ARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Okay, I feel better now.

Just cruddy technical problems at work. Other than that, things are going pretty well.

Fiddling with the look of this page a bit (okay, a lot). Trouble is, blogger is being flaky and Interland still hasn't fixed the server for gautscheconstruction.com yet. It was up most of the afternoon, but now it seems to be down again. So, if things don't look quite right...it's not my fault!!!

Time to call it a day and head for home!

Attempt #3 to write this post. Each time before this, I have gotten distracted and then my connection timed out...so I lost what I was writing.

Speed is the key!

So the quest for today is to find a PDA. Back in the day (just a few years ago), I bought an Apple Newton Message Pad 2000 on eBay. Great unit! Fantastic handwriting recognition, good battery life, and nice user interface. Unfortunately, it was a bit large and I didn't feel like carrying it around in a case. So I turned a quick profit by selling it!

Now I'm looking at the offerings from Palm. Fortunately, I my friend Rob works at FranklinCovey and is helping me with information. So many choices! Right now I'm thinking about a refurbished m500 or m505.

Lunch time. Lileks.com is a part of my daily routine.

It's Monday.

On Sunday, I decided that I was ready to send out the link for this journal so that people could start reading it. I like talking to myself, but there is a limit! *laugh*

So...I made a quick check of the site and -- nothing. The gautscheconstruction.com domain was unreachable. Called the provider (Interland) this morning and apparently there was a hardware failure with the server. No estimate on when it will be fixed. I guess these things happen. Up to this point, in almost 2 years of using Interland, this is the first serious problem I have encountered. It will be interesting to see how quickly they fix the problem.

In the meantime, I am going to keep writing so that when I am finally able to share the site, there are lots of things to read at the beginning.

2 questions which stuck in my mind from yesterday:

Q1) What are lingonberries?

A1) "Lingonberries are small, red, edible berries that grow on a perennial, woody, evergreen shrub with a low growth habit. They are related to both blueberries and cranberries. Lingonberries are native to Scandinavia, Alaska, and northeastern Canada.

They are similar to cranberries but not quite as tart and they make great jam, jelly, juice, sauce, wine and liquer." Quoted from -- http://agsyst.wsu.edu/lingonberriesbroc.pdf (warning: large PDF file)

More information on lingonberries is available at: http://www.weeksberry.com/LING.HTML

Q2) Why is 3 strikes in a row while bowling called a "turkey"?

A2) From www.bowlingfans.com: "Over 100 years ago a turkey was given away as a prize for 3 strikes in a row since it was a rare feat."