To be fair, I haven’t exactly lost my backpack. It’s hanging up in the laundry room. But it has — finally — worn out.

Have you ever had one of those pieces of clothing or accessories that you love? It’s your favorite and/or has lasted practically forever and you just know you’re going to cry when it finally wears out?

About fifteen years ago, I found this great, dark green backpack. It was heavy canvas, had a ton of pockets, and has worn like iron for all these years. I had it all through High School and most of college; its hauled books, countless groceries, and even a cat or two. Back when I was in school, it was my portable locker. (I seldom kept anything but my coat in my locker. My partner wasn’t exactly known for securing it when she was done. In fact, it was actually pretty risky even being at the locker whenever she was there. More than once, I had a heavy book dropped on my head because she was in such a god-forsaken rush.)

In college, it held martial arts equipment, fencing equipment, books, gym clothes, photography things, and incredibly huge books. More than once over all those years, I emptied it out and used it to go buy groceries.

Lately, it’s been hauling my tools, clipboards, jacket, extra drinks, and other items for work. It’s been thrown under tables, hung up on rough pipes, and exposed to who-knows-what.

So it’s not like it didn’t have every right to eventually fall apart. But all the same, it did.

The neighbors have been letting their cats loose, which doesn’t sit well with any of my girls. I should have known and hung the bag up. It didn’t help that I played hooky on Tuesday for a variety of reasons, which always makes things worse. Either way, I left it on the floor and right in harm’s way. So, Echo kind of expressed her irritation by anointing it. I didn’t think, sprayed a little Simple Solution on it, and threw it in the washer like I’ve done for years.

And… it now has several huge holes in it.

Which leaves me with the task of finding a brand new bag that will (hopefully) last me as long as this one has. In the meantime, I am bummed about loosing my favorite bag!

I mean seriously — the S2 source code is a good way to learn but it would be much better facilitated by properly documenting your code like you’re supposed to!

Still trying to get my new LiveJournal layout coded. I know I could have just re-styled an existing layout using CSS, but I wanted to use my full design — not LiveJournal’s. Besides, none of my attempts really resulted in anything usable.

So, I’m actually coding my layout using S2. Trust me, it’s way more complicated than Wordpress or any of the other blog systems I’ve used. Couldn’t they have used a template system?? Oh well, I guess. I am pretty thankful for my experience in C++, Visual Basic, and Java.

Yes, if you know my schedule — I’m playing hooky tonight. We had heavy rain today, which changed over to heavy snow by the time we had to set out for work at 10pm.

Visibility was down to maybe 5 - 10 feet and mom could barely keep control of the car at 15mph. It was really scary when we had to pass the swamp and then the lake; both have steep ravines down to the water. By the time we reached the firehouse (a truck pulled out just before we got there with full lights and sirens) we decided that retreat was the better part of valor. So anyway, still at home. Second week in a row we didn’t make it for the Friday shift.

Oh well, I guess. Gives me a chance to catch up on havocmangawip’s yummy Havoc/Sciezka fic and code my LJ layout until I pass out. (Of course, the paper I have to write for WEB411 hasn’t found it’s way in front of me.)

Merry Belated Christmas, everyone! Seriously belated, I know. ^^;

I hope the holidays went well for everyone and you made out like a bandit. (Including not too much family drama!)

Mine went surprisingly well this year. No drama from my step-great-grandmother, though for the past several years she’s had to constantly lament her Celiac and that she can’t eat anything and everything tastes like crap. There was actually an even exchange of normal, Celiac-, and diabetic- friendly foods on the table this year. This is a huge improvement over last year where I ended up eating sea-food salad for my Christmas dinner and having a lime yogurt for dessert.

Nothing significant to report for gifts for us. I guess the rest of our family is just as stumped on what to get everyone as we are. I got a gift certificate to Express, a couple checks, and a mini food processor. (Which I plan to use, because fine-mincing herbs and vegetables for some of my recipes is a pain.) The rest of the family got gift certificates too. (Not that I’m complaining.)

I think next year I’m going to put together some jewelry like I’ve been wanting to do for a while or I’ll find one of those universal or multi-store gift cards. I keep threatening to make jewelry for everyone, but I’ve never done it because of the cost involved. Good beads and findings that don’t look flimsy or cheap are really expensive. However, now that all of us are employed, I think I can do it.

Anyway, aside from the snow, Christmas went really well this year. We’re still working on getting the leftovers out of the house, but we’re making progress. Though if I ever make my own low-carb cranberry sauce again, I’m either going to have to use more sweetener or else use a little orange juice instead. That was just a bit too tart. Maybe using the orange rind as a garnish instead of cooking it with the cranberries would be better too. (I’ll have to post it once I have more time to experiment.)

I’m also getting over a slight sore throat, but nothing major beyond a little cough and a bit of a runny nose. My Aunt Karla took mom and I out on a “Girl’s Day Out” at Woodland Mall on the 21st and found out Jass and I like clothes from Express. I went and tried on jeans, but between not wearing the right underwear for trying on low-rise jeans, being exhausted from work, and sticker shock at the $70 price-tag, I didn’t have the right mind-set to buy anything. Actually, I didn’t buy much at the mall total, but I did find a new purse, some new underwear from Victoria’s Secret, and had my first Starbucks cappuccino.

I told my Aunt she was going to have to kidnap me again sometime, probably a Saturday so I could be more awake to hit the mall. OH, and I had the best Japanese-style lunch at the mall too. They have this food court with different, little restaurants. They have everything from pizza to different ethnic foods all set up in little booths. I hit up the Japanese one and got myself some teriyaki chicken, steamed rice, and then some steamed vegetables. It wasn’t the sushi I’ve been craving, but it was still really good. Mom went next-door to the Chinese booth and got some great sesame chicken. I don’t remember what my aunt got, I think she hit the Thai or the other Japanese booth.

With the way Christmas was situated this year, I had to go back to work for Wednesday, Thursday, and then Friday night. Friday night, I got to work with Ryan over in the rework area and let me tell you he had me geeking out. He actually knew what anime was! That part of the conversation didn’t last long, since those are the only two he’s seen, but it was nice being able to talk with someone with interests more like mine for a change. He’s a Cowboy Bebop fan and likes what little he’s seen of Full Metal Alchemist, though he hasn’t seen much. I didn’t care. Someone actually knew about anime! I had so much fun! It was great!

Anyway, I guess I’ve rambled enough. Much love, everyone!

So far, my summer seems to be going well. I’m partipating in the eFiction Project actively for the first time in a long while, though probably not as much as I could be. (Actually, I’m probably being downright annoying.)

One of the large sites must have pissed people off again, my site has had a massive surge in visits and new authors. I keep checking my stats, but I can’t tell what site is referring them. I’m actually very glad I brought in all those extra moderators. I’m used to the sudden hush the RL/AR used to get; all this activity is a tab unnerving. ^^;

eFiction 3.0 is going to be very very cool, but I’m dreading switching us over. I’ve added so many extras there is going no easy way to upgrade. ^^;; But… ooh, it is awesome. There’s just so many new things in this release, it’s just going to be pure awesomeness. (Is that even a word??)

My Kiwi layout has hit a bump, since I don’t remember what I wanted to do with it anymore. I can’t find my original design sketch either, so I can check my plan. XD I might just trash it and work on Green tea instead.

While I’m thinking about it, I need up re-do my blog. I’ve begun posting my eFiction junk to it, which is kind of cluttering it. I also want it to have a more professional look, since I’m going to put a portfolio and my resume on it. (I probably should clean up the language too *grimace, laugh*)

For the first time in years, we have a garden. It’s nothing special, just some tomatos, strawberries, and some flowering plants that I’ve planted in pots so if I need to move again they can come with me.

Local news has me feeling a little more optimistic:

Google to bring 1000 jobs to Michigan

LANSING — High tech - and high-tech jobs — hits Michigan with Tuesday’s announcement that Google will open a facility in Ann Arbor.

At a morning press conference, Governor Granholm officially unveiled the project that will add 1,000 jobs to Michigan’s workforce.

The new facility involves Google’s AdWords unit, which handles “pay-per-click” advertising to Google’s users. To sweeten the deal, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation gave Google a high-tech business tax credit worth more than $38 million over 20 years. (more…)

I sincerely don’t want to move to Ann Arbor, that’s way too close to one of my mom’s aunts… who is just way too much like Sheba for my tastes. BUT if it means I can get a good job doing what I enjoy doing, then by the Gods of warfare — I’ll do it! (What Karla doesn’t know won’t hurt her me.)

Other than that, we’re holding on. Mom blew a tire last night on her way to work and had to get a ride from our neighbor, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The local tire shop quoted her about $80 for a new tire plus installation, but then the owner decuded ti only charge her $50. ^___^

DTE Energy keeps calling, demanding their money. Maryann still wants her $600 back, plus we keep getting letters from collection agencies for some of the bills we incured trying to get out of Alpine Medows… so we’re not out of the woods yet. The pressure has just been let up a bit.

I’m trying to work with a lady who bought one of my books off from Amazon.com. There were 4 audio chapter review CDs that came with the book and I said they were included in my post. I remember putting them in the envelope with the book and so does mom and Jasson, but apparently the CDs didn’t make it there. The envelope was apparently intact, so they didn’t fall out. *sighs* Being good, I retraced my steps to see if I lost them on the way to the post office. Nothing in lost and found. I called the publisher and distribution center to see if could buy new copies, they’re only part of a bundle deal.

I’m more than a little dubious about the whole thing. First of all, she waited a month to e-mail me and is now taking anywhere from 5 days to weeks to write me back each time. She says she absolutely has to have those CDs for her class. I’ll admit that they were helpful in allowing me to study during the eviction and while moving, but they weren’t that helpful nor essential. I have no idea what’s going on. I finally offered her a refund and it’s going on about two weeks since I last heard from her.

Mom has come right out and wondered if she isn’t trying to weasel copies of the CDs out of me so she can have two. She’s also wondered if they CDs aren’t/weren’t in the bottom of the envelope. *shrugs* Her guess is as good as mine.

I swear, if I sell anything else on Amazon — they only thing I’m writing is the book’s condition. No information on infotrac or anything extra that comes with it. And then I’m going to mummify the damned thing so nothing falls out.

Anyroad, that’s my summer so far. Much love to everyone.

Please don’t laugh, but… I’ve finally finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

All I have to say is DAMN! What a way to end a book. From here on out, you’ll have to highlight if you want to see what I’ve written.