This week has just zipped by... here it is Friday already. I've been struggling with configuring my laptop, struggling to get browser configured with correct proxy server settings so I can access corporate intranet so I can download the appropriate network access software so I can access the network file server so I can get the files from my old laptop that I had moved to there. This is not my favorite way to spend time.

I promise no more political rants (at least for a while). Meanwhile, whilst politicians scheme and campaign, real life goes on...

Nancy and I may have a semi-empty nest tonight. Last night Jennifer asked if it would be okay if she slept over at a friend's house tonight. (She's such a nice kid.) Her friends were planning a movie marathon. This morning she informed me that she probably would not be home for dinner, that they were all going to eat together as part of this movie watching evening, and also that Sean was going to be there also during the evening hours (and that she would give him a ride back home around midnight if that would be okay). So I guess I won't have to take the kids into account when I fix dinner tonight.

Sidebar #1This gathering tonight is at the home of one of Jennifer's friends, let me call her Sara. The current plans (and we all know how plans can change) is that Sean will be Sara's escort for her junior prom at her high school (which is not the same school that Sean and Jennifer attend). Although Sean is two years younger than Sara, he can easily pass for being a junior or a senior (actually, except when he has shaved off his beard, he is often mistaken for a college student) and nobody at her school would think that he is younger.

File downloaded, now I need to unzip it and then I need to run it and configure it and who know what all just to be able to get to the network file server so I can get my files back...

Sidebar #2Nancy uses the left side of our garage; I use the right side. (Well, in winter I do; much of the rest of the year my side of the garage is filled with bicycles, etc. and I park in the driveway). Jennifer parks on my side, but at foot of the driveway, so there is room for me to back out of the garage and cut around her car. One night a few weeks ago I backed out of the garage paying close attention to the my side mirror clearing the garage weatherstripping (very close quarters with lawn mower and garbage cans, etc.) and as I cut the wheel so the back of my car would angle to the left around Jennifer's car I bumped into something -- Sara was visiting and had parked her parents' van in the driveway right up by Nancy's side of the garage. I hadn't seen it as I backed out and had bumped the right side slider door... Didn't appear to be any damage at first (at night in the dark) but my left rear bumper had some scratches... checking closer showed a dent about six inches in diameter and about a half inch deep. Body shop estimate was a bit over six hundred dollars. Ouch.... but I wrote a check... no way am I going to turn that into my insurance company... we have three cars, three drivers (one of whom is a teenager) and are paying a fortune already and in fourteen months Sean will turn sixteen and will be able to get his license. Paying out of pocket is cheaper than what would happen to our insurance premiums.

Okay, I've about had it for playing with computers for today. I think I'm going to save this entry and go home, finish putting it up sometime tonight... since I worked through lunch I didn't get down to the Y for a workout at noon, so maybe Nancy would like to do an exercise video with me (if not, I'll just go for a run)... then need to figure out something for dinner... and spend a quiet evening at home... which means she will probably grade papers or do lesson plans and I will study some object-oriented design or maybe some WebSphere...