We had a delightful time seeing everyone at the Ogle’s for a pseudo-surprise birthday party for Bruce. Ginger’s got better observations than I on this topic, so let me take this opportunity to encourage you to check her new Ogle Family blog. There’s even an RSS/Atom feed for those of you who, like me, prefer to get at the web content that way. Let me only add to what she has to say my own thanks to the Ogles for hosting and to everybody who attended for the great time.
I had client work in Keizer on Saturday morning. I enjoy helping people use their Macs to fullest advantage. I must say, however, that the Salem Mac Store has completely fallen apart in recent months, that’s not made my job any easier. (I see that they’ve changed general managers so maybe that’s part of it.) Suffice to say that every interaction I’ve had with them in the past two or three weeks has ended with them apologizing. First they order the wrong RAM, then they can’t get the right RAM, then they can’t find the machine I had the client drop off….I love to support local business, but they’re making it hard. Right now, all I’ll say is that I don’t recommend them for RAM purchase or installation.
We got a bit of a late start to our overnight camp out with Dennis and Maria at Beverly Beach State Park. It was nonetheless a terrific time, and we really enjoyed hanging out them them. Might have been better if the kids had been a touch more cooperative before bedtime, but really our biggest gripe is that it was too short an experience. (Next camp out we’re going for longer!) Big thanks to Dennis and Maria for the great time!
We returned from the beach just in time for my soccer game, a 7-1 thrashing which represents the worst loss I’ve been a part of in years. We did not bring our “A” game and the other team did. We started with 17 players and ended without any subs due to injury. It was brutal. The less I think about it the better, so next topic….
One consequence of the game for me was a re-injury to my back. My calf is bummed as well, but it’s my back I’m most concerned about. It’s not like I get to take time off from lifting Elisha during the day. Anyway, I missed a great outing at the Starrs’ in Portland Sunday night because of this stupid thing. I’m glad Erin and the kids got to go, though.
The kids and I hung out at my parents’ place on Monday. Bret was down from Portland. Showed off his latest surgery scar. He seems to be moving around fairly well, though obviously he’s not doing anything strenuous yet. I’m fairly confident that my recovery route doesn’t include the types of things he’s going through, but time will tell. My back is plainly not happy with me right now.
Bret popped out a bit of a surprise in the guise of a 30 GB iPod, something I spent a good few minutes messing with. I have a lot of techno-lust for the thing, but thus far I’ve held off since I can’t yet get one with built-in voice recording (and the recording quality you get by adding a third-party device is pretty lousy). Still, it’s a compelling little item, and I admit my temptation level is very high. We’ll see how the finances shape up after Erin gets her first paycheck of the new academic year. Maybe I can swing one. That’d cheer me up for sure.