Even though I believe a rich life involves a little bit of doing things and a little bit of reflecting on them (blogging about them,) I’ve been more of a do-er than a report-er. There are many things I want to share with you, so buckle up – this might be a long one.

At work, we have a rediculously expensive clock system that uses GPS and FM signals to automatically set and synchronize the analog wall clocks in the conference, class, and lab rooms in the building. The carpenters installed most of the clocks last week, and, you guessed it, they aren’t working right. Some of them think we’re on mountain time, others are happy in central. I think I figured out why (with the help of the company’s 800# free tech support,) but it could take a while for the changes to make their way out to the clocks. If they aren’t all right tomorrow, I’ll walk around and reset them manually…. Exactly the thing we spent a crazy amount of money to avoid doing.

The rest of work is going well. I’m still making progress on my network transition plans for the summer. We’re rapidly approaching the diving board – enough talk, enough planning, enough trying to envision every side-effect. Just make the big changes and deal with the splash when you hit the water. I’m contemplating setting up a work blog (instead of categories in this blog,) but I wonder if that’s worth it. Certainly there’s a benefit to journaling my work experiences and learning, but to what degree? I might have to find that out. I could blog about my troubles with perl and my home directory, or the clocks, or the problems you encounter when Windows SFU can put files in place that traditional Windows file APIs cannot touch.

I’ve been trying to read more blogs, and I’ve thrown a few podcasts on the iPod. I still think a good 70% of things on blogs isn’t original – just someone linking to something else with their own little notes. That’s all well and good, but I want things that are interesting and new to me. (What did Tony’s kids learn this week?) The same old rehash, even worse when it’s audibly narrated to me, is annoying. Other than streaming new, unheard of music, or talk shows I’m actually interested in, I don’t see podcasting as being a big thing for me.

My LIS accounts are getting activated, and I’m able to browse their online webboard and resources. I’ve gotten 2-3 IT announcements from them in the week or so. I wonder if the LIS community has a different appreciation for IT than the CS community? I guess we’ll find out.

I was at home this weekend for the fourth, and we kept busy. Aaron and I went to Fair St. Louis on Saturday morning for the parade, food/beer, and airshow. Unfortunately, this airshow was all aerobatics and no military, so I didn’t get to see the big aircraft, or the perennial favorite Harrier. I also didn’t get a gyro or allegator, but I did enjoy corndogs with painted on mustard, ice cold Budweiser, fresh fried potato chips, a steak sandwich and a deep fried Oreo, which I guess is close enough.

On Sunday, Mom, bro and I drove down to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Mom had found an australian shepherd rescue on petfinder.com that she wanted to see, so we loaded into the Maxima (now with iTrip!) and met Lori, who became the next member of our family. She’s seven years old, and is as sharp as a tack and sweet as sugar cane. She’s a little flighty, as I would expect any transplanted dog in a new home to be, but she handled the car ride and rest of the weekend just fine, even with thunderstorms and fireworks! She has some new rules to learn, and we have some old habits of hers to break, but I think it’ll work out.

I don’t regret Lori, but adding a new pet 7 weeks after Winston left us sure pokes at a still sore wound. I think Aaron, Mom and I, each on our own terms, came to the realization this isn’t Winston – as much as we wanted her to be. None of us are fond of the Lori name, and it was all too easy (and bittersweet) to slip in a Winston…and then catch yourself, and maybe cry a little. Winston’s things came back down from the attic, unwrapped with the intention of being for Lori … and after being hugged, smelled, caressed and tear-stained, were quickly put back in their storage and will be put away again.

It’s not Lori’s fault; it’s cancer’s fault. If our Winney wasn’t taken by cancer, and Lori’s previous owner hadn’t been taken by cancer, our lives would be different. We’re all hurting, and we’ll all heal. Lori is fun and smart and beatiful. Once she lets us in, and we let her in, I’m sure we’ll find peace in the happiness we get from each other. Until then, it’s going to take some growth, and that’s not always easy, even when you want/need to do it. As I was packing up my car to leave, it was nice to glance back at the front door and see a dog staring at me through the storm window again. Sure, I’m a little sad it’s not Winston, but it’s hard not to smile at bright brown eyes and a wiggling dock, you know? Pictures will be on flickr later.

I left home at sundown on Monday, and drove by at least 7 firework shows by towns near I-70.

GSLIS is developing a new website/design, and they have a new beta of their site available. This blog post is a mental post-it for me to go back and look at it. The URL isn’t exactly memorable. (It also lets me file the email announcing it out of my inbox.)