Happy Birthday to my late grandfather!

Work:

Work’s going remarkably well, I think. I’ve been working on implementing an object that’s a critical part of one of the systems I’ve been designing, and it’s actually coming along much faster than I thought it would. It’s not super complex, mind you, and the logic behind the *system* is actually completely missing, but we’ll be able to get an idea of how it *feels* in the world, which is sort of strange, even without the underlying logic. So that’s actually pretty cool.

I’ve definitely been getting more responsibility at work, which is a pleasant… I wouldn’t call it a surprise – I’ve been trying explicitly to get this to happen, so I’m not … surprised – I suppose it’s all proceeding as I have forseen at a much quicker rate than I’d expected. I expected to have to pick the lock, but it looks like in the process, I’ve actually busted the door down, and appear to be able to walk in, straight away. I expect that there’s work/disappointments/arduous labor to be had in the process, but so far, it’s been really invigorating.

Actually, at this particular moment, I wouldn’t change a thing.

I’ve got enough responsibility, that I can lay out the course for what I’m doing, and actually see it almost all the way through to the end. Something I probably couldn’t do in a more design-oriented role, and something I definitely couldn’t do in a more OE-oriented role. For me, this is exactly where I want to be right this minute.

House:

The windows look like they’re actually ok. I say that hesitantly, because it was raining pretty hard tonight, and still no leaks that I can see. That’s not to say it won’t happen, but it looks pretty damn good, all things considered, and I’m actually optimistic that this fix might stick. Of course, the tradeoff is that we have rats, and even though we’ve taken measures to isolate them from food, and the upstairs peeps have sealed off some of the more obvious access points, it looks like we’re going to have to put our faith in the hands of professionals. Which kind of sucks, because it’s probably a minimum of $350, and more likely a year-long contract at ~$5-600ish, until we can proof the exterior of the house. Maybe simple, maybe not. Hard to say, I suppose. Quote’s coming in next week. We shall see.

Work Part 2:

Got a raise today – or rather, it was made official today, which is nice. Not huge – hell, not much more than inflation – 3.4%. But still, it’s the first raise I’ve had in five years, and it was apparently somewhat above average for our group. And there’s still the bonus in May, once the fiscal year closes out, which is nice. Any little bit helps. But I think more than anything, the notion that I’m not actually *losing* money, year-to-year, is a nice change of pace, and I feel like my career is *progressing*, which is a nice change of pace, and I feel like my job is reasonably *stable*, which is yet another nice change of pace, and I really enjoy what I’m doing, and think I’m really kicking ass at it, which is a final, extra nice change of pace from years previous.

Other’n that, things are just pretty good all around. We taught Mobius to stand on his hind legs, which happened *really* fast. He’s a really bright dog when we give him stuff to do – I think we need to focus more on keeping him mentally stimulated, to be honest. Gotta read up on other things to do with him. He loves hide and seek, and doing tricks. Funny little guy. Really makes me happy that we got him.

Things are also going great with friends, with the fiancee, pretty much everything. I’m happy as a clam. Hell, even finances have been on the uptick, and though there was a hiccup with a late W-2 that’s gonna cost me ~$650, I think it’ll still end up ok.

Games:

Picked up Sly 2: Band of Thieves, Urbz for the DS, and ATV Offroad Fury 2. So far, all three games are *excellent*, and for a total of $30, I think it was a steal. Been playing some Fable, FIFA Street, NBA Street v.3, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath, and some Halo 2 online. I’d rate every one of those games above an 8, for varying reasons – but all told, I think that whole batch of games cost me… $115, for 8 games. Not too bad. Mind you, that includes using my yearly points from EA’s store, but what the hell – a free game’s a free game. 😉

Hm. Almost seems like I should be starting to get paranoid. Things can’t stay this good forever.