Listen to the rhythm...

I got up today to the sound of a light rain falling outside. Apparently, it had been raining long enough to soak the top millimeter or so of the ground, and it continued for a few minutes before abating.

I've been an uneasy sleeper the past few nights, ever since my tendon problem reasserted itself with just the flick of my shoulder. Now, every time I try to turn onto my right side while sleeping, something causes me to come wake; it's not pain, I just come awake in time to stop myself.

Though it's not a great solution, it occurred to me - while I was sleeping - that I could use some 8-1/2 x 14 paper in the printer and print out the A4-sized image with no problem, really (just a hack of a margin on one side). What I'll probably do is mark up the printout and send along a file containing the table that appears in the thing; it's just a good thing I have a table that places Cyrillic and the extended Latin character set in correspondence with each other. The client may not like it, but it's what I can offer without making the whole thing completely cost prohibitive.

I'm alone at the store right now, setting up to do the daily report and waiting for Drew to arrive. If I am lucky, I should be able to clear my plate today.

Cheers...

Running down a Thursday...

Well, one of my minor goals is accomplished: to buy a pick-up for less than $1000. The vehicle belongs to one of the folks we play CashFlow with, and it seems to be what I need: wheels for around here. We consummate the deal tomorrow, which means I'll have to get it registered and insured in short order. For the first time in my life, I'm thinking of getting a "vanity" license plate... sort of. When I go downtown tomorrow, I think I'll check out how much it might cost to get my ham call sign on my plates. (I seem to recall that in Texas, there's no additional charge for this, as it's not really considered a vanity plate. Then again, I don't live in Texas anymore...)

* * *The kids brought Huntur by before taking off for something in Durango. Shannon looked pretty dressed up (and pretty, dressed up). After a couple of hours spending time, doing nothing in particular (well, I do keep talking to her in Russian), it was time for Huntur to go to bed, and let me tell you: she was the very definition of "do not go gentle into that good night." The kid fought going to sleep, and fought hard.

And it wasn't a fight against me or Galina, or at least that's the way I read it. We were all on the big bed upstairs, and she was sitting in between us and trying very hard (and very audibly) not to drift off. At one point she made a sudden move for the edge of the bed, and I nearly threw my shoulder out again to make sure she didn't go over the edge (she didn't even come close, but my shoulder still aches...).

Anyway, as is the case with any such fight, she eventually lost, of course.

* * *At about that time, Robert Mitchum came on the tube in the 1975 version of Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely. The film apparently was Jack O'Halloran's first film (he's a huge fellow, ex-boxer, and I always mix him up with Richard Kiel, who played the character Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me), and you even get to see a young Sly Stallone, one year before he played the title role in Rocky).

But the film really is Mitchum's, who was a really great actor. He played the part very well, so much so that I didn't so much mind the surgery done to the book by the screenwriter.

* * *After the rains earlier in the week, there might actually be a chance of mushrooms this weekend. I sure hope so, as my stock of mushrooms dried from last year is starting to run low, and needs replenishing.

Cheers...