Drought relief...

Just got a fairly large assignment from my Houston client, who reports that damage from Rita in the area of the office is minimal. (This is a good sign, as most of our real estate lies within 3 miles of my old office.) The work, obviously, is also a good sign.

I'll probably start on it this afternoon, after we get back from visiting my mom. The deadline is long enough to where I don't have to go to immediate crunch mode to get the work done and travel home over the weekend. The project manager also indicates that there are a noticeable number of tables in the text, which I'm downloading as I type this (5.1MB over a dial-up connection... ugh!... but it works!).

More later, maybe.

Cheers...

Extending my stay...

After having previously determined that it wouldn't make much sense for me to stay past my original departure date of this Saturday, it became clear today that my mom is on the verge of being discharged from the hospital in what may conservatively be called a "high-maintenance" mode, so I made the decision and forked over some cash to reschedule my ticket.

(Frankly, I fully expect to be briefed on how to hook my mom up to various and sundry devices that provide her nutrition tomorrow, despite the fact that I extended my stay only until next Friday.)

My mom was not very communicative - has not been so - for the past couple of days. However, upon regaining consciousness today during our visit, she did - somewhat lucidly - express a desire to get out of the hospital. My dad needs to talk over long-term details with various social workers, but for the short term, I'm the guy in the hole.

Cheers...