PC greets, folks...

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, animal-friendly, non-addictive, sustainable, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditional at all.

Also a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically non-complicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006 (Common Era), but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make this country great (which is not to imply that this country is necessarily greater than any other country), and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual orientation of the wishee.

This wish is limited to the possibly customary and usual good tidings (without implying any superiority over other kinds of tidings) for a period of one year, or other unit of time measurement in use in your culture, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first. "Holiday" is not intended to, nor shall it be considered, limited to the usual Judeo-Christian celebrations or observances, or to such activities of any organised or ad-hoc religious community, group, individual or belief (or lack thereof).

Disclaimer: By accepting this greeting you are accepting these terms. Do not read this greeting if safety seal is broken, and discontinue reading it a rash, irritation, redness, or swelling develops. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher at any time, for any reason or for no reason at all. No substitutions are allowed, although this greeting is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. This greeting implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for the wishee her/himself or others, or responsibility for the consequences which may arise from the implementation or non-implementation of same. Please keep all hands and extremities inside your vehicle, and refrain from operating power tools, underwater breathing devices, and powered enema machines while reading this greeting. No animals were harmed in the composition of this greeting. This greeting may be safely recycled. Your mileage may vary. This greeting is void where prohibited by law or taxed.
Other restrictions may apply.

That oughta take care of that ill-advised crack about how I never express holiday wishes in my LJ.

Cheers...

What's REALLY happening...

As I sat in the store last night waiting for the minute hand to do its thing toward the vertical, a nagging little voice in the back of my head finally became articulate and reminded me that yesterday was mine and Galina's wedding anniversary.

Yikes!

Thoughts of closing the shop early (10 minutes, big deal, but still...) crossed my mind as I outlined a bare-bones damage control plan. Flowers... check. Champagne... check. Anniversary card... check. The fact that Natalie was cooking a sit-down dinner was a big plus, either due to serendipity or the fact that my kids are sharper than I am. I suspect it is the latter.

The dinner went off well, though by the time it was finished, we were all too stuffed to open up the champagne, which is now scheduled for consumption for the New Year.

Galina and Natalie left for Albuquerque a little after 10 am today, and ought to be getting to the Sunport about now. It was really nice to have had Natalie visit (something that does not occur often enough). I'm already missing her.

I've finished one crate, only to find that I need to use longer screws to assure a stronger structure. The other two crates have the box part constructed (pending the use of longer screws there, too), but I didn't buy enough 1x2 stock to finish the covers to the two remaining boxes.

So, as far as that job is concerned, I need to:

finish the crates

pack/wrap the paintings

put the paintings in their respective crates

screw on the lids

get the crates down to the store for pickup

I don't think this will happen today, but do expect to have it all finished for pickup tomorrow.

My Houston client is sending me two documents for completion by the 3rd. I now have a fairly respectable pile of stuff to work on, and I better get working on it pretty soon. I figure if I do half the 7K job tomorrow each tomorrow and Saturday, and each of the 3K jobs on Sunday and Monday, I can maintain a pretty even strain and get the job done without going crazy, and even start off the year with a nice invoice.

Speaking of my Houston client, the company renews its freelance contracts every four years, and this is the year for renewal. I've got all the paperwork printed out and signed, and I feel like going down to the store and sending the items via courier (even though there is no rush to do so; the renewal date is February 1). As far as rates are concerned, nothing has changed since the last go-round, which is remarkable in itself.

For sure, I ought to send along the expense reports for the past couple of months (that's what's probably got me wanting to send a FedEx), though I think I will send those reports via fax in a few minutes and then send the originals along with my contract paperwork.

I need to figure out how to coordinate all of this.

Cheers...

P.S. Oops! The two additional documents have been withdrawn. No biggie. I still have some glossary work left to do.