More Room for my Stuff

Apple's just added significantly more disk space to .Mac, which makes me feel better about hanging onto the service. If you're considering whether or not to re-up, or to sign up in the first place, check with Amazon first to see if they still have the discounted deal. Hey, saving 20 bucks is saving $20.*

I just know that one day .Mac's Backup alone will make it worth the price of admission. It's very comforting for me to know that I have automatic off-site back-up of critical files.

Do you?

[*And if you're going to be NEW to .Mac, for god's sake let me refer you first, so that I can get a discount!]

Link Love

My friends! Wouldn't you like this lazy blog to have your link on it! You know you would!

So remind me what your website is, and I'll link to it. See some early examples already in place, to the right in the sidebar there.

Things Not To Do When You've Sprained Your Ankle

Don't go running.
Seriously, I'm saying don't, until it's healed.
Because it's just going to hurt more.

Don't stay up to all hours.
Especially sitting in a chair.
With your foot wedged underneath you.
Because the blood won't circulate, your ankle will swell up, and IT'S JUST GOING TO HURT MORE.

Don't substitute wishful thinking for common sense.
Dummy.

On a Jet Plane

Probably more like a buncha puddle-jumpers...

But anyway, I'll be heading to Chicago on Saturday, October 9th, to be a support team for the lovely Andrew's marathon effort. I'm hoping also to see Amy and Paul, and soak up a little windy-city goodness. Returning on Monday, the 11th.

What's extra-specialicious about this particular trip is that I'm doing it on frequent flier miles from the soon-to-be-non-existent US Airways. If I can use the remaining 17,700 miles for upgrades or something, I definitely will.

Raining & Pouring

No, not the weather. The weather is beautiful.

All of a sudden I'm quite busy. My supervisor at NAMI has just gone on indefinite leave, with a bunch of major tasks pending. InterMedia wants to finish up the redesign work and go live with the new version quick-like. My sister is desperate to get a revised and easier-to-edit version of her website up and running as soon as possible. There's other stuff too.

I must make lists. Lists, do you hear?!

I hate lists.

Life's Little Pleasures

Call me perverse, but one of the most gratifying moments in my day is when, after I've sacrificed my $0.65, the treat of my choice takes a fatal swandive into the abyss from its coil-wrapped ledge in the vending machine. "Goodbye, cruel world!" I can hear the pop-tart saying as it plummets to its doom.

No sublimated hostility here. Nossiree.

Fannie No

The job at Fannie Mae didn't happen. Not even an interview. Disappointing.

Next!

I've moved.

Maybe you noticed that you got redirected from my .Mac homepage to my Lucid Design domain. Well, my feed's changed too, so you might want to update if you're aggregating.

As part of my supreme laziness, I decided that I wanted to be able to blog from whatever machine, whenever, and ~ believe it or don't ~ Blogger actually makes it very easy to do that and host the pages yourself, rather than on their machine. It's free, and I'll still have the content where I can control it. This seems like a satisfactory arrangement, for now. I can even fiddle with the templates when I have the time and energy for it.

I'm still trying to decide whether to retain my .Mac subscription. At $99 a year, it's a dubious proposition. It is, however, convenient sometime, and the Backup and Sync features might be worth the cost of admission. If I do renew, I'll do it by buying the discount retail version ($79) through Amazon though.

Apple needs to do something really magic to have a persuasive value proposition with .Mac. Like calendars you can edit online. And good blogging software that creates a blog you can edit from anywhere...

[Update: I bought the Amazon retail version. Not quite ready to give up the .Mac goodies.]

Getting Exercised

Well, apparently I could have been exercising all this time, despite the gimpy foot. Somehow I completely forgot about the fitness room at my workplace, complete with ankle-sparing elliptical trainers and weight machines. Treadmills too, for when I feel brave.

So last week I started using it, and I'm hoping to rebuild the shattered remnants of my stamina and endurance. I'm signed up for a half-marathon on Sunday, but I'm skeptical whether I'll be able to do it. I'll try a mile on the treadmill tomorrow and see how that goes.

Still hoping to manage the Marine Corps Marathon. But if not, then the Scottsdale P.F. Chang Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in January. Hey, I said I'd run a marathon, so I'm going to run a marathon. Eventually.

Free Internet Phone Calls with Skype

Let's try it: call me. Apparently you can also call landlines and mobiles, but that's not free (although the rates, in Euros, look pretty reasonable for Europe and, oh, I dunno, CHINA).

Or get Skype and let me know...

Back from the Banx

A much needed mini-vacation on the Outer Banks saw the lovely Andrew and I doing such key activities as: swimming, eating, sightseeing. Check out the photo album.

Running: There hasn't been any

I'm horribly hobbled, limpy, and pathetic. August 21st I sprained my foot, and I've been running twice since. Once, on August 24th, which served to aggravate my injury significantly. (It was, in a nutshell, EXTREMELY STUPID of me.) And then again just a few days ago, on Sept. 9th, where a pitiful 1.5 miles served to demonstrate that, despite feeling much better, I was not healed.

So now: still ow.

Foooey. I have no idea if I'll be able to recover in time for the marathon. Which sucks, considering how much time and effort (also: $) I've put into it so far.