Over 2 weeks since the last update? Maybe I should write something here. Visiting Al and Nicole was awesome. Great to see them and to hang out with my family again for the week. Nice and relaxing. Lucy travelled like a champ. Slept through the landing on the way there, and again for the last half on the way back. She also slept like a champ, even better for naps than at home, and still overnight. We had one little incident with a food allergy again, but a little puking, a little benadryl, and a full nights sleep, and she was back to normal. Got some good BBQ, watched some movies in their great media room. Even did a little work on vacation. Also forgot how much fun making the Yamaha MX-80 Disklavier play MIDI's is. It's like live kareoke in the privacy of your own home. Very cool. Nicole also cooked up a storm, great stuff. Also played Scrabble on the iPad using the iPhone apps for tile racks. Very cool as well. Too bad that's the only game that has that. A quiz game would be cool. Like Trivial Pursuit. Mike and Amy and Caden came over to visit the Sunday before we left. Nice to see them. And back to work this week. Yay.

So what's been going on in the past week? Start of Lent, so that means more sushi for me for the next 7 weeks or so. And McDonald's filet o fish meals, and tuna salad and egg salad sandwiches. I dropped by the work offsite storage unit, which just made me want to read Snow Crash. Started reading Harry Potter books again. Already up to the 3rd one. Was on daddy day care this past weekend. Daylight Savings Time makes it interesting, with Lucy's nap schedule needing a slight adjustment. Hoping she's back on schedule tomorrow. On Saturday took Lucy down to the Bagell and back, to pick up lunch for Tracy, and picked up some of Phoebe's Cupcakes, some blueberry cream cheese croissants and Dr. Brown Cel-Ray soda from Treasure Island. Weather wasn't too bad, and lots of people dressed in green and drinking out and about. Wanted to get some Paciugo but they weren't open when I dropped by. Finally added metadata to a big batch of transcoded movies I had collected. Oh, the iPad 2 came out on Friday, and too busy at work to notice. Great.

Got to go to the Apple Store on North Michigan Ave today for a work related Genius Bar visit (got a HD replaced). Super easy, and waited while it got done. Which meant I got to play with the new iPad 2. And it's pretty sweet. Just on look and feel, it's way better than my iPad that I was using about a minute beforehand. Makes me think of the Kindle 3 when I see it. In a good way, like it's softer, more inviting to hold, more comfortable. But it was one of those Monday's at work, where all sorts of stuff happens. Kind of crazy. Nature of the business I guess. So busy I managed to skip lunch. I did randomly bump into Carlo, in town for a possible contract job. That was random. Good to see him, though. Hard to remember the last time I actually saw him. Also managed to walk out of the Apple Store without buying anything. Apple TV looked nice, the twelvesouth BookArc for Air look like a splurge, maybe a clip on Speck case. But nada.

Around 5:15pm, I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't have any fires to put out, had accomplished a handful of big tasks for the day, it was still light out. I guess I could pack up and go home. So strange. Feels like it's been a while where I didn't have a task I had to finish up, or had additional work to do at home. Nice, except for that feeling that there is something else that needed to be done, I just don't have it written down, or I've forgotten about it. Or the item I thought wasn't that high priority is actually on fire. But, we'll wait and see what tomorrow brings. Maybe $172 ($108 Cash) Mega Millions jackpot? The clerk today asked me what I'd do tomorrow. I had no idea what he was talking about, as I paid for my quick pick. "You know, if you win". Oh, what would I do tomorrow if I found out I won the lottery tonight? That's a great question. Better than what would you do if you won. Small scale, immediate. I'd just go to work, because there's lots to get done. Had enough time getting home I was tempted to take a loop around the Loop on the Brown Line, but ended up on the Purple Line anyway, and walked home from the Belmont stop. Kind of chilly out. Picked up some more Redbox movies today, mostly just wanted The Storm Warriors, which I think is a sequel to The Storm Riders. Also, I've almost forgotten what's in the Netflix queue, so it's a surprise when I do get one in the mailbox. And interesting to see what I put on there.

Tired. Moved a van full of stuff from the office to an off-site storage. Lots of stuff, and had some help, but really sore and tired. So what's happened in the last 8 days? Found a new gourmet sausage place near work, Westminster Hot Dog. Pretty good. Over the weekend went to brunch both days, Saturday at the crepe place, Sunday at Socca, since Kanela Breakfast Club was too busy and we didn't want to wait with Lucy. She's a little bit better out at restaurants, not quite so loud and crazy. And Socca was nice, not really busy, pretty quiet, and good food. Tracy especially loved the scone amuse-bouche, which was a pleasant surprise for brunch. Went to church on Sunday and stumbled into Our Lady of Mt. Carmel's confirmation. Work continues to be crazy busy. And they're going to start remodeling the conference room pretty soon, so that'll be interesting. Otherwise, same old same old.