Things I Loved Last Week: Week #1
December 28, 2008 – January 3, 2009
New Year’s Eve.
I was blessed with the ability to work from home on New Year’s Eve, which allowed me the opportunity to plan and execute a lovely celebration of the completion of another revolution around the sun.
On Tuesday night, I stopped at IKEA and picked up some wine glasses, candlesticks and candles, and two bottles of cheap wine at the LCBO. I went grocery shopping the next day and picked up a shrimp ring and flowers among other things, and spent the afternoon furiously cleaning the apartment. When Alan arrived home from work, we snacked on shrimp and some Pilsbury rolls and cooked up a very nice Beef with Broccoli and some mixed veggies. It was a really nice, quiet evening, which we don’t get very many of. We were both in bed asleep before midnight. Alan and I celebrated our five year anniversary on New Year’s Day by relaxing, napping and playing video games. New Year’s Day is kind of an annoying day to have an anniversary because so few places are open.
Hanging out with Brad and Lem.
Last night our friends Brad and Lem came over for dinner. We drank Brad and Lem’s wedding wine, had lasagna, caesar salad and rolls, and Lem brought a delicious cake. We played Wii games and watched Will It Blend? On YouTube, then went on a fruitless hunt for Wii games to rent. After we returned to the apartment, we played Killer Bunnies and The Quest For The Magic Carrot, and Trivial Pursuit. It was a fun night.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
A couple of months ago, either Courtney or Kat recommended I watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and it’s only been recently that I’ve been able to sit down a watch it. I was a little skeptical, and the show definitely has its flaws, but for the most part it’s quite good, especially the effects. I think Lena Headey, who plays Sarah Connor is a little stiff and robotic, especially in the first season, but the rest of the actors do a good job, and Summer Glau, who plays Cameron is excellent. I could do without the Heroes-style voiceovers at the beginning and end of the episodes, but that’s just a little quibble.
Invoice Entry Interface.
At work right now, I’m working on a fairly large chunk of a rewriting of our Business Intelligence tool. This is the set of screens where our employees enter invoices into the system. It’s very important that this part of the application works well, and I’m finding it more involved and challenging than a lot of the things I’ve been asked to do in the last month or so. My goal is to have all of the UI, including AJAX, Javascript and form validation written and debugged by the end of the week.
Getting Back to Real Life.
Christmas was fun, but it’s really nice to get back to your own apartment, sleep in your own bed, under your own sheets, and wake up to your own alarm clock. We were gone from the 24th to the 28th, and it was a busy time, with lots of people around, which isn’t something Alan and I are used to any more. Our apartment seemed like a quiet refuge after that busy time.
Honorable Mentions:
Making it to the gym every day I went to work. Christmas at Uncle Gary’s. Remembering the answers Alan’s passport hints. Doctor Who: The Next Doctor [the Christmas Episode, not Matt Smith]. Finishing Foundation. Will It Blend?