1. National stand around and watch lm work day
   

   ---

   
   Oodles of work done, mostly flattening out the front yard and preparing the flattened part to take seed. Based on the amount of yard I flattened and seeded today, it will take me three more weeks to finish the front yard. After that I have the side and back yards. Then the driveway. Then the patch of dirt by the garage. Then to replace the retaining wall in the yard. Then to put in a freedom drain. Then I can resume work on the third floor. Recalculating, I'll be fortunate to finish this all by the end of this year. Bugger.

   Once I was spent from the physical labor, I went to talk to my sister. She jumped. I think she was expecting me to yell at her when I said that I wanted to talk to her. Instead I just wrote down a list of the things I'd like her to take care of before the next time I come up.

   I also picked up a fifth of Jose Cuervo Especial on the way up. There were two reasons for this. The biggest reason is that I've never had tequila before and wanted to see what it was like. The second reason is that I'm on a campaign to make my sister think I'm an alcoholic.

2. And the return home
   

   ---

   My day went from good to crappy once I got home. Kids were whining. Wife's wheel chair had a flat tire. I was tired, hungry, cranky, grouchy, crabby, dirty.

   I tried to fix the flat tire. We'd ordered airless tires a bit back. Turns out that the airless tires were a few mm fatter than the pneumatic tires she usually uses. This meant that the screws that held the two halves of the wheel rim were now to short. I tried shaving the rubber on the new tire, but had limited success on making it the right size. So I headed out to the hardware store to get longer screws. This allowed me to put the wheel back together with the airless tire, but the tire was now to large to fit in the fork with the normal spacers. As a temporary measure, I put the wheel on without spacers. That will work until tomorrow or the next day when I can run out to get smaller spacers.

   Consequently, I ended up eating dinner at 9pm. Then a hot bath. Then some Jose Cuervo.

3. April 13 is 3.0 day
   

   ---

   
   Today I also received my official grades for winter quarter at the local tech college. An A in each of the courses I took brings my GPA up to 3.0. Over the last 3 years, my GPA is over 3.8, but my first two tries at college over ten years ago continue to drag my GPA down.

   I'm still debating whether or not to apply for grad schools next winter. My GPA should be in striking range. But application fees start to add up, especially since I have to order transcripts from four different schools. I'm considering putting off applying to grad school again until my eldest daughter is a junior or senior in high school. She'll get much more financial aid if I'm a poor grad student.

4. !JOB! !OPPORTUNITIES!
   

   ---

   
   I've got an interview coming up at the local tech college I'm presently attending for a position as a web monkey. My secret plan with this is to, maybe, take a job with the tech school to get a few years experience in the academic field. Colleges tend to like to hire people with experience working at colleges. With a few years of collegiate experience, I might be able to land a position at a decent college, just in time for my eldest daughter to get free or reduced tuition.

   I'm also presently collecting resumes for a position that might be opening at my present employer. The position is a phone monkey job but has a good deal of variety with DBA, net admin and the odd programming task. The position may or may not open depending on whether the owner of the firm wins a bid for a contract that he's presently in negotiations with.  So far I've got two resumes from friends. All the resumes I turn in will be on the short list for consideration IYKWIM.

And that is all for tonight.

Update: I wrote this last night, but hulvercom was b0rken. Today is a new day. To all of you who're celebrating today: CHRIST IS RISEN!