It was an interesting weekend as Mrs. Ha was adjusting to a med change. In the end, she didn't like what the replacement was doing, so she stopped taking it, I think she's down to 4 meds now. I ended up skipping the monthly gaming meet, and doing a fair amount of yard work. I got nearly all the leaves to the street before the leaf suckers came, and before they got buried under the snow. Unless there's a thaw, they'll stay their until Spring.

Ah yes, the snow has been falling, and drivings been hazardous, I'm saw 3 cars/SUVs a day off the road (and sometimes pointing into the road) the first few days. Twelve year old is complaining about the cold walk to the bus stops in the morning, and I had to find our rock salt. Winter is back.

I finished three books in time for this diary. The first is the controversial 1421: The Year China Discovered Ameriac,  in which the author posits the Chinese Emperor, in 1421, set off four fleets of junks which ended up circumnavigating the world, discovering all seven continents, and leaving traces of their voyage behind. This also includes explanations for the Piri Reis map and the Bimini Road. I liked it, it sounded plausible to me, definitely more plausible than Erich von Däniken, though I guess real historians don't consider it properly researched.

Next up was House, Tracy Kidder's book which I bought at the Y garage sale. I really liked Soul of a New Machine, so I keep an eye out for any Kidder I see. I didn't like House as much as I liked Soul, and I'm glad I bought a house that was built 80 years ago.

It was shaping up to be a rough weekend, so at the library I went for a the equivalent of comfort food, another Pratchett, this time it was Making Money. It's better than I expected based on it's rep, but it's a Lipwig novel, not a watch one, so I'll only reread it once.

We were asked to attend a parent teacher conference for seven year old, and we were a little anxious, on average (Mrs. Ha lots, me less). We were afraid she was going to be held back, or hit with sexual harassment sanctions (she likes to chase boys). The parent teacher conference went great, seven year old is catching up rapidly on reading, and may be reading at grade level by the end of the year. No mention of sexual harassment.

Things are tighter than I like right now. We ran out of flexible health spending money in August ($5000 doesn't go far), and we just ran out of mental health visits and have to pay full price, things are tight. Two of the big presents are bought, and I'm liquidating stuff on ebay, so we should be able to buy a few other presents. Things will get better come January 1st.

There had been hints of a bonus for all the extra work we're doing for customer in Ohio, but that was before the big meltdown, and we're not planning on installing the new $products until January anyhow.

I'm taking all of Thanksgiving week off. Of course I have lots of ambitious hopes, but who knows what I will actually do. I don't get to sleep in on Monday or Tuesday, as twelve year old has school those days. Bumer