Things have been busy recently.

Seriously.

Ok, I know that isn’t really out of the ordinary, but it’s true. Thought I’d take a moment while chowing down for a quick update.

I’ve been doing electrical work! Quake in fear! I’ve been messing around with the hot tub over the course of the last few days. The fact that it isn’t working really started to get to me, but paying someone $60 just to come out and tell me what was wrong with it seemed to be a bit extreme. So, I started putzing around with it myself. First thing I noticed is that two of the electrical cables were in REALLY bad shape. I mean, insulation coming off and everything. Definitely not a safe situation when one puts water into the mix. I replaced those two cables, but when I fired everything back up again the heater still didn’t work. Oh, it worked for a few seconds, but then it went right back off and wouldn’t come on again. Just like it had been doing. By process of elimination I’ve decided that the heater is dead. It makes sense, really. Since I’ve bought the house the heater has seemed to take longer and longer to get the job done, and the damn thing would start to get cold again the minute you got into it. I figured out how to disconnect the heater and unscrew the heating element and did so. Today I stopped by a spa place and bought a new one ($150!!!!). I’m going to go home tonight and hook it up to see what happens. I’m fully anticipating a functional, piping hot spa to be waiting for me when I get home tomorrow night from seeing Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘N Roll. The only thing I have to do now to get it rolling is pick up a new filter and sun blanket for it on my way home tonight.

I talked with the owner of the Spa place about getting a real cover for it. $250! That one is going to have to wait for a while. I might try to sneak it into my budget, but this repair alone was a bit of a squeeze. It will happen eventually, though. We are in the process of giving the back porch a major overhaul. netgoth has already started the painting, and there will be a lot more done before we are through. It’s going to look sweet. We are hoping to have it done by the time my birthday comes around so it’s all spiffy for my party.

Oy. That’s less than two months away!

Speaking of my birthday – it happens on the 7th of November, which is a Sunday. After our performance of Playing With Fire that afternoon I’m going to head over to Crazy Buffet for my free all-you-can-eat sushi. Anyone want to come along?

The last week or so has been very frustrating in City of Heroes. A new update has been released, and many aspects of the game changed. The developers have said it wasn’t supposed to be as extreme as it has been, but all I know is that I’ve died a lot since it came out. I think I’m getting the hang of the changes, though. They have also toned them down quite a bit. We’ll see. In any case, it’s still one of the best damned games I’ve ever played, and the future of my Everquest account is starting to look dim. If it weren’t for the fact that I have several real life friends who still play EQ I probably would have cancelled it already.

For those of you who know him, Barry Steele dropped by for a visit last night. It was great to see him, and I was happy to finally get to introduce him to netgoth. He’s coming back in town in November, and he’s actually going to be here in time to see Playing With Fire.

School is going great. Just took my first big test on Wednesday, and I got a 93. So far I’m carrying a solid “A” in the class.

Another credit card (one of the ones in my Mom’s name) was completely paid off today.

My life is moving forward at a rapid pace, and I have the great fortune of having a woman who I am deeply in love with and two rockin’ kids at my side. Good times.