Eventful

Yesterday I was approached by the regional security lead for the account I am working on about helping with some administrivia that need taken care of. Security Lead was considerate and came to me before he formally asked my boss (who thought it was a great idea). I start next week. I have just ordered and installed my digital signature soI can send mail in an official capacity. Go me.

I left work feeling a bit run down. All the sick people who have been near me over the past 2 weeks have finally infected me. I now have a cold. Not horrible...Dayquil allows me to function at about 90%. Better than some other people I have seen sick this year.

I stopped off at Kroger to get a Po' Boy, chips, and some dessert since my wife would not be home before I had to leave for the city council meeting. I got home and took care of the dogs before I started eating and then logged on to check mail and enter some receipts. The food was not overly tasty (but then again I am sick) but it filled me up. My wife called to ask if I had eaten and I told her yes, then she asked if I picked her up anything. I hadn't for a couple of reasons. The first was I just figured she would get Chinese like she normally does and the second was that she had a sandwich for lunch. I doubted she wanted another for dinner.

I left to attend the city council meeting just as my wife was pulling in. I told her I was sorry for not getting her something and she told me not to worry that she went and had...Chinese. I love my wife.

The meeting was ok and it went fast with the exception of a request for a temporary certificate of occupancy for a church just down the road from ours. The council argued that the parking places on the site did not jive with the membership of the church and they could not grant the cert. One of the church members was sitting beside me and I told him I sympathized with their situation. The council did not understand that membership and attendance of a church were never the same. If a church has 500 members, then you normally have 300-400 show up. Also the number of spaces does not have to equal attendance because more than one person will be in a car. if you take the city average of 3 people per household (which they used to estimate the population of the city) then 300 people attending only need 100 spaces. They have 90 permanent spaces and 90 temporary. Even at 400 they still have enough spaces. When that logic failed to register, then they said that the temporary parking would not support the weight of emergency vehicles if the ground was soggy (temporary parking was on crush rock). Needless to say the cert was not granted and the members of the church walked away upset.

I guess my real problem with the situation was the arrogance of some of the council members. Comments like, "NO! You cannot speak unless spoken to" and the way some of the council members seem to be "acting" when they speak really bothers me. One group was seeking permission to run a charity 5k race in the city and all the hoops the group needed to jump through really amazed me (is a hand delivered letter to EVERY citizen who MAY be impacted by a PARTIAL street closing really needed?) I know they have a job to do and it is more than a 40 hour/week job, but is all that attitude really needed? I know they were elected to do a job to ensure the best interests of the citizens are met...I am trying to be sympathetic to that, however a little compassion would not hurt.

The meeting only lasted 2 hours (a rarity for them) and I was glad to get home. I chatted with my wife for about an hour then read until 11:00 PM or so. I slept well and was even awake before the alarm went off. This is beginning to be habitual.

I woke up stuffy and sneezing, but not as bad as the night before. I completed my normal routine and then took some Dayquil to allow me to get through the day. I have a busy day (well evening, I guess) today and I need to be 100% or as close as I can be. My wife and I are preparing food for the 'Tweens at church tonight and I need to help our pastor with a network problem if I can. Sometime in the next few days I also need to help our Elder with a software issue. I have never dealt with Pagemaker, but I guess I can learn :)

I was also given a copy of the Star Wars Trilogy with the extra footage that was remastered. While it is on VHS, I am still looking forward to seeing it and adding it to my collection.