Heavenly

Just got back from four delightful days near Madison seeing many cousins for a family reunion. Four days of the dogs running loose on a big farm, not able to believe how much space they get to run in. Four days of a bunch of playmates for Isaac and Bella from dawn to dusk. Four days of chillaxing with New Glarus brews by the lake, with a cool breeze blowing in. Four days with no TV, very little internet, and a surprising number of Words with Friends games. No books were read or attempted. Several naps were taken.

Poor Pamela sprained her ankle BUT GOOD the day before we left: She's been doing a "get fit" nutrition and cardio bootcamp program at Lifetime Fitness, and as it always happens, she stepped on something just a little wrong, and her ankle collapsed... and a short wait at the Orthopedic ER later, and she's got an aircast. The pain laid her up for a lot of the trip and kept her out of the water too... So I pulled double duty, helping her, and keeping an eye on the kids as they spent every possible moment in the lake. Also, I was the chauffeur, so the driving was up to me... though it's Pamela's left ankle that's hurt, so she will be able to drive the kids this week, have no fear people.

The dogs were pretty good on the trip: They're not welcome at the lake house, but the farmhouse where we sleep had plenty of room for them... they just needed to spend the hours we were at the lake in the kennel, which they found frustrating. Also, Zinsser is a bit of a neurotic animal, and was very barky. We need to work on him, Gesso was a saint because he is the perfect animal, even if he does poop where he shouldn't.

I was a LITTLE bummed about Pamela's ankle, because it would have been fun to go visit Epic, which is about a half hour from the lake, and would have been a fun afternoon diversion, but we are going to do it next time... and by that time, the campus will have doubled in size YET AGAIN, I'm sure.

And it's worth mentioning that I didn't do a single lick of work while on vacation. Oh, I took some calls and responded to an email or two, so call that a lick of work if you will... but the laptop stayed in its container, only coming out to print a recipe from Epicurious.

And that was the weekend that was. And I was right back at it today, with a drive to Rochester for a 4 hour meeting in the AM (90 min drive each way), and a full afternoon back at the Minneapolis client.

While in the halls of the Mpls client, my old boss stopped me and gave me a wide eyed look and said "Jim.... Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim. You got out at the right time, my friend. You are a lucky devil". Then he shook his head and kept walking. I guess the big Epic project is hitting some bumps in the road... I'm happy to be on my PACS project, where all I need to worry about is how, if we pick a different vendor from the one we're on right now, we will will migrate 100 terabytes of images through a pipe that can only handle 80 gig in a day (hint - it will take four years).

And that's about it for right now: The kids are asleep - Bella has just learned about Horcruxes, and I have given her a STERN warning that she is not to go about making one. Isaac is incredibly Daddy-focused right now, so as I was reading to Bella, he was screaming at the top of his lungs at Pamela about how "GIRLS ARE BORING I WANT DADDY".

I'm sure I can go back and find some Blog posts about frustrations when Bella wouldn't let me comfort her in the past... but for right now, my poor gimpy wife is just a little sad that her little boy doesn't want her hugs. This will change, as things always do. But for a lady whose ankle is killing her, she needs a little extra TLC.