LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

One of the benefits of having a blog for so long is that I can use it to do some research.

And the answer is, yes…this is the worst cold I’ve had in the last 6 years. Worse than the various stomach ailments. Worse than the wheeziness of last spring. This one takes the cake.

I can feel my php skills dwindling again from being away from the computer.


< ?php
echo "cough";
?>


But as it is currently 53 and not-raining-or-snowing outside, we’re throwing the windows open and going to Starbucks for breakfast. Fresh air’ll do me good.

Cough.

Good morning, my fellow Internetters. Here’s a bullet-point update as to what’s been going on. Breaking the writer’s block and all…

• Health & Human Services: WM’s been sick for over 2 weeks now with some bug, and everytime I think I’m coming down with it, it backs off. I’m actually rooting to get ill so I’ll get over the getting ill process already.
• Department of Labor: I am still employed; however, all Gannettoids have to take 5 mandatory unpaid days of in the first fiscal Quarter. So I’ll be sporadically unemployed through February and March. To be completely honest, at work I am incredibly busy and incredibly lonely at the same time. I miss everyone.
• Transportation & Travel: My W2 came in yesterday, but TurboTax was down. WM did his last week and is getting a tidy refund. With his tidy refund and my hopefully middling one, we may be stupid whimsical and go to Walt Disney World for a four-day weekend in May to celebrate his birthday. Long-time readers should note that will mark an 18-month WDW dry spell. Dad also sent us a $200 Southwest gift card, so I’ll be making another trip to the Sunshine state in the near future to visit him in Retired Guy land.
• Department of Wildlife: A mouse ran through our kitchen last Wednesday, freaking me out considerably. I twittered my reaction and the response was, “Don’t you have cats?” Yes, but they were sleeping at the time. I decided the mouse was inside because it was miserable and cold out and as long as he didn’t poop here, I’d be okay. I named him Remy. I heard him running through the walls, squeaking and I smiled, knowing he was okay. Saturday, we heard Charlie meowing from the kitchen. When we turned, we saw him slinking toward the bedroom, brown lifeless parcel in his mouth. RIP, Remy.
• Education: About 70% of my spare time is spent anymore with my nose in a PHP book or script. Every New Year I make the resolution to learn PHP & MySQL. Something clicked this time, and I can’t stop. I have scripts all over my computer with cryptic names like echoecho.php, pizza.php, pizzascraps.php, and loopdeloop.php. Most of them work, too! Although my beads are collecting dust, this can only mean good things for me. The downside is that I’m always at a computer anymore and my hermit tendencies are kicking in again. Always something…
• Department of the Exterior: On Friday, I glued fake nails on in an attempt to kick the biting habit again. So far, so good, but it’s really hard to work the iPhone!
• Environment: Yesterday it felt like spring and I was happy. Today it is snowing and I feel duped.

I have to be AT WORK in 26 minutes, so time to pull out the hot rollers and get a move on. I’m still humming “Jungle Love,” by the way. Oh ee oh ee oh!

Work’s crazy now for me, and the Gannett blog is rumoring more layoffs in February. I can honestly say now that if they let me go, they’re going to be in a bit of trouble. But as common sense played little part in the prior layoffs, we’ll see. I’m wondering how long I’m willing to stay there, with my buff and torch in hand, ready to vacate at the drop of a hat. It’s just not the same anymore. Almost everyone I was friendly with is gone.

I’ve been spending my evenings ears-deep in PHP for a freelancy thing I’m doing. I’m at that point in the project where I have no idea what I’m doing or how to continue. But I’ll make it through.

So in the meantime I’m a bit quiet here and the blogs are piling up in my feedreader.

I miss summer. I miss Disney.