Bill Roper's Journal

I kicked a couple of boulders down Task Mountain today, so that's progress.

Tomorrow, I need to unleash a couple of avalanches. And then I will be largely caught up.

Gary Ehrlich was in town this week for a conference so a bunch of the local filkers got together and met him for dinner at the Omega Restaurant over in Niles and had a fine time. Afterwards, Gary had some time before he needed to get to bed, so he came back to our house where Gretchen (who had not been able to attend due to an immovable hairdresser appointment) got a chance to chat as well.

It is convenient when your friends come to you! :)

Having discovered that I had written a song shortly after the beginning of the window, I have signed up for the current FAWM sprint and have uploaded the song there.

Now I just need to figure out how to write another four songs...

I am home from IndyFurCon. I had an excellent time working the Dorsai Irregulars contract there, but I am monstrously tired, which is why I decided that driving home early today was the better part of valor.

I had thought to grab dinner at Cracker Barrel in Lafayette, then realized that I would rather hit a Cracker Barrel later, and *then* realized that there is a Chuy's in Lafayette, which Gretchen and I have missed greatly since they abandoned the Chicago market under their old ownership. So I stopped there for an early dinner and brought Gretchen home her favorite Boom Boom Enchiladas for *her* dinner.

Somewhere between Lafayette and Gary, I believe I have written a new song. I need to check and see about putting chords to the melody tomorrow and see if I'm correct. :)

I am running about an hour later than I intended. And I feel like crap.

I'm hoping that both of these improve on the trip down to Indianapolis.

See some of you there!

Among the options I had been considering for lunch was running over to Outback Steakhouse and catching their Wednesday sirloin steak special. Then the grocery store ads arrived and I discovered that Jewel had T-bone steaks for $7.99 per pound. This caused me to revise my plans and I picked up steaks, baking potatoes, and sweet corn for dinner. After all, one should get grilling in before the weather turns miserably cold as winter approaches.

It was really too hot to want to grill today, but the steaks came out fine, so I am happy.

And well fed. :)

The Cubs got out to an early 9-0 lead. My companion at the game decided to leave in favor of sleep after four innings. I followed after five innings, because the earlier torrential rain had not cooled things down, but had instead provided enough moisture to convert the ballpark into a sauna. A sauna notably devoid of a breeze.

The Brewers eventually put position player Andrew Vaughn in to pitch the last two innings. He gave up seven runs and enough home runs for the Cubs to set a record for the most Cub homers in a game with nine. But Vaughn only gave up the last three, so it mostly wasn't his fault. There was much complaining from the Cubs announcers (who I was listening to on the radio while driving home) about how this was a wee bit of a travesty, followed by some complaints from the Cubs players after the game about having to hit against a wiffle ball pitcher.

But seriously, when you end up losing the game 17-3, how much perfectly good bullpen should you be burning? The starter was chased after 3 2/3 innings, and after another 2 1/3 innings of competent relief, well, it was time for some serious arson.

"Was there supposed to be a pillar of flame rising from the pitcher's mound?"

"I think I may have volatilized the Brewers bullpen."

I listen to Sirius XM radio most of the time when I'm in my car. A few days ago, they announced that channel 105 was currently a dedicated Dolly Parton channel to commemorate her recent death. I have never listened to a lot of Dolly Parton's music, so I figured it was a good time to hear some.

It's been fun.

The *most* fun so far has been the cover of The Beatles "Help". You might not think that the song ever wanted quite that much bluegrass accompaniment, but you would be wrong...

Gretchen and I got married 32 years ago today, which makes this the last of the big power-of-two anniversaries that we are likely to see, because 64 years will be quite a stretch. The previous one was 16 years ago, when the kids were both very small, a condition that no longer obtains.

Gretchen is not sure how we managed to get here, but the answer surely is "one day at a time".

Tomorrow will be another day. :)

There are still plenty of things that I need to do, but I moved some of the balls today, so we're going to take that as a win.

Tomorrow, I get to run over to the hospital for a blood draw for labs ahead of my doctor's appointment next week. The appointment had to be rescheduled and I have no intention of having a fasting blood draw some time after 1:20 PM. :)