Sleeping in helps both the body and mind ... especially in the wake of another long week at work. (You know, one has to wonder if things really ever "settle-down"). Getting up a noon and spending the afternoon hours at Starbucks and a music/video store has a way of relaxing one-self.

Post my releases over the last couple weeks, I am expecting to get new marching orders early this coming week. And I look forward to them as I think some will deal with Cocoa development, something I have looked forward to since arriving last March.

And until the pressure of the next release forces me into more long days and short nights I plan to enjoy a little down time. Tomorrow I will be heading to Orlando to a see Timo Maas at the House of Blues. Krishen and Jeff conviced me that it would be a blast -- then we found out it was going to be on a Sunday night. So, we decided that, "Heck, lets do it anyway!" While I am going to be the DD, Jeff is prepared to sacrifice himself and be the one to show up "on time" Monday morning, and Krishen ... well, he has the job of keeping me awake while we are driving home at 3AM (it is a two hour trip one-way).

In preparation I picked up a new CD today: altered states v.2. At $7.98 for a 2-Disc set it was a fantastic buy ... well that and it just rocks (if that term can be used in reference to electronic/dance music ??). Also grabbed a little surprise gift for my darling wife. She heads out for her road trip across the 4 western provinces this coming week ... then it is back home. The cat, I think, will like that ... however, I have to figure out how to get the house clean before then -- that is going to hurt !!!

It was yesterday around 7PM that Melissa had called wondering what was going on down here. Apparently something was not sitting right with her and she was concerned about it so was checking in on things down here. But my life being the boring thing it is without her around was unable to help her explain away her "feelings" ...

It was not until today that we found an explanation. Seems that dad, my father-in-law, was traveling just outside Winnipeg Saturday when he came across an nasty accident. Two vehicles had collided head-on and ignited into flames. With people already working on the first car, Rob grabbed his sledge hammer and fire extinguisher and headed for car number two. Exhausting the fire extinguisher he managed to get close enough to break the side window of the car and drag a groggy driver, who was woken by the glass shattering, from the wreck to safety.

While not everyone involved survived; several individuals, including the gentleman Rob assisted, did make it. All thanks to the quick thinking and courageous actions of those who stopped to help. And though Rob may have a few less hairs on his head and he might be without a pair of boots due the fire, we are very thankful that he is OK. Kudos to you Dad, I am sure there are some very happy people in the world tonight because of what you did.

Once the main rescue crew arrived, it was discovered that the vehicle Rob was assisting carried compressed air in the trunk and he needed to move his rig back to a safer distance to avoid a further incident. How close things were to being so much worse!

It is Friday .... and what does that mean ... ahh .... not much really. Typically it has meant that one should work hard and prepare to come in tomorrow ... but not today ... see ... I am going to duck out early before the boss has a chance to come around and ask me to come in on Saturday "... and ahh ... why don't you just go ahead in on Sunday too", I can hear him now ... :)

Well, it is true ... with the release of two (that is 1 + 1) products this week I may even get to sleep in. Might even get to clean the house in prep for Melissa coming home ... though it would likely just get messy again before the 13th - so nah ... forget that. Hmm ... what will I do with my "free time" ...

Seems that I had reason to 'watch Isabel' though it did not hit Florida ... it did strike and even Ontario is being told to "prepare". I, however, managed to escape the wind and rain with blue sky, sunshine, and the glow of my computer monitor.

Everyone is wondering where I am ... what I have gone and done? Am I still alive ? Well ... fear not! I am still here (though some will debate my level of consciousness). Work has been crazy with late nights last week, a full day Saturday and then in again on Sunday (over 60 hours) ... but such is life when "crunch" time comes.

The good news is that Bob was able to show up for an afternoon. Some of you may recall Bob from my days at Topia or the work I did for Neon Office. He was down visiting his mother just outside of Tampa and I was able to convince him to take a short trip south to Sarasota. We hit Siesta Key for a walk on the beach (wow ... the beach ... hadn't been there in ages, think I need to go back) and we hit a couple art galleries in the area. Then it was food and talk which took us into the late evening. It was a very relaxing afternoon and a much needed break from work; Thanks for the visit Bob!

Hopefully by October life will settle down a little ... I have to get some kinda of vacation before the wife comes home ;)

Everybody's favorite remedy! Well, I have resorted to drugging myself - just need to stay away from heavy machinery ... it is a good thing that I drive compact car eh :)

Work remains busy as we have entered the prestigious "testing" phase. This is the time when we developers (dare I say 'engineers') like to pass things onto the QA department. We have beat up on it and continue finding ways to make it better - but the real enjoyment of doing something "almost" the same thing over-and-over-and-over ... just to see if everything meets spec in all conditions, if there are inconsistencies throughout the software, if something broke between the last release and now ... well ... we like to leave that to testers. Otherwise, we just want to get back to the code and fix things RIGHT NOW ... it is hard to control that urg!

But, never-the-less, we have entered that phase and some of this "testing" rides on our shoulders ... so while work may not be hectic, stressful, or exciting as normal .... it will likely be loooonnnnnggg! The job must get done.

Melissa seems to be enjoying her vacation ... see ... she moves to Florida and lives down by the pool or on the beaches. She goes to Vancouver for a "vacation" and ends up painting parking lot lines on construction sites. Strange life she leads ... bet she is thinking of the song Home for a Rest right about now ;)

PS: Isabel has been upgraded to a class 4 Hurricane ... though is still several days away and won't likely make it to the Florida coast.

Well, it has been a while since I updated ... Unfortunately I think this will continue at least until the end of September. First, my life is boring without my wife here (she always keeps things exciting! Second, I am quite busy at being boring. So basically besides not having a lot of time these days, my life has been reduced to the bare minimums.

I find I am working, eating (sometimes anyway ... and then it is a quick salad, KD or for you Americans Kraft Mac & Cheese, soup, or grill cheese sandwitches), and sleeping (or at least attempting to). Think this life-style, or lack there-of, is starting to catch up to me. I felt my health seriously deteriorate over the course of this last week. Think I caught myself a cold. But it seems I have to solve this problem alone as my wife has stated that she will not come home to take care of what she calls "self inflicting injuries". (Hey, at least I tried)

So, I have bought more OJ and some veggies for meals ... I am sleeping in my bed instead of crashing on couch ... and I am trying to get a couple hours in reading "Code name: Ginger" by Steve Kemper to de-stress. I don't see a lightening in my work load until the end of September ... so until then it remains "Full steam ahead ... just mind the ice-burgs eh!".

In other news ... Henri threatened - but only managed to get us a little wet. Infact today, which was suppose to be quite stormy, turned out to be a beautiful sunny afternoon which I happily spend down at Starbucks ... you got to love laptops. Fabian also missed as it heads up the east coast remaining of-shore, though did catch Bermuda. Isabel is still quite a ways to the east, but still worth keeping an eye on. While I seem to have found CNN to provide decent news on the storms, the National Hurricane Center provides all the details and public advisories.

Still new to all this "storm watch" ... so it is quite exciting. Kinda like waiting for my first earthquake ... worried yet anxious!

A long week at the office turned ugly and our Friday night turned into a late-night office party (if one could call it that). Krishen, Jeff, and I stayed until 12:30am working on numerous issues that evolved over the week. It was not all work though - we took breaks playing "Name that artist" ... I never was good at that game, but I managed to get Jeff back with some great Canadian artists.

Saturday we were back at it again, with breakfast and lunch provided, we worked a sixth 9+ hour day this week. But I think we managed to get things ready for Tuesday ... now the weekend was finally here. So, with my cousin's taking Melissa out for a 'girls night out' ... I headed out with the boys.

Ybor city is just south of Tampa and known for their club scene. We went to Santoro's Amphitheater to see UK Breakbeat DJ/Producer group Hybrid (more here). The club was like nothing I have been too back home. More lights, more lazers, and more people. The 3 floor dance club could house 1000 people (girls 18+ and guys 21+). They had several shows over the evening featuring a local dance group and a fire-breather called "The Human Volcano". The music was loud, the drinks expensive, and the rotating dancing was hopping. Hybrid finally made it on stage by around 1:30am and put on an incredible 2 hour hour show. By 3:30am we were shown the door and directed down the street by cops on horses ... by 4:30 I was home in bed with only slight hearing problems.

Update:
For those interested, Krishen pointed out that you can listen to Hybrids' Saturday night set here.

Once again, pictures are provided via Krishen. He has some great pictures of the night.

Welcome ...

Pirates ... oh my!

Yet another 'side-show' ... meet The Human Volcano

I am in there ... can you spot me ??

I even managed to snag a dance partner

She didn't even mind my two left feet!

Hybrid ... they did a great set ... these guys are good

The girls help Hybrid end the set.