Hello fellow travelers! Just a couple of quick updates before bedtime.
We had a bit of a trial this week. I came home to meet Andrew's new speech therapist (who was very nice) but heard running water. I tracked it down to a broken water heater. And we're already extremely tight on money right now - like a-couple-hundred-bucks-from-bouncing-checks tight. To say that we live paycheck to paycheck would perhaps be an understatement. Regardless, we couldn't do without a hot water heater (if only because there was no shut-off valve and I had to turn off all the water to the house in order to stop it from leaking), so we called a very professional plumbing service. They came out and for $1000 replaced the water heater. Coupled with two cars that need several hundred dollars worth of work (brakes and a radiator) and Susie's teeth (which are fine but need a little maintenance), this was perhaps one of the worst things that could have happened. Thankfully I get paid today, so we now have a little cash, but yeah - my butt's a little sore from all this.
I'm still waiting on comps for my detective game, so I've been working on getting back into OttoJotts. I love the game and really want to just finish the damn thing. I was really concerned that I would have too much work to do because of both Apple's decision to ban using UDIDs (which I used for quick logins) and because I moved hosting from Jumpline (who were great 10 years ago but not so good at matching my needs now) to PowWeb (where Cathy's website is hosted). The migration was incredibly easy. I'm working on modifying the code now to change out the UDIDs. Once that's done I should be back to where I was before Apple's change and before the migration. Then it's off to finish the code.
Unfortunately for me, we have a really big weekend planned. Tonight is a Junior Denver Broncos Cheerleader (JDBC) performance at the Rockies game and there's a clinic on Sunday. Cathy has something in the afternoon on Sunday, so I will be at both clinics - AM and PM. #facepalm I do love being a squad parent, but it's a little frustrating when Cathy gets scheduled for things that conflict with JDBC clinics.
That's it from Chez DeVoe for the moment. More updates later.

A new first post for a new blog

I have three other blogs that I work on "periodically" (meaning "when something catches my eye" or "I have something cool to share"). But they are more specific and less general purpose. One, Ex Mediis Aevis, coverages my fascination and knowledge of the middle ages and the second is my development blog for Otto Von Productions. The third was/is an attempt at short fiction around surviving the zombie apocalypse, but I'm kind of burned out on zombies. Not that I'm not planning on watching the premiere of "Walking Dead", though. Those blogs are great (and you should check them out), but I don't really have anywhere that I can just sort of talk about whatever it is that I feel like talking about.
I've been reading a lot of Wil Wheaton's books over the past few weeks (got a Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday - thanks family!) and there's a freedom in his blog about being able to write about, well, whatever the hell he wants to write about. I sort of pigeonholed myself with the previous blogs and had started this one over 5 years ago to talk about software management (another round hole). I'm going to repurpose this one, though, to be just a generic blog. A place where I can talk about the triumphs and challenges of raising a brilliant, talented 10-year old girl and a VERY energetic 2-year old boy. About the day-to-day crap that sometimes gets me down. About the things that get me motivated. About life, I guess.
So, here's to a blog unlike the others. A blog about just being me. Hope you enjoy the ride.