do you like our owl?...artificial?

It's been a damned fine day today...I stayed home till noon to allow some contractors to come in and fix various broken things. We got a new tap set on the kitchen sink and a fit, healthy bloke came and sweated his arse off changing pipes and stuff. He actually had to cut the sink out of the counter and take it outside so he could properly beat the ever-lovin' crap out of it before it'd give up the old tap set, which time, love and chemical corrosion had sealed into place. He's coming back later to change out a shower valve which, I'm told and thus believe, is a totally different kind of plumbing job that requires welding equipment and far more money. Also had visits from the pest control guy, the pool guy and the washing-machine repair guy.

But, I'm a contented fellow because I used the time productively and re-finished the not-quite-finished-as-it-so-happens Mercury MailRoom. See, I'd always told Deanne that I shouldn't do manly chores such as plumbing because I'd screw it up and my time would be better spent writing software. Then I'd sit down and play games :) But not today!

A small interface tweak was needed and the old name "FAQ Support" had to be taken out of some of the documentation. As soon as the tristesse.com domain comes back to life (it should be today) I'll start contacting companies that might want it and see if they'll beta-test it for me. I'm thinking of giving it to them free for a year as I'm hoping to find a way to do an annual license sort of thing. $99 per user ? Seems like a fair deal for the amount of time it'll save them. But I need my email account to be working before I can contact anyone. Or it'll be a short call...

"Would you like to use my software? It's cool and stable and will really help you!"
"Sure, where can we email you?"
"Actually, my brother's PC isn't working, so I can't get email. But if you..."
*click*
"Hello? Hello? No, please! I am *so* a professional!"

I also got a bonus for project completion at work, bought $50 of nuts, raisins and granola bars for office snackage (to avoid paying the vending machine people), wrote to some friends and family, had sushi for lunch, listened to the Bladerunner soundtrack, walked the dog in a light summer rain, failed to beat my NHL Hitz 2003 hockey game, and even talked to my brother! Keith is on vacation in Seattle and is having a grand old time...wonder if he'll go visit Microsoft?

So it's a quiet happy evening for me while I wait for Deanne to come home. Actually I suspect she read this today - someone from her college, Nazareth, searched on "sirenbrian" and came to this site and read four pages yesterday. Ah referral logging...is there nothing you can't tell me? I wonder who that was though?