More relaxed start to this week

I found out last week that one of my projects is being put on hold for a couple of months. Now, usually what the client would do in this situation is retain the original deadline while forbidding us to work -- nice grasp on reality, fellas. But this time reason came through and deadline has been extended commensurately. The upshot is that my workload, at least for the time being, has been drastically reduced. Good thing, too, since I have a final report due by mid-March which I was fairly convinced I would be bringing home with me for the next month.

Of snow days

We had a snowstorm on Wednesday which resulted in a day off. Rather than make any pretentions of being productive, I simply slept for most of the day. There was also a bit of snow on Friday. Enough to close the schools, but not enough to close the office. Ah well.

Of vermin

It's becoming more dangerous to be a rodent in my house. Dorrie caught her first mouse Thursday morning before I went to work. I was sickly intrigued as I watched the grisly affair. Pick mouse up in mouth, spit out, pounce... and repeat. Like a hockey ref, I let the "fight" go on for a bit before breaking it up. I then bagged the mouse and threw it out on the way to work.

Unfortunately, it was apparently not the same mouse that left a few droppings on my stovetop on Sunday morning. So I set up a good old-fashioned trap last night. Woke up at 3:00 needing a puff of my inhaler (this happens every now and then, which is quite annoying). Going downstairs to get it, I noticed that the trap, within 4 hours of being set, had struck. This was a big sucker, too. I'm hoping there aren't too many more friends...

Of low key evenings

Friday night I met up with Andrea and Ginny at the Anchorage for coffee, and then we hit a couple of Water Street bars for a natter. Saturday night we headed over to Jenn's boyfriend's friend's place for a couple of drinks. Both were good evenings. I got my wish of getting out more this weekend :)

Of other stuff

• I'd like to try to grow my own herbs indoors. I'm not sure of how this will work with a cat in the house. Next weekend I'll try to snag the necessary supplies.
  
• I got a couple of jazz piano books about a month ago, and I've finally had the chance to look at them. One focuses on theory, the other is a songbook. I've started working my way through both of them. I'm glad, because I was starting to stagnate a bit.
  
• I've gotten the itch to woodwork again. I've purposely taken a break from it these last few weeks. And I believe that absence has indeed made the heart fonder.
  

All right. That's enough for now. No trouble to tell work has abated slightly, eh?