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I was well on my way in to the office this morning when there was a multi-lane accident on the interstate prompting a detour to the park and ride station. I really dislike riding the bus. The drivers are rarely the least bit courteous and I'm almost always late when I take METRO. How can a mass transit vehicle take so long to commute downtown when all they have to do is stay in a dedicated lane blockaded by cement walls to prevent other traffic's interference? Amazing. The impromptu trip to Austin was for the funeral of my best friend's father. I have known him since we were kids and he will always live fondly in my memory. I spent some time wrestling my boss to get away, but I had to go. EL and I had a fairly easy trip up. Austin is a smooth drive once you get on 290... point the car and drive straight until you bump into the state capitol. I love Austin. I've always loved Austin. It has been an elusive destination without question ever since I was a kid and would drive up to visit friends fortunate enough to have already arrived. Long touted as the "Live Music Capitol of the World", Austin is a mecca for all flavors of artistic culture. I've discovered that sometimes sacrifices are made for the greater good... like putting a roof over your head or food on the table, but for in my dreams, Austin remains my idealistic choice of residence here in my home state. I was listening to this spot on NPR just before the freeway went whacko about how the DEA was busting legitimate doctors for, what was in their opinion, the careless prescription of opioid pain killers in patients with severe and ongoing pain. The thing that bothered me out of the story was how they chose one doctor to be "the example" and charged her with some ridiculous number of violations... well over 300. The result being a ripple effect in the medical field causing many professional physicians to prescribe lesser strength or lesser quantity pain killers to patients who would otherwise qualify for a larger dose or stronger medication. It's Janet Jackson's breast in the medical industry. What is wrong with this country? Wait, don't answer that. I may not have enough hard drive space on my server to store the length of the comment. In other news, the new chief executive at my company released a revised organizational chart of the officers and senior officers and my CIO's name was no where to be found. I have nothing to say about how that makes me feel that wouldn't get me fired. Let's just say it's a good start... a step in the right direction. I stand behind the new CEO and believe he has what it takes to make this company great again. I just hope he convinces me to stay before it's too late. Have you ever hung transparent bags of water from the ceiling to keep flies away? It works. Pretty weird shit if you ask me. I was running a little late this morning because I wrote all these love notes for my wife and left them hidden around the house, made her fresh coffee with cinnamon sticks how she likes it, took care of all the pets, etc. I need to get in the routine of setting my alarm even earlier so when my un-motivated ass hits snooze 5000 times, I still get up with some extra time to do stuff like that around the house. Typing on the bus is what I imaging it would like to type in the paint shaker machine in Home Depot. I ordered a 2.2GB micro-drive this week. It was about 40% of the cost of a similar density compact flash, so I'm going to give it a shot. I switched to a new company for my prints. I am using a professional lab now and the results are markedly better. I made the move to the pro lab when I decided to start selling photographs. Quite to my surprise, the cold morning wasn't wet. I'm loving it. I hope McDonald's doesn't sue me for saying that... but I am. It's colder than black hearted women's scorn though... the wind cuts through you like a knife. I'm approaching my stop, so the paint shaker must come to a halt. Thumbs down for the bad place, true... but thumbs up for coffee time!! w00t!!