Today was the first really chilly autumn day - not bitter, but it never got above mid 50s, and that was a marked change. I was outside all day volunteering at a big fundraising event for these folks. On the drive home I stopped and had hot pot bibim bap, which was a wonderful warm and filling thing.

I have a date on Monday! With a beautiful British lady (who is not Senyar, sadly). Trying to get past the whole, "no way she'd want to go out with a schmuck like me" thing.

Tonight, Doctor Who marathon including the finale.

The weather here has been lovely too despite a few spots of rain. The State Fair started Friday and runs through next weekend; it looks like they lucked out on the weather situation this year.

Today I got up as late as the pups would allow and I cleaned. I got about halfway done with the house before I cried uncle, so I'll have to finish that tomorrow. Then I went grocery shopping.

Other things on The List for this weekend beyond the normal hair washing, etc: decide if I'm making anything out of the slow cooker cookbook before it's due back at the library, laundry, start knitting the hat my coworker requested, figure out answers to sample behavioral interview questions, read something fun.

Such a glamorous life I lead. And with that, I'm going to make myself an ice cream cone.

It's all getting ready for departure for China all the time for us right now. Spent the day on getting paperwork caught up (still at that), laundry, and various phone calls to do things like make sure my phone works when we get there. And some Ipad app shopping, as it turns out there are some decent Chinese-English dictionaries, tutorials, and Beijing and Hong Kong city guides/maps available.

Tomorrow, some serious packing. I'm pretty much there, but want to make sure all is perfectly arranged and balanced in combo backpack/wheeled luggage, and that I've pared it down all the way.

The Frinton-on-Sea outing looks just lovely. Wolfdog, good on you!! And Eide, best of luck. Hope you remember to consider whether YOU like HER, not just the other side of that question.

Still in Fresno. Weekends don't exist here. The last bus on my route passes at 3:23 pm.

Lovely day here too. Temps in upper 70's with richly colored blue skies featuring decorative white cloudlets.

Did all sorts of outside work all day without getting hot sweaty and grimy.

Went to grocery very early this morning since kitty food was on sale. Kitties now have enough food for a month!

Windows are open so it's getting a bit cool inside so I now feature catlap for bonus warmth and cuddles.

Great day overall.

It's a very quiet rainy weekend at home. Highlight: An online chat with a favorite friend. Also, I FOUND a household item I'd thought I'd lost over a year ago. Just a small thing, but still.

That hat is pretty awesome, bluesapphires. I'm knitting dish towels myself, because I want to work on something where there's no pressure.

It has been a pretty good weekend so far, though the weather has turned chilly and windy.

I had a lazy morning, then a nice afternoon at the movies with a good friend. This was about the right level of physical activity for me today, since yesterday evening I tried running on a treadmill for the first time in... well, ever.

It went better than expected, and out of 40 minutes, there were maybe about 5 in total when I was walking rather than (slowly) running. Today, of course, I hurt in various places, but nowhere near as much as I thought I would. Due to the fact I am close to 300 lbs, I suspect the treadmill is hurting more than I am today.

I am managing not to think about work very much for the first time in weeks, and it feels good to relax.

Cold and rainy in the 'Burgh today, had to turn on the heat for the first time.

Spend all day with my wife trying to find an e-commerce package that works, doesn't suck, works with Google checkout and has inventory display. We were willing to spend some money on it if necessary but the for-profit stuff is just as bad as the open-source stuff. Finally found something called Ecwid that works pretty well and integrates into Wordpress.

We're in charge of ticket sales for the neighborhood xmas house tour which is the biggest money maker of the year for the association so we can't screw this up. I though that I had everything setup with something called Shopp but we couldn't get the damn checkout callbacks to work from Google.

Very tired now and drinking a cold can of Yuengling.

We've had an AMAZING day. It's actually chilly here today (low 60s F) which is quite a change, and feels like an early fall in Georgia. (It often feels like "summer" here right up through Halloween.)

We had to get moving early (for us on a Saturday) to get the partner's car to the dealership for servicing (it's right at the top of the hill from our house, so he drove up there and then walked back) and also had to get Kayla to the vet for vaccinations and a haircut. She came through it fairly untraumatized, which is not always the case with her.

While Kayla was at the vet, we went to a local arts fair that we go to pretty much every year, and found some of the COOLEST STUFF. I got this and this (the former is much cooler looking in real life), while my partner got this and an amazing little clay vase with these markings that look like alien writing, but were made by burning horsehair against the sides of it right after it came out of the kiln. So cool.

We ran a shitload of errands, came home and hung up the new art bits, and then built our first fire in the fireplace for the season, because now it's down in the mid-50s outside and DANG does that feel cold right here at the end of summer.

Now we've just had a pizza delivered and are going to eat it by the fire, so I have to say this weekend pretty much rocks so far.

I had to work today, but both bosses were off and things flowed smoothly. Got home, and my kids actually made dinner (well, it's mac n cheese, but they actually did it themselves) while I started setting up Halloween decorations in the yard. I love Halloween!

Tomorrow, I'll take my youngest to the costume shop, and finish decorating the inside and outside. I hope it's nice enough to read the paper outdoors while I have my coffee, too. I love fall.

JanetLand: I have some concerns about the sizing so I have my fingers crossed it'll work out. I made this one for her last month. She said she got a number of compliments which is always nice to hear.

I usually crochet a blanket when I want a no pressure project. I'll have to keep dish towels in mind as they'd be a lot quicker.

Pretty good. I've gotten a ton of things done (including epic being an adult things) and massacred tons of ants. But I'm pretty tired from all of the adultness and the week starts tomorrow for me.

I usually crochet a blanket when I want a no pressure project.

hehheh. My last big project was a throw, but it was a wedding present, so I concentrated hard to get the pattern just right, and knitted it only in the bedroom to keep from getting cat hair on it. Dish towels, wheeeeeee!!

High point of my weekend: Birthday (wife's) dinner at the Modern.

Update : I left windows open last night so it was 62 inside this morning. Perfect excuse to make buttermilk chocolate chip pancakes! Mmmmmm!

Yeah, it's gorgeously cool here in NC, which is a pleasant departure from the ever-sweating summer. I left the windows open all night Friday and all day yesterday, and I was actually cold. Like mightshould, the temp in my house this morning was 62ºF.

Got the front yard mowed, and the backyard is on the agenda for today. Didn't feel well last night so skipped a party I should have just gone to anyway.

Today is mowing the backyard (as mentioned), and afterwards I'll hopefully go get a much-needed pedicure.

Senyar, I want your weekend! Can we trade please?

Also, Obscure Reference -- I've always wanted to eat there, how was it?

It's cold and rainy here in Ithaca. The high yesterday was in the early 40s (ugh!) reminding me that winter is inevitably on its way.

Had a lazy morning yesterday -- made this casserole (more like a strata really) for brunch. Worked a bit in the evening and then went out for Indian food with my roommate and another friend. It was good, I ate too much.

Today morning I was hoping to snuggle late in bed with my boyfriend but he had to go to lab at 9 am on a Sunday (!!!) to finish work on a review paper he's working on. He was incredibly sweet this morning so it was ok though -- I told him I'd like to eat breakfast with him so to go ahead and make something to eat and I'd join him in the dining room. Instead he brought me toast, tea, cheese, jam and butter to bed and we snuggled and ate and drank tea for half an hour until he had to go.

Miserable. The crows have come home to roost. Whatever was always wrong with me is worse. Panic, desperation, futility, failure. It's difficult to want anything. It's all so non-specific. Insurmountable goals are pipe dreams. I'll get over it, sure, but how discouraging, like I wasn't born to be me, but figuring out who I was meant to be is all false trails and lies told to myself. Like it or not, I am me.

I have this great awesome reason to live, too. Everything I've done up until now has set me up to fall in mutual love at first sight, which is wonderful, really the best, but at the same time everything I've done has jammed me down a well so that awesome reason to live is a faraway glimmer of light, not just metaphorically, but by months and miles too.

It's so predictable and stupid. I really hate talking about myself this way. I'm supposed to be on top of things, but I've been underneath them for years; it's a lot harder to retain my smile down here. Nothing to do but keep on trying, but damn I wish this malaise would end.

Hugh, do you have my number? Reach out anytime, friend.

Hugh, this is depression, that soul sapping monster, and you need to see a savvy therapist pronto. I have been there too. Fight back. Don't let the disease win.

Friday night I developed this sore back. . .on my right side wrapping around to the front, which feels like my liver is exploding except that it only hurts when I move and I feel OK otherwise so I am pretty sure it's muscular/skeletal.

But I had to power through some chores yesterday, anyway. We got our cord of oak in for fires this winter and wife wheelbarrowed and stacked half of it Friday so yesterday I got almost the rest of it moved and stacked before my back just gave out. But I'll be damned if that tiny (wonderful) woman can outwork me.

A leaky hose spickot: I just bought a cap for the fixture, rather than turn the water off at the street (which is illegal for me to do but which I have done many times in order to fix this and that). Will fix in Spring, since it has started to rain.

I may pull the trigger on buying a new TV today. I feel like I have learned all I can up to actually buying one and figuring it out. I tried to buy local but struck out so I'll get it at Costco, which has a good return policy, if I can't get it to work.

Blueberry pancakes this morning, and then maybe swimming at the gym if my back allows. Or maybe a few laps then the hot tub by the pool!

The heat meant that our run was only 5.5km, but that was fine, it was enough in this weather. Over brunch my friend from the running club talked about her love of art and told me, completely non-ironically, that she owns several paintings by Thomas Kinkade, including one of Graceland.

I went to a musical at Ford's Theatre on Friday night. I usually fall asleep at musicals, but this one was compelling enough (despite some unevenness) that I was rapt the whole way through! Yesterday I slept and ate, and then I slept and ate some more. Today I have a date with some laundry (the only kind I ever have ;) ) followed by a friend of a friend's jazz CD release party/concert tonight!

I am jealous of everyone who spent the weekend in the out of doors. It's been so rainy here!

{Hugh, I've had weekends exactly like yours. In fact, I am fighting a bit of the blues as I write this. See someone for help; it's a struggle -- it's not a nondecreasing ascent, but it's worth it.}

It's lovely fall weather here, too. It's even supposed to start raining tomorrow. Yay!

I got a flu shot yesterday morning and started feeling pretty crappy about two hours later. (Happens every time.) Spent the rest of the day on the couch watching cooking shows and football. I did manage to assist in the making of the fabulous dinner we had last night -- a roasted chicken and vegetables, all from the farmers' market. I don't really even like chicken all that much, but this was fabulous.

This morning I'm going to go to a pizza place in town to watch the Cowboys game. I love living in California, but there's something very strange about having to get up early to watch a football game.

Rainy autumn days here, and I'm working on the fourth day of a migraine, which has been dropping and lifting all weekend like a dark curtain in a breeze. (You can tell it's blown off a little by the mere fact that I'm looking at a computer screen, though it is turned down as low as it goes.)

But not too bad considering. I have a book of M.R. James ghost stories (for when I can read) and a quiet apartment (for when I can't) and one last Vicodin if it gets too bad.

Last night, The Fella (a vegetarian of 20+ years) surprised me with steak for dinner. If he'd asked, I would've waved it off; all that chewing? With a migraine? No thanks. But he just appeared with it and at the first bite, my eyes rolled backwards in delight. THIS is what my body wanted.

Hugh, I've been there and come back. It's a dark country, but there are plenty of roads back into the light. Take good care of yourself; you deserve it. Please talk to someone: start with a loved one if you aren't up to starting with a therapist. You friends and family WANT to help. They love you. I do, too.

Hugh, I'm so sorry to hear you're in a pit right now, but it will pass, really it will, but you may need some help - chemical or therapeutic - to get through this time. I know I couldn't get out by myself when I was depressed.

Remember there are people here who care about you, and if we can help, we will.

I love living in California, but there's something very strange about having to get up early to watch a football game.

I remember being a kid, and on Sunday mornings, surfing (in the pre-wetsuit days) and then coming up and showering and then just bundling under a quilt and watching the (LA) Rams, while the shivering slowly subsided.

At least you don't have to stay up past midnight if night games run long like us EST folks do.

Ha! Frinton-On-Sea is where my dad's parents used to live. We used to go there on holiday to stay with them. Back then, there was a sewage outlet that wasn't quite far enough out to sea, so the water was at times a tad, shall we say, unpleasant. The pub, IIRC, is a fairly new arrival as FOS was dry for many years.

Friday evening wasn't so hot. My cold hit it's peak and I was in bed before 9pm (I'm usually up til 1am or later) and slept 14 hours. BUT Saturday was great. Felt much better, even a bit hyper, not sure what triggered that, but it was nice. The mister and I went to lunch, the dollar store (which is now the $1.25 store, eesh), watched a movie (Source Code, not bad) and played hours 'n' hours of WoW. The mister made a full breakfast this morning (fried eggs, hashbrowns, toast, bacon and oj) and now I'm perusing the internets. Not a bad weekend.

Hugh - what Senyar said. I supposed there's not much we actually can do, but do remember we care.

Today (Sunday) was probably one of the worst days we've had in a long time. Started with a 3 a.m. confrontation with the neighbors that ended with the police (they're not clueless, these neighbors, they're actively assholes, yay!). Didn't get much sleep before church. Had to rush dog to animal hospital after she showed symptoms we couldn't ignore. 4 hours and lots of $$ later, and of course, she'll be fine. We come home to find a water main break outside our building has left us waterless. Today can eat shit, as far as I'm concerned. I'm ready for Monday.

Of course, how ready Monday will be for me remains to be seen. May have to go to the gym in the morning to shower.

Thanks, guys. That was a particularly bad moment, but it made some things clear and I'm taking steps to get this sorted out, so thanks again, for your advice and for your kindness. I'll be thinking of you too. Much obliged.