I hit a squirrel... but I didn't like it.

Yup, you guessed it -- I have been riding a bike. I know, I know -- miracles never cease! I don't know what has gotten into me. Things are perfect lately -- wonderful girlfriend, the bills are getting paid at the shop, etc. Maybe I finally feel that I deserve something for myself? I have gone riding three out of the last four mornings -- I should be out tomorrow, too. The only negative so far is that I actually hit a squirrel. Damn those things are stupid! I was coasting on a flat section when he darted in front of me. Keeping true to my personal rules, I stayed on course. I thought I was in the clear, but at the last nanosecond the little sucker turned 180 degrees and ran straight into my wheel!!! He scampered off into the woods, but I don't know if he made it -- the "crunch" I heard did not give me much hope. Then again, isn't the lifespan of a squirrel only a day or two longer than a bumble bee?

Speaking of nature, I came home today to a surprise -- baby fish in my pond! I don't know if they are koi or goldfish (not willing to get a close look considering the snapping turtle), but I am willing to bet they are koi! I have had koi offspring in the past, and I have been hoping for more. We shall see!

Today was absolutely crazy! I woke at 6am. I rode for about an hour, then made a trip to my accountant to drop off a check (what fun!) and pick up documents. I came back to a minor emergency (it wouldn't be a day at the shop without one!). After that was taken care of, I tackled the repairs. We had almost a dozen boxes of stock to put out (I warned Nick!), and I was busy wrenching all day. At closing time, I was totally worn out -- at least for bikes!

You see, I have this problem. When I get stuck on a problem , I get tunnel vision. I installed XBMC the other day as a media center, and I had figured out how to load my Netflix account and control it with my iPhone, but I was unable to get Pandora up and running. I found a site with the information and loaded everything according to their directions (including the header files), but I kept receiving an error. Of course, the problem was ambiguous -- an error message and nothing more. Well, I just couldn't give up -- one of my character flaws. After an hour or two of digging, I finally discovered that my add-on file did not appear to be loading in the correct location. I pieced together the limited information I could find on forums and realized that I could load the file from a ZIP format (rather than downloading a RAR file and unzipping as instructed). This was an improvement, albeit a slight one. However, I had made progress -- I couldn't give up!!! I finally decided to pack the files I needed back into a ZIP file and load it that way. EUREKA!!! As the photo proves, I now have Pandora loaded on XBMC! My programming skills are still far from where they used to be, but I can fly by the seat of my pants with the best of them!!!

Lucky me -- I get to work both days this weekend. Nick is off at some wedding thing, so it is Alan and me. Not so bad, really. I am having the time of my life now that I am back to my former self (as I write this at 12:16AM). Work hard and play hard. It doesn't really get any better than that! Time to read a bit...