Busy? Yeah! Depressed? Heck yeah!

There are a lot of things to write about -- so many that I've been overwhelmed by the thought of blogging about it all. So instead I will do as Mrs. Howard does: Make a list. I could write more extensively about each of these, but...

1. My best girl and I rode the Buffalo Bicycle Classic last Sunday from Boulder to Horsetooth Mountain Park near Fort Collins -- a distance of 53 miles. When we got there, we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then headed back for a total of 106 miles on the day. This was Mrs. Howard's first (and last) century. She did great, though she did suffer so. Heroic efforts do indeed become heroic results.

2. During the BBC, Howard passed the 5,000-mile mark for the year, which works out to a bit more than 20 miles a day on average. At this rate, he should be somewhere over 7,500 miles by the end of 2006 -- nearly the diameter of the Earth. On New Year's Eve of 2005, Howard was about five miles short of 500, so he jumped on his father's crappy bike and rode around his neighborhood for about 20 minutes. Howard started keeping track of all his miles on October 12th, 2005. You should see his spreadsheet!

3. The craps mantra goes, "Baby needs a new pair of shoes!" But in our family the past three weeks, it goes, "Baby needs a new computer!" We've been putting off getting a new one until the Big Check arrives in the mail. And now it appears that it ain't forthcoming. One of Howard's clients has apparently decided not to pay him the $5,500 they owe him for construction documents. They paid promptly for schematic design and design development documents. But when Howard finished with the CD's, it seems they decided they might not build their addition after all, and so they figure they don't have to pay Howard for two-and-a-half-months of work spent finishing the CD's. Contract says they must pay. What now?

4. The million dollar house is still about three months from completion. Howard is meeting with the finish carpenter this afternoon to go over the details. Also, the exterior stone veneer has finally been delivered to the site and is now being installed. Pictures should be forthcoming. Should.