Friday Grab-Bag

So, work's been a sort of rollercoaster of late. I've been reclassified into the Marketing department, which means a new boss, smaller team, and a number of questions about my role. However, the plus side is that I now have a private office with a somewhat obstructed view of downtown Toronto.

Also, thanks to my insane amount of work over the last four months, we kicked the doors off of our projected sales, activating my profit sharing. We're not talking a Wall Street sized bonus or anything, but a healthy half-grand in my pocket is never an unwelcome thing.

It's actually kind of odd adjusting to having money these days. In the nine and a half years in Toronto, in at least half of them, I worked long hours or been in unemployment at what works out to minimum wage or worse. The rest of the time, I've worked equally long hours for decent money, but my crushing debt load essentially reduced the funds I could spend to the same minimum wage levels. Being able to go to dinner on a whim, or plan a weekend in Quebec is a very new pleasure. I'm rather hoping it lasts.

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I think my X-Box 360 might be dying. It's taken to overloading mid-game, shutting down with two blinking red quarters on the box. Replacing it would be a pain but not a huge chore, however I'd like to know what the issue is before commiting to a new one, and hopefully without adding a couple of hundred dollars in a fruitless diagnostic.

I'm also very slowly grinding through Mass Effect 1 on Insanity difficulty with the ugliest Shepard in history. This guy looks like his parents were siblings, he spent his childhood having his face mashed, and then for good measure, he went down on a porcupine.

So, you know, kind of looks like Kevin Youkilis.

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I win at birthdays and through some kind of Jedi mind trick, managed to see an afternoon baseball game as part of one that wasn't mine.

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Rereading 'Otherland' and still finding that it has a nice impact. It's not as sprawling or complex as I remembered it, but it is some of Tad Williams most intelligent writing, and save for a few clunking sections and some unnecessary scenes, remains fairly tight and interesting.

Likely going to shift to Robert Sawyer, a Canadian sci-fi writer who I quite like. My father decided to pass along his collection of his hardcovers, and I haven't read 'Hominids' since my tattered second hand paperback feel apart.

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I have completed a synopsis and basic timeline of a new writing project. In the effort of not jinxing myself, I have dubbed the project BIG UNIT, and plan to only speak of it cryptically and with great mystery until I actually have substantial progress to show. So, if it follows my typical pattern, watch this space in 2014 for more details.

Also revived several old projects for completion by the end of this year, to clear the decks and the last of those things I wanted to do and lost momentuem on.

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Yeah, that's about it. Push off and eat a KFC Double Down or something. I'm told it's the best cardiac arrest money can buy.