I see a horrible pattern forming concerning my sleep habits. I'm up already. Again. I told myself I was not getting up. I would lay in bed until the early morning light or until my eye lids got heavy. I lied. It is so funny how the pups are about their sleep time, Maple Syrple in particular. She rules the roost and no one, I mean NO ONE disrupts her sleep. She quickly became tired of my tossing and turning and just like she expands her part of the bed, I knew she was working me toward the door. She is such a work. For the life of me I will never understand how she can gather all the bed covers.

Maybe I can get a nap just before morning.

Pepa had his doctors appointment. They have chosen a treatment that I personally favored but it is not available in Abilene. The closest town to them that offers it is Lubbock. I believe they prefer either Lubbock or Houston. The treatment is to have radiated pellets implanted. This is probably the least invasive of all the possibilities. I think right now Pepa's local doctor is trying to see where he can get in, when.

Krl and I had a call last evening from Rian and Reidman. Holt's packages had just made it. What Meme and Dandy had tried to do is give him toys that would hopefully be incentives to get off his little fat butt and walk. They are pull toys, of course one has musical inclinations. Reidman has latched on to that one. We did send Reid some crayolas and a few coloring books. He told me it's "really, really cold" at his house.

The local television station we watch has a new meteorologist. He made mention last evening that Lubbock was probably going to see the most snow they have had in five or six years. I did notice that we are supposed to have a wintry mix this week end.

My day was spent on the computers. As I had mentioned earlier the new company laptop had been spazzing and kept telling me that none of the portable devices existed. No floppy, no CD, no CDRW, no Dvd. Anytime I would insert a program disk, I would get an error message either that the drive was not available or that I didn't have permission of the computer administrator (which I am). Finally I became so frustrated Monday that I got out the old laptop and installed the software with the 2006 upgrade. Then all the data had to be entered. Krl and I had talked and I had told her I had received several calls asking when the W-2's would be going out. Believing that there is no time like the present, the decision was made to begin to print them. Wrong. The old laptop did not have the printer software (the printer was bought in early October. After we had moved to the seasonal jobsite, we got to come home for one weekend. We had moved the printer, but I had three more stored in the closet. Yep, I'm one of those that never throws anything away. I couldn't get any of the three to work so I took them outside one at a time, raised them over my head and smashed them on the driveway, then deposited them in the dumpster. When I finished destroying the three, I got in the pickup, drove to Office Depot and bought a new printer, on sale. O.K., that's the side story, back to my day). I located the new printer CD and began the download. When it was completed, it would begin again, and again, and again. I struggled with it for an extended period of time, and finally asked Krl to try. Same thing. For the life of me I don't know what is going on.

Krl and I were sitting shoulder to shoulder, her working on the old laptop trying to load the printer software and me working on the new laptop trying to figure out why the program wouldn't download yesterday. She was having the same luck as I had and finally took the computer down the hard way. Surprisingly, I did something right and all the sudden the new laptop could see and recognize the portable drive devices. I downloaded the 2006 program with no problem. Then I realized that this computer didn't have the new printer on it either. I retrieved the disc and began the down load. I thought it was going to do the same thing as it had on the old laptop, but finally it settled in and installed. I have never seen any program take so much time. I would say between thirty and fifty minutes before it asked me to reboot the computer. About the only thing I have ever seen take this long is a re-index and re-pack on the data base at the old job. By this time it was after lunch. Now I had to deal with extracting the data from the old laptop (again). I did a backup of the data on the old laptop, saved it to disc, then restored the new software program data on the new laptop from the disc. Another hour investment, but I thought we were getting close. After sorting the forms into the different copies, we were ready to make an attempt. I did a test page, Krl approved it and we began. After the first copy we did a hands on proofing, made some minor adjustments and printed out the remaining two copies to be sent to the employees. While these were printing, I decided to make one final attempt to install the new printer on the old lap top. Call me hard headed, but I hate to give up. Three and a half hours later, the installation was complete.

I don't even want to think about any more programs or upgrades. I am de-programmed and graded out.

But I did prevail. I may have lost my mind, but I won.

Krl and I sat at the table and played "go fish" as she matched the copies and inserted them in envelopes. I helped out and put stamps on them and took them to the mail box. She isn't through. There are just a few "problem employees", but why should the majority have to wait because someone else didn't complete their paperwork. (I'm also thankful that she didn't remind me I should have caught this because as job coordinator the paperwork is handed out and retrieved by me.)

I had the television on in the background during the day. I wasn't really watching, just kind of listening. That is until Oprah came on. One of her guests was Carly Simon. Carly and her two grown children, Sally and Ben, sang before they sat down to be interviewed. I have always been a Carly fan. I particularly enjoyed the tremendous harmony that it seems only blood relatives have. Ben resembles his father (James Taylor) in looks, mannerisms, and that smooth mellow voice. I went to Carly's official website and read her life's time line. It was a very open honest read. I continue to be impressed with the lady.

I am hopeful that my today does not include computers, printers or software. I need a break. I have been thankful that there were inside jobs to do during the worst of the cold weather, but I need to get out.

I do know I need to figure out what I'm going to do during the off season. I am hopeful that I can do enough on the side to remain on the medical insurance but I am hopeful that I can do something to supplement my income. Krl has volunteered some input about my situation. I just need to get busy and figure it all out.

I was distressed to learn of Benny Parson's passing. Anyone who follows NASCAR knows he is a past Champion and television announcer. He had battled lung cancer and was declared cancer free in October but the treatments had damaged his lungs. He was knowledgeable and likeable and will be missed.

Along the same line, when I was preparing my portion of the reporting for Krl to do the W-2's I was presented with a situation I had never had in twelve years. Two co-workers had died since last season. It makes you re-calibrate as to what is truly important. They may not have achieved national acclaim but they were friends, they had families and they too will be missed.

I am having serious doubts about society. When the University of Miami fired Larry Coker as head coach, it was for a dismal 6 and 6 season. Forget the fact that he won 81% of the games he coached. Then there is Marty Shottenheimer with the San Diego Chargers. He is the winningest coach never to have made it to the super bowl. His team had the best regular season record in professional football, but the last two years his teams have been ousted in their first game of the playoffs. Speculation is he will be fired. Go figure.

And with that I'll call it a blog. Have a day.

FATHER, I need refuge in that place near to you.