i realized today that i haven't posted in a while and that you might be thinking that i'm dead. i'm not. it's merely a life-induced coma. an absence from the Internet because of things "more real". or something.

do you know that i sprained my ankle again this morning? isn't that insane? i sprain my ankle far too often. either i've damaged my ankles so many times that they've become downright wimpy or they were downright wimpy to begin with. (no comment on my hairy-chested masculinity intended, of course.) whatever the case, i definitely need to do some strengthening exercises down there. how did i sprain my ankle? i stepped off a curb. the end. pretty wimpy.

we leave for Costa Rica in five days, seven hours. that's so close, i can taste it. it tastes like monkeys and pina coladas and some big fucking lizards that apparently hang out at the pool at our first vacation spot. we planned this trip months and months ago and now it's finally here. and not to sound greedy or anything, but i wish it were longer. like a month. or three. three months would be fantastic. well, i warned you i might not come home.

yesterday, i wrote the Observatory Lodge at Volcano Arenal (that's an active volcano, lads) but they're fully booked. we thought we'd take a couple days of side trip and see the place but we didn't think of it soon enough. or, rather, i was too busy to bother until now. oh well. we might try a day trip, depending on how long it takes to get there, but from what i've read it's much too long a trip to take in on one day. next time, perhaps. or maybe something will present itself while we're there. the theme of the vacation is, after all, the Unplanned Adventures of Sean and Corinne.

it'll be really nice to be away from work. good gawd, i'm sick of this place. i keep waffling between looking for another job and sticking it out here for a while longer. i had a good talk with Corinne's dad when he was out here last week and he gave me some good advice that'll make it easier to stick around. plus, the vacation should refresh me a bit and make it easier to come back, pick up the bullshit shovel, and get to work.

what's most frustrating to me is that we need a new user interface, i have a plan for a user interface, everyone is complaining about the current user interface and working around it's oddities, but i can't seem to get the development of that new user interface any priority. so i sit around twiddling my thumbs and arguing with people in meetings. bah. humbug. gimme the good stuff.

aside: did you know that in the movie Casablanca (which, by the way, Corinne has never seen), Humphrey Bogart never says, "play it again, Sam"? it's true.

by the way, when we get back, i'm finally arranging poker night at my house. this has long been promised (along with a housewarming party) but never delivered. it was supposed to happen this month, but Corinne never gave me the email addresses of her friends who want to play. now that i mention it, she still hasn't. anyway, the game is on come mid-February. let me know if you want to play. friendly game, low bet limits (so you won't lose your shirt -- just your pants), all flavors of poker played. come one, come all.

ouch, i just got my gas and electricity bill. $200. mostly gas. which is how we heat the house. (i expect some good fart jokes in response to that.) we have got to conserve better. i need to get one of those timer thermostats. i've been meaning to but i'm so picky about what i want that i haven't gotten around to it. time to suck it up, already!

ok, i should go do something else. like work, maybe.