Well, I got 4 days of vacation back since the short-term disability claim went through. It all proceeded rather smoothly after getting the paperwork done.

What this means is that by the ned of the year, I'll have something like 136 hours of vacation accrued. I'll be taking a couple of days around CONvergence and a couple more around Christmas, but I will still have some vacation time coming this year.

I've never really been on a vacation, not since the family trips when I was a child. I went to New York once for a friend's wedding, and I took a long weekend to go to Kansas City haunting, but I've never taken anything like a two-week trip somewhere.

It's been suggested that I should consider going somewhere as a celebration for the weight loss. I'm considering it, but I'm also considering a new garage this year, and the whole money thing isn't really cooperating with spendy vacationing. And it hardly seems appropriate to celebrate someting that hasn't happened yet.

The garage gives me studio and workshop space. That's something that I sorely need. And I found a garage building company that will allow me to do some of the work myself, so I can have them do all the hard stuff (pouring the foundation, framing, sheathing, etc.), and I can do a lot of the internal work (electrical, plumbing, etc.).

So I'm thinking that I should wait a bit and see what the future holds. I also haven't received any of the copay bills for the surgery and the hospital stay yet. That should be fun.

Ah, well. Play it by ear. Fly by the seat of your pants. Skin your teeth. We have nothing to fear but fear itself.