It’s only been a three-day week, but it’s been a tough one. In addition to being very sore from the weekend, I either had a bad reaction to the sun or the weeds/ivy I was pulling out, or maybe from the seventy-million spiders and other assorted bugs I came into contact with. I developed sores and welts on my arms, my face was sunburned all to hell, and the area under my eyes was all rough and red. Yesterday, my eyes swelled up and it was very uncomfortable. In fact, they’re still swollen (though not quite as bad). Sucks. I just want this week to be over already.

I didn’t intend to, but I somehow found myself watching the big Obama Party last night. I didn’t see Granholm (who I hear was very good), but I did see John Kerry (hey, who knew? Where was that guy in 2004? They said on NPR he’s a likely replacement for Hillary in a second Obama term). And Joe Biden was great, too. People talk a lot of shit about Joe, but I like him. And he didn’t even remark how “clean” Obama is, either.

I didn’t see the big guy, though. It was getting late, and I either went to bed and fell asleep, or I fell asleep, and then went to bed (been sleeping very well the last couple of nights, which is unusual for me, so that’s at least one good thing). But I hear Barry did a good job, as we’ve all come to expect of him.

Harry Shearer summed it up nicely on Twitter:

Obama acceptance, short version: Yes, we really, really can this time, I mean it, and here’s why: GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Unfortunately, the jobs numbers are out today, and they suck. Less than 100,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate down to 8.1% only because people have given up looking. Not promising.

So I get home last night, and I notice somebody had come along and marked the gas line to my house (that runs through my fenced-in back yard) with flags and spray paint. I found this curious, because I wasn’t planning on doing any digging in my back yard (the dogs do plenty of that), and if somebody else was planning on doing something, they really ought to give me a heads up.

So I call the gas company this morning, who tells me to call “Dig Safe,” so I call and talk to Nicole (who is very nice, and sounds kinda cute), who says that Jane Smith (not her real name, but the name of the person who I bought the house from) is having a propane line put in.

Nuh-uh.

So Nicole takes my info and says she’ll call the people doing the work, and she calls me back and says, yeah, they had the wrong address. Good thing I called. Hopefully they wouldn’t have dug up my yard anyway, but who know.

Oh well, I guess I better see if I can pry open my eyes for a while, and get some shit done.

After a four-day weekend, it’s back to work on Stupid Meeting Day. Oh joy. To make matters worse, one of the dogs decided it would be a good idea to stand around and bark all night long. I don’t sleep all that well anyway, but last night I got pretty much no sleep at all. On top of that, everything hurts from spending about 16 hours over the past three days bending and squatting, trying to get my deck and fence stained before the snow flies. I also got into some kind of crap that seems to be making the skin on my wrist and forearm fall (painfully) off, and I’ve got a shitload of some sort of insect bites. This is gonna be one very long day. Fortunately, it was an early one for me (what the hell, it’s not like I was sleeping), which means I not only get to leave early, but I didn’t have to deal with any school buses slowing me down on the way in.

Had I know I wasn’t going to sleep at all, I might have watched some of the DNC convention (but probably not). It sounds as though Michelle Obama went over very well, as did that Castro guy (no, not that Castro). Actually, it sounds like everybody hammered Romney pretty good (even Teddy Kennedy). I don’t know if any of that stuff actually makes a difference when it comes to the actual election, but maybe “the base” will get energized and turn out to vote. Or not.

I can hardly wait to see (and by that, I mean “read about”) what happens next. Maybe Bill Clinton will bring out an empty chair and have a debate with it (though an empty suit would be better).

I was sad to hear that Michael Clarke Duncan passed away the other day (and so young, too – only three years older than me. I hate it when that happens). The Green Mile was an exceptional movie (although I have never been able to bring myself to watch it a second time).

Oh well, half hour ’til the Stupid Meeting. I guess I better get prepared.

And so we come to the end of summer. Bummer. I don’t mind the lack of heat so much (though I’ll miss the pool, which is really kind of a big expense for the number of hours spent in it), but I really hate the darkness. It’s pretty dark in the morning already (at least at the time I get up most days), and it’s getting dark earlier and earlier. I’m really not looking forward to going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark. Oh well, spring is just around the corner.

Busy day today, as I try and get more of my deck stained. I spent about six hours at it yesterday, and while you wouldn’t think it would be tough work, all my shit seems to hurt today. It’s not the deck part – it’s the fence around it. It takes forever, and involves a lot of bending, squatting, up and down kind of stuff that my old parts really don’t take to very well these days. I’ll be lucky if I get this finished by winter.

So I guess I better get started.

Have a good one.