Sierra Rec

I have revisited my hobby website project, "Sierra Recreation." I am rediscovering the wisdom in doing an imperfect something over nothing at all.

I implemented a nice template, but it is not displaying entirely correctly, and its finer features are lost until the right tweaking is done. Needless to say, I don't know how to apply those tweaks, and it has frustrated me to the point of inaction.

Today, I added some menu items (on a menu I was able to tweak into displaying correctly). These little steps rebuild my confidence not only in myself but in the entire idea of trying at all. Adding the odd, incremental bit of content, and the thing will start to look worthwhile again.

Little steps get you there, or at least move you forward. Often, that is enough for now.

Bookkeeping

I had been trying to get into an online bookkeeping class, but I was too late and the class was too popular. I scrambled onto the waiting list, but didn't make the final cut.

Honestly, I'm not that motivated about it. Numbers have always been a difficult subject for me, and flatly disinteresting. However, I acknowledge that it's a limitation that closes off very real potential for me as well. So, I decided to look into alternative forms of education.

I robbed the subjects listed in the textbook I would have bought (none too cheaply, I might add), and Googled some of them. A hop, click and a jump led me to Intuit's recently-released "QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition 2009 ." I compared it to a favorably-reviewed free offering from Microsoft, and chose the Intuit version for the following reasons:

• I have experience with and access to Intuit's legit Quickbooks
• The MS version is not reallyreally free, as you apparently must have MS Office installed before it will work

Both options are huge (320+ Megs) to download, but I've got mine up & running. I hope to teach myself something new, and if nothing else organize my own meager money matters as well.

Make mine a double

Jeezis, what a shit morning today. My son was all butt-hurt about something, and life got hectic for just a few minutes there. I ended up skipping breakfast, and the drive to work was a long one.

I decided I needed some comfort food for breakfast. I stopped by Angels Camp Burger King and ordered a double sausage-and-cheese Croissanwich. After this artery-clogging luxury, I felt much better.

Best four bucks I'll spend today, and it's second-best for the week, where first is that I bought new, $4 earbuds for my MP4 player. One earbud of my current pair failed and I had tolerated it, but I drew the line when my one remaining speakerbud started buzzing and crapping out. I found some cheap ones (different brand than the ones that just failed me) on eBay and free shipping sealed the deal.

I think everybody with the means should find an under-$10 web purchase and invest in a minor splurge of retail therapy as often as possible. Cheap books are a good option. Dr. Tom's prescription calls for at least two per month, or as needed.

Smell my finger

I did one useful thing yesterday, and that was to send my brother the Rosemary he was hassling me about. It grows in abundance at my house, and ever since I told him I would, I've done nothing to actually package and mail it. I lag.

The stuff smells great, and I took my fragrant package to the Post Office, where the clerk jammed the package in her face and inhaled deeply. That makes me laugh.