My sister came to visit!

It was a surprise… She’d mentioned coming at some point, but I figured she meant in a few months, once she’d gone home and gotten settled in Pennsylvania and got tired of being out there.

Instead, she came this weekend. She’d planned to come earlier in the week, but crazy car troubles (including a tow truck dropping her car from the truck bed into traffic and almost into a brick wall!) delayed her. I was glad she made it at all with all the drama…

She met us at Dave’s parents’ house on Thursday, just in time for our weekly dinner with the family (usually just us, Dave’s parents, Dave’s brother and his fiancee) and left early this morning. We got to spend time lounging about together on Friday while David worked. (I guess there’s one plus to being out of a job! I took some time off of the job search and trying to figure out unemployment to hang out with Melissa. If I’d had a job, I wouldn’t have had Friday to spend with her.)

When Dave got home, we made dinner, played some Cities and Knights (I won!!), then watched some Monty Python (yes, Melissa, I think it’s a little funny) and a little Scrubs. We had some good chances to chat - it was nice for me to get to catch up with her… I’ve been getting most of my info second-hand through Mom. It’s not that Mom does a bad job of relaying things, it’s just that I like hearing how my sister’s doing from my sister herself.

Anyway, it was a wonderful couple of days, and already I’m looking forward to the next time she comes around. She’s promised to stay for more than a day and a night next time. =)

This is my design, based on the template I did a couple of days ago…

It’s pretty simple - nothing spectacular. I’ll be adding things to the theme later, but I wanted to look at it in action.

Another WordPress theme I did today:

Andreas04

You can check them out/switch between them using the links under “Themes” in the sidebar. Downloads available on my Design page.

I’ve finished fooling around with the HTML and CSS for this template. It’s boring, but gives me something to start playing with. (Please ignore the loudness of the colors - one of the downsides about a laptop being your main computer is that you have to find a desktop to check your color choices. These colors were a tad more… muted… on my laptop screen.)

Due to a lack of internet connection yesterday (I spend quite a while fooling with it, only to find out later that the network at Anderson wasn’t working properly), I spent some time playing with template writing.  I’d like to end up with three versions of the templates I’m working on: I’m starting with HTML/CSS, but when I’m satisfied, I’m going to convert it to XML/XSL and to PHP (I might use it here as a Wordpress theme if I like it enough) - just so I can get some practice.  It’s fun stuff - and possibly useful.  It’s nice not to waste all of my time on things that won’t ever see the light of… a computer monitor.

Also - Mike, who’s heading up the beginning of our church’s Capitol Funds Campaign, asked me to be on the committee.  We’re (at some point) going to do some work on creating a new website for the church’s CDC that, among other things, allows one-click donations via PayPal.  I’m excited about that - it’s a good opportunity to learn some new things I can use later.

I’m learning to use XML and XSL. I like that it’s more flexible and more sophisticated than plain ol’ HTML and CSS.

I’ve got the basics down - it’s remarkably easy moving from HTML/CSS to XML/XSL. It’s just practice from here on out.

I decided that I wanted to expand my web-stuff skill set so I could be… useful. Or hired. =) I can work my way through PHP and JavaScript, though I need to brush up on actually programming. After I do that, the next stop is Java & JSP.

Yesterday was my last day in the office.

Update for those of you not in my family: My company is closing. There will be a couple more weeks of work - wrapping things up - and then I’m (we’re all) out of a job.

It was tough, but a good day. In some ways, it’s hard moving on… I will see these friends again, but not in the same context. I’m trusting that God will provide for me - and that brings incredible, unbelievable peace - but I can’t help feeling a little lost.  What’s next?

Thank you, family and friends, for the prayers you’ve said.   Things ended well - not in bitterness or anger, but in friendship and with resolution.  None of us know where we’re going or what we’re going to be doing, but we know that we can trust in the Lord.  Thank you for your encouragement.  =)

We ate lunch at Wendy’s today - got up too late to make lunches - and I ran to the restroom while Dave waited in line. I don’t normally pay any attention to public restrooms, but I couldn’t help noticing this one.

Four inches. That’s how far away from the wall the toilet sits. The toilet paper dispenser, on the wall beside the toilet, juts out 8 inches from the wall. So, unless you want to hit your head when you sit on that toilet, you have to sit leaning.

I have been sick.  I think today is the first day I’ve woken up feeling well in about a week.  David was ill last weekend and passed his malady on to me, in a weaker but more prolonged form.  He was over it in a couple of days, but it’s just been clinging to me for a week.  Ugh.

I’m better now, though.

Hey - local friends who read this (Mom & Dad A, Randy & Carrie - you too!): Superbowl Party!  If you don’t have anything to do Sunday night, call or email me.