Things I’ve been doing while my blog stagnates and gets smelly

This mind has been more than a little full the past few days with projects and plans, since I’ve got a newly two-year-old and some very cool projects happening at CSU (can’t talk about them yet, since they’re still in the planning stages, but I promise that they’re cool). In addition to the second birthday, I’ve got a little list of the things that have been going on:

* Creating the [Refresh Cleveland site](http://www.refreshcleveland.org)

* Designing a new theme for Distracted Mind (this one is going to be available as a free theme for the public as well very, very soon). Get a whiff of that new theme smell!

* Contemplating creating a support group for re-design addicts. Really. How many times does this make?

* Figuring out my shiny new [Olympus Evolt E-500 digital camera](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=burningrivers-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26creative=165953%26path=http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%253fASIN=B000BK39N4%2526tag=burningrivers-20%2526lcode=xm2%2526cID=2025%2526ccmID=165953%2526location=/o/ASIN/B000BK39N4%25253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82). I love my shiny new camera — it’s the reason for the new theme. It definitely has a bit of a learning curve, but it’s absolutely awesome to hold a camera that doesn’t feel like a toy, that I can focus manually, and that helps me take good photos. Lots more pictures coming soon.

* Crocheting a [cardigan using a knitting pattern](http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall03/PATTsonnet.html). Really, this isn’t as hard as it would seem, but I’m a perfectionist and have ripped it out three times. ARRGH!

* Entertaining lovely furnace estimator guys to get an estimate for a new furnace and central air (ahhh… central air). This will replace the behemoth incinerator of a furnace that’s been in our house since 1942. Seriously, the thing looks like you could use it to get rid of bodies and at _maybe_ 55% efficiency, this old momma’s got to go.

* Interviewing for a different job.

* Realizing that I _love_ my current job. Honestly, I’ve got the closest thing I’ve come to my dream job. I get paid to research, learn and teach technology in a _hugely_ creative environment. That and nobody minds that I prefer macs. How could I leave this?

* Turning down the different job. It felt _very_ weird to decline the opportunity, since I’m 27 and started looking for jobs on the backside of the dot-com boom. I still feel strange saying no but like I said, how could I leave my current job? Sometimes you just need to be reminded of how good you’ve got it by looking at how other work environments operate.

* Celebrating the fact that it’s been two years since my twenty-one (!!!) hour marathon of happy-fun-childbirth. The toddler years are _so_ much more fun than those first few months of newborn haze and tears (mine, not my daughter’s). I can’t tell you how much more fun it is right now with my comedian of a daughter who wiggly-dances to the theme song of _King of the Hill_.