stroke

Ha! it's done! It's done! And it looks great! Will begin distribution over the weekend.

online stuff

Just came back from a morning meeting with the people responsible for creating the online bidding and procurement system for one of our government clients. Henceforth, all bids by suppliers like Pipeline will be done electronically - and it's about time! The system is huge and affords unexpected benefits for organizations like ours, primarily exposing us to other potential clients with a variety of requirements. For instance, when a body needs 18 new SUVs and they request for a public bid, we automatically get a notice (not that I have cars to sell, but you get the point). We can also put up the equivalent of an online storefront with Pipeline's services, allowing other buyers to find us.

weekend

Sage's grandmother came over for a visit, bringing vegetables and hilarious stories of her brief sojourn in Marawi City towards the end of Ramadan. My poor mother, dizzy from the rigors of the required fasting, came through the experience with aplomb. When I tried to fast, I felt so weak and eventually gave in to the temptation of food. I think it wouldn't have been so bad if I could smoke, but even that is not allowed.

I finished Abarat and was completely underwhelmed. Apparently, Disney has bought the film rights to this 3-part series of novels by Cliver Barker in the hope of finding the next big thing. I could be utterly mistaken but the book was just crap. Like I said earlier, there are some good ideas there, but overall it left me with an irritated raised eyebrow.

Saturday night, our we and our friends had very late dinner at North Park, gorging on Chinese food. What to have? Try the YangChow Rice, Sweet and Sour pork (very gweilo, I know, but it's quite good), asado, broccoli and their wanton/dim sum combination. According to Vin, the Chrysanthemum Juice is to die for (right, if you're a Spencerian fairy). We wanted to join them for coffee afterwards, but both needed to get some sleep for the next day with Sage.

Friday night, we had Nikki and I had oysters at Marina. We met with a young writer who wanted to get our services as teachers and editors for his upcoming novel. We read through his frist 8 chapters and accepted, based on 2 things: we wanted to help; and he has a clean, clear writing style. More on this as it develops.

After that, we went to Chili's with the guys and the topics of conversation were our upcoming publications and website, as well as the kooky things that only a group of close friends particularly care about.

tree

I'm getting a tree for Sage today. Will tell you what happens later.