Wow. Six weeks without a post? Where does the time go?
Oh, wait. I know. I goes into the giant pile of crap I have to work on — a pile that’s grown so large that even my ironclad weekly routines fell by the wayside. At least Abbi noticed.
Here’s a quick recap, in no particular order.

• It’s October 27. That means we’re a scant five days away from the start of National Novel Writing Month. I’m really looking forward to it. I’m working on a murder-mystery set in Grand Rapids. With cults, even. (Er, um, affinity groups … sorry, Lianne.) I’m hosting a weekly Saturday morning write-in in lovely downtown G-Rap. If you join NaNoWriMo and click on the Ottawa County/Grand Rapids forums, you can get the details.
• Last week was spent in Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. Exclusively downtown, this time. Tony and I flew out of DTW on the 17th and returned on the 20th. Our major adventure: The Vegas Internet Mafia Family Picnic, an annual community event hosted by the VegasTripping crowd and the Five Hundy by Midnight and Vegas Gang podcasts. We had a great time — stayed at The D Las Vegas and never even ventured onto the Strip. It helped that our good friends from Denton, Texas, were present to enliven the festivities. And we finally connected with some folks we heretofore had only known through The Twitter.
• In early October I trekked to Louisville, Kentucky, for the annual educational conference of the National Association for Healthcare Quality. The conference was pretty good, and I networked with a lot of leaders in the industry. Met up with the Michigan delegation and spent some time getting a different take on how other organizations implement clinical improvement programs.
• I do feel like the grim reaper at work. Dominoes three and four have fallen since my arrival. One guy is transferring to the I.T. department and another left to pursue a solo entrepreneurial project. Good for them both. Last week I had my annual review and it went well — best review I’ve had in 13 years with the company.
• A contract client has been sending me several small but urgent projects that have thrown my schedule out of whack. I’m happy to do the work but, geez. Now y’all know why it’s been six weeks since my last blog entry.
• I’m eagerly anticipating the coming holiday season. I’m taking two full weeks off at the Christmas holiday and I have a four-day weekend for Thanksgiving. Already planning the list of projects I’ll undertake on my 16 consecutive days off in December. Yay.
• Looks like my dear PPQ is hosting a Halloween party next Saturday. I am already planning my costume.
• One of my cats has taken to napping on me. It’s sweet, and fuzzy warm, but she only does it when I’m in my office, trying to type. Your words-per-minute plummet sharply when you have a pudgy orange ninja laying across your forearms.
• I’m digging the cooler autumn air. It’s been getting into the 30s at night, so the blankets have come out.

OK, all for now. I’ll try to get back on the blogging wagon.