The last few weeks have been more interesting than usual.

• Last weekend, I purchased a Ford Ranger XLT from a guy in Grandville. The truck runs great and is in excellent condition (although it could use a new paint job). I am quite pleased with it, and since I paid cash I now own it outright with no ugly monthly payments except for insurance and fuel. And it gets excellent gas mileage — roughly 25 mpg for combined city/highway driving.
• On the social scene: Friday before last, I had a lovely dinner and drinks with Charlie at the Red Jet Cafe on Plainfield … this past Monday, I had dinner with Duane at the Woodland Mall food court … Tuesday I brought dinner to Ryan … Friday I enjoyed the seventh annual Evening of Fine Cinema, hosted by Sondra and Aaron at Sondra/Rick’s condo — the theme of the three movies was “Bad Romance” and the event was quite well executed … Saturday I went to Lansing for a lovely seafood dinner and adult beverages with Tony, Jen, Jon and Emilie; it was nice seeing them all again and I SWEAR it will not be two years before I see my favorite Novi couple again. I simply cannot bear PPQ’s ongoing disapproval.
• On the work scene: Things are rolling along. We are making decent progress at the hospital on Informatics development, which is good. And I’ve been doing a bit more writing than usual — a fair number of my recent articles (about 50 so far over the last two months, at $20 per article) are now live at the Small Business section of the Houston Chronicle’s chron.com site.  Here’s an example piece: Advantages & Disadvantages of a Divisional Organization Structure.
  
• On the physical scene: Weight continues to sloooooly come down. This week, I will start making regular trips to the gym again to run. The extra calorie burn from the aerobics will help, in addition to the slow decrease from diet alone. If I can get back into my 2005-2007 routine, I will be back at the 160-165 range I was at through most of 2006, by the end of December. That’s the goal; vitamin D may have kicked my ass, but my ass need not remain flabby now that the vitamin deficiency has been corrected.

All for now.