Joining Google+

I now have a profile on Google+, where I'm "Brian Gill." That's my name, although my signature reads "Brian H. Gill."

I'd prefer to use "Aluwir," since that's how quite a few folks know me online - and there's only one "Aluwir" that I know of: while there's a surprising number of Brian Gills out there. Including, for a while, someone who was in the same line of work that I was. He's probably still in that career: I've moved along.

And that's another topic.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "My Son, the Techie"
  (October 9, 2010)
• "Prayer, Hair, and a Rabbit"
  (April 6, 2010)
• "Lent, the Furnace Guy, and Beautiful Weather"
  (February 17, 2010)
• "Another Day in the Heart of Darkest Minnesota"
  (January 19, 2010)
• "Thursday: Back Online, Finally"
  (June 18, 2009)

Another Day in the Heart of Darkest Minnesota

Fog overnight and this morning left frost on the trees.


South Ash Street here in Sauk Centre. I took this picture about 9 this morning. Yes: It was that dark. January 19, 2010

My wife and #3 daughter watched the shop for my father-in-law this afternoon. I'm glad we're in town, to take care of that sort of thing.

My son mentioned that he could build a computer for me, when I mentioned wanting to separate webcam support from my 'main' computer. I may take him up on that.

I lost the habit of checking on Facebook and MySpace late in 2009 - that was an interesting year. Now, I'm getting touching base with those communities back in my routines.

Another hour or so, and I'll be reading Garfield with my son.

And, I see that someone brought Giol, #1 daughter's rabbit, up. He's in the kitchen. I've got an apple core - two, actually - waiting for him.

Saturday: Grilling Lunch, Calling Family, and Napping

I got about three hours sleep last night, so I was a trifle fuzzy this morning. I've no idea why I stayed up so late (early?) last night. Oh, well.

Actually, I was fuzzy most of the day.

On the other hand, I had a good time grilling lunch and being with family. I talked to my father briefly this afternoon: Under the circumstances, he's taking things rather well.

The burgers weren't quite incinerated: I'll definitely want to be more on top of things tomorrow.

Tonight, prompted by #3 daughter, I (chatted?) with #1 daughter on the Yahoo chat service that she (#1 daughter) talked me into joining/signing up for.

That's it. I've got to get more sleep tonight.

Friday: Countdown to Christmas

Three more days, and it's Christmas.

Happily, preparations in this household are complete. As far as I know, at least.

Our son is looking forward to Monday. That's when some very special things go on at school, I understand. A friend of his was over here this afternoon for a while. The friend came up with an interesting question: what to Bionicles eat? I'll say this for that Lego company product: It can get kids thinking.

#2 daughter and my wife had a long talk in the kitchen this evening. What they talked about, I don't know. Still, it warms my heart to see and hear those two doing mother-daughter stuff.

#3 daughter and our son watched cartoons, and I had a talk with #1 daughter on the phone: in other words, we had a fairly normal evening.

#1 daughter has been reminding me of the virtues of Yahoo Messenger each time we talk: mostly that it's less expensive to use that the telephone (not counting connection charges, I suspect) - and allows file transfer. One of these days, I'll sign up.

I had blood drawn for a physical earlier this week. They must have liked what they found, because I got called back for an encore yesterday morning. Then, yesterday afternoon, I got a call from the clinic. The nurse told me that we had good news, and bad news.

It looks like I've got an early stage of diabetes - or something that looks a lot like it. Happily, that was the bad news. Even better, a relatively inexpensive medication with only mildly disgusting side effects should keep me going for quite a while.

Best of all, this will be a wonderful incentive for me to get control of my weight, and get in shape.