Free At Last!!!

I wish I could be making that statement with a little more financial certainty, but I've made up my mind. I'm officially out of the banking industry. Instead, I'm going to pursue my burgeoning carreer as a mobile technology consultant and journalist. Now, if only I could figure out how to get my Comp Sci degree by the end of next month.

Valentine's Day

Not wanting to fight the Valentine's dinner rush, Liz and I opted for lunch at W.D. Deli. Their spinach chicken salad sandwich is great. I had already given Liz a Nintendo DS Lite with Brain Age and Mario Kart DS, but I also wanted to give her something a little more sentimental. So for Valentine's Day Liz got a pink iPod shuffle engraved with "www.SparkleButtons.com". I bought Liz a web domain commemorating one of my pet names for her from years ago. As far as what she'll do with the domain, I don't' know. I told her she should learn web design and development, but if it just sits there than let it be. Did she like it? Emphatically, yes! She thought it was a really "cute" and unique gift. Now, just to get my hands on that new iPod.

The Mall, Sudoko and a New MacBook Pro?

I've been extremely busy at work. We came up with an idea to open a mall kiosk to sell our MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Netowrk Operators), like Helio, Amp'd, and Disney Mobile. It took me over a month to get the deal up and running and at the verey last moment, the deal was canned because our coporate folks wanted us to use a kiosk that won't be available for another couple of months. Good grief!

Liz has been such an extremely good help with my grandparents. As a wife (and best friend), she has gone far beyond what I could ever expect of her to do and as a small thank you I upgraded her Nintendo Gameboy Micro to a DS Lite. I bought her Mario Kart DS and Brain Age. Since she has a brand new system to play with in her spare time, I inherited her old Gameboy Micro. However, I've become slightly addicted to Sudoku (one of the featured games on Brain Age). I even went as far to download a Sudoku widget for my PowerBook's dashboard so I can get my fix when she's got the DS.

I was talking to Bia the other day and I hinted at a no-interest loan for a new MacBook Pro. Suffice to say that we were talking fast and about a completely different subject, but she said "yes". I'm sure we could make an arrangement to where she would just take the payment out of my paycheck and that way I don't have to pull money out of my savings to get some upgraded hardware.

Do I Need Another Mac?

No! I keep telling myself, "No"! But the lure of fresh technology beckons from that glowing white pomaceous orb. My 12" PowerBook G4 has served me well for about a year now and there really is no reason to switch it out for something new. Liz's 17" PowerBook G4 is going blind due to a severe LCD failure. If the screen doesn't totally give out before her birthday, I plan to buy her a MacBook Core 2 Duo. As for me, I'm slowly convincing myself that I don't need to shell out 2,000+ USD for a MacBook Pro, even though the ability to run Windows XP/Vista would help me with my BlackBerry certification and activating and installing EVDO cards for customers. Hmmm.

Frustrated

I'm tired and I know Liz is tired. My grandmother has taken a bit of a bad turn. In other words, a turn for the worse. It is so demoralizing when you try your hardest to help someone you love get better and you're making sacrifice after sacrifice, but they refuse to have the will or desire to get better. I think that's the case with my grandmother. For whatever reason, she's decided that if she gets better, great, and if she doesn't get better, oh well. Unfortunately, that isn't good enough for me. My mom and I talked about an assisted living facility for the first time today. We'll give it more time and see how she does.