A friend has informed me that the RSS feed from this site is now featured on AllTop’s Portland page. I am in very good company there. Now, as large as my ego may be, I can’t for the life of me figure out why I have been accorded this honor. I can only assume that someone, at some time, will correct this error. In the meantime, there I am.

Today is the Girl’s birthday. Thirteen years old, and almost as tall as I am. She has developed alarmingly quickly over the last year, physically and emotionally. A large portion of the responsibility for this has to be given to the meds she takes. After years of dead ends and bad starts, we now have her on two medications that go a long way toward controlling her impulsive behavior and allow her to function at school. She still drives us nuts, but she’s also quite a remarkable young lady.

Her involvement with Girl Scouts is paying dividends, as the lessons of personal and social responsibility gradually sink in. Her artistic ability continues to develop, much to the chagrin of her teachers when they find her notes covered in doodles. She can draw amazingly well, and just continues to get better every day. This may be the first (of many, I’m sure) areas in which she has surpassed the abilities of her old man. It’s an odd feeling, but ultimately a good one.

I went to work yesterday, and almost immediately turned around and came home. Between the coughing, the wheezing, and the stuffy head, there wasn’t any way I was going to be productive, anyway. Spending a few hours in bed probably did me a world of good.

Partly because I’ve been so sick the last week, we are woefully unprepared for Halloween. At this point, I may just haul out the firepit and put on the robe I wore last year and be Mysterious Figure Near The Fire. If I haul out the big mask this year, I promise to take pictures.