I had my eye exam this morning (first time in three years) and everything checks out okay. That is, I have healthy eyes. I do need a very slight adjustment to my prescription plus the addition of bifocals. It is as low you can go with the addition of bifocals but it is a start. So they are kind of training wheel bifocals.

They didn’t have the black pair of frames I tried on a few weeks ago, so they had to order them. While I was there, Karen showed me some others that really were very nice. So when they get the black pair in I will have three to choose from. Karen said she would call some time this next week for me to come in and finalize the frames and get them started on making and putting the new lenses in them. I will have a hard time choosing.

I ate lunch with a co-worker at Genghis Khan - an all you can eat buffet. Well, they made their money off me and her. We both only had one trip through and I ate all the things that I was suppose to eat for my diet. I was a good boy.

My Mom & Dad just got a new car and here are some pictures of it. It looks really nice and is brand new only 14 miles on it and is an Aveo. Click on any image to see a larger view.

I checked online and my Federal Tax return showed up in my checking account. So it was time to make the big purchase. I called up my customer representative Gary at MacMall and told him to go with the 24″ iMac system he helped me quote.

Last time I made a fairly large purchase though them (my current computer) I had a problem with daily limits on my debit check card. It was a big mix up but got cleared up within a week. So this time we were ready and I checked with the bank and got my daily limits and I should be okay to buy the whole thing in one pass this time. I won’t find out if there was a problem till Monday.

This is very exciting and scary (all at the same time)! I will have to wait for a week or two since it is a custom build system. Really, they are taking a system that already has the correct amount of RAM on it (2G) and then upgrading the Graphics Card (to 256MB) but that is what qualifies as “built to order.” They will also be installing the Parallels Desktop application and Microsoft Vista Ultimate for me. So when I get it home and pull it out of the box, all I have to do is plug it into the wall and plug my internet cable into it.

I was hoping to get the new Mac OS 10.5 pre-installed on it but who knows when that will be released. Gary also said that if I buy a new Mac fairly soon before the release of 10.5 that MacMall would send me the new OS for free. So I will hope that happens, cause I ain’t waiting for it.

One big purchase down, one to go. Next weekend I will be getting my eyes examined and paying for new glasses and frames ($450.00 or so). Once that is paid for, I will be doing good and have all my worries lifted about not being able to pay for the computer and glasses.

I did 6 hours of overtime this week. I could have done 8 but Monday night I just could not stay after work (I had to get to the grocery store and I was starving). Overtime make me grumpy but it is unavoidable and does help pay the bills. Next week we will probably be forced into mandatory overtime which means going into work before work for two hours (instead of the stay after work overtime that is purely voluntary). So I’m sure I’ll see a few days of 5:00 AM work start time. Ugh!

One nice way to end the week was we got our Bonus check Friday! Sad that the money is already spoken for. But that is a good thing. I made my eye appointment and the earliest they could get me in is March 31st (because of a cancelation). So there goes $450.00 of the Bonus money and the rest goes to help with the purchase of the new iMac. Today I have to decide how the budget is going and which iMac I will buy. Do I get the 20″ iMac or the one I really want, the 24″ iMac? The budget will decide. I really think I will be able to swing the 24″ iMac and Shannon agrees that I should try to get it if at all possible because it is the better of the two.

Shannon’s folks made a surprise visit Friday. Luckily I had all the floors done and everything from the last scheduled visit (which they didn’t show). So Shannon only had to do a few last minute pick ups and a major hide all the piles of clothes in his room before they showed.

I went to bed last night at 9:00 PM and didn’t get up this morning till almost 9:00 AM. I was tired. All the overtime does that. I may just be sitting on my butt all day but I am using my noggin a lot! Brain power does take some energy too.

Today will be a good day to get caught up on all the computer stuff for home and to get chores done! It’s suppose to rain and oh by the way:

Today is Jaki’s birthday and she turns 7 years old (in human years). She’s officially an old lady now.

I questioned the vet if I should change her diet now that she is “older” and the best thing for her is to keep up with her current food. She gets Science Diet Small Bites Lite and the vet said if we switched to an Older Diet then more than likely she would start to gain weight and it would be bad.

Jaki still has all the energy of a dog half her age and is doing great. Maybe she’ll get a few extra teats today and some extra sleep time in my arms! Happy Birthday Jaki!