Today we had our pre-drywall meeting with the field manager and design coordinator on our new house. I admit to feeling a fair amount of stress in recent days regarding all things real estate related, including some issues I was having with the exterior color we’d chosen for the home. I’m happy to say that after the meeting today, both Apple and I had a lot of our worries assuaged.

The developer recently finished building and furnishing their official model home, and we got a chance to take a look inside of it today. Needless to say, the place is extremely well done. What struck me the most about it, though, were the exterior colors. Each house gets a two-tone look with an exterior wall color and a separate band color. I was already having doubts about the color we’d picked for our place, but when I saw this model, I was like “Dang…that’s the color I’ve had in my mind this entire time!”

Fortunately, our exterior paint hadn’t been ordered yet, and our design coordinator was happy to change the color selections for us. I am really stoked about this. Living in a Taco Bell-themed house for the last five years (bright yellow walls, bright orange roof) is getting old, and I want to go with something nice and muted on the new place. Like a dummy I forgot to take any pictures of the model, but we’ll go back and get some, perhaps this weekend.

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It’s a long story how I actually happened upon this, but over at Unexplainable.net, there’s a little (rather poorly-written) article on how Michigan is one of the most haunted states in the country. Early on, you’ll find this paragraph:

When passing through the city of Dearborn, you will find the Divine Child High School holds a tale regarding a haunted gym. When the gym of the school was being remodeled, a construction worker died from head injuries sustained from falling from scaffolding. Many have claimed to see his ghost located on the catwalk during the night. Many have said that it feels as if someone is watching you when you walk down the hallways of the high school. Others claim that janitor equipment can be found in front of empty, lit-up rooms. When someone enters one of these rooms, odd messages are scrawled on the chalkboards.

Unexplainable.net

Wow, I wish this stuff would have been true back when I was going to school there. It would have made things a hell of a lot more interesting. Although, upon further consideration, I admit that it did feel like I was being watched when I walked through the halls. Watched by the teachers, who would dole out criticism and punishment if you didn’t make it to your next class within the mere seconds they gave you.

They started building that gym pretty much right after I graduated, and I haven’t been within a mile of the place since. If the school is haunted, I have to say I feel sorry for those ghosts. Having to be stuck wandering around the afterlife at that place is a fate that should be reserved for rapists and murderers, not day laborers.

Maintaining a positive attitude? Well, it’s not an act reserved just for those corny motivational posters. I approached this day with an upbeat frame of mind and I swear it’s been one of the best days I’ve had in weeks.

Actually, this sorta started last night, ironically after a rather lousy morning. I had a restless sleep on Sunday night, and as a result on Monday I was pretty dead. By Monday night, however, I had mysteriously come alive, to the point where I actually worked myself ahead of schedule on that medical software website project I mentioned last time around.

Today I put a solid eight hours of work in on the new application design for my day job, and am quite pleased with the result — I had been putting this off because I was not at all looking forward to it, but after giving my brain a chance to recharge I’m finding I actually have some decent creative ideas. Then, this evening, I got even further ahead on that medical website, to the point where I’m ready to request a final bit of information from the client on wrapping it up.

Another contributing factor to my mood today was the weather. Finally, the cool, crisp autumn temperatures have arrived in southwest Florida. Today was just a teaser — it’s going to warm up again for the next few days — but by the weekend another cold front is coming, and we might actually set some record lows. It was in the mid ’70s today, and having the windows open and getting that fresh air circulating through the house was envigorating like nothing else I can describe. Plus, our de-cluttering of our house (in preparation for moving) makes it easier to think, live and work here, without the constant distraction of so much stuff everywhere. I think I like it this way.

Lastly, a little automotive commentary. If a Subaru STi turbo mill and AWD drivetrain in a 2,000-lb. roadster with an amazingly killer style sounds good to you, check out the Murtaya prototype from Adrenaline Motorsport (a UK-based developer). Mmmm, delish.

Things were looking rather dismal for a while there last week, and while our problems have far from melted completely away, at least now Apple and I have a plan and we’re executing it. We’re getting stuff done and feeling like we’re going somewhere, and while sometimes the crushing weight of all these responsibilities makes it hard to be cheerful, at least we’ve started to learn how to handle it.

Anyway, to compensate for some of the lousy news and foul emotions lately — although I haven’t spread much of that here, because it would have been just too damn negative — I thought I’d post up some Happy Stuff™ that’s also happened recently.

First of all, I never really mentioned my new computer, powered by Intel’s Core 2 Duo E6600 processor. It arrived a couple of weeks ago, encased in a piano black Antec P180 and brimming with svelteness. Utilizing some overnight hours, I completely platformed it for work in record time (less than two days) and have had next to no issues with it since.

I name all of my computers, partially for identification on the LAN, and partially for fun. My last machine was Shodan, and predating that, Xerxes. This one I’ve dubbed Exeter. Since I run a closed web server on it, with a home page providing links to my various local project directories, I designed a system logo for the page. I had previously used the Xerxes system logo from System Shock 2, and since I consider Exeter to be of similar lineage, I borrowed from that design style in the creation of this one.

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