Today was really something — but not in a bad way. While I was submerged in nonstop activity throughout the day, the good news is that it was all positive.

To begin with, I got an early start (well, 8:30 a.m. for me is early) in case any phone calls came in from the office. This morning, my boss was having a meeting with a longtime client regarding an update to one of their web applications. I’d just spent the last three days slaving over a semi-functional HTML mock-up of said web application, and it was showtime. So I got up early, just in case the client had questions during the meeting and the boss decided to conference me in.

As it turned out, there were no questions — everything went smooth. In fact, that’s an understatement. The client said my new design was a “quantum leap” over what they currently have, and asked the boss to express their thanks to me. They even decided to focus all of their attention on the web-based app and back-burner the desktop app, which my boss really liked because the desktop app is a pain in the ass to deploy. There were only two minor changes, which I stayed up late tonight to finish just because I was geeked about having pulled off another A+ job. It’s already great when something you’ve put a lot of time and effort into really winds up being worth it.

Apple and I had lunch with my grandparents early this afternoon; that was a fun time and a nice little break from the usual daily workflow. We went over to the Thai restaurant where Apple works and had the lunch specials. During the afternoon, I completed another project milestone. As I was preparing that, an email arrived saying that my surround sound system had shipped and would be arriving on Monday. This is perfect timing, because I’ve got to spend the weekend working on revisions to a side project, which are due on Monday — so my head will be clear just in time for it to arrive.

We picked up the mail from my parents’ mailbox, and in it, Apple found a catalog from Havertys, a local furniture store. There was a lot of stuff in said catalog that appealed to us, and really got her thinking, so after I finished working for the day we went over to Havertys and checked out some of the catalog items. In the end, since there was a promotional financing deal going on, we bought ourselves a whole new bedroom set and a really nice computer table for Apple, so she can work on her laptop in our newly-rearranged great room. Also, it’ll be great to finally have a nice headboard for our bed, and more importantly, to get rid of the crappy, former-rental furniture from my college days which we are still using!

By the time we got done with that and picked up dinner at P.F. Chang’s, it was nearly 9:00. But the excitement didn’t stop there, because tonight we also bought our tickets to Thailand for our trip early next year. The only potential snag is the somewhat short layover in Atlanta between connecting flights — hopefully none of the flights will be running late — but other than that it’s the absolute perfect schedule, flight plan and airline set. We’ll get to fly from Los Angeles straight to Bangkok on Thai Airlines, whose international service I’ve heard is renowned. If funds allow, we might even get to upgrade to Thai’s “Premium Economy” class, where you get lots of extra legroom and AC power outlets! I’m looking forward to it. We’ll be there from mid-February through the end of March, so it’ll be a long trip. We’ll also get to spend the nights at Apple’s parents’ new house, which will be awesome.

I also just got done finishing up some “get ahead” work stuff, enabling me to add a couple extra hours to my timesheet today. It’s past 1 a.m. and I’m just winding down, but now I think it’s catching up to me — so I’m heading off to bed.

Life is pretty good right now. Busy, but definitely good.