So what do you do again, Dana? (when you can't be on your computer)

I have had a pretty fun weekend so far- and it is only half over! I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

The weekend essentially started on Wednesday night when I packed up Panorama and headed north to my parent's house. Mr. Probert had some early stuff, and I was expected in New Jersey at 9AM wearing my Land Desktop hat.

Thursday was great fun despite the fact that I might choose a root canal over Land Desktop these days. They were a really great group of surveyors and we got through a lot of surface building skills and even I learned a few things.

Friday I came to the realization that I needed to drop the M70 off at Cadapult over the weekend so it could be adopted by a new owner on Monday. So I had many computerless hours to kill while I backed up and bleached Ol' Bessie.

So I went to the Church Attic Treasure's sale and scored a copy of Richard Halliburton's New Worlds to Conquer: America's Most Dashing 1920s Adventurer Explores South America for $0.50. On the inside cover, there is a written inscription: "To My Lukie with all my love, your Sandy- Christmas 1937"

Then I came home and spent about 5 hours working on a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle of Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party with my Dad. I always have had a thing for Renoir, but I especially dig this painting and always focus on #6 after the scene in Amelie where she and the Glass Man discuss the figures in the painting.

Interestingly enough, the film Amelie also explains my obsession with garden Gnomes, lentils, photobooths, men who drive mopeds, and skipping rocks.

However it does not explain my obsession with Matryoshka which is something that I also spent some time with this weekend.

My parents house about half of our collection at their place, so Pannie and I took them all apart and put them back together again, then I thumbed through the tall stack of Golden Cockerel Catalogs my Dad hoards with my eyes glazed over wondering which of the finely painted treasures would make its way into my Christmas stocking.

I have quite a few, but probably my favorite of my collection is actually Panorama's (hmmm, maybe she won't remember), a blue and silver ten piece.

Pannie and I did some giant floor puzzles including a brand new Map of the World that I picked up for a discount on Friday, and we also played with her Magnetic Paper Dress Up Dolls which in spite of my dislike of all toys girly, I actually enjoy playing them with myself.

After the last CD popped out, I headed back south and swung by Cadapult, leaving Ol' Bessie to run an overnight "DOD Approved" deleted files scrub.

While driving, I listened to The Cluetrain Manifesto which is absolutely fascinating... It is amazing how much what is happening with Civil 3D right now happened with Java... and everything else. And it is so true how we as users "the target market" form our own communities and seek advice from one another, and how the internet has really made it easy for someone to start their own blog and spout off pseudowisdom in the form of pointless prose riddled with self serving amazon.com links.

Upon arriving home, I was greeted by a box from Zappos. Finally, I now have shoes to go with my Engineered Efficiency garb. (And if you think I am kidding, come see me at AU and I will show you how well they match.)

Oh yeah, and this is funny.

Right before I left my parents house, my Mom was looking at the potential floor plans for the new Probert Estate (estimating building year: 2025) and said something that makes me realize that I have become my Father. Not only do I look like him, but I also have one of those jobs that isn't easy to explain- like Fireman or Farmer. I still can't really tell you what my Dad does, and apparently, nobody gets my work, either. At least not on my side of the family.

She said:
"You are going to hire a professional to help you with the site design, right? I mean, you need to make sure that the water drains away from the house and stuff like that"

And I said:
"Mom, you do realize that people pay me to do that for them"

And she said:
"Yeah, but you really need to hire someone to do this. You just can't do this yourself."