Huh

My daughter got married last month. Actually, she got married last January, but that was just a legal ceremony in the courthouse, done to keep the immigration authorities happy. Last month we hosted a big party here in our backyard. She was originally thinking about having it at a resort in Mexico as some people would be coming from Latin America, and flying from the East Coast of the USA would cost about the same. So she picked out a small resort that looked like it could accommodate us and we could afford it, but we were unable to make contact. Then I stopped by my dentist's office and I picked up a copy of Vogue (because what the hell, I'm in the dentist's office) and I see that this very same resort is featured in this current issue. Well, that kind of explains why we haven't heard back from them. This story in Vogue has no doubt caused them to be flooded with requests. Good for them, bad for us.
    So we went back to the drawing board. Weddings are big business. Reserving a commercial space requires planning ahead like a year in advance, and ain't nobody got time for that, so we decided we would hold it in our backyard. It would be a tight fit for all the people she planned to invite, but with a little work it could be made to serve.
   The party came off way better than I expected. My brothers all showed up which was kind of amazing since I don't think the four of us have all been in the same place since I don't know when. High school maybe, when we all lived on the farm?
    About half of the people that were invited responded and showed up. Some flew in from as far away as the East Coast. One couple was from Buenos Aires, but I think they were in the USA anyway.
    Anyway, it was a big deal, a big success and a little expensive. It cost about as much as my net income from a year of working, back when I was working. Roughly half of the expense went to landscaping contractors for work on transforming the backyard into a green paradise.
    Things were a little crazy this summer what with all the preparations. My daughter hired a wedding planner which was probably the best idea ever. Saved me from getting drug into all kinds of discussions that I had no interest in. Dealing with the landscapers was more than enough for me. That and the low-level, background agonizing about the money was all I could handle.

    So. My daughter got married. Then my wife pointed out that I haven't worked in ten years. That could be true, I haven't checked. I started collecting Social Security a couple of years ago so I guess that means I'm retired. I still have a vague hope of doing something useful, but given the lack of employment I suppose writing this blog will have to do.
    I signed up for Google's Adsense and Amazon's referral service a while back, just to see if I was missing out on some free money. I just checked and I wasn't, so no more ads or money grubbing links. I think you need like a million hits a day to make that kind of thing worthwhile. I get more like two or three hundred.

   I thought about stopping this blog, but then I realized that while part of it is telling people about the cool / interesting / weird stuff I come across, another part is that it is just a place for me to record my thoughts, so I will keep on.

    I do like programming, but I have no enthusiasm for all the flash-bang gimcracks that garner all the attention these days. If I ever get my Linux box working again, I might try writing a game for smart phones.

   Meanwhile, I'm trying to eliminate all blackberries from the backyard. All the work done over the summer has reduced them from a Mongolian horde to small gang of street punks and if I persist I should be able to exterminate them. One theory is that you have to dig out the roots in order to destroy them. While that probably works, I have to wonder. A few years ago a small squad of men armed with weed-eaters made a pass through the swamp. The droning of miniature four-engined bombers went on for days, or so it seemed. They came back again the next year and the blackberries that seemed to infest the swamp seem to be gone. I'm doing what I can, but I think the key element is persistence, and only time will tell on that.

   I'm also trying to get rid of some of the junk we have accumulated. There is a neighborhood garage sale in the spring and that is what I am shooting for.