Let's hear it for autumn!

I think autumn is Jennifer's and my favorite season, followed by winter, spring and then summer. Its sweatshirt and jeans weather, and that suits us just fine. There's a certain crispness in the air, aromas seem to be enriched and linger longer than they do in the busy summertime air, and the colors of leaves and flowers are just plain magnificent as they stand in sharp contrast to the browns and fading greens of surrounding foliage and the somber greyness of the sky. Even the compost seems perkier, sometimes giving off a bit of steam in the morning as if it were enjoying a cup of coffee or tea with us. If there is a downside to the early part of autumn, its this: the grass still needs to be mowed.

Yes, grass is truly the party-pooper of the autumn parade. Now, don't get me wrong- grass mowing is one of those homeowner tasks which I truly enjoy. I don't pay someone else to do this for me, and I'm not one of those suburbanites who revels in a superior lawn: I merely enjoy the task of getting out the mower and cutting the grass. It is 30-45 minutes of tranquility for me. Its a bit of exercise as well (*yardio- look it up in the Urban Dictionary- its my term!)  It also makes the compost happy- during the winter, the compost does get some additions on a fairly regular basis, but they are no substitute for the weekly feedings of grass that happen during the growing season.

I just realized its been a while since I've included a picture in a blog. All of the pictures featured are mine, and I think all are taken with my phone by me. They're pretty nice, I think, which is why I include them. However, I grew up in the 35mm era, and have owned a few SLRs- one of these years I'd like to acquire a DSLR. While cell phones can do amazing things (like the photo above), when it comes to photos, I believe a dedicated camera really is the way to go.

Data- I know there are a few readers who are wondering when the data will return to the blog. The short answer is this: it will be back when I have the opportunity to bring it back. I started writing this blog  entry right after I had published the previous one, hoping to get back on track of publishing something every two-three days (Hey! It's a goal- everyone's gotta have goals, right?). I believe I've mentioned that I'm currently a contractor, and lately, business has been booming. In fact, its been so busy that I've worked seven days straight, and this pay period has twenty-one hours of overtime. I'm not complaining about the hours- they are a blessing. I'm just saying that when one works seven days a week, something has got to give. In my case, its my projects. My projects currently are my nonexistent website, my database, my training spreadsheet and this blog. As the blog is featured on my resume, this is the only project that receives ANY attention while I'm putting in crazy hours. The website still needs a domain and hosting, the database gets updated occasionally and data is still accumulating for my training spreadsheet. And adding insult to injury, I have a Win7 box that won't give me any audio.

As much as I hate to admit it, Sting and I agree on one thing at this juncture: I want my MTV!

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.