Quick update on what's happening around these parts:

I've been trying to get to work on assignments that had been given extensions from last semester, and not having an especially good time at it. For some reason, I just completely burnt out over the holidays, and I've had a hell of a time recovering from it.

I handed in my Neverwinter Nights assignment on Sunday, though I wasn't extremely happy with it. I changed at the last minute from being a "tour through the world of theory" into a more standard type of "adventure". Like I said, I'm not extremely happy with it, but it's done at the very least.

Next up is the series of essays I need to write. I'm still working on articles about community and a content survey of online journals, but I also want to look at Second Life and see what I can come up with there. I think the concept is pretty interesting, and I'm eager to experience it for myself (albeit through the free basic account, which doesn't enable me to own virtual land).

Part of the reason I needed to get the NWN assignment in on Sunday is because I needed to be out in the Lower Mainland early Monday morning. Kirsten's grandmother, Josie, died last week unexpectedly, and we needed to get out there for the funeral. I flew out first thing Monday morning, catching a 5:50am flight.

Despite being a nervous dogfather, I dropped the puppies off with friends of ours on Sunday night. And yes, I called almost every day while I was gone to see how they were doing. Good thing we had Dame Daisy May and Bronte to keep us topped up on our puppy-related needs.

I don't want to say too much about the funeral, because it is really more Kirsten's story than my own, but I do want to say that Kirsten spoke a beautiful, touching eulogy for her grandmother, which left me in tears. It was a very sad couple of days (we also attended the viewing the night before).

We also got to visit with Natalie & Delmar, who we haven't seen since last Christmas (Christmas 2004), and despite the circumstances, it was very nice to see them. We'll see them again in March for Carol's birthday, but hopefully they can also come up here to see the house some day before we have to move (hear that Nat? Edmonton's calling you).

We flew back into town late last night, arriving delayed at 11:45. Our friends were kind enough to drop the dogs by before we got home and put them inside, so we didn't have to worry about either picking them up and bothering Rich & Helena late at night, or coming home to dogsicles. The dogs were really happy to see us, as they've never been left alone without one or the both of us for more than about 8 hours. Because we're big saps, we let them sleep upstairs with us last night instead of putting them in their kennels. All in all, however, they didn't seem too worse for wear; Rich & Helena took good care of them. As long as our dogs didn't drive them too crazy, I'd feel comfortable having them look after our puppies again.

Now that we're back, we have to get ourselves in gear to get a lot of work done. I still have the aforementioned school work to do, as does Kirsten, and we have flooring to put in the basement in a few weeks, when Dad comes up to give us a hand. I've told K a couple of times that we're not going to lay a single stick of flooring before then, but we'll see if that sticks or not. :)

Oh, and I'm scared as hell of the upcoming Conservative majority. United States of Canada, here we come.