Today was busy, busy, busy.  I’ve got several voice messages to check because I just couldn’t answer all the calls with everything else I was trying to get done.  Scott and I both were feeling the stress I think.  I mean, it’s not like either of us were rude or snippy or anything to each other at all, nothing like that.  We both just made some comments about how stressful the day was.

One of the really fun things I worked on today was a newsletter.  When we send newsletters we will, if a client requests it, send a test to the client for approval.  I sent one to one client and they said an image wasn’t showing up.  I sent myself a test and it was fine, so I checked the code.  The code was fine.  I had them send me a copy of the one they got and sure enough, the image was missing.  I checked the code on theirs and for some reason, %20, which is code for a space, was inserted in the middle of the image’s URL.

So I sent Scott a test copy and I sent one to every e-mail address I had; Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail.  It was fine in all of those, but the client’s AOL e-mail kept adding in the extra space.  So I messed around with it a bit and nothing worked.  I even uploaded the image to a new location and linked to it from there.  Nada.  Finally I counted over how many spaces the extra space was added in, added fifty blank spaces in the code, and it worked.

That was really fun.

Konrad Demers came by today.  He called yesterday and we chatted a bit.  I had told him months ago that I’d look at a broken computer for him but he and his family moved to Hampstead before I got it back to him and I hadn’t seen him or them until today.  I haven’t talked to him since late February I think.  Anyway he stopped by and got the computer and we chatted a little more.  Sounds like things are going okay for them.  Still a little tough, but good.

After work I met Amanda at the Volkswagen dealership where she was dropping off the car then we went to Target.  I forgot to mention that Harvey chewed up the bottoms to Amanda’s favorite bikini so she was getting a new bathing suit.  Not that she needs another one, but her birthday was recently and even though I beat Harvey with the scrap of cloth that was left I felt bad that he’d been able to do that on my watch.  She also picked up some lotion for her belly scar.  After that we headed over to McAllister’s for small group.

It was a small small group tonight; just us, Mike and Kaitlyn Boscaljon and Ron Peterson and Kristen Barriner.  Lorin was invited to a dance recital for a dance company she may do some work for.  Justin was out of town and apparently Lisa has had a temperature of 102 for the past couple days.  I’m not sure what happened to Elliot and Melissa.

It wasn’t an overly lengthy study tonight, but there were a lot of prayer requests:

• John Quinn, who isn’t doing well with his brain tumor.
• Mike’s sister-in-law had labor induced, so they’ll have a niece or nephew soon.
• Jan, the secretary at Amanda’s work, has a son-in-law with a lot of inoperable cancer.
• A couple sibling issues.  Not with me or Amanda, but I don’t want to be too specific for their own privacy.
• For Lisa, who is obviously sick.
• For Lorin, who has a lot of decisions to make.
• For everyone who will be doing a bit of traveling in the coming weeks.

When we got home Amanda and I watched House and Big Bang Theory.  I had just finished talking about how most episodes of House are all the same when this one comes along and throws me off.  In it, Dr. House was in an accident but remembered that he saw something before the accident that made him think that someone’s life was in danger, so he spent the episode piecing together his memories.

American Idol came on after all that.  Technically it came on while we were watching Big Bang Theory (a birthday party for Leonard), but we timed it so that we were able to skip all the commercials and catch up at the very end.  The episode showcased a trip home for all of the Idols, and May 9th, Amanda’s birthday and the day they all went for their visits, was named David Archuleta day.  I laughed vigorously at that and will do my best to remind Amanda of that every year on her birthday, as much as she loves him.  (Okay, so the other contestants were given their own days in their hometowns too, but it’s more fun to focus on David Archuleta Day.)

The finale next week will be David versus David, a contrast of styles.  No big surprise there.  I figure Archuleta will win because he has the support of little girls and old women.  David Cook looked worried the whole time, even after the results.  maybe he didn’t want to be in the final two.

Zach Dotsey