So I got sick again… since I started working from home again last August, I’ve been sick three or four times, including my October trip to Orlando and the week after Christmas. When I was flying back and forth every few weeks, things were great, but my immune system is clearly weakened again. It doesn’t help that I haven’t been hitting the gym or even really going outside because of the weather. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating:
If you work from a home office, get outside and around others often. It will help keep you healthy.
It’s supposed to be mid 60s and cloudy today, so I’ll be outside for a bit, and I’m visiting Kristin’s family for a potluck of some kind, though I won’t be the one touching whatever we bring because I’m trying not to be “that guy” and get everyone else sick. I think I’m on the upswing as my sore throat has devolved into a simple stuffy nose, but I don’t want to take any chances.
Speaking of viruses, WordPress installations are getting hit extremely hard right now. Check out this blog post from this blog’s host for some details. I’ve heard rumors that it has spread to Joomla! and is likely not letting up anytime soon. My baseless theory? They’re creating a super botnet to mine bitcoins. Regardless, if you’re running a WordPress installation of any kind, I’d recommend installing this plugin (Better WP Security) and letting it do all the automatic stuff, as well as changing your admin username and password and blocking known troublesome IPs.
On Tuesday, I’m flying to San Diego to work the Exclusive Brands booth at Achievers, a contest-winner event for top Best Buy store leaders. I’ve never been west of San Angelo, Texas, so I was intrigued by the experience to live a day in Pacific time and to try In-N-Out burgers. The flights are interesting because of the time zone change… The flight out appears to take a little under six hours, the flight back appears to take ten hours. More accurately, the shorter-looking flight is nine hours and the longer-looking flight is only seven, thanks in part to a sub-60 minute layover at Houston on the return trip. Wish me luck with that.
After that trip, it’s back home for a solid two months. I’m actually getting quite tired of flying after the past couple of weeks. I have a lot to take care of here for spring, and I fear that time is quickly passing, making it difficult for me to get a garden planted or complete the rest of my spring checklist. We’ll see what the coming weekend brings, though, once everything has returned to normal.
The plan for the backyard is to have about eight yards of topsoil brought in to level things out, then to create two raised beds with an additional four yards of compost and topsoil. I’m not sure what’s on the planting agenda yet, but potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, strawberries, carrots, and hopefully a few stalks of corn and some cantaloupe will make it out there. Hell, hopefully I get it planted at all. I’ll be calling a landscaping company tomorrow to order the first four yards and renting a Bobcat to see what I can get done this coming weekend if all goes according to plan. Once the raised beds are done near the house, filling in the back section with more topsoil will likely be easy. Which reminds me… I need a rake.
I’d like to get something done with the front yard as well, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m focused on the primary project first and, if things go well, we’ll get back to that. However, what I’d really like to do is convert the flowerbed out front into an herb garden. (Note: No, not that kind of herb.) It would be nice to get some cilantro, basil, rosemary, mint and whatever else I’ll need this year without buying something at the grocery store. I just need to figure out how much sun we actually get up there and determine if I’ll be doing it as a raised garden as well (probably). Time’s ticking, I guess. Maybe I should be doing that instead of blogging.
Oh! The new Fall Out Boy album comes out tomorrow, but they posted the whole thing to Soundcloud on Monday, so you should definitely check it out. The vinyl pre-order will likely be delayed, so they’ve promised to send all of us who chose that method a full quality download of all the tracks in MP3 format tonight. Especially check out the title track with Sir Elton John and The Mighty Fall with 2 Chainz. I’m digging it. I think you will, too.
That’s just about everything for today. I’m about to tackle the disastrous mess that results from constant travel. Half-unpacked bags, piles of laundry, dirty dishes… it’s a wreck, but it’s about to be done and over with for a while. I’m looking forward to slowing down and enjoying spring. I hope you’re all ready to do the same if it ever stops snowing out west.
One last thought: I have all my social media outlets listed on my homepage, but I wanted to ask you guys to follow me on Instagram (@agent5959) because I’m posting quite a bit more over there. The topics will be familiar for those who know me: Lots of grilling and food pictures, music-related topics, occasional politics, etc. I don’t crosspost most of it to Facebook or Twitter, so it’d be good to see you guys over there.