Mark and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Month

I'm very glad that the month of July is over. It has been a rotten month in many ways. Here are some of the "highlights" of my month:

• Our main server at work became unstable, and was down for most of a week. When it was down, I was literally unable to do any work. Now don't get me wrong, some days I don't get much work done anyway, but I at least like to have the choice!
• Less than a week after our main server came back up, the people who provide the main file for our process made some upgrades to their system. After the upgrades, the file was unavailable for almost a whole 'nother week.
• For those of you counting at home, that means almost half of the month, I was unable to do work at work.
• Two of my team members left the company for other opportunities. One of them is my former boss/team lead, who is a good friend, has been there the whole three and a half years that I have been there, and takes with him a vast amount of domain knowledge. I'm happy for his new opportunity, but I'm still ticked that he left.
• Emotional turmoil within the family. I've had a couple of very difficult therapy sessions in July, and so has Susie. It's part of the healing process, I know, but it still sucks.
• Dental work. During my twice-a-year checkup, the dentist found six cavities. While filling them, he discovered two more. Yep, eight cavities total. And when I went in the first time, they were running late, so I got to make a return trip to get the rest of my teeth drilled on. Oh joy of joys.
• As a possibly related side note to the last item, I am flossing more regularly now, for the first time in a long time. Did I mention that most of the cavities were between my teeth?
• Truck repairs. The truck was due for 24,000 mile inspection, and needed a few things replaced. It's still in very good condition, but auto repair is never inexpensive.
• Car repairs. While picking up supplies for pack meeting near the end of the month, I stopped at my last stop to the disconcerting sight of my windshield fogging up. From the inside. On a 100 degree day. When I came out of the store five minutes later, I saw antifreeze pooling on both sides of my car, and a trail of antifreeze going back all the way to the parking lot entrance. Apparently, my car decided to empty the contents of the antifreeze system on the road. At least it was in civilization, rather than in the middle of nowhere. I was able to limp into the repair shop, and I got out of there with my wallet mostly intact. But I was without the car for three days, and I had to walk home from the repair shop in 100 degree weather, carrying pack meeting supplies. At least the auto repair place is close the my house.
• Car repairs - part 2. I came out of the house a couple of mornings ago to the lovely scent of gasoline. I looked under my car to find a small pool in the general vicinity of the gas tank. Needless to say, the car repair guy (Paul) was surprised to see me again so soon. And honestly, I was hoping to avoid paying a second visit to his establishment so soon after my previous visit. So now I will be needing a new gas tank. Again, my wallet will survive the blow, but I hope the next visit to him is none too soon.
• Truck repairs - part 2. When my wife got home from Salt Lake last ngiht, she took me out to show me where an individual had added a dent to the rear bumper of the truck. I guess he thought that remodeling our truck would be appreciated more than paying attention to the road. I need to give him a call, but next week would be a better time for that. I can tell you this much. He can pay me directly, or I will go through his insurance. I've had this happen twice before, and gotten stiffed both times. I am not footing the bill this time.
• Technically, this last item became apparent in August, but the cause happened in July, so I'm counting it. This morning, the first thing I woke up to was my daughter telling me, "Daddy, Jayson threw up." Just how I wanted to start my day. So my morning consisted of cleaning barf off of the carpet, and watching the children so that Susie (who also paid a visit to the porcelain throne this morning) could rest. Not exactly my idea of a three-day weekend. And the kicker was that it was Jayson's birthday today. It sucks to be sick on your birthday.

I'm very glad that July is over. I'm looking forward to a much better month in August.