I have 43 minutes

Up. Coffee in progress. Watching a snow flurry go by. There is a swim schedule this morning. Then a bit of work, only a little bit. Then I'm on vacation! Yay!

Everybody at work is saying we can't believe 2015 work year is over, and the calendar year is just about done. Most of us are more than a little surprised to still be employed. I'm certainly not where I thought I'd be, work-wise. At least it's getting better.

Previous years made hardly a dent in my eating habits, but this year has been bad. Lots more sweets. Less activity than I'd like. I'm afraid to get on the scale.

I'm not going anywhere on vacation, though I've mused about some place warm. Airports this time of year are a close approximation of hell and I can't take it just now. I'm pretty sure I'll spend the first bit of this face down, not doing anything, not thinking anything. Especially not thinking of anything Christmas. Except maybe wrapping some presents, in my own thumb-fingered way. Somehow I never seem to get it quite right.

There are a few things I'd like to get done, some of which are going to be more challenging than others. The one I'm dreading most is bringing my Apple software up to date. This used to be easy, but there have been hints the last few upgrades have been problematic.

Plus, and this is a full blown bleat, I don't want my stuff on the cloud! I want my music on my phone where I can listen to it, and not have to stream it from somewhere over the cell network. iPhoto and Photostream have pissed me off so many times I'm going to go to an alternative photo thingie. I just don't know what that looks like yet. (Suggestions? Hint, hint.) I want to take pictures. I want them to go to my main computer and laptop, much like Photostream is supposed to do. I don't do much editing to them, so that isn't a big priority.

I haven't thought about phone apps for a long time. One could argue that the iPhone is one of the most amazing devices in human history, and I have the strong feeling I'm not making anywhere near the best use of it. The plan is to prune out the apps I don't use, or that annoy me (Flipboard, I'm looking at you!) and find ones that do work for me.

I'll probably start working on my novel again. I've had some ideas there.

Plus I want to be a bit more active than this last week has been. I've been looking at a 9 month marathon plan, with the idea of racing a Calgary MEC marathon in October, or an Edmonton MEC marathon in September. A gradual build. I suck at them, but last time I tried following a marathon plan I broke myself.

That's enough of that. Time for pants.