We had a downpour on Saturday, with thunder accompanying.

Of course that set the dogs off barking like mad. At least it rumbled only twice. As a result of the rain, the whole area is brilliantly clean and offers beautiful vistas across the valley. It really is nice to live here when that happens.

Yesterday Shelley used TaxCut to review our forms before we sent them in, and found that it does have a step-by-step system like TurboTax so one is not required to type directly on a form. However, her review also resulted in different results, so instead of a nice refund, we have to shell out about $700. (Grumble, grumble).

I had originally thought we'd have to pay, then was euphoric to find a refund due. Now I'm crushed again. Sigh.

Got the glass foiled, and pieces soldered for the next round of Battlefield: Glass. Was out in the carport last night at 10:30 pm applying patina to the solder. All that's left is to fill one area with white silicone and embed the "gems" in it. I hope to do that tonight, so that it will be stable for photographing Wednesday morning and we can deliver it to the framing guy soon enough to get it back for more photos for the contest deadline.

On Friday the ISP hosting my web game decided to move my account to a new server. Most of the move affected nothing, however one big part of the game broke because they upgraded the map-drawing software at the same time and the new version works differently enough that I had to turn off the game for a couple of days until I changed the code. I hate when that happens!

While foiling glass I watched Cross of Iron. I hated it. Could barely get through it. It's very rare for me to dislike a movie so much, and especially a war movie.

The editing style drove me nuts. For example, if a tank fired a shell, they would intercut the firing process from inside the tank with the results of the hit. They'd flip-flop the cuts back and forth in one- or two-second visuals about six times for the scene. Many times also, they would have guys running around doing things and just apply their voices over the action.

Between the two, it drove me crazy watching this movie. Not like anything you'd see today. I think all of it was just editing style so I hope never to watch another one like that. Much more interesting (believe it or not) was The Other Sister, a chick-flick about a mentally challenged person and her family.

Much gaming too, starting off the weekend with Attila, Ra, and Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers. On Saturday we played two new games, both quite enjoyable: The Princes of Florence and Merchants of Amsterdam. I want to play the first again before deciding on it but suspect it's good enough to get; the second definitely goes on the wishlist right away.

On Sunday Shelley and I took bikes out for a spin in the fresh air so that she could decided whether my old bike will be okay for her to use in the Mexican ride, and she thinks so. I took her over to the local plant place after that where she picked out two rose plants for her garden as her first birthday present.

She got one pure white one that has an intense spicy/rose fragrance (the tag says) and another that sports petals deep red on one side and bright white on the other. Those should make nice additions to the front walkway.

:-)