--276 days.

--I stayed home today and slept in. I wasn't "sick" or anything, except mentally and psychologically. I needed a "mental health day," if you will. Yesterday I spent much of the day yawning and feeling generally really sluggish as hell. I got work done, but wasn't as productive as I could have been. Then, a whole slew of us from work went to the Sox game. Jon Garland was terrible (for a change, I guess), and the Sox lost. We kept a good drinking pace to where we didn't get drunk or even tipsy. It was too hot for that anyway. We then headed to Blues, where one of my coworkers hangs out plenty. He got about six of us in free (saved $7, so that's good) and we stuck around there until about 12:30 or so. I slept well, and wasn't hungover, but I just figured I'd stay in and try to catch up on sleep and not think about work for a day. It was a good idea.

--Meanwhile, Gina and I went to a couple pet shops for more aquarium plants. We bought three bunches of Water Sprite and one brown Crypt. We should be fine with plants now, unless any die.

--Also, we went to Menards and bought nothing but the kitchen sink. So our new kitchen sink is sitting in a box in our kitchen right now, waiting for the new faucet, disposal and, crucially, the new countertop, the rest of which we'll get in the next two days. Then the tough part of installing it. And when? But we'll see, I guess...it certainly will look nicer than it does now.

--We also set up an appointment at one bakery and got a card from another for our wedding cake and sweets table. We have to prep so that you guys can dessert in style, ya know?

--So, otherwise, back to work tomorrow, when I should be just fine, fresh and ready to go again. Sometimes, you just have to step away from it, and even though I'm going on vacation in a couple weekends, I probably won't be sleeping in for those days. Today I could do that.

--278 days.

--Well, I attempted swimming in open water for the first time this weekend up in Grayslake at Pete's b-day party at the little lake in which Barb and Christine have been training for their triathlons and Olympics and whatever else they're doing. And I damn near drowned.

Now, I'm actually not a bad swimmer...at least I wasn't a bad swimmer the last time I did a few laps in a pool with goggles on. But, take away the calmness of the pool and the goggles, adding to my paranoia of losing my contacts, and, well, not so good. When I don't have goggles, I swim with my head up and out of the water...basically, doggie-paddle pose trying to freestyle swim. Not really conducive to getting where you want with minimized effort.

So I tried to swim out to the floating platform about 20-30 yards out from the shore. I made it. But then I lay on the platform on my back for about 15 minutes huffing and puffing. I had a splitting headache at that point too, probably from oxygen depletion in the brain or something. I was so tired too...but I had to get back to shore. So I decided I would backstroke lazily back to shore, expending little effort and floating a little better. It worked, until I got to the seaweed (which actually I think is stupid hornwort, just like what I have in my fishtank). Through the seaweed is a rope floating and cordoning off the beach for whatever reason. I didn't know how to handle this rope, so I rolled over to my belly and decided to go under it. Big mistake. As I tried to lift the rope while coasting to it, I sunk and lost all momentum. I was now "standing" in the water instead of laying in it, and couldn't get my legs back up behind me to get going again. I thought, I'll just sink to the bottom and kick off of it to get my momentum back. Problem is, seaweed makes the bottom sludgey, and thus, when I kicked, I went nowhere. I tried to stay calm, but of course, "panic" started to set in...what should I do now? I got back to the surface, gulped a big lung full of air, noticed I had now turned myself around (facing AWAY from the shore--good thing I opened my eyes briefly) and went back under to try to turn myself around and get my legs out behind me. Somehow, I did it...and thank God too, because I was so, so tired at that point that in a couple of minutes, my body would have just given up. Seriously. I know I exaggerate often, but this time, no. So, to summarize...next time I'll be a little better prepared and I won't push myself too far. For now, I'll just stick to pools and the occasional dip in the lake, where I know my surroundings.

Oh yeah, and I'm donating all my worldly possessions to charity and joining the missions. Yeah, right...

--Back to the reality of materialistic-possession life: Menard's has put just about everything on sale! That's great, because our place still needs work. We'll probably get the kitchen countertop, sink and new garbage disposal in the next week or two, while it's on sale. Then we can install it, assuming my dad gets some time to help me. Or somebody else who knows what they're doing. I could probably figure it out myself, but I'll need help lifting and things like that. Maybe Gina and I will do it ourselves! We'll see...that could end up in disaster, but who the heck knows, right? Besides, home improvement isn't as difficult as it seems all the time. The difference is that plumbing is involved. I could replace the counter easily...it's the plumbing that "worries" me. But we'll see what happens, eh? We have to figure out if we can afford said purchases or not first.

--In the meantime, I have about 2.5 hours of tape to transcribe and a story to write. Not a problem...just that the transcribing is "busywork" to me...I enjoy writing the stories, no doubt about that. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Right. :)

--Have a good day today!