--196 days.

--Tomorrow I head to Indy for my last assignment, of sorts, at my previous job. Then, all next week I get to spend most of my days and some of my evenings downtown at a convention for the new gig. Busy times, busy times. :)

--Of course, this means I'll miss most of tomorrow's World Series game. I'm hoping that I don't have to spend too much time during the week working in the evenings...it's going to be a pissed-off worker if I have to miss games during the week.

--But, for now, GO SOX!!!!

--198 days.

--Well, I sucked it up and did it. I took the p r o m o t i o n, and got even the prospect of the next one in writing. It's not going to be simple, that's for sure. I have a weird feeling, but that's because I'm heading into the unknown here, very much so. But I am confident. I think I'm more "worried" about established folks not buying into my theories and ways, in order to fix what's wrong, which is why I'm getting the spot, I was told. To find a way to fix what's broken. I told my new boss...I can fix it, but only as long as everyone, including him, buys into what I'm doing, supports me and respects my decisions. If that happens, it should be no problem. But we shall see. Of course, I'll have to work two jobs the next month, which will be a big load of work, but so be it.

--Other than that, my brain is shutting down now, after being worked very, very heavily the past 48 hours. I'm going to get out of here sooner rather than later. But I have some things to tie up. I'll talk more on it later...

--199 days. We've broken the 200-day mark. Oh no, what will we do!?

--I believe I am about to turn down a p r o m o t i o n that would net me an instant 20% r a i s e and another 20% next year, if things went just right. Plus, it would be a great opportunity (though there will be others down the road, undoubtedly). But, the subject matter of this opportunity has freaked me out, and I'm not sure I would be able to handle it. Yet, I need to decide if I am just being a puss or if I truly couldn't deal with it by tomorrow. This is nuts. I've gone wacko on this the last day and a half. It'll be nice to be done with the decision tomorrow.

--That is the short story. If you want the long story, I can regale it to you sometime. Oh, and don't hold me to the above...I made this "conclusion" about 20 minutes ago. I'm going to sleep on it and seriously think about it before making my final decision. And that will probably happen minutes before I make official the decision to my superiors.

--Well, at least purist-type baseball fans will get their wish, with what is most likely to be an unbelievable pitching matchup in the Series. Too bad St. Louis didn't win...just to screw the damned networks by regionalizing and minimizing the market size of the Series. Oh well. I don't think anyone on either coast cares about Houston either. So, that's fantastic. :)

--My early-ass, Astros-just-made-it prediction: White Sox in 6. Laz, please turn over your whole apartment. If you find it, I'm willing right now to add a bonus. Nothing big (especially in a losing situation), just a share in my joy, win or lose. :) I'm serious.

--201 days.

--Put it on the f-in board! Hells yeah! Now that was sweet! Now, go Astros AND Cardinals, all the way to Game Seven of the NLCS! Get tired, bitches!

--Laz? Please tell me Casey didn't eat it and you miraculously found it. :)

--My fantasy football teams, mostly, kicked ass this weekend too. Good ol' Shaun Alexander, Carson Palmer and Santana Moss helped a couple of my teams. And that's great news. So far, knock on wood, I'm doing pretty well overall, even though my Ghetto Bowl team isn't doing spectacularly right now. But I'll survive. :)