Okay...time to catch up...again.

I was home sick today with Colin. No, he wasn't sick, and I wasn't either...not really. I'm just feeling a little down lately with some - unrelated - health issues.

I really need to start working out. I'm too young to feel this old.

Speaking of old, I finally got to watch the "Star Wars Holiday Special". Only thirty years later. I can only confess that my parents were right about it in one aspect; "you aren't missing all that much" - and wrong about it in another aspect; "it will be on again next year."

Nope. If George Lucas had a time machine, that "special" would no longer exist...anywhere. Having seen it, I concur...it was not the best representation of George's work at that time. CBS didn't do Lucasfilm any favors with that one. I suppose George needed the money...I just didn't think he needed the money that badly.

I can't even recall for certain what family obligation caused me to miss the one-and-only broadcast. Probably a visit to my Grandparents house in Regina.

Had a wonderful visit with Gloria this week. We had a fine evening out and talked it up about many things. She herself has been having a wonderful time visiting family and friends before returning to Merrit and resuming Real Life. Her dad is still incognito since changing his mind about getting baptised. Ah well, there will be other opportunities, I am sure.

Had a really good time at the Bell's on Friday night. We played games and snarfed junk food and talked a bit and got to know each other better. It's a good start toward getting the EQ re-established as a functioning part of the ward. I brought Colin along, and he also had a good time playing video games downstairs while the grown-ups played board games upstairs.

Work is going to be interesting for the next few months. Our seasonal ramp-up and the accompanying slow-down are proceeding as normal. All the stores want all their seasonal merchandise NOW. Two weeks from now the place will be quiet as a library. HBC corporate has decided to spend TEN MILLION DOLLARS on our little facility. At the end of this upgrade, we'll have most of the acoutrements of a "real" Distribution Center. Step one is the installation of a 3 level automated pick module. This is two sections of racking with three levels of walkway in between and automated conveyors that will link up with our existing sorter. We have about 3 weeks left to get it all installed and get it running properly.

Then they're going to disassemble our old sorter in favor of a newer, larger and faster model. Once that's in...we'll have to re-do all the finesse work with the pick module to get it to work with "sorter MkII". In the meantime, we'll be running ALL our outgoing shipments thru 16 doors - no, that's not a typo. Going to be an interesting few weeks. I expect we'll have dealt with all of the inevitable fallout and problems by...this time next year.

Oy.

We're also getting some new equipment. Whether or not we'll get what we actually need remains to be seen.