Been far too long...

... since I've updated this! Okay, a little over 2 weeks may not be much by most standards, but in my small corner of the blog world, it's practically ages. I think the last time my blog was neglected for this long was when I was in Indonesia. Which reminds me, I still have one more post to write about some of the sights and sounds of the country.

But for now, a few brief updates.

It started right after my last blog post, but the Friday (the 6th) was when I REALLY came down with a nasty bout of the flu. Fever, chills, aches and nausea-- the whole kaboodle. Ironically, no congestion or cough, at least not until AFTER the fever and chills subsided. Anyway, I was knocked out of commission for 4 days, and was lucky enough that the weekend comprised half of it, reducing the amount of days I had to take off from work. Thank heavens for Veggie Tales, Winnie the Pooh and Professor Fizzwizzle (yes, I ended up buying the download-- well worth the money, though the whole family is now addicted ;-) )!

Todd came down with a fever himself that weekend, and my mom drove up on Monday (the 9th) with some victuals I could stomach, and to pick up Todd. She had planned to pick him up on Thursday (the 12th) anyway, since Todd got 4 days off for the President's Day weekend. So, he just got an extended weekend :-D

Illnesses aside, the Todd-free week was well-timed, because the following day, the 10th, we released our long-awaited product for sale to the public (it had been in Beta testing for nearly 2 years). Release night went rather smoothly. We usually start at 10pm and finish in the wee hours of the morning (typically 2-3am) unless something goes horribly wrong. But that night, we actually started at 6pm. The 4-hour head start proved well worth it, as most of us were done before midnight. I got to enjoy a normal sleep after all.

The next day was another rare treat-- we developers got to spend time in the customer care department, sitting in with customer service reps (CSRs) and listening in while they handled support phone calls. This was about as close to the customers as we would actually get, and it was neat seeing not only what things are like for our customers, but what it was like for the people in the front lines, fielding their questions.

The entire week was full of festivities, too. Day after release we all enjoyed pastries for breakfast instead of our usual bagels on Wednesdays. We also got fleece blankets (the "s(ch)wag" I referred to in my Facebook status) with the GoToAssist Express logo emblazoned on it. Came in handy for keeping Todd warm in the chilly nights that ensued. Drinks and debauchery (okay, not really) at Happy Hour on Thursday night. And Friday afternoon was champagne toasts and a chocolate fountain in which to dip a variety of goods-- strawberries, marshmallows, pretzels, potato chips, bananas... all in all, good stuff! What a way to end the week and start a long weekend!

I also got new glasses! For the first time in my life, my prescription has not changed significantly since my last checkup-- which was 6 years ago, to boot! My left eye is still the same and my right eye has only worsened by 1/4 diopter. Took me a while to find suitable frames, but I eventually found a pair that was similar in size and shape to my original ones, but only have a frame over the top half of the lenses, and are overall much lighter. Took a bit of adjustment, but I'm happy with them now. Pictures shall be forthcoming soon!

That was my past couple weeks in a nutshell. How about you?