Whew. It's hot out there. Running around town in long pants is driving me batty. I have to make it back to my car as quickly as possible and blast the AC just to retain my sanity. It's nice and cool in the apartment, but being out there is just getting rough. Housecalls and consultant work have kept me busy, which is a nice change from relative inactivity last month. I'm still making time to visit the driving range and visiting the attic.

Up in the attic, the drywallers are more or less done with their task. What a spectacular room! A lot of time has been spent up there and I think Mike and I feel the same way about it- there is more work to do, but as soon as it's done, we'll be off to the next project. Of this, I have no doubt.

I never would have expected that my experience in my last job would have made me a BlackBerry consultant, but that is exactly what things have turned out to be. I did a job this week on a BlackBerry and tried an experiment. For the record, (since this information is nowhere to be found on the web) a Nextel BlackBerry 7520 can hold more than 4,360 contacts, complete with notes and all. I was amazed to learn this, but am not surprised. That lil' device has to be the coolest thing since sliced bread. In fact, I have mine coming next week. I'm porting over my T-Mobile information to my BlackBerry 7520, and will soon have all the perks of the Berry- speakerphone and GPS being two of the perks I'm most interested in. I'm paying a bit more for a navigation system that takes advantage of the built-in GPS to help get from point A to point B.

And all the while, my assignments haven't ceased a bit. Tonight's was a hum-dinger about corporate strategy formulation and implementation. I did something unconventional when wrapping up my summary by stating that I thought grids, matrices and tables were how analysts might track and predict in business, but it's not how people with common sense do it. At least, not in my (albeit limited) experience. I don't need a chart to tell me that strategic partnerships and vertical integration are often keys to success. I said so, and was happy to say "Damn The Man™" in my own way.

I guess that wraps it up for a while. I'm heading to NoVA to wish my Mother a happy Mother's day with my brothers, play a round of golf and catch a Nationals game. I've been looking forward to seeing them play. Good times.

Oh, and welcome back, Lauren.