Spent all day yesterday at a Useability Engineering conference here in the park. Mixed bag, as always, but some good bits I can use in work, I think. This tired me more than it should’ve and I’ve been a little cranky. It doesn’t help that my Grumps (my Mom’s father) is in the hospital and things aren’t looking great. I think I’m going to Charlotte this weekend to see him (although Mom isn’t even sure if he’ll *want* me to see him like this. Sigh. Also, I had a major foot-in-mouth moment at the conference, which I imagine I’ll post about later (just to get it off my chest, even though I’d really just rather forget it happened at all. Double sigh.

But the day wasn’t all sighs, as last night I had dinner with Jacintha. We went to CPK (which I always enjoy) and spent a good (great, really) two hours catching up. She’s one of those folks who listens so well, and asks such insightful questions that I usually end up walking away feeling like all I’ve done is talk about what’s been going on and how I feel about all of it. I *try* to find out what’s going on with her, but she often ends up deftly turning it around, which amazes me. (This is not to say that she doesn’t share, she does; it’s just that she’s so caring that she manages to get me talking about all those things that normally I don’t talk about. This is a skill I’d like to develop.)

I love my friends — they are one of the biggest blessings in my life.