Gah.

The new theme looks like crap in IE. It looks good in Firefox, though. If you're using IE, why not let this (this! *snicker*) finally be the reason you switch to a real browser?

I give.

I'm changing my name from Kitt to Kit. Everyone who doesn't know me assumes I'm a guy, so let's just go with it. I am now my brother. By assuming his name, I can adopt Kit as a shortened version of his name, I can keep my name verbally the same, only changing my gender virtually.

I'll have to change my about page to read something like, "Hi, my name is Chris Hodsden. My friends call me Kit (think Kit Carson). This is my website."

Like anyone will notice the difference anyway.

Oh, hey, Mom, you have three boys now. Well, two with the same name. Like having four {Ch|K}ris's around won't be confusing or anything.

I guess this means I should really lose the pink now.

When I was around eleven years old (could have been ten, could have been twelve), I went over to the Klein's house to play for the afternoon. Nothing special about heading over, except that just before I went over, I made the decision to head over without shoes. It was summer. It was beautiful outside. We often ran around barefoot, so this wasn't a particularly important decision. But, I do remember consciously making the decision not to wear shoes.

Well, at some point in that afternoon, we all went running outside. I think we were running to the Gleason's house, which had been the Brickley's house when I lived in the neighborhood, but I'm not sure about exactly where we were going.

We all ran outside through the carport, around the side yard, and over the gravel driveway. Halfway across the driveway, I stopped running and started screaming. I then turned around and ran back into the house, dripping blood as I went. I had stepped on a broken bottle, the top part around the neck, as I was running over the gravel, and cut a serious chunk out of my foot.

Tragically, when I ran back into the house, I ran straight into the livingroom (the livingroom with the light tan carpeting), putting spots of blood where I stepped.

Mary looked at the cut, and recommended stitches. Poor Jenny had to clean up the blood spots. I resisted stitches, and struggled for the next month to let the cut heal, since I was inclined to run around and not stay off the foot.

If I had made the other choice that day, to wear shoes instead of going barefoot, I wouldn't have the scar on my foot that I have today. An inconsequential decision with larger ramifications than it should have.

Kinda like today's decision.

I had signed up mid last week for throwing practice today, and figured I'd head over with Kris and the girls, and just return home with the girls a little bit later. I was still feeling icky from the fever/flu thing that started on Friday, and figured a walk would be good, but full-on ultimate would be bad.

As I was getting ready, I put on shorts and debated whether or not to put on pants. I put on exercise pants probably 95% of the time I head out to play ultimate or go throw, so deciding not to put them on was deciding on the exception.

Kris was walking the dogs, and I was carrying the bag of discs, when the dogs fell behind. We kept walking and before the leashes went taut, Kris encourged the dogs to catch up. Normally, they run along the outside of the walk, but this time, Bella ran along the inside where I was walking, as Annie ran along the outside.

As Bella ran past, I started screaming. "Aaaaaaaaaah! Owwwwww! Owwwwww! Owwwwww!" Kris looked at me in puzzlement as I tried to run in front of him. Finally realizing what was going on, he dropped the leashes. Too late.

The leash had grabbed a significant chunk of skin from the back of my knees, where it gave me a fire-burn as it zinged along. If I had chose to wear pants, I wouldn't be propped up in the living room, neosporin slathered on the back of my legs, wondering how such inconsequential decisions truly affect our lives.

I don't know how I came across Illustration Friday, probably from Mom, but I've been watching it for a while now. The basic idea is that each Friday, a topic comes out, you draw a picture/illustration of the subject, post the image to your website, then add a link to the Illustration Friday website. Pretty simple. I've been receiving the subject emails each Friday, but have yet to actually start doing the illustrations, much less post them. Something about knowing I had talent when I was younger, and never doing anything with it makes me somewhat embarrassed about showing off any work now. I should probably post some of my pieces, if I ever find them. Another "if."

So, in the spirit of "You can't do unless you start," my first (5 minute) illustration. Eventually, I'll have more time to invest (ooooo, into color illustrations, too!).

In case it's not obvious, it's a chair.

Since I wasn't feeling good yesterday, I didn't head into work. We have the sick policy that if you are starting to feel ill, stay home and work, rather than getting everyone in the office sick, too. So, I stayed home yesterday. Good thing, too, given how sick I was last night. Today isn't much better, not being able to do much more than sit around the house, drinking sugar water, and asking Kris, "Do I feel hot?"

Liza had been sick on Thursday, but was feverish on Wednesday afternoon, so she couldn't go into school on Friday. Instead, she spent the day with her mom at work, then with her dad at work. Apparently she managed to get as much work done on Friday afternoon as I did: