Work has been so-so lately. The Department of What Needs Doing has been tasked with working with a few others to coordinate the upcoming renovations to the home office. It is a daunting task, due to the interruptions it will cause, but thanks to blumbering efforts of parties that shall remain nameless, it is now hopelessly behind schedule, and the best we can do at this point is to clean up the mess as much as we can. What am I saying? Its just another day at work.

Not terribly happy with the way one of my projects is turning out. We have just signed a partnership with a major OEM for providing enterprise-level services. Unfortunately that particular OEM vehemently dislikes our usage of Dell laptops as our platform, and most "persuasively" insists that we replace them with the OEM's own branded laptops. From a business perspective, I can see the argument being made that this is a small investment to be made for the greater good, and we would still be able to redeploy the Dell laptops that will be replaced so that they can be used elsewhere. And then out of the blue, one of the project managers turn around and declare that our field members will be requiring both their Dell laptops AND the new laptops. So instead of being able to recall the Dell laptops for reuse elsewhere, we now have to purchase even MORE laptops. I've hinted at my displeasure to the powers that be regarding the sudden changes to a previously agreed understanding. My bet is it'll fall on deaf ears. . . and I'd be surprised if it turns out otherwise. I could've sworn that the heady days of carefree expenditures for small companies were over. . . apparently I'm about to be proven wrong.

Other than that. . . I've finalized the acquisition of a few new weapons to be added to my small but growing arsenal: the Heckler & Koch MP5SD5 (the ubiquitous MP5 submachinegun with a integrated silencer) and the USP Compact. The MP5SD5 will be used as a backup for the Colt M4A1 tactical carbine, and the USP Compact will be replacing the Glock 18C on my standard loadout. The setup is currently in testing phases, and I will post pictures when ready for deployment.

The Bismark was in for a major service last week, as dictated by the maintenance manual. Simultaneously I had the rear set of braking thrusters replaced due to wear and tear. The whole thing cost me a small fortune, but at lease I have the peace of mind that she won't fail me at a critical moment.

Shadow Phoenix is also due for some maintenance. Her reactor's fine, but the thrusters are a bit worn and also need to be replaced. Since I'm a bit tapped out on the operational budget for the month, its going to have to wait a few weeks before I can get to it. And then I'll be able to deploy her again. Yay. . .

There's a couple of major operations slated to occur in about a month's time. Operation Crimson Fallout and Night Scorpion are to occur on consecutive weekends, so its going to be a busy week for me come end of Febuary and beginning of March. My squad was given the honor commanding one of the major forces in Crimson Fallout, but I will be attached to a different unit for the duration of Night Scorpion.

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet.

No, I'm not hiding from the yakuza/mafia/FBI. . . although that could change at a moment's notice.

Life's just been busy for the past several weeks. . . Yanyan stayed until New Years before she left. . . work hit the ground running and has been busy ever since. . . a cactus attacked me during last Sunday's field exercise, and caused a major deficiency in my defense system. . . I got sick. . . I'm working on adding a couple more arms to my arsenal. . . and still trying to find time to marshall the troops to attack the last four MCSE fortresses. . .