Clients
I don't normally complain about my clients in my diary, and I need to be pretty darn cross to even consider it, but some of today's experiences really go above and beyond what I feel is reasonable behaviour.

I swear that some of my clients must have their masters degrees in "Ignoring Good Advice". When I write very clearly that they must do either "A" or "B" or their ill-planned and expensive project will die horribly, and the client doesn't understand "A", I fully expect them to execute "B", which they *do* understand.

Instead, they ignore the problem entirely. "Works inside the office, it must work for the rest of the world." I've never felt so close to being inside a Dilbert cartoon until now.

Given that the management of this particular project decided to commit minimal resources, no testing, and release the project before it was even close to being complete, for once I'm not that regretful if it all falls over and dies.

Fun, excitement, adventure!
Yes, I'm finally doing my tax. I get to fill out the main section, a supplimentary section, and a supplimental to the supplimentary section. Oh yes, I also get a number of tax rulings to peruse on various topics. Hurrah.

Despite this, the whole thing looks surprisingly straightforward, probably because I have GnuCash measuring all the relevant details and I just need to copy out the totals of the various ledgers.

From my current estimates, I'll get a return of about $500. No big deal there, except that it means that I've overpaid my tax again. This is a good thing, because it means the tax office judges me a responsible taxpayer, and consequently they're fine with me paying tax when I see fit, rather than having to pay a portion on my income every quarter; provided that the tax gets paid, of course.

The end result of this is that I get to keep the rather sizeable sum that would normally go to the tax department, and float it in an account instead where it can earn interest. Then at the end of the financial year, I give the tax office, and pay extra tax on the interest from the float. Good for me, good for the tax office.

Work
Insane. Not only are work and the wedding competing for time, but we're trying to move the business into a stage where it can be managed by others while Jacinta and myself are absent on honeymoon. Ian's agreed to cover most of the fire-fighting and sysadmin side of things, and Lizy will be handling course bookings and administration.

Perl
Perl 5.8.1 has just been released. This is actually a special release for me, since there's a little bit of me in the newer NEXT module that comes with it.

Hardware
Hardware sucks. Got some spangly new graphics card that's supposed to run like the wind, but it doesn't want to work with the old mobo. Fine, muck around with hardware, put it into the new mobo (which will eventually go into one of our servers) and it works. Good. It's got a DVI output, and we have LCD screens. Plug the two together, and I find a flickering bunch of crud with edge effects everywhere. About to try it using the standard VGA connectors, but I thought DVI was supposed to give you a clearer picture, not a cruddier one.

Dance Games
Are lots of fun, and make a surprisingly good workout.

Wedding
Is still happening, and requires far too much organisation.

Staff
Usually I try to avoid poaching from my clients, as taking their good staff members doesn't always make them happy. However I have one client who's offered to introduce me to some of their eligible and clueful staff members for poaching, no doubt to free up more of my own time to work for them. I really am honoured, and think that it's a very strange world that we work in.

Upstream proxies
Are running dead-slow tonight. Thank-goodness I can turn them off.

Sendmail
So sick of sendmail security flaws.

Work
Busy, stressed. Dancing is good, though.

Dance Games
Managed to find an on-line retailer with clues and a copy of the required game. Hurrah.

Accountancy
We seem to be missing a statement from the bank. Either we received it and it's been mis-filed, it was never sent in the first place, or it was lost/stolen in transit. Given that Jacinta and myself keep separate copies of this particular bank's statements, it looks like it's lost. That worries me, but given that I've seen our post arrive in the entirely wrong suburb before, or us receive mail for occupants in a different house in a different street, it's not entirely surprising.

It is, however, incredibly bothersome. I can't reconcile that account until the missing statement arrives.

Employees
Lizy has started working with Perl Training Australia. So far she's shown herself to be extremely organised, skilled, and is showing plenty of initiative. The only problem is that I only have her on a part-time basis.

Tax
Yup, I need to complete my tax. Even with highly detailed financial records it's still a complete bore.

Wedding
Is happening very soon now. Organisation is huge. I'm surprised the wedding industry does't put together package deals. Buy a reception for 100 people, honeymoon to one of these destinations, photos, flowers, wedding location, cars, invitations, celebrant, gift registry, dresses and suits, and a pair of fashionable wedding rings for only $xx,xxx. Finance to approved customers, early-bird discounts available, conditions apply.

I guess everyone wants their wedding to be unique and special, or maybe I'm just missing something.