My birthday is coming up in a few days and as usual, I am not excited. I feel like I should care a little bit at least - but I just don't. This is the same for many things these days though. But, even though I don't care, I know I will be a bit disappointed if there is nothing to mark the occasion. I know my wife and daughter have planned something though, so that is okay.

I was checking Smallsteps' math homework yesterday and she made an error in one of the questions. She makes so few, so the errors she makes tend to be speed errors, where she doesn't slow down enough to check her answers. The other thing is that she has a great memory for many things, but she doesn't necessarily understand why she is doing some of the equations, or what is conceptually happening. So, with my highly limited math skills, I tried to explain the concept of the "=" sign in an equation.

Two good days in a row?What the hell is going on....Anyway, it wasn't super amazing or anything like that, but finally (it hasn't been that long) I was able to spend some time with an old client and get the ball rolling on some consulting work for him, and then with 5-10 of his people. They are having some internal process challenges that I can hopefully help them overcome, and bring them more into alignment. It isn't going to get me near to where I need to be financially, but it is a step in the right direction and gets me closer.

Sometimes life has a small surprise in store, just as a taster to try to encourage a broken person to keep on struggling through for a bit longer. It is a cruel trick really, like a drug pusher who provides just enough "extra" to get and then keep a person on the hook. Today, while I was on my way to an appointment with a "job coach" at the unemployment office, I had one of these small surprises.

As some of you might be aware, the markets are down a bit from the recent highs, and HIVE is down a fair bit from its recent highs that saw it hit close to $0.70 at the start of the year. Some would call the current prise of $0.25 as circling the drain, but really, the sink is still half full compared to where it could be.

This is one of my favourite pictures of Smallsteps from when she was a toddler. I remember taking the pictures that day in our bedroom, because there was a clear white wall, but not too much space between the bed, so it was hard to get a full image at a nice angle. We took lots of photos there, and we took lots more photos back then - and I miss taking them.