Monday morning. It's going to be a good day. Start by saying that Sunday night was fantastic. My wife and I had our usual Sunday night meal at our favourite restaurant (we even invited our son and his girlfriend to accompany us, but they declined). After that, I returned home just in time for my Sunday night TV ritual... Alias (she's so hot!), Law and Order CI, and usually The Practice. But yesterday was different. My wife had been playing around with Microsoft e-books on her computer yesterday, and she was excited about showing me what she had accomplished. After Law and Order, I spent the next hour-and-a-half scouring the internet for "vocal chords". They're like skins, only they're voice personalities compatible with Microsoft's Speech Engine.

Yup, we spent one-and-a-half hours searching, and we found nothing, nada, not even one additional voice. Sure, we found sites that said they had voices, but only if you purchased their SDK's (software development kits, for you non-programming types). Or maybe they had voices designed specifically for the games they published. But nowhere could we find smooth-reading, naturually-sounding voices - the kind you would want to hear if your mom was reading you bedtime stories.

So what did I do? I went to bed! And fell asleep quickly. And snored to beat the band. In fact, I snored so loudly that my wife abandoned the bed, and sought shelter on the nearest planet (not far enough away, as far as she's concerned, when I'm in full voice -- ain't sleep apnea a bitch!). This morning, I'm well rested, ready to go for my doctor's appointment (where I will get royally reamed out for gaining weight when I'm supposed to be on a strict diet), and ready to get down to some serious re-training upon my return home.

I think I'll also spend some time today looking for a more comfortable mattress for the guest room, in case I get kicked out of the bedroom tonight!