The Big Monkey

Friday: Woke around 9. Shower. Opened the windows letting some air through, taking advantage of the warm weather. Put the garbage cans around. Down basement for morning practices. Lay down, and almost napped. Set up the 'mushroom kit' that K gave us for Christmas. Decided to eat my lunch for a sort of breakfast, since it was getting on to be that time anyway.

In at the office, mostly chased other folks bugs around. Did swat a few of my own as well. Talked to Al for awhile about how to best resolve a bug of his I was encountering. Talked to MB about evening plans. Left work at 8:15.

Back home, picked up MB. We went out and saw The Big Monkey. Such a tragic film. MB and I looked quite a pair, tear streaked faces and mussed up hair, as the credits rolled, and people tried to get past.

The weather turned colder. Back home, we were going to have a snack but then decided against it. A package I sent to a friend bounced back. Too bad. Lots of emailing. Soon bed, he said hopefully.

Aerial

Thursday: Up around 9:15, after the alarm, but not too bad. Shower, breakfast with MB, cereal and coffee. Down basement for morning practices. A warm (for late December) and rainy day.

In at work, and a long day at the office, getting the system to juggle the stream manipulators between two operating modes based on various factors. Ran into many bugs, not of my creation. The issue I'd had yesterday seemed to be caused by the version of the thirD-party hardwArE driver that was installed.

Of the new Kate Bush album I said: "Ebullient expressions of enthusiasm are in order!"

Left work around 11:30 PM. Back home just about the same time as MB. The recycling was picked up today, but not the garbage. We sat around eating Boursin and crackers, and sipping Miso soup. Leo in particular seemed attracted to the herbed cheese. Soon bed.

crash in the feeder

Wednesday: Slept in again. Need to break the late night cycle. Brief email. Shower, breakfast. Down basement. Swapped the mouse on the iMac for one from work. Headed out. Mailed off a package to MB's parents.

At the office, completed my update to the trunk. Spent the rest of the day working with some specialized hardware. The code that Dv had written before he left was crashing on my machine. When I returned the hardware to his machine, it seemed like it failed.

Back home at 8:10, watched "Beautiful Mind" with MB. Great film. Quickly back to the video store, arriving 1 minute before they closed. Found a file on the iMac for MB. It would be good of me to go to sleep soon.

no one on the line

Tuesday: Slept late again. Dim memory of MB leaving. Brief web, then shower. Wrote a note to MB's parents thanking them for a gift. Breakfast. Down basement for morning practices. Spent a little time after completion doing some computer stuff.

In to work. A rather frustrating day, completing the build I began last night. Most of the problems were caused by files that used to be auto generated, that are now checked in. Also, bugs in the SCC software. And bugs in the development environment. Did get a bit annoyed at one point. Between consulting with Chrs, Alx and Dnl, by the end of the day, things were building and running again. So good. B and Dnl were talking about cars by the water cooler. Headed home around 9:30.

No one showed up for the conference call. Spent some time with my feedback game. MB returned home and I went up to the first floor. She'd been down to Franklin to teach a BD course. We packed lunches for tomorrow and heated pizza. Watched episode 8 of Twin Peaks. Clean up, MB to bed. Soon to follow. First a little guitar.

last guest leaves

Monday: Slept longer than I had planned, but much needed. Woke around 10:30. Said good morning to mom. Web. Shower. A little cleaning in the basement, putting away the borrowed crib, and so on. Over to KKC. Said hello to Hln and Geshela, who were eating lunch in the living room. Geshela asked me to get some Christmas lights, and I agreed. Had to empty the bowls before filling them. Was in a bit of a hurry today, and spilled a little.

Back home, and my mom was just getting ready to leave. Her friend L was over sitting in the kitchen with MB. I ate some leftover quiche and chatted. Mom left with L to go tour the MFA. Down basement for a brief sitting. Some computering.

Drove out to the mall to buy Christmas lights for KKC. Found ones that would server our purposes at the third store. Fifty percent off... I bought many boxes. Over to the center to drop them off. Hln was driving a car, which surprised me. Said hello to Hln, Geshela and another monk in Geshela's room. He said "Yesterday full price, today half-off... maybe tomorrow free?"

Back home, hello to MB. Put away clothes. The cats didn't help. Then down basement for the rest of my day's practices. By the time I emerged it was a bit after 6 PM. Ate some leftovers, hanging with MB. Off for a brief trip to the office.

Stopped at the video store, and picked up a few titles. At the office, I was the only one there. Confirmed that my fix of Saturday, had actually fixed things. Yee Ha. Updated my branch to the trunk. This took about an hour and a half. Left the branch building and headed home.

Some time online. MB came down and we made a 'nest' (of pillows, not of wood shavings) and watched an episode of Twin Peaks. The cats are little heat seeking loaves. Some guitar and soon bed.

If you too strictly adhere to a schedule, you let the past dominate the present. Why should something you set down yesterday, prevent you from doing what is necessary in the moment?
If you allow too much freedom in your day, you allow the present to dominate the future. A life lived without structure is directionless.

a cranky chef

Sunday: Up around 9, hearing my mom's voice calling, and then MB telling her not to wake me. Very brief sitting. Shower. Downstairs, and helped MB with the breakfast. The whole gang was there (except for Ad), but only half of us wanted eggs. Some gifting. Cleaning up. Mom heading right into lunch preparations. Bb and Mrc gave Kr Br and Baby Z a ride to the bus. More gifting. Good restraint this year. Clean up. I decided it would be best for me to work my practices in at this point in the day, so, off to Arlington.

I completed around 2:20. Picked up my cell, and I could tell that I had just missed MB's call. They were going for a walk on Boston Common. Good show. I walked up the street in search of coffee, but everything was closed. Called Wnd, who was at KKC. I drove over there, and we found an open donut shop. Drove to a slightly more picturesque location to consume our goodies, and had a nice conversation. Dropped her back at KKC, then headed home.

I arrived just as everyone else got back from the walk. Headed into dinner preparations. MB helped by making stuffed zucchini and an apple pie. Mom helped by making a salad. I made vegetarian Shepherd's Pie, mushroom-miso sauce, and baked butternut squash. At one point I tossed everyone out of the kitchen. My mom thought I could have been nicer about it, and she was probably right. I brought up some corny jokes about mushrooms. We ate about 6:30 PM. A lovely meal.

A last bit of gifting. Then pie and ice cream. Hugs, handshakes and goodbyes. The party, now down to just MB, myself and my mom, sat in the living room. We decided it was best not to do anything ambitious like go out to a movie. Conversation. Some email. Posted MIDI versions of Invention 1. Soon bed.

quite a full eve

Saturday: MB woke me around 7:30. Sleepy, but up. Shower. Packed my car with guitar and other stuff. Left a note and headed out around 8:30. Found a bank in Medford. Picked up some breakfast at a fast food place. Gas, tipping the guy at the pump. Then to Arlington, taking an odd route. Got keys at Shawn's house, then to the practice space. Morning practices. Took a walk out and bought a few things at the CVS. A bit of guitar practice. Headed back home, finding a trash barrel for the fast food debris en route.

At the ranch, some socializing, then offered to give some folks a ride to Harvard Sq. Br, Kr and baby Z arrived there about 1 PM. They went to the Harvard Book Store. I headed off to do some shopping. Quite a lovely day for it. Lots of people, but not mobbed. Eventually wound up back at the office, and deposited my loot in the car. About 45 minutes of work, working out a very good hypotheses as to why a certain operation hasn't been functioning. Ran out of time before I could test my theory. Picked up Br, Kr, baby Z and Ad at the book store. Gave them a quick tour of the office. It turns out that Ad will be working in the same building as I do. This is a really quite an unlikely happenstance.

Back home, and lunch: Ziti with a delicious store-bought sauce my mom has found. Gave my mom some grief for telling me where to take noodles from out of the serving dish, but kept it playful. Then, some cookies that all who stayed home had spent the day frosting (MB had baked them in the morning). Clean up, Bb pitching.

Around 5, MB, my mom and I headed to OCBC for the Christmas service. MB did a long reading. Quite a lot of music, most of it very good. A funny little moment for me was watching the percussionist play "Little Drummer Boy." He was looking at sheet music for where to put little cymbal accents in (two quarter note hits between vocal phrases). I can't imagine this guy didn't know how the tune "Little Drummer Boy" goes. In his page turning (putting a drum-stick between his teeth in order to free up a hand) he managed to get out of sync by a measure, and put his little cymbal hits in the middle of a vocal phrase. Wouldn't he have been better off just listening? Irv's talk was heartfelt and on target.

Back home briefly, then out again, Bb following me to the Japanese restaurant in Porter Square. An enjoyable meal, MB and I skipping a main course, but having plenty of Edamame and vegetarian sushi. Mom tried Saki for the first time. Baby Z woke up at the end, and cooing ensued.

Back home, hanging out with Br, Kr, baby Z, mom and MB. Everyone but me and MB went to bed. Some milk and cookies. She went to sleep. Now Santa has a little work to do.

a day of going here and there with family

Friday: MB wanted to get up at 5:30, but the alarm didn't go off. I woke up at 6:38, from strange dreams involving cats, and let her know she had over slept. It wound up not being a problem. I got up as well. Shower. MB left around 7:15. Morning practices right as Kr and Br rang the doorbell, around 9:05.

I made breakfast: eggs with mushrooms and cheese, toast, soy sausages, coffee tea, and ate with them. Hanging out talking. Bb and Mrc arrived around 10:20. We sat and talked in the living room until 11:15. They headed off to the Museum of Science. Some last minute things. Cut finger and toe nails. Mom called and a brief conversation. Headed to the office at 12 noon.

Worked for a few hours, trying to track down the same bug that had been eluding me for the last couple days. No luck, but puzzled a couple of other things out. Problems in the aspect that Dv is working on, with no clear resolution. Friendly conversation with Dnl. Left at 3:05 for South Station.

The train my mom was on was posted as 40 minutes late. I wandered around looking at people, and the large miniature train diorama in the middle of the waiting area. Did some shopping. Mom arrived at 3:55. She rang my cell phone just as we spotted each other. Gave her a ride back to the house, and got her situated. She was going to make a salad. Headed back to work. Not much change from where I left it before. Returned home, leaving at 5:20 and arriving at 5:45.

MB was there. We got ready to go over to Ad's apt. Packed a card table and some folding chairs into MB's car. Eventually everyone was set, and we left. Mom keeps talking about getting a cat, but 'not letting it on the counter.' People that do not understand cats should not have them as living companions. A pleasant dinner party. Ad made salmon. MB and I had tempeh 'ribs.' Salad, orzo, asparagus. Then quite a dessert spread with pumpkin pie, cheese cake. Cultural referents were flying like bats. Headed home about 10:30. Br and Kr stopped in and picked up the boom-box and a bunch of CDs. Z likes heavy metal and polka music. Strikes me as the opposite of the 'Mozart effect'... but what do I know.

two cats on the chest

Thursday: The alarm went off around 9, but I ignored it. I remember two cats lying on my chest, and thinking I didn't want to disturb them. Then without warning, it was 1 PM. Up out of bed, shower, and down basement for "morning" practices. Made the bed for K and B. Set up the mini-crib thing we're borrowing from David. Headed off to work.

... But first, went to the barber (long overdue) and some shopping. The barber's hands smelled like salami. We made small talk. Another barber in the shop had a red eye, and the fellow cutting my hair said "You're going to be dead soon," which isn't exactly the sort of thing I like to have said when someone is working about my head with sharp implements.

A very brief day in the office. Discussion with Dv. Trying to track down a bug, but fixing other things along the way. Calls from MB.

Back home by 6:35. A family gathering (MB's uncle, aunt, and cousins, plus her cousin's hubby and baby). Walked out to the pizza shop with uncle and male cousin. Trivia about the neighborhood. An enjoyable meal together, after putting another leaf in the table. Clean up. Spoke with Bb about how the top decision makers in business often don't see how workplace safety, though requiring some up-front expenditures, can save a lot of money in the long run. I pointed out that this has a direct parallel in the attitudes towards preventative medicine. Bb Mrc and Ad left, and MB, Kn and Br (with baby Z) sat around talking a bit more, then they retreated to the basement. MB and I set up my mom's bed for tomorrow. Some guitaring. Soon bed.

physiology of mushrooms

Wednesday: Another late night, doing some musicing. Slept in to around 10. Then shower. Looked at menus for the weekend with MB, and down basement just as M arrived for housecleaning. She was sick, and I was perhaps not as friendly as I might have been, not wanting to get sick myself. Put some new strings the my little traveling guitar for David K. Headed off to work.

Coffee, a bagel and a muffin. Another Holiday Basket was waiting for my nibbling pleasure in the reception area. I have no decision making authority when it comes to who we do business with, but I still get to enjoy the baskets. Fixing features broken by my rearchitecting. Talked with B and D about some work I need from D. More coffee late in the day. Stayed until 6:40 or so.

KKC, and the first in a new series. A fast paced and information packed class, despite the translation back and forth. I gave up taking notes past a certain point. After, a little socializing. Hln is in her new robes. Drove out with Wnd looking for an open Starbucks. Passed two, but they were both closing. So, a donut shop for decaf. Enjoyable conversation about the physiology of mushrooms. Drove to a grocery store and picked up some wrapping paper and tape. Couldn't remember the other item I was to get, and MB couldn't be reached by phone. Dropped Wnd off at KKC. Called mom on the phone about Christmas plans. Back home, no sign of MB. Hanging out with the cats. Soon bed.

Workshop buddies

Tuesday: Typical morning after a late night. Victor said recently "I don't drink, but I do stay up late." After breakfast and morning practices, tidied up the basement a bit. Played some guitar.

In at work, forgot to take my lunch. Looking into some mysterious bugs. Not clear if they are my fault or not. One major problem with software is things often "happen to work" through unintended side-effect. Then if the order of operations changes in a way that the side-effects no longer occur when they need to, entire systems can be rendered non-function, even though nothing changed that would obviously have such a far reaching impact. This sort of issue is inherent whenever an interface hides the complexities of the underlying implementation. Which is a goal of all good software design. Got some pizza and a coffee around 9 PM. Left at about 9:40.

Back home, and my support call with my workshop buddies. Better attended than the previous week. MB had gone to bed when I emerged.

Headstock

Monday: Up late, and then, MB got up around 5 AM. She left for work around 6. Didn't get back to sleep for a while. Finally woke up around 11. Fed cats and put on some water to boil. Shower. Breakfast. Headed over to KKC to fill water bowls. The place was silent when I arrived. Hm showed up a little later to make Geshela his lunch. Tsunmala was there as well, talking about the wheel that I helped put together. Headed back home. Email, and being a bit lazy. Down basement for morning practice. Loaded guitars into car. Headed to work. Talked to MB on the drive, deciding we'd take two cars to Victor's. Let someone know yoga has been canceled.

Parked, walked to the bank and tried the wire transfer again. Picked up our little cards from the printer. Coffee. A short day at work. Found and fixed a bug that was causing a spike in CPU use just as the streaming process was beginning. Started looking at some features that I managed to break with all my code changes. Printed out directions to Victor's. Left at about 7:50.

It took longer to get to Victor's than I thought it would. I got a little lost and had to look at a map. Arrived about 8:30, but it turned out we weren't actually meeting until 9. Got a phone message saying something about the bank routing number was wrong for the wire transfer. Good thing I'm not applying the "3 strikes and your out" rule here. In getting the room set up my guitar took a spill, resulting in edge of the headstock being dinged. This left a residual feeling of "something bad happened" for the rest of the night, even though I wasn't really upset about it. Showed Victor some of my recent compositions. MB and David arrived a bit later. Some talk about The Endurance. Eye of the Needle. Askesis. Improvisation. Recap of last meeting. Playing staccato. Invention 1. Within you. Left around 10:30.

Back home, made some quick soup. Tea. Then, MB and I put together our annual Christmas letters. She headed to bed. Email/web.

Bearings

Sunday: The alarm went off at 9, but I ignored it. MB woke me again at 9:39. She left for OCBC as I was hurriedly getting ready to go. A very brief sitting. To KKC about 5 minutes late, just as the opening part of the teaching was underway. Sat next to Wnd today for what seems like the first time in forever. Got up for some tea at one point when there was a lengthy discussion in Tibetan underway between Geshela and Damchoe. After teaching, socialized a little. Drove off with Wnd to get some lunch. Stopped at Home Depot to try to find a bearing for the wheel. They don't carry them. To Union Sq, and Mexican food. The owner said he was expanding into the place next door. Took a walk around looking for some dessert. Didn't find any, but it was a nice day for a walk. Gave Wnd a ride back to KKC.

Back home, MB was still out. I puttered around a little, then went down basement. Played some with the feedback game. I heard MB return upstairs. A little later, I went up and said hello. We talked about our evenings, and she got a call from the BD organizer at the Middle East asking her to give a mini-lesson, and dance tonight. She took the gig. We carried her tires back around to the shed. She had something to put down basement. Then, transplanted morning practices for me. When I came up for air, MB was getting ready to leave. I watched the rest of my gory movie. Then played some guitar. MB headed out. Email. Walked the DVD back up the street to the video store. More guitar, working on some composition.

MB returned around 11. I warmed up various leftovers from the weekend, and fried some eggs as well. A hodgepodge of a supper, but tasty. After cleanup, organized mail. Email. Soon bed, though MB says she is going to stay up late working.

Land of the Grey Feedback

Saturday: Difficult getting up. Showed MB my efforts with the Christmas letter from last night. She set to editing it down a bit. Shower. Made a PDF of the result and mailed it to the printer. Took a walk out and picked up some milk. Quite pretty out today. Email. MB went out to mail some gifts off at the PO. Played around with a bio-feedback game that I picked up. The game is a bit dippy, but the concept intrigues me. Down basement (dry today) for morning/afternoon practices.

Spent some time working on the recordings from the Athenian Corner, eventually producing a CD image, and burning three copies. Some tea with MB. Cleaned up the little table next to the couch in the living-room, sending out thank-you notes from my b-day.

Some guitar. MB headed off to the Kasbah. Eventually, I walked up the street, dropping a note to KK in the mailbox, picking up a DVD (Land o Dead), and a few slices of pizza. Back home, watching and eating. Then, decided to go in to the office for a bit. Drover over to H Sq. My code from yesterday seemed to be working well, the system trace showing fewer context switches. Now, I need to figure out why I'm spiking at the start of the process.

Back home, doo-wop groups on PBS. Quite annoying, actually. MB had bought jelly sticks, which Gus franticly tried to get at. Tea. Talking about Glint.

A friend sent me some links, which I started exploring today.
Here's one I particularly enjoyed.

Water in the basement/Syriana

Wednesday: Up around 9. MB was working from home today. Shower. Made some eggs, toast and soy sausages for MB and me. Breakfast with the wife. Email. Down basement. Put away gear from the recording session. Found that there was water seeping into the basement along the east wall. Mopped, and kicked on the sump pump. Morning practices. On emerging, MB had left to go get her snow-tires put on. Headed off to work.

More exploration of the performance characteristics of the new scheme I've put in place. Tried different duty cycles. Did some in-depth profiling, and decided to try to reduce the number of context switches going on. Took a walk out and tried to send the wire transfer again. This time I was told that I didn't have all the information I needed. Picked up a burrito. Back at my desk, listened to the recordings from last night. Pretty good. Headed off at 8:45.

Back home, and then with MB out to see Syriana. Excellent movie, though not a 'feel good' flick. Back home, enjoying talking about the film. Work on our Christmas letter, and gift buying.

Recording at the Athenian Corner

Tuesday: Slept in a bit after MB headed to work. Shower. Bought a replacement mouse for the iMac on ebay. Fed cats. Ate some breakfast. Brief sitting while coffee water heated. Down basement. Long call with someone I met at the sauna trip, who may be a good business connection. Put together a few things for the recording session in the evening. Unloaded the summer tires from my car. Headed off to work.

Went to get coffee, and ran into B and Cs. I had forgotten about the programmer's lunch today. Gave B a run down of the work I'd been up to over the last couple days. Fixed a couple of subtle bugs in my new code that had been dogging me for a while. Walked out and tried to send a wire transfer, but it was too late in the day. Listened to my friend Moni's new CD with her band Naghma. Good stuff. Left work at 8:30 or so.

Arrived in Lowell a little after 9, just in time for MB's BD set. When the band took a break, I went and talked to them. We decided to give recording a shot, even though the conditions weren't ideal. Cst showed me a student Oud that he seemed eager to sell. MB and I sat and ate spinach pie and salad while the band played their next set. This older gentleman Fdy is an amazing violinist. After the show he started telling me about how someone from the Pentagon was asking him to be in a documentary about the Battle of the Bulge. I took down my rig, and we headed out, around 11:45.

Back home, loaded MB's snow tires into her car. Some tea, and listening to some comedy.

Snow-tires

Wednesday: Woke around 9 as MB and friend headed out to a lecture in H Sq. Decided to get up. Shower. Fed cats. Down basement. Morning practices. After, put away laundry, put tires in the car. Car wouldn't start, so jumped.

Drove to the tire shop, dropped off the car and walked to work. The car will have its snow tires put on, and an alignment done. At work, ate lunch for breakfast. Coffee. Continued tweaking my code, and comparing to the shipping version of the program. Things are starting to look pretty encouraging. Checked in my code to catch a snapshot of its current state. Replaced a sub-system and added prioritization to a work queue implementation. Walked to the tire place and picked up the car. Quite cold out today. Pizza. More coffee. Left around 6:35.

Having hit some traffic, arrived just a tad late at KKC. Struggled to keep myself alert, and was mostly successful. Two cups of tea helped. We wrapped up 70 Topics today. One big lesson of the night: don't mix and match models. Allow each to be internally consistent, and work with it on its own terms. I guess this is a bit like General Relativity and Quantum Physics. Still, the human mind wants Unification.

Talked to Wendy about a retreat she has decided to do. Talked to Ed about possibly installing a water fountain. Took a ride out with Wnd and got some coffee and a donut. Back home, MB was heading to bed. A little guitar. Email. One enthusiastic response from a kindred spirt points in an interesting direction. Now, to take out the recycling, and soon bed.

It is my most grave misfortune to have Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" stuck in my head. That will teach me to listen to NPR. I'd consider lobotomy, but I'm sure this song will do the job on its own if I let it run long enough.

3 guys

Tuesday: Slept in a bit, having stayed up until 4 AM last night. Got up around 10. Shower. Checked email. Down basement for morning practices. Sleepy. Did some tidying. Put together my yoga gear. Headed out, but car wouldn't start (quite cold). A jump with the charger, and I was on my way.

Got a muffin and a coffee. At the front desk, a holiday basket had come in, and so I took a sampling of goodies to supplement my muffin, and become breakfast. Worked on a new throttling mechanism, based on my understanding of the competition's scheme. Had this mostly working by the end of the day. More coffee, and some pizza around 5 PM. Left for yoga at 6:45.

KKC, and yoga. My body was feeling a little beat due to lack of sleep, but a good session none the less. Sleepy at the end, of course. Stayed a little afterwards, and emptied water bowls. Talked to Wendy about sponsoring a water dispenser for the center.

Back home took a quick shower. Call with folks from the workshop. Just me and two other guys this week. Upstairs, and a quickie frozen dinner. Hanging out with MB talking about retreat centers, and her experience in Franklin, where she connected with a woman about giving some belly-dance lessons. Email. Working on the Christmas card.

Long day with the threads

Monday: Woke at 6 AM with MB. Decided to get up. Shower. She headed off to a doctor's apt. Breakfast. Went over to KKC. Turns out I was wrong about when Ngawang and Hln leave for India: 8 PM, not 8 AM. Filled water bowls. Lama Sonam was there doing a long recitation. Talked to a woman from South Africa who is visiting the center. Stopped to get coffee and a tasty thing on my way home. Sat around in a daze for about an hour, trying to decide whether or not to take a nap. Eventually the coffee kicked in. Down basement for morning practices. Winding. Laundry.

Headed to work. A lovely day out, and cold. Got an egg-salad sandwich and a coffee from T's. Came to the depressing conclusion that despite all my work, the new code didn't behave much better than the old. Did a bunch of research with Mk's help on how our competitor's product works in this case. Fiddled with my code, and eventually began to see how I might improve the situation. Ate my lunch for a dinner, sort of. Stayed late. Gave MB a call. She called back around midnight. Headed home about 1 AM. Stopped for some pizza. Detour on the road heading home.

Hanging with the cats. Email. Watching a strange battle between censorship and inclusivity in an online community.

Without

Sunday: Woke at 8:50. Really didn't want to get out of bed, but did anyway. Shower. Brief sitting in the dance room. Said bye to MB. Headed for KKC around 9:55, eating a banana and a power bar on the way.

Arrived about 5 minutes late for class. I sat on the left, next to Nick. After the general introduction, a sizable group of kids left from the back of the room. Stayed fairly present for most of the session, drifting off a couple of times. At the end, asked a question about how those with names get them, which involved a hypothetical person with the name "Stinky." Also pointed out that skunks don't have names for things. And did a pantomime of my hand talking. Really quite mad. Left fairly promptly.

Back home, spent some time with MB. Made and ate an egg sandwich. Email. Took a walk up the Broadway hill, returning videos. Talked to MB on the phone. No Circle meeting tonight, but we she and I will hang out with Victor and talk about some plans for a new project. Gave someone directions up to the banquet facility on Highland. Quite a nice day out. Sunny, and not too terribly cold. Walked up to Highland, then back around on Walnut. Wnd called, and we talked about what she's been going through looking after a friend of hers. I offered some advice, which was basically, communicate what is necessary, but otherwise, be easygoing.

Played a bit of guitar. Email and so on. MB left to go perform at a talent show at OCBC. I realized I was procrastinating going down basement. Eventually did go down basement for the rest of morning practices. Also did some mantra winding. Tidied up a bit. Ordered a replacement glass chimney for my oil lamp.

Ate some leftover noodles and a veggie burger. More guitar. The fingers of my left hand are feeling easily fatigued lately. Wonder why. MB returned about 8:50, reporting that things went well. The Spanikopita she made was fully consumed.

Victor arrived around 9:20. Tea and hanging out in the living room. We talked about a project that he's going to run beginning in January: A free beginner's circle, with a time slot just before our regularly scheduled Circle meeting. Our Circle meetings may be slightly shorter as a result. In the announcements for this course, there will be explicit mention made of the inner-work aspect of what we do. The three of us discussed the above from several different angles. It was agreed that this was a good idea, and if successful, would help support the work of the Circle. The only immediate action item, is that Victor needs to write the blurb, and get it approved by Robert and Curt. As Victor stood in the door to leave, I put on Igor's re-master of "Get Crafty." My comment was, the players back then had more precision than we do now.

Some more computerizing, and bed soon.

Elderhostel/Christmas fun

Saturday: Up around 9:30. Shower and down basement for brief morning practices. Then over to KKC.

Elderhostel. I drove with Jf to Davis. Enjoyable conversation: cosmologies. To Martsa on Elm, and picked up a large quantity of Tibetan food. Back to KKC. Unloaded food, got a rundown of what needed doing. I ran and got a fresh box of coffee from the donut shop. Lunch. Chatting with folks. Sat next to Bn and talked about his plans. Helped clean up a bit, then headed off.

Stopped at the Christmas Tree Shops, but found that they didn't have any Christmas Tree Stands. Or anything else I needed. K-Mart to the rescue. And bought a Christmas Tree, the proceeds going to Somerville Schools. It fit in my trunk better than I thought it would.

Back home, set up the tree with MB while listening to Dane Cook. Vacuumed out the back of my car. Fixed the lights on the front of the house, and re-hung the wreath (which I believe was upside down). Are we having Christmasy fun yet? OK!

Drove out with MB, dropping off a DVD at the store, filling up the tank (gave a fellow directions to Medford Street) and dropping a check off at Martsa on Elm. Got some cash from the ATM, and had a snack at the new little coffee shop next to the restaurant. Seems to be run by the same family. I got a spinach fritter sort of thing and a coffee. MB got a Tibetan butter tea and a cookie.

Back home. Email. Guitar. MB got dressed up and headed off to a BD gig. Down basement for daily practices part 2. MB returned, as the restaurant where she was supposed to perform, was closed. I made us some food while she changed: microwaved potatoes, leftover Indian food (spinach and potatoes) from my party (which had been frozen), and a quicky Indian dish: frozen mixed vegetables with instant curry powder, cream, chopped nuts and raisins. We watched a couple of episodes of Twin Peaks. Also had some tea. Watched a little bit of SNL. My primary experience of watching Shakira involved wondering whether she was lip-syncing or not. Regardless, this points to a sad state of affairs in "live" music.

snow-lightening

Friday: Woke around 8 as MB was getting up. Snow had fallen in the night. Deciding to be gallant, I jumped out of bed, threw some clothes on and did some shovelling so MB could just leave and get to work on time. Email, shower, then down basement for morning practices. I love the quiet that snow brings. Did some extra stretching this morning, as my body felt thick from too much sleep. Put on water for coffee, wrapped some presents. Breakfast of an egg sandwich with soy sausage. Put the presents in a box, which I then addressed. Headed out.

The roads were pretty slippery. Still haven't put my snow-tires on. Stopped at the post office and mailed off the presents. Drove slowly to Harvard Square. Almost there, I saw lightening and heard thunder. Quite unusual... thunder and lightening during a snowstorm. At work, spent some time doing design, and then, worked on performance. Interesting stuff going on with thread priorities. Snow kept falling and cleared by late afternoon. MB called and said people had tried to leave work early, but that traffic was so bad that they had just come back to the office. I stayed until about 7:30, and then headed home.

I found I couldn't make it up the hill from Mt Auburn St to Mass Ave, so I took the long way around. Slowly slowly home. Almost got stuck in an intersection. At the house, our neighbor B had given me a jump on the shoveling. I shoveled the driveway, and the walk along side the house. I was shoveling out a spot on the street for MB when she returned. We completed the job, she parked, and then we took a walk out. Ordered some subs, then to the video store. Picked up our subs, then back home, for an evening of nesting in front of the tube. The cats are getting old and smelly.

First session with Shawn since party

Thursday: Up a bit after 8, but lazed until 9 or so. Email. Shower. Fed cats. Down basement. On emerging, packed the car with my acoustic guitar. Car wouldn't start, so, ran extension chord down the block to use the battery charger. Another cold clear day. Strange dreams last night of a siege on a condo complex, escaping through windows, blurring the idea of 'inside' and 'outside' and then it all turned into a movie, with the most poignant music under the final credits.

Got some coffee, and ate the calzone portion that MB had packed for luch, for breakfast. Wrapping up the 'uber-disable' feature. Talked with Mk about threading again. Worked out a good strategy. Talked to B. Talked to A and Dnl. Took a walk out and picked some gifts out for my young friend Aa. Also bought a couple of CDs by this rather funny fellow Dane Cook (who grew up in this area). Got a veggie burrito. Worked until 7:45, then headed to Arlington.

A good session with Shawn, though a little light on the playing side. Talking that needed to be talked. and some that didn't. I was feeling sleepy, so we called it early. I was playing acoustic guitar tonight, and he was playing a different drum kit than usual, so our tone was quite a bit different from the norm. Love the fullness of the low string that is achived with the Ovation going straight into a PA. Wonder why the electric doesn't have that same quality. Perhaps I should try heavier gauge strings on the electric.

Back home, MB helped me hang Christmas lights in the front of the house. A snow storm is predicted for overnight, so we put my car in the garage, and her blocking me in. Put out bird food, and fetched ice-melt from the shed. Made a fried egg sandwich. MB headed to bed. Email.

Take a nap

Wednesday: MB left around 8. Up around 9. Brief email. Shower. Cats. Basement. Cold and clear today. Drove to Davis Square and picked up food for the cats. Across town to work. Coffee, bagel and a small muffin from T's.

A long gone limitation of an OS data structure, that our code still is coded against, cost me about a half day's work. Eventually put in yet another patch rather than taking the bull by the horns. Left at 6:10. Got some pizza then headed to KKC.

First class back with Geshela after Choden Rinpoche's visit. I spaced out for a bit, but was brought back when he started asking questions. At then end I asked a question and embedded in his answer was "Oh, maybe you can take a nap." Sly fellow.

Had tea with Wnd in Medford, catching up on things. Then back to the center. I went grocery shopping on the way home. Then stopped by the new mall, but everything was closing. MB returned from an evening in Lawrence (and an earlier drum circle at our place). She helped put away the cat food. I made some scrambled eggs and pasta. Email. Soon bed.

Miles

Tuesday: MB headed off to work. Slept longer than I had hoped. Shower. Fed the cats. Down basement for morning practices. Tidied up a little after Tny (though he had already done a great job of cleaning). A friend called with some sad news. Ate some bread and cheese.

A chilly day, but we missed the storm that might have hit us last night. Drove across town to work. Worked on buttoning up some UI changes. Ran into a nasty bug, that I eventually came to suspect was not mine. Decided not to go to yoga. Updated my branch to the latest trunk version, set things building and left for the night.

Arrived back home the same time as MB. She'd had a night out with some girlfriends. I went down basement to have a conference call with my buddies from the workshop of a few weeks back. Fewer this week than last. Discussing some of the other retreats I've been on, and my approach to personal practice. When I emerged, MB was already asleep.

Ven. Choden Rinpoche audio CDs

Monday: Up around 8:30. Some lazing around. Shower. Tny called to say he was coming up soon. He did, said hello-goodbye and was on his way. Morning practice in the dance room. A quick breakfast of toast, butter and cheese. A little vacuuming. Headed to KKC.

Waterbowls. Hm and his little daughter were there. She really doesn't like me. It's so strange. Working around lots of flowers. New demarcations where candles are supposed to go. Then, worked on the CR audio recordings, for 2004 and 2005. Jf and Jn helped. Realized they didn't have any CDs, so off to Staples. Also got coffee and a jelly-stick. Spent about three hours gathering audio and burning disks. The result: 7 CDs containing roughly 50 hours of teachings in MP3 format. (Could have been compressed much smaller, but that would have taken even more time.) Handed them off to the translator. Wendy C gave me a pat on the back, and asked me to do more stuff. That's the deal! The translator promptly dropped the CDs. I joked "I trusted you!"

In to work, and immediately out to the pharmacy to pick up a few things. Finally settling down, looked at the performance of my latest stuff, trying to see if anything funny is going on with thread priorities or blocking. Also fixed some other bugs and did some further UI clean-up. Worked until about 9 PM, and headed home.

With MB on one line, and me on the other, we called her grandfather. I thanked him for the nice message he'd left me, and we talked about Christmas plans. I ate some leftover Indian food. MB and I watched this silly video that her friends made by cross-fading still photos of their trip here, and adding music. The pictures of the cats on the sofa were set to blistering electric guitar. Then, some guitar myself. Emailing. Bed soon.

Amitabha

Sunday: Slept until around 10. MB headed off to OCBC. Snow on the ground. She did a bit of shoveling. Tny called. Read a little from a fiction book a friend suggested. I decided a cup of coffee would be just the thing. Downstairs and breakfast. Fed the cats. Wrote yesterday's diary. Upstairs for morning practices.

Around 1:15 Tny wanting a ride to KKC. MB returned just after. I hopped in the shower. We all headed over around 1:20. I installed a new battery in a wireless mic, and ran sound for the event, which was quite lovely. It was interesting having MB around. Afterwards, I started some MP3 transfers in the KKC basement, then MB and I headed off (after waiting for some cars to move out of the driveway).

We got Indian food in Union Square. The waiter was a bit lackadaisical, but the dinner was delicious. Talked about J's growling stomach, among other things. Home around 7. Wnd had dropped off some frozen bean treats at our front door. No guitar circle tonight. Continued with my practices, in the dance room. Got a call from Wendy about recordings of last years teachings. I had been unhospitable when Tny called before and neglected to invite him up, so at MB's suggestion, I did. He paid us a visit, and we drank tea, and talked about retirement, and the life of Tibetan monks and nuns in India. He left around 10 PM. Listening to some tape transfers, trying to determine the order. Now, perhaps a little guitar, and hopefully an early bed.

Vajrayogini

Saturday: Slept in a bit. MB expressed some concerns to me, that pushed me into a dark place. Eventually down basement for morning practice. Tny had already gone out. Dropped a picture, and in trying to retrieve it broke something. I saw this coming, but why didn't I avert it? Not terribly auspicious, as they say. Let go of that, and got on with it. Upstairs a little after 1. Some Spanikopita and toast for breakfast. MB returned. Made coffee, but probably shouldn't have, as I didn't really have time for it.

Sped to KKC around 1:50. All the lights seemed against me. Arrived just in time at 2. Had decided to attend this event, despite misgivings. Then, gremlins in the sound system, and the misgivings returned. I did my best to stomp down the gremlins, and then made an exit, feeling flushed and shaken. Drove away, wondering if I had done the right thing.

Found MB walking down the sidewalk towards Union. We drove back home, and then walked together over the Somerville Hill. A sunny cold day. She had some errands to attend to, so I left her, and walked back. Some email, and morning practices part 2. When I came up from that, I decided to pay bills. Pulled them together, and to the upstairs office.

Took a walk up the street, dropping the bills in the post. Deposited pay and a random collection of small checks at the bank. To the video store and picked up a couple more episodes of Twin Peaks. Talked to Wnd on the cell about the event I had not attended.

Back home, MB had cooked some veggie burgers and french fries. A fire truck pulled up outside, then a police car and an ambulance. A neighbor across the street with a long history of physical problems, had apparently taken a turn for the worse. We ate our dinner, flashing lights in the windows. I had not gotten the right episodes of Twin Peaks, so I drove back to the video store, past the ambulance. Someone is having a medical emergency, and I'm worried about my entertainment. Swapped the tape. Back home, the rescue vehicles were all gone, and the street was quiet. You'd never know anything had just happened. I found this strangely spooky.

We enjoyed the videos, then spent the rest of the night hanging out. Some good and needed conversations. SNL. Something about flipping a cashew off a lighthouse. I made a bit more food.

Prj on its feet/Lines of Experience

Friday: Up around 8:30. Email. Shower. Downstairs. Spent about an hour formulating an email. Did morning practice in the dance room. Put away laundry. Down basement, and said hello to Tny.

Off to work, driving across town, drinking a bottle of water. Bought a coffee and a mozzarella sandwich. Today, I got my latest stuff up and running. Tried to do a throughput test on J's machine, but there were bugs. Debugged that stuff, and got a fairly reasonable test running by the end of the day. Left at 6:30.

Got very lucky in traffic on the way to KKC, arriving 10 minutes early. Good turnout tonight for Ven CR's teaching on Lines of Experience. Good stuff. Sleepy at first, then not. Afterwards, figured out how to turn off web broadcast for tomorrow's events. Much activity. Left with Tny and gave Wnd a ride to her car. Cold out tonight. Back home around 11. Hung with MB. Ate leftover soup and some toast. She headed to bed. Email. Another round on the same topic as this morning. A bit of guitar. Gave a dry run of a text. Soon bed.

Deliverd the Wheel

Thursday: Woke as MB headed out, around 8:30. Soon out of bed, and email. Down basement briefly, and said good-morning to Tny. Shower. Morning practices in the dance room. Hung the wreath mom bought us on the front door. Knocked on the basement door to see if Tny wanted a ride, but no answer. Headed out.

First stop KKC. Delivered the prayer wheel with all the mantras wound up inside it. It was quite fun, mounting it on its spindle with Geshela and Ngawang. Then, we tried to decide where it should go. Off to work.

A good day in the office. Told B and Dv about my "off" idea, and eventually won them over. Got my new reorganization to the point of running and crashing. Realized I had made a mistake in my understanding of the way that multiple inheritance works when you're dealing with an opaque C style interface (as I am, in part). (Basically, in these cases MI is a bad idea, since you need language support to correctly adjust the "this" pointer.) Had reworked that and hit one more minor problem, just as it was time to leave. My work day today was, to the minute the same length as my work day yesterday.

Got to KKC 5 minutes early. What a difference 5 minutes can make. Got the wireless mics all turned on and working, so few problems with the sound tonight. More transmissions. I wasn't as able to be present tonight. A bit sleepy. Wnd was off helping her friend Se. Talked to a woman from LYWA about the horrible image gallery software. Started a download of MP3 files from the recorder. Talked to Ed about Wnd. Gave Tny a ride back.

Said goodnight to Tny as he headed down basement. Fed the cats. Flopped on the couch. MB called to say she was on her way home. Ate some Spanikopita, and made some quicky soup. MB arrived and we hung out as I ate. Talked about moving to Denmark. Or maybe Holland. And, what goes into being depressed.

An email in the early afternoon left me in a state of mild despair for the rest of the day. But, I might not have felt this way, if I'd gotten more sleep last night.

Ornament/Donuts

Wednesday: Up around 8:45. Email. Shower. Fed cats. Avoided spending too much time with the computer. Down basement. At the end of the session, mom called. We chatted, while I fixed the place up a little for Tny (from FL). Upstairs again, laundry, kettle on, grabbed pillows and bedding for Tny. Breakfast. A bit of guitar. Typed up some notes from yesterdays conversation.

Headed off. Rainy and warm today. Drove across town. Got involved in another discussion about the design work that B and I had done the other day. Dv had argued B into changing the design in a way that lost the thrust of my input. His argument was for greater flexibility, in order to cover a rare case, at the expense of the common case. My point of view eventually won out. Worked through more infrastructure. Lift off of a new aspect of the project is immanent. Left work at 6:25.

KKC, and the CR transmission of Ornament and 70 Topics. There were some details of the audio set-up that I should have gotten to before had, but as it was, I had to fuss with things (with Damchoe's help) while the preliminaries were already underway. Alert at the beginning, slightly spacy at the end of the introduction. Then, wide awake. Time seemed to telescope, the colors in the room changed, and things became very still. What an interesting experience. After the teaching, I connected with Tny, and Wnd. Saw Brn, who is about to move to India and take monastic vows. Walked Wnd to her car. We have a lot of catching up to do, and no time.

Gave Tny a ride back to our place. Got him settled and fed him a piece of pumpkin pie. Chatted about health issues, hearing all about his cholesterol. He headed to bed. Some guitar. Helped MB get her Palm data loaded into her new PDA (via the iMac). Figured out how to set up a Wiki. Decided on a different collaboration tool, at least for now. Went out and got a donut with MB (from the cashier's private stash). More webbing, and soon bed.