On hold

Monday: Slept in a bit, waking as MB headed to work. Web, cats, shower, guitar. Down basement. Breakfast, listening to a story about a multimedia show with music by Philip Glass: an homage to the origins of life. Brought a tear. Vacuumed in the basement, trying to leave the spiders, but clean up some of their webs.

Drove over to KKC. Filled water bowls. Went quickly today. Rescued a moth that was trapped inside one of the display cabinets. In to work. The major accomplishment of the day was determining that a particular add-on was writing 4 bytes, when they should only write 1, and thus corrupting the stack. Other than that, I spent a lot of time on hold trying to deal with an order for video equipment. At one point, I was on hold on two phones at once. Just terrible. Took a walk out and did some banking. Then picked up some pizza, which I ate back at my desk. Called MB and told her we had some toothpaste already. Headed home around 9:30, stopping for a cup of coffee, which I sipped sitting on a bench outside the parking garage.

Back home, hung out with MB for a bit, then trading amusing things on the computer. Watched the rest of the making of the Devil's Rejects. Now, some guitar, then down basement.

Not Busking

Sunday: Woke around 9, and had been thinking about going to KKC, but decided sleep was more of a priority. Woke again around 10:30. Up, and the usual stuff.
At 12:40 or so Wnd came over and we went out to lunch at the Mexican place in Union. Good conversation. Then as we were driving off to have a walk, MB called. Nice to hear her voice. She will be home soon! Wnd and I walked along the Mystic River, behind the mall, and saw a big game of soccer being played out. Back home, and some hanging out. After she left I got the news that circle had been canceled for the evening (not enough of us were going to show up to busk). Not feeling terribly motivated to do anything, gave Leo a walk around the back yard, and enjoyed the sun. Quite nice weather out today. Watched some of the making of Devil's Rejects. Cleaned off the coffee table. Vacuumed. Sorted through mail. Practiced guitar. Spent time working on the drum kit in the basement, adding legs to the kick, and setting up the roto-toms. Played drums for a bit. Took a drive. Lots of emergency vehicle activity near the auto inspection station on Mystic Ave. Down basement for some evening practices. Made lunches, and a veggie burger. Watched more of the making of The Devil's Rejects while eating my food. Down basement for more practices. Typing. MB called from the airport.

The drum lady/Bill and Ruby's

Saturday: Woke around 10. MB called and we had a nice conversation. She spent more time with Am and Gry, and then was going to go to another museum with her parents. A relaxed morning, and then suddenly there was very little time. Cats, shower, laundry, down basement, and headed out.

Over to Belmont and to the house of a person that was selling drum gear. It turns out she collects a particular line of discontinued drums, and always gets extra hardware when people insist she buy the whole kit. I picked up hi-hat and cymbal stands. As I was leaving a man stopped his car and said to me "In the future, would you please not park on the grass strip?" My tires were about 3 inches onto a strip of grass that was more gravel than green, with no curb. I said "I won't be back here again, but I'm sorry." Welcome to Belmont. Stopped on my drive back and picked up a veggie burger at a fast food joint. The kid who took my money asked if I was a vegetarian, and when I said "yes" said he'd been trying to quit meat, but finding it hard. I told him about the "pick a puppy" dream that converted me, some 10 years ago.

Back home, and ate the veggie burger in the cool of the AC. Then, packed my gear and headed out. Called Shawn, who was already at the party, and told him I was on my way. Hit a big traffic jam in Dorchester, and sought an alternate route. Damn hot out.

Arrived at Bill and Ruby's party around 3. Hellos, and settling in. Some warm up. We were the third act to go on. My new guitar's debut in the performing world. IBE was a bit of a train-wreck, but OK once it got going. Strange that... We played it so well in rehearsal. The newness of the guitar tripped me up in a few spots. Hope sounded amazing though. After our brief set, several people came over to ask about my instrument. Lots of complements, which seemed uncalled for to me. I stopped talking when I realized we were gabbing over the next act's set. Ate a bit of something which I think had some shrimp in it. This is the danger of a pot-luck. Hanging about and enjoying the music. The band before we went on had played a great number called "Let's go to Mars" about our illustrious leader. One fellow reprised his booger song from the previous year. A guy played very lovely classical guitar. Two of the fingers on his left hand were stubby, I was told from an encounter with a dog. Shawn headed out around 5:20, and I left not long afterwards.

Driving back home, listening to the disc Shawn had made for me, I hit some major traffic near Fenway. A Sox game was just letting out. Eventually found a way out, and across the BU bridge, then through Cambridge.

Back home, some hanging around, then attached a gardening tool box to the side of the house. Went to Home Depot for hardware to provide feet for the kick drum, and then out on a large shopping trip. Realized I wasn't going to make the movie I'd been thinking of seeing, so stopped at the video store and picked up a couple DVDs. Back home, put the goods away, then watched "Devil's Rejects" while eating leftover Chinese food. Soon down basement.

Toy drums

Friday: Strange dreams of cats poking me in the face. Oh, those were no dreams! Somehow an hour or two got away from me this morning... Web. Shower. Cats. Played guitar. A long conversation with my mom, cathing up. Down basement and said hello to M, who was working on our plantings out front. Did some tidying. Set up my small drum kit in the music room. Couldn't find proper hi-hat or cymbal stands, so had to be a little creative. Morning stuff. Headed out.

Checking in on various things. All is well. Got some pizza and an energy drink. Finally reproduced a bug that had been reported to me. Only shows up on PPC, not on Intel. Put in a fix. Looking forward. The sky grew black, and it seemed like night at 6:30. Heavy downpour, with thunder and lightening.

Met Shawn at the H Sq. T stop. Drove to New Asia near Union and Chinese food. A crazy woman from Craig's List called me and gave me incredibly detailed directions to her house. She is selling hi-hat stands, and I'd like to buy one. Shawn told me about his family reunion, which sounds like it was an amazing event.

Back home, and some setting up, and a Church of Flying Dreams rehearsal. A bit funny, hearing my very present guitar sound matched with Shawn playing on what is essentially a toy kit. But all was groovy. Upstairs and some hanging out. Watched a bit of what has been called the worst movie of all time (though I would say, "not even close.") Gave Shawn a ride home.

At my place, added some items to my shopping list. A bit of not terribly focused time. Completed the packing materials from my guitar. Weeded through a box of half broken drum gear, and threw some away. Ate leftovers. Web surfing.

Guitar arrives

Thursday: After a very late night, slept in a bit. Unpacking and so on. Cats. Catching up, and propelling forward. Down basement. Unpacking. Preparing for class.

Quite a lovely day out. Headed toward work. Stopped for an egg sandwich. The man that talks to himself was not present. At the office, a large box awaited me. The most notable, and time consuming, thing I did at work today was to add icons to a number of add-ons. Board programmers is good programmers. Talked to MB. Left work around 7:20.

Again, the class before mine was not in session. This week was like last week. And so, I headed home, taking the balance of time for my own use.

Unpacked my guitar and spent some time playing. This completes a decision that was taken on March 10th 2005, and which was set in motion sometime around October 9 2004... and of course is a new beginning. Drove out and did some banking. Picked up a few things at the convenience store, but did not do a full shopping trip. Down basement. More guitar playing. Down basement part 2.

My return

Wed: Woke a little after 7, and a glass of OJ with MB's dad before he had to go to work. Then, back to bed. MB and I got up around 10, and had a mellow morning with her mom. Some cereal. I cleaned out my electric shaver while they talked. This seems to be a Southern thing: the women folk gab while the men do things, or sit quietly. Some packing. Talked to MB's grandfather. He's 96, and not feeling so well, but still quite an inspiration. Watched a short and enjoyable DVD on the Hula dance, while we ate some leftover pizza. And then, it was time to go. Packed the car, said "so long for now" and then drove off. Quite hot out.

En-route to Charleston, I played with the car's AC to try to determine if it could actually keep up with the heat making its way in from outside. Listened to NPR, which somehow was recontextualized by my surroundings. At the rental return, the attendant pointed out that my tank was not full. He gave me directions to the gas station, and I drove off and refueled. Back for returning the car take two, I realized that the attendant still had my rental contract. It didn't wind up being a problem though. I waiting in line for what seemed to be quite a while, made worse by a very impatient woman behind me, who cut in front of me as soon as there was an available attendant.

Checked in, and spent an hour or so catching up on email and web related activities thanks to the airports "for fee" wireless internet. The guitar being built for me by Mike Doolin has been completed. Got a veggie burger and a soda at the little cafe near the waiting area. Then, a puddle jumper to Charlotte. There were many empty seats, so I found one for myself, figuring the woman I'd been sitting next to would enjoy the extra space. This felt like a mini-date, and break-up.

Uneventful flight back to Boston. A large muscled-bound man sat next to me for the two hour leg. I did not enjoy our shoulders touching. Called MB and mom when we touched down. Bags were said to be appearing at carousel A, but then they showed up at carousel D. Slightly scary cab ride home. Cats fine, and house looks good.

Florence

Tues: MB's dad got up and out while we slept. We woke around 9:30. Sitting in the spare room. Breakfast with MB and her mom. Handed off some clothes to mom for laundering. MB and I drove off to Florence, about an hour and a half drive.

Found the home of her friend Hnr. Quite a lot of energy rushing about the house, with two small children and a puppy. The young one, Emy, is a little hellion, despite the sweet nature of her mom. She stamped repeatedly on one of feet, asking "does this hurt?" Bn asked me to play some guitar, which I did, noodling around in the traditional tuning, as best as I could. His micro-sized Alverez had surprisingly good tone. He was quite disappointed when I said I wasn't interested in football. Hmy called his shoulder-pads "boobie pads" and showed me how her mermaid's hair changed colors when dunked in the bathroom sink. Later, I kicked a ball around with Bn in the yard. Photos.

Hnr's parents Bl and Mdy came over, and we had a "fix your own salad with fruit" and cheese bar for lunch. It was nice of them to cater to our vegetarian preference. They asked "What is hummus?" while serving it. Mdy, who had recently had hip replacement surgery, came out dressed in a BD scarf MB had given her, and demonstrated the progress of her recovery, accompanied by tambourine and shaker. This was quite unexpected.

We drove to the country club and splashed about in the pool. This club was not quite as upper-crusty as the last one I visited when in the South. I endlessly threw Bn up in the air in a shallow dive on the count of three. Catch. Piggy-back with MB. And so on. Shower, and sunning while the women folk talked.

A little before 5 PM we headed out to the nearby house of Gry and Am. Gry wasn't home yet, so Am plied us with an abundance of snacks. Later, after Gry returned from work, they showed us a huge collection of photos they'd taken of the nesting, egg-laying and hatching of a family of Robin's out on their porch. This included a dramatic episode with a snake. But all ended happily. Around 7 we went out for dinner to a Middle-Eastern restaurant. No BD this evening. They were running a bit short-staffed, but we met the owner: a man of many hats and talents, who used to teach large BD courses in NYC before 9/11. He gave MB an impromptu drum lesson, although I don't think his sense of rhythm was up to teaching level. I had never encountered Moussaka in the form of a noodle dish before this evening. The owner said this was Egyptian style Moussaka... but he might have been full of it.

Feeling quite full, we made our way across town to the only respectable coffee place in the area. They were in the process of closing, but the young guy behind the counter said he'd make us a few cups on the "Java Rail"... His hands trembled mightily as he did so, perhaps the result of tasting too much of his own handiwork. We sat and enjoyed some tasty coffee, in the nicely color coordinated, air conditioned, and delicious smelling surroundings. Had to leave around 10 PM.

Back to Gry and Am's. Gry told us about some recent incidents where his natural, and abundant, curiosity had gotten him into slight scrapes with "the authorities." Curiosity is not normal in this country, it seems, and, anything abnormal is suspect. Lock him up, I say. Headed off, gassing up at a station that also served complete fried chicken dinners. A quiet and uneventful drive back to Irmo.

Napoleon

Mon: A relaxed morning at the Able's. Morning practice in the spare room. Breakfast of apple pancakes with molasses, yogurt, coffee. Shower. Organizing photos in my cell phone.

To the Columbia museum. Visited a collection relating to the life of Napoleon. From all I could ascertain, a terrible man. Then, exploring the rest of the permanent collection. After we'd been fully museumed, we drove around Columbia a bit, and found a sandwich shop for a snack. Back home past a new damn.

A lovely nap. Played a bit of guitar while waiting for the rest of the gang to get ready to go. Then, out to a Greek restaurant for pizza and salad. The parents of a close friend of MB's joined us, and we spent several hours eating and talking.

Back to the homestead and some coffee. MB's brother called from Atlanta. Completing the day.

From Charleston to Irmo

Sun: Woke around 8 and morning practices. Played a little guitar while MB showered. Shower. 9:30 checkout. And to M&S's. Into Charleston, parked in their lot. New construction. First place was closed. Walk. Same place MB and I ate last time we were here. Funny buffet. Eggs and yummies. Andre has a pose. Back to their place. Hanging out with the birds and a cat. Walk with M and MB to a lovely view. Goodbyes.
Short drive to P and N's house. Hanging with the kids (rolling as locomotion. "Ow" cookie recommendations. cathcing up.) Stayed for a couple hours, then on our way.

Tried to stop at a pharmacy but closed. Stopped at a gas station for over priced pain relief and caffeine. Drove across SC to Irmo. Crazy drivers.

Got the tour of the Able homestead. Difficulties installing a fan. Photos. Pasta salad. Found a place to do my practices. Shower, then down to it.

To SC

Sat:
5 AM rise.
6 AM cab. Big dig theories.
Long line. JC in line. Egg sandwich at Au Bon. Slept on plane.
Charlotte. Sinibon and people watching. Delay. New tire.
Little sleep. Short flight. Picked up rental. Very hot. Little dings. Sunglasses and hat.
To hotel, and some hanging out with MB. Called Molly and made plans. Some practices while MB was off at pool. Headed over to M&S's.
Brief intro to birds and cats, then to dinner at Indian place. Catching up.
Back to their place and hanging out. Tour. Photos.
Back to hotel. Took a walk down on the docks. Some practices and completion.

You must be dressed

Friday: Odd interaction as MB said goodbye this morning. Up and morning things. Got a jump on my practice. Laundry. Some guitar. Cleaned out the debris from my wallet. Headed off. Stopped for an egg sandwich and iced coffee. Warm out, but not boiling.

In the elevator heading to the office, the smartly dressed architect said "no dress code on your floor?" (looking at my shorts, sandals and black tee-shirt). I said "No... uh, well you have to be dressed. I mean, you have to be wearing something." More little fixes at work. Al and B were excited by a music box they had taken apart. Al excitedly talked to me about a composition of his for bass and viola. Back and forth with SR over at Third Life (confirmation) and with MM at TI vis the website. Stayed until about 7:30.

Back home, MB was eating her hand... I mean chips. We drove over to Porter Square and had a nice dinner at Christopher's. Quite crowded. We told each other about our days. Back through Porter Exchange, and back home. Listening to James Blunt parodies. Packing to do, and some more time in the basement.

Zero

Thursday: Up, and cats, shower, email. Down basement. Iced coffee, pulled stuff together, then off to work.

Drove around on the highway, avoiding a back-up on the ramp to Storrow by going all the way through the tunnel to the Mass Pike. This only took 5 minutes longer than my normal "long route."

Met the gang on their way to lunch. Talked to Mk about his work on the way to the Bombay Club. Talked about replacements for AppleWorks. It's such a shame that Apple is killing that program. It's been such a useful thing to me over the years. Fixed a couple little things, and had a conversation about the bug fix from yesterday. Got Dv to prove his fix was a fix. Overall, still in the "we're about to ship" doldrums. Headed out a little after 7.

Arrived at the studio early. The previous class was not in session, so it allowed me time to set things up nicely, and review some material. No one showed up for my class, so I went home. Fed the cats. Did some filing. Email. Down basement. I was emerging just as MB returned home. Working out details for our upcoming trip. Email. Now some guitar, and then down basement again. Oh, and I should eat something.

No crepe for G

Wednesday: Slept in a bit, and the usual stuff. A bowl of cereal and coffee. Guitar.

Listened to MB's yoga CDs. Fixed a couple small bugs. Dropped off postcards at the little Tibetan shop down the road. Was going to get a crepe, but I didn't have enough cash. The nearby ATM was out of order. So, back down the street, and an energy drink and some pizza. One of the original founders of the company, St, stopped by. I'd never met him before. He hadn't visited in something like 20 years. Living now in CA working on streaming data acquisition. Mk and I found an interesting thread related bug in a reference counted pointer. Borrowed Dnl's power brick for my laptop so I could keep listening to the yoga CD. Headed home around 8:20.

Down basement for part of my evening's practice, with a drum workshop going on overhead. Ordered some Chinese food, which I drove out to pick up. Ate the yummies with MB. Her fortune: In this case impatience may be appropriate. Printed out some materials related to our work with the financial advisor. Worked on music for my class. Down basement and completing the day.

Lyman

Tuesday: Woke at 5:45. Actually, woke before that. MB's cellphone was running low on juice, and kept giving a funny warble. Shower cats. Gave MB a nudge. Down basement. We were on the road by 6:40.

Drove to Newton and met with another financial advisor. Good guy. I think we will work with this person. MB headed off to work. 95 looked terrible. I headed to Harvard Square. Beastly hot out today.

Got a bagel/egg sandwich and other breakfast foods. Ate at my desk. Fixed a little bug. Cast around for other stuff to work on. When the programmers get board, you're close to shipping. Later on got some pizza. Eventually sleepiness overcame me, which combined with the fact that I had little to do, persuaded me I should go home.

Back home, had a lovely two hour nap. Kicked around the house, and took care of some chores. Headed out to yoga. First session for me in a couple of weeks, and much needed. Wendy gave us the Vase Breathing at the end, which was a treat.

Home again, and my call with fellow workshop mates. Everyone is doing amazing stuff. Stfn just back from a tour across Europe. Upstairs and hanging out with MB. A no-cheese pizza looked like a crater. I ate a veggie burger. Now a little guitar, and then down basement.

Cantankerous

Monday: Slept in until around 10. Web, cats, shower, down basement. Drank some left-over iced coffee and a quick bowl of cereal. Headed out. Quite hot today.

Over to KKC. Arrived just as Jf, Ngawang and the monk from Mexico pulled in. Took the garbage cans around back, and got into a conversation with Jf about programming languages. Filled water bowls.

Around and in to work. Fixed a bug that had been sitting in my queue. Feeling quite cantankerous today. Did some research on symbol stripping. Burrito. Made a development kit, which I delivered to Ls. Headed home around 8.

Back at the ranch, MB was still teaching a BD class. Down basement to get a jump on my practices. Upstairs. Some email to Victor about options for running Photoshop on the new Mac laptops. Ate some foods with MB. Planning for a course I'm organizing in October. Email, and more email.

A mysterious cat from yesterday:

Testing the Hammock

Sunday: Slept in a bit, MB headed to OCBC. A mellow day of working on various projects. Down basement. Breakfast. Talked to R and A about getting some pictures of them for a flyer. Guitar. Hung out in the backyard with Leo. Set up the hammock, and tested it to make sure it still works. Took a bike ride, up over Ten Hills, then to Home Depot for some metal flashing and a refill for the lawn-edger. Biked around a bit more.

Back home, and walked up the street with MB. Our usual pizza shop was closed so we went to a different one a little farther up. Then picked up some q-tips and shampoo at the pharmacy on the way back. The news from the Middle East is depressing.

Drove out and saw Nacho Libre, which did not disappoint in its lunacy or foolishness. Just the ticket. Back home, stopping for ice-cream at Louie's. Sending my dear father well wishes. Email.

Art Beat gig/Mike's Party

Saturday: Up around 10, and a mellow morning, just washing breakfast dishes when Alex L arrived at the front door. He, MB and I did some warming up. I pulled equipment together and headed out.

Arrived at Davis Square and found Victor. I set up the mats that MB would dance on, then he and I started running cables and setting up stools. The rest of the gang arrived, sans Martin. Couldn't really sound-check, because doing so would have disrupted the acapella group that was performing before us. Martin showed up just before we went on. I had the sense that if we could have gotten on a little faster we would have held onto more of the audience from the previous act. An interesting set, with MB's dance for punctuation. I had a brain freeze in the beginning of Chrysanthemum. Quite hot out.

After our performance, loaded the car, spent a couple minutes with the gang working out details of the immediate future. MB and I got some Indian food with our volunteer coupons, and ate sitting at a table in the middle of the square. Lots of fun artsy stuff going on. Victor Jane and Bridge wandered by.

MB had some other stuff she wanted to do. I headed home. Unloaded the car. Did some work on the KKC website. Down basement for practices. Later on, and interesting and unique evening with MB.

Fire in the Pickle Factory/Modern Dance

Friday: Got OK sleep last night. MB was up when I awoke. Shower, cats. Email. Down basement. She was off to a doctors appointment when I came up. Practiced guitar a bit, hoping to get in two short practices today. Headed off to work. Stopped for an egg sandwich and an iced coffee. Quite hot out today. The man who talks to himself was there, talking to himself.

Spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get an add-on installed, only to realize that it was built with a debugger killer, so I wouldn't be able to debug it anyway. Started working on a "plan b" for stripping symbolic information out of our program, since I haven't been able to get the old python script up and running. Pizza. Headed home just after 7.

Picked MB up from the house and drove to Davis. Found a parking spot outside of the old Masonic Hall we'd once thought of buying. Spent the next couple hours hanging with MB, milling through crowds, meeting friends and acquaintances. Neat band named UV Protection that sounded a bit like the B-52s. High-art dance performance. Dogs. People watching the high-art dance performance. Deadelous. "Would you like to buy a Dog Tag?" MB is stung by a wasp. And so on. Headed back home around 10:30 PM.

Guitar practice. MB also practiced some bits to Lark's and Chrysanthemum.

From the Somerville Journal October 5, 1878
Fire in West Somerville a little before three o'clock on monday morning last, fire was discovered in the two-story wooden building used as a pickle factory, on the corner of Elm Street and Broadway, of this city. The building was the property of George r. Emerson, whose dwelling house is immediately adjacent, and the alarm was given by a domestic in the family who was alarmed by seeing the reflected light of the flames. It is said that the residence on the hill nearby saw the fire break out of the doomed building nearly three quarters of an hour previous to the discovery of the same by the servants, and why they made no attempts to communicate their knowledge does not appear. An alarm from the box at the corner promptly brought a portion of the Somerville fire department to the spot, but flames had already got under so good headway that all their efforts were of little avail, and the aid of the Medford department was called in. Their united endeavors utterly failed, however, to save the building, which was burned to the ground. Fortunately, the wind was blowing away from the dwelling house and over the opening field; otherwise it is probable that the structure would have fallen a prey to the devouring element. The inmates were considerably alarmed as it was, and experienced something of a "house-warming." The principal business done here was in the line of canning tomatoes, etc., And some seventy persons were employed in the season. At the time of the fire, however, but comparatively few hands were under pay, the season being over. There were 75,000 cans of canned goods destroyed; but many of the cans have been taken from the ruins and stored. The insurance on the works is $5,400, which is thought will fully cover all damages. Mr. Emerson states that the business will be resumed immediately, and the necessary apparatus has already been located in a building near by on broadway. No cause for the origination of the fire is given.

MB Back

Thursday: MB rang the doorbell around 7:30 or 8, having just come from Logan. Some more sleep until 9, then up, shower, got directions, and down basement, getting ready to leave by around 10:45. Made good time getting to the office. A meeting with a young man, eager to please. Why does this make me suspicious?

Dropped MB back home, packed the car, and off to work. Dropped the DVDs at the store, and to the office by 1. The guys weren't going to lunch. Pizza. Much of B's attention today was taken up with an interview. I spent most of the day fixing up projects and version numbers of add-ons. My "do or die" bug list is getting short. Looks like we have a venue for the course I'm helping to bring to the Boston area. Coffee. Headed off around 7:30.

To Union Square, and my second evening as a tantra-yoga instructor. 5 people showed up this time. Quite an interesting experience. I hope it was beneficial to my students.

Back home, and MB was still off doing stuff. Down basement for my practices. Back upstairs and pottering around, when MB showed up. Changed the strings on my guitar. Ate a microwaved burrito and some corn chips. Some guitar playing. Email. Soon down basement. Alessandra Belloni.

Cleaning

Wednesday: Up, lazed a bit, then did some straightening. Cats, Shower. Coffee, cereal and yogurt. Updated the KKC website. Answered some questions Meli had about her new laptop.

In to work, and a long day of bug fixing. Was a bit peeved that Dl had changed the designation on some of the anomalies in my list. Walked out and picked up a prescription at the pharmacy. Got some lunch, which I carried back to the office and ate at my desk. I, with some difficulty, found a memory leak that had been in the program for the last 4 years. When a certain graphic pane would draw, we would leak a region. The problem was, that in one window to do some "animation" this would draw many times a second. Fixed that, and headed home.

Cleaned out the cat box, took out the garbage. Talked to MB on the phone. She's on her way home! Did vacuuming and so on. Down basement. Ate leftover Indian food. Worked on my class presentation until quite late. To bed, but didn't get to sleep right away. The madcap laughed his last.

Solo 2

Tuesday: Not much sleep last night, but woke (with a paw in my face) feeling pretty good. Up, email, cats, shower, down basement. Put my packages in the car and headed out. Quite hot and sticky today.

Stopped at the post office, and mailed two things for MB, a return, and my old laptop. Next, in to Davis to the vet for cat food. The women behind the counter were talking about Ikea.

In to work, and more bug fixing. Pizza and energy drink. Talked to MB. Sounds like she’s a bit under the gun in CA. We had a huddle about what absolutely needs to be fixed for the upcoming release. There is some miscommunication here. Headed home around 8:15 PM.

Back home, and stuff in the basement. Some guitar work. Email. Had some Indian food delivered. A relatively early bed time.

Solo

Monday: Slept in. Cats. Shower. Down basement for a longer session than I usually allow in the morning. Spent some time filing papers.

Headed out. A hot sunny day. Drove to KKC. Some folks were setting up an alter in the teaching room. The water bowls were still full. I decided to let them ride. I didn't have time to empty them.

Stopped for an egg sandwich. In to work. The mysterious SCC system remains mysterious. Looked into one bug, that was not a bug. Started a big rebuild. Coffee. Headed out around 7:30.

Decided to have a mellow evening at home. Packed my old laptop up for shipping out to its new owner. Packed a purchase that I'm sending back. MB called from CA, and we chatted. She sounds busy. Walked out and got a couple of videos. Bought some soda. Watched an episode of "Six Feet Under" while I ate leftover pizza. Email and web-surfing. Now, a little guitar, then down basement.

MB heads to CA/KKC Potluck

Sunday: Woke a bit as MB headed off on her trip to CA. Then, back to bed, but didn't sleep much. Got up around 9. Shower. Cats. Down basement briefly. Headed off to KKC.

Quite sleepy in teaching. This was Geshela's last before taking a trip back to Tibet, so the attendance was good. Good to touch base with Wendy. We talked about cats. Sat next to Wnd, who was doing sound. Then, we set up for the pot-luck. Lots of yummies. I sat outside, talking to K, who I found out used to work for Kurzweil. There was another ceremony going on after the potluck, but I decided not to stay.

Back home, and a lovely nap. Later on, doing some web surfing, MB called to say she'd made it to Phoenix. Put away laundry.

Drove out, stopping in Union Square, and, at MB's request, dropping something off at Third Life. Then, down to Norwood, and hanging out with Wnd. Had an interesting conversation about exploring emotional patterning via meditation on bodily sensation.

Headed up to Victor's, stopping for a fast-food veggie burger. A good (slightly oxygen starved) session in the basement, running through most of the material we are going to perform at Art Beat next Saturday.

Back home, taking the long way, and enjoying the night. Watched the rest of "NightWatch" (a sort of odd Russian horror film, something like a blend between "The Matrix" "Buffy" and "City of Lost Children.") and had some leftover lasagna. Walked out and returned the DVD. Quiet on the streets, a large red moon in the sky.

GCNE/CoFD gig at Third Life

Friday: Had a bit of extra sleep. Much needed. Up, web, shower, cats. Down basement. Wrote up a set list. Practiced some guitar. Packed the car, somehow managing to fit all my gear in around Shawn's drums. Headed out. A lovely day, so drove the long way around.

In at the office, I hadn't looked deeply enough into some misleading code that Al had written. Mostly got the IO code I've been working on going. There was some tension around the burning issue of two-machine debugging that I overheard, but did not partake in. Engineers are an odd lot sometimes. Took a walk out and got a burrito, which I ate at my desk.

Left around 5:50, arriving in Union Square at 6:07. The gathering of the troops. Martin hadn't gotten my message about the speakers, so back to my house to get mine. My mom showed up, having taken a cab from the train station. Things, of course, took longer setting up than anticipated, so we were still sound-checking at ten minutes to show-time.

Surprisingly, we had an audience. About 20 people. It's nice when the guitar circle doesn't outnumber those listening. Plenty of gaffs, but no train-wrecks. Lodestone proved a challenge, as anticipated. In some ways performance is entirely about the control of the body energy, balancing the juice of excitement with the centered-ness of attention. I found that I was able to hold that line fairly well, pay some mind to the faces before me, and my connection to the rest of the players. The two set format worked OK, but there was some energy lost in the middle. I felt quite blessed to be in the midst of this group of people.

Packing up, saying goodbyes and thanks. Jme stayed after to hang with Victor. My mom got a ride back to our place with MB. Back home, unloading. Eating left-overs, talking to MB and mom around the dinner table. Then they off to bed, and soon me down basement.

Class 1

Thursday: MB woke me at 9. A little too late for me to make it to David's on time, but I was happy to have had the extra sleep. Threw clothes on. Down basement for a brief sitting. MB headed out. Then I.

David K's at 9:35. Victor arrived not long after. Invention 1 rehearsal. Almost music-like. Funny bit about explaining the "alternate" version as we played (in pompous tone). V wanted me to be more staccato counting off. Interesting, that I also played staccato, which caused everyone else to play staccato. Experimented with counting staccato, but playing legato.

Back home at 11:08. Called Rhd, and apologized for being late for our call. Good conversation. Morning take 2. Shower. Clean clothes etc. Gave Gus his treatments. Decided not to eat at home, but to head to work in hope of catching the guys on their way out to lunch.

Missed them by about 5 minutes. But, decided that this was a good thing. Got some stuff duplicated. Walked to the bank. Used my new card, but for some reason it showed a negative balance. Got coffee and an egg salad sandwich. Bought pens. To my desk. An email from my contact at Apple pointed me to a Universal binary that I'd been unable to find before. Spent much of the rest of the day back-peddling from my presumption (based on the evidence I'd been able to gather) that this binary would not be in the offing. Got back to the same place I had before, which was that reading would work but not writing. Some talk about how to internationalize add-ons. The guy who was picking up the Oud stopped by, and did. Some consultation with Rch about how to fix our antique file IO. Realized the reason things weren't working with writing was because Al never ported part of his code to Intel. Talked that through with him, and started working on knocking that stuff into shape. B and Al headed out to dinner. I left not long after.

To Union Square, and my first evening as a tantra-yoga instructor. I arrived early and walked around a bit. Then, to Third Life. My friend P was there and we chatted until it was time to begin. Two others showed up. A rich experience, that I'm still processing. After class, I closed things up. Drove and got gas, then headed home. MB wasn't in yet.

Fed the cats, took out the garbage, then walked out and got some Pee Eye Zee Zee Aye. Ate on the patio with some torches for light. Gave Shawn a call about getting his drums for tomorrow. Also left a message for Victor. Down basement. After I came up, MB returned home. We hung. Then, I drove out to Arlington for the second time today, and met Shawn. Packed his gear in the car, and gave him a ride home. Then I meandered homeward as well, arriving in time to say goodnight to the missus.

Third Life Tour

Wednesday: Up a bit after 8, doing my best to rein in my sleep schedule. Shower. Gave the cats a pitiful small bit of food. Down basement for morning practices. Had a call with Krn at 10 AM. Fun talking to her. We were both able to clear up some info-gaps. Took all the old stuff out of my valise, throwing out junk, reorganizing. Found several papers I'd been looking for. SR called and gave me 15 more minutes before our meeting, which I used to continue me re-org. Left at 11:35, arriving in Union at 11:44. She showed me around Third Life, and gave me a key. The lights are tricky. A new possibility is possibly possible. Headed to work.

Coffee. B wasn't in. Continued my work on the Fink stuff. Got things linking, but, wasn't sure it was all such a great idea. Some consulting with Eln about an odd behavior he's seeing. Dv gave me a bug to fix. Rcd returned a call about dates. Pizza. B came in and I gave him the low-down. Wound up trying to simply swipe the binaries from a competing product. Its free software, so they can't lay claim to them. Now that's pretty funny. Got the input half of it working. Coffee. Set up a new trading account. Headed home around 9:30.

Stopped at the grocery store. Dlrs was just heading in, and gave me a friendly smack to the back of the head, saying I should have been at KKC. Well, now I really need to go on Sunday. Some shopping. The self-checkout line was quite slow. Back home, made some quick egg drop soup. Talked to MB, who was eating berries. Going through music, and burning a CD. Typing and planning. Someone bailed on me again. Soon down basement.

The Two Phils

Tuesday: Woke around 9:30 as MB was heading out to do some dance practice. Felt pretty bad, like something I'd eaten wasn't agreeing with me. Went back to bed, and slept for a good bit longer. Around 1 I got up feeling quite a bit better, and having had some quite enjoyable Ninja dreams. The Oud sold on Ebay. Spoke with the winner of the auction. Called MB's cell and arranged to meet her at Third Life at 2 PM. Shower. Cats. Made the bed. Very brief down basement. Arrived in Union Square at 2:03.

Had a look around Third Life, getting the lay of the land, then we headed back home. Breakfast. We did some house cleaning. I sorted through mail. Walked two doors down and handed off a piece that had been misdirected. The guy seemed surprised. Played some guitar. Down basement around 4.

A bit after 5. F&M came over bringing their two African Millipedes. Hanging around. Cleaning out the fridge in a episodic feast of sorts (tempeh stir-fry, mini-pizza, Chinese food) MB made a squash/peach pie. F and I went out in the backyard and played badminton. First time I'd used the set, given to MB and me as a wedding present by my cousin G. F and I got sweaty knocking the birdie (made with actual feathers) back and forth. We hit it over the fence twice and had to retrieve it by walking all the way around the block.

It started getting dark, so we went back inside. I gave him my "I'm with the belly-dancer" shirt to borrow. Quick shower. More hanging out, finding ridiculous videos on the net.

After they left, gave MB a hand with some audio recordings she had made. Spent some time going through her audio collection on the iMac. The sound of fireworks was heard. She's gone to bed. Soon down basement.

The Mule

Monday: A week-day between the week-end and a holiday, so it had that "don't really give a damn" feeling about it, even though I went to work. Up around 9, tried to go back to sleep, but decided to get up after some lazing. Shower, cats. Had cereal and left-over coffee for breakfast. Down basement. Cleaned off my cell-phone camera lens.

As I was driving there was a point where I could either go straight (drop off the DVD) or take a right (go to KKC). I had a green right-turn signal, so I did that. I pondered how this snap decision effected the rest of my plans. Filled water bowls, talking to Jf about computers and ritual. It's an odd thing to say, but he's refreshingly cynical. Headed in to H Sq. Big goings on along the Esplanade in preparation of the 4th. Found parking. Went to my former bank and closed my safe-deposit box. The place was chaotic, with lots of unhappy people waiting in cushy chairs, or rushing about. I was happy to complete my connection with that place.

Muled the goods back across town. Was helped by a cashier who kept calling me "Hun." Put my stuff in the new box. Returned the DVD. Walked down the street and got a slice of pizza and a soda, which I ate sitting on the steps of the shop.

Back to H Sq. and to work. Spent the rest of the day learning about "Fink," installing various open-source Unix ports on my Mac, and rolling my own Universal binaries out of platform specific binaries. Some food at my desk later on. Coffee. Much closer to having something building by the time I left.

I actually enjoy driving on "The Jamaica Way." Nice curves. At Victor's, Alex L and Martin arrived around the same time as me. Victor was sorting out patch cables. Eventually we got plugged in and worked out our sounds. About this time MB showed up. A good rehearsal, running through our material for the Friday gig.

I took a silly way going home, especially since Storrow was closed down heading into Boston. Back home, MB and I got settled in, then ate some eggs and toast. Soon down basement.

The Dead Skunk

Sunday: Decided no KKC again. MB let me sleep in. Much needed. Then, up, web, shower, cats, down basement.

Put on some hot water, and went out in the back-yard. A quick mow of the lawn. Decided to investigate the persistent smell of skunk, and indeed found a dead skunk under the shed. It was funny... while I was poking around under there with a rake, I was having this narration like "Glenn thought there was nothing under there until... he saw it." But I hadn't actually seen anything yet. Then I saw it. The rake pulled out a grinning set of teeth, that looked like something from "Alien"... and behind it a matted mass of fur. The stink was incredible. Sulfurous more than skunk-like. I double-bagged the remains, and still, if you come within 5 feet of the garbage can where I put them, your eyes will water and you will want to leave. I soaked the underside of the shed with water from the hose as best I could. The smell of sulphur followed me for the rest of the day.

Then, breakfast. MB had made a nice variety of things: Oatmeal, soy sausage, peach slices, toasted banana nut bread, and coffee. After we ate, I cleaned up while she worked on some lunches.

Guitar, again looking at playing EotN at 54 BPM, with similar results.

Email, web-stuff. Planning. MB asked me to help her do some recording. Downloaded some audio software onto her computer. Realized it had no FireWire, so used the built-in audio with a mic of mine. Searched around for some music on the web while she did her reading. Posted my old laptop for sale on Ebay.

Took a walk out and returned the DVDs. Picked up another one. Stopped to buy some pizza slices and sodas. In the pizza shop, to hot-young-babes in sun dresses were trying to decide what to order. The guy behind the counter took my order, bagged my pizza and made change, without taking his eyes off the (high) hem line of their skirts.

Back home, MB and I ate the pizza. I gave Leo a walk around the back-yard (sans leash for the first time ever!) Then MB and I watched "Broken Flowers." Wonderful. Very funny, in a slow, dead-pan sort of way. My mom called, and we chatted. She had just gotten back from her vacation to the Cape. MB started getting ready to head out. More planning and research for me.

After she left for her BD gig, I took a drive up 93, enjoying the night. Drove about 15 minutes up the road, turned around and drove back. Then, down basement. When I came up, it was about 1 AM. Ate some leftover Chinese food, listening to Eno/Byre "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts." Never noticed before, but RF is has a co-arrangement credit on "Regiment." MB returned. Some hanging out. More planning. Soon down basement again.

RPT's Drywall

Saturday: Up around 11, the phone ringing. Didn't get it. Thought about getting some more sleep. Decided to make breakfast instead. Brought it up to the ailing wife. I wanted her to stay in bed, but she was up, doing laundry, watering plants and the like. Shower. Cats. Clean up. Down basement. Had a long conversation with MB's parents, who just got back from Hawaii. Took photos of my old laptop to be put up for sale, employing MB as a "hand model." A phone call to R&L and making some plans. Played guitar with MB: Third Relation and Eye of the Needle. Working slow on the 13s of EotN was productive. Then working on my own playing a faster piece, I noticed a certain crispness had been developed from the previous exercise. A bit after 5 I printed out some directions and headed out. Stopped for a veggie burger, then drove to RPT's house in Andover. He's building a studio about his garage. Helped him hang a piece of drywall on the ceiling. This took an hour. He's being very methodical. He said something very nice about my wedding day, and also said something encouraging about a period of my life that I've at times felt slightly embarrassed about. Left around 7:45. Back to Somerville and did some shopping. Also picked up some DVDs and Chinese food. At home, ate the yummies with MB (hot and sour soup, spinach dumplings, tofu with mixed vegetables). Watched a bit of "Heart of Gold" and then "Match Point." In "Heart of Gold", just before Neil goes on stage, he says something like "I'm just hoping to play well, let the muse come through, put it out there, take a shot." Soon down basement.

Morning Take 2

Friday: Slept until about 11. Hard to shake this pattern. Downstairs and heated some coffee, and called the financial planner (number 2). Set up other appointments. Emails. Some cereal. Many ants were in the kitchen. I callously vacuumed some of them up. The woman that sometimes comes to do gardening for us showed up at the front door saying the key didn't work in the gate. I put on some pants and gave her the right one. Victor called, I called Shawn, called Victor back and I sent out an email asking about a change of night for the next circle meeting.

Morning take 2: Gave Gus his stuff. Shower. Fed the cats. Down basement. Cut the cats nails. Headed out. A little bit of guitar.

Stopped at the bank and set up a new safe-deposit box. A friendly interaction. In to work. Wrestled with an odd third party device that required another network connection. I'm in a bit of a network ghetto. Finally got things going, and deduced the problem. We'd never had to support something with so much lag time before... Fixed some other bugs. Huge man-hole: an object that served as a pointer-wrapper for another type of object had a method named "release" that did not call the underlying object's "Release" method. Lunch at my desk. Coffee. B showed me how to work the build server. Looked into building an open-source library for Intel. Big nasty problem. Stayed until 11:30 PM. Nice night for a drive.

Home around midnight. MB had just gotten in as well. She's not feeling so good. Made her some toast and tea and put her to bed. Had some of the same myself. More guitar. Email and so on. Soon down basement.