Heading home

Sunday: Woke early to the cell. MB calling. I had told her to. Back to sleep. Woke at 8. Sitting. Shower. Griff and Y were still sleeping. Packed and tip-toed out. On the road around 9. Stopped for breakfast. A guy next to me spilled a bunch of water. Another fellow taught his kid to spell. Stopped at a store to buy sunglasses, and then immediately found my other pair. Saw a sign that indicated there was a traffic disturbance over the Bay Bridge. Later found out this was an on-ramp collapse caused by a gas tanker fire. Got a little lost in SF, trying to take a short-cut. On the highway, off and exit for gas. A gentleman with a row of fascinating gold teeth gave me directions, but I saw a sign that contradicted them. To the airport, no problems at the car rental return. Met an interesting young woman and her husband on the train to the terminal. She's moving to the Bay Area to pursue her music career, and said she sounds a bit like PJ Harvey combined with David Bowie. I continued to run into these two as I made my way through check-in and security. Arrived at the gate 10 minutes before boarding. Our departure was delayed slightly as the people that run the catering had forgotten some sort of cover for the trays. Uneventful flight. Read. Avoided watching two dreadful movies. Dozed a little. Watched an episode of The Wire on the laptop. Landed in Boston on time at 9:35. MB met me at baggage, sporting a new hair-cut. We got my bags, then stopped at Christopher's for some food. Talk about careers. Back home, unwinding, planning a weekend getaway. A little unpacking. Now, down basement.

SF HHDL Day 2

Saturday (Griff's house, Fairfax CA): Woke at 6:45. Sitting in the spare room. Yvonne showering. I took a shower. Out the door just after 8, driving in the rental. Stopped for coffee at a drive-through hut. Several java goddesses were enthusiastically racing back and forth, taking orders, and delivering hot beverages. Smooth sailing into SF. Session 3 of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's talks on Dependant Origination. I found that self administered foot massages helped to keep me alert. Lunch with Y and Wnd. We walked down the street for quite some ways before finding a little upscale cafe for lunch. I had an expensive pizza. Wnd got some polenta. Y had asparagus and shoe-string potatoes. Session 4 began with Q&A, which I found informative and engaging. Much of the last of the text did not require much commentary. After HHDL left, Y and I stayed for a lovely bit of throat singing offered by the Gyato monks. Wnd had already gone back to her hotel when we left, but we saw Wendy Cook and Nick out front. An easy drive back to Fairfax. Y is a very good navigator. She told me she had played this role with her mom quite a bit. Back at Griff's, hanging out in the lovely back yard. I kicked Griff's butt a couple of times at ping-pong. I guess those idle days at the YMCA paid off. Left over bread and cheese as an appetizer. Called Joe to see what he was up to. He'd been digging post-holes and erecting fence in Petaluma. Invited him and his mom over to Griff's, but they declined. Microwaved my leftover tempeh, while Griff grilled some more meat for him and Y. Leftover salad and ice cream also. A nice way to end a trip, polishing things off. I plugged in my laptop, and Griff and I did some musicing to a track that Shawn and I had recorded. Ben and Robbie showed up a little later. We had a variety of techinical problems, trying to interface Griff's rig with mine, but we managed to get some stuff going. B and R played a variety of instruments, including harmonica, sarod, tabla and found objects. I had a really great little jam bit with Griff, and then a string broke on my Ovation. This was really the end of the evening, although things continued for a bit afterwards. R and B left. Goodnights. Packed my stuff up a little. Evening practices, and to bed on the couch upstairs.

SF HHDL Day 1

Friday (Jan's Berkeley CA): Woke a little before 7 AM. Morning meditation. Checked in on Jan, who was stirring. Shower. Checked in on Jan. Fed the evil cat. She got up around 7:45, but we were quickly out and on our way, driving to the station, eating old bananas, navigating the parking system, and catching the 8:15 BART into the city.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bill Graham Civic Center, San Francisco.
Managed to find a line that was moving quickly, and found our seats without a problem. Saw Wnd and other KKC people around. The event began on time, at 9:30. Chanting in several different languages, and then Buddhist teachings on dependant arising. A break at noon. Wnd, Jan and I walked around and found lunch at a crepe place. Enjoyable conversations covering a wide range of life experience. Back to the Civic Center for the second session, which began a little ahead of schedule at 1:55. Struggle staying present. The event concluded for the day at 4 PM.

Jan Wnd and I wandered around for some time looking for a place to eat "Chinese Noodles." We found ourselves in a not so nice part of town. I saw one guy casually throw a hypodermic needle, like a dart, into the tire of a parked car, to free up his hands to aid in his search for a vein on his leg. We found a Chinese place the "Golden Kim Tar Restaurant." Adequate. But lovely conversation with sparkling beings. Said goodbye to Wnd back at her hotel. Jan and I took the BART back to Berkeley. I packed up my stuff and did a little organizing. Meditation while she was taking a bath. Then, packed the car, and last goodbyes for this trip.

Drove north across the Richmond Bridge to Fairfax. Stopped in town to try to find a coffee. Scruffy Californian youth. The bookstore, with live jazz band, disappointed, but 7-Eleven came through. Yvonne had just returned from Hawaii, on business, where she had coincidentally seen His Holiness the Dalai Lama give a talk in a stadium. She got me a fun Hawaiian shirt, featuring ukalalies. Hanging out with her and Griff. Soon bed.

Lake Lagunitas

Thursday (Griff's, Fairfax CA): Woke around 9, and slept a little more. Morning sitting. Griff headed off to work. Some more personal practice, shower. Headed out to find food. The Koffee Klatch for huevos rancheros. Drove over to a protected watershed area, spent some time by a lake, then climbed up to the top of a hill via "Pilot's Knob" trail. Was a bit concerned that I might have touch poison oak. Beautiful view. Hung out for a time, then headed back down, passing a couple of people; the only two I'd seen on the trail.

Headed back into town, and hit the local organic foods store. Later I described it as having the tone of people in church, and very conscious of the way their item selections reflected their personalities. Picked up some stuff for the evening and back to Griff's around 4:30.

He and I set up his space, and did some cooking. I made some strawberry sugar mush, a salad, and stir-fry for myself. Griff made asparagus, rice and some marinated/grilled fish and beef. Around 8 Peter and Tony arrived. Peter had only been playing guitar for about 3 months. He was actually pretty good given that, but it made it a bit difficult to know how to work. Tony played some guitar, and later bass (his actual instrument). Good conversation and food.

A little after 11 I headed out, driving across the Richmond Bridge, arriving at Jan's just after midnight. Went to bed as quickly as possible.

Coit Tower

Wednesday (Jan's Apt, Berkeley CA): Slept in a bit, my alarm going off, and being ignored. Heard Jan up, and I guess she was doing the same. She headed out to have breakfast with a friend around 9:30. I put the parking permit in the rental car. Personal practice until Jan returned, around 11. We hung out a bit. Shower. Jan was doing some practice when I left to go find breakfast.

Had a pleasant sit-down brunch. Bean and cheese omelette. Wandered around Berkeley a bit. Talked to MB. Found the BART station. Back to Jan's. She had left for an appointment. Found myself quite sleepy, so took a nap, sleeping for perhaps an hour. Woke feeling quite energized. Packed the car and headed out.

Drove across the Bay Bridge, finding my way to the Coit Tower. The elevator operator was very friendly, talking quickly in a heavy Japanese accent. He lived in Boston for awhile. Spent quite some time looking out at the view from the top of the tower. Chatted with a couple from Australia on the way down. Made a reservation for myself at Greens restaurant, then navigated my way there. A most enjoyable and delicious dinner.

Gave Griff a call, telling him I was a little delayed. Drove up to Fairfax. We spent some time socializing, he telling me how his company has been resold to an even larger parent company. Then, a big mess of noise, after considerable difficulty trying to patch my audio interface into his mixing console.

Pacific

Tuesday (San Francisco, house of Joe): Alarm went off, but I ignored it. Later, heard Joe moving about. Two cups of strong coffee, and some conversation. I did the dishes while Joe cleaned out his car in preparation for a date. He headed off to work. Shower. Cleaning. Laundry. Morning practices. Took a walk down the street and found a pizza place. Ordered a small, and walked around some more waiting for it to be created. MB called as I was paying. Back at Joe's ate. Guitar. Cleaned out the rental car a bit. Walked out and picked up a map at a gas station. Did some reconnoitering. Drove out to the shore. Just beautiful. Up the coast to a beach pull-off. A woman bummed a dollar off me. Later I saw her with a man with a long beard, and another guy who was playing guitar, the neck stuck out of the window of the RV. Drove along the south edge of Golden Gate Park, then along Haight st. Was magically dumped onto the road leading to the Bay Bridge. Almost got into an accident as cars slowed to allow a truck to enter from the right.

To the apartment of Jan, in Berkeley. Found parking. K and Jan were hanging out. Talking. K used a list of emotion words to tune into her feelings. The evil cat clawed my hand. Mgi called to say she was on her way. A little later, all three of our cell phones started ringing at once. Mine was Griff calling to set up our plans for tomorrow. Mgi arrived. After some discussion, we decided on Cafe Gratitude again. Walked out, a lovely evening. More yummy raw(ish) food in a very friendly and hip atmosphere. Pulling cards from the center of the table, Jan asked us two questions: Name one thing you love about your mother, and name one thing you love about your father. Later on, I talked about my distaste for "men's groups." After dinner, we walked back to Jan's saying goodbye to K and Mgi on the way. Settling in for the evening.

Ferry

Monday (Berkeley CA). Mellow morning, sitting, and then shower. Jan was rustling about. We did some meditation. We thought it was 12:30, but then realized it was just 11:30. Having the extra time we went out and got coffee and quiche. Talked about the condition of being strongly identified with various aspects of one's self, including the person who was you in the past. Jan had left her car lights on, so the battery was dead. We drove to the car parts store and picked up jumper cables. Back to her place. Some guitar practice while she got ready for an appointment. I helped get her car running, and she headed out. Some more personal practice. Ate noodles provided to me by the retreat center and made toast in the oven.

Drove south to Oakland, and found the point of departure for the San Francisco ferry. Had an enjoyable float back and forth. Made contact with Joe. Figured out the drive back to his place thanks to some free wireless picked up outside a bookstore. Made it to Joe's in about half an hour.

He and I drove out in his car to "Zeitgeist," a local biker bar. MB called for computer tech support. I had a root beer, and we both ate tamales from the "tamale lady" who sold hot tamales out of garbage bags in freezer chests. I told Joe I didn't usually eat food served from garbage bags... but the tamales were actually really quite tasty. After that, we headed to a local Mexican grill place. Veggie burrito, with salsa that actually tasted like something. Stopped at a grocery store for cat box supplies (bags). MB called with a question about her cell phone.

Back at Joe's, I watched as he cleaned up the workroom (containing the bed for me). Good conversation. Very drunk women apparently work well as ice-breakers for meeting less drunk women. Homeless people were caught having sex under his house. Why shipping containers don't make an inexpensive building material, and more. He's been doing a lot with stained glass lately. And knife sharpening. He did some CAD work on a house he's designing. Not quite sure about the roof line. Soon bed.

After the course

Sunday: The course ended with lunch at 1 PM. Jan N and I didn't stick around for it, but said our goodbyes, and headed out. But first, we walked to the look-out point and took in the view. Quite breathtaking. South on 101, and through Oakland to SFO. Dropped N at terminal 3, then back into town for crepes at a little French eatery in the Mission district. Unloading the car. She took a nap while I walked around and talked on the cell (mom, MB, left a message for Griff). Walked way up a hill, and took in the view across the bay to SF. Back to the apt, then Jan and I walked out for ice-cream. Back at her place, Jan had a long phone conversation with her beau. I talked to Griff. When we were done with our calls, we went back over the course, then spent some time reading and playing with the evil cat. Soon bed.

Heading to Wildwood

Thursday: Woke at Jan's place. Morning meditation, fed the evil cat, walked out and moved the car (since no parking permit). More quiet time in the apartment, in contact with Jan, who was driving up from the south. Ran some errands, and got a little food. Moved the car again. Packed my stuff (subset) into the car, and then picked up the lunch I'd bought for us. (The juice was waiting, even though they said it wasn't). Met Jan and N, and after a bit more fussing around, made our way towards Wildwood.

California here I come

Woke at 4:55, just before the 5 AM alarm was to go off. Looked at my cellphone at the exact moment the Orbitz call was coming in. Up, shower, down basement and sitting. Tidying. Last minute packing. Goodbye to MB, and the cab was at the door. Longer lines than I've experienced recently at the airport, but all basically normal. Long, but direct, flight to SFO, watching "All the kings men." Pretty good. A man next to me kept clearing his throat in a way that made him sound part pit-bull. Landed at 11:30ish PST.

Drove to Jan's in Berkeley. She was out getting her nails done. Dropped stuff off. Drove out and had lunch at an Indian buffet. The conversation that I overheard on sitting down was ludicrously apropos, and served as a recurring joke for the rest of the day. Back to Jan's and she had returned. Great to see her. Catching up. We drove out to pick up a piece of jewelry that she had on lay-away, listening to an interesting audio-book en route. Back to her apartment briefly, the out for a hot-tub soak followed by a massage. Quite relaxing. I kept almost falling asleep. Lovely weather here. Back to Jan's where she readied herself to visit her beau. Kat called wanting to go out to dinner. I fit the bill, so she picked me up. A wonderful supper at a vegan/mostly raw restaurant. Very friendly staff. Good conversation. We picked up some Thai food for her son, then she dropped me back at Jan's. Jan was gone off to her beau's house. I'm alone with the evil cat Geetzi. Email on Jan's computer (no wireless). Now to complete the day.

Removing the screen door

Tuesday: Slept in a bit. Email. Gus. Shower. Breakfast (eggs etc). Decided to take care of the screen door, which had been blown off its hinges a couple of days ago. Once outside, managed to re-seat it (chilly, raining lightly). Then, it wouldn't open. I suddenly realized I was stuck outside. Finally managed to pry it loose, and decided to remove it completely. Heavier than I thought. Down basement, morning practices. Upstairs to put away laundry. Couldn't find the iron. Called MB, who put me onto it. Ironing (did a lazy job on the drying yesterday, cramming everything into one load, so this is my reward). Folding.

Headed off to work. Quiet day. Did more work on the "better way to wait until the preliminary rendering is complete" project, which was aided by some research into pthread "condition variables." Js told me about a bug. I walked out and got a coffee and a donut. Fixed the bug. Headed home around 8:30.

Ate some noodles. MB not home yet. Putting together a packing list. Packing. MB returns from a BD class in Franklin. Some hanging out. Watching funny videos on YouTube. She made some tea, while I pottered around. Set up a temporary audio interface for her while I'm away. Asked her a question which didn't go over very well. Email. Now some guitar and completing the day. It's an early day tomorrow.

Rain. Dry basement.

Monday: MB called to tell me I should check the basement for water (torrential rains ongoing). Everything was dry. Back to bed and had a lovely sleep-in. Email, Gus. Breakfast in fits (oatmeal and leftover coffee, eggs etc). The back-screen-door had been almost blown off its hinges by all the wind we've been having. Need to replace the whole thing. Shower. Down basement and morning practices. Headed out, quite late. Deposited a couple of odd checks at the bank.

In at work, a quiet day. Feeling a bit out of sorts. Working on a better mechanism for waiting for data to be filled. B was not in. Burrito. Left around 9:40.

Back home, and hello to MB. Back-rubs and talking about the horrible news from Virginia Tech. Decided not to talk about it. Put a new battery in my guitar, and crazy-glued the battery lead to the circuit board so it wouldn't pull-off again. Played guitar for about an hour. Down basement. Email.

Rainy Sunday

Slept in until 11:30. Gus. Shower. Down basement and sitting. Breakfast.

Had a gathering in the basement. Quite enjoyable, and some good connections made.

Hanging out with MB, and eating carrot cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting that she'd bought. Yum.

Playing guitar, then off to guitar circle. Victor, myself, Alex, Chris and Dev. Interesting for me, playing main lead in Eye of the Needle, bass on Growing Circle, lead on Third Relation. The wet weather continues. Lots of wind.

Back home and made some noodles. MB returned home from a BD gig at the Middle East. Cleaning up, some reading, back-rubs. Down basement and email.

Brain Gym

Saturday: Woke at 7:15, sitting, shower. Downstairs around 8:30. Mom sent me out to walk the dog. Isn't it great that humans take the biodegradable output of their canine companions, and cleverly wrap each specimen in a little petrochemical covering to preserve it for posterity in the landfill? Breakfast with mom. Had to prompt her to start the eggs, as it was getting late. Talked about her knee. Headed out around 9:20.

Lesson with TG. The story of a lost Ovation. He shares my sentiment about the sonic qualities of the "Guitar Craft" guitars being produced in South American. Fingering of the lead line, and the arpeggio bits at the end. We ended at noon.

Drove across town and met AE at her friend K's apt. We spent the afternoon hanging out. She showed me a little of a technique she uses to teach people sight reading. Headed out around 8 PM.

Made good time getting back to Boston, rolling in about 11:50. Hanging with MB. She bought me some nice underwears. Head vacation. Now to complete the day.

Stamp of the Unihorn

Friday: MB nudged me in the AM. She did a sitting in the next room, which confused me, thinking she was working at home. Later I groggily realized she wasn't in the house. Email. Back to sleep for an hour. Up, Gus, shower. Packing. Called the cell-phone company and found out what I need to do to get the mail-in rebate on MB's new phone. Down basement and morning practices. Drums. Guitar. Scrubbed out the tub. Last minute packing, and then heading in to work.

Walked to the H Sq donut shop for an egg sandwich and coffee. In the office, discovered the bug that had been reported to me the day before only happens under configurations that typically aren't my purview, and the responsible party (Dv) was out skiing today. Used the hardware at his desk, and tracked down the bug, which was in some glue code between his stuff and mine. This made me a double hero today. Found and edited a quite humorous pod-cast. Also, began the task of integrating my "non disruption" code back onto the trunk. MB and I decided not to have dinner together. Burrito from the chain place. Not so good. The masseuse called back, but had been booked solid today. I could have used it.

Headed for CT around 7:30. Smooth ride, for the most part. Radio. Arrived at my mom's at 10:30. Some chatting with her. Glad to be here to lend a little moral support. Played a bit of guitar. Now completing the day.

Wolfspirit, Choden Rinpoche, Mem trasher, Knee

Thursday: Woke around 8:30, MB having to rush to get out the door. Put on some pants and waited for Wolfspirit to arrive. He did. We had gotten our wires crossed somehow, so, I let him use the basement for today. He helped me carry tires to my car. Gus, shower, sitting upstairs. Headed out.

Chilly rain today. Drove to the tire place, and dropped the car to have them put the all-seasons on. Walked to H Sq. Picked up an egg sandwich and coffee. At the office, some consultation with Ht about notifications from the driver. Pow-wow with the team. Decided to check my stuff into the release branch. Continued looking at my memory trasher. Eventually puzzled it out. It was a bug in our low level memory allocation routines, where a bad object pointer would be referenced when freeing memory on the main thread that had been allocated on a worker thread. Talked to my mom about her knee. The MRI was somewhat inconclusive, so she just has to try to treat it with some care for awhile, and hopefully it will heal on its own. Headed off to KKC before I had a chance to check my fix.

Puja with Choden Rinpoche. Traffic on the way had me show up a bit late. Lovely to be there. Headed out quickly after it was over. Back to the office.

Moved my bug fixes over to the about to be released branch. Tried to reproduce another bug that had been reported to me, without luck. Headed home around 11. Wolfspirit had left the lights on.

Back at the ranch, noodles and pudding with MB, talking about the news of the day. What's going on with the oceans is truly horrible and frightening. Hanging out.

Bathmatz R us

Wednesday: Had a decent sleep, up around 10:30. Gus. Accidentally injected him with some air, as I forgot to bleed the line. Ooops. He didn't seem any worse for it, but now he makes a squishy bubbly sound when you pet him. Shower. Downstairs and fed Gus. Basement and morning practices. The cleaning people arrived and the sound of the vacuum accompanied my meditation. Drums. A bit of guitar. Said hello, and then headed out.

Picked up an egg sandwich, then drove to the mall. Ate in the parking lot, and then went and picked out some bath-mats. Boggling variety. I found some plain white ones. Headed in the long way around.

At the office, spent the day working through the bugs I've been looking at for the last several days. Found good simple fixes for two of them. A quite complex, but correct, solution to the third came to me. Alas, the final bug still occurs, and seems to be a threading issue, as I feared. Mom called. She'd had her MRI, but no results yet. Later, Mr Zooter called, and told me a recent story about Mr Nemsick. A tenant of his, who hadn't paid in several months was arrested for shoplifting. Worked late, until around 10:30.

Back home, orange friction. Helped MB put away her snow tires. Put out garbage. Feeling wiped out. Some hanging out, and bought a rather extravagant video collection that several people had contributed towards us buying. Down basement, working a little on MB's part to Victor's circulation. Guitar.

Coffee with KS

Tuesday: Woke around 9. Gus. Shower. Down basement and morning practices, brief drums and guitar. Headed out.

Met KS for coffee. A good conversation about internet marketing, and other issues. She's moving to California. Thai food.

In to work, and more banging my head against a nasty bug involving reference ordinals and the undo history. Rolled back most of my band-aid changes, trying to come to a more correct fix. Some conversation with Mk. Left at 6:30.

Yoga at KKC. Slightly milder than last week, or maybe I was just feeling more fit, although "boat" was still pretty hard. Some hanging around afterwards. Back home. MB still off at a BD class. Leftover moussaka, toast, listening to a show about Einstein on NPR.

Street sweepers

Monday: MB woke me at 8, saying the street sweeper was coming. I threw on pants, and moved the car. Back to bed. Slept in, finally getting out of bed around noon. Yum. Email. Gus. Shower. MB had already fed the kitty. Down basement and morning practices, drums, guitar. Headed out.

Stopped at the donut shop for an egg sandwich, then around the long way to work. The memory crash hadn't surfaced with my automated testing and guard pages enabled. My guess is that it is timing dependant. Decided to focus on fixing the other bugs and hope this one went away. Some consulting with Al about the transition implementation. Finally determined that the bug was essentially the same as the problem I'd turned up with selection last week: data references being to fragile. Investigated ways of fixing this. Talked awhile to B about a new prospective hire. Headed home around 9:45.

Back at the ranch, saw Oscar outside. Cake with MB, talking about her work, and the similarities to the software development process. Discussing methods of piling the cat. Email. Now down basement for guitar and completing the day.

Recording with Shawn

Sunday: A lovely sleep-in. MB had gone to OCBC for the Easter service, and I woke when she returned around 1 PM. More lazing. Feeling like a stewed prune. Shower. Some moussaka with MB. She had some recording to do. I took a walk around the block. Then morning practices. Drums. Around 4 PM, MB and I took a walk around the block and got coffee at the donut shop. There was a line. The world comes together waiting for donuts. Back to the house, amazed at the amount of garbage in the streets. Ate the "Easter Poo Bunny Cupcake" that MB had bought for me, while drinking our coffee. Back down basement, and she back to her recording. Pulled together stuff for the recording session. At 6:30, back upstairs, and got the audio interface from the office.

Picked up Shawn at his place (Cambridge). To Arlington. From 7 to 8ish, I plugged in mics and got things humming. Shawn played me some of The Beatles "Love" (George Martin mash-ups)... Awesome. We recorded some loopy chaotic noise stuff until around 10. Packing, while listening to our product. Stopped at Christopher's for food. Dropped him at his flat.

Back home, and hello to MB. Down basement, email, and completing the day.