Sunday, March 23, 2008

Quiet day with Ann

Saturday: Slept in, and a lazy morning. Up in PJs and breakfast with Ann: eggs and yummy muffins from NY. Down basement and morning practice, email, drums. Upstairs and, shower. Somehow, later in the day than expected, we took a walk out to the Mystic River and back. Drove to Union and some Mexican food. The place has expanded into the bar that used to be next door. Whole Foods, and picking up fun stuff for our trip. Back home, Ann played some piano while I did some research and reading. Hanging out. Down basement for evening practices and neck stretching. Now bed.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Talking with Richard

Friday: Up, shower, made some breakfast. Mostly done eating, when I called RA. Good conversation, and getting balls rolling. Ate the last bits of breakfast. Fed Oscar. Down basement for brief morning practice. Off to the Chiropractor. Then in to work. Got a text message from Ann, that she was coming up earlier than expected!

At work: Slogging, trying to find the least disruptive way of passing some additional file information around. Burrito. Feeling sleeping. Back home around 7 for a nap. Picked up Ann around 8. To Whole Foods for some dinner. Back home, hanging out.

BTM Live Feed

Thursday: Some txts with Ann this am, but phone ran out of juice. Shower. Down basement, and drums. Hearing an extra bit of crackle out of the hi-hats today. Fed the Oscar beast. Paid bills, and canceled a line of credit I wasn't using. Quick cereal and coffee. Headed out. Overcast.

Stopped in Union and dropped checks in the mail. Also under the door at Third Life. In to work, and more "stream ordering work." Conversation with Al... and so on. Burrito. Left around 7:15.

Coffee at Starbucks, waiting for Shawn. Back to my place, and acoustic rehearsal. Not bad given our recent level of practice. Some talk about upcoming gigs. Shawn was at the tail end of a cold. Watched some Bill T on a live internet video feed. Dropped Shawn back home.

Was going to eat some food, but decided I wasn't so hungry. Down basement, neck stretching and Lost on the treadmill. Now to complete the day.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Short day (jet lag)

Wednesday: Up late, so slept in, waking occasionally, and back to sleep. Up, shower, morning practices. Eggs on greens for breakfast. Didn't see Oscar around. Headed out to work. Rainy.

Short day. Optimized some drawing code. Over the years, things had been added to some low levels routines, so they were doing a lot of repetitive stuff. Pulled it out into an object to get passed around. B was fixing bugs with event handling.

Back home, put out the trash. Made some dinner, and ate while watching the Obama speech on race relations. That guy is awesome. Emails, and organizing. Down basement, neck stretching and Lost on the treadmill.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Married to Ann

Tuesday 18th: Ann called back early in the morning. Some strong language, but we finally both came to have a clear picture of what happened Sunday night. Slept some. Talked to Richard about the upcoming workshop, and decided on a plan. Up, shower, fed Oscar, morning practices, and off to work. Stopped to mail some stuff to MB. Picked up coffee and an egg sandwich. A day of bug thwacking. Stayed until 10:30pm. Stopped for groceries on the way home. Pizza, salad and vids.

Monday 17th: Jan headed out to visit Bodhi around 7. Got myself together, and headed off to the airport. Caught the 11:45am flight back to Boston. Back home, tried to call Ann. Ate pizza and watched vids.

Sunday 16th: Day 3. Things wrapped up about on time, 6:30pm. Packing everything back. A quick final dip in the tub. Jan and I got some bad directions, and wound up not connecting with our friends at the restaurant in town. Ann called the cell, and I was trying to talk to her as Jan twisted her ankle. Poor reception. Driving, called Ann back. Awkward communication. Jan and I stopped for some food at a hotel restaurant, picking things off the bar menu. Back to her place by midnight. Ann called back, and a lot of misunderstanding.

Saturday 15th: Day 2 of the L1.


Friday 14th: Breakfast with Jan. Spinach was bad. Picked it out, and ate our eggs. Drove up to Wildwood, picking up some office supplies and food on the way. Getting set up. Evening session of the L1.


Thursday 13th: Woke at 3:30am. Shower, completed packing, and in the cab at 4:30. To Logan for a 6am flight. Uneventful, sitting next to two pleasant college girls. Spent much of the flight with my sweater over my head, and my ear buds in, drifting in and out of sleep. Arrived in San Francisco at 9:20am PST. BART to Berkeley. Wandering about, eventually finding myself at a Starbucks, and then a cafe. Some text messages and phone calls. Omelet and bagel. Jan arrived and also had some food. Shopping in a Tibetan store. She dropped the car off for an oil change, and we wandered around talking about the course. Back to her apartment. Set up a Windows laptop for her, and connected it to a projector. Nap. She headed out to the gym. Personal practices. Laptop organizing. She got back from her workout and we went out for dinner, stopping to pick up some stuff at a grocery/pharmacy. Inexpensive, and good, Chinese. Back at her place, she gave me the job of doing some duplication. Took a walk out, and got it done just as the place was closing (10pm). Back to her place, and organizing. Now, sleep.


Wednesday 12th: Up, morning practices, and out to Mt Auburn hospital. Horrible parking. Met for an initial consultation, and set up a date to have my plumbing scoped. Realized that I'd forgotten about the house cleaning, and had armed the home alarm system. My cellphone rang while I was being examined, as a result. Had some blood drawn. The guy couldn't find the vein right away. Met an older woman in the waiting room, with my last name. We chatted in the elevator. Drove home, stopping to drop off a video and mail the census. Had some breakfast and left money for the cleaners. In to work, and more bug fixing nirvana. The president came for another impromptu conversation. Back home, and packing. To bed around 2am.

Tuesday 11th: Up early, and taking Ann to the train. Back home, laundry, morning practices etc. Talked to Richard on the way to the Chiropractor. My regular chiropractor was back, but still a bit injured. In to work, staying until 7. Finding a couple slices of pizza heading towards West Cambridge. Meeting of the "core group." Some good brainstorming, but not exactly my cup of tea. Back home around 10.

Monday 10th: Up, and had breakfast at the hotel buffet. In to town, and got the marriage license at the town hall. Had a stroll around, visiting shops, buying a screaming flying monkey, and sleigh bells. Back to the hotel, and some lazing around. Got ourselves dressed up a bit, and then headed to the library. Our man, Marshall Fey, didn't show up, so went looking for him. There'd been a miscommunication, but we found him soon enough. A quiet and beautiful wedding ceremony by a fireplace. Some hanging out with Marshall, a bottle of champagne and dessert treats. Back to our room. Later, packing, checking out, and heading back to Boston. Stopped to look at the stars. Listening to various stuff off my cell-phone.


Sunday 9th: Up, and some breakfast of mushrooms, onions, zucchini and eggs. Drove out and picked up a connector from iPod to car stereo. First one didn't work, but second one did. A nice drive up to Vermont, with one stop for carmel popcorn and a cruller. Checked in to the Trapp Family Lodge, and a quiet evening, dining at the hotel's restaurant.


Saturday 8th: Getting things set for the workshop. Egg sandwich at the donut shop. People began arriving around 1:20. Rainy, and a light turn-out. Snacks in the middle, rather than at the end, as customary for the group that was sponsoring. This led to some rectal wind in the second half. Ann showed up just as things were wrapping up. We went out and had some dinner at Whole Foods.

Friday 7th: Drove to the Cambridge courthouse and got a copy of the divorce decree. Breakfast at a little place nearby. In at work, Ann called with a though about the phase of the moon in relation to our proposed wedding day. After a bit of head-scratching, we decided to move up the date to Monday. Ran out to find a ring, but, difficult. Back home, and doing some planning for the workshop the next day.


Thursday 6th: Got up a bit early, completed pulling together tax information. Went to the tax prep office. Found I owed a bit. Talked to MB. In to work. No rehearsal with Shawn.

Wednesday 5th: Drove to the Dermatologist in the AM. They took Polaroids and told me to come back next year. A day of bug fixing, I'm sure. Pulled tax stuff together in the evening.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Jack Black on my Back

Tuesday: The phone rang around 9. Dozed a few minutes more, then up. Got pulled into writing a long email about the need for protecting the integrity of professional standards and certifications. Quick shower. Sitting upstairs. Fed Oscar and headed out. Egg sandwich on the run. Over to the Chiropractor. I said "Hey man, you're the Jack Black of Chiropractors!" Made an appointment with the tax man on Thursday.

In to work, and lots more bugs being squashed. Got some mac and cheese and a milkshake. Was leaving but B pulled me into a conversation. Got home around 10.

Cleaned out a cupboard in the kitchen. Down basement, neck stretching, treadmill with the extras from Lost season 2. Hoping for an early bed tonight, but taxes to do.

Trip to NYC, and back

Monday: Woke to the phone ringing. Sleep. Up and a bowl of yogurt. Shower, fed Oscar, down basement, drums.

Stopped at the video store, dropping off and picking up. The nearby donut shop for an egg sandwich. In to work the long way around.

There, the wi-fi hard-drive came in, as did a package from MB. Bug swatting. Took a walk out, pharmacy, bank, and the burrito shop. Found that our support for the multi-file format had been a bit busted for some time. Home around 10:30.

Cleaned out the closet on the first floor. Quite a bit of accumulated detritus. Installed 10.5 on the iMac upstairs, and played with the wi-fi disk. Down basement, and neck stretching. Treadmill with the end of the Lost season 2 finale. Now to complete the day.

Sunday: Lazy and enjoyable morning with Ann. Made a yummy breakfast of eggs, mushroom, plus some very good blintzes with sauteed pear slices. Headed off to the bus together around 1:15, taking the subway across town. The first bus at 2 was full, but I got a seat on the second bus. Pleasant ride back to Boston. Subway. Picked up car, pizza. Back home, quick food. Off to circle.

Victor, Alex, Chris, Dev and myself. Working towards the recording project. Good work on Flying Home and Askesis.

Back at the ranch, evening practices, watched the end of Tideland. And to bed.

Saturday: Gave Ann a present. She headed out for her appointment. Bowl of yogurt and some cereal. I needed some extra sleep. Up around noon and morning practices. Took the subway and met Ann, then down to the village for some fresh juice. Met the Juice Master. Then over to the restaurant we'd tried to go to the previous evening (Angelina's). I had a seitan and veggie burrito. Bumming around the city a bit, then back to the apartment. Nap. A quiet evening, making some "Asian patties" with salad, cheese and toast.

Friday: Up, packing (decided to just take a backpack and the mini guitar), loading some movies onto the phone. Down basement. Breakfast. Tidied up the desk. Headed out.

Brief day at work, but managed to complete the list of bugs on my plate assigned as "pre beta." Over to the bus depot via subway, and made the 4pm to NYC. Watching video and taking notes most of the way, then watched a bit of Tideland. Arrived around 8:30, which is not bad for peak hours on a Friday. Ann showed up shortly thereafter. Tried to go to Angelina's for dinner, but it was too crowded. Went to an Indian restaurant as "plan b." Yum. Some grocery shopping, then to the apartment, and completing the day.