Pulling the plug

Tuesday: Up late last night. My fingers found themselves sending emails pulling the plug on the course. Slept fitfully, and woke to the alarm at 9:30. Shower, and talked to Richard at 10, letting him know what was up. Down basement and morning practices. Drums. Had a nice breakfast, then headed out to work. Stopped for coffee.
Didn't get so much done today. Looking into a drawing bug in some third party add-ons, that proved to be pretty baffling. Al was being emotional. In some ways, this is a hard time for us. Luckily, I'm a bit detached. Fixed some other bugs. Got a burrito from downstairs. Headed home around 10.
Sat in the dark for awhile in the living room. Email. Down basement, drums, neck stretching, treadmill (lost), and now to complete the day.

This morning, I heard the following poem on NPR:

One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day.  Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel.  None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch.  And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones.  And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.


-- Elizabeth Bishop

Tide going out

Monday: Woke to another possible interested party saying "no." Later, woke again to someone obviously calling from India, asking me if still lived in Somerville, pronounced like Somer-Villy. I got a little more sleep, and had a dream, that I realized was a dream in the middle of it. I was on a high wall, and I jumped off to prove to myself that I would not be hurt. As I landed on the sidewalk, it turned into an electric field of shimmering lights, and I awoke. Shower, down basement, drums. Fed Oscar (rainy day, so he was happy to be in). Breakfast. Lazing around. Pretty clear I'm going to have to cancel the course, but waiting until I talk with Richard on Tuesday. Off to work. Dropping off dry cleaning. At the office, wrote some documentation for the work I'd done last week. Figured out a bug in the open and save dialogs (a strange recursion). Fixed several small bugs. Started looking into something very puzzling, requiring quite a bit of regression. Figured out the bug was introduced around January 4th, but Dv (who now has left the company). Oh joy. Stopped at the video store. Back home, leftover Chinese, and "Alexander." While big, and dumb, I must admit that the scene where Angelina Jolie talking like a vampire plays with snakes, was fun to watch. Now, down basement to complete the day.

Sunday: Another conversation with Richard. We set a deadline of Tuesday morning. More course study (page layout etc). Imported all the music into iTunes, and figured out a way to have breaks between segments of a playlist. Had to reimport everything because the first time had some errors. Out to guitar circle around 6:45. Full house. Elan was there again also, and we looked at more ideas relating to dynamics. Some recording. I thought we played pretty decent versions of Growing Circle and Askesis. Back home, a person had sent an email withdrawing from the course. A phone message from someone who had expressed interest, saying "no." I can see where this is going. More work, and again, a late night.

Saturday: Feeling lazy. Talked to Richard. Did some work on studying the course I'm to lead. Had a nice long talk with Ann. Took a drive out and picked up videos, vitamins, and Chinese food. Watched some of "Southland Tales." Disappointing. Up late.

Friday: At the office, completed debugging my API extension, and checked in before leaving around 6. Picked up some juice and veggies on the way home. As I was getting set up, a couple early birds arrived. The late comers didn't show up until 8 or so. One guy was lost. In the end there were around 8 guys. No new registrations though. Rk stayed until 1am telling me about his journey with prostate cancer.

The Church at PAs Lounge

Thursday: Woke around 9:30, and then, shower. Heated up some coffee. Called Richard, but he was running late. Morning sitting. Richard called back, and brain-storming. Talked to Antoinette also. Did some email promoting. Fed Oscar and ate some quick breakfast. Put the guitar in the car, and headed to work. Lovely warm day.

Stopped at the bank. Ann called to give me an update on her work situation. In at the office, completed the test bed, and began debugging. Its a bit of a complex scenario, because there's the app, a plug-in and a terminal process. Got the first complete pass of valid data through the whole thing around the time I had to leave.

Drove to the Starbucks on Somerville Ave, and met Shawn. Over to PAs Lounge. Sound-check. We went on around 9:10. A decent set, though not without flubs. Shawn was strong, and the tempos were even. At parts, I think we sounded quite good. Not so sure about the mix. Next a jam band that sounded a bit like riffs on Black Sabbath. Then Catherine's band Axemunkee. Good stuff.

Dropped Shawn off. Headed home. Put out the trash (and old leaves from last fall). Fed Oscar. Heated some pizza and gnocchi, steamed some greens. Watched the rest of the Omega Man. Now, to complete the day.

Omega Man

Wednesday: Woke around 9, and lazed for a bit. Shower, down basement, drums. Breakfast, Oscar. Called mom back and had a chat.

Beautiful out today, warmer, across town to the office. Once again figured out how to batch-modify records in the bug db, assigning Dv's bugs to Al (and taking some myself). Took a walk out and got some snacks at the convenience store. Did some work on a test-bed for the new API that I've put in place, making a "pipe" between processes based on some existing code.

At 7:15, headed out, meeting Shawn at the Starbucks on Somerville Ave. Over to my place, and a shortish rehearsal. Then to PAs lounge where we'll be playing tomorrow. the PA looked fine. Dropped Shawn home. Over to the Porter Exchange for some tempura rolls, miso soup and corn croquette. Across town to the video store to drop off, back home, eating ice-cream watching the Charlton Heston version of "The Omega Man." Good 70's kitsch.

Masonic Hall

Tuesday: Slept in a bit, and shower, down basement, drums. Oscar, breakfast. Email. Packed car with what I needed for the evening. Drove across town, a lovely day out. Drove past the office and around the block, avoiding an interruption from Dnld. Short day in the office. I completed major coding on the extended API I'm putting in place for 3rd parties. Wednesday I'll make a test bed for it. At 6:15 or so, drove to Porter (back way) and set up shop for the evening. Gave an intro class in the Masonic Hall on Mass Ave. Interest, and one sign up. Repacked, and headed home. Decided to pick up a video and a veggie sub (and a slice of pizza). Watched "There Will Be Blood." Certainly a masterful film, but lacking a protagonist.

Loss

Monday: Slept in a bit. Up, and decided to eat breakfast first. Fed the Oscar beast. Shower. Talked to Apple tech support about my problems with Time Machine. Down basement, and drums. Got an email from Ann regarding her employment. Gave her a call.

Drove across town. Lovely out, and cool. Talked to Ann more. At the office, more work on extending the external api, and a discussion about the beta feedback. The vending machine wasn't accepting dollar bills... oh horrors. Burrito. Stayed until about 8:30.

Almost hit some nasty looking debris on the road, but managed to swerve out of the way. Back home, talked to Caro about tomorrow. More fussing with the computer. Drove over to Central to drop off a check at Third Life. Down basement, neck stretching, Lost on the treadmill. Now to complete the day.

A Cake like a Puppy

Sunday: Up around 7 (Ann already up), shower, morning sitting, packing. Breakfast again at the place on the corner. Picked up the car, then packing it up. Drove up to Ann's place (first time I'd actually been there), and met her apartment mate Angl. Dropping stuff off. On the road to my mom's. Missed the exit for Darien, so circled back. Picked up a lovely cake, which the people at the shop treated as if it was a puppy being adopted. ("A work of art," the fellow said). To my mom's and left Ann working in the kitchen with her, as I went to pick up coffee at Starbucks. People started arriving around 1pm. A lovely party, with lots to eat and drink. Things wrapped up around 4 or 5. Hanging with with R (a friend from the condo complex). Cleaning up. Packed the car and headed out. Couldn't find the RR station right away. Hanging out with Ann on the platform. In a strange coincidence, the guy from the pastry shop got on a train from the same platform, asking us "How was the cake!?" Ann caught the 5:52 to GSS. Drove across town to the Merrit Pkwy. Pleasant drive back to Boston. Stopped for some pizza at the first place on the Mass Pike. Once home, settling back in. Didn't make Guitar Circle. Email. Now to complete the day.

Saturday: I slept until about 8 (Ann already up). Showed and morning sitting. Breakfast at the little place on the corner. We walked down to her office and picked up the tickets to the show. Lovely view of Central Park. Walked over to Grand Central Station, and met my mom. We acted as my mom's "Sherpas" leading her through the subway to Lincoln Center. Some refreshments, then saw the NYC Opera's production of Candide. Fun. Afterwards, some more walking around with mom, then put her on a bus headed back to GSS. Ann and I had very expensive grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries, then, she headed for a hair appointment, and I back to the apartment for personal practice, and guitar. A quiet evening in.

Friday: Up, shower, down basement, drums, Oscar, breakfast. Put away laundry. Packing for the weekend. Loaded the car (duffel bag and guitar) and off to work. Lovely sunny day. Stopped for gas.

Brief day at work. Checking in with B and Al. Asked Al to take a look at a file that I had had very poor results with his analysis system. At first he was very confident. By the end he was saying my data was not a "common case" and his system simply wouldn't work with it.

Lots of traffic leaving Boston, but otherwise an uneventful drive to NYC. Listening to podcasts through the car stereo. Ann had picked up Middle Eastern food for us.

Summer tires

Thursday: Up to the sound of the garbage truck. Shower, basement, drums. Fed Oscar (and friend) and breakfast. A lovely cool day out. Email, and more problems with the new Apple backup system. I'm beginning to think I should seek greener pastures on that front. Loaded guitar into car. Also, tires into back seat.

Drove to the tire shop, and asked them to do the swap for me. Walked towards the office, guitar in hand. Before I'd reached the destination, the shop called saying my car was ready, so, walked back.

Short day at work. Verified that Al had fixed a bug, then forgotten that he'd fixed it. Fixed a bug in some unit tests. Got on to the tricker bit of allowing drivers to associate data with segments. Snacks. Headed out at 7:15. Cup of coffee waiting for Shawn.

To Arlington, and rehearsal. Hangnail made my right index finger sting. First through the set, then recap, then the rest of the repertoire. Some talk about the upcoming GC course. Dropped Shawny home.

Back at the ranch, played with a cellphone signal extender. Some food while watching a vid. Email. Down basement, and neck stretchery, Lost on the treadmill, and now to complete the day.

Decoder

Wednesday: Woke to the phone ringing. Shower, down basement, drums. Fed Oscar, and began cleaning out the cat-food-cupboard. Breakfast and such. Talked to mom, then drove out. Lovely out today.

At work, things still a bit slow. Fixed a few bugs, and began extending an API (in response to some third party requests). Burrito. Left around 8. Hit traffic due to construction just before getting on Storrow.

Back home, feeling tired. Email. Completed the cat-food-cupboard-cleaning. Put out the garbage. Unloaded the dishwasher. Did some page layout work. Now guitar, and to complete the day.

Sifting memories

Tuesday: Got a txt from Ann, and decided to get out of bed. Down basement, drums. Eggs, coffee. Fed the Oscar beast. Headed out, the long way around, hitting traffic. A beautiful day with the top down. Fixed a gaggle of bugs related to import and export in interchange formats, pretty much wrapping this aspect up for this release (with luck). Around 6:30 walked out. Didn't connect with the person I was trying to find, so had some pizza. Back, and this time the door was unlocked. Up to the third floor and met with the Ky instructor, and asked about hanging a poster. She seemed pretty agreeable, and interested in talking more. Coffee and back to the office. More bug fixing until 10ish. Home across town. Spent an hour and a half going through old memorabilia, sorting into three piles: [throw it out, archive, current]. Some of this was pretty emotionally difficult, sifting through the residue of the passing of my father, my cats, and my first marriage. Why is it that loss cuts deeper than gain? Email. Now some guitar, and to complete the day.

Monday: Woke up in the AM, but decided to catch up on sleep a bit. Eggs and such. Muffins! Basement, drums, etc. Drove across town to work. Lovely out. B wasn't in the office, and in general things were a bit quiet, as several people were off at a trade-show. Fixed a few bugs, staying until 10ish. Stopped at the grocery store on the way home. Leftover Chinese and videos. Emailing. Down basement, neck stretching, and completing the day.

Weekend with Ann

Sunday: Slept in, and woke to Ann already up and showering. She put muffins in the oven and came back to bed for a bit, then we both got up and had breakfast of yogurt, coffee and the banana-nut yummies. She left in the early afternoon, driving the Prius back to NYC. I went through a collection of receipts, shredding old ones. Ate some lunch. Off to guitar circle at 6:45. Another session with Elan Sicroff. A meditation, and some very good work on dynamics. After he left, more work on repertoire. I felt I could barely hear myself for most of the night. As we were packing up, discussion about playing at meals at guitar craft courses. Put in an order for some Chinese food, which I picked up on the way home. Ate, watching vids. Now to complete the day.

Saturday: A pleasant day in with Ann. Sunny in the AM, and caught a few rays on the back porch. In the evening went out to Target and then the grocers. Ann made some delicious banana/rum sorbet, and also the batter for banana-nut muffins. Down basement for evening practices, which took a long time.

insides examined

Friday: Up around 8:45, shower, morning practices. Then Ann drove me to the office where I had my insides photographed. An odd experience, with "twilight sedation," leaving only flashes: memories of the doctor pointing out bits of gut on an LCD screen, while he rummaged about. Ann drove us to Whole Foods, and I picked up some grub. According to reports, I didn't find the right level of detail in my driving coaching. Back home, eating a bit (first in over 24 hours), then a nap of sorts. (Headache) Watched "Malibu's Most Wanted" with Ann. Then, we did some rearranging of furniture in the kitchen. By the time this was done, we figured we'd earned our keep for the day, so, out to dinner at a little whole-in-the-wall place. Noisy (sitting next to a men's tennis group from Winchester, one of which was an ex-Celtic) but very good food. Leaving feeling over-stuffed. Back home to watch "Kind Hearts and Coronets." Now to complete the day.

Thursday: A lovely day out. Spent the day drinking soda, and dealing with the after effects of taking the bowel drain-o. What fun. Ann took a wrong turn on the road, and didn't arrive until almost 2am. She didn't enjoy the experience of driving the rented Prius on the highway.

pickup up draino

Wednesday: Woke around 9:30, and lazed until 10. A marketing call again getting me out of bed. Shower. Down basement, drums, fed Oscar, and headed out. Trip to the bank then back home to drop off money for the housekeeper. Realized no time for breakfast. Stopped at the pharmacy for the "draino", then over to the chiropractor. No neck adjustment was needed today, so things are going well. Talked to mom, and agreed to pick up a cake for the party.

Egg sandwich from the donut shop. In to work, spent the day working out some further kinks in the project on my plate. Checked it in around 8:45. Spent another half an hour going through other bugs. Fixed one minor one.

Stopped to pick up a sub AND some pizza. The guy at the sub shop confided in me that he'd been vegetarian for 5 years. Ate while watching a vid. Now, to complete the day and get to bed as soon as I can.

top down

Tuesday: Slept in, much needed. Marketing phone call got me out of bed. Shower. Downstairs and fed Oscar. Breakfast. Down basement, and found that my laptop was not backing up correctly to the networked disk. The backup archive was corrupt. Oh great. Morning practices. Drums, made some phone calls.

Headed off to work, and a very beautiful sunny day, putting the top down for the first time this year. Stopped at the supermarket and dropped off a prescription at the pharmacy. In at the office, worked the kinks out of the code I'd written yesterday, adding some necessary complexity. By the evening, things seemed to be working well. I'll test it a little more tomorrow, then check it in. Headed home around 9:30.

Ate leftover Indian food watching a vid. Guitar for half an hour. Its fun to play standing up once in awhile. Down basement, neck stretching, treadmill with Lost, and to complete the day.

First charges

Monday: Woke around 9:30. Up, and put on some water to boil. Call with Richard. Coffee, and Oscar, while on the phone. Ann up and around. After hanging up, some breakfast. Ann doing laundry. Down basement for morning practices. Made first charges on my merchant account. Took Ann to catch the 3pm bus back to NYC.

Stopped for donuts. In to work, and decided to take on the slightly more complex fix for the issue I was looking at. B seemed depressed that his fix was more complex than he would like it to be as well. Sometimes, you just have to do the right thing. Burrito. Got most of my coding done, and will debug tomorrow. Left around 9:30.

Back home, had some tea, and practiced guitar. Taking a variety of remedies, hoping to fend off whatever Ann has. Down basement for neck stretching and Lost on the treadmill. Now, to put laundry in the dryer, and complete the day.

Battling Ants

Sunday: Ann and I slept in. She was still under the weather. Got her a cup of hot water, and made myself some breakfast. A quiet, rainy day. Morning practices, drums, hanging about the house, battling ants. Around 5 took a drive out to pick a few things up for Ann. The Wild Oats was closed (permanently) so went to the Whole Foods in Fresh Pond. Many cups of tea were had this day. Headed off to guitar circle at 6:45. Elan Sicroff was at circle again. A relaxation exercise, discussion about the functioning of the feeling center, some work with the hands. After his departure, a bit of repertoire (Dev, Chris, myself, Victor). Back home, a bit of food (Ann had already eaten), down basement, neck stretching, treadmill.

Saturday: Ann woke up feeling ill. A quiet rainy day. She made some blueberry-corn-bread. In the evening we watched the original "Swept Away."

Friday: Got a decent sleep for the first time in several days. Eggs, down basement etc. B was out at work. Rbt came around giving us some "encouragement." Pharmacy, picked up flyers (the guy joked "We thew them out"), and some CDs, including reissued Steve Hillage. Checked my channel ordering code in before leaving around 8. Dropped off flyers at Third Life, and picked up Indian food. Treadmill. Ann arrived in a rental car around 10:45.

The gas meter, replaced

Thursday: Woke around 8, feeling I had just missed something. Not much sleep. So, I guess it was sleep I had just missed. Up, shower, sitting in the guest room. Laundry. Breakfast, and was about to feed Oscar when the guy from the gas company showed up. He was a sort of solemn older gentleman. He thought I might be a teacher, based on my book collection, and said that teachers should be paid pro athletes salaries, and vise-versa. Hard to argue with that. I cleaned up from breakfast, and not long after, he was done. Seems there had been a slight leak, which was fixed when he replaced the meter. Another phone-call with Richard.

Headed off to work. Stopped to get a coffee at Starbucks. A sunny day, and mild. Didn't get a whole lot done today: Diagnosed one bug, and made some more progress on another format (which turns out to be more complex) of the channel ordering issue. Took a walk out for some pizza. Left at 7:30.

To Arlington, where Shawn was already setting up some new drum equipment. A good rehearsal, given we haven't played much recently. My hands were not feeling so great. They seem to get worse the less sleep I get... or maybe its the more coffee I drink... or the more typing I do. Talking about our upcoming "mini tour" and the state of the world.

Back home, and a phone call. Email. Now some food, and to complete the day...

Making plans with Ann and mom

Wednesday: Up around 9... well, 9:30. Quick shower. Fed Oscar. Morning practices, and headed out by 10:12. Stopped at the UPS location and picked up a package. Over to the chiropractor. He asked me about "where things actually go" on the internet. Driving to work, mom called. We were in touch throughout the day, making plans for a trip to NYC, and a party. Also talked to Ann...

In H Sq, Donald button-holed me, with a tale of woe. I feel for him, but its always a tale of woe. Breakfast sandwich from the donut shop. Spent the day getting an aspect of the channel ordering issue actually running. Took a couple of breaks: One time I walked to the bank to deposit a check, and get coffee. Another time I picked up a burrito. Stayed until 10pm, despite wanting to leave early. The office is about to be dismantled to allow for a renovation of the HVAC system. Big fun.

Back home, a lot of emailing, and handling web updates. A couple of phone calls. Now to put out the garbage and complete the day.

Vermont Ski Trip with Ann

Tuesday: After not much sleep, a phone call with Richard. Breakfast. Down basement. Email. In to work, stopping for coffee. Trying to wrap up the "stream ordering" project I've been working on. Over to Daedalus, sending off Dv. Told Mk about my recent life developments. Also talked with Al and Mk about film. Some more work, and a phone call. Leaving around 10:30. Back home and another phone call. Cleaning up some stuff in the basement (the "sporting equipment shelves"). Leftover Chinese while watching a vid. Email. Now, finally, to complete the day.

Monday: Cleaned up the floor a bit. Dropped a package off at the PO, then picked my (held) mail up from the other PO in Union Sq. In to work. It turns out that Dv Cn is leaving the company. A slow day, feeling a bit murky. Back home, with Chinese food. Lots and lots of emailing.

Sunday: Slow to get out of bed. Donuts, coffee and pie for breakfast. Some hanging out, and then took Ann to the bus station for the 4pm. A little emailing, then circle meeting. Elan Sicroff gave us some interesting pointers, on how to practice, and our relationship to rhythm. He left, and some work on Askesis and Flying Home. The general consensus seemed to be that we wouldn't be up to recording any time soon, and that perhaps a more modest short-term project is called for. There's a course coming up in June.

Saturday: The last of our pancakes for breakfast, with the last of the maple syrup. Packing, and on the road by around 10:45. Headed for Wendell, and dropped in on my long-time friend Morgan, his wife Nan, and their son Thor. Some pleasant conversation, chips, salsa and tea, then heading back to Somerville. We arrived, pulled all the stuff out of the car, then drove to the North End, for Italian food in the lower level of a small restaurant. Apple pie, watching 30 Rock.


Friday: Snowing, and after breakfast, over to the mountain for skiing. I had quite a good tumble, as we headed down a "blue" trail. No harm done though. We ended just perfectly at 4pm, and, with regret, took our skis back to the rental place. Drove past a patch of land, but unfortunately it was right next to the highway. Last hot-tub. Leftovers for dinner.


Thursday: Nice big stack of blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Yum. Skiing: things were a bit icy today, but still lots of fun. Took the tour of the Ben and Jerry's ice-cream factory. We had our traditional hot tub, then went looking for a Mexican place for dinner. Turned out that it had closed, but we did find a most excellent Thai restaurant. This seemed like a good model for moving forward: You start with a plan, take action, remain flexible, and perhaps wind up somewhere other than you intended, but the outcome is perhaps better than you originally imagined.


Wednesday: The weather was supposed to be bad, so we stayed in. Drove Ann to the laundromat, back to the B&B for a phone call with Richard. Picked up Ann, shopping (coffee roasters, and the cider donut place). I was feeling a bit odd... perhaps exhausted. Nap. Ann slept soundly, and I watched the rest of a movie on my phone. Grilled cheese and a salad for dinner.

Tuesday: A relaxed morning, then over to the mountain, and more skiing. We adventured up to the top, finding our way down the long and winding "Toll Road." A break for some hot cocoa and coffee over at the Spruce area that is under construction. Picked up groceries. Hot tubbing. Ann wanted to do laundry, but it was too late. We had dinner at a nice, but pricey place. Then grocery shopping.

Monday: Up early, and breakfast of eggs made on the electric skillet. Generic coffee. Over to the mountain, and we had a very good private lesson with a guy named Jas. Getting on the chairlift, he commented "now this is civilized." He left us off at a spot where we could get some food. A meager Mexican lunch, then a couple more runs. Stopped at an expensive food specialty store on the way back to the B&B . Hot tubbing.


Sunday: A pleasant morning, breakfast, packing, and on the road with Ann, heading for Vermont, by around 11:45. Good time getting to the B&B. They weren't ready for us, but I put my guitar in the house to keep it out of the cold car. Over to the base camp, to rent skis. This all went pretty smoothly. Back to the B&B, unloading. Supper at a barbeque place on the edge of Waterbury. Since it was Easter, the groceries were closed. Picked up some eggs and such at a convenience store. A guy was fixing hot-dogs like he owned the place.