Glenn's Diary

What's wrong with this story

2008-07-23T00:15:00.001-05:00

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- State police say they arrested a man early Tuesday whose blood alcohol level was 0.491 percent - the highest ever recorded in Rhode Island for someone who wasn't dead. Stanley Kobierowski was taken to a hospital, put in the detoxification unit and sedated.

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In other news, here's a fun blog:

http://lovelylisting.blogspot.com/

Juice

2008-07-16T01:30:00.001-05:00

Amplified glass

2008-07-13T23:22:00.001-05:00

Open

2008-07-13T23:21:00.001-05:00

Siren?

2008-07-13T23:21:00.000-05:00

Mnstr

2008-07-13T23:20:00.003-05:00

Pacman

2008-07-13T23:20:00.001-05:00

Ace G-Man

2008-07-13T23:19:00.003-05:00

Space ark

2008-07-13T23:19:00.001-05:00

Bros & sistrs, strange Maine

2008-07-13T23:18:00.001-05:00

Art?

2008-07-13T23:17:00.001-05:00

Breakfast smiling at me 2

2008-07-12T12:41:00.001-05:00

Burning peppers give you so much more

2008-07-12T12:40:00.001-05:00

Bookshelves

2008-07-09T15:54:00.001-05:00

Cabinets

2008-07-09T15:53:00.001-05:00

Band practice

2008-07-06T12:27:00.001-05:00

Ikea

2008-07-03T22:47:00.002-05:00

Still life with shelf plans

2008-07-03T22:47:00.001-05:00

Isabela's 3rd Birthday

2008-07-03T22:45:00.000-05:00

Europa

2008-07-03T22:44:00.001-05:00

Breakfast is smiling at me

2008-07-03T22:40:00.000-05:00

Stormy Tuesday

2008-06-25T01:10:00.002-05:00

Pot rack

2008-06-25T01:10:00.001-05:00

Welcome monkey

2008-06-25T01:08:00.000-05:00

On the way to work

2008-06-13T15:27:00.000-05:00

C's mom & friend in poughkeepsie

2008-06-11T13:40:00.000-05:00

Lost rooster in poughkeepsie

2008-06-11T13:39:00.001-05:00

Isabella 2

2008-06-11T13:38:00.001-05:00

Beacon 3

2008-06-11T13:37:00.001-05:00

Beacon 2

2008-06-11T13:36:00.002-05:00

Beacon 1

2008-06-11T13:36:00.001-05:00

Moving day

2008-06-11T13:35:00.000-05:00

Rosie's graduation

2008-06-11T13:32:00.001-05:00

Mem day 2

2008-06-11T13:31:00.000-05:00

Mem day 1

2008-06-11T13:30:00.000-05:00

Poughkeepsie

2008-06-11T13:11:00.001-05:00

Squerd 3

2008-06-11T13:09:00.001-05:00

Squerd 2

2008-06-11T13:08:00.003-05:00

Squerd

2008-06-11T13:08:00.001-05:00

2008-06-11T13:06:00.002-05:00

Chicken seat

2008-06-11T13:06:00.001-05:00

Allowing what's automatic to be automatic

2008-06-11T13:05:00.001-05:00

2008-06-10T01:17:00.000-05:00

No takers

2008-05-23T20:07:00.005-05:00

Friday: Up with Ann on the early side. Shower, basement, drums. Ann made some eggs with broccoli and fried potatoes for breakfast.

Off to work, the long way around. Quite nice out. A day of bug fixing, yea ha. Took a walk out, and tried unsuccessfully to unload a CD I'd bought recently. The classical guitarist of H Sq played "A Whiter Shade of Pale." Coffee. Talked to mom about the weekend. Stayed until around 8pm.

Back home, Ann was in the shower. Down basement, and exercise. Now, dinner, and the end of the day.

Donald hit me up

2008-05-22T22:54:00.003-05:00

Thursday: Up with Ann, shower, basement, drums. Ann had made breakfast when I came up. Fed Oscar and made coffee. A bit overcast, but feeling upbeat, headed across town. Stopped for coffee. Donald hit me up for $20. I'd been dodging him for weeks.

More bug thwacking. Fixed the strange loop issue, by forcing the order of some "on idle" operations. Found I had some logic backwards in another place... and so on. Set up a system for categorizing the PDFs that I'd created from all my old AppleWorks documents. Stayed until 8:30.

Back home, and Ann had baked potatoes and made garlic-broccoli. I fried some gluten-free veggie burgers (what's in them? sunflower seeds). Yummy dinner. She's made more good progress on the unpacking, and still lots to go. Some hanging out, then I headed down basement for neck stretching, and "Dark Shadows" on the treadmill.

Wind chimes

2008-05-21T23:04:00.002-05:00

Wednesday: Woke, realizing I had chiropractor. Ann got up and cut up a papaya. Shower. Down basement and sitting. Hung out a wind-chime. Quick breakfast with Ann, then headed out. Beautiful drive to Orient Point.

Possibly last visit with the chiropractor for awhile. We haven't had the results he was expecting, and my insurance doesn't want to pay anymore, so, he gave me some exercises to try, and I'll check back with him in a month or so.

Talked to mom, and gave her an update. Also made plans for this weekend. She sounds like she's doing well. Through the tunnel to the office. More bug thwacking. The last one of the day was a really peculiar strange loop with A causing B, B causing C, C causing D and D causing A, over and over again. The problem with things like this is, at each point in the loop, it seems to make sense, so, where to you cut it, and under what conditions?

Back home around 8pm, and hanging out with Ann. The stuff integration is going well... Some leftovers for dinner. Taking out the recycling, and garbage. Soon bed.

Ann moves in

2008-05-20T22:52:00.002-05:00

Tuesday: A relaxed morning, shower, down basement. Then brunch with Ann. Headed off to work, leaving her to begin the job of unpacking. This is going to take some doing. A sunny day, drove the long way to H Sq. Bug squashing. Headed home around 7:30. The dishwasher was having a minor problem, but I got it sorted out. We talked about the process of integrating her stuff into the house as it currently stands. Took a drive to Whole Foods, did some shopping and had dinner from their salad-bar. Back home, and some hanging out. Now, heading down basement for evening practices, Ann upstairs asleep.

Monday: Up at 6:45. Sitting. Shower. A quick breakfast of eggs and salad with Ann. We headed out, retrieving my car, and driving down to the storage space by 8:45. The movers didn't show up until about 8:30. Lots of stuff, taken from the space to the large truck. Next, up to Ann's apartment. It took the truck awhile to arrive. I decided I needed a little more sleep if I was to drive back to Boston, so nap in the car. The mover's finished up with the apartment by around 2pm. Ann put a few last things right in the apartment, and said goodbye to her flat-mate. Drove down to Ky's and she pulled some stuff from the fridge while I waited in the car, fending off parking police. Then to the storage place again to drop off the card key. Finally, on the road to Boston. A lovely drive. Got back to Somerville just after 7pm. It took them a little over 2 hours to unload. The moon was full at exactly at 9:11pm. Both Ann and I were exhausted. Some frozen pizza (non gluten, quite good). Got to bed by around midnight.

Sunday: Up early, meditation in my room, and then, a sitting with Tony down in the dining room. Some eggs and conversation for breakfast. Gave him a ride over to Tuft's for his cousin's graduation. Back home, packing, practices, and so on. Nap. A bit of lunch. Headed out around 3. Arrived about 3:40 at the Circle recording session. Victor was there, and gave him a hand setting up. All the guys (sans David) arrived soon after. After getting sounds, we recorded a number of pieces. David showed up and played on a couple. The family who were generously lending us their space came over (mom dad and two kids). We played Growing Circle and EotN for them. The evening ended with Victor and I taking some shots at Chrysanthemum. Breaking things down. Repacking the car. Headed off at 10. Hit traffic on the way home, so, detoured through Dorchester. Dropped the gear off, then drove to New York, arriving at Ky's little before 3am.

A visit from TG

2008-05-18T00:00:00.002-05:00

Saturday: Had a nice sleep-in. Shower. Down basement + drums. Breakfast. Hello Oscar. Changed the strings on my guitar while watching an episode of "Dexter." (OK, but no six feet under.) Email. Decided to get out of the house for a bit. Did a little pruning and weeding in the front, said hello to neighbor Cln. Took a bike ride, up over Ten Hills and then along the Mystic River and around through the phragmites grove. Victor called saying the audio interfaced I'd loaned him wasn't powering up, and we came up with a plan-b. Back home, and some more hanging out. Tony called with an update. Made a (non-gluten) spaghetti dinner, veggies, salad and garlic bread. Yum. Cleaned up and headed out. Picked up Tony at the Tibetan restaurant in Davis Sq, also meeting his cousin (who is about to graduate from Tufts). Gave her a ride home, then back to the ranch with Tony. Got him settled in, then hanging out, listening to Tower of Power, and some music that he had a hand in. Pleasant conversation. Goodnight to Tony, setting sitting at 7am. Down basement, neck stretching, and now, to complete the day.

Dark Shadows

2008-05-17T00:48:00.004-05:00

Friday: Restless sleep, yes. So, slept in a bit, and felt pretty OK when arising. Shower, down basement + drums. Walked out and picked up some eggs. Breakfast. Oscar. Email, headed out, across town. A bit cloudy, but nice today. Stopped for coffee.

Found that I had made a few bugs in my last round of bug fixing. So, began the work day feeling a bit shamed. The first two were easy to fix. The last one was puzzling... it turned out there were actually two bugs that were compounding each other, which made the diagnosis difficult, because when I fixed the first one, the problem didn't go away. I guess doctors run into stuff like this. Mk brought up a package from downstairs. A package from Amazon: Two sets of Dark Shadows DVDs. I watched this Gothic soap-opera as a teen. It will be fun to dip into it again. Looking at all the bugs. Letting B know I won't be in on Monday. Left around 9:30.

Stopped at the store (raining) and picked up some groceries. Back home, putting away laundry. Had some salad and a veggie burger (first one since the gluten free diet began. Found a brand that's OK.) Some vid. More work on the document conversion project. Down basement, neck stretching, DS on the treadmill, and now to complete the day.

Keeping the same size when switching modes

2008-05-16T01:56:00.002-05:00

Thursday: Up around 10, after not enough sleep. Shower. Down basement. Victor called to say he was running late, so we rescheduled for noon. Morning practices, drums (reverting back to my own kit. Shawn's weren't feeling right to me.) Laundry , Oscar, Breakfast. Victor showed up, and we worked on Chrysanthemum. The lack of sleep really didn't help matters. Ann called with an update on her plans. He headed off, brief email, then off to work myself. Quite a nice day out. Stopped for coffee.

At work, decided to dig into a lingering problem. After looking at the behavior of the competing software, we came up with a decent scheme that would probably address most of the unfortunate side-effects of our current methodology. Got a wrapperless burrito. Implemented the new scheme (doing extra work to make it so that add-ons wouldn't need to do much new), and checked in around midnight.

Long way home. Some vid, with snacks. Laundry continued. Evening practices, now, soon bed.

Another example of morphologic entanglement

2008-05-15T12:09:00.002-05:00

9-year-old girl's twin is found inside her stomach

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A 9-year-old girl who went to hospital in central Greece suffering from stomach pains was found to be carrying her embryonic twin, doctors said Thursday.

Doctors at Larissa General Hospital examined the girl and surgically removed a growth they later discovered was an embryo more than two inches long.

"They could see on the right side that her belly was swollen, but they couldn't suspect that this tumor would hide an embryo," hospital director Iakovos Brouskelis said. The girl has made a full recovery, he said.

Andreas Markou, head of the hospital's pediatric department, said the embryo was a formed fetus with a head, hair and eyes, but no brain or umbilical cord. Markou said cases where one of a set of twins absorbs the other in the womb occurs in one of 500,000 live births.

The girl's family did not want to be identified, hospital officials said.

© 2008 The Associated Press.

Helpful advice

2008-05-15T00:12:00.003-05:00

Wednesday: Slightly less fitful sleep, but still, not well rested in the AM. Computer, shower, email. Mom called, and we chatted about gluten-free breakfast options, and the plans for Ann to come to Boston.

A series of helpful suggestions put me in a sour mood today. Its a bit like, your house just burnt down, and then, people are offering advice on what color the walls in the dining room should be. "If you were interested in helping with my house, a bucket of water a few nights back would have been useful. Seeing as you weren't up to the task then: piss off."

Down basement, morning practices, and drums. Oscar, breakfast. Watered the plants. Headed out across town.

At the office, spent all day fixing a bug I made in adding a very small feature several days back. The testers and tech support people sometimes wonder why I resist adding small features near a release. This is why. Voiced my strong dislike of a new behavior in the program. A lot of times, I need to freak out to be heard. It sucks.

Met Shawn at 7:45 at the Starbucks. The house hadn't been cleaned. A brief, somewhat perfunctory rehearsal. I was definitely not playing my best. Odd little rhythmic hiccups, and brain-farts. Did some good work on EotN and Growing Circle though. Gave Shawn a ride home, telling him about Chimeras.

Put out the garbage out. Watched some vid. Down basement, neck stretching, and then a downloaded episode of Lost on the treadmill. Now, to complete the day.

Mowing the grass

2008-05-14T00:43:00.002-05:00

Tuesday: Another fitful night, and late morning. Shower, down basement (drums), breakfast. Fed Oscar and left him inside while I mowed the lawn. Drove the long way around to work, a lovely day out. More bug hunting. One that I'd fixed yesterday had caused a couple more serious ones. Stayed until around 10. Stopped at the grocery on the way home, and picked up cat food. Heated up some rice noodles and vegetables for dinner. More on the conversion process of the documents from work. Vid. Now to complete the day.

The logic trap

2008-05-13T00:13:00.003-05:00

Monday: Woke several times, then back to sleep. (Congrats to the Kuznicks on the arrival of Isabel.) Up, feeling a bit distant. Shower. Down basement and morning sitting, drums. Picked up some garbage in the street and driveway. Oscar, quickish breakfast. Wrote a long email, that I knew was probably a waste of time. Headed off, across town.
More bug wrangling today. Brief meeting, and the possibility of working on a high profile feature in response to a VIP request. Stayed until around 9. Drove to Fresh Pond and picked up some groceries. Saw Iron Man again, just 'cause why not. Dropped a video off. Back home, had a sandwich on some better gluten-free bread. Watched some more of the original Dutch "Kingdom." Now, to complete the day.

I've heard many people who are unhappy with their lives talk about their situation. There's always some aspect of it that goes like this:

"I can't be happy until I achieve X. But to achieve X, first I need to put Y in place. But before I can put Y in place, I need to build up Z. Unfortunately, in order to build up Z, I need to achieve X. So, the situation is hopeless." (There are also variations like "But Z is impossible" etc).

The way they state this is always with a certain confidence that the listener will have to agree that there is nothing to be done, and that despair is the only option. In fact, there's perhaps even a sense of triumph. Their ongoing failure is a proof of the superiority of their analysis.

There truly is nothing to be done for these people, because, at bottom, they don't want help.

The answer is usually very simple. It goes something like. "Be happy without X." or "Forget about putting Y in place, and just do X." or "Here's a completely different way to build up Z." There is a way to break the logic trap at each link in the chain. The person arguing for despair will have well-honed defenses for each of these avenues of attack. They have thought of it all before.

Its like someone who has gotten stuck in the "Chinese Handcuffs" (the little bamboo sleeve that you stuck your fingers in). Gently suggesting that they stop struggling, and push their fingers together, in order to get them out, only meets with more hysteria.

Ultimately, despair is a state of mind. Gravity works. We live for a time, and then die. There is only this moment. Everything else is a mental construct.

Perhaps last trip to NYC for awhile

2008-05-11T23:56:00.003-05:00

Sunday: Up and out of the Apt by 11 or so. Down to Whole Food for brunch, then to the bus depot. Got the 2pm for Boston. Uneventful trip, watching "The Darjeeling Limited" on the phone. Talked to mom. To HSq, picked up the car, then to circle meeting. No David or Dev. Last session in the series with Elan. Ran through some material without amplification. Back home, gluten-free noodles and steamed veggies, watching the original "Kingdom." So much better than the American re-make. Now day-completion.

Saturday: Out and about in the early afternoon. Over to Fairway for breakfast. Scrambled eggs with yummy things. I gave the toast they put on my plate to Ann, and avoided the crumbs. Down to Columbus Circle, and Whole Foods (mad-house). Back to the Apt for a nap. In the evening, connected with two of Ann's sibs JClay and Ter, Ter's two daughters Isa and Char and JC's friend Cth and son Eli (quite a crew), for dinner at Ozu. Walked JClay down to subway stop.

Friday: Brief day at work, then off to catch the bus to NYC. Arrived a little before 9pm. Dinner with Ann at Penang. I got a vegetable curry dish and brown rice. Then, over to Ky's.

Lilac and Clover(field)

2008-05-09T00:25:00.003-05:00

Thursday: Woke, lay in bed for a spell, and then found it two hours later than I had thought. Good thing too. Shower, down basement and some drums. Fed Oscar, and began making breakfast as I made some phone calls. Ate, packed the car, then headed out, across town. Lovely day, the smell of lilacs following me.

Approaching the office, a truck was having trouble making a turn, and blocked my progress. Parked on the street, and walked the rest of the way. Worked for an hour, then walked back out and attempted to park again. This time, two trucks were blocking my way, and I had to wait several minutes before finally gaining access to the parking garage. Emails, and bugs, yea ha. Worked until 7:15, then headed out. Met Shawn-o at the Starbucks in Somerville, then to Arlington for rehearsal. Ran through all our material. I wasn't playing particularly well tonight, but it felt good, and was fun. A new approach to Chrysanthemum, a better middle section for Eye of the Needle, and working out Growing Circle. So, quite productive. Shawn lent me some drum gear, and I headed home around 10.

Heard quite an interesting public radio show on genetics. Stopped at the video store, and picked up "Cloverfield." Back at the ranch, some leftover rice-noodles, gluten-free bread and baba-ganoush, cheese, salad, watching the vid. Down basement, neck stretching, and then watched the rest of the movie on the treadmill. Thumbs up, but I'm glad I saw this on the small screen. Now, to complete the day.

Bonus post 1

2008-05-08T01:44:00.002-05:00

Wednesday: Reluctantly got up, after not much sleep. Shower. Mom called, and I told her I'd call her back. Down basement, no drums. Called mom as I made breakfast, and we talked about the whole gluten situation. The chiropractor's office called and said they wanted me their early. I said I couldn't make it, but that I'd be on time. Ate breakfast quickly, and left without washing the dishes. Another very lovely day out. They took another x-ray of me today... we'll see how my neck is doing. Then, through the tunnel, and into HSq. Found a parking spot (quite fortuitous), and went back into the barber shop. They'd left a bit too long. The owner said "who cut your hair" and I said "your son!" "What else is new..." he said, and cleaned me up. Went to the CD store, but didn't see anything I wanted to buy. Coffee. Downloaded a couple of Nine Inch Nails collections form the web. Bug fix a-rama. Got a Pad-Thai. Stayed until about 9:30. Dropped the 3rd Life key off. Doubt I'll ever set foot in there again. Back home, cleaning up, taking out the garbage, email, made some progress on converting old documents from work, then down basement, neck stretching, treadmill, and now, to complete the day.

Completion

2008-05-07T01:12:00.005-05:00

Because I've taken to writing multi-day entries, and because I skipped some weeks entirely here and there, I can't quite put a finger on exactly when this round of diary commitment ended. If I had written one entry per day, it would have ended around January 9th of this year. By now, even with the time off, surely I have written my 1001. So, let's call this complete. I have yet to decide what I'm doing moving forward. Until then, consider these "bonus entries."

A letter to mom

2008-05-07T00:57:00.002-05:00

Tuesday: Didn't really feel like getting out of bed today, but did eventually. Shower, down basement. Had some breakfast with a slice of gluten-free toast. I wouldn't say it was delicious, but it was nice to have something to chase the eggs around with. Oscar. Put away the snow shovels and salt. Tended to email, and updated the kkc website. Off to work, the long way around, on a very lovely spring day. Found a parking spot, in front of a couple of young women who had just gotten a parking ticket. Got my hair-cut, choosing the guy that had given me a decent one last time. Talked about the flames shooting out of manholes in HSq a few days back. Picked up stuff at the pharmacy. I've been dealing with acid-reflux for several years, which is what these pills I pick up are for. It turns out that this may be caused by the gluten sensitivity... So, hoping that I'll be able to give up these monthly pilgrimages. In to work, and accomplished one thing today: fixing the informational context for tasks running in non-real-time mode. Headed home around 9. Wrote my mom a carefully worded email. It struck me that she may have a problem with gluten also... it would explain some things she's been dealing with, and this condition has a hereditary component. Made a wheat-free pasta, vegetables, tofu and cheese concoction, and ate watching the end of Alexander. Neck stretching, and lost on the treadmill. Almost done with season 3, and season 4 isn't out yet. I'll need to find a new show, I guess.

Power Outage/No Refund/Iron Man/No Wheat

2008-05-06T00:44:00.004-05:00

Monday: Another lazy morning, reluctantly getting up. Shower & morning practices. Got breakfast going while Ann was beautifying. Fed the birds and Oscar. We ate, then she packed while I cleaned up. Gave her a ride to the train station. Sad goodbyes. Off to work. Spent all day tracking down one bug. Turned out to be a subtle issue in the high level generation code. Rbt invited me into his office. We talked about the blowing winds. Since he has no way to incent me, he offered the suggestion that I might like to think about working more hours until we ship. Duly noted. Ann texted me saying there wouldn't be any more negotiations with her work. Stayed until 10:20. Stopped at the grocery on the way home, buying gluten free bread, pasta and cereal. Home, some down-time. Down basement, neck stretching, lost on the treadmill, and now to complete the day.

Sunday: Ann and I caught up on sleep, not getting out of bed until 5:20pm. Just enough time for a shower, 'morning' practices, and some breakfast (sans toast), before heading off to guitar circle. More very good work on phrasing with Elan. Martin asked if I thought he had shit on his guitar neck. I commented that on Flying Home, we sounded like we were chopping wood. It was cold in the space. Back home, a late night snack with Ann, then evening practices and to bed.

Saturday: Up at a decent time, lazy morning, and breakfast with Ann. Morning practices. Got a letter from the doctor saying I probably have a gluten sensitivity. While this is annoying in some respects, if avoiding wheat clears up some of the stomach ailments I've been having, I'm all for it. Drove with Ann into Boston, and saw Iron Man. Lots of fun, though if you've watched all the trailers, as I had, you've seen most of the movie. We took a walk around through the Commons and Botanical Gardens. Headed back home.

Friday: Day the L1 would have begun. Up, typical morning, and off to work, on a gray day. In the office, the power had gone out. Rebooting. Looking into bugs, when the power went out again. SR wrote to say that she would not be giving me any credit for the money I'd paid on the space. Texting with Ann, who was traveling towards Boston on a bus. She arrived around 8, and I met her at the station. Dinner at The Grasshopper. Lots of take-home. Stopped at Whole Foods, and just made it in before it closed. Picked up a few essentials.

A day like any other day

2008-05-01T23:24:00.003-05:00

Thursday: A better sleep last night, though still well shy of 7 hours. Fairly standard morning. Oscar's buddy was a little less scared of me today. Heading out, across town to work. Drove past Dnld, not wanting to stop. Spent some time working through bugs with B. Of course, I was able to reproduce a bug he could not, but then, we lost the stack trace. In some ways, XCode is really a POS. Walked out and deposited pay. Burrito. Gave B a tour of some code I'd written a while back. Stayed until about 7:30.
Picked Shawn up along the train tracks on Somerville Ave. A good, if short, rehearsal at my place. Did a little work on Growing Circle, which might be a nice, and easy, addition to our set. Dropped him back at the Porter shopping plaza. Back home, a little down-time, neck stretching, treadmill, now to complete the day.

Things to hit with a stick

2008-05-01T00:51:00.002-05:00

Wednesday: Fairly decent amount of sleep last night, meaning more than 4 hours. Up, shower, fed Oscar, down basement. Packed up some old stuff that should be out of the house. Attached some sleigh bells to the toms on my drum kit. Drums are fun for many reasons, but one of the best ones is you get to keep messing with the configuration. I guess guitarists sort of have that buzz with pedal effects... but I learned to hate those things in my teens. These days when it comes to guitar, I want it simple... but drums, there's always something new to smack with a stick! Breakfast, email. Headed out, stopping at the PO.

In at the office, talked to B about some low level bugs. Made a dev kit and sent it out. Didn't get a whole hell of a lot done today, looking at a bug that's perhaps out of my control to fix. Burrito. Stayed until around 10:30. Hit some traffic driving home.

Watched a little more "Alexander." Damn, the accents they decided to use in this movie are ridiculous! Cleaned out the 'fridge, and put out the garbage. Down basement, neck stretching, and lost on the treadmill. Now to complete the day.

Pulling the plug

2008-04-29T23:14:00.005-05:00

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

2008-04-28T23:49:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-25T00:11:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-23T22:05:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-23T00:21:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-21T22:53:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-20T22:15:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-18T00:42:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-16T22:13:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-15T23:15:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-13T23:17:00.004-05:00

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

2008-04-12T00:07:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-09T22:09:00.004-05:00

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

2008-04-09T00:35:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-07T23:13:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-07T00:50:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-03T21:39:00.003-05:00

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

2008-04-02T23:16:00.004-05:00

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

2008-04-01T23:45:00.005-05:00

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.

Quiet day with Ann

2008-03-23T00:32:00.003-05:00

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.

Talking with Richard

2008-03-21T23:47:00.002-05:00

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

2008-03-21T00:02:00.003-05:00

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.

Short day (jet lag)

2008-03-20T02:08:00.002-05:00

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.

Married to Ann

2008-03-18T23:45:00.004-05:00

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.

Jack Black on my Back

2008-03-04T23:31:00.002-05:00

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

2008-03-04T01:49:00.004-05:00

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.

Mr Echo, 3213

2008-02-29T01:24:00.002-05:00

Thursday: Woke at 9. Scanning the state of the world from my cellphone in bed. Shower. Down basement, drums etc. Fed Oscar, ate a banana, loaded the car, and headed out.
To the chiropractor. The dude again. Stopped in Boston to pick something up. Then, in to work. Got an egg sandwich and a coffee.
Some reconnoitering with Al and B. Fixed a long standing bug involving an info panel not getting the proper data because a certain numeric granularity was not being applied. Dv rewrote some code I just wrote, for no good reason that I could tell. Got some pizza and a coffee. Worked on a bug where it was being assumed that there would be a entire sub-region in all imported files.
Left at 7:15.
Picked up Shawn at the bridge, then over to Arlington. An Electric session, looping for the first hour, some talk about gigs, then running through our material for the second. Dropped him in Porter.
Back home, unloaded, put away laundry, email, ate a bowl of cereal, then down basement for neck stretching, Lost on the treadmill, and now to complete the day.

picking the nits of the nit pickers

2008-02-28T01:45:00.002-05:00

Wednesday: Slept in after a late night. Kept waking up. Mom called around 11, but I just let the phone ring. Called her back a little later, and had a nice talk. Shower. Down basement, drums etc. Breakfast, but the soy sausage put me off my appetite a little. Fed Oscar. Laundry. Headed out. Saw Neighbor Bill walking down the street.

Stopped at the bank to get a check. Saw Neighbor Bill walking past the bank. Waved my hand at him and said "Stop following me around!" In at the office, lots of goodies up front. RPT stopped me and we got into a protracted conversation about a tweak I'd made the day before. Some issues are like friggen bees nests. I ended the conversation by saying "I don't fucking care. You guys figure it out." Found out I did have a misunderstanding about the way the program is supposed to work (lulled into this by the ui design). Backed out my changes and entered a suggestion at a more appropriate fix in the database. Worked on re-working a feature I had implemented based on tester feedback. Quite a bit larger project than one would think. Burrito. The woman making my burrito first put beans on the wrong type of shell. Realizing her mistake she scooped the beans back into the vat, and threw out the shell. Then, she dropped tofu on the floor. Mmmm. Just when I thought I was done, I realized I had missed a subtlety in the nit picking, so more code. Headed home around 10:30. Snowing.

Fed Oscar again (he's been realizing he can get fed twice a day, if he makes some noise). Took out the recycling and the trash. Laundry. Watched a little video. Laundry. Guitar.

Down basement, neck stretching, treadmill. Now to complete the day.

2008-02-27T05:16:00.000-05:00

Hvs 2.75

2008-02-27T01:48:00.002-05:00

Tuesday: Woke around 9, listening to the BBC. Shower. Made some diagrams for a couple from the workshop, and email them off. Down basement and morning practices + drums. Fed the Oscar beast. Headed out, with a breakfast at the donut shop. An old man, with the look of a continental Indian, in a SUV parked next to me, god's-eye hanging from the rear-view, threw garbage out his window, then slumped against the glass of the driver's side window, occasionally glancing over at me with a pained look on his face. Over to the chiropractor's. Another new guy, a young bulky jokester, who got excited and did an "end zone dance" every time he produced a loud pop from my spine.

Stopped in Boston to run an errand. Also managed to transfer $17.50 from a "Charlie Ticket" to my "Charlie Card" (mass transit payment schemes). My parking tab was $18. It all balances out, I guess.

In at work, fixed a variety of small bugs, trying to thin out the list a-bit. I need a new category of bug: "nit-pick." Not that they shouldn't be addressed... but they can crowed out the burning issues. Stayed until 10pm.

Heading home, couldn't turn onto my street out of Union due to some construction. Fueled up. Back home, leftover Chinese. Emailed MB copies of schedule C from the 06 returns. Down basement, neck stretching, and treadmill (lost). Now to complete the day.

Dentist, one hour off

2008-02-26T00:18:00.002-05:00

Monday: Up around 9. Shower. Down basement. Fed Oscar, and had a quick breakfast. Off to the dentist. Arriving there, they said my appointment was for 10, not 11. Don't know how that happened. Thankfully, they were able to fit me in. Happy mouth.

In to work, and swatting a few low hanging bugs. Found a feature had been broken for a couple years, and no one noticed. Got into fixing it. Took a walk out, deposited a check, bought vitamins, picked up some lunch. Stayed at work until about 8.

Did some grocery shopping on the way home, picking up cat food, and a few other things. At the ranch: Put away the goodies. Email. Watching a couple of short vids. Down basement for neck stretching and treadmill. More email. Now for evening practices.

Day-long

2008-02-24T22:02:00.002-05:00

Sunday: Slept in. We got up around noon. Down basement while Ann showered. Breakfast, with some yummy zucchini that Ann made. Hanging out. Bb showed up, but he was the only one, so some chatting, and then he took off. Drove Ann to the bus. Stopped at the video store. Picked up some donuts. Back home for videos and donuts. Took a walk up the hill before the sun set.

Saturday: Up at 6:30. Morning practices. Breakfast with Ann. Packed the car, and we headed out a little after 8. Over to Woburn, where I taught a day-long workshop. A lot of people had canceled last minute due to illness and weather, but it was a good experience for me, and I trust for those that attended. Things wrapped up a bit after 5. Ann and I had dinner at Wang's, the over to Whole Foods to pick up a few things. Back home, and watching "30 Rock" (which she had on DVD) Evening practices, and to bed.

Friday: Up around 9:30, a little more course prep. Down basement and such. Ate at the donut shop on my way to the Chiropractor: snow falling. My chiropractor hurt himself skiing, so there was some young guy there as a replacement today. He felt a bit rougher than my usual doctor, and I'm not sure I liked the experience. In to work, and wrapped up a batch of changes (doing a lot of testing) on the import/export feature. Back home, a frozen pizza, and more course planning. Picked up Ann at the train station at 11 (delay due to the snow). Some hanging out then evening practices. To bed by around 2.

Thursday: Up and usual morning stuff. Had a big breakfast. Off to work. Not there long, and dreadfully began feeling dreadful. Half of my big breakfast down the john at work, back home and then other half. My stomach is still a bit fragile after my illness of last month. Spent the afternoon sacked out on the couch watching "Jackass" on my laptop. Feeling better in the evening, and a little work planning the weekend course.

Possible possibilities

2008-02-21T00:04:00.003-05:00

Wednesday: Woke around 10. Some emails from people signing up for this weekend's course, and a bright sun, put a spring in my step before I got out of bed. Shower. Downstairs and email. Fed Oscar. Down basement, morning practices, drums. Had a nice breakfast. Vacuumed out my car. Neighbor Bill said hello, and asked if Oscar was Gus. I told him the old sad news about my two old cats.
Headed off to work. Funnily, the guy that had asked for the feature I'm currently working on, put an entry in the db saying he no longer wanted the feature. Well, he's getting it anyway. Throughout the course of the day, did most of the implementation. Took a walk out and got some pizza at a new place in the hallway next to Au Bon Pain. A guy sitting next to me was practicing a foreign language with a partner on Skype. Dv asked me some questions about a bit of code from 1989, that was doing a binary search, rather than implementing a reverse mapping function. Stayed until about 8:30. Headed home, stopping to drop off vids on the way.
Gave my mom a call, and talked about possible future possibilities. Email.
Down basement and, neck stretching, and treadmill. Now to complete the day.

The alarm technician arrives

2008-02-20T00:21:00.002-05:00

Tuesday: After a late night, and not much sleep, woke at 9, and for some reason decided to get up and eat a bowl of cereal. Fed Oscar. The alarm company repairman showed up, and then I realized why I'd gotten up. Sat watching the end of "Before Sunrise" while he worked in the basement, replacing the analog backup system. He wrapped up around 11. Down basement to put things back in order, morning practices, and drums. Took a shower, did some cleaning up in the basement, putting away the spare guitar, and headed out. On the way listened to a bit of a show on NPR with a scholar who rejected Christianity because of its inability to explain the horrific suffering of innocents present in the world.
Picked up some lunch, and got to work on the export side of the n-in-one issue. Looking fairly complicated. Later got a coffee and a slice of lemon loaf. Discussing the relative merits of floating windows. Got a call from my Chiropractor's office: The doctor was injured in a skiing accident. Feeling not-well-rested, and finding it hard to concentrate, I decided to call it a day around 7.
Back home, and a 20 minute nap. Watched some of a movie, and decided it was dull, fast forwarding through most of it. Ate some leftover lasagna, watching a speech by Barack Obama streaming on the web. Down basement, neck bracing, and Lost on the treadmill. Now to complete the day.

Dayo de Prez

2008-02-19T02:08:00.003-05:00

Monday: Slept in, enjoying the fact that there was no official need for me to go into work. Shower. Fed Oscar. Down basement for morning practices and drums, feeling a bit drained. Emailing about upcoming course. Tidying. Headed out.
Stopped for an egg sandwich, then into work. Got the stuff for import of n-way files working. Started in on the export side of things. Took a walk out, depositing a check, going to the CD store (not seeing anything that was calling to me), and getting a cup of coffee. The lady at the Starbucks asked if anyone made fun of my duck umbrella. I said no one made fun of the duck, because it was an attack duck, and if they did they'd get pecked. This seemed to set her back a pace. Very quiet day at the office, most of the lights being off. L was in, getting an installer together before his vacation.
Back home around 9, stopping on the way for some groceries. The last of the leftover Indian food while watching some vids. Doing some course design work. An enjoyable evening at home. Now to complete the day.

GCNE at the Y

2008-02-18T01:51:00.003-05:00

Sunday: A lazy morning, shower, morning practices, then out for breakfast with Ann at Sound Bites. Dropped her at the bus station. A donut. To the video store, then back home for a lazy afternoon, watching some vids, cleaning out some old food in the kitchen, eating leftover Indian food, then down basement for exercise, and to complete the day.

Saturday: Slept in and a lazy morning. Morning practices, drums. Breakfast of eggs toast and such. A bit of guitar practice, then Ann and I headed over to the Y in Central Square. Most of the rest of the GCNE was already there getting the PA set up. Introducing Ann to the guys. Victor arrived a bit later. Sound check. Quite a nice space. The guys from the headlining band showed up and ate sandwiches while we got the sound happening. They did their sound-check as people arrived. Some hanging out with Ann in the back, and then circled up at 7:30. We went on around 7:40, ChrisP leading out. Not our best show, but not our worst either. I think our sound was quite good, and a couple of pieces had some real life to them. Until Victor and I seriously do some right-hand work, I don't think Driving Force should be trotted out again. The audience was very appreciative, and expressed this in part by taking lots of photos. This mucked me up a bit in Chrysanthemum, but I really shouldn't have let it. After our set, Ann and I took a stroll out and got some Mexican food. Back to the venue where "Your Move" was playing a selection of Art Rock Chestnuts, many of which I'd never expected to hear performed live, including Firth of Fifth, and the complete album (both sides) of Close to the Edge. Quite an effort. Mutual appreciation expressed on behalf of both bands. Headed home, and some hanging out before bed.

Friday: Up after sleeping in a bit, shower, fed Oscar, down basement, then out on the road. Stopped at the donut shop for an egg sandwich, and then to the Chiropractor. He was wearing an American flag tie today.

In at work, getting most of the code running for n-way import. Al was looking into an assert. Got some mac and cheese to go. Headed home around 8. Ann text messaged me saying her bus had hit a lot of traffic. Down basement, exercise and evening practices. Picked up Ann around 11. Some practicing guitar while she took a shower, then to bed.

Valentine's and the day before

2008-02-15T01:13:00.003-05:00

Thursday: Slept in a bit, and lazing, feeling connected. Shower, down basement for morning practices and drums. Packed away some old memorabilia. Sometimes, these things are radioactive. Also deleted some files off my computer. Mom called as I was making breakfast. Fed that Oscar beast. Off.

Stopped at the auto parts store and got a new brake light. In at work, continued with the import/export work. Finding a few I can punt. Ann sent me a nice package via FedEx. A short day, I left at 7:10 to go meet Shawn. Picked him up in Porter Sq. He gave me an account of his ordeal with the tonsillectomy. Hellacious. An OK rehearsal, but we were both feeling a bit out of practice on the Church material. Talked about doing some gigs in RI. Dropped him off, then across town to drop a video at the store. Back home, ordered Indian, then did my neck stretching while it was being prepared. Picked up the food, and dinner, listening to the radio. Down basement and Lost on the treadmill. Now to complete the day.

Wednesday: Shower, brief sitting upstairs, laundry. Fed the Oscar beast. In to work, continuing to fix bugs in the import/export sub-system. KJ gave me some good information: we were ignoring an offset in a file, which was making it look byte-reversed. Brake light out on the car. Tried to debug it in the parking lot. Drove home carefully. Down basement and Lost on the treadmill, evening practices. Had a late dinner of lasagna watching a little of an old movie.

Work day in two parts

2008-02-13T01:22:00.002-05:00

Tuesday: Had a good sleep in, though I dreamt that two people were talking about world food supply, and wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise. Waking up I realized that it was the radio again. Shower. Down basement and drums. Breakfast. Fed Oscar. Email.

Off to work, across town. Nice email from a contact at Apple, that raised more questions than it answered. Had been working for a couple hours when my stomach began to feel upset. Decided to gingerly drive home. Had some down-time, watching the last two episodes of season 4 of the Wire. Decided I was feeling good enough to go back. Drove back in the long way around. Picked up some take out macaroni and cheese. Put in a couple more hours, working on the import/export code.

Stopped on the way back home (snowing lightly) to drop off videos. Pizza. Watched the Mr an Mrs Smith staring Brad and Angelina. OK if you like light hearted movies that use people getting killed and things blowing up, as a metaphor for marriage. New strings on the guitar. Now to complete the day.