Rudy's/Trimming hedge/A circle of two

Sunday: Woke at 8:45 without an alarm. Exactly the time I wanted to
wake. Up shower and down basement briefly. Headed for KKC without
waking MB.

Nice to be back at the center for Sunday teaching. I answered a
question about the division of space, which seemed to surprise
people. Connected with Tni and gave her the wound mantras.

After teaching, gave someone a ride to the T, then Wnd and I had
lunch at Rudy's. We were actually going to have lunch at the Tibetan
place in Davis, but the streets were closed. The other Tibetan
restaurant in Teele Sq was itself closed. We had a nice lunch, and
she told me about a connection she'd made on her recent retreat, that
I believed represents a step forward for her. The weather was
absolutely perfect today.

Back home and down basement. I heard MB return upstairs, so popped up
to say hello. Victor called to say it would be just me and him
tonight. She had a little time before heading to Franklin. She went
upstairs to practice guitar, and I went back down basement.

Later on, headed back to KKC. Returned home having picked up a photo
CD. MB was back from Franklin. The class had been canceled at the
last minute. I went out front and trimmed the box bush along the side
of the driveway with the electric trimmers that mom gave us from the
Cape. Took quite a bit off the driveway side. Swept up, and put away
the tools. Ate the leftover bit of burrito, and had a nice
conversation with MB about life goals and plans.

Headed out to Victor's, arriving just after 8 PM. Sat down to play
outside. No bugs, which is surprising, given all the rain we had. He
played a good stretch of the Paganini piece he's been working on.
Maybe I'll play bass on it. We played Chrysanthemum through a couple
of times. I suggested he come up with a second part to my piece
Loadstone. We worked on that for a while. The motion sensor light
kept going off. Don't know where its sensor is pointed. I tried
jumping up and down to kick it back on. Nothing. Threw a stick in the
air which almost hit Victor coming down. It's not good to almost hit
your guitar buddy with a stick. We went inside, and continued
working. Got through the beginning part of the piece and recorded it
using the built-in mic on his laptop. A pleasant drive home listening
to "My Word" on the BBC.

MB was still out at a BD gig when I got in. Down basement. Took a
break to see if she had returned. Nope. More basement stuff. Still no
MB. Ate some bread and cheese. Hanging with the cats. Email. Sleepy
now.

Yard-work/Winding

Saturday: Slept in a bit after a late night. MB woke me. Shower,
cats, then breakfast with her: eggs, grapefruit, toast, coffee. What
was a sunny day turned cloudy, and it began to rain. Guitar. MB
headed off for a lesson with Victor. Email and such, then down
basement for morning practices. I came back up around the time that
MB got back from her lesson.

Some more guitar. MB made some cookies: Chocolate chip, with traces
of oats and raisons. Two cookies in one! We set out on a walk,
talking some to the across-the-street neighbor who has just bought a
house a few doors down as an investment. Up the street we saw a kid
riding holding a bag of multi colored cereal. Up and around on
Highland, enjoying looking at houses in need of repair, or newly
renovated. Stopped at Stc's house, but she was gone for the weekend.
Met her house-mate.

Back home, MB went upstairs to do some stuff, and I went out and cut
the grass. Also did a good bit of pruning of the forsythia and lilac
along the western boarder of the yard.

When I was done, I cleaned up, and was sitting down to relax when the
phone rang. F calling asking if I wanted to go hang out with him and
M. He misunderstood my calling out to MB as an answer in the
affirmative, and I didn't want to back out, so, well alright. Drove
down to Davis and met them and enjoyed conversation while they ate
frozen yogurt. We decided to go see the new "X Men" movie at the
horrible theater near my house, so that's what we did. After the
movie, dropped them back at their place, and picked up some Chinese
food on the way home. Ate vegetarian hot and sour soup, and spinach
dumplings, hanging out with MB. We watched some of a disappointing
SNL rerun. Said goodnight to her, then down basement for more stuff.
Winding for Toni.

Rumours

Friday: Slept in a bit. The usual stuff. Breakfast. Gave Victor a
call, and we talked about the "Tuning the Air" project. He's going to
talk more with Curt. Down basement and stuff. Sorted through the
"cardboard box cubby" and retrieved a couple of important boxes. Some
guitar. Headed off to work, a bright and sunny day.

Worked on two smaller dev kits, porting example code to XCode and
updating documentation. The sun departed and rain broke out. Walked
out, borrowing an umbrella, and got some cash and a coffee. B said
something generous about my usefulness. MB called from the market
asking if I knew we needed anything. Headed home around 9 PM.

Helped MB put away groceries. We make a quick supper: salad, heated
canned soup, microwaved potato, baguette. Talked about bad comedy
movies, which naturally led to Chevy Chase, and his quintessential
role as "Fletch." Also talked about Fleetwood Mac. It's strange but
"You Make Lovin' Fun" doesn't sound like the product of drug binges,
partner swapping, and emotional devastation... but it is.

From Barry Walsh of Slant: "Of course, legend has it that the entire
band was falling to pieces during the making of the record-not hard
to understand when you consider that Fleetwood Mac was comprised of
two couples that were breaking up with each other (Stevie and
Lindsey, and John and Christine), while the sole
romantically-unencumbered member, drummer Mick Fleetwood, was a
raving coke fiend. Still, amidst the shrapnel flying every which way
from the many broken hearts, great music was shaped out of the
personal wreckage that was Fleetwood Mac '77. Romantic relationships,
brain cells, and perhaps a nose lining or two were sacrificed at the
altar of classic, undying pop. And once the smoke had cleared,
Rumours would go on to sell a quadrazillion copies."

Some foot rubbings. More Guitar. Soon down basement.

Nvu

Thursday: MB was working at home today. Had a fairly intentional
first part of the morning. Down basement. Used the weed whacker on
the lawn to top the highest stuff. I'll mow over the weekend, if it
doesn't rain.

In to work more or less just in time to go to lunch with the gang.
Penang. Talked a little about the MacBook and so on. The food came
strangely quickly. I've been doing my documentation in Adobe GoLive,
but the licence wouldn't work on the Intel iMac. At Mthw's
suggestion, searched for a shareware replacement, and found a
workable package. Nvu. Nothing has been done on it in awhile, but it
did the trick after a few initial problems. Spent most of the day
writing documentation. More project tweaks.

Got home around 10. Some guitar. Expecting a call from MB, but none
came. Left a message on her cell, then down basement for practices.
She returned around 12:15 from a BD gig. Some hanging out with her,
then back downstairs. A late night.

bird caught in the fence

Wednesday: Woke around 8, MB heading out. She had something on her
mind, but she wouldn't say what. Cat wrangling. Shower, then
breakfast. Saw a bird outside that had managed to get its leg caught
in the picket fence. Went out and extracted it. The leg looked OK.
Kissed its head and sent it on its way. It flew up to a tree branch
and made angry sounds at me. Down basement and some morning stuff.
Put away laundry.

Headed off to work. A little rain just as I got to the garage. B was
not in the office today. Ported another add-on to XCode. Project
tweaks. Got a burrito. Ate at my desk. R looked disapproving, or
maybe my imagination. Left around 7:30.

Back home, and down basement. A Middle-Eastern drum class was in
progress upstairs. Daily practice. KKC website stuff. Spent some time
with MB, talking and eating cheese and crackers. Guitar. More KKC
stuff. Soon bed.

Death meditation

Tuesday: Woke around 8:30 as MB headed out. She was all dressed up in
her CPO attire in preparation for a day of videotaping instructional
segments. I was having disturbing dreams about the weather turning
against us. Web, cats, shower. Marched myself down basement for
morning practices. After, a bowl of cereal. Laundry. Guitar. Emptied
the dish washer.

Headed across town. Stopped for gas: $48. Had to take a detour around
a closed off street. At work, more project fiddling. Added a script
to build a development kit. Built the add-ons and delivered them. A
long conversation about a company that wants the industry to modify
its standards, and for everyone to adopt the changes, just to support
a hardware hack. Left around 6:30.

Yoga: Many new people tonight. The class was perhaps a little more
easy-going than usual. Death meditation at the end. Cough cough
cough. Slipped out without saying goodbye.

Back home, and my support call. Folks perhaps sounded a little tired
this week, and not so much new to report... but enjoyable. After,
back upstairs, and hello to MB. She's gotten quite good at playing
Asturias. Some soup and toast. Ate the peach cobbler MB had packed in
my lunch. Talking about real estate and politics. A bit more guitar.
Still have some stuff to do down basement.

Peach crumble

Monday: Woke around 8. MB had left to do some dance rehearsal at
Third Life. She returned as I was stumbling about. Cats. Shower. Down
basement for morning stuff. Put together two packages of CDs to mail
to CD Baby. Headed out. Stopped at the PO and sent the packages.

At Kurukulla, saw Ngawang briefly, but not a soul otherwise. Filled
water bowls. Stopped and got an egg sandwich and coffee. Very
disturbing conversation about Iraq on NPR. It was a lovely sunny day
out.

In to work, and fiddled with project files for most of the day,
getting the rest of my add-ons building, and creating umbrella
projects to build them all with one command. B merged the Intel work
onto the trunk. Ate a cheese and crackers lunch at my desk. A new
battery for my PowerBook, and a new 'J' key arrived. With these
installed my "pre-selling refurb" work is complete. Got and built the
trunk. Headed home around 9:20.

Back home, spent some time with MB. Feeling a bit under the weather.
Ate soup, toast, herbal tea. MB had made some delicious peach
crumble, which I had with ice cream. Now, guitar, then down basement.

Mom at the Fells.

Sunday: Slept in a bit. Woke around 10. Heard mom up and moving
about. Sitting in bed. Shower, then downstairs and made us breakfast.
MB had already made some nice fruit salad. MB headed to OCBC around
noon. Mom and I looked at photos from Argentina, and then photos from
the Level 3, and other photos. Around 1 we drove out to The Fells,
and had a nice walk in the woods, talking about how some moments
leave lasting impressions, her life transitions, and being in the
moment. We stopped by Kurukulla on the way home, and I showed her
around. Wendy came out of the teaching room (where they were having a
meeting) and said she must come in and look around. Back home
briefly, then to South Station, and dropped her off right around 3 PM.

Back home, and spent some time with MB before she headed out to a
gig. Email and messing about, then down basement. I saw a rainbow. MB
reported she'd seen two as well. The evening was spent alternating
between basement time, and hanging with MB. No circle tonight.

Bridge's Fair, Mom, Dulcimers at Third Life

Saturday: Woke at 8. Coughing earlier. Up, cats, shower. MB headed
out to a BD teaching gig. Sitting in the dance room. Victor called
and asked me to bring a stool. Loaded the car. Headed out around
9:20. Stopped for an egg sandwich. They couldn't seem to get my order
right. On the highway, saw a rear-end fender-bender happen right in
front of me. Ate while driving. Arrived at the fairgrounds at 10 AM.
Victor David and Dev were already there. We set up stools. Victor got
our sound happening. A young lad looked on and eventually asked how
much our guitars cost. We circled up at 10:55, and began our set just
after 11. Circulation, Growing Circle, Calliope, Third Relation,
Moving Force, Askesis, Chrysanthemum, Bicycling to Afghanistan,
Bartok. Mostly things went pretty well. It was a sunny day, and
everyone seemed to be having a pretty good time. Had a nice long talk
with Jme about electronic music and live performance. Headed out, and
home by 12:45. Hung out with MB a bit, who reported her class went
well. Down basement and daily practices. When complete, upstairs.
Snacks. My mom's train was delayed by a half hour. Drove off to pick
her up at 4 PM. South Station, and met her just after she
disembarked. Back home, and in the kitchen drinking tea and enjoying
conversation. At 5:45, headed to dinner at Vinny's Italian
restaurant. Delicious. We filled mom in on our experience in
Argentina. MB ordered a glass of wine from Mendoza, which was being
offered as a special. To Union Square. Got seats for the performance
at Third Life, then took a walk around, pointing things out to mom.
The performance was quite good: hammer dulcimer plus (pick one)
keyboard (synth), Oud, a second hammer dulcimer, accordion. Hand
percussion also. Intertwining melodies, some "home brew" some from
around the world. Mostly odd meters. During the intermission, MB let
the sleeve of her sweater fall into the toilet. That wine from
Mendoza will do it to you. Back home around 10:30. Ice-cream and tea,
watching the Stephen Colbert roast of Bush (mom hadn't seen it). More
enjoyable time hanging out, then fading, MB first (asleep on the
couch) then mom.

Mike's force of habit

Friday: Woke as MB headed out, then again a little later, then again
when M showed up to clean the house. Cough cough cough. Shower. Took
care of cats. Down basement briefly, then headed out. Stopped at the
donut shop and got an egg sandwich and some coffee. Sat in the car
with the top down while I ate, drops of rain falling from the trees.

In to work and more project-wrasslin. Got most of the rest of the
add-ons building, and tested them. There was a long meeting in the
office about a new product that is being developed. Went out and got
some pizza which I ate at my desk. Things are almost buttoned up on
the Intel port. The luthier that is building my new guitar called and
said that indeed he had forgotten a couple of features that I had
asked for. No big problem though, he said. Stayed until around 8:45.

Back home, MB was off at a BD gig. Down basement and practices, then
some food (Spanikopita and egg-drop-noodle soup). Practiced guitar,
working through the material for tomorrow's gig. Email. MB came home
around 2 AM.

A new parishioner

Thursday: Up late last night, so slept until 10 or so. Cats, and a
sitting in the dance room. Breakfast of cereal and coffee. Pulled
equipment together and headed out. Another sunny day!

In at work, continued with the project hijinx. Got my "wrapper"
add-on working. Fixed one bug where the byte order was not being
properly reversed. Took a walk out and got a burrito. Got several
more add-ons building. B continues with the project of piling
everything together. Left around 8:20, heading for Arlington.

Rehearsal with Shawn. Ran through everything once or twice by around
10 PM. Took a break to go out and get coffee and ran into MB.
Starbucks, and goodies and hot drinks. MB worked with us for about an
hour, she dancing, and us playing. Broke a string, and put in another
one. Gave Shawn a ride home, then home for me as well. MB's upstairs
playing guitar. I will soon head down basement.

not a superhero

Wednesday: MB woke me on her way out. Scratchy throat. More sleep
until almost 11. Needed it. Took care of cats. Wrote an email
declining super-heroism. Brief sitting in the dance room. Cereal
yogurt and coffee. Down basement, and cleaned up some ceiling tiles
that had gotten wet. We had a little water come through, and the
tiles were standing on end against a wall.

Drove in to work. Another day fiddling with projects. Bug with
exported symbols in XCode. Eventually got an add-on loading. Took a
walk out to do some banking and pick up some pizza. Talked to my mom,
who sounds like she's doing pretty well. B gave me a run-down of his
work in re-combining all the projects into one uber-project. Headed
home around 10 PM.

Stopped at the Stop and Shop and shopped. Pilfered a few extra paper
bags on the way out. Back home, hung out with MB, talking about
cannibalism, and other macabre topics. She went to bed. Guitar for
about an hour.

hand-held

Woke around 7:30, MB heading out. Not much sleep, but feeling
energized. Cats. Then down basement for some morning practices. A bit
of breakfast. Guitar. Headed off to work, stopping at an electronics
store, looking at hand-held digital voice recorders. Didn't find one
I could trust.

In at work, more fussing with project files. XCode is pretty flaky.
Took a walk out and looked at some more recorders, with even less
luck. Pizza. Plus the lunch MB packed. Stayed until around 8. Add-on
building, but not loading.

Back home, some practices, then a call with my mates. Ssn isn't
buying the church. Upstairs around 10:35. MB and I unloaded the
dishwasher. I ate my leftover fried rice, and we both drank tea. More
guitar.

Pineapples and Gutters

Monday: Up around 7, as MB headed out. Cats and shower and so on.
Then some breakfast. Guitar. Down basement for morning things.
Cleaned out the gutters. It's overcast, but we had a break in the
rain. Headed to KKC around 11:30.

Said hello to Ngawang, who gave me a piece of pineapple, and Jf.
Filled water bowls. The prayer wheel that I filled is finally
installed.

In to work. Fiddled with projects for most of the day. No, make that
all of the day. But, made good progress. Walked out and bought a
couple of CDs for MB. Headed home around 10 PM.

Back at the ranch, made some quicky friend rice, which I ate with a
piece of Spanikopita for dinner. Hanging with MB, and a pleasant
evening. Internet radio streaming through the new speakers. Heard
some sad news about a friend's father-in-law. Now, down basement.