Phone calls

Thursday: A couple of phone calls with no one on the other end. Tried to call the alarm company to set up an appointment to have the system worked on. Down basement. Breakfast of cereal and tea. Laundry. The dr's office called to say that he wanted to talk to me, so set up an appointment for tomorrow. In to work, and trying to make use of Al's new system. Finding it harder than it was worth. Stayed until 8. Feeling a bit beat, headed home. To the video store for a new disc of Six Feet Under. Back home and watched an episode on the treadmill. Evening practices. Early to bed tonight.

L.I.G.

Wednesday: Stock morning. Cold. Long way around. Worked on fixing the display of a window using Al's new layout subsystem. Dinner with F&M at Christopher's. Returned some art to M. Back home, watched an episode of Six Feet Under (had to go back to the store to swap disks). Worked on the guitar arrangement of L.I.G. completing around 2 AM. Down basement and evening practices.

Tires

Tuesday: Slept in after a late night. Somehow the radio got switched on, and I had dreams modified by George Bush's press conference. He was running around a soccer field, hugging people people in wheelchairs, while talking about "enriched uranium." Breakfast with Oscar. Shower. Down basement and morning practices. Loaded my snow-tires into the car. Placed a craigslist ad for MB's tires. Drove to the tire shop and had them swap the all-seasons for the snows. Got a coffee while this was going on. In to work, and investigating the puny API associated with the "proxy icon." Listened to the Democratic debate. Sold the tires, and scooted home to meet the guy and complete the transaction. Loaded my all-seasons back into the shed. Found and fixed a bug I'd introduced a week ago or so. Got some nachos at the Mexican place on the first floor. The guy in front of me in line ordered something like 9 burritos. MB called. We got a bad connection and it sounded like she was in a wind-tunnel. IMing with Ann. Stayed until almost 1am. Back home, and some toast. Watched part of a Six Feet Under episode, but the disc was scratched. Soon to complete the day.

Physical Exam

Woke at 8:40, just before the alarm. Quick shower. Down basement and morning practices. Put on water to boil and shoveled the front walk. Thanks to Bill for doing half of it for me. Speed-breakfast. Headed off to the doctor's.

Arrived right on time at 10:15. Waited. Finally saw the doctor. We had a rapid-fire conversation. He palpated me, felt my nuts, and then stuck his finger up my anus in an abrupt fashion. Well, at least I think it was his finger. After peeing into a cup and having blood drawn, I was free to go.

Found a parking spot near the PO in H Sq. and dropped another package in the mail to MB.

In at work, continued fixing a window that had been uglified by side-effect of the recent changes. Fixed a problem with floating-windows-as-modal-dialogs, and key events. Al said later he had already fixed this. Feeling quite sleepy, left a little after 8.

Back home, and took a wonderful half hour nap. Continued porting the OCBC website from GoLive to Dreamweaver. (Just bought Intel native versions of Dw and Photoshop). Put away laundry. Shoveled a bit more. Tried to acclimate Oscar to the litter box in the first floor bathroom, but just succeeded in freaking him out. A quiet night at home.

MB departs... Catching up

Nov 30th - Dec 2nd. Ann visits. Saturday night we go ice-skating on the frog pond, then dinner at the Elephant Walk on Beacon St in Boston. We sit next to a fellow that I knew several years ago from a seminar series, but I don't say hello. Sunday, Ann departs on the Fung Wah. A donut on the roof-parking-lot of the bus terminal. Not able to connect with Frank. Back home, and soon time to go to Guitar Circle. Victor, myself, Dev (who had to arrive late due to other commitments), Alex and Chris. A possibly useful analogy came to me when talking about how one becomes better able to juggle all the various attributes of playing: When a chef begins learning to cook, he follows recipes. After some time he knows what the dish is supposed to taste like, and acquires a familiarity with how each ingredient contributes to the end result. At this point, he doesn't need the recipe any more, and can respond to the varying nature and quality of the ingredients. In the same way, at first we need to concern ourselves with counting, with our technique, with the pulse, with the music, with the fingering, with the expression, with maintaining contact with the group, and so on. Once we know the music, as a whole, we don't have to spend too much time thinking about these details on a conscious level, and can concentrate on responding to the needs of the moment. We can begin with the wholeness and work backward. The more each member of the team knows the wholeness, the more fully it may be realized.

Nov 29: After doing some code-cleaning and commenting, checked in my add-on management project. Picked up Shawn at 7:40. To Arlington and picked up cymbals. To my place, and a recording session with the new studio. It went pretty smoothly after I realized that the mix control on the Echoplex was turned mostly to wet. Dropped Shawn home. Went out for a late-night shopping run. Saw a family have to abandon a whole shopping cart full of food that they had selected, because no funds were forthcoming from the ATM. Back home, and made three pumpkin pies with the pumpkin I had baked last week. I really only had enough filling for two and a half, so the last one became half banana.

Nov 27-28: In the evenings, I completed re-wired my home studio. This involved hoisting the mixer module up into the air on a winch. Luckily, I discovered that going in through the front by loosening modules, was much easier than trying to go in through the back. This made the job I'd been dreading go rather quickly. Still, on Wednesday night, I was up until dawn.



Nov 24th - 25th. Feeling under the weather. Sun going down early. Sleeping. Some tidying around the house. Began re-wiring my home studio. Guitar circle on Sunday, with the first "all hands on deck" meeting since the course. Almost every single one of us in the circle has had some major life shift since then. I had prepared some of the piece I'm arranging for presentation, but we didn't find time for it. We sent MB wishes, imagining her in the air hurtling west.

Nov 23rd: A guy tries to con me by saying his car has been towed. My mom arrives and we have lunch. She compliments my new furniture. Opening presents. Good conversation about yoga. She forgot her directions, so I recreate them for her, and she heads out. Casting about for entertainment. Feeling a head-cold coming on.



Nov 22nd: Thanksgiving. MB wraps up her packing. A final breakfast, and she heads out for a swing through RI visiting friends, and then to fly to Seattle on Sunday. Cleaning up. Casting about for entertainment. Gutted the pumpkin that had been sitting on the front steps. Baked the seeds and flesh.

Nov 20th: Breakfast as the 7-11. Then flying back to Boston. Straight to work.



Nov 15th - 19th. My trip with Ann to Ohio. A cat shows up on the course. The camp runs out of water. A walk through the labyrinth. Playing the little travel guitar I had brought. Coming to have a vivid example of how my maps of another's emotional state can be completely wrong, and lead to misunderstanding. Flying back to NYC. Over the weekend of the 17th-18th MB spent time in CT with my mom.



Nov 14th: A moving van arrived early morning, and spirited away most of MB's stuff. There was more stuff than she had anticipated, and so there were extra charges. I completed my packing. The house-cleaners arrived. Off to work for a brief day, then few to NYC to meet Ann. We walked around Queens, and had a nice dinner in a Middle-Eastern hole-in-the-wall.

Gathering

Sunday: Nice sleep in after MB headed out to OCBC. Lazy morning. Breakfast of eggs. Was airing out the place when Wnd showed up. I had forgotten about our reflexology session. Downstairs for morning practices. Wnd helped me measure the outside of the house, gathering information for a form I have to fill in related to home-owners insurance. A sunny cool day out.

A gathering of 6. Talking, then a break. Practice, with some interesting stuff channeled in. Snacks. After people left, cleaning up. A little guitar warming up, then headed out to guitar circle just after 7 pm.

The circle tonight was a bit odd. Well, when isn't it, really? MB couldn't get her sound going, so we practiced without amplification. At the end, I began presenting Love is Green.

MB headed to the Middle East, and I headed home. Practices, then off to the Middle East myself. Arrived in time to see Drn perform. Then MB's turn. She only got to do about half her set, due to a near wardrobe malfunction. I gave Drn a ride home. Back home and more practices in the basement. Soon bed.

Used furniture

Saturday: On MB's suggestion, visited a used furniture store. Found some quite nice pieces and made purchases. The prices were better than new, as was the quality and character. A little grocery shopping. Picked up pizza and a slice of calzone for MB and myself for lunch.

Spent most of the rest of the day helping MB pack. Going through photos. Moved the secretary out to the garage. Ran a telephone wire through the wall into the kitchen. The new cabinet arrived just as I wrapped up that job. Loading stuff into it. Packing the kitchen stuff. Whipped the first floor into pretty decent shape.

MB went out to visit David and Jessica. Paid bills, and sorted through papers. Was about to head out to get some food when MB returned. We went out together, stopping at the close-by and sketchy Chinese place, then to the video store. Back home and eating. Watched an episode of Six Feet Under.

When you're trapped in the cage, all you can see are bars. Once the door has been opened, then maybe you notice, "oh there were nice pictures on the wall."

Furniture shopping and loops

Thursday: Woke around 9:30. Not enough sleep. MB working at home today. Shower. Down basement and morning practices. Drums. Put away laundry listening to NPR. Paid bills. Loaded up the car. MB wanted a ride to H Sq. so off together. Stopped for an egg sandwich at the donut shop. Feeling pretty wiped out today. Hands hurting. We parked in the office lot, and MB walked to her language class. I went looking at a couple furniture stores. Didn't buy anything, but gathered some good information. In at the office. Emailing frustrations about XCode to someone that might actually be able to do something about them. Conversed with Js and Jn about how to handle a change in our support for add-ons that will alter how we interpret existing files. We arrived at the conclusion that I had already reached. Went off and implemented the feature to help users make the transition. Easier than I had been anticipating. At 7:20, headed out to meet Shawn.
Arlington and rehearsal. Mostly focusing on improvisation and looping tonight. Good work... Recorded one of the more interesting loops in to Garbage Band. Dropped Shawn back at his apartment. I arrived back home just before MB got in. She'd been out having dinner with Stc and the Smoking Scotsman. Email. Now down basement to complete the day.

Dinner with Joe

Wednesday: Woke, then back to sleep... had some catching up to do. Finally up around noon. Email, shower. Down basement and morning practices. A bit of drums. Fed Oscar. Laundry. Was about to head out when I remembered that I had just enough for one nutritional smoothie. So, had that. Long way around to work. Sunny and coldish. Again hit traffic, which I now know is due to some roadwork that is ongoing. Detour through Comm Ave.
A good quiet day in the office. Got my "simulated continuously variable program data" feature working... lunch thanks to MB. Talked to my mom, who had tried to reach me several times. B called form CA to discuss any questions I had for Apple. Joe called, and we made plans to get together.
I gave him directions to just outside H Sq. He called when he was getting close, and I walked out to meet him. We drove back to the office lot, then took a walk around, finally ending up at a Malaysian restaurant (that had recently changed its name). After dinner, he followed me driving back to my house. Hello to MB. A look at my guitar (Joe has an interest in woodworking). Joe left for his hotel, and tomorrow CA. Copying MB's data from the home computer to a new hard-drive. She had had some wine with her drumming class. Another fringe benefit of the class: cupcakes. Took out the garbage. Guitar, working on my arrangement. Now to complete the day.

LoCG at the Somerville Theater

Tuesday: Up around 10. Email. Shower. Eggs and fed the Monster cat. Down basement. Packed up discs to return to N. Drove out, stopping at the PO to mail the discs. Went to vote. "Over voted" (picked 5 Aldermen, when I was only supposed to pick 4). Made the same mistake on my second ballot. Third time's a charm. They told me they'd see me next year, and to learn how to count. Around the short way to work. Didn't work much.
At 3, headed off, stopping in Porter Sq to pick up guitar strings. Found parking in Davis, and to the Somerville Theater to act as a FQM for the LoCG show. Vibing. Once an hour had to feed the meter until 6. Gave Luco his goodies. Hellos to many old friends and some newer ones. Quite a good show I thought. No flashes, but a couple of cell-phone snaps. After the gig, helping in whatever way I could. Quite hungry, I was briefly put-out that I had to watch the van... but then, I was there to help, and not to eat pasta. Stood around for 20 minutes until Alex L came to relieve me. Yum, food in good company. Then back outside, watching the two guys lurking by the back-door hoping to get an autograph. I wanted to tell them that we're all Robert, so they might as well sign the things themselves. Ha ha. Bif drove around front. Goodbyes. Gave Alex a ride to the T, relaying the story of the first time Igor met RF. Back home. Feeling wiped out. Ate a mini-cheesecake with MB. Then, completing the day.

Court and movie dates

Monday: MB and I were up at 6. Shower while she had a sitting. Down basement and morning practices. Fed Oscar. We went out and had breakfast at the dinner up in Ball Square. Obla-de-obla-da played as we ate our eggs. Then over to the Cambridge courthouse. We met our guy... first to the wrong court... but then settled on the correct one. A talkative officer got us water. We were first in line, and were done before 10am.
Back home, I took a nap in the basement while MB did some audio recording. On waking, off to work, the long way. A lovely sunny day.
A fairly quiet day at the office. Working on supporting a control function that users have long been asking for, but that is hampered by an Apple API, and our unwillingness to deliver a second rate product... but sometimes, users want compromise. Then, switched gears to, rather painstakingly, determine which formats work and which do not under 10.5. RT asked some questions about code of mine that he had pilfered. Headed home around 9.
Picked up MB, and over to Fresh Pond. Guys in the lobby talking about "great sodas of the world" The kid at the concession stand confessed he was going to study computer repair because he wasn't binary enough for programming. We watched Superbad. Very dirty and also quite sweet. Back home, feeling a bit drained, I helped MB burn a DVD of her audio recordings. Now to complete the day and get some sleep.

Things that didn't happen

Sunday: Up around 9 (after the time switch). MB up and getting ready for OCBC. Shower. Made us some breakfast (eggs, hash-browns). MB headed off to church and other activities. I cleaned up, then morning practices. Began tearing apart the recording studio. Need to do a bit of rewiring and debugging. Called Shawn. Got a message back he had gotten confused about our meeting time. Guitar, working on an arrangement. Feeling a bit at lose ends. Plenty to do, but not feeling terribly motivated. More arrangement, working with the original in the computer, and then overdubbing my guitar parts. Email. Message from Victor: no circle tonight. Carried boxes out to the garage. Drove out to the shopping mall, and bought a few items. Back home, setting up a small stereo, hanging a mirror. MB returned. Our running joke has been to pointedly ask each other "What are you doing?" We processed some emotion relating to her upcoming departure. Such a good friend she is. More packing work. Luckily we have many treats. Her large antique secretary has been unloaded and is ready to be moved.

MB packing/Vinyl rack/NH party

Saturday: MB and I slept in a bit. She did a sitting as I lazed. Shower. Down basement for morning practices. Breakfast (sunny side up eggs, etc). We continued our packing work on the first floor. Going through pictures, DVDs and VHS tapes. Fixed the vinyl rack in the basement. Around 4pm I went out to run some errands. Blustery rainy day; the remnants of hurricane Noel. Picked up cat food. A couple of things at Home Depot. Packing materials. The guy at the packing materials store said "Enjoy the game tomorrow!" I said "What game?" He couldn't believe I was serious. Got a veggie sub at Leone's. Home, and eating food with MB. Down basement, put little no-skid feed on the vinyl rack. Personal practice. Upstairs and some guitaring.
Wnd showed up a little after 8, and we headed up to NH for a party. Fun, but not really "my people." Got back in around 2am... which is now 1am, since daylight saving has ended. Ate a fast food veggie burger. Oscar came in for a brief visit. MB on the phone. Now to complete the day.

This is yours, this is mine

Friday: Slept in a bit. Previous plans had me feeling unsettled. Email. Shower. Downstairs, then down basement and morning practices. Drums. Called Wnd and rearranged things. Much better. Some tidying. Breakfast of eggs and such. Fed the Oscar beast. A sunny day, drove the long way around to work. Hit traffic but was able to take an exit before I came to a stop. Comm Ave to the BU Bridge to Mem Drive.
J had reported a memory leak with my new stuff, that I promptly fixed. Began some new design work. Moved my recent code back onto the "new feature" branch. Some talk with Al and B prior to their departure for the camp in CA next week. Also Dv. Stayed until around 9pm. Picked up Indian food on the way home. The situation with the environment was weighing on my mind today.
Back home, dinner with MB. She had bought some lovely little pastries when we sampled. Guitar with the two of us: Third Relation, Askesis and Eye of the Needle. Then, we played "this is yours, this is mine" with books and CDs. Now down basement on the treadmill, and to complete the day.