I woke up at 6 again. I was more tired this morning than yesterday; I had a
little trouble sleeping in the late morning and was tossing and turning. After
eating breakfast, I watched a lecture on my media player. This one was about
pre-execution, a cool optimization technique for speeding up processors by
reducing the effect of branch & load stalls. I got a little tired a few times
and had to pause it and collect my wits, but it was a pretty good presentation
so I was pretty engaged for the most part. I did email my boss (via the
blackberry) a bit on the couch before leaving. I arrived at work about 8 AM,
which is a nice time. I was a little distracted in the morning (although I
cannot recall by what) and didn't really start working until about 8:30. I was
fairly productive in the morning but worked on a few various issues. I came
home for lunch, which was nice, but Eriko was pretty quiet. We got into a
discussion about what she dreamed of doing (acting) and I must have said
something wrong, because soon she was quiet and it was time for me to go. The
afternoon was fairly smooth; I had coffee with Scott and Shai (monthly 1 on
1's) and had good discussions with both. I then got pulled into a meeting
discussing outstanding issues and then I worked on diagnosing one. Aaron called
me about 5:15 to let me know that he arrived with the Jetta. Since he works in
Redmond, he offered to pick it up from the mechanic and drive it over, which
was very nice. He was waiting for me in the passenger seat (which was cool) and
I drove the car a few blocks down the street so we could eat some dinner. We
went to Blue Water, a favorite of Aaron's, and both ordered steak burritos.
Aaron ordered a beer and I got a soda. The food and conversation were good and
as an added bonus, the owner brought us out 1/2 margaritas to sample. The
restaurant recently obtained its beer & liquor license and the owner was
clearly in a courting mood. We drove to the condo where I parked the Jetta and
we said hello to Eriko. I was pretty stuffed and needed to take a short rest
before proceeding (via the Miata) to Aaron's house. I was able to pet and spend
some quality time with Bailey, who seemed to remember me. It was really nice to
see her. She seemed to be doing very well and I really enjoyed the few minutes
I saw her. I visited with Carol and Aaron and they gave me some oranges and
homemade beer to take home. Aaron also described some intended modifications to
his basement and let me taste a bad batch of his homebrew. It was nice to see
them (and especially Bailey). Back at home, Eriko was in a pretty quiet mood.
She wasn't feeling so well and so we just sat on the couch. Finally, I got up
to go the bathroom and she went to the computer to watch an episode of an anime
she downloaded. I helped her when I came out and she really had a good time
watching it; I forget the name but it was something she had watched (for the
first time, at least) when she was 12. I watched most of it too, but also began
writing journal entries and completing a software upgrade on my laptop. Eriko
took a shower and I worked on the computer (personal & work email).