i haven't done much today. slept in until about 10:30; goofed around on the
computer for a few hours; went to Coscto; watched the Mariner's blow another
game; took a nap. ;) soon I'll play poker with some co-workers. i'm a little
fearful for my money, these are some smart fellows.
July 2004 Archives
well, i switched to decaf coffee today... that didn't take long... ;P
Zack gave me a lecture about how social pressure can be effective to conduce
exercise. well, he might have been right. i went to the workout room this
morning and there were these two people: a woman in her late 20s and an older
woman, apparently her trainer. that girl talked non-stop, in one of those
voicesthat encourages you to utter (in your head) 'shut up!' i pushed myself
harder today than before, because the strain of working out almost drowned
out her voice. group motivation at work.
The alarm went off at 6:25, to my discomfort. I slept poorly the night before,
so I was tired and lethargic. During my usual wake-up routine, I was fighting
the urge to go to the exercise room. After all, I didn't wake up so early for
no reason at all. Finally, my desire to stick to my plan won out and I
walked down the hall.
I only spent about 15 minutes there; the first 5 were split between the row
machine and some free weights. The final 10 were on the exercise bike. I have
a real hard time exercising for the sake of health. I'm naturally efficient --
I avoid work wherever possible!
After a morning meal, I headed down the hill into work. The weather was bright
and sunny but not too hot. So started a typical Monday at Isilon. I read my
email, checked the news, got some coffee, water, spoke with some co-workers,
and began to work on my bug list. I fixed an easy one to start myself out on
the right foot.
We had our usual morning scrum (meeting) a litte late, about 9:50. I started
by stressing the quantity of bugs and the tightness in our schedule. I ended
my speech with some 'good news,' a joke about switching to GEICO. No major
news to report; everyone continues to work on their bug queue as best as they
can.
I resumed my own bug queue for the next two hours and then broke to have a
"1 on 1" with my PM. We have a meeting regularly scheduled on Monday during
lunch but we had missed it the last few weeks. This time we spoke in depth
about strategies for motivating one of our teammates who is key component but
is producing sub-par work. I ate my grilled chicken caesar salad which I made
the day before. It was a little soggy, but not bad.
Another hour or so of bug fixing (naturally, there is time lost in context
switching) before the regular all-hands development meeting at 2. Paul had to
remind our team so we arrived after most everyone else had and I sat in a
different spot than usual. The meeting was pretty uneventful and I chatted with
Kaya a bit afterwards.
3 more hours of bug-fixing; I made a break-through with the bug I had been
working on. I had a more complex solution for fixing it all written but was
uncomfortable. I then converted that to a trivial, 6 line diff, got quick
approval and checked it in. During this time, as always, I was interrupted
occassionally by my teammates.
At approximately 17:25, I headed down to catch the bus to class. I just barely
made it; I was waiting to cross the street when the bus was coming. He had
to stop to drop someone off and the light changed so I was able to board and
find a seat near the back. I read my Japanese vocabulary (verbs) for a little
while but was soon distracted by the sights (girls) and spent most of the ride
staring out the window.
Japanese class was fun. We had full attendance (5) for the first time (this
was only the 3rd class of this lesson). The skill level is pretty well split --
there is a gentleman who is obviously behind and another who is obviously
ahead. I lie smack dab in the middle and I'm not real pleased with that. I
think it is obvious (at least to me) how much I enjoy going to class and
interacting with the teacher. He's Japanese, so I'm naturally curious.
Class was finished close to 21:00 and I headed across the street to catch the
bus. It seemed to take quite a while and I was able to fight off my urge
(caused by boredom) to eat a slice of pizza. Eventually it came and I sat in
a tired daze until my first stop, at the Seattle Center. I then had to wait
quite a bit (10-15 minutes) for the next bus to take me up QA hill.
Bailey seemed as happy to see me as I was her and after some affection I found
some scraps to eat. I watched a little TV, then prepared for bed. I watched
one episode of Seinfeld while flipping through my Geometry book. I had already
seen it, but it was funny. After realizing I had already seen the second
episode as well, I decided to skip it and concentrate on the book. I moved to
my bed, read a few pages, and turned out the light about 23:30.
during the week i often think to myself how little time i have -- yet today,
i've done absolutely nothing. i took a nap, got some ice cream, read a book
at the library, and dinked around on the computer (of course). now i see that
the day has flown by. i played in the condo workout room a little; i think
i'm going to start a workout routine. if i can follow through, i'll start by
working out in the morning on days which i'm not going to ride my bike (when
i have Japanese class). i'll start with something like 15 minutes and build
up to my goal of an hour of good solid exercise. today is a scorcher. the
condo is cooler than outside but the lack of a breeze makes it a little more
warm than being outside in the shade. i think. ;P
Art asked me if I wanted to do some consulting work, setting up AIX machines.
I said that would be sweet. We may start after I return from Japan, if it goes
through.
another week has just flown by. i'll try to recap some of the highlights:
- started level 3 in my Japanese class
- drank too much wine while babbling with Lisa
- had a fun picnic at work and played bocci ball
- continued to make good progress on my work stuff
- got less exercise than i should have
- received the final proof for my article, due Monday
i was invited to dinner with Lisa last night and as the two of us can do, we
ended up gabbing for several hours. i only had time for one Seinfeld and then
i was in bed. i don't feel like i have enough time. perhaps i need to try to
be at work less or make my time outside of work more productive.
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it appears as though my article will be in the September issue. i'm so
excited. X)
well... i just made my first mortgage payment. so i'm starting to learn the
negatives of owning a home. ;P hopefully i will have nailed down my budget
amid all the new expenses before too long.
i just got off the phone with mom and dad and dad mentioned that it might be
possible for my Aunt's and Uncle's to come to the wedding. in the last few days
i was starting to get real uncomfortable with the idea of my friends coming to
the wedding -- mainly because i don't want to manage their time, etc. i would
much rather have more family there and this also gives me a good way to tell
my friends that plans have changed. i would definitely prefer that Eriko's
family and extended family meet my family. i have to improve my Japanese if
i'm going to be able to serve as even the most basic of translators.
well, the internet super-highway. ;P i even signed up for basic cable, at $2 a
month more. now i can finally watch Seinfeld in a crystal clear fashion. the
living room is almost completely organized, but the kitchen and my bedroom really leave something to be desired. i didn't get so much accomplished today; i was
pretty lethargic. out of the blue, i got an email from my high school buddy
Patrick. from his description of himself, he's really come a long way. what is
even more amazing is the way he talks about my dad. our buddy David did the same
thing. gives me a glimmer of realization that i cannot even fathom how lucky
i am.
i recieved a technical review of my article yesterday; i'm almost finished
with my feedback. the reviewer had some good points but he didn't completely
destroy it, so that's good...
well.... my desire to be a luddite didn't make it very far. i get nervous since
i'm unable to backup spike/belle and that i'm unable to check on them from
home. i realize that this will mean i'm once again going to use the computer
more than i should, but i'm going to have to rely on willpower to stop as
my obligations do not allow me to be computer free.
it started Friday night when I went with my team to Outback. we had nice time
and i was stuffed. after work, i spent the evening relaxing and dealing with
my food coma. on Saturday I slept in, then proceeded to borrow a power
screwdriver from work so i could put together some shelves intended for my
storage locker. having finished that, i proceeded to put together my
entertainment center and bookshelf as well. i was quite pleased to have
finished building all those items when i came into work for a bit, mainly to
look at a problem Kris was trying to solve. i didn't get real far on that, but
still took off for Tacoma about 6 o'clock. i hung out with Kris and ate some
indian food from my favorite restaraunt until about 9, when i met up with Ariel.
we drove around for quite a while looking for a place to sit and talk. we
eventually found one, but having done most of our talking in the car, we only
stayed there for about an hour. i headed back up to Seattle and went to bed
about 1 AM. i woke up early on Sunday; i picked up Brandon and we drove to
Kirkland to meet with Art. it was a good breakfast; it is pleasant to hang
out with those guys. i left my lights on and we had a minor adventure finding
jumper cables to start the Miata, but soon after Brandon and i were on our
way back. we got into a bit of a political discussion outside his apartment
and it turns out he is a bit of an arm grabber when he wants to make a point.
luckily i'm not too excitable so i didn't get upset. as politics go, nothing
was resolved and i went home. after giving Bailey a quick pat, i came into
work. i started working on fixing a website for Jay. it was horribly broken
and while fixing it the mail server had some trouble so i ended up hanging out
at work slightly longer than i expected. i rode my bike home and then took
a nap, as i was so exhausted from the trip. i started unpacking my boxes of
books while watching a Japanese DVD, figuring i would spend the rest of the
evening doing this. instead, i got a call from Pete who had earlier sent an
email to several people indicating he had an extra ticket for a play. turns
out i was the only one who spoke up, so i went with him to see
"The Play's the Thing" or something like that. it was funny and his company
was enjoyable. i returned home about 10 where i vegged out in from of the
tv for about 45 minutes before going to sleep. wow!
having slept about 9 hours, i feel much better. Bailey is now on an
open-window policy, allowed to come and go as she pleases. i also removed the
litter box, hopefully this won't be a premature move. typically she stops
using it for a few days before i take it away but this time it was just too
stinky and i want a fresh-smelling snugglenest.
i'm going to be real happy to see Bailey tonight, if she's around. mainly
because that means i'll be in close proxmity to my bed. i am dead tired, a
walking zombie. work has been rather involved today (although probably not
more strenuous than any other day) and i have to head out for japanese class
in a few minutes. my visit home was worth it. to spend a few days with mom
and dad, katrina, melissa, kevin, and matthew. rekindles my spirit and gives
me hope for tomorrow.
I showed mom and dad the vows Eriko sent me. naturally, they are worried that
they won't be able to understand the wedding.. but i'm excited to learn what
those vows mean. =)
i'm all moved! i didn't really clean my old place, but i don't have the
time either. the Miata is still full of the last tidbits as i was so worn
out yesterday i didn't want to unpack it. but... i'm all moved. =) i learned
that i have to combat my pack rat instinct much more than i do. i have been
hauling around this round piece of glass with the intention of using it for
something -- but never have, and i had this urge to junk it but ignored it.
instead, i carried it in the Miata and did damage to my apholstery, probably
more than the glass is worth. learning from that, i left my vacuum cleaner
and plastic chair that i never use. i think there will probably be quite a
few things that i will question as to why i am keeping as i unpack and
organize my new place. i started to setup the bedroom a little last night by
myself. i was able to move the desk by putting one end on a pillow and lifting
the other. in order for the room to come together as i imagine, i'll probably
have to cut one of the ikea coffee tables in half. but the nice thing is that
most of that furniture was free, like the vacuum cleaner, so i shouldn't mind
doing with it that which is necessary to improve my quality of life. Bailey had
another brief run-in with her mail caller last night and is confined inside
again. but she seems to be doing OK. i'll let her out during the day when i'm
able to be there and make sure that the other cat doesn't come visiting.