i had a great time. everyone continues to mold into the roles that life has chosen for them. it is amazing to watch Matthew grow, to see Zack, Katrina, Melissa, Kevin, mom, and dad. I cannot quite put into words the beauty that I saw. I’m a blessed boy to be a part of such a great family.

I’ve had a busy week so far and there is no sign of it letting up. Neither of my offers on condos were accepted, with a scoff by both owners. I can’t say I expected anything else (although I hoped for a different result); now I am emotionally distant and I can resume my search more pragmatically. I spent quite a bit of time with the realtor, Linda, on Sunday – some of it was just goofing around in her office. I offerred to write her a piece of software to send ‘hot spot’ deals to her phone via text message instead of having to manually check the web page. If I do it, and its a hit, maybe she can sell it to other realtors. ;P I’ve been speaking quite a bit with a gentelman named Jay. He is a potential hosting customer, a potential SuSE student, and a potential project pal. He’s just entering the Linux world and I can tell he is terrified. Most of that fear he will have to overcome himself. I imagine I will have something similiar to face when I head towards academia. Eriko has tenatively picked a date for the wedding – July 17th, 2005. On to work.

Eriko told me that she doesn’t like cooking and I shouldn’t expect her to cook for me. That’s tough stuff. I have to admit that I hope she will cook but I can manage if she doesn’t. I received a counter-offer today but the bastard barely lowered his price. The realtors talked and supposedly he is willing to go lower but I’m not convinced I want to go that high. I wonder how I will sleep tonight. ;P

i put an offer on two different properties today. naturally i cannot buy them both, and it is quite possible that neither party will want to take me up on my offer. nontheless, i’ll either get a yes or a no and a solid answer will help me sleep. ;P

I recieved an email from Eriko today asking when the best time to have children was. I have suspected that the impulse for marriage would grow stronger the more she desired children and that a child would closely follow marriage (in fact, when she would mention having a baby, I would remind her that we have to get married first). Specifically, she wants to know how having a child will align with me achieving a PhD. This is a tough one. I’m not 100% committed to a PhD but the gut desire is there and I think it is highly likely I will be committed soon. I told her a year or so ago that I wanted to wait 5 years after we were married. She took that to be 5 years after we met and that is fine. That would put a child about two years after marriage, which should correspond to the time frame in which I finish my master’s. I figure it will take me about two years to actually be enrolled in a PhD program – because I’ll want to take a break and I’ll need to do sufficient research and study. It will be a financial challenge to have children and go for my PhD but I think if we are modest and lucky, we can do it. I’m planning on making an offer on two different places this weekend. They are both in the same building. One is a more quality place while the other has more square feet. They are both overpriced so we’ll see how the owner’s react to my low-ball offers.

i started to write this early but was interupted by my co-worker. now i’m here in the UW hardware lab with music tones playing in the background. i did not make time to read the suggested material for tonight’s class. it was a very involved paper with quite a bit of mathematics. my mind is still lazy and i wish for it to engage itself but i must be patient. there are so many things i wish to learn and understand that it can be a bit overwhelming to think about. as it stands, i need to be more disciplined.