I was too tired to sleep well and the room became too bright too early. Eriko seemed to sleep better but was also tired when we woke up at 10 AM. The morning was slow and short. I called Todd to arrange a movie time, took a shower, and worked on the computer. Eriko ate and showered. About noon, I found Eriko laying down for a nap and I joined her. We woke up at 2, surprised by the time, and hurried off to meet Todd & Miki for a matinee showing of Chicken Little. We arrived with plenty of time, although I received some worried phone calls from co-workers and I was a little distracted. That went away when the movie started; it was funny and action packed. Eriko and I enjoyed Todd & Miki’s company and parted ways after the show. Back to the house, Eriko started to make dinner and I studied Japanese. While we waited for the rice to cook, Eriko drove the Jetta (with me in the passenger seat) to the hotel her parents will be staying at. After one successful trip, she decided to do it again. The trip should be relatively smooth as it is only a mile or two away. Back at home, we enjoyed a nice dinner and relaxed on the couch. Eriko did the dishes while I caught up on some journal entries. Then it was time for our showers.

The alarm went off at 8 o’clock and Eriko and I got out of bed. She was worried about whether she would feel good enough to go to her drum class, but neither of us mentioned it and we just ate breakfast. She seemed to feel fine and at 9 we headed off (in the Jetta). I dropped her off in class (we were the first to arrive) and talked to her instructor a bit. Then I headed off to Starbucks to get a mocha and Big Foot car wash to vacuum the car. That went well and it was a big improvement. In the process, I discovered that Gene had left us a stereo and there was a repair book as well. Upon returning to North Seattle Community College, I spent some time looking around the car and cleaning up here and there. I felt very grateful to have been given this vehicle. I watched a colloquia lecture while waiting for Eriko to finish. When her class was over, we headed down to Ballard (with Eriko driving) so we could finish the vehicle registration. Unfortunately, the lady told us that we needed an emissions test, and the place was up north (a few blocks from where we had been). We only had about 40 minutes to get back, so I took over the driving and we hurried. We made it, the Jetta passed emissions, and we drove back south. We made a detour at McDonald’s and enjoyed a yummy meal. It has certainly been a while for me and this McD’s was much cleaner than others I remember. The registration went off without a hitch and now we are the proud owners of a 1994 Jetta. We came back home and Eriko took a nap and called her mom. I finished watching the lecture, which was on eliminating memory latency by allowing out-of-order loads/stores with the possibility for rollback (in the event of a conflict). It was pretty cool. Then we headed to Costco, where Eriko got herself a new winter coat and I purchased an LCD monitor for the computer. I had been struggling with paying the big bucks for a laptop (with a small screen), whereas this big monitor allows us to keep our eyes happy and my wallet thick. We ate some Costco pizza before leaving – the first bite tasted so much better than the last. We waited around @ home for a bit before heading off to Scott & Judy’s for game night. (I didn’t actually think we would go, since we left about an hour later than it started). There were four other couples there, all with asian women (one korean, two japanese-american, and a hong kong chinese) and caucasian men. We sat out the first game, which was American pop-culture heavy and enjoyed the next two – pictionary and cranium. Eriko impressed everyone with her drawing skills, especially when she had to draw “counting sheep” with her eyes closed. We had a good time and ate lots of food, finally heading for about 2 AM.

I woke up at 6 today, despite going to bed close to midnight. I was tired, but I had to get some work done early – Isilon is going to be at Supercomputing 2005 and it is a big deal, and I had promised to do a few tweaks before the show. I got out of bed, ate breakfast, read some email, and was ready to move out (in fact, I was already putting on my shoes) when I couldn’t find my wallet. I came back into the house, looked in various places, and as a last ditch effort, went outside to check the Jetta. At first, I found nothing, and thought that all was lost – without the wallet, I didn’t have my keycard, so I couldn’t get to work. Then, wedged between the driver seat and the center console, was my wallet. Whew! I went into work and began wrestling with my changes. I made solid progress and was only interrupted by a trip to Larry’s with Jane (for donuts) and our usual team meeting. I came home for lunch and Eriko popped out of bed when I arrived and brought out the meal she had fixed. It was yummy. We concluded the lunch hour by watching some TV and chatting. Back at work, I rushed to complete the tasks I had before 3 o’clock – which was the time for an engineering meeting. With only seconds to spare, I think I made it. (Verification will come later). After the meeting (where Zack won a ticket to see Sheryl Crow) there was a planned party at Jillians. Zack, Kaya, and I went up and picked up Eriko who I had called in advance. We found a convenient parking space and for the next several hours, we ate, we drank, and we played lots of ping pong. The Kirsch Brothers had many victories and only a few defeats. It was fun. Eriko looked a little bored at times, but in general she seemed to enjoy herself. She and I played ping pong quite a bit and Zack played with her a bit too. We returned to the house, said bye to Zack, and relaxed on the couch for an hour or so.

I woke up about six (the alarm was set for seven) and decided to lay in bed for a few minutes… which of course, turned out to be until the alarm went off. I got out of bed, ate my bowl of cereal (two kinds) and headed off to work. Eriko was sleeping and didn’t budge. My morning was fairly occupied – I had a meeting with my new boss, a technical lead meeting, and the regular team meeting. I tried to fit in some emergency repairs I need to do by the weekend in, but didn’t make much progress. I came home for lunch and found Eriko sleeping. I was debating whether I should prepare myself lunch or go out when she came out of the bedroom, so I stuck around. I made myself a quick meal with baked potato and fixin`s while Eriko drank some juice. We spent a little bit of time watching a PBS kids program (Reading Between the Lions) that she had told me about yesterday. It was well done – funny and educational – and who doesn’t like cute stuffed lions? Back at work, my day continued to be full. I had a meeting, another sudden meeting (and I had to trade interview spots), an interview, a team meeting, and then I had to update my weekly status. I had about an hour to work on my emergency repairs but didn’t make a lot of progress. I’ll really have to hit the ground running tomorrow. I walked home with Scott and he invited Eriko and I to a game party he’s having at his house. I think we might show, although I doubt we will stay long (since our bedtime tends to be pretty early). Eriko was waiting for me when I got home but she already ate. Luckily, she made enough for two. ;) I ate dinner and then watched a little BBC news on TV. We hung out on the couch until 7:40, when we left for Capitol Hill (and more specifically, the Century Ballroom). We weren’t going to dance, we were going to meet Gene (the former owner of the Jetta) who was in Seattle (he’s from Redmond) to go salsa dancing. Gene brought me the title paperwork, so now I just have to deliver it to the DMV. Eriko didn’t feel too super after we got home, so she spent a little bit of time on the couch resting. I did the dishes and checked on some financials. We spent some time together on the couch and I rubbed her feet and ate ice cream. Then it was time for her shower.

The alarm went off at 6 AM. I was tired, but I knew I had plenty to do so I woke up early. I probably should have studied Japanese or watched a CS lecture, but I needed to get in and get some work done so (after eating) I left for work. As it turns out, Melissa called me and we talked for over 30 minutes, so my early start didn’t buy me that much in terms of work productivity, but it was nice to talk to her. I did have a solid, productive morning, but it turns out the stuff I was working on was clearly defined and I had to send it back to our great spec writer for clarification. I came home for lunch and found Eriko alert but not in a cooking mood, so I fixed myself a baked potato with some leftover chicken korma sauce (it was quite delicious). Back at work, I was pretty productive until the end of the day when I was just involved in too many conversations. I came home to Eriko who had dinner waiting. It was also delicious and she was a little full so I ate half of hers – then I was full. We waited around for a bit and then took the bus down the hill to Key Arena to see Disney on Ice’s Finding Nemo. The line for entry was very long – the bombings in Jordan caused them to really heighten security. It (the need for heightened security) was sad to see, especially since this was an event that was meant for families and children. I wasn’t expecting much but the show was really good. It helped that I hadn’t seen the movie as I didn’t have any expectations for the story line. The skaters were quite and the overall show was very beautiful at times. Eriko enjoyed it as well. We waited around for a bus ride for about 20 minutes, during which time I read some big email from work. Things are happening. Back at home, I ate some ice cream, watched the news, and it was time for bed.

I woke up early this morning because I had Japanese homework to do. After eating breakfast, I got to work on reading some conversations and looking at the grammar points. I finished up and went into work a little early. I had a meeting with my boss, another meeting, and I shared the Japanese/American interaction paper with Todd – as a result, my morning wasn’t so productive. I came home for a nice lunch with Eriko and told her about my conversation with Todd. Back at work, we had an ice cream cake party (which was yummy). I didn’t get much more work done before I went off to Japanese class. Hideki and I had good time and ended up discussing Japanese/American marriages ourselves! After a brief hour of work, I came back home. Eriko was on the phone with her mom and so I fixed my own dinner. We had lots of nice conversation on the couch and I went to Safeway to pick up some groceries. Then we had more nice conversation and it was time for bed.