Another night of imperfect sleep. I didn’t get quite enough and it just wasn’t quite solid enough… shucks. Eriko and I were both dragging this morning, but we made it to work on time. I was real productive in the morning (before anyone else arrived) and did pretty good until lunch. Eriko joined me as I went out for lunch with my old boss, Bill, and co-worker David. It was nice. Eriko didn’t participate that much in the conversation, but neither did David for that matter. Bill and I talked tech for quite a bit. ;) I had a few meetings and then went off for my first private Japanese lesson. Hideki met me at Starbucks at 4 o’clock and the session lasted an hour. Next week it will be two hours. Humorously, this is the same Starbucks where I met Yuki twice a week. We reviewed the first eight chapters of the book. He said my grammar was good, but I attribute that to the reviewing I did. It was a good session and I look forward to it occuring regularly. I had hoped to just sneak into work and check email, but I got caught up in a conversation that caused me to be about 20 minutes late for dinner. I sent Eriko a note to let her know. After dinner we relaxed, watched Seinfeld, and then went to Kinko’s to check out our proof. It wasn’t to our liking, so we asked for some modifications and will return tomorrow. Back at home, Eriko asked me to make some changes to her website, which took a fair bit of time. Then, I wrote some diary entries, showered, watched Seinfeld, and will soon be snoozzing.

I slept horribly. I was too hot and being tired, I became delirious. My brain was solving some unsolvable problem and I kept waking up thinking I had a solution. Eriko suggested I open the window (we had closed it because it was cool earlier) but I thought I was OK. In retrospect, I’m going to try and remember to always open the window before bed. She stays warm under the covers, so I don’t get much complaint. Anyway, after breakfast we headed off to work. There were two massive piles of poop along our route. How traumatic! For the first time in a lonnng time, I had no meetings during the day. That was nice. I went home for lunch but otherwise got some good stuff done. Unfortunately, I was still interrupted pretty often. I let a little early from work so Eriko and I could eat before we caught a Buster Keaton double picture. It was my first silent movie (and perhaps hers as well) and we both very impressed with the organ accompanist. The first movie was quite funny. The second was a little too long (for me) but ended well. The event was sponsored by Trader Joe’s and lucky us, we won a gift basket! We got lots of free food and a $25 gift certificate. That paid for the tickets. ;) We were exhausted by bedtime.

Eriko and I slept in until about 8. She was hungry and couldn’t sleep anymore. I probably could have remained in bed for some time. ;) I offered to make breakfast and cooked up some chocolate-chip pancakes, crispy bacon, and grilled toast. It took me a while (I have no griddle) but she wanted patiently. Finally, we ate, and it was yummy. =) I then proceeded to relax on the couch with my eyes clothes for a little while. I also watched some of the little league world series game between an island in the Carribean and Hawaii. Then we went to Kinko’s to see about our wedding announcements. We’ve taken a wedding photo of us and are turning it into a postcard. After about 15-30 minutes of discussion, we scheduled an appointment on Tuesday @ 8 to review the proof. Next, we headed to Uwajimaya for some groceries. Eriko finished rather quickly, and it may have taken longer to enter the parking lot (due to traffic throttled by a single gate) then to leave the store. On the way back, we listened to the Mariner’s game on the radio a bit. Arriving at home, I continued to pay attention and watched them on TV as well as the end of the LLWS. Hawaii made a great comeback (3 runs) to put the game into extra innings (7). Then they won it with a dong. It was exciting but heart-wrenching to wach the players (they’re 11 & 12 yr old boys) on the other team cry. They were very sportsmanlike but wore their heart on their sleeves. Eriko and I lounged around for a while; I worked on reviewing my Japanese in preparation for class on Tuesday. Not being hungry, we decided that a walk to Safeway to buy ice cream might be enough to stir our appetites. I was greatly dissappointed to find out that there was no mint-chocolate chip ice cream! We bought a carton of strawberry and a carton of sundae, but I couldn’t hide my sadness. Eriko made dinner went we returned and afterwards we dug into the ice cream. It was bad. The cartons had both melted and been re-frozen, which eliminates the creaminess. That’s what I get for not buying what I wanted; in retrospect I should have tried another store (although the cartons were buy 1/get 1 free, which is why everything else had sold out). I continued to review my Japanese in the evenings and we watched a bit of the Eagles Farewall I tour on TV before heading off to bed.

Eriko and I slept in until about 8 o’clock. Eriko made breakfast and I goofed off on the computer. Then we headed out for some errands. We drove up to Northgate mall and went to Target. On the way I received a phone call from Kevin (who had some questions about negotiating real estate). After the phone call I was reproached by Eriko for talking while driving. I would later more fully understand my behavior. We purchased a few things: shower cleaner, file folders, cookware, and door hanger. Then we proceeded to the bank where we changed Eriko’s name and ordered a new ATM card. Proceeding northeast, we hit Home Depot and purchased a rectangular flower “pot” and some foam weather-stripping. On the way back, there was a very slow driver in the fast lane. It turns out he was talking on a cellphone. Of course, I berated him mercilessly until Eriko pointed out that I too, had been driving slow. Oops. We stopped off at the Metropolitan Market and purchased some flowers (6) for our pot. I was a bit taken aback by the price ($52) but I let the purchase go through after the shoplady assured me the flowers would last for a long time. I did suggest to Eriko that we consider buying some seeds and growing our own. Back at the house, I put the weather-stripping on one of our screens. The screen doesn’t fit perfectly in the window and an occasional bug has been seen within the fortress walls. This always results in an emergency situation in which I must run to the bathroom (to retrieve paper), run to the location of the bug (while being informed on its exact movements) and mercifully exterminate it (later hosting an aquatic funeral). Eriko made lunch and then we each took naps before heading over to Alex’s house for a BBQ. The BBQ was nice and I told the story of how we met and described our wedding. The food was yummy and Eriko made a shrimp quiche which was well received. The evening ended in Karoke and after singing a few songs, we left on a high note. Sleep came soon after our return to the castle.

I woke up a little before the alarm went off and realized that I had forgot to set it (again). The alarm I’m using right now has to be turned off in order to quiet the buzzer and I don’t remember to turn it back on. Luckily, I haven’t slept in yet. So Eriko and I get up but we’re both tired. She didn’t sleep so well because she ate too much yesterday and I’m still getting used to sharing the bed. Today was a cereal day. I like cereal, so I don’t mind. ;) I played around on the computer until it was time to go to work. The morning went pretty well, although I can’t really say it was productive. The Shiki train ran a little early (Scott had a 1 o’clock meeting he didn’t want to miss) so I informed Eriko that we would be departing sooner than planned. She was waiting at 11:35 when the gang exited Isilon. There was Aaron, Eric, Scott, Zack, Eriko and I and we were met by Judy at the restaraunt. I liked my lunch but Eriko didn’t like hers. Afterwards, four of us went to Starbucks (Zack, Scott, Eriko, and I). I only had a hour before my next meeting so I didn’t accomplish that much. The next meeting (status and free-form discussion) lasted for 2.5 hours. Most of the participants left but 3 of us remained. It was interesting. I stuck around for another half hour and then Scott and I walked home. Eriko had just finished cooking dinner so we began to eat her first try at meatloaf. After dinner I did the dishes and drank some Pepsi. I spent some time on the computer adding a food section to her website (and watched Seinfeld). We picked the name and the color for the new page. I spent a little time researching a laptop and afterwards Eriko and I went jogging around QA. We ended up at the grocery store and looked at plants a little, but it was too dark to see the colors. Eriko wants to buy some for the window sills. Upon our return, we finished off the carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream (breyer’s, of course). She read her book and I tinkered around with some stuff for work (while we both listened to Mozart). At 10 we watched Seinfeld (great episode, Bizarro Jerry) and now Eriko’s showering. Soon it will be my turn and then, finally, sleep.

Woke up at 6:30. I was exhausted. I don’t think I slept too well. Partly because I was hot and partly because I had some wine near bedtime. I like alcohol but I just don’t know if I can really drink it as often as I’d like. Even in small quantities it seems to have a big impact on my system. Of course, the less I drink, the more of an impact it has the next time. Anyway, Eriko bounced right out of bed and started making breakfast. I pulled myself out after 5 minutes (snooze) and slugged down some milk/coffee. Breakfast went down quickly and I did a little paperwork or something until it was time for us to walk to work. Eriko packed me a lunch because my schedule was quite full and I was unable to come home. In the morning (before the string of meetings began) I was productive. The nice thing about having less time to work is that there is less incentive to procrastinate. I had a lot of meetings today. It wasn’t too bad though. I was able to “play” bridge at lunch (for about an hour). Before I knew it, it was 6 and time to go home. My boss caught me before I left and told me some interesting news. Things are changing at work… Eriko was finishing dinner when I arrived at home. We ate, watched Seinfeld, and spent some time on the couch together. She was a little too full and tired, so she decided to take a nap. I went into the bedroom and worked on preparing the AOS (adjustment of status) materials. After about an hour and a half, she woke up and I returned to the living room. Now Seinfeld, then shower, then bed.