Mizblog

After Tuesday morning (which turned out to be a what’s-the-word-for-not-as-exciting-as-it-was-pitched?)
sort of a disappointment, but not really. All the pressure we’d been assured was going to be on us…wasn’t there. We were basically spanking it through a basic demo to people who had already seen and heard it many times. LAME!

So I went to the doctor on Wednesday, and I’m now uncomfortably aware that I do not have an enlarged prostate or colon cancer. I’ll leave it at that.

Next I get to go to the dentist for three small fillings. Very nice. What a week, huh?

There’s a big push at work this week. We’re behind and it’s all my fault. Not only did I set the deadline we’re about to miss, but I was slow in finishing the previous project which delayed the current project to the point where we are currently.

sigh

So it looks like there goes my weekend. Most of it anyway. I’m supposed to go to see Serenity on Sunday, and I think I’ll have time for that. Ah fudge it, I’ll make time!

I should also mention that I’m hooked on an Internet chess site. http://www.gameknot.com I just got a (provisional) rating (1348) last night when I finished my fifth game, and though there are almost 10000 players with a higher rating than me, I’ve only been participating there for a couple weeks now. I’m certain my rating will improve from where it is now. They start you at 1200 for your first 5 games, and then it’s the average of your opponents’ ratings until 20 games (x+/-400 for wins/losses (x+/-200 for wins/losses against provisional opponents)) After 20 games it’ll lose its “provisional” modifier and just be an ELO chess rating.

More music to download!

I’ve remixed and rewritten a lot of Sensory Experience. More cool quotes from Dr. Kellman, and a much much better mix IMHO.

I spent the last couple days creating music. The first two songs I wrote were techno songs, because those are really easy to make. Greg spent Saturday with me, showing me how to use the software tools effectively, and how to build a conventional techno song. I learned so much it’s leaking out of my ears right now!

All the music is sampled or synthesized, and then programmed/sequenced. None of it was performed by me in any live sense. I’ll get some of that recorded and posted soon, I hope. It’s what I’ve been dying to do for years but didn’t have the facilities or know how. I believe I soon will, however.

In the meantime, you can download my music FREE!

Sangeeta’s car has started acting up lately. There’s some sort of a short circuit in the electrical system that’s draining her battery intermittently and causing it to fail to start. It’s now in the shop.

I’m really looking forward to the new NHL season which starts tonight.

My work has changed gears and I’m working on a different project. This one is a major systems integration that I’ve sort of done before but it’s been a couple years and I don’t remember how I did it last time! I’m hoping I can pick it up as I go…

Saturday was supposed to be the day when I finally got to play music with Mark and Teetee. Mark writes really neat, folksy songs with very unusual key changes, and I’ve been dying for some tutoring from him to see how he does it. Teetee is an amazing singer and just an all around pleasure to be with. I was really looking forward to it.

Then Mark crashed his scooter and injured his hand. Our music plans went up in smoke.

To help cheer Mark up, and to have an excuse to hang out with those guys, Sangeeta and I decided we’d make them some momo. Momo, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, is a Nepali dumpling (wonton wrapper filled with ground turkey, vegetables, and spices, then steamed and served with chutney (sort of like salsa)). We decided that Teetee’s apartment was most convenient for all concerned, since she lives about midway between us and Mark. So we went to her place and cooked. She and Mark bought all the ingredients, and we brought the hardware and some of the spices.

It went really well. The chutney was tomato heavy but was probably the best I’ve had. The turkey that Mark got was very high quality organic turkey, and it made for very delicious momo. Everyone helped, and making them was almost as fun as eating them. Afterward, we hung out and helped Teetee get ready for Scott’s birthday outing. When she left, so did we.

Sunday we visited my parents and their new pets. After Georgie died, they adopted his two dogs and one cat. The cat’s having some adjustment problems, but the dogs seem happy as anything. I enjoyed playing with them. Rob and Jenn (my brother and his new wife) also hung out, and we all went to dinner where we met Greg and Sam. I found out that Greg got a job as a school teacher! That’s just about the most unlikely job I could imagine for him, but as I think about it I find that it makes a certain kind of sense. He’s a good guy, and maybe he really does like kids after all…

So that was my weekend. It was good. I can tell because yesterday (Monday) sucked really bad. Sarala spent the day at my place while Sangeeta worked, and it was all I could do to not go postal. I ended up hanging out in the lab all afternoon. Sure enough, she was still there when I got back. *sigh*

Today’s a little better. I sent off some files to Phil, which will hopefully solve some problems he’s been having with my vocabulary application. I’m crossing my fingers.

It was an interesting weekend.

Saturday we met at Teetee’s place and then went out for lunch. We had had dim sum at Empress Pavillion in Chinatown. Sangeeta went on all day and all night about how good it was. :)

After lunch, we went to California ScienCenter for a talk entitled “The Promise and Pitfalls of Stem Cells” presented by medical researchers, Senator Ortiz (proponent of Prop. 71 which allocates CA bond money for stem cell research in the state), and an ethicist from the Lutheran Theological Seminary. On the whole it was mainly a pro-stem-cell presentation. I got the impression that everyone in attendance (audience and panelists alike) thought that the people who found their research immoral were either misinformed about what they actually do, or were a radical religious fringe (led by the Pope?) who believed that God created an immortal soul whenever a sperm and an egg were joined, even if it happened in a test tube in the lab.

On Sunday we went to San Diego to see Leslie and Jason. They made a pack lunch of makizushi (actually it was made with unflavored rice, and I don’t remember the proper name for that), as well has fixins for chicken wraps, spinach, broccoli, and grilled onions. We took it to Balboa Park to eat it, and it was delicious. After lunch we walked around the park, visiting art galleries, a bonsai exhibition (or as Leslie calls it, “tree torture”), botanical gardens, an outdoor pipe organ concert, and a brief visit to a German beer drinking extravaganza. On the way back to Leslie’s place we got gelatto and tea.

Once we were back at Leslie’s place we watched Monty Python. We all had a little nap in the middle of that, and woke up refreshed enough to play a game of Yahtzee (Leslie won) and then we went out for Thai food at Sangeeta’s request. We went to a place called Thai Flavor, which smelled vaguely of wet dog. The food was not bad, but the company was very nice indeed. After dinner we dropped by Jason’s house to pick up some chocolate samples he’d picked up from his trip to Europe last month. Some of it was barely sweetened (99% pure chocolate) and was very bitter. Others were quite sweet and delicious. I caffeinated myself for the drive home using this chocolate, and it went very well. We made it back in an hour and a half, despite the traffic and the fact that it’s usually a two hour drive. I’m a fast driver, I guess.

All in all it was a very good weekend, and Sangeeta and I are very grateful to our friends for sharing the good times with us. :)

I’ve been feeling kind of out of it lately. The ol’ brain just hasn’t been working up to its full potential. I’m not sure what it is, but there are several candidates:

• running
• not enough sleep
• energy drink crash
• too much sex
• not enough sex
• allergies
• illness

I’ll try to vary these a bit and see if I can eliminate a few. I’m not sure how wide a temporal window I should use, but let’s just wing it and see what happens, shall we?

Water is falling from the sky!

I wasn’t planning to go out anyway, but this means Sangeeta might not open her cart today. That’s bad all the way around, but maybe the rain will slack off…

I got good sleep last night. Let’s see if that translates into a good day today…

Yesterday was the worst. I’m so glad I didn’t have to do anything. I woke up sore and tired. Every movement hurt and drained me of energy. I didn’t recover until late afternoon.

Today is better so far. I ran 2.5 miles this morning.

I realized that I need to buy new clothing. My old stuff is wearing out, but I so hate shopping for clothes. I’ll probably end up shopping in a torn t-shirt and some old plastic track suit that’s too short and shows my ankles, but even that thought doesn’t really motivate me to actually schedule a shopping trip. I’ll just keep sittin’ here, wantin’ new clothes.