Mizblog

It’s time to get back into writing a regular blog.

Saranya is getting bigger and better developed. This morning she rolled over onto her tummy (with a little help) and held her upper body off the ground by resting on her elbows! Before today she’d just lie on her face with her arms lying limp at her sides, and she’d kick her feet and arch her back to lift her head off the ground a bit. This was a big step for her.

Work is going pretty well. Today I finally converted my main coding project from VC6 to VC8 and got it to work! I’m finally using a modern compiler again.

We’re about to get a new contract with a major corporation. I’m not supposed to talk about the details, but it’s going to keep us quite busy for some time. Mainly me, since I’m doing all the programming. I’m going to need a new computer system soon though, since VC8 doesn’t run on my old work computer (Win2k). I’d better get shopping.

It’s 2am. I’m awake. Got a meeting downtown at 8am and I’m not going to oversleep. I’ve already slept 5 hours tonight. Dreamed that I broke off a tooth, and it had wooden roots.

Been doing PLM development hot and heavy for weeks now, and there’s no break on the horizon.

Went to church at St. Joseph the Worker last Saturday. It was their 50th anniversary as a parish. Lots of Vietnamese and hispanic people there now, which is neat. They sing stuff in Vietnamese. Sounds funny. Anyway, I remember feeling very sorry for all those people. The rituals that bind them together and comfort them also blind them and fetter them. Knowledge is a frightful and terrible thing, but Faith will enslave you. The thing that bothers me the most is all the evil crap that gets tied into all the good parts. I agree that it’s good to be nice to others and that violence sucks, but the Bible has mixed opinions on the subject. Interesting that no modern church focuses on the war and killing in the scriptures, but it’s all in there. You should read it for yourself sometime, and think about what you’re reading!

Last night I found out my dad has colon cancer. I’m not worried though. I’ve always known he’d die of heart disease, and a little colon cancer isn’t going to get in the way of heart disease. Still, you know what they say: “Everyone dies of cancer, unless something else kills them first.”

I’ve been spending most of my free time playing WoW, though I’ve been especially careful to always take care of work first. I’ve started getting back to guitar playing every day. I may even be getting tired of WoW, though I still play it. It’s an addiction.

Tonight is the release of a new experiment we’re making. Testing algebra transformation recognition skills in high school kids, and seeing which of our approaches results in better learning (faster/more accurate/least drudgery). I’m ironing out the last kinks right now, and it’s compiling while I’m writing.

There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it reluctantly. — Publius Terentius Afer (Terence)

This describes my recent work experience. It’s not that it’s all that hard, it’s that I don’t want to do it. :P

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.

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.

I’ve spent the last couple days struggling through life. Tired, sore, and depressed, I’ve been just putting in time waiting for my feelings to improve.

Well, it seems that it happened today. I had a good workout at the gym after seeing high tide at 6am. High tide makes for difficult running, because you can’t run in packed wet sand without getting your feet wet.

So I went to the gym instead and got in a solid workout. Afterwards I went home and got in a solid day’s work. I’ve got a program to test now! Haha! I’ve been working on this thing forever but now I’m turning the corner.

I’m fighting a powerful sleep addiction that I’ve had for longer than I can remember.

My brother’s new wife’s brother died this week. Two weeks after the wedding, in which he was a groomsman. Poor Georgie.

There’s so much else going on that it’s hard to remember it all. Today was the first day in more than a week that I didn’t go out for some morning exercise. Tomorrow it’ll be back to the grind. I’ve now been running in the mornings for about 2 months. I do find that I’m stronger now, though my work has been suffering for it since I started. It’s been harder to concentrate and get into the programming zone on exercise days, and even on most in-between days. I hope that wears off before my job does.