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This is my old weblog archive and is no longer actively updated. Please visit this link for my current blog.
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Michael's Diary -- 2001-2003 Archive
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1.27.2001
Missed my sitting this morning even though I got out of bed around 9 and had plenty of time. I was in a dozy state and hung on the couch waiting for the DirecTV guy to arrive, at any moment, or so I thought. Not an excuse for not sitting, of course, but that's the state I was in this AM. The guy finally got here around 11:00 or so and eventually got the dish hooked up. What excitement to be able to cancel our subscription to AT&T's crappy quality, garbled audio and shite customer service and even get more channnels for the same amount of money into the bargain.
After he split I checked email and such and spent an hour or so playing Half Life on my PC. This new PC is so boss. Then, I ate some lunch (late -- an egg white omelette with turkey bacon and a sprinkling of cheese, dry wheat toast, coffee) and cleaned out the spare room we use for storage, so I could get to the phone block I needed to get to in order to run phone cable to G's new workstation. Kind of killed two birds with one stone there. Got that accomplished and cleaned up the kitchen, or a lot of it, anyway, and was finishing up when G came home. I showed her the DirecTV and she was psyched (G watches a LOT more TV than I do). We ordered Thai from Hi Ricky (I had some lovely spicy basil noodles and some steamed dumplings), and G worked on her PC for a while, while I continued my addictive Half Life session. (When my firned David had a bad Half Life jones going, I used to call him up and say, "Whatcha doin'? Playin' No Life?"). Watched a little of an only so-so Star Trek movie; G went to bed early and I played some more, then watched the extra bits on the DVD of You Only Live Twice I got recently with a Christmas gift certificate accompanied by a bowl of popcorn. I weakened and put butter on. No excuse, so two missteps today. Now, very late but still fairly awake, I am going to do my guitar exercises (very quietly) and hit the hay.
3:05 AM
1.25.2001
Another pretty OK day. Nothing to, as they say, write home about. Not a lot going on at work, but got a minor rewrite assignment today from El Jefe.
Had a half twitchy/half OK meditation this morning. Once again, a little late leaving; the lure of this jazzy new PC and all the whizzy games I can play on it proved too great and after my morning planning I just had to take Flight Simulator for a ride around Chicago. Same breakfast as yesterday, but I treated myself to a large Starbucks coffee; grilled chicken burrito, baked tortilla chips and black beans for lunch, a few illicit Hershey kisses, and tonight, pizza slices for the week (hooray). Came home and only saw G for a few before taking her to the bar she hits on Thursday with her friends, then I shot off to the Radio Shack for a LOT of telephone wire (to wire up G's new desk for her laptop) and a bunch of audio cables required to hook up the surround speakers on the new desktop, as well as patch the DL4 into the recording system. After doing this, all I can say is, WOW. Playing Star Wars Pod Racer in surround sound with a force-feedback joystick is a pretty bitchin' experience for a dork like me. Not only that, but the clean stereo effects I can get from the DL4 wired into this high-end sound card blew my mind, especially with the surround effects I could process them with.
Anyway -- all this tinkering around made me late for bowling; I missed the first game but played the second, and sucked, badly. Fooled around a little with the digital camera but didn't get much worth posting, yet. Now I'm back home, G is already home and asleep, and I must resist the temptation to game until I have practiced guitar properly. Then, I can stay up a little later than normal because I am staying home tomorrow, awaiting the DirecTV man.
11:55 PM
1.24.2001
Well, back on the horse indeed today. A good day today, even though work was slow and uneventful. The potential client remains potential. Meanwhile, not a lot else going on. Some reading and review to do tomorrow.
Got up a little late and got moving a little later, did my sitting which was OK, was a little later than I like to be at the office. But since not a lot is happening this is not a very big deal at the moment. Bagel with light cream cheese for breakfast, turkey on white for lunch. Left a little early to run some errands. Finally found some damn one-cent stamps, and stopped at the Walgreen's to refill some prescriptions. Then, came home to commune with G before she had to go to class (in the thick, fat and mercifully short-lived snow). Then, I launched into my secret plan. A big problem for G is that she doesn't have a work space per se. She has a room of her own, with her dollhouse-in-progress in it, but no desk or anything. This has become a real issue with the onset of school. So, I planned earlier in the week to sneak out while she was at school and get a little desk and bookshelf set to set her up, at least for the short term. A couple of hours of running around, with a light grilled chicken burrito betwixt stops, and mission accomplished. I assembled the desk using the mysterious Danish tools enclosed in the package just in time to shoot downtown to pick her up from school. She was very surprised and pleased!
So, it was a busy evening! I am only just now sitting down for a little while. Going to practice guitar in a bit. In short:
sitting: done
diet: watched and appropriate
exercise: oh yes
guitar: in a moment
I feel so much better when I can tick off these important-but-not-urgent things. A real sense of accomplishment, and yet they are all such simple, simple things. The simplest things are the hardest to achieve flawlessly. That said, I will demonstrate that principle now with my guitar exercises.
10:32 PM
Late night, so a quick one. Yes, I know, it's awfully late and I am therefore jeopardizing my chances of getting up on time tomorrow. But we had such a good time hanging with our friends and going to see Traffic with them. We hadn't hung with them in a while. Good movie, good performances, a little self-indulgent, preachy and visually all over the map. **1/2* to ***.
Light breakfast today, light lunch, light supper tonight, but week's ration of popcorn consumed. But hey, it's all part of the plan.
OK. Just shot out of bed saying "Shit! I forgot to post my diary!" At least one thing will be done every day. Tomorrow, back on the wagon no matter what.
1:39 AM
1.23.2001
Just rereading some diary archives and trying to get a sense of where my plans went a little off the rails. Definitely, close to midway in my trip the wheels came off my plans, and I am trying to regain lost ground this week. So today, I am reviewing my commitments for 2001. I made a conscious decision to only commit to things I felt I could realize. So, three weeks in, how am I doing? In some areas, quite well. This diary, for example, has been active every day. I have been deliberately walking more each day. But to be honest to myself, the simple plan I laid out for myself has not been followed since roughly my second day in Seattle. These simple things turn out to be incredibly hard to sustain, particularly away from home. Before our trip to Orlando next weekend and my solo time there the following few days, I need to do some serious planning to stay on track.
That's the point, really. Thinking back to my post of a few days ago, pondering intentional action and commitment, I believe the worst thing I can do is beat myself up about missteps and mistakes. However, on the other hand, one doesn't want to cut one's self too much slack. Hence, today's review and, if you will, renewal of commitment. The fact that I am both at home and feeling healthy for the first time in a week and a half has something to do with this resourceful state I am in. Need to try to bulletproof myself against "negative state triggers," if you will. Perhaps some reading on this at bedtime tonight.
3:19 PM
1.22.2001
Really, really wanted to call in sick today, but it was just me and the boss, so I couldn't in good conscience. Got there kinda late and answered phones while I organizaed all my travel papers and downloaded some necessary software for the home PCs. Borrowed a disc from a friend, came home and finally finished configuring our new PCs just an hour or so ago. In between, I ate very little today -- some oatmeal and a sandwich -- don't miss not having eaten more. Still feeling kinda crappy, though, from my cold. I have fallen off badly in the commitment area in meditation, exercise and guitar practice in the last few days. Mostly, because I have been weary, travelling, ill and very busy. I am really glad that I have an opportunity to get back on the horse tomorrow. I am hoping to feel a lot better (hack, hack, wheeze, wheeze).
Tomorrow we get to see our friends David & Suzanne after a long absence. Looking forward to that.
But not unless I get some sleep. So, to bed for now.
11:26 PM
1.21.2001
Head cold still simmering away. In addition, I grabbed the handle of a skillet I had just removed from a 400-degree oven with my bare hand and grotesquely, and painfully, seared a lot of skin on the palm of my right hand. At least it isn't my fretting hand so I don't look like Django Reinhardt. Sure is taking the fun out of the ol' force-feedback joystick though. Welcome home.
G and I got up pretty early today; I had no choice, with my nose completely clogged. Ate breakfast and went out on errands. Went by the office and picked up the new PC's, brought them home and have been setting them up ever since, when I haven't been hacking or blowing my nose. Blech. Tomorrow, I think, is a sick day in the making. Had some delicious Pike Place salmon for dinner tonight.
I thought I would post a couple of things about the Experience Music Project. All in all, it's notable for a few things:
1.) Its design. Not one of Frank Gehry's best efforts, in my opinion. But certainly unique.
2.) What it doesn't have. A large section on rap, for example, and next to nothing on, say the Who or the Stones. Naturally, nothing at all on progressive musicians (Crimson, Genesis, Gabriel) at all. Nice Clapton display though.
3.) The Hendrix museum and guitar exhibit are the best things, exhibit-wise. There are Jimi's hand-written notebooks, etc. Almost every kind of guitar ever made.
4.) The MEG (a little Windows CE-powered palmtop you cart around with you) is a great museum innovation. You point it at things and it plays you a recording with information about the item, and provides a hyperlinked page with more info. In the guitar exhibit, for example, many of the guitars had sound samples you could call up. Very cool.
5.) The interactive stuff. This is where this place shines. There are little booths where you can jam out with other people, and even soundproof studios where you can rock out with your friends. The instruments were being banged on by a lot of kids when I was there and thus were out of tune. But I got to rock, really loudly, for a while and had fun.
Worth a visit but a bit pricey at $20.
Anyway, the new PC is setup and more work tomorrow. Tissues call my name.
11:28 PM
Today, a head cold took hold. Battling it to the best of my ability, but it pisses me off. I was really looking to feeling warm and cozy and relaxed today. Instead, suffering and dizziness and stuffiness and mucous are the order of the day.
Postings from the weekend:
Saturday 1/20/01
Chicago, 9:53 pm
Back in Chicago. Difficult to overstate my delight at simply being in my own home, with my wife. Woke at 6, Starbucks at 7, checkout at 7:30, Pike Place Fish at 7:45 for giant crab legs and fresh salmon steaks. Uneventful flight home, met @ airport by G. Stopped at Whole Foods on the Way home. Succulent crab legs for dinner. Feeling a bad cold coming on and too sleepy to post this to the web tonight.
12:17 am:
Seattle: Hotel Pretty OK
Had a lovely and thoroughly enjoyable drive down through Snoqualmie and North Bend en route to Seattle. Simply breathtaking views, particularly of Mount Si, the mountain shown in the opening credits of Twin Peaks. Saw most of the other sights I wanted to see: the Snoqualmie Falls, not running so rapidly this time of year; the Double R Diner which is no more, alas, having suffered a fire in August. Had to have a donut and cup o' joe at the bakery next store though! Diet be damned, I'll probably only be here once. Also saw the mill and the building used for the sherriff's office, the hotel used as The Great Northern and Ronette Pulaski's train trestle. Way too pretty up that way.
Then a quick drive into town; got here around 5 pm. Talked w/G and then went to the Experience Music Project, of which more info when your weary diarist is rested. Cab to Fremont, searched for a brewpub which has closed, i guess. Nice area but all the shops had closed, so I walked for a long time checking the area out. Well worth a visit during business hours. Cab to pike place for 2 pints of delicious brown ale, cup of crab chowder, and broiled shrimp. Now, wiped out, feet throbbing -- sleep.
1:34 PM
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