20070530

Minor power outage caused anguish in the back room when the computer restarted mid-assignment. Storms will do that, and one blew through this evening. Busy place, here in the back room where homework gets processed.

Full, full day at work. How many bits can you process. Memory froze up at the end of one meeting as another meeting was starting. Pace matters.

Off for some of that comforting rest. A demain.

20070529

Hello world - spent some time learning how to do 'wildcard' search and replace in MS Word - handy at times. Like when I've got a document with 7-digit patent numbers here and there that all need to have a 'US' stuck onto the front, and it's too tedious to do every one by hand. So instead, using something like this takes care of it:

Find: ([0-9]{7})
Replace: US\1

I like that.

I also like ice cream, which has become a bit too evident. Time to cut back, get into the gym, etc. Went for a walk early this morning which felt good.

Sometimes this writing seems silly, but it's good to just think out loud from time to time. Out loud...in loud...inter loud. Whatever.

Bursts of rain come through, I managed to get the gutter cleaned just as the last one was getting going. Got a new pair of shoes, gas in the car...tune in tomorrow for more exciting details.

20070522

Back.

Bought 4 books with some birthday money - 2 by Daniel Pink ('Free Agent Nation' and 'A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future') and 2 by Malcolm Gladwell ('Blink' and 'The Tipping Point'). So that's a bit of reading.

Nice jazzy piano drifting from the neighbor's house, their oldest son, I think.

On the music stand here: Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin. Way too difficult, but I like them. Also some basic exercise books for building bow technique, intonation.

Windy, windy, windy. Sitting on the screen porch with the cool breeze making my books flutter a bit.

Not a lot new. Played Saturday evening, a local guitar legend joined us for that one - what a treat - his web site is here, sound links here.

Late afternoon sun through parted clouds and tossing branches.

20070515

And here is the birthday.

A day of work, friends, bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwich. And family, complete with vacuum cleaner, cell phones and email. The reliable, mundane pulse of another day.

Could've taken vacation, but not sure where. The art museum. The park, the path by the lake. A record store (no records...), a coffee shop.

Tonight, reading how to get rich. Ha.

You never know.

20070514

Quiet weekend. Reading, writing and resting. Re-engaging this morning in the scheduling, studying, to-do, follow-up, searching, evaluating, reporting, meeting...

Currently read 'The Black Tower' by PD James, set in a kind of convalescent home. Great descriptions of the people living there, the detective character attempting to retire but can't help being drawn it to sorting out clues to a crime.

Rushy morning. The birds are making quite a lot of noise this sunny, warm morning.

20070512

Lovely sunny day. Decided to pull some weeds. Picture of the progress so far:

As you can see, some areas were mainly weeds.

20070507

Rain. Gentle rain. The apple blossoms are surviving it.

Sewing machine running in the background as the mother sews her daughter's dress for the school dance. Shiny blue dress, gathered straps. And a beautiful girl. But she's working right now.

Quiet here on news of a girl being hit by a car. One doesn't know what to say.

A good evening to think.

20070506

Somedays the music flows easily, other days...sure would like to play better.

20070505

Let's see...

Helped a group of guys do some yard work (friend not well enough to do it alone), then celebrated with French silk pie. Good nap. This morning sorted through a list of several hundred patents. Learning how to do this more efficiently. The chemistry background is definitely helpful at times.

Last night, playing violin with band at coffeehouse. Decent amount of tips which goes into the recording fund. Today and tonight worked on guitar parts for tomorrow. Last Monday, jam session, Tuesday rehearsal (3 new songs). So music chugs along too.

Studying for patent exam. This is going to take a while. Lots to absorb.

Not a lot of writing lately. Tired out. More exercise?

Spring finally here, plants shooting out of the ground overnight, it seems.