Monthly Archives: November 2005

We’re supposed to get some snow tomorrow, and there’s usually a couple typical scenarios. One is that the snow starts in the middle of the day and everyone panics and heads home. The streets are clogged and I walk to lunch if I can. By the time the evening commute starts, everyone is at home and the roads are clear of snow and traffic. The second scenario is that it starts snowing and keeps snowing, making the trip home exciting and slow. Most high-tech jobs are out in the western suburbs, over the west hills of Portland. I live close to downtown, on the east side of the West Hills. … Continue reading →

Sheesh, what do I expect? I think I’m actually gaining some muscle. Nothing spectacular, but noticeable to myself when I flex in the mirror like a teenage boy. I have a minor complaint that my buddy Il told me was a lame complaint: at work someone took the plastic insert out of the large Tabasco sauce bottle in the cafeteria, and so when I tried to use it I poured Tabasco sauce all over my lunch. Fortunately, it made the burger much tastier. Unfortunately, I sweat so much that my hair was actually wet. I was still sweating a couple of hours later. Oh, and a quote from the gym … Continue reading →

It’s sort of a rhetorical question. I think the true answer is to reload the computer completely. The idea doesn’t bother me that much, but it is a pain in the tuckus. Megan came over and we ran a virus checker over and over and over on her dad’s computer from about 8:30 until 10 when I told her to take it home and try it a few more times. Yar. He wasn’t running a virus checker beforehand. So, which of Megan’s suggestions do I take: Make out with dudes (not likely). Shave my head (sounds a little cold). Ask out the woman in the next row (a little close … Continue reading →

You can imagine the fun I had towards the end of the night, running a virus scanner over and over and having the same thing (probably a Trojan horse, actually) deteced over and over. I finally gave up. I’ll have to look at it later. Anyway, got to hang out with Megan and Craig. Eventually I’m sure I’ll fix their dad’s computer, unless they find someone else to do it.

Had a fun dinner with my friends Megan and Craig, and Craig’s friend Lila. I guess I was dragged along to make the numbers more even. In any case, we went out to Caldera, near my sister’s house, and we took a couple of pictures with my camera in “food mode.” Megan was kind of upset because she wanted the same camera. The food was good (as far as I could tell). I had the pork chop, Megan had a pasta dish, Craig had some sort of eggplant sandwich, and Lila had manicotti. We only have pictures of my pork chop and Megan’s pasta, and here it is. I’m off … Continue reading →

So yesterday I forgot to include a picture of my mom, so here it is: Today was fairly non-eventful because I didn’t do much. I went shopping for a memory card because the one that came with my camera holds only FOUR pictures at the maximum resolution. ONLY FOUR. Why do they even bother? I guess a SD card that small is close to disposable. OfficeMax had more employees than shoppers. The rest of the day I sat at home doing something with my computer, but I can’t remember what. Oh, well.

I told a vegan friend at the gym, “Happy Tofurky Day,” but she didn’t catch it. My sister got a complete dinner from New Seasons (which, I understand, is a local grocery chain) and it was great! Since my mom came back from Japan today, it was me, ma, pa, Mariko, and her husband Peter. You’ll notice that there are some gifts my mom brought back from Japan. You may notice the shochu and the sweets on the table. She also brought me a new camera! I think they’re cheaper here but she got a color that isn’t available in the US, and the instructions and the menus are all … Continue reading →

Well, it’s a long weekend and they expected me to do work today! I suppose they expect me to do work over the weekend as well. There’s a deadline coming up and megacorp just doesn’t understand software and software schedules. “Don’t release it when it’s finished, release it on the deadline!” Ah, well. I’m getting paid to work, after all. After all that I got home late and was too lazy to go to the gym. Maybe I’ll go tomorrow and see what the early Turkey Day crowd is like. I think I remember that they’re open until 1PM tomorrow. Anyway, my mom comes back tomorrow. Hooray!

I was cranky to my father after he insisted that my mom called and she said she’s coming back tomorrow. Well, she is coming back tomorrow, but it’s tomorrow JAPAN TIME. Thursday Portland time. I’m not sure if she really called or if he’s imagining things, but I’m kind of mad at her if she did. That’s the second time she’s called while I was at the gym and she should know better. He gets all sorts of details wrong and then insists on the wrong details. “Your mother is in Morocco. I wonder how she’s enjoying Morocco?” OK, so he said Osaka, not Morocco, but you get the idea. … Continue reading →

I’ve been kind of busy, I suppose. I was planning on doing work and watching the game, but I ended up going to dinner with my dad and my sister. Then I came back and did some work, took out the trash and recycling and washed the dishes. Along with all the boring bits, I’m sure I had something interesting to mention. I’m not sure what it is, though. I did get a $1.50 hot dog and drink at Costco. Is that interesting? Most likely not.

Ironing is something you do while you’re watching a boring football game. The swiffer thingy is actually pretty cheesy. I really didn’t learn all that much today. My teeth hurt, however, thanks to some combination of strawberry mochi ice cream and Skittles.

But I really think I should give up. Find women who share my interests, huh? You should see the women who are into computers and ham radio (and I apologize to those of you who meet those criteria, but you have a lot more guys available than you know what to do with so don’t read the next bit): they’re hideous. OK, so I’m exaggerating, but if they’re ever so slightly non-hideous, they have hundreds of geeks talking to them every single day. At MIT, for example, the women who you’d vote most likely to end up living in a house with 40 cats are treated like queens with all … Continue reading →