Monthly Archives: April 2011

Why is it that when I’m eating alone, I end up near first dates? On the plus side, the Asian woman was going out with an Asian dude. Good on you dude. On the minus side, she was facing me and now I know she’s a 29YO first year resident, graduate of Cornell Medical School, minutae about residency that I already know, what she thinks of chocolate, and what she thinks about certain hipster bands. That took over an hour. I think he said he’s 23 and bum rushed the stage at some hipster show. He didn’t talk much (or couldn’t get a word in edgewise) and he was facing … Continue reading →

My neighbor passed away recently at the age of 86. She was a runner who started after she retired in her 60′s and she was always out at the track. I was looking forward to springtime, when I’d see her running up the hill at her own pace, always with enough time to stop and chat for a bit. Her obituary said she died of liver cancer, which she hid from her friends. I know her son from back when I was little, and her grandsons as well. I had a crush on her niece in high school. I hope her family well.

My buddy Greg and I went on a long adventure this morning, trying to find places that were open on Easter. This is heathen Oregon, and everywhere we went was open. Anah at the he Industrial Cafe even talked us into drinking early in the morning. Harbor Freight, Home Depot, and even a couple of OLCC Liquor Stores were open. I spent most of the afternoon pulling TV cable through the attic and when I was finished I found out that the cable was really meant for direct burial and was full of sticky goo. This slowed me down a bit and I have to figure out how to strip … Continue reading →

Matty is apparently on a bar crawl of sorts and I begged off because, well, I’m old and I decided that I didn’t need to attend. Good thing, too, because did I mention work is busy? The schedule is a bit odd and I’d forgotten that there could be a flurry of emails after 9PM. The good news is that I believe I can begin my weekend now, though I’ll be checking my work email. My plans for the weekend are pretty exciting: cable wiring and laundry. Maybe catching up on some TV. Nice, huh?

So technically, I doubt that I’m going to drop dead from this chest pain. Anatomically speaking, the chestal area between my two boobal areas hurts. It’s all muscle-related and I’m sure it’s because of the gym. I was expecting an easier Thursday workout because that’s the way things have been lately but we ended with three rounds of running twice around the building, swinging a 24kg kettlebell 21 times, and doing 12 of some sort of pullup. I did some ugly, ugly pullups. Before that we did a mini-core grind. I’m likely to be sore tomorrow. Before I went to the gym, I started reading up on Achilles tendon ruptures … Continue reading →

I had this grand plan to get eight hours of sleep a night, or if that was impossible, seven. That was back when work seemed a bit more sane and not so busy. At least it’s not as busy as it was before, but it’s still busy. Busy busy busy. Sending email at 11PM. Woo. I actually sold my laptop (money not in hand but pretty sure it will be) so I ordered a new one. I figured if I kept hitting refresh on the order page, it would ship faster. I did get a shipment notice earlier in the day, but it was for SOMEONE ELSE’S IPAD 2. (OK, … Continue reading →

I think it’s well known that there’s going to be a new version of the Mac OS coming out soon that looks a lot more like iOS that runs on the iPad and iPhone. It’s kind of a big change and some people are foolish enough to try out pre-release operating systems. You can guess who you know that fits in that category. I have a MacBook Pro on order and you’d think I could wait for the new one to arrive before I start in ontthis mess, but you know how it is. No kids, no girlfriend, time to buy a new laptop. You can guess how well I’m … Continue reading →

My mom just left for another month in Japan. I just heard that risk management at OHSU won’t allow my neighbor to visit her family in Gunma, which is northwest of Tokyo, far from the nuclear plant and the devastation of the earthquake. Most Japanese people I know aren’t too frightened by the prospect of more earthquakes because they happen all the time, but you’re not supposed to celebrate after a disaster. No cherry blossom viewing parties, for example, but that just means little old ladies like my mom and her friend can go wander around the gardens without dodging the crowds of people drinking. I plan on going in … Continue reading →

I went to a birthday party for someone with a worse birthdate than I do, the wife of a friend who I’ve probably known for 30 years now. I’ve always complained about my birthday being close to 4/15, but hers is actually 4/15. It was fun to see her and her family and friends. On the way there I went to the florist and had a huge wait because it’s prom season and there were lots of corsages being picked up. I didn’t mind. There’s an excellent coffee stand just outside called Sterling Coffee Roasters and I was in no hurry. Later in the day I had a tasty Greek … Continue reading →

Well, the work week is over and let’s hope the weekend is better. I didn’t really have the worst week. Sunday I was at an old friend’s sister’s memorial service and Tuesday I had to miss a friend’s funeral because of work. It was a much worse week for the families of those people. And speaking of work, it was crazy busy with daily 5PM meetings. And today marks the fourth anniversary of my dad’s death, which means it’s the fourth anniversary of my friend Il’s mom’s death a couple of days ago. Good thing it was my birthday on Tuesday. And the worst part? Someone made a movie of … Continue reading →

I’m still looking at profiles on dating sites, but no one wants to go out with me. I mean, sure, if they got to know me I can understand why they’d want to STOP going out with me, but the whole getting ignored thing was annoying and expensive. And as a bitter married friend once said, the women are all there because they’ve been mean to guys all their lives and you shouldn’t expect them to change now. But back to me looking at the site and al the women who don’t want to go out with me, it seems like I must be a voyeur or something. Oh, well. … Continue reading →

I have a short temper, and it blows over quick. When people annoy me, I usually let them know. I know, I should be like a reed in the wind, but honestly, I’m 47 years old and I’m not going to change any time soon. I don’t understand when people are surprised that I’m acting the way I always act. I also have a huge problem with people I think are stupid, though I’m getting over that. People who are unable to do their jobs are still on the list. In any case, I don’t have time for this. I’m busy redesigning my home network again. This just means that … Continue reading →