Well, there’s a good answer to that question but it all probably boils down to procrastination. Sort of how the dorm room got cleaner near finals week. I know I was supposed to study up for my interviews on Tuesday, but I haven’t been a crammer of facts since I was a pre-med. They surely could quiz me on engineering trivia and I’d do a poor job of parroting back facts to them. Mainly because instead of buying a book on programming, I read two mysteries and tried to get kernel debugging working over a serial line. Oh, and I went to that ham radio swap meet where, really, the best part was seeing a bunch of people I hadn’t seen since the last ham radio swap meet.

I was also supposed to meet up with some friends who told me to call but then refused to answer their phone when I did call. Drinking mead and watching Amiga demos. In other words, circling the geek drain.

I’m scheduled to go to the gym three times this week and my biceps are sore from last Thursday. I think I saw a bunch of women I’ll never ask out and it’s just as well. Who has time for dating when they’re doing ham radio and computer stuff all weekend?

Yeah, I misspelled it to keep the evil spirits away.

Apparently the $20 Harbor Freight Sawzall knock-off was only on sale until the 14th of the month and I no longer have a chance to have something that funny. I’ll have to wait until it goes on sale again.

Yesterday there was a dude at the gym who smelled horrible. He wasn’t even wearing gym clothes, just a tank-top undershirt and slacks. He was even wearing dress shoes. The worst part is that it smelled like he bathed in onions before he showed up. Yuck-a-doodle-doo. I also found out that one of the trainers had broken up with his girlfriend, and that lead me to have more fantasy fodder. But heck, it’s not like I ever ask anyone out and get put on dontdatehimgirl.com. (I actually know someone listed on there!)

I had the day off today. My boss told me, “Take Friday off. I won’t be there,” so that’s what I did. Didn’t accomplish all that much, but I wasn’t at work either. Yay.

I had spaghetti for dinner tonight, which means I was sitting around thinking, “Dear god why did I eat so much,” when a friend’s dad called. His step-daughter was playing host to a couple of little girls from Japan and no one spoke Japanese. They had a English-to-Japanese translator gizmo, but the keys were labeled in Japanese, making it a bit useless. In any case, I spoke about three sentences to the kids who were perfectly happy playing around being kids. It was nice to see the step-daughter and her family; I hadn’t seen her in at least fifteen years because her son is now fifteen!

It’s all kind of strange, because my friend works in the next building at Intel, and I also house-sit for his dad about once every two years, and the stepsister/stepdaughter lives about two blocks from the dad’s house but I still haven’t run into her in years. She’s even a hairdresser like Megan.

In any case, that was my excitement for the day. That and the realization that I have TWO computers I can use to replace the one I’m supposed to give to Mr. Jr. Slab. Oh, plus that the ham radio swap meet is probably this weekend. Yeah, lots of opportunities to make myself even more attractive to the ladies: computers and ham radio.

So would you expect that rather than go to the gym I’d be drinking beer on a Tuesday at the beach? It was a quiet end to a day where my sister and I drove out to the beach for our friends’ grandfather’s funeral. I didn’t even know his name until last week, since they just called him Boppy.

After the funeral, several of us went to the pub down the street from the grandparents’ house and, for some reason, ate a bunch of salads. This means my lunch for the day was reception cookies and a green salad plus several beers. For those of you lucky enough to be in Oregon, you may know the effect of Terminal Gravity IPA. Fortunately, my sister doesn’t drink, so I let her drive the hour-and-a-half back  to Portland.

Coincidentally, the bar at the beach is owned by a old neighbor who went to grade school with us in Portland. He went to my high school as well. He always kind of had a crush on my little sister, but she’s pretty oblivious to things like that.

I have cut back on the TV shows that get my heart rate up. For some reason I’m back to watching 24, even though it usually means I’m unable to get to sleep for hours after the show is over. The things we do for entertainment. And to have something to talk to the guys about at work.

Today was a bland day, better than the disaster that can come on a bad Monday. My manager at work seemed kind of confused: trying to schedule a meeting with me on my day off and looking for the guy who is in San Francisco until Wednesday. That’s not too much of a problem, though. Beats true disaster.

My ass is getting larger. I put on my wedding & funeral suit today and I noticed it was a little tight in the waist. And I’m not real sure how the collar on my shirt is so small when my neck measures out at 15 1/2″ but a 15 1/2″ collar doesn’t fit. I think it’s time to hit the treadmil.

I made it to the memorial service of a co-worker who apparently had leukemia the whole time I knew him. I had no idea. It was also the first time I was in Temple Beth Israel in NW Portland, and it’s been in my neighborhood longer than I have. I think it’s the first time I’ve been in any temple at all. I hope the next time I’m in a temple it’s for a happier reason.

I did get to have dinner with old co-workers after the memorial service and it was quite fun. We all worked for a company that was interesting but didn’t pay that much and it was an interesting group of people. Plus, I got to work downtown instead of in the ‘burbs. My first commute was 40 minutes walking instead of 40 minutes driving each day. Sure saved a lot on gas and kind of gave me some minimal exercise. Ah, well, I’m sure it  looks a lot better in retrospect.

Last night my heterosexual life partner Il (who I really better stop calling that) and I went to Ringside for his birthday dinner. It’s been more than a month since his birthday, but he just realized he had a discount letter from Ringside that gave us 10% off our steak dinners. He has a cold and was stuffed up the whole time, but we figured he could get something with horseradish so he could actually taste something. This is how we ended up with two very spicy Bloody Mary’s and wasabi crab cakes for appetizers.

Of course, two drinks means that I am pretty tired the next day, but I still had a glass of wine with my “bone-in” filet mignon. I also was stuffed up in the morning. It’s no surprise that I wasn’t doing all that well at the gym today. Fortunately, I get to sleep in tomorrow before I head to the memorial service for my old co-worker. Ah, sleep.

So I got home in the middle of the day and there was this SUV with steamed up windows parked across the street. Oddly enough, it was kind of jiggling, too.

I was thinking I should call the authorities or something but then I thought I should just mind my own business. I’m just mad because I can’t remember the last time I had sex in the daytime. And I certainly haven’t had relations in a car. Ah, well.

I’m thinking that I should learn Korean. I’m not sure why I decided this, but SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE KOREAN. Hahaha. That sounds really funny and racist, but my heterosexual life partner Il (who I never see any more because he’s playing World of Warcraft) and my friend Sun who I’ve known, “For her entire adult life,” (her quote) are always telling me that Korean soap operas are awful and I have to find out for myself. Or not. Maybe I should learn Spanish like I’ve been meaning to for years. Unfortunately, the only new words I’m learning in Spanish aren’t always friendly.

I’m trying to debug my computer, of course. It’s not like I get enough of this at work.

I was thinking about going to the gym today, but my friend Megan called. Her grandfather was ill and she came up to see him. He just passed away a few days ago. My brother-in-law asked my sister if she was going to the funeral and she said she was going if I went. She also said, “And Sashi goes to all the funerals, so yeah, I’m going.”

I also have a funeral on Sunday for a co-worker from my old job. He was a VP and a lawyer, the kind of guy that you’d think I’d have nothing to do with, but I liked him. He was only in his early 50’s and he had leukemia.

I go to funerals to show the friends and family that I remember. I’m don’t believe the religious aspects, but if it helps people feel better then I’ll participate.

I was tired today and was wondering about the gym when Dave the trainer called to cancel because he wanted to attend a lecture on music and the brain. He also wanted to know if I wanted to go. He was supposed to pick up the tickets, but forgot his Driver’s License and Ticketmaster wouldn’t sell to him without ID. Then he was pulled over for driving without his seatbelt plus he DIDN’T HAVE HIS LICENSE. I ended up buying the lecture tickets and they never asked me for ID. Funny how that works out.

The lecture was pretty interesting and incredibly packed. There were people taking notes, though I’m not sure why. There was some hard science from the first lecturer, but not enough for a geek like me. But it was interesting and we also hit Superdog on the way there. So, not so much ogling the women at the gym, but I do loves me some hot dogs.

Five interviews and no new job. A few rejection letters to add to the pile. I suppose you just need one job, though.

I bought a new hard drive today because I thought it would make my life easier. Well, I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I’ve just been moving things back and forth and it’s all a big mess. But that’s my hobby. What fun is it if the computer works fine?

The team I was rooting for won. They weren’t playing that great, but the other team was worse. I suppose they’re not used to playing in a downpour, but that’s the way football should be played, in some sort of weather that isn’t just plain sunny.

I was rooting for Peyton Manning because he seems like a nerd. A big tough quarterback nerd, but still a nerd. Plus he can make fun of himself on commercials.

I continued on my weekend of laziness and I suppose watching the game is all I really accomplished today. But that’s what a weekend of laziness is for, right? Now that I think about it, I should have finished my taxes but, eh, I still have some time.