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, so that someone else is a friend who had me buy it for them, but still.) Fortunately, hitting refresh all day seems to have paid off because my new MacBook Pro is supposed to be arriving next week BUT NOT ON THE SAME DAY AS THE IPAD. Like I can stay home two days to sign for packages. Did I mention that I’m busy busy busy at work?

I think I’ve decided that since I’m unlikely to ever date again, I might as well fantasize about someone that I’m never going to meet, much less have a chance at asking out. I wonder if Mary Louise Parker is single.

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 eating now that my mom is off to Japan. I usually spend a month eating a whole lot of bagel bites. Tonight I went to Jack-in-the-Box and had a chicken fajita pita, which matched up pretty well with the percentages on the “Zone” diet. I’m thinking this may be the time for my biennial Big Mac too, even though that usually makes my stomach hurt. No pain no gain? (Stomach pain and weight gain, most llkely.)

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 the fall again.

I’ve felt puny the past couple of days and slept in on a beautiful Sunday. I did end up using an angle grinder to smooth off a piece of rail that I’ve had for the past 35 years but other than that I did almost nothing. I was trying to blame it on the dinosaur I took to my neighbor (his kid forgot it and kids are germ factories) but I think I’ve been feeling a little off since last Friday. If I could only take another day off work…

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 dinner at Dorio and got some Greek community gossip. I highly recommend the food there. Also had a crepe at the place a couple of doors down and it was really tasty. I have a bunch of chocolate birthday cake from my sister, but I was so full I was unable to eat any more of it

So my day went pretty well. Thank goodness.

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 that adolescent fantasy Atlas Shrugged. And did I mention that the Groupon that I thought was good through the weekend expired a couple of days ago? $30 down the tubes.

So here’s to things getting better.

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. I’ve decided that I’m just going to keep keep hoping that someone out of my league will go out with me because if I’m not going out with anyone, I might as well not go out with someone special, right?

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 I’m not going to have any network connection at all if I screw up. But it’s so fun to do system administration when I should be sleeping, and even better if I’ve had a bit to drink. Maybe this weekend…

I went to work.

I went to the gym, and cheated on my 47 birthday burpees (I broke them up and did them between other things rather than doing them all at once.)

I thought about going to bed early but stayed up watching House and Chuck instead. I did score some free food at lunch. Baklava from the Mad Greek Deli and everything else from co-workers. Not a bad day, overall.

Bad news everyone, Belly is closing. I suppose restaurants come and go, but I liked Belly. I took my mom there two or three times and it was always interesting and tasty. Ah, well.

I feel like I’m supposed to do something tomorrow besides go to work (where I’m still incredibly busy), not be able to go to my friend’s funeral because of work, and go to the gym after work. I feel like I should be doing something special like changing the batteries in my smoke alarms or rotating my tires. Or figuring out who will give me something free because it’s my birthday. It took me three years to get a free beer out of Rogue Brewery and that always could be on my list, but really I figure I make enough money that a free beer or ice cream isn’t worth the trouble. 15% off at Ringside is another story, but I get a month to cash that in.

So there it is. Survived another Monday. That’s an accomplishment in itself.

If you have a chance, you should go see “Same Time, Next Year” at the Public House Theatre Company. It was a lot funnier than I expected (I never saw the movie) and I’m wondering why I haven’t seen more plays, especially in small venues. Melissa and Leif are great and the play is a lot of fun.

What I wouldn’t suggest is working until 7PM, going to the play, and then eating pizza at 11PM afterwards unless nightmares are your thing.

I went out to Accanto for my birthday dinner with my mom, sister, and brother-in-law today. I’d actually never been. It got crowded, and for a good reason: the food was great. The potato gnocchi (that my sister and mom got) was good enough that people wanted to lick the plate. I had the pork cheeks which were a nice winter dinner with winter greens and beans. Dessert was also delicious. The place was full of older folks, not hipsters, and I’m old enough to appreciate that. Especially since it’s going to be my 47th birthday.

Oh god, that means 47 burpees on Tuesday. Maybe I’ll be sick that day and miss the gym.

I don’t say much about work so I’ll just say the last two weeks were pretty busy. Insanely busy. And busy as well. And not only demanding of my attention, but busy. Really, I’m beat. And when I finally get home my brain makes me watch TV until it’s too late and then I’m tired for the next day, which is busy. It really hasn’t been that much fun.

But the worst thing about my day is that I found out that an online friend had died from, I think, the ‘flu. And I don’t deserve to feel bad like her close friends and family, but she’d email me from time to time and I’ll miss that. I mentioned that to a co-worker, and she told me she had a kid who died from the ‘flu. We both talked about how we’re big proponents of the ‘flu vaccine and, wow, I felt even worse. But I also feel like a schmuck for bringing up the ‘flu to her.

The ‘flu is something that seems like you just soldier through but more than a few people I know have died from it. It’s more dangerous than it feels like it should be.

So I’ll go back to work tomorrow, where it will probably be very busy. I also have to move my cube from where it is to a new space where it’s louder and hotter than I like. But ti’s not as bad as it could be.

I think I know how this basketball game turns out (stupid push notification on my iPhone and iPad) but I still want to watch it. Even though I bet I forgot to set my DVR long enough and I bet I’m not going to see the end of this game. But it’s the NCAA National Championship game. The only other sporting event I actually watched after recording (I usually end up not having the patience) is the Superbowl.

I did succeed in doing very little this weekend, but had breakfast with my buddy Greg (and, coincidentally, friends from the gym John and John), mowed the lawn and then did a whole lot of sitting around. And a few rounds of Angry Birds. It was a nice weekend, but not nearly as nice as it was in the Bay Area. It sounded like summer, and I heard it was the best weather they’ve had in a while. Leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and motorcycles. I actually like the rainy weather, but it’s nice to get some sun once in a while.

And I know I was sick. This is the first trip I’ve made to California in YEARS that I missed getting an In-N-Out burger. Heck, I almost missed a flight once because I stopped by the drive-through at Rengstorff and 101. I think I may have to schedule another trip down there.