On Monday night, 31 January 2005, after the previous diary entry "went to press", I'm opening a letter from former co-worker Michael Bernard and talking with Person C_T on the phone. In Michael's letter, he talks of having to put one of his golden retrievers to sleep in the past year at the age of ten. I then realize that this is the exact one year anniversary of when I put Nopey to sleep. I mention it to Person C_T and he consoles me even though it is a long time ago and in the distant past. Just before dropping off to sleep I say prayer hoping that I didn't wait too long to put Nopey to sleep nor that I did it too soon. At least he is somewhere with good hearing and good hips again.
Late on Wednesday afternoon Person T* comes rushing into my office and is happy to see me there. I have been in meetings all afternoon and she was unable to find me earlier. It turns out that the paramedics had come to our building and my hallway and Person T* thought that they were taking me away because she couldn't find me after the paramedics had left. (The paramedics took away a young lady who fainted. Odd, because this lady is always working out and/or running. Maybe a low blood sugar episode.)
On Wednesday night, after the Tuesday night resourcescout meeting, Ruby calls and says that we need to invoice our customer for $5000 because the customer has the grant money. The $5000 is just for the start of development of the $26000 effort. It is our first official income for resourcescout and we will be happy when the check comes in and clears the bank.
On Thursday I am on my way to work at 5:30 am for a 6 am teleconference. There is an accident on the 405 north and an overturned vehicle is laying in the ditch by the side of the freeway. Past the accident the speed picks up to 90 mph and this is as fast as I dare go now because my eyes are tearing up again (as they sometimes do during cold mornign rides) and I cannot see a thing.
As the Thursday telecon gets started I see about an incident at Long Beach Polytechnic high school where I help out on the robotics effort. Remind me not to argue with the students about how to build the robot.
Thursday night I start in with lifting again after almost a week off. It feels good to start pumping iron again.
On Friday I take the afternoon off from work to go home and paint a room. This is finally putting the second coat of paint on the room that I painted near Christmas. After painting the room I do the laundry and relax. Person C_T comes over and we finally get to watch "Maria Full of Grace". It had been "sold out" a number of times before when we tried to rent it at the video store. The movie is okay - nothing special even if the lead actress has been nominated for an Oscar.
On Saturday I'm up a bit late to go cycling and then work on the robot. Though we don't make a lot of apparent progress, we're getting a better understanding of the communications and variables and hopefully we'll be ready for a final push. After dinner (prepared by Person C_T) we watch television before phone calls from Person J_VKPI, Joe, and Person T_U. Joe and Person C_T and I agree to meet up at a club and Person T_U decides to skip it because he knows his ex will be there with his new boyfriend. We get to the club at 10:30 and it is empty. But an hour later it is fairly full. Person T_U's ex is present and we wave and smile at each other from a distance. A few other acquaintances are present including Person M_C who is moving to San Francisco in March for a two year assignment. As Person M_C has previously stated, "I'm not moving there for my career. I'm moving their for white men." Well, Person C_T and I leave near 12:30 on Sunday morning - leaving Joe to fend for himself.
On Sunday morning I'm up near 7 pm to go for a long walk and stop at the ATM. Person C_T leaves near noon as I head off to run some errands. I watch the Super Bowl - more for the advertisements than for the game. But it's a close game. Directly after the game I go for a 30 minute walk and come home to wind down the weekend. I put on the Bealtes "1" CD because I feel like I want to and need to cry. Things are going well, but I just want to cry in order to get rid of some extra stress.