Too Busy or Not Too Busy, That Is The Question
I'm not sure whether this has been a busy week or not.
Yesterday I had to punt on biking into work because it rained all morning. Thus I squandered the PowerBar I ate shortly after waking up. John turned me onto them when I visited him in California; they're actually pretty tasty, consisting mainly of carbohydrates, fiber and protein. (Is this good? I have no clue. But it's better than a big wad of saturated fat, I know that.) I'm not really a breakfast eater, but I decided that it would probably be a good idea to eat something before biking into work. Will it do any good? Beats me. As long as I can avoid just snacking on them, I think I'll be okay.
After work last night we got together for gaming. We played Settlers with the Seafarers expansion, specifically the "New World" scenario for four players, in which we start on a known island, but then build ships out into the water and lay tiles down randomly to discover new land. It was pretty cool. The game was very close; three of the four players were in tight competition at the end, but I managed to "steal" a victory because I had a victory point card hidden in my hand. I employed the common strategy of going for the grain-and-stone city upgrade/development card approach, but the uncommon strategy of never having a direct source of wood for the whole game.
So I've won the last three games of Settlers we've played at work, but this one was really too close to call. The guy after me would have won if I hadn't on that turn. I think we're generally approaching a uniform skill level on that game, which I think is a plus.
I'm in a sweet spot at work this week: I'm working on a big and rather complicated, has-to-get-done-before-the-development-cutoff-next-week project, which is basically one big, ugly algorithm. This means I have the luxury of not having to do a whole bunch of programmer QA, and was able to close my door and concentrate on the algorithm all afternoon today. I may have to put in a few hours this weekend (I want it ready for PQA by Monday), but it's not unmanageable.
Plus, after the gaming session last night I stayed another half hour to move my previous project into the QA environment, since several people were waiting to jump on it, or its objects. I was glad to finally get that one through; it's been a long time coming.
Now, I've mentioned before that I'm overweight and in poor shape. I also have a fairly heavy street bike which I bought 7 years ago for $230. Zoe is 7 years younger than me, is thin, is in much better shape, and has a very light, very high-tech mountain bike. So while my powerful muscles can get me up those hills quickly, I'm pretty wiped out when I get to the top, and I have to rest a bit while Zoe bikes in circles waiting for me to be ready to go.
Nonetheless, it was a fun ride, going with him. We go down a lot of back roads, and when I'm not too winded we can chat a bit. I pointed out some features of the route I take, etc. I haven't been in Madison much longer than Zoe, but I seem to know the streets much better than him. (Possibly because I've had a car that whole time, and he hasn't.)
I even biked all the way up that last evil hill right before my workplace! Woo-hoo!
After work I biked over to the house of Kim, the OE of my APA to pick up the latest mailing. In the process, I found what is perhaps the worst possible route to take from work to his place. Really, really nasty hills. I can't believe I didn't just have a heart attack on the spot. So much for trying to find a shortcut.
And despite that, the APA wasn't ready. But I spent an hour or so chatting with his wife, Kathi. They're both fans, so we all have a fair bit in common. They're also really nice folks, and I like chatting with them when I stop by. In that sense, it's unfortunate that Kim's stepping down as OE in a couple of months!
So I came home and hit the shower, and of course the phone rang while I was in there. Whoever it was didn't leave a message, the bums. (I shouldn't complain; I hate answering machines, and often don't leave messages on them. I only really have one for urgent stuff, so if it's not urgent I don't really care if anyone leaves a message.) I also got to hear my recorded voice for the first time in a while, and decided I still think my voice sounds stuffy and kind of dumb. (It sounds much better inside my head.)
After all that, I got a call from the woman who invited me to the wedding in a couple of weeks, and I accepted her invitation. Should be interesting! She was surprised that I'd only been to one wedding in my adult life. So, that's in a couple of weeks.
I caught up on my cartoon viewing, including a really good Superman episode entitled "The Late Mr. Kent", in which Kent is "killed" by a car bomb while investigating the innocence of a man sentenced to die for murder. Also a good Batman episode involving Nightwing trying to get out from under the shadow of his mentor. (Apparently he and Batgirl were involved at some point. Batgirl seems really quite young in these stories, though, so it seemed a little hard to believe. But, oh well!)
And now, I must hit the sack, since I want to bike into work again tomorrow, to see if I can do it. Sorry if this therefore sounds a little rushed! Considering I spent most of the evening sitting on my ass, it sure seems like it's been a busy day!
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