21 September 1998: Errand Boy

Monday, 21 September 1998:

Errand Boy

Well, the cold has certainly arrived; it'll be time to trade the shorts in for jeans in a week or two, if not sooner.

As I've said before, I always have mixed feelings when fall arrives. Today I was driving out around the far west side, near CompUSA, and it brought back memories of last year when I was playing Riven, which I guess will remain a "fall" game in my mind. It made me wish there were some new, comparable game around to play. (It also made me wonder if the third MYST novel, The Book of D'ni, is out in mass market paperback yet.)

Apparently the cats were a bit annoyed at the cold, as I got home and their blanket at the foot of my bed had been knocked onto the floor. I don't know for sure, but I think this happens because Newton tries to burrow under it. He was burrowing under the covers with me this morning in the chill air. What a cutie!

Work was fairly routine. I spent most of the day trying to set up data to investigate a reported bug, but spent most of that time being sidetracked first by bizarre changes in the system since the last time I mucked with this particular module, and then with a wacko bug which took forever to figure out, as it threaded through perhaps the hairiest lines of code in our entire system. It was actually pretty fun, even if it was annoying. No doubt now that I've got everything set up, the original problem I was trying to tackle will take me 45 minutes to figure out and fix.

We got e-mail from the President at work asking if anyone wanted to be the narrator for a recorded script to go with a slideshow presentation. My boss suggested that I volunteer, saying "I always thought you sounded like Charles Kurault." Uh, okay. Actually, I rather dislike my speaking voice; I always think I sound stuffy and annoying when I hear it recorded (I'm sure my friend John would say, "Well, that because you are stuffy and annoying." He's good at little digs like that, but I don't mind. :-) ), so I decided to pass. I feel like I have enough pressure on me for UGM anyway.

After work I broke down and went to Borders and bought nearly every other book that Lois McMaster Bujold has written. Okay, this was overkill, I know that. But I'm enjoying it enough that I might try reading the whole series at one blow. We'll see. Actually, I know I have to read Joe Haldeman's Forever Peace in-between for the book discussion.

I also went and picked up my bicycle from the shop, and it seems to be working better now. Then, to cope with the chilly morning air, I went and bought myself some sweatpants from the Lands' End Not-Quite-Perfect Store downtown. I got them for a mere $18.00, nearly half-off the regular price. I thumbed through their selection of polo shirts and decided I'll have to go back there sometime soon. Especially if I decide I want to sweatshirt to go with the pants for fall biking.

I haven't owned sweatpants since I was in high school, when I had them for gym. I always kind of hated them, because I'm neurotic about my clothing and hate wearing things I'm not used to. But I seem to gradually be overcoming that as an adult. I still resist wearing uncomfortable clothes, like my suit, but comfortable, utilitarian clothes (like my pink - yes, pink! Actually a very light red - biking shorts) seem to be okay.

Michael Rawdon (Contact)