Dichroic Reflections

giving thanks

Having just heard some very good news
this morning that will send me happily into Thanksgiving, I'm going to repeat last
year's holiday observance: from now through the New Year, I'll list something I'm
thankful for every day. I thought about using this to replace my new clothes field
-- I've decided not to for now, but may change my mind. Meanwhile, I am packed,
trying to think of work things to occupy my morning, and ready to head East to
celebrate the holiday with my favorite uncle. (He's also my only uncle, not
counting great-uncles and distant cousins with courtesy titles.) I may not be able
to update here until next week. And I get to meet href="http://batten.diaryland.com">Batten in person!!And maybe href="http://genibee.diaryland.com">Geni!

Today I am thankful
for: Friends in real life. Friends online. Friends who are also family. And
most of all, the prospect of a new little friend I'll be hoping to meet in nine
months!

only moderately

Not too far off...

href="http://quizilla.com/users/vizz/quizzes/How%20Annoying%20Are%20You%20In%20You
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alt="I%20am%20moderately%20annoying.%20Dammit.">
How Annoying
Are You In Your Online Diary?
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what it's like when I'm not in training

I do like the group I work with. Today we had a fire drill at 10:20. Our response?
"Let's go out to lunch! What restaurants are open at this time?" Unfortunately,
the damn security guard made us stay around until the drill was over, just so we
could be counted. Not that anybody was actually counting.

But we did
go out as soon as the drill was over, at 10:45. Did I mention that I like the
people I work with? I lost my pager somewhere in the course of that lunch, but
I'm not convinced that's altogether a bad thing.

burnout

So there I was this morning, out on the lake, and suddenly thought, "This is not
fun." I think I've been rowing for a while now out of a feeling of obgliation,
which is both stupid and unpleasant. I don't really need any more obligations in
my life, but somehow quitting rowing would feel as if I were somehow wimping out
of something, a feeling I deeply abhor.

I've come up with some possible options:

• Quit entirely and find a new sport. I don't like things that make me sweat for
  a long time, so maybe the gymnastics-for-adults class Hardcore once mentioned or
  yoga. The thing about yoga is that I like getting into the positions, but probably
  wouldn't like holding them for ages. Also, I've not quite figuring out why yoga
  classes have you do things like the gas-relieving posture (I think that's one of
  its real names) when you're in a classroom with other people and not really in a
  farting-approved environment.
• Take a break from rowing and see if it feels better when I get back to it. I
  will sort of do this anyway over the holidays, if I decide to do the Concept II
  200000 erg challenge again. I'll need to scale back on rowing just to have enough
  time to erg. I'm not convinced, though, that erging furiously is much of a change
  from rowing. The one aspect that will help is that I suspect some of my burnout
  stems from a hyperactive monkey mind. My best way of clearing it out is readin,
  and on an erg I can at least listen to books on tape.
• Reframe rowing, somehow, so it doesn't feel so much like one more damn burden
  -- just get out and row lightly instead of training for races maybe, or cut back
  so I can sleep in at least one morning a week, or row one day on the weekend so I
  can sleep in, since I think my burnout is more from the hectic schedule than the
  actual on-water time.

Yet another possibility would be to find another job closer to home, so there
would be more *day* in my day. Right now I leave home at 4:30 AM, row, shower,
work, and get home around 6, and that's a major cause of my burnout. The problems
with that are that I really like this job, and that I would like to stay with this
company for several years, to counteract the effects on my resume of having held
the last three jobs for only 1 - 1.5 years.

Maybe I just need a holiday. Rudder and I are beginning to think we need to just
stay home over Christmas, not even doing the short tripos to Death Valley and Las
Vegas we were considering. We can sleep late, get lots of sorely-needed skin time,
fit our rowing or erging somewhere in the middle of our lovely long free days,
stay up late if we want, and in my case, read and read and read and read.

yes, I spend too much on clothing

I've added a new field up top, largely because I'm curious to see whether my
clothes sound as cool as Anat's when
described. They're not as cool really, of course, but they might sound nearly as
good if you're not looking at them.

class rundown

Thank goodness that's over. The class I've just finished was a fascinating
experience, though, on a number of levels.

First, of course, was the
one it was intended for. We learned a lot of statistical and other Six Sigma tools
(don't ask unless you really want to know) and learned them much better for having
applied them on our projects.

Next was the teamwork aspect. I've
worked on teams all my life, of course, but mostly not this closely or on this
intense a project (except maybe while rowing in a four or eight). As I've said,
this was not the team I'd have chosen. It wasn't that bad, though. The two people
I hadn't worked with before were both great. One women I expected to be annoyed
with was designated as the group lead and actually did an excellent job. (And yes,
I told her so.) That leaves only one woman whose head I kept wanting to rip off
and use as a sacrifice to the gods of statistics. Among other annoying
characteristics were a laugh like a hyena, a tendency to laugh at her own unfunny
jokes, and a habit after a margarita or two of tossing her head and saying, "Hel-
loo-o. Like, I'm from California?" I mean, really. There should be no need for any
functioning adult to show off her Valley Girl impression more than, oh, once a
decade or so.

However, at least she wasn't stupid. One thing I've
learned on this project is that a team really does get more done, even if
it's not an optimal team, as long as the team members are all reasonably
competent. This would have been completely overwhelming as an individual project -
- it was wonderful to know lots of things would get done without my having to do
them.

Another interesting thing was watching my own reactions. I had
some training at the previous job on personality styles and was classified as a
Driving Expressive (look here to see how this system compares to others. One thing
they talked about in that training was how, under stress, the types go through a
certain pattern, showing characteristics of other types. According to that system,
under stress I should first act according to my pattern, attacking people I
disagree with, then move through Acquiescing, Atutocratic, and Avoiding in
extreem cases. And you know what, they were purt'near right, though I think I
switched Autocratic and Acquiescing. Of course in a professional situation I don't
get all emotional and make personal attacks, no matter what my type-rating says,
but I do challenge people's logic and conclusions when I disagree. From there it
was "Let's get this done -- do this, this and this, bang, bang bang, we should
just shoot quickly through this part." Then I moved to "Fine. I don't care enough
to argue - let's do it your way just so we can move on. I'm tired of arguing and
we're wasting time." And finally it was "If I stay engaged in this conversation
someone's going to have a new asshole ripped for them -- better to pull back and
just go off for a bit."

Finally, not coincidentally with that last
point, I will say that finding a copy of the excellent href="http://www.lop.shoesforindustry.net/">Lust Over Pendle still stashed on
my Palm Pilot did wonders for my sanity, especially in those times where I didn't
think we needed another trial, other people did, and we had to wait until after
midnight until we could do one. At the risk of sounding obnoxious, I was right
about that and a lot of other things, but I don't think anyone was realized it --
either though not understanding the point I was making, not listening, or a spot
of self-delusion (which if this weren't a diary I might refer to as "having a
different perspective"). I did at least refrain from using the phrase "I told you
so," I'm proud to say.

Next up is this afternoon's race, a post-race
dinner, then a party to taste the new Beaujolais, to which I'm quite looking
forward.

almost done

Got home around 12:30 last night. Thank goodness today is a short day -- we
basically just have to test our "extermination systems", make a "sales pitch"
about them, award a trophy to whoever gets the most points and go home.

no coffee??

Last night we were working on our projects until 11:30, a mere 3.5 hours past my
normal bedtime. I can't imaine who thought it was a good idea to combine projects
with class time; I strongly doubt we were the latest ones there and I can't
imagine everyone will be bright-eyed and alert at 8AM for class. My head hurts and
it's definiely unfortunate that I can't drink coffee.

The idea of
these projects is to use a balsa wood glider to kill a varmint -- we are supposed
to be an exterminator company. Of course, we need to use all sorts of statistical
tools to design our experiments, changing various parameters on the gliders and
the launch procedures. Anyone know a good way to make a glider fly straight?

Rudder rocks

Rudder rocks. He's on the phone with Taiwan now .... I think he may have had them
call him at home just so he could get here in time to give me a tool I need to
take back for my class project (they let me escape home for dinner). Wow.

argh and ok

Yesterday alternated between arrghh (my team lead signed up for a room time at ten
tonight when she could have pickd two PM tomorrow -- just in case the lecturers
run late and we might miss a morsel) and OK (we worked until about two hours past
my bedtime but did get lots done -- and not at a snail' pace either). We'll see
how today goes.

yet again arrgggh

DOn't expect to see much of me this week -- I'm back in training for week three of
the Black Belt stuff, and they say this week we'll end up staying very late.
Unfortunately the instructors (not the same ones who were there last week) picked
who works with whom for our big project and they stuck me with the two women who
drove me absofuckinglutely nuts last week. (Very nice women but v - e - r - r - y
slow and methodical on e - v - e - r - y - f - u - c - k - i - n - g - t - h - i -
n - g. And I'm not.) Just when I'd sat at a table with the people who would make
the best team of the class. I felt rather complimented, actually, when a few of
them sounded upset about not getting to work in our team.

Forgot to
say it, but I agree with SWooP; the first part of CHamber of Secrets was choppy
and very rushed.

Lesson: when you write a poem about rowing and the
moon (yes, another one) and you're trying to capture the fey loveliness of moon
over lighted bridge over water, don't look at the poem later while you're in a
work-related class. The juxtaposition just makes the poem look stupid. And I don't
think it is, or at least not as bad as it looked.

Potter review

Here's my Harry Potter mini-review; I'll try to avoid spoilers but no
promises.

I liked it.

I was a bit worried because the
critics liked it and these are the same idiots who complained about the first
movie because it was "too close to the book.

WhatEVer.

No wonder they were happier though, because
this one does depart a bit more. In general it wasn't a problem; for instance, the
scene with the Malfoys shopping in Diagon Alley was omitted, but a speech from
Lucius at Flourish and Blott's Bookshop made his Dark tendencies just as obvious.
There were a few new oneliners and a few places where minor departures from the
text added a lot of visual punch -- for instance, Harry and Draco's chase though
the scaffolding of the stands in the Quidditch match. (I will say, though, that
the reviewer I read who claimed the match was more realistic this ime was clearly
sniffing glue.)Another nice touch was that Harry was filthy from his Floo trip and
Knockturn Alley when Lockhart pulled him up for a picture for the Daily Prophet in
the bookstore, adding to his obvious annoyance at being in the spotlight.

The atmosphere was well done, again, and Branagh as Lockhaart was
brilliant and hilarious, while the actor who played Lucius Malfoy was brilliant
and chilling. The mix of styles in the costuming, from Elizabethan (Lockhart's
dueling doublet) to Georgian (Malfoy's hair and clothes toward the end) to
early/mid Victorian (Diagon Alley, Fudge's clothes) did a nice job of conveying an
Olde English flavour.

My complaints are that there were hints of an
Harry Hermione 'ship that seem to me to go against what's coming in Book 4 (though
Rudder debated this, so it's a matter of interpretation) and that Harry himself
was a wee bit arrogant in spots -- though again, some people see that in the books
too.

Much better now

I feel much better now. (Read that sentence with Monty Python accent, always.) My
presentation yesterday went well, though of course I didn't enjoy watching the
video tape. (Is that ME? With the goofy hair, the flashing glasses, the accent I
didn't know I had, the bad posture I always forget to correct?)

I
have my parents' Chnukah gift (jointly with the Bro, yet) and my mom's birthday
gift ordered, an idea for the Bro's birthday, more than half of my several loads
of laundry done, bills enveloped and ready to be mailed, and quality time spent
with the Rudder-man. Next up: laundry to be finished, shower to be taken, new-car
scoping to be done, REI to be visited. Also further thiking, as I still need
holiday gift ideas for brother and uncle, as well as several gifts for Rudder.
What birthday gift goes well with an Xmas IOU for a ticket to Ireland?

ta

Yesterday involved not one but two complete Thanksgiving dinners, vote-counting
complete with a tie, a recount and a runoff, gymtime, and a presentation assigned
at 5PM, due at 9AM today.

So y'all will understand if I'm not my
usual verbose self this morning. Ta.

OK, I couldn't resist, thanks to Mechaieh and SWooP. And what do you know, Emode
got me right with their href="http://www.emode.com/tests/inkblot/authorize/signin.jsp?url=/tests/inkblot/i
ndex.jsp">Inkblot test:

Curiosity

This means you are full of questions about life, people, and the potential of your
future. You spend more time than others envisioning the possibilities of your life
— things that others are too afraid to consider.

Your curiosity burns with an almost physical need to know and do more. It's only
through new experiences that you feel a greater understanding of yourself or the
world — which ultimately is the greatest way for you to feel satisfied.

It is possible that the underlying reason for your drive towards curiosity is a
deeply rooted fear of boredom. That means that you are probably more susceptible
than others to feel like you're falling into a rut when life slows down into a
comfortable routine.

You need to make sure you have stimulation in your life — that makes you feel like
you're innovating or being exposed to the ideas and experiences that truly inspire
you.

With such a strong orientation towards curiosity, you're also prone to a
rebellious quality that shows up when you feel you are just going through the
motions, and are unable to really influence the world around you. But
interestingly enough, your drive towards novel experiences also indicates an
openness others don't have, but wish they did.

Unconsciously, your curiosity presses you to learn more, experience more, and get
the most out of life.

lullabye and good night....

I've got my karma comeuppance. The gods have punished me for making fun of T2
blisters yesterdday by giving me my own crop this morning. The thing about rowing
is, you don't get blisters in normal places like feet. You get them on your hands
because that's what grips the oar. For lagniappe you get what we call "trackbite",
abrasions on the backs of your calves where they contact the tracks the seat roll
on. And yes, I do realize that firm juicy hand blisters are not only painful but
sort of disgusting if you think about it too much.

I generally solve
that by not thinking about it too much.

Every once in a while I
reread Little Women, get to the part where Meg is proud of her soft, white
hands, and conclude it's a good thing I wasn't around in the 1860s. At least no
one has refused to shake hands with me yet, despite the blisters as well as the
ground-in oar-grip black rubber that refuses to come of in the shower and that
makes my hands look like a mechanic's.

The reason for today's
blisters is that I've rowed two consecutive mornings, which I usually don't do.
This is what I love about rowing a single: the freedom to restructure my workout
to fit whatever is going on in my life. Like this -- I didn't row Monday, nor did
anyone else who went to San Diego for the races. (Though I was sort of sheating,
since I didn't actually race. Rowed the double with Egret on Tuesday as previously
planned. Rowed today because we're going out tonight with Egret and T2 before they
leave again for Ireland and I'll have Beer and won't want to row tomorrow. Or
Friday, because tomorrow night we going to the rowing club's annual dinner /
meeting. (There are a lot of good things to be said about a club that only has one
meeting a year.) SO tomorrow and Friday mornings I'll sleep in a little and lift
weights or erg. Possibly I'll let Rudder talk me into rowing this weekend, though
I think the effort betrays a lack of understanding on his part of the term
"relaxing weekend". Relaxing is not a skill for which my husband is known, though
I admit I greatly prefer a guy who doesn't slow down to one who's vegetating on
the couch in front of a football game every Sunday.

This journal has
been a bit boring lately -- I'm not all that worried about readers, who can choose
to read it or not, but it's been boring even me. That's attributable to a
combination of two factors. First, I'm very happy with both my job (well, most of
the time) and my husband (ditto). We're not apart or sick or poor, we're not doing
anything eventful like moving or reproducing,and I'm not doing anything creative
like NaNoWriMo, so there's not much angst in my life at the moment. (Minor
irritants a-plenty, but little angst.) That makes the daily-activity entries a bit
mundane. Second, I've been busy as hell, so haven't had much chance to think about
the sort of essays I originally intended this journal for. Though I am hoping for
a bit more spare time after November, I don't really plan to do anything drastic
like divorcing Rudder just to spice things up. I won't give up keeping this
journal either, because I've never really had one before and it feels like just
the act of writing in one has some value. (I can't quite pin down why, but it's a
strong feeling.) In other words, I'm not really planning to change anything but do
want to apologize if I've been putting anyone to sleep.

daily data

Four meetings down, two (that I know of so far) to go. Because it's been that kind
of day. This is an historic day, the first workday since October 18 -- nearly a
month -- that I haven't been in training. I was a little worried about what I'd do
all day, but that appears not to be a problem.

With a bit of luck I
won't crash before the afternoon meetings; I was awake for several hours because
of yesterday's plumbing work. The fix itself wasn't all that big a deal; I cut off
the leaky part and Rudder capped it, because I have no desire to use a blowtorch
except maybe to carmelize creme brulee. The problem was that the pipe was behind a
bathroom wall. We didn't want to go through the wall because this is in the
bathroom Rudder redid, with tile four feet up the walls, and cutting through all
that tile would have been almost as little fun and trying to fix it afterward.
Instead he cut a small (I mean small -- 12" by 18") hole in the back of the
coat closet and we somehow squirmed through it, breathing drywall dust and some
sawdust laying back in there, then pushed asied some insulation (with gloves) to
get to the pipe. All of that shifting and cutting released a ton of dust into the
air, which was why I was laying awake, trying not to cough, trying to find a
position in which my sinuses would un-stuff. I don't think Rudder was best pleased
with me.

Egret's still here and T2 is in for the week. Egret and I
rowed the double again this morning; I'm happy to say that we completed two full
laps while our husbands went in early. Poor T2 had blisters. (Why yes, I did have
trouble keeping a straight face while I typed that.) It will be her last row for a
while as she's having her
surgery today, so please send good vibes her way.

Anyway, back to
work.

water in various forms

Well. The weekend went reasonably well. I didn't race at all, because Mission Bay
is generally to rough for singles, though it actually ended up being fairly smooth
this year. udder had a practice row on Saturday, so we couldn't go out and do
much, but we did get to sleep in, go for breakfast, and take a nice long walk
along the beach in the morning. Once we got to the boathouse, the bus with most of
the rowers and the trailer with the boats were late, not unpredictably. They'd
left that morning instead of the night before, and due to some perverse whim of
AussieCoach's, had only scheduled (pronounced, "sheduled", 'cause that's how
Aussies say it) half an hour to load all the boats on the trailer -- two eights
and two fours, respectively 60 and 40 feet long. Yeah, right. Eventually they got
there and rowed, after which we relaxed in the hotel a bit, drove to their hotel,
and rode the bus to Old Town for dinner.

Note: Speaking of
AussieCoach and his kangaroo fixation, the unisuits he'd ordered from Australia
finally came in in time for this race. The obnoxiously and unexpectedly bright
green and gold do have their advantage in being very visible out on the water, but
that's not quite enough to redeem the lack of breathability in the fabric,
uncomfortable cut, and complete transparency of the yellow.

Back to
the weekend. We had debated whether to eat alone, because large groups descending
on restaurants without prior notice can often result in extreme cluster-fuckitude.
However, this grop was at least smart enough to let them seat us in small groups
and we ended up with a wonderful meal. We'd picked Zocalo's more or less by random
chance -- we hadn't wanted to eat Mexican food pre-race, but the proponderance of
restaurants did have SPanish names. Zocalo's turned out not to be Mexican at all
though -- maybe a slight Spanish influence, since they served tapas, but otherwise
purely creative. There were so many wonderful soundin foods on the menu that She-
Hulk and I decided to order four of the appetizers and split them. We ended up
ordering lobster bisque (her), warm aspargus and wild mushroom salad (me), salmon
summer rolls (us), and shrimp kebab with mango salsa (us again). Yum, yum, yum,
and yum.

On the downside, while getting packed up and waiting for me
to come home on Frdiay, Rudder heard a drip behind one of the walls by the
downstairs bath. We didn't have time to do much about it so we turned off the
water main, left, and hoped for the best. We left right after his race, drove home
listening to Harry Potter IV (does Barty Crouch, Sr., remind anyone else of John
Ashcroft, or is itjust me?)got home, and attacked the plumbing. After cutting a
12" by 18" hole in the back of a closet and somehow squirming through, Rudder was
able to find the leak. It was a tiny one, at the end of a small pipe L that stuck
up 8" into the air and ended there, with no apparent rainson d'etre. We turned the
water on just long enough to brush teeth that night and shower the next
morning.

This morning, while I headed off for yet more training, he
called a plumber and me tthe guy back home. He told Rudder that the pipe just
needed to be capped off and offered grudgingly to do it for a mere $200. So
guess what we just finished doing?

hurriedly

No time to update, after a weekend dealing with travel, rowing, and (unfortuately)
plumbing. Off to orientation, only three weeks after starting the job.

More
later.

here we go again

I'm getting ready to go off for the third consecutive weekend in this train all
week / travel every weekend siege. After this I have only three days of training
next week, a weekend to sleep and delve into the piles of stuff around the house
that are beginning to reach Everest proportions, another week of training that I'm
warned amy extend late at night, a local race, and then Thanksgiving week.
Whew.

All of which is my justification for purely taking it easy on
the water this morning. There are some days when just to be out there counts as
enough.

I'll be cheering for Rudder and the other club members racing
this week, but they'll have to be satisfied with mere volume. I'm saving all my
most best strongest good wishes for href="http://ziggym.diaryland.com">Egret over the next few
days.

Note to T2 Hatfield: Don't get your hopes up. Despite my
occasional ambivalence, we're not likely to be shopping for daycare with you.

on the spot

Well, that was amusing. I was sitting peacefully in this week's training
class, which is stuff I need to know so I can both use it and teach it, when my
hitherto virgin pager buzzed. Apparently, the same woman who was teaching my class
was also somehow scheduled to teach another class at the same time. Unfortunately,
this was the initial overview class, which I have somehow managed never to attend,
and I haven't yet studied all the tools briefly covered in the overview. The only
other person around has been in this group longer than I have, but has also never
taught this module and is a hardware person to boot. He had already started with
the class, working from hard-copy handouts because he didn't have the appropriate
slides, either. I took over the class while he went off to download the slides.
I'd hoped he could stay around for support, but he had to run off to another
meeting.

The class went a bit better than I had expected, meaning it
was not a total disaster. Nobody actually fell asleep. They weren't hostile,
possibly out of pity -- we'd explained we were teaching this for the first time
and gave them an option to come to a later class. They asked a few questions I
couldn't answer as well as I'd have liked, and I couldn't provide concrete
examples of successful use of these tools and methods. I was able, though, to
provide web sites where they could find both more info and some examples, so I
wasn't totally useless. Maybe next time I have to teach I'll at least be able to
read the materials first.

Or maybe I should download all the
materials for all the modules to my laptop and reach it on the beach in San Diego
this weekend while Rudder races.

a few more rowing stories

The wake on the lake this morning was horrible, with three coaching launches out.
It was a pity, too, because the water was a perfect smooth mirror before we
riffled it. It was all worth it, though, for the shooting star I saw, complete
with a long white tail. It was in the east, so might have been an impatient
Leonid. (Note: Don't forget to look for the Leonid meteors, which will be peaking
before damn on November 19.)

I was almost tempted to thank the
coaches, for their wake; all that practice in dealing with bounding billows
certainly came in handy during my race in Newport. They'd had t odelay the race
2.5 houra because of dense fog, so by the time we got going, the boat traffic was
heavier than it would have been earlier. I'm still irked at one small boat with a
man and a woman who were acting like race officials, who stayed right in front of
me for at least 500 meters in the middle of the race. I didn't register a protest
because it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the race, but it was unpleasant
being stuck in their wake and I'm still annoyed. I may send an e-mail to the
sponsoring club, to ask them to brief their people better next
year.

I also haven't told the story from the Marina del Rey race
about which I'm still being ribbed. Several of us were out on the edge of the
marina to see the finish of the race, and I went back to get a camp chair. When I
got to the parking lot to get the Cherokee keys out of my pack, my club's coach
hollered over, "Dichroic, you still available to cox?" I told him I was -- it's
more fun to participate than just to watch, and coxing lets you be in a race
without even having to sweat. He directed me to some San Diego guys who were short
not only a cox but one rower. He turned up soon enough and we headed out, with me
frantically trying to figure out how to steer from the bow-coxed position while
getting my boat warmed up and not hitting any other boats or buoys. The rest of
my club, having seen me walk off to fetch a chair, next saw me coming by in a boat
with four good-looking men.

We won too. I think half of them are
giving me shit because they're envious of the medal, and half because they're
envious of my pick-up skills. As for me, I'm enjoying it because not only did
those men come up to say hello at the next day's race, but so did the women from
LARC with whom I rowed to a first-place finish on our lake last spring.

me and JA

Yay.

I may be the only person in the world (possibly excepting Joseph Ellis, Adams and Jefferson biographer) who would be happy about this diagnosis, which just proves its correctness. I gather Adams was pretty happy to be Adams, too.

Except for that whole Alien and Sedition fiasco, anyway.

voted

src="http://riseagain.net/dichroic/images/voted.jpg">

Wrote an
entry last night, but D-land ate it. The gist was that the thing that bothers me
about being so busy is not any of the the things I have to do -- I don't even mind
my daily shlep to work, while I'm doing it -- but all the things I don't have time
for. My soul just doesn't feel right when I don't have enough time to read; I have
to chug books down in small but voracious sips instead of my usual refreshing
draughts.

One that may get me in more trouble is that I have absolutely none of my holiday
shopping done yet. This is worse than it sounds, because Chanukah starts on
November 30 this year, and my mom and brother both have birthdays in early
December. Rudder's birthday is just before Christmas. I know what I want to get
him this year -- to date he's read this site about once so it should be safe to
mention that I want to give him an IOU for airfare to Ireland, to visit Egret and
T2. (An IOU instead of real tickets so that we can decide on dates together.)
Given the cost, that may have to go for his birthday as well. That still leaves me
to buy two gifts each for my mom and brother, one each for my uncle and
impossible-to-buy-for dad, and maybe some stuff for friends.

Anyone have some spare time they'd like to sell me?

race news

Back from the races, no time for a real update. Rudder, rowing with the club in a
men's eight, won first place on Saturday and second on Sunday. At the last minute
I ended up coxing a San Diego men's four, which was especially interesting since I
didn't know the race course and had never steered a bow-coxed boat before. This is
where the cox is sort of reclining in front of the rowers instead of sitting up in
back. You can see ahead much better but can't see what the rowers are doing. The
boat wasn't set up with a cox box (microphoine system either, so I didn't say
anything much during the race, except when I needed them to row harder on one side
to make a turn. I could have steered a better course but must not have screwed up
too badly because we won.

On Sunday I raced my single and came in
second out of two. I wasn't thrilled with my time, but at least I wasn't
embarassed by it. I did this race because it's shorter and last year the water was
much calmer there at Newport than at the Marina del Rey race. This year MdR was
calmer and I think next year I may do that race instead because it's smaller and
more laid back. Or I could be a masochist and do both, I suppose.

I
am still in training, so don't have much time to update here.

trick-or-flattery

Has something changed since my trick-or-treating days? Quite a few of the kids
last night looked into my house through the open door and said, "Wow, your house
is big!" One little boy, not more than about 8 or 9, told me gravely, "You have a
beautiful house."

I thanked him, of course.

The
littlest ones just kept trying to toddle in. I don't know whether that was because
they liked the house or if they just think that that's what you do when a door is
open; you go through it. I have two theories on all of this:

1. Their
eyes are dazzled. The front room in my house is a living room we don't use much.
It currently contains a sum total of two bikes (hiding behind a half wall) and a
ping-pong table, folded. In other words, it's nearly empty. The room has white
walls and a white-ish tile floor. They're coming in from the dark. Maybe it just
looks all big and shiny.

2. They're brown-nosing in hopes of getting
more candy. Seems unnecessary, on Hallowe'en, but I don't suppose they've acquired
the concept of "enough" chocolate. (Neither have many adults.)

Of for
a fun day of team building, including a round of disc golf, then off for the
races.