Another Lovely Morning

Another day when I should feel morose and surly, but I don't. The weather's too nice, and even though I haven't had enough sleep, it's so pleasant to be outdoors on a sunny morning. I guess I really am a morning person, for all that I've spent the last two years or so going to bed between midnight and 2am.

Last night was a throwback to my 2am days because I had a hockey practice in Fremont from 11:15pm - 1am. Al came with me, which was great because (a) I haven't been able to spend as much time with him lately because of work, and (b) he could enjoy the workout and the ice time too. The ice at Fremont was large, smooth, and not too hard or too soft, and the locker rooms were spacious and clean. A much better facility than I'd anticipated. Our former-Shark practice coach didn't show up, which was disappointing, but I'm not sure I could have kept up if he had. Doing a few drills and then working on my shooting was plenty for my brain-dead and sleep-deprived self.

I'm definitely yawning this morning, but so far my mood is upbeat. It's another work Saturday (and tomorrow's a work Sunday), but I think I can handle it. I've got some more cleanup I can do on this site, and I'm working on a sample site for my someday-B&B, so I think I've got the scenarios covered. And I'm glad I stuck to my train routine; sometimes I think keeping to a sleep schedule is more beneficial than sleeping in to catch up, and I think I'd rather have my morning walk than another 45 minutes in bed. Maybe I'll feel differently tomorrow or the next day, when I realize I haven't had a day off in a while...

At Wit's End

I am well and truly losing it. I could probably be accurately described as a person who is easily frustrated, and that's even more true when I'm overtired or burned out. (Great traits for a B&B host, eh?) Right now I'm cold (because I managed to soak my sleeve while washing out my coffee mug), tired, sick to my stomach, just plain uncomfortable, and ready to choke my cube neighbor the next time he slurps his soda.

I've been trying to move my site to a friend's webserver for two days now without success, and I'm about to throw in the towel. I mean, security is great and all—I love the idea of keeping out viruses and hackers as much as the next person—but I am *not* a virus or a hacker, and *I can't get in*! Arrrrrrgh!

I've also just plain run out of things I want to do on my site right now, so I have to try to come up with more scenario tests. Al & I talked for a long time last night about what kind of site he might like (he has a domain name, but no site), and the short answer is: he doesn't. Unlike me, he does not feel the need to vent his frustrations, muse on random topics, and post photos of himself playing hockey on his very own web site. Can you imagine?

Late Train

Walked over to Safeway this morning instead of going straight to the train station, but decided on the way that there was really nothing I wanted. My stomach is growling, but I'm not really interested in eating anything. I went anyway, figuring I'd get some fruit or yogurt or something for later.

I couldn't find the flavor of yogurt I wanted, so I picked up half a cantaloupe that smelled vaguely sweet and headed for the checkout. The express line was long, the only other checkout had two people with huge orders on the belt, and the express cashier was torn about how to call for help. I put the not-really-wanted-anyway cantaloupe back and headed back to the station, now unsure of whether I'd make it in time for the train.

As I arrived on the platform, there was an announcement that train #32, a southbound train, was 11 minutes late. I found out a few minutes later that the 8:22 northbound train hadn't even arrived yet, though there'd been no announcement about that. It pulled up at 8:45, so now I'm on an express that I really don't want to be on, headed to Atherton for an allergy shot I don't really want to get. Of course, I have to get off in Menlo Park anyway; I guess I can decide whether it's worth it to walk on to Atherton then, or whether I'll just wait for the next train, "which is 10 minutes behind us."

After writing the above (and handing my ticket to the conductor to get punched), I realized the train was still in the station in Palo Alto, and that the doors were still open. I had a third option: get off now, go to Whole Foods, and get back on train #49 when it came through. That's what I did. Well, I'm not on the #49 yet, but I'm waiting for it, and I did go to Whole Foods (and got my fruit and yogurt after all). So much for the allergy shot; this'll be the third week in a row that I missed it, I think. Guess the Zyrtec will just have to get me through.

I broke down and started reading the new B&B book last night; it really is the most appropriate to my current situation, with its focus on devoting a couple rooms in your house to bed & breakfast and keeping your day job. Eventually it'd be nice to make running a B&B inn or a tea shop at Al's golf course my full-time job, but becoming a bed & breakfast host at my current house is probably more feasible in the short term. It'd also give me an idea of whether I'm really suited to being a host, or whether my antisocial computer geek reputation is well-deserved.

I actually stayed up later than I'd intended reading the book (Al even dozed off before I did, which is rare), so I'm slightly sleepy today. Of course, that isn't unusual these days. There were a couple weeks there where I was getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night, and I'd wake up before the alarm, thinking about ways to get a longer walk in before going to work. Now I'm getting 7 hours if I'm lucky; I'm still enjoying walking and taking the train, but my mornings seem a little less leisurely than they once did. That's probably the biggest reason I decided to get off in Palo Alto and go to the Whole Foods—to make my commute less a race to work and more a chance to appreciate the morning.

Double-Secret Identity Revealed

Oh my god, my company has a blogging strategy. I had no idea until I got bored with scenario testing and decided to read some of my favorite blogs... and came across a critique of said blogging strategy on meg's site (see entry for May 9, which happens to be my mom's birthday. happy birthday, mom!). OK, so I'm not sure that "strategy" is really the correct term (or even the correct characterization), but it was still news to me that Macromedia was even encouraging employee blogging.

Makes me think twice about starting that "Dreamweaver feature of the week" column, wherein I would share my excitement over some of the stuff my colleagues added to the product this time around. (They can vouch for my genuine enthusiasm; it was all I could do to keep from hugging J.S. the other day over Design Time Style Sheets.) Actually, I was already thinking twice about it, because I was worried it might be perceived as a conflict of interest. This is my personal site, after all, and while I use the tool I work on to create it (and say so on my inside the peel page), I wasn't convinced that even if it was perfectly kosher for me to talk about a product I really like here, my motives wouldn't be questioned to the point where offering my opinions would do more harm to the product (and to my reputation, if I can be said to have one) than good.

But now I'm questioning the wisdom of starting the column for a different reason: will it be perceived as part of the company strategy? My friend nj just came by, and we talked about it a little. He is of the opinion that as long as I keep a Dreamweaver column separate from this and other personal blogs, and make it clear that I do work for the company (though the opinions are my own), it shouldn't damage either my reputation or the company's, and that I shouldn't be overly conflicted about it.

OK, then. I'll continue to say whatever I want here (and, for that matter, on the rest of my site, since avocado8 is all about my numerous opinions), and maybe one of these days I'll take the time to create a "Dreamweaver feature of the week" area, instead of just scaring the other engineers by shouting "I LOVE MDI!" in the office. I'll worry about how to phrase the disclaimers when that time comes. :)

Lots of Reading

Al and I walked to Tower Books last night so he could show me the book that inspired my recent binge of B&B book-buying. He'd mentioned over dinner a couple weeks ago that he'd been in the Tower recently looking for a book on how to buy and run a golf course, and he'd seen a book that would be perfect for me: it was all about how to figure out if you were the right kind of person to be a B&B host, how to open shop, how to promote your B&B, etc. When I saw the look of excitement on my face, he said he should have bought the book for me.

So after that dinner conversation, I went to Amazon.com and bought a couple books about running a B&B inn. (I also bought a book called Balls!, which contained anecdotes from a retired couple who'd run a 9-hole golf course in Vermont for 8 years.) I saw what I thought was the B&B book Al had described, but I didn't buy it (so I could pick it up at the Tower in person if I wanted to). I didn't get a chance to go to Tower, but I did get to go to a Borders the very next day, and I saw one of the books I'd ordered on Amazon, another one I was pretty sure wasn't recommended by Amazon readers, and a third I hadn't heard of yet. I bought the third one and started reading/skimming it that night.

A few days later my Amazon.com order came in, and I started reading So You Want to Be an Inkeeper. Fascinating stuff; a bit different from the first book in that it focuses more on the B&B inn than the homestay-style B&B. The night before last I needed a bit of a break from my B&B reading, though, so I picked up the third installment in a fun Jane Austen mystery series. I didn't get very far before getting distracted by a Tivo'ed episode of Survivor and then my own heavy eyelids.

And then last night we walked to the Tower. The book Al pointed out was indeed the one I'd seen on Amazon; his description of the contents had matched the Amazon blurb, which is how I'd made the guess. (I wouldn't have recognized it by its cover, since Al had remembered it being orange, and it was really white with a bit of bright pink). Anway, it was similar to the first book—more about the homestay-style B&B—and I thought I could use another one of those for balance, since I have two books about running a B&B inn.

I'm looking forward to starting the new book as well, though perhaps I should finish one of the others first... especially since I started reading Balls! last night in a moment of sleeplessness. :)

Exciting (and Scary and Secret) Errand

I'm driving in to work today, alas, because I have an errand to run. It's a secret errand, though, so I can't say what it is. It's just going to make me a bit late for work. Since I'm up at my usual time and just not getting on the train, I thought I'd write from home. Al is still sleeping, I think the cats have gotten back in with him, and everything is quiet.

Well shoot, not quiet anymore—Al's alarm just went off. It's OK, really; I'm too hyper to sit still and write this morning anyway. I keep jumping up from my desk and running around the house. I guess the blog will have to wait until tomorrow.

Sunny Side Up

It's Monday, I only had a one-day weekend, I'm still a bit overtired from staying out late for the bachelorette thing on Saturday night, and yet I feel... good. It's a sunny morning with a nice spring (read: slightly chilly) breeze, and I'm outside at 8:35am to enjoy it.

Yesterday Al and I went golfing together at Shoreline Golf Club for the first time since becoming members. (All membership means is that you get a GHIN number, so you can get a handicap, and you get to play in tournaments. Since getting a handicap is our goal, membership is serving its purpose.) I had possibly the worst first hole in history; I started by topping the ball off the tee, sending it about 15 yards, and then hit almost out of bounds to the right on my third shot. I couldn't find my ball right away, so I dropped another and hit that back *toward* the fairway, but into a small grove of trees. I then found my original ball, which was further forward and in a much better spot than I'd dropped in.

I resolved to hit the dropped ball rather than hold everyone up, so I picked up the original ball and headed to the grove. I had a tough shot around a tree, so I took a 4-iron with hopes of hitting the ball out low. What I did was hit the tree as I came through the ball, snapping the club neatly in half and moving the ball only about 4 inches. I couldn't believe I'd actually broken the club. I decided to pick up after that, score myself a 10 (the maximum score, I think, when you're working toward a handicap), and just start over on the second tee.

I can be rather a bad sport when playing golf—I tend to have at least one tantrum per game—but after accidentally snapping a club in half, it's hard to do anything but laugh. On the fourth hole, a par 3 that requires a carry over water (and the one hole I usually use my 4-iron on off the tee), I teed my ball "sunny side up": with the smiley I'd marked on it looking up at me. I promptly hit the ball into the water, but I didn't care. The phrase "sunny side up" was now stuck in my head, and I coudn't lose. (I analyzed the shot as I crossed the bridge to the green, and I realized that because I'd had to use the 3-iron instead of the 4, I'd shifted my shot to aim for the pin, thinking that I'd go long otherwise. Then I remembered that I usually aimed for the tiny bit of fairway that marked the shortest distance across the water, and always barely made it. Aiming for the pin meant crossing the water at its widest point, and even with the extra oomph of the 3, I couldn't quite make it.)

In the end, I was pretty proud of the game I played, even though I scored a 66 for 9 holes (i.e., a 132 if I'd done the same on the back 9). I hit the ball really well about 75% of the time (and sometimes even in the right direction!), so that's something. If I can keep what's going well for me going well and just learn to aim, I might be able to break 120. :)