March 29, 2000

Today I would be having dinner with my friend, Nancy. We talked about it last week, but other than the night, we didn't make firm plans until just yesterday. We would be meeting at 6pm today for dinner and whatever else struck our fancy. We never seem to have any firm plans for much and normally play it by ear.

Since it is only 6pm, I'd still be at work. She rings me from the phone downstairs and I walk down to meet her. She graciously volunteered to drive and we headed off. Where? We didn't have a clue. She had mentioned an Italian place called Pegasus in the Kirkland area a couple of days ago. Since I had not been there, I was a bit curious about it. That's where we ended up going.

Pegasus was certainly a nice cozy place. The building had housed a different restaurant only a few years ago; I remember lunching there with some friends. She recommends the chicken fettuccine Alfredo and that's what she orders. I've always liked it; so I decided to get the same. She gets the salad and I get the soup.

We had not seen each other for some time, so we spent some time catching up. I told her that I now have a girlfriend, Pam, which I had dated a few times, but we finally hit it off. Nancy seemed genuinely happy for me and asked a little about our relationship. Yes, Pam knows that I have dinner with my women friends. We have talked about it; she doesn't seem to mind.

We continued chatting. A little about Pam, some about her friend who was about to get married, some of our common friends, etc. We worked together a few years ago, so she, at least, knows the nature of the business. I mentioned a few things about work and the technology that I was currently working on. It's certainly interesting stuff, but maybe a little tough to grasp if you're not in the business.

She mentioned a concert of a local band that we had seen before. Many of the members are friends of hers, but the music is truly amazing. The group is The Guarneri Underground and they'll be playing at Crossroads in Bellevue next Friday (7th of March). I can't hope to describe their music well, so if you're curious visit their site. I welcome the chance to see them again, so I'm hoping to talk Pam into coming to the concert. It should be fun.

I'm really aiming to have a coronary tonight, so on top of the Alfredo, I also order dessert. Yes, I realize that I've been pushing my luck lately, especially if you take into account that I skipped my workouts this past weekend. I'm such a slacker. I collapsed right there on the table and they had to call the ambulance. Okay… not really, I didn't fake it convincingly.

We talked about what to do after dinner. She mentions that she need to get insert sheets for her daytimer, and we decide to go to the store. Yes, I realize we're the epitome of excitement here… bear with us. On the way, I note that the time is off on her car stereo. At first, she claims that it would match the time next week when we'll go through the time change. […which is gonna suck.] Naturally, I point out that even after the time change, it will be off by ten minutes. The simple truth is that she didn't really know how to change the time. I don't know how, but I seem to have a knack for figuring out how to chance the time in car stereo. I don't really know how, since they all seem to be a little different, but I seem to be able to figure it out. Tonight was no exception, and I was able to properly set the time.

This is right around the time when we arrived at Office Max. She wandered inside and started looking for the new inserts for her daytimer. I looked at them briefly, but since I don't use one, quickly lost interest. I did, however, look at the pens. I have a pouch for my cell phone, and would like to have a pen to carry on that pouch. Unfortunately, most pens are too long to carry comfortably, so I was looking for something a little smaller that would fit it well.

She was able to find precisely what she was looking for. There was this particularly helpful employee that knew precisely which sheets by which brands would fit her daytimer.

As she was heading to the check out line, but pointed out one pen that seemed to fit the bill. It was a Rotring pen. An Esprit Mini to be precise. It actually fit quite well. It also wrote exceptionally. Not that I write by hand very often anymore, but I have been told on more than one occasion that I have nice handwriting. Why would I lie? Unfortunately, they only had the pen in their tourmaline green color, but that's a minor point really. I ended up getting the pen, and a couple of refills. The box for the pen also amused me; the top surface is not actually a rectangle, though it is a quadrilateral or more specificly a trapezoid.

We also went to Crossroads. We looked around the used bookstore for a while; neither of us found anything that really struck our attention. We did wander a bit around the shopping center, drifting from one store to the next. We eventually wound up in a store where they had a bunch of dragon items, figurines and the like. Many of them blue even. [Yay!] They were just about to close, so I didn't pick anything up.

She dropped me off at the office shortly after. I still had many things to get done at work, so I went back to the grind. [Sigh!]

March 29, 2000