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June 22, 2000 |
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My deadline for my old e-mail is approaching. I've transferred most of the
internet services that I have to a new e-mail address. Actually, it is
really the same mailbox, it is just that my older e-mail address, the one
I've grown very fond of, will no longer have forwarding service. Still,
with any luck I won't be receiving as nearly as much spam mail as
I have been getting. Not that I'm complaining really, but the spam mail I
get is easily an order of magnitude over the amount of true personal mail I
get. I have to get very creative with my e-mail filters. There's a part
of me that is welcoming giving all the spammers the shaft.
Meanwhile, I'm frantically working towards moving all these services over
to my new e-mail, which is a forwarding service to the same mailbox anyway.
You know… I should've written all the stuff down. All these little
trailing services that will e-mail you the password if you have forgotten?
Well, this trick won't work after a few more weeks, so I have to get on the
ball. You know, I really don't have enough stress in my life. I
think I'll quietly aim for an ulcer.
Last night I got a call from Pam during my game session with my friends. We only chat for a few minutes, since we were still playing; she still seems very fascinated with the game. I'm not sure if it is the mechanics of the game that she seems to find so intriguing, or if it is something else. I've been playing since I was a teen, so it hardly seems unfamiliar.
The game is Dungeons and Dragons. Yes, people still play this game. As a matter of fact, they're coming out with the third edition of the rules in a few months. To date, I still have to call it the most interesting, fascinating, and involved game I've played. The game play is heavily dependent upon the folks that you play with and the bunch of guys in our session are very good and very experienced players.
This particular campaign is just starting, and the idiosyncrasies of our characters haven't fully developed. This time around I'm playing a class completely unfamiliar to me, so I feel like I'm playing her a bit sluggishly. That's right, I'm playing a female character. It's not the first time I have role played a woman in a campaign, it is however, the first time I have played a cleric. The idea of playing a cleric never appealed to me. I'm sure part of it is because I'm agnostic, the other part is because cleric characters are typically very passive. I suppose the way I'll eventually compensate is by eventually making this character a dual classed cleric/theif.
Did I happen to mention that I'm a bit unorthodox? No?
We didn't play for much longer and I did eventually call Pam back, it must've been around midnight.
I had lunch with Trudy today. We had made plans during the week to have lunch today. It was scheduled for 11:30am. Trudy has become so busy in her job that the only way to make firm plans with her is to make sure that it is on her electronic schedule. Not to say that she is self important or anything… she's important period. I remember looking briefly at her schedule while we were trying to find a free slot for lunch. It gave me chills. No one should be that busy.
I suppose that I'm showing my biases. I'm a programmer. What I do from day to day is program, not attend meetings. Sure… I attend the occasional meeting to go over certain design issues and the like, but for the most part I spend the day programming (and unfortunately debugging). Trudy, on the other hand, is involved in many decisions and it is her job to be informed and to exchange information and thus she attends many meetings.
Sorry, am I digressing? Oh, yes… lunch with Trudy. We went to a local Mexican restaurant called Sí Señor, which apparently has replaced Casa Vallarta as our default Mexican restaurant. We noticed a few people from work there, among them a guy named Billy.
Billy is a tough person to describe. I think he is probably more of an experience than an actual person. His character ranges from the jocular to the mildly offensive. He can be led to talk about his share of "war stories" and often is baited to doing so for others' amusement (and dismay). He can drone on endlessly about one subject or the other, at times you'd wish your pager would sound off so that you'd have an opportunity to escape. As for his physical appearance, he's overwhelming. He easily towers over 6'4" and is proportionately wide. If you're standing next to him outside, he blocks out the sun.
Trudy and I sat a few booths from Billy. We were catching up on all that we had been up to. We had both attended Lucas's graduation party, but didn't really have a chance to chat much. I told her that Pam was still unhappy with her job and is still searching. Unfortunately, many of these companies aren't in Washington. Her husband is taking an extended leave from work to do some things he wants to do; that's a good thing. We also talked briefly about Len and his current dilemma with moving. You know the kinds of things that friends talk about. To me it still seems strange that we rarely ever get to talk to each other anymore, yet we only work a less than 100 feet from each other. Life is pretty strange.
She did mention having lunch with the president of her school (college) and she was pretty psyched about that. The news is potentially very good and I'll just say that I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her.
The food at the restaurant was pretty good. I'm not sure that I'd call it better than Casa Vallarta, but this is only after one meal. I suppose that it didn't really help that I asked for a beef chimichanga and I got a bean chimichanga. Still, it wasn't bad, and the service was otherwise pretty good. Attentive and courteous. What else can you ask for?
We did eventually have to leave, after all, she has a 1pm meeting… everyday. It would drive me bonkers.
I was supposed to help Len move today, but he called and left me voice-mail telling me that he wasn't quite ready. No biggie. I can dig it. We postponed it until tomorrow.
June 22, 2000