I wonder what an unbiased observer (if such a thing truly exists in our Heisenbergian world) would make of my day.  Feast or famine?  Uplifting story of redemption, or cruel tale of regret and defeat?  Actually, none of the above – just another day of banal desperation masquerading as something else.

It started out promisingly, with an early trip to Zoka to do some coding and deploying and such.  This noble effort, planned so painstakingly in the mind of our hero – that’s me, btw – ended in looping, giant crop-circles of FAIL, owing to some truly wacky architectural decisions made by a predecessor.  At the moment I’m attempting – for I think the fourth time – to download a 4GB database extract that *should* allow me to circumvent some of the problems and get a working system established completely locally.  Right now, when I hit F5, I connect to a French foreign-ministry database, the mobile phone of a Nigerian 419 scammer, and a penguin-habitat monitor that sends binary-encoded environmental data via dialup modem.  It’s a mess.

Next?  A nice interlude – I introduced myself to, and chatted with, a fellow Zokan, a gardener and former rower, a new transplant from Rhode Island by way of Cincinnati.  I was told that I was “friendly for a native Seattleite,” which I took as a big compliment.  I’ve heard that we Seattleites can be polite but standoffish, so it’s nice to put another (small) crack in that stereotype.  I left a business card and hope to possibly catch up for coffee again.

More work chasing my tail, then I admitted defeat for the afternoon and went for a five-mile run at the gym.  I’m scheduled to race in a 5K next Saturday morning, so it’s nice to know that the distance is easily manageable.

Then, home: a typical crisis and catastrophe and sturm und drang and drama and fecklessness in the face of serious circumstances.  I’m tired.  That’s all I have to say about that.

Dinner out with the kids at Serendipity; now I’m waiting for that huge download to finish so I can continue my efforts on this side project.  I won’t finish until tomorrow, and based on how today went, I’m not that confident about saying that.  I’ll do what I can and give my best and over-communicate and be responsible. In the meantime I read through the most recent New Yorker and learned more about Gaza, Ayn Rand, America’s violent exceptionalism, and a tepid but funny review of “Men Who Stare At Goats” by Anthony Lane.  I’m about to pick up a thin volume by Heidegger called “Poetry, Language, and Thought” and am looking forward to more passages like this:

How could cheerfulness stream through us if we wanted to avoid sadness?
Pain gives of its healing power where we least expect it.

Tomorrow AM, weather permitting, I’m taking the kids out for a play date with a friend and his kids.  I’m looking forward to that.  I hope it doesn’t rain.  I’ll take that last sentence as a metaphor for my life right now.  I hope it doesn’t rain.