The Twilight Report

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First of all, I have been crazy busy lately, so if you have written me recently and haven't gotten a reply, please bare with me because things are going to settle down soon!

What happened today?

I have been working on Parallel Abstraction for most of 2004 now, with little to show for it. Well, that isn't entirely true. I have actually accomplished a lot, it just doesn't feel that way sometimes, you know? Anyway, I have been extremely stressed about this because the thing is supposed to be working by mid December, and I have my doubts about it.

I realized it really doesn't matter if I don't finish Parallel Abstraction, because it doesn't matter anymore if I get a bad performance appraisal for 2004. I was completely relieved and stress free for the first time in recent memory. I'm not going to stop working hard to make sure that Parallel Abstraction is working in time, but I realized in this case, failure really is an option. I didn't write the code originally, after all, so I don't feel I ought to be held accountable for it.

My partner came over to my office and we looked at a section of the offending code for about a half an hour, and we found the memory error that has been dogging me for the entire time that I have been working on Parallel Abstraction. I kid you not. It was like as soon as I decided to let go everything fell into place. Parallel Abstraction isn't done yet... but this is big. Melly told me that this would happen.

The major downer of the day was when Art came by to wish me luck. I told him that I was sorry to see him go, which is honest. I think he is a decent, hard working man and The Company needs more people like him, not less.

After work, I drove up to school to get one of my slides from Sarah. I really wanted to tell her about the things which are going on in my life, and ask about how things were going for her. She seemed real excited for me, and I think she's is also doing well.

On the way home, I stopped at Hanaford to pick up a Turkey for next week. I flirted with the pretty check out girl, enough so that I forgot to press "YES" on the touch pad which takes the credit card. It was a pleasant experience.

My mom and step father Don are flying in next week for Thanksgiving. They haven't been up since I moved, so this will afford them the opportunity to see my new place.

I called E as I drove home and told her what was going on. She was real happy for me too.

Yes, my friends. Life is good. It's like that Sheryl Crow song "It's not having what you want / It's wanting what you have." It's only going to get better.

Note: I originally wrote this early in the morning on August 4 for another site, but I am particularly pleased with it, so I am reposting it here to get total coverage. I've only made a few additional corrections.

I did this once before, almost ten years ago. Thought it was time once again to write about my old friend RC.

rc3: another day in the life of robert cobbler

3 August 2004 / August 3, 2004

By the time I got into my car to... I would say go to work... but the fact that I am going to work today seems almost incidental... but anyway, by the time I get into my car to go to work I have already been up for almost 3 hours today. I got up extra early to photograph a still life for my second assignment which was really due yesterday, but I had forgotten to take the film out of the fridge last night so I spent an hour going through my writing desk searching for the title to the Toyota so that I can get Green's Auto to haul the thing away so I don't have to spend money on it. Right now that car is costing me money just sitting in my driveway and it has to come to an end. By the time I have confirmed that I really don't have the damn title anymore and that I will have to deal with DMV, the film is ready to shoot, but I still am not. I can't think of what to shoot. The content of my writing desk is scattered across the floor neatly organized into categories. The largest pile is stuff to throw away. The batteries I found stored in the desk are lying about and I imagine the Energizers confronting the Duracells in a medieval conflict. A couple of candles become castle towers in my mind. It seems the dumbest thing I can think of, but I arrange this ten second fantasy into my still life assignment.

I finish photographing the still life on time, and this is when I get into my car to start my day which already seems to be progressing. What I have to accomplish seem to add up to something larger than 24 hours, and even so I manage to forget three somethings in a row, each time having to turn around and drive back home to get it. Each time I seem to get further, which seems like progress, although it is really more work because it's longer to drive back. First I forgot my medication. Then it was my Australian passport application. Then it was the CD I had sold on half.com and had to post today.

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