My brother complained that I never write to you anymore. I think he is just lazy. He doesn’t have a diary in which I can look up things about his life. I feel that there is unbalanced communications between us. He told me he was going to get a cat, but I don’t know if he did. He told me he was going to work on a new project, but I don’t know if he is.

The thorn remains. It’s removal is a slow and steady process, which is painful n its own right. Somewhere, somehow, it will be removed. Breast stroke today. Innnteresting.

Brian and I went out for dinner tonight and when the meal was finished, the topic of tip came up. He suggested 15%, to which I responded “you are generous for a med student.” Chaos, argument, hurt, discussion and peace followed. He recommended that I learn to be more in the normative. I can be a cheap asshole in some respects, no doubt about it. But I think that I can be very generous when I choose to be – I think that I am a wide variety of things and although I can be pigeon-holed by specific behavior, I don’t think you can do so in general.

I wake up, kiss my wife, and roll out of bed. It is early – the sun still sleeps. I head for the pool, arriving as it opens. My swimming is effortless; the water and I have made our peace. My mind whirls, analyzing and organizing my schedule and priorities for the day. I leave the pool, refreshed and alert. I return home, to help my wife make breakfast and get the children ready for school. I drive the kids to school, the ones who don’t take the bus, and begin to receive/make phone calls from my car after dropping them off. I do a little consulting besides my day job, a professor.

How do I celebrate my independence? By being a complete and utter anti-social nerd. I slept in, played on the computer, went into work (where I goofed off and watched two movies), got some delicious Thai take-out – and am now winding down with a glass of wine and an rsync. I’m very curious how Bailey will take the fireworks tonight; which reminds me, I wonder if I will be able to see something cool from my deck. I think so.

It went by quickly… that is an indication that I had fun, right? Yet, I spent over 2/3 of my time awake working… is that ironic? Considering that I don’t quite understand the meaning of irony, I don’t really know. I think I’ve made progress – my daemon averages around 3% CPU (target is 0) and doesn’t seem to leak memory profusely. Unfortunately, it is pretty darn buggy. ;P