Arrived at SeaTac at 5:30 AM. The international line had only 3 clerks, which

handled various needs (ticket purchase, changes, etc.) so movement was slow.

Security was quick and we arrived at the gate about 6. Dave and I rested,

boarding the flight at approximately 7:30. The flight, as Dave says, “was not

the best in the world” – there were reports of turbulence, so we were confined

to our seats for much of the flight and they didn’t serve any meals.

While uploading photos today, I noticed there was a new comment. Excited, I listed all the new comments and began to read… but much to my dismay, I found that 5 out of 6 of them were very lewd and written by people who both didn’t know nor respect my family. That’s a very bad feeling, to realize there are strangers who are thinking such inappropriate thoughts about things which have only beautiful meanings (pictures of Jerry and Eriko). I restricted comments to just family members. Hopefully I can continue to allow the album to be seen by all, but at this point, I’m not sure.

I am currently going through an exercise of building out a comprehensive todo list with items lasting through the end of the year (most are study related). Examples include reading three books, learning 500 kanji, making measured progress on my UW colloquia, exercising, etc. Assuming I am able to complete some items on schedule, the big questions I have are: how many things can I complete, which things do I focus on, and at what rate do I accomplish them? For example, I can read one chapter every two weeks from two books, or one chapter every week from one book. I don’t want to overload myself (as I tend to do) as I will then become dissapointed by failure.

If it isn’t obvious by the fact that I haven’t made many diary entries, haven’t updated my weight or exercise (not to mention lack of) charts, and haven’t made much progress with my reading list… I’ve been busy! The problem is, as I see it, that I’m not always busy doing something that I deem important. For example, today I was to work on my term paper for my CS class. Naturally, I procrastined in a variety of different ways, including leaving the TV on for The Matrix and Matrix Reloaded movies (which, of course, resulted in me being less than efficient.)

Well, due to some poor planning, I have spent the last three nights staying up late in order to start (Sunday) and finish (today) a two-phase commit protocol for my distributed systems class. I’m not done yet, but the light is at the end of the tunnel.

I really got to enjoy seeing Eriko every day at lunch time. The last few weeks of her pregnancy, when she was meeting me at my office for lunch, were especially nice. Now, lunch is a little lonely. Eriko’s mom has been packing me a lunch, so I don’t have any reason to go out with my co-workers. Even the two weeks I was eating out (when grandma was here), it still wasn’t the same. If I extend my lunch hour by 15 minutes, I might be able to casually take the bus home – but even then, Eriko probably won’t be awake regular hours (until Jerry is sleeping through the night), so it could be sometime before we have a family lunch again.