As I think about the mid-term, I realize that at the end of 2006, my direction is undetermined. UW will complete and I am unsure of where I will go from there. Today, I asked my professor if he would take me as a research student for my last quarter. Regardless of his answer, I realized (in the shower) that I need to begin my CS GRE prep (as this will be required for a doctorate application.) I have taken the test once before but did not score well; instead of seeing it as a hurdle in my way, this time I see it as an opportunity to excel. While at the same time that I think about my career, I realize that I need to balance my life more; particularly, I need to exercise my body as well as my mind – and I need to take a short-term focus. Eriko and I have decided to begin going to the pool twice a week. This will put further pressure on me to be organized (and complete class preparation early) as this activity will take approximately 4 hours. In addition, I’ve decided to resume riding my bike to and from work. Finally, I must find a way to excel at Japanese, instead of the bare-minimum I am doing now.

I purchased a memory chip for my sweet keyboard, so I can finally use it with Windows. UNIX supports software keyboard remapping, but Windows doesn’t, so I need hardware remapping so I can use this with my laptop. My hands were starting to ache a little from the cramped laptop keyboard. They’ll also ache a little bit as they readjust to the ergonomic keyboard, but that’s good ache. ;)

I went to UW Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I ate lunch away from home Tuesday and Friday. Some days Eriko and I barely saw each other. I read somewhere that it is better to be apart, wishing you were together then together, wishing you were apart. I comforted myself with that. ;)

Last night, Eriko informed that she thought we could stay in our current residence until Jerry is 4. What that tells me most of all is that she feels very comfortable.

Things are becoming very busy for me. I spent the week bustling around at work, with very little breaks. In addition, I attended UW on Wednesday and had another very exciting class. I am really enjoying my professor, Hank.