Today was a very relaxed day. At work, Jane and I purchased donuts for the team and a few of us spent the first hour or so gabbing. I really didn’t get anything done (and I’m not positive anyone else did either) before the whole team left at 11:30 for lunch and bowling. It was our first “team building” exercise and was fun. Everyone enjoyed an activity on the company, and the timing was good. Scott and I left work early (about 3:30), stopped for coffee, and then I was home. Eriko was surprised to see me so soon and we spent the afternoon and evening hanging out and working on our hobbies (crocheting, computer, reading, napping, TV). With the desk in the living room, we can spent lots of time near each other without necessarily doing the same thing. I enjoy it and I think she does too. We spent some time talking and laughing before bed, since Eriko seemed to wake up when the lights went off.

A busy day. I woke up early (5:45) and studied Japanese before heading off to work. I came home for lunch and had a good time with Eriko. Work was really busy but I managed to squeeze out for my regular lesson with Hideki, which was good. My conversation is still not great, but is getting better. After work, Zack came over to help me test for current from the distributor. He cranked while I held a wrench and looked for spark. Well, my procedure was slightly flawed as I never saw the spark – but I felt it! We spent the next few hours gabbing while Eriko crocheted. After Zack left, Eriko and I watched ‘The Office’ on his recommendation. It was funny for me but difficult for Eriko to understand. Sleep came quickly.

I woke up a bit later today after our long night. I couldn’t stay in bed any longer although I probably wouldn’t have minded too much. I made chocolate-chip pancakes while waiting for Eriko to wake up. She slept in quite a bit longer and was still morose when she awoke. I gave her the consolation I probably should have the night before (by letting her know that we would get the best car seat we could) and left her to her musings. I spent some time on the computer and spent some time with the MG. I charged the battery and tried to start the engine, but it refused. It turned over quite nicely but never caught. I went to examine the sparkplugs when I discovered I didn’t have that size sparkplug wrench. Eriko decided to lay down (she wasn’t feeling so well) and so I headed to Schucks. I called Katrina, whom I’ve been playing phone tag with for about a month, and talked her throughout my errands. At Schucks I purchased the sparkplug socket, an adjustable wrench, and some ethyl starting spray. I also stopped off at Safeway (to buy some tomatoes) and Starbucks (in Safeway). I also parked the Miata on the side of the road and talked to Katrina for a while before returning home. I cleaned the sparkplugs, but the MG still refused to start. I called Zack and asked for help determing whether there was spark (I need him to hold the plug while I crank the engine and wait for a yelp) but he was busy. Instead, I installed a handheld shower (that we purchased a month or two ago) and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the computer. Eriko awoke and was feeling a little better; before long we headed to Pasta Bella Ristorante and enjoyed a very nice dinner. Back at home, Eriko looked through some parenting books and I watched 60 minutes. I also read a book that my boss loaned me. I spent a little time working on the GIFTS program before Eriko decided she wanted to make some cheesecake and needed to goto Safeway. Right then, Zack called and we chatted a bit before Eriko and I left. Afterwards, Eriko made cheesecake and took a shower while I finished my work on GIFTS and killed bugs that snuck in the window. We both enjoyed the cheesecake. Then it was time for shower, journal, and bed.

I slept in a little bit (about 8:45) and then spent some time on the computer while waiting for Eriko to wake up. She did and soon we were headed to Nadeshiko (about 10:30). She had an 11:15 appointment to participate in a mercury study run by the Washington State Department of Health. At first we were worried because the highway was packed, but as soon as we got past the UW exit, things cleared up. It turns out there was a big UW football game and the 520 bridge was jammed up more than I have ever seen it! Nadeshiko took quite a while, with Eriko in another room with the grad student doing the study. I watched some lectures on the media player before sitting with Eriko for the last 15 or 20 minutes. In exchange for her participation, we received a $40 Target gift card. ;) We headed south on I405 for our big day of shopping – first Ikea, where we were looking for a computer desk but more than that, we enjoyed the many different display rooms they had. It was neat thinking that soon (2/3 years) we’ll have to get a house and will have rooms to setup. Ikea took a while and we got hungry and ate there as well (they have a cafeteria!) Eriko almost became faint but the food reached her just in time. After Ikea, we headed to Babies R’ Us and registered ourselves. That turned out to be a big dissapointment as most of the items there were Chinese-made junk. In addition, it was so overwhelming it was confusing; Eriko didn’t know why she would need have the stuff and the few things she wanted (glass bottles, flat car seat) were nowhere to be found. We left that store very drained; I didn’t do much looking at all. That is the worst kind of shopping – just looking with no real purpose. We headed next to Target and bought some plastic drawers (that will store the baby’s clothes). That was a pretty quick stop, as we knew what we wanted and were too tired to fool around anymore. I had a brief conversation with Aaron while I was waiting for Eriko to look for glass bottles. Back on I-5, I stopped off at Costco to refill the Jetta’s tank and soon we were home. Eriko made dinner and I decided to move the desk from the bedroom to the living room and get rid of the clunky computer desk. This opened up a bunch of space in the bedroom for the crib as well as making the living room the place for me to study (since the bedroom will probably be filled with sleeping mom/baby). I also like that I can do all my tinkering where Eriko spends most of her time. Eriko started knitting and looking at some baby product magazines and got herself worked up about the car seat. I tried to calm her down but wasn’t very effective; I just added fire to her passion by showing her evidence that Washington State requires rear or forward facing car seats rather than the side-facing ones that are in Japan. Eriko stayed awake, furiously knitting, until about 3:30 AM. I went to bed about 1:30, too tired to stay up longer. Shopping! What a pain.