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Sick Today

Its been a while since I’ve felt really sick, and truth me told, I am not really that bad (no fever, no throwing up), but I just don’t feel at all good, and nothing is pressing at work or elsewhere, so I’m going to try to expedite my recovery through proactive rest (if that makes any sense).

Accountability

Not too long ago, I came up with a plan to go to sleep earlier. Its not working very well. The cabin trip didn’t help – I stayed up till 2:30 the night before getting ready and also the night I was there. And last night, I didn’t get to sleep until 12:30, and I’m on track for that time or later tonight. The results are already painful – I’ve come down with some sort of disease that has me feeling none-too-good. The plan will have to be restarted, but stragely, despite its obvious benefits, I’m not feeling too motivated to start it right now. That might be due to the three hours of sleep I got right after work.

Cabin

Saturday Morning, I picked up Shai and Joel and headed North to Greg’s Cabin, where Greg, Katie, Beth, Ethan, and Mike already were. Once there, we had lunch, and five of us headed out on a hike in the Mt. Baker Wilderness area, up table mountain. The view was incredible; it was certainly the most beautiful hike I’ve been on in recent memory (I may post some photos soon, if I ever get around to making this web photo software I’ve been promisng my brother). Ethan and I had fun tossing rocks off the edge of cliffs (making sure, of course, that no one was below). We walked around the entire table mountain area before heading down. Once back at the cabin, we played frisbee and volleyball, and at the very end of the volleydisc game that emerged, I went down on my left knee in a very bad way. I was able to walk, but I am also still limping from the incident. After this, we had burgers for dinner, and settled down to play card games, chess, mind games, and finally, Mafia. I love that game. I managed to be mafia in the first three games, and was a townsperson the other two times. My team managed to win four out of five times, and I survived to the end of the game three out of five times (two as mafia), which I think is a pretty good average, especially considering that I was the first one to be offed in the first and last games.

Upon returning home, the planned TRC hack session was cancelled, so I set about blogging, continuing to rest my knee, listening to music, and ignoring suggestions to go hear some old guy talk that I’ve never heard of before.

LOL

I woke before 7:30 and got to work around 8:15, but grew tired by 5:00 and returned home via Costco where I picked up some drugs and food for the cabin activites that start tomorrow. The family then headed to the Space Needle, where we had a 9:15 reservation. After spending some time on the obervation deck, we were paged down to the resturant, which made a little over two full revolutions while we ate. We were treated to two complimentary starters, due, I believe, to the 15 minute delay we had before being seated. We chose the crab cakes and the satay sampler, both were good. For my main course, I had the pan seared wild salmon, which was excellent (although I have had better). I nibbled a little at other people’s deserts, but ordered none myself. On the way back to the vehicle, I finished the job started by a wayward car of knocking over a parking limit limit sign. My cousin thought it would be a perfect gift for her boyfriend, but she didn’t think getting it back home would be practical. So, thats the day in review, but what about the title, you ask?

Well, thats where it gets fun. After making it home, we gathered for a family prayer. Me, being in a light mood after a fine meal and a deep conversation on the ride home, took it upon myself to committ a crime of convinience, using some rubber bands that happened to be lying around to zing the speaker and my cousin. The result was a nearly endless fit of laughter that spread thoughout the group. It was great. Proof, my aunt says, that God has a sense of humor.

The Plan

Considering recent anomalies in my sleep patterns, I have developed the following 5-day plan (actually its a week-long plan, but I wanted to sound more Maoist), and I post it here publically so that there is a system of accountability in place.

I plan on going to bed ealier and earlier over successive days of the next week. The baseline is going to be around 1:00am today. Tomorrow, I will aim for midnight, and I’ll try to work it back to 11:00pm or 10:00pm by the end of the week. Simultaneously, I will set my alarm earlier and earlier, and I will not hit snooze. I will wake, shower, and get to work early, so I can put in a full day and leave early and pursue hobbies and other interests. I will aim for 7 hours of sleep a night nominal.

Wish me luck.

Strange Happenings in Ryan-Land

On the bumper of my truck today, I found the most curious sticker: “Gun Control means using both hands.” Strangely appropriate considering my recent posts. But I didn’t put it there, and I was at a loss for who would have put it there. I called around some and after getting testimony from my dad, and my cousin, I narrowed in on my uncle as the primary suspect. It wasn’t until I later talked to my borther that I got the full story. It seems that he and my uncle were walking around Seattle when they came upon a little hole-in-the-wall store selling all sorts of provocative political slogans. They found one that suited my temperment, then attached it to my bumper. I’m not sure which is more extraordinary – that they were doing this before I even posted the infamous gun control post, or that the first thing I saw that had changed outside after writing that post was this bumper sticker. Let me tell you what a strange that is.

In other news, my team lost 20-16 when we were offed of the soccer field by the soccer teams that showed up. I played barefoot to honor Brian, an that adversely affected my performance. And while its good to have Jacob’s throw and fire back, he also tends to incite everyone a little. I don’t generally have a problem with it (except for the one incident, but thats another story), but Talor, who has never had a problem up to this point, stormed off today, and Ben, usually a cool cat, almost did the same. I’m not sure quite how he does it, but its like theres a mean streak in there just waiting to come out. Its a bit scary – I don’t want another incident, but I’m not willing to let this great tradition of ultimate we’ve built up be ruined by one incitor either.

So Much

Well, life is going to be crazy again this week. We have an aunt, uncle, and cousin with us right now, and part of my job is to help entertain them. Tomorrow we are climbing Mount Si. Meet me at my house at 2:30 if you are interested in coming. Then of course tomorrow is also the hack session, at Larry’s, starting at six. At the hack session, we should start getting the robot to move around and resist turning using the gyro. We’ll also be working on hooking up the encoders. I hope I’ll be able to squeeze the hike in and not be too late. Thursday is the last Thursday game I’ll be playing at Robinswood for a while, since I recieved an invitation from Bob to join a UW intramural team that plays on Thursdays and that sounds divine. Its already started, but I’ll still be at Robinswood this Thursday, because its Brian’s last day this summer. Jacob came to the game today (which my team lost by two) for the first time in a while, and it was good to see him again, especially his cross-field throws and wild jumping catches. A group of kids on a mission trip from Montana, Texas, and Tennessee joing us for the last 20 minutes, and helped us pull from 6 down to within two, but as time expired, we couldn’t convert the last point and were unable to force overtime. The extended family leaves Saturday morning, and I’m debating going to Greg’s cabin Friday night as originally planned or Saturday after frisbee, so that I can do a Friday night activity with the fam-fam. The weekend hack session could potentially be on Sunday then, around noon, an then of course there’s soccer at 60 acres park at 6. Then on top of that I have work, and things are speeding up again, but my configuration program seems to be coming along at a pretty good clip itself.