I have actually written code, and the reality of it is making me sit here grinning stupidly. It was minor code -- if you type a search query into the box & hit return it starts the search, rather than only starting when the Search button is clicked -- but it's mine. The product behaves differently, and it's due to me. What an utterly weird feeling.

Being a sysadmin means spending a lot of time working around broken things, because you rarely have control over the tools you're using, and even when you do it's usually more important to keep things running than it is to make them run better. Being able to fix behavior that seems wrong is a nice change. I hope I continue to like it.

I'm tired. Really, really, really tired. Earl and I found time to hug & talk last night, though, so I am no longer tense -- which, come to think of it, is probably while I finally feel tired. My body is very protective of me, and doesn't let me feel exhaustion when I'm busy feeling stress. This isn't really a good thing, but for the moment it will have to suffice.

Chrisber & Jeremy & Jim all came to dinner at Rangoon, which was nice. Czr did not, which was disappointing both on my own behalf and on Earl's; moreso on Earl's, really, as I think Earl would have had a better time with Czr there. We had fun nonetheless, and afterwards went to Borders. I spent way too much money (as always when I am in a bookstore) but acquired:

• A biography of Stephen Sondheim, my favourite composer/lyricist.
• A $2 book of lesbian love letters, purchased because it contains letters from the early 1900s.
• Brian Eno's diary, purchased because the first ten pages intrigued me.
• Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, purchased for Carl with Earl's encouragement.

Bookstores are so dangerous.

Tonight I'm going to the great mall of Milpitas (gack) to shop for shoes with Gretchen. Carl is meeting us there, to tease us while we shop, so I'll give him his book then -- which means that by the time he reads this he'll have the book and thus the surprise won't be spoiled. My slowness in writing has advantages.

After buying shoes we'll run quickly by Ambar's and pick up the bike she is loaning me, and then back to my place where Gretchen will flee home. I, hopefully, will fall asleep at a reasonable time, possibly reading some of The Unbearable Lightness of Being first. This is the book of the month for the Horde book group. I read it about four years ago and liked it, but this time it's alternately striking me as pretentious and ... something. I like a lot of the structure. I like some of the ideas. I hate the characters, with perhaps the exception of Sabina.

We meet to discuss on Sunday. It should be interesting. I know neither Trip nor Margaret liked the book at all, but I'm sure someone in the group enjoyed it. I hope so. Even if not, though, we can all argue about why we didn't like it.

I can listen to music at work. I should start doing that.