Hello, children. Apologies for going dark for the past couple weeks. I don't really have a reason, except maybe that work has been really busy. They did a big code refactor that broke everything I was working on, so for about a week, I was panicking and trying to prop everything back up. But things seem to be okay now.

Amanda and I went to Seattle over President's Day weekend. The trip started off as a bit of a debacle when our shuttle driver never showed up, then I almost forgot my backpack (with my wallet inside) in the car, and then my luggage got lost. But it all ended up okay. Like last year, we stayed with Amanda's friends and their still-ridiculously-cute daughter. We played with the baby a lot, went to a Chinese New Year festival (Gong Xi Fa Cai, by the way!), went to Woodland Park Zoo, Pike Place Market, saw Pan's Labyrinth which I thought was excellent, I finally beat Phoenix Wright (the last episode nearly killed me), and we attempted to go to the EMP, but discovered that it's closed on Tuesdays. Boo. But I had a really good time, and thanks to L, P, and S for once again being excellent hosts. Pictures here.

In other news, I have two days left in the Great Vegetarian Experiment. It has been okay overall, but I have been really tired over the past week and a half, and I think it's probably due to the lack of meaties in my diet. I have been taking vitamins, but I think my iron is probably still a little low. It would be good for me to reduce my meat consumption, but I doubt I'll be going permanently veggie any time soon.

On Sunday, Buddy and Amanda and I saw Reno 911!:Miami, which was...about as expected.

Finally, yesterday in did two 5.11a climbs!

Okay, not really, but one of my photos got posted on the FlickrBlog. Woo!

As my faithful readers know, I am a recent proud parent of a shiny new Nintendo Wii. As you may also know, there have been some problems with the wrist straps breaking during vigorous gameplay. To address this problem, Nintendo instituted a Wii strap replacement program, where you plug in the serial number of your Wii, and they send you up to four beefed-up straps. I filled out the web form the day I got my Wii, and two days ago, I received a padded envelope from Nintendo. I was having trouble opening the envelope (damn industrial-strength glues), so I decided to cut it open. As I was cutting it, I thought to myself, "Gee, I hope I don't cut through--" ...And I did. Cut clean through one of the four straps.

I felt pretty dumb.

I am now a bit more than halfway through my vegetarian experiment, and feeling fine. I did weigh myself yesterday, though, and noticed that I'd lost about 2 pounds. I think this is probably partly due to the vegetarian diet, but also because I've been running regularly. I've also noticed that since cutting out meat, I've been more aware of what I'm eating, and therefore I tend to eat less than I used to. In general, I think I've been keeping a bit more of a healthy lifestyle, including taking my vitamins regularly again. I took my blood pressure at Long's the other day, and it was normal (for me): 90/60-something.

Climbing has been all right lately, but I'm still struggling with consistency. Last night I did one 10d that kicked my behind (i.e. fell a million times, didn't even do the last move) and another one without falling. It gets frustrating at times, but I'm still having a lot of fun.

And now, a linkdump:

• God, Inc.. A series of 6 short video episodes about life working for God. Very clever and quite well done.
• We See Farther - A History of Electronic Arts. A lot of info in there I didn't know about. An interesting insight into the corporate megaloplex that runs my life.
• SAC Attack: A wrapper for the site Steep and Cheap, a site that sells really cheap outdoor gear. SAC Attack is nice because it tells you exactly how many of each item is left. I've already bought some climbing shoes and a hydration pack at about 1/3 the retail cost. Sweet!
• Introducing the book: A video that makes fun of computer Help Desks by comparing it to the introduction of another new technology -- the book.

From a few days ago:

The test results from the vet specialist are back, and basically confirm what the tests from Adobe said. There doesn't appear to be any sort of external reason why his kidneys are going bad, unfortunately. The vet started him on a new blood pressure medication, he's going to continue on his old one (it apparently helps with kidney protein loss,) and he's also taking aspirin and fish oil. Feeding him in the mornings has suddenly become quite an ordeal. But hopefully this will help him. We're going to re-check his blood levels in a month and go from there. For these reasons, you may find my flickr stream a bit Enzo-heavy. Hope y'all don't mind.

I spent Saturday afternoon cleaning up my ultra-dirty apartment. I didn't bother cleaning the floors, though, seeing as the instant Enzo comes in from the wet backyard, the tiles are covered in tiny muddy paw prints. Saturday night we saw Children of Men which was all right, but very, very bleak. It also had the most abrupt ending I've ever seen in a movie. It's almost like they were shooting the final scene, and just ran out of film or something.

Sunday Enzo had an adventure on the Stanford campus. I had to try really hard to keep him from peeing on the artwork in the Rodin Sculpture Garden.

Sunday evening a bunch of us went bowling. My first game I scored a 60, and my second game I scored a 126. Consistent, I ain't. Afterwards, I had a near meat faux-pas when we decided to have pho for dinner. I spaced out and ordered my usual lean steak pho, thinking nothing of it. Some of my friends had ordered spring rolls, and when they came, I thought to myself that I couldn't eat them because they had shrimp in them and OH CRAP. Luckily, they hadn't made my order yet, so I was able to change it to vegetarian pho, which was actually really tasty.

Earlier in the weekend I went to Target and purchased Rayman Raving Rabbids. I didn't open it right away, so imagine my surprise when Saturday night, as I opened the case, I found not a Wii game, but a clear plastic CD thing, like you get in spindles of CD-Rs. I took it back to Target the next day and fortunately was able to exchange it for an actual copy of the game. Interestingly, the woman at the electronics counter said she'd heard of that happening before. Weird. I played some last night and unlocked 20 of the minigames. It's very very fun, especially the FPS games.

Edit:
Forgot to say that I climbed my first 11a and my first V2 last Thursday. Woo!

I'm writing this entry from my Wii. Wii!

I had been coveting this tiny cactus ever since I saw it on Think Geek but I thought it was a little ridiculous. And then I came to my senses and realized that's why it's awesome, so I went ahead and ordered it. It's everything I'd hoped for, and more.

I also finally got a Wii, when a shipment came into our company store. I had a lot of fun just playing with the weather and news channels. I played some Wii Sports, and today after work I picked up Trauma Center and Wario Ware. Good thing I live alone, because I'm sure I look like a total crazy person playing. Wii!

Day 5 of veggie-fest 2007, and feelin' fine. I have to give mad props to my friends to being extremely accommodating of my random, sudden, and temporary vegetarianism. They even ordered a veggie pizza for me during the Super Bowl. There was a slight hiccup during the party when Crystal arrived with a cheese ball and crackers.

[Sha Sha scoops some cheese ball onto a cracker and eats it]
Sha Sha: What's in this?
Crystal: I think cream cheese, green onion, and these little dried meats...OHNO!

But it was all good; I think a minimal amount of meat was consumed. I did, however, realize yesterday that Chinese New Years is on Feb. 18. Since I have to eat fish on New Years Eve, I may have to break the meat-fast then, as well.

Had a pretty good weekend. Friday night went to Rhythms (which I just discovered is not the same as Mela) with Amanda, Jay, and Mandeep, which was fun, though a little a capella-heavy. Saturday had a couple birthday parties to go to. Sunday, Yar and I sight-read some Haydn sonatas, and I didn't suck quite as much as I thought I would, for not having played in 5 years or so. Yay me. Sunday afternoon was Peter's Super Bowl party. I rooted for the Bears after Peter told me that Brian Urlacher played for UNM, but alas, it was not to be.

Enzo is at Veterinary Medical Specialists for the day getting a slew of tests. They're going to do an ultrasound, and re-do his blood and urine labwork. Hopefully I'll have some more answers soon.

Edit:
OMGbighead

Auntie Sha x 2!!!!

IM/e-mail/call me for details.