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today was a shitty day.

i woke up this morning figuring that it'd be a pretty easy tuesday, all i had to do was clear out the guest bedroom so rob could move in, and then later go to target to get some household items (including a bathroom hook and some toilet paper) followed by star market to pick up the ingredients for tonight's dinner. little did i know, my SRM code work hampered my activities. throughout the day i was getting updates from the office, this doesn't work, or we need to add something, or that used to work but now it doesn't. that didn't faze me too much, i figured i could put it off until tomorrow, when i wasn't so busy with other things, since the next delivery isn't until friday. what i didn't realize was the urgency of the situation, because i figured with all the testing that'd been going on, the code was solid and there were just some minor bugs. i failed to remember that we had just sent out a marketing beta last night, and these bugs were stopping points for the client's burn delivery.

so after i finished cleaning up the bedroom (which took longer than i expected, i crammed everything into the hallway closet, throwing away all my old tv guides in order to make room, moving some junk into the basement), after getting gas for the motorcycle, after i went to cvs to pick up my prescription, after i went to the cafe for breakfast around 3pm, after i went to the watertown target (crowded with back to school shoppers), after picking up some groceries, i finally return home around 5:30 and saw an e-mail saying that the client wants a fix to a particular bug ASAP. i contacted the office and learned that another programmer had fixed the issue since i wasn't available, but the fix still wasn't working right. only then did i suddenly pick up the fact that the matter had a high level of priority. i felt guilty, but angry as well, because this info was never relayed to me until too late in the day. and then, jokingly or otherwise, i was told i'd be coming in for the next two days, which definitely ruffled my feathers, because i had other plans for the next two days that didn't involve working, but also the fact that some how i could just be ordered around felt like bullshit. it's not like i'm trying to sabotage the project (there were a lot of finger pointing, "are you sure you didn't change anything?") nor was i just trying to avoid work. i really had no inkling regarding the urgency. if only i'd known earlier, i could've scheduled my life a little differently, but the damage is done, so it looks like i'm going back to the office again. early. those who don't learn from the past are forced to repeat it.

rob decided to move in tomorrow instead (something about being too tired, but i think the real reason is because he loves jamaica plain too much), so dinner was just me and julie. the dish was a chicken korma, and when julie arrived sometime after 8pm, i started cooking.

today was a shitty day.

what i made looked nothing like the recipe. it was a watery mess, the yogurt dissolving, the "sauce" a sour goop that resembled saurkraut than anything indian. it was still edible, and i was ready to surrender and just make do with this failed dish. julie wanted to see the original recipe but i didn't want to show her out of pride, i didn't want her to compare and contrast what i made in reality to what i was supposed to make. i was already depressed that it didn't come out well, and i didn't need the criticism, constructive or otherwise. unbeknownst to me however, she had delved into my cooking library and found the recipe anyway, and came back to the kitchen full of bright ideas of which i wasn't particularly keen to. so for the next 10 minutes i sat and watched as julie attempted to rescue my korma, explaining why my technique didn't quite work, something to do with the nonintuitive "dry cooking" approach of many fine indian cuisine. i sat on a barstool, arms folded, not paying too much attention, trying to be diplomatic. julie added more yogurt, and at first it seemed to be getting close to korma, but slowly the yogurt started to become watery again. julie pointed out that the yogurt was non-fat instead of low-fat, which was causing the soupiness. i nodded my head and agreed, we served out this botched korma creation on top of raisin mixed basmati rice, then retreated to the living room to watch a combination of red sox game (sox beat the angels, 2.5 wins ahead in the wild card, just 3.5 wins away from the yankees) and scrubs (heather graham episode).

for some reason julie was really interested in seeing this new A&E reality show about a hawaiian bounty hunter, while i wanted to watch more RNC coverage, including arnold schwarzenegger's history making speech. think about it: conan the barbarian is one constitutional amendment away from being a presidential candidate in 2008, and he may in fact win if somehow non-american-born citizens can become US presidents. and as a fellow immigrant myself (with a physique almost matching that of former mr.olympia), i can identify with his rags to riches story, that he is an embodiment of the american dream. even though he is a republican, i agree with his liberal social policies, and i'd be very tempted to vote for a candidate like him. anyway, i watched most of the speech from the television in my bedroom, folding some laundry in the process. the bush twins also came out to talk. bear in mind that they're still young, but these girls are no kerry daughters. they basically went out to tell lame republican flavored jokes, even making fun of their grandmother in the process with a bit of insult comedy. that's even more reason to vote bush out of the white house, so we can wink his daughters out of the undeserving public spotlight. then bush showed up via satellite to introduce his wife. laura bush is no teresa heinz kerry. laura seems like the glassy eyes stepford wife of republican men, glued on smile, obedient to a fault. julie and i took turns shouting at the television.

after julie's departure (dessert came in the form of maple walnut ice cream), i washed the dishes, took out the garbage, and started to chronicle my day. i guess it could've been worse. i may still be able to salvage the rest of the week, i'll see what happens.


RNC

conan o'brien

three's company