november stream of consciouness
running thoughts on a few different topics...
microsoft: had my first meeting with what i'd consider an 'old-microsoft' developer this past week. it involved lots of cursing, excitement and jumping up and down (sometimes literally). on the one hand, it was very encouraging to see and hear someone saying 'let's do the right thing' and that 'anything worth doing is worth doing right' - and actually mean it! on the other hand, he was saying this in complete opposition to the plan that we were proposing, which was a bit disheartening...
home ownership: the magic of home ownership has reared it's head again. the alarm in the building needs to be replaced because one of the keypads doesn't work and parts are no longer available for the model we have. this is just the next in a series of unexpected occurences, either in the building altogether, or in my condo specifically...
microsoft again: i've reached the realization in the past few months that i'm in a perpetual state of being behind on the amount of work that i need to get done, and the amount of work left to do. at one point, i would periodically catch up and be on top of things. now i've realized i just choose which ones to be least behind on, or which can least afford to have any progress this week.
poker: i play a fair amount of poker these days. i'm not necessarily good, but in the average home game i can hold my own... what's funny is now that i'm fairly ok on the strategy and what to do, i get slaughtered by people who do the wrong thing... people who when their odds of calling a bet are terrible still do so. and then suck out on the river (i.e. get the one card in the deck that could make their hand).
a group of us rented a boat a couple weeks ago from the electric boat co. on lake union... it was a good time even in the fall when it wasn't the warmest out (the things actually had heaters, but we never needed the heater). definitely something that makes you want a boat - though i'm not sure how good a driver i'd be. these electric boats certainly weren't the speediest things in the world and i was all over the place driving the thing... maybe something with a bit more mass and momentum would be easier to drive since it would be less likely to be bouncing at the slightest wave.
resturaunts: the local steakhouse was recently bought by another bar and grill in the area, and last night Clodagh and I gave it our first try under the new management. it definitely has gone from being a 'steakhouse' to a 'bar and grill'. the menu was much smaller and the only steaks and fish (other than fish-n-chips) were on the specials page. in the past they had a number of fish selections and different steaks, along with the usual suspects of burgers and grilled chicken sandwiches, etc. all in all a disappointing development. the rest of the near-by resturaunts are nice, but heavily italian influenced: Serafina, Pazzo's Pizza, Pomodoro. There's also the original Red Robin up the street and a Romio's, but nothing was really kind of a 'standard steakhouse fare' kinda joint. Stuff like that still exists farther down at the south end of lake union, where you have Outback, Duke's, and Daniel's Broiler, but that's a bit far to walk if it's cold and raining. I'll be curious to see what the change in menu does to how busy the former Sam's (now 'Eastlake Bar and Grill') is...