In preparation for the SJ memorial or whatever they're doing tomorrow the facilities people are trying to maximize the amount of lawn area in the main courtyard. They've got crews of illegals in there ripping up all the ground cover and putting down grass. I don't think the sod will last very long as the don't appear to be adding any sprinklers in, I wonder if they'll just pull it back up after the event? All of the squirrles are gone now though, without anything to hide in it looks like they've moved on.

Disturbing news if it's true, my group is about to be merged into another group under someone who doesn't like me. Good thing I've been working my contacts for potential jobs, there is a chance that after the 'assessment' period is over they'll figure out they don't want me in my current funky role. If I'm not running the group what would I do? Drop back to IC and become a sysadmin again?

I just realized I hadn't put anything in here about Loki's wedding. Better late than never I guess. Loki is one of the woman's ex'es from college. He's some crazy smart math guy, not really sure what he does really. He's very into high fashion so his wedding outfit looks a bit odd (as to the 'wings' he's sporting on his head) but otherwise he's an OK guy.

The menu from the dinner the night before:

The woman and Loki, I think I look better than him. :)

Some of the only shots of the actual wedding at the Shakespeare garden in SF.

Reviews are 100% done as of Friday. Good, bad, ugly, whatever they're done and given and now people can either work on what's suggested or just slide further toward the unemployment line. I still haven't seen my review yet despite the deadline rushing past; our senior managers have a very 'do what I say and not what I do' attitude about things. Normally I wouldn't care but this same group of people cut my raise this year. Apparently I did very well, but because I'm at the top of my pay range they can't give me a real raise, and they also can't promote me because there is no where for me to go. So, more responsibility, more work, but no more pay due to an arbitrary cap in HR, and no where to advance to other than another job. They sure know how to motivate their good talent.

The woman wanted me to take pictures of the Steve memorial outside IL1 so I did that and combined them with the pics I took of the media circus from the other day. A brief photo collection of the death of a CEO.

The horses at the barn were all sick this weekend so the woman and I had more time than usual to do stuff together. We've been talking about going for a hike for months (years?) and finally made it happen this weekend. It wasn't a real hike, more of a little stroll down a county park trail but we still got outside and into a forest like setting. We probably went all of 2 miles or so, with a stop at Deer Hollow Farm so the woman could pet the goats and annoy the chickens.

Sunday we went to the clays range so I could practice a bit. We met a guy there who, after learning I worked at Apple (why the woman tells everyone that is beyond me) told me his Steve story. Apparently back in the 90s this guy was a sales rep for Fujitsu and Steve was negotiating for larger discounts on drives for the NeXT saying it was going to be huge so they should give him volume pricing now. This guy told Steve no. Interesting I guess.

After the clays range we stopped by the huge pumpkin patch in Morgan Hill (the real reason the woman went with me). They had dozens of varieties of pumpkins, some that looked like giant mushrooms, others that were black or red or white instead of orange, really long varieties, etc. The woman spent at least an hour circling around looking at everything, talking to the farmer, petting the goats (does she ever tire of petting animals??), etc. Fortunately she didn't want to ride the train or go on the hay ride.

Pumpkins in hand (one for making bread, one for carving and one for the hamster) we headed home after a quick stop at the fruit stand to pick up some farm-fresh eggs. We chopped up the huge long pumpkin and tried grilling some which didn't work out, and I made some pumpkin bread which also didn't quite come out right. I blame the bread failure on the baking powder. The can looked sorta old and when I checked the date it said "Best Before Oct '97". The woman says she's been using that stuff in everything. I realize expiration dates are just sorta a guideline but come on, this stuff is 14 years past date! Time to buy a new box that we can use until retirement. The pasta I made up with the fresh eggs turned out really well, it does make a difference.

Rain is here, it rained out trap yesterday ('cause I'm a wimp and don't want my fancy wood stocked shotgun getting wet) and it made for a damp ride into work today. It's not like real rain, but enough to confuse drivers here. 35 mph on a clear freeway is not needed in a light drizzle. These people would probably just die if they had to live in the northwest.

Giving 3 reviews today, all either 'eh' or bad. The one that might have been OK has been delayed, she suddenly became sick over night. I imagine she'll be fine tomorrow. That's why PTO is better than vacation and sick, people don't have to make up excuses to use time off they'll otherwise lose.

I'm reading the resume of the guy who's coming in today to interview to be my new boss. According to this, he's got slightly less experience than I do (years on the job) but his resume reads a lot better than mine. Some of the more senior people I've been talking with say that my 'management has failed me' and that I'm not getting the mentorship I need to get my career going. I'm starting to see that now, I've been just bumbling through all this on my own and wasting a ton of time. Interesting observations this morning.

With dad retired there is now no one making weekly trips up and back from his place to the bay area, which means that my ammo stockpile is now a 5 hour round trip away. Bogus. So, with me about out of 12 gauge ammo for trap I had to go to Walmart and pick some up. I bought all they had of their cheapo stuff, only 8 boxes. Good enough for a few months at which time I'll probably have to go to my parents anyway and can pick up some more. There was some guy in front of me at the store who said "go ahead, I'm not sure what I want yet" at which point I told him he should go first because I was going to buy everything he didn't take. He ended up only getting 1 box. Who buys one box of shells? For defense ammo I can see it but this is #8 shot target stuff, not good for much other than breaking clays.

Saturday the woman had another horse show at the dumpy place so I spent the morning changing the oil in the bike, watching TV and generally doing nothing until mid afternoon. She texted me when her rounds were getting close so I zipped up there just to watch those bits. Beats the hell out of sitting around all day watching random people jump. She did pretty good, lost a few rounds to a 12 year old on a pony but she beat her in a few too. Gotta be hard to be 40 and being schooled but someone in pigtails with pink bows on them.

Today Ellen came down and we made up some fresh herb pasta and grilled the doves. The pasta was awesome, the doves were a bit dry. Damn, to long on the BBQ. :(

After lunch she wanted to learn to shoot so I spent two hours showing her the basics on pistols, rifles and shotguns and then we went to the range. She did OK with the .22 but really did well with the .45 which I'm surprised at. She may be a scrawny Asian chick but she is not afraid of recoil.