Ouch!
2007-08-01, 9:00 a.m.

Day 1074

Got waylaid at work last night, spent an extra couple of hours trying to de bug a problem on our machines that pops up sporadically. Of course, it chooses to pop up at 3:30 yesterday afternoon, we have a big decision making meeting coming up Thursday and we�d like to get this sporadic error resolved. Problem is, at this point it requires a reboot of our machine to recover. Not good, especially if it causes us to lose track of any work in progress.

So the error popped up, we grab our crash cart of equipment & drawings and go hide in a cave for 4 or 5 hours analyzing, reasoning things out, coming up with scenarios that could lead to how the machine got in this funky state. It is kind of fun, but the timing of it is totally random and can really toss a wrench into plans.

While we�re in the lab poking, probing & supposing, I get a phone call from Eric�s girlfriend Kelly a little after 6pm. Turns out Zach�s girlfriend Jill has been involved in a car accident on her way home from work. Jill is ok, Zach & Cindy are on their way over to the scene. I take a minute to get the �oh shit�s out of my system and call Zach. He was just pulling up to the scene at the time and because of New Yorks no cell phone use while driving law, couldn�t really chat too long what with the sheriff�s deputy there and all.

After work (and a quick get together with Ms. CL and my normal Tuesday meeting) I arrived home to find Jill�s car in the driveway. I was a little surprised by this, because Zach�s first impression was that the car wouldn�t be driveable. Apparently the damage wasn�t as bad as he at first feared.

What happened was Jill was in a left turn lane, waiting to get on an expressway ramp. There was an opposing left turn lane directly across from her, staqcked with people waiting to get on the other on ramp. Don�t know if it was towards the end of the green light cycle or what, but the guy directly across from Jill waved her across � possible meaning he wasn�t going to jump into the intersection and plug things up � sort of a �why don�t you go ahead� kind of move. So Jill did. Except that she couldn�t really see what was coming in the straight thru lane next to the guy that waved her on. What was coming was a �94 Honda Accord. She caught that guys entire drivers side with the drivers side front corner of her Solara. Jills car sustained damage to the bumper, fender, drivers door, hood, left side light assembly and probably the washer fluid reservoir. Dude in the accord? Had to get out the passenger side. No one was hurt, Guy in the Accord was pretty reasonable all things considered. Best part was that the guy that waved Jill thru stayed and told the cop his story. Pretty nice of him. Second best part? The cop grew up on our street. Cop recognized the address and asked, hey you live at 65 blah blah Dr? I grew up at 45 blah blah drive. He moved out (or on) just as we moved in. Small world syndrome again.

So Jill is physically ok. She�ll be able to drive her car to the repair shop today. No one else was hurt. The Accord is probably totaled considering it�s age and the way New York winters beat up cars. No tickets were issued, no tempers lost. All in all, it was a bad experience, but it could have been much worse. We�ll take what we can get.

Don�t know that I want to admit this. In the interest of honestly recording things so I can look back and see where I effed things up, here goes.

Ms. CL. Got a dilemma there. Everybody here has warned me. It�s an extremely delicate situation. I�m vulnerable, she�s vulnerable, the whole thing could just implode. Especially considering CL & I kinda crossed a line last night. She brought a current, potentially romantic relationship to an end yesterday, and she was on the rebound a bit. Like I said, we crossed a line, but didn�t penetrate (ahem) any barriers, physical or metaphorical. If her roommate wasn�t home? Coulda been a whole lot more damaging. Thank you for small favors.

We have some cooling off time coming. There will be no way for us to see each other for at least a week. This is good. I have that counseling session, two more Al Anon meetings and a family reunion coming up in that time. Opportunity to hit the reset button, do a little soul searching and figure out what I want to do next. Cindy is trying the recovery thing. There�s been one set back early in the process. That�s certainly no reason to bail out. Splitting up now could also be devastating to her. My having my attention split is not a good thing. If she just constantly tries and fails, tries and fails at recovery, what then? How long do I wait, where do I re-draw the line, when is it enough? Damned if I know. I would love dearly for someone to just tell me, but I�m afraid I have to figure this one out myself. Damnit.

Physically still dragging. Feel all drawn out (any wonder why?) Still went to spin class this morning. No pedaling with Patty though. This morning it was motoring with Maria. I hear rumors that Patty wants her life back and will be dropping the Wednesday morning class. That means Maria will slide into this slot. That�s fine, Maria does a fine job and really provides a good workout. But she doesn�t tell a story like Patty does. Must be the Irish in her that makes for good story telling. Should still be able to get a Patty fix though. I think she�ll still be doing a Sunday morning spin class that I�ll have to start attending a little more.

Skipped weights this morning so I could get to work early and get shit done. Suppose I should, eh? Maybe I�ll update later tonight after the skull session this morning. Maybe I won�t update because I�ll be filling Cindy in on my latest adventures. (Well, not ALL of them)

I need to figure some stuff out before I lose respect for myself.

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