Veronica and i hit the town last Friday evening for sushi with Danny followed by Mark Gardener, Goldrush, and The Stratford 4 at Bottom of the Hill. We'd witnessed a f$@#ing brilliant acoustic set by Mark at the Middle East in Cambridge, and i was looking forward to seeing what he could do with a backing band (in the form of Gold Rush). Locals the Stratford 4 got things going. I really like their sophomore album Love & Distortion, and i had never seen them live so i was eager. Eager enough to arrive at the designated start time of a show, for a change. They were okay. Their songs are very nice, but seem to fall into a pattern after you've heard four or five. Also, they don't seem to have figured out how to orchestrate swells of feedback amongst themselves, producing a cacophonous drone rather than a song-ending climax. The members of Gold Rush, clad in outfits from casual to western wear to those awful hippie-esque blouse-like tops, then took the stage. I'd never heard them before, but they played some good country-tinged pop and rock songs. At long last (my feet just can't take four hour shows anymore), Mark came out. He played "See What You Get", "From Time To Time", and "Chrome Waves" on his own (three of my favorite songs from his acoustic set, luckily). Two Gold Rushers then joined him for a few more songs, including a version of "Vapour Trail" featuring the closing violin piece and Mark's debut solo single "Magdalen Sky" including the backing trumpet. Finally, the rest of GR emerged and Mark launched into full-fledged renditions of both new songs and Ride classics. The ones i remember: "In A Different Place", "Dreams Burn Down", "Snow in Mexico", "Where Did You Go", and a new song, "You're Always Out Of Reach" that sounded surprisingly horrible. A great show, one that got me excited about the prospect of Mark's new material. I picked up the 3 song tour ep that includes "Snow in Mexico" and a new version of "Dreams Burn Down", it's fab.

My Winning Eleven 6 International Master League squad has shifted to a past-meets-present all-star list: defenders Frank Rijkaard, Alessandro Nesta, Roberto Carlos, and Bixente Lizarazu, midfielders Edgar Davids, Francesco Totti, David Beckham, and the incredible Pele, and Argentinian strike team Diego Maradona and Hernon Crespo. We have yet to score less than 3 goals in a game. Veronica has taken it upon herself to buy me a new video game so i'll stop annoying her with WE6I every chance i get.

Over the weekend Veronica and i had my parents over, and had a great dinner at a Chinese place in downtown San Mateo, Little Sichuan. My dad informed me that Windows does have a number of inherent security flaws because of the way it was designed (security was apparently an afterthought). So my question about vulnerability versus popularity was off the mark. He was kind enough to have a look at our sputtering cable connection, and help me replace Veronica's broken headlight. Sunday however didn't go as well ... i got in one of my "cannot leave the computer" moods, trying to design Veronica's new web site. Let me tell you, sitting in front of the computer in your pajamas for six straight hours doesn't give you the best disposition.

That bad mood was exacerbated by a string of annoyances Monday and Tuesday, ranging from the trifling to the "put your fist through the wall" variety. The pinnacle was an unplanned four hour excursion to and from Sacramento. On the programming front, for the fourth or fifth time i had pronounced my geometry problem solved, then ran into a previously unforeseen complication requiring a complete rethinking of the issue.

At 11:45am this morning i eagerly logged onto Soccernet and pulled up the live commentary for the Chelsea/Lazio Champions League showdown at Stamford Bridge. Still smarting from successive losses to Besiktas and arch-foes Arsenal (we've played them fifteen times now without besting them), we needed this pick-me-up badly. After dominating the first half hour of play, my mood submarined as we got caught off-guard by a Simone Inzaghi header and found ourselves down 1-nil. Great ... just ruin my whole week, you good-for-nothing bastards.

But wait, Frank Lampard equalizes fifteen minutes into the second half! I was pumping my fist in my office, not caring if anyone strolling past my window may have thought i was a raving lunatic. And ten minutes later, Adrian Mutu latches onto a rebound of his own shot to put us in front, 2-1!!! At that point i was out of my chair. The final 25 minutes were tense, but in the end our Champions League adventure got back on track with a 2-1 win, putting us atop our qualifying group. This team will be the death of me, but if they can provide moments like these every now and then, it'll be worth it.

Meanwhile, i managed to definitively solve my geometry problem. Now there's just the simple matter of optimizing it for speed. Also, my paycheck today was fatter than usual by $600 to account for extra taxes that were erroneously deducted from a previous paycheck.

Hey, when it rains, it pours.