Alan Keyes is an evil bastard. I was going to use even harsher terms, but I want to keep this page relatively PG. I had the misfortune to catch the Republican candidates' debate in South Carolina last night, and the even greater misfortune to stick around long enough to hear Keyes and his insane homophobic rhetoric. I think that I'd find it extremely hard to restrain from punching that man if I came across him in the street. It continually amazes me that a man so outstandingly intelligent and articulate can believe the crap he himself espouses. It made me so mad last night that I couldn't watch the rest of the debate.

Anyway.

I've been having a crazy, non-stop time for the last few days. It seems like my whole life is firing on all cylinders at once, and I'm finding it hard to fit it all in. But somehow, so far, I've been managing, and even getting (barely) enough sleep too. My new project at work is very exciting. And as the technical lead on the project, I'm very far from bored right now. We're doing new stuff here on several fronts, and making up some of the process as we go along. What adds to the excitement is that many people in the company are watching this project, as it's a test of whether our company can provide the kind of rapid turn-around to Internet start-ups that is increasingly being called for.

But it's fairly stressful. Take yesterday for example. I got up at seven, and took my car into the shop as the "check engine" light was on. It turned out that it was on because I'd lost my gas-cap, so at least they didn't need to keep my car. I was at work by eight, and worked like a dog writing documents, making project plans, sitting through conference calls. I got it all done by four so that I could have time to go for a run before going to the gym. At the gym for an hour and three-quarters, then back home - dinner, watched part of the debate and then to cap it all I was obliged to do an other hour's work!

On Sunday night, Brian came back from his business trip, and we got together. He's such a sweetie, to be honest. It's very nice to be getting to know someone who's so kind, considerate and gentle. I find that genuinely sexy. And speaking of sex with him - wow!!!! It was kind of funny on Sunday night - I "cooked". In other words, I made my famous tuna melts, and then we just spent the evening relaxing. I had on a CD which was just a 75 minute recording of a thunder-storm, and what with the incessant crickets chirping happily in my heating duct, it was very cosy :)

We have had SOOOOO much rain recently - over the weekend it was non-stop, and it's been stop and go this week too. I've been driving in it a lot, and my car, unwashed now in 12 months, is looking decidedly shady.

Driving in the rain - AGAIN. Who says San Francisco is always beautiful?

On Monday night, Valentine's Day, it was still raining as Brian picked me up. I'd made a reservation at a restaurant I didn't know. Since I'd started looking at the last moment, I'd found it hard to find anywhere with open reservations. Then I'd come across opentable.com which allows you to electronically search all seatings at a range of restaurants and find an open table! Pretty cool, and it worked great. Only problem was that we had no idea what the restaurant would be like. It turned out to have a great location in Fisherman's Wharf. Once I realized that, I thought it would turn out to be a bit tacky, but not at all. Well ... not much :) But the dinner company was nice!

View from the restaurant in Fisherman's Wharf

I've become, over the years, something of an organization fiend. I have complex "do lists" for both home and work, and I'm rarely far away from a pen and pad, where I take notes of things I need to do. The biggest problem with this is that my do-list gets ever longer, and some things will never get done. But it otherwise helps to get my life, which is way too complicated right now, organized, and I don't know what I'd do without it. I even take notes while I'm running! If you're interested, I've evolved a pretty cool way of organizing my email and tasks at work using Microsoft Outlook.

Making notes as I run - what a kook!