Oy veh, what a week! I don't recall another week where so much has been happening at the same time.

To start with, I've spent all week in a Java class. I've been wanting to learn this language for a while, but haven't had the time to devote to it. I definitely lucked out with the instructor - he's very clear and authoritative, but with an easygoing manner, and a familiar Philadelphia accent. He has the strangest pronunciations of certain words, however. Instead of saying "APPlet", he pronounces it as if it's a French word, "aplETTE". His other principal peculiarity is in always referring to the Java compiler in the third person masculine, as in "when he sees this code".

I'm happy to report that although this is the first new language I've learned in years, the neurons are still flowing abundantly, and I'm picking it up. Any object-oriented computer language is pretty hard to absorb. I remember my first encounter with such a language. It was when the instructor stated that "The Frame class is a subclass of the Class class" that I knew it was going to be difficult! But this afternoon, we wrote our first GUI application. To the non-software people amongst you, that means a computer program with a graphical user interface. To the even less technically oriented, that means it had windows and things, and buttons that do stuff. :)

It doesn't bode well for America that there are only two Americans in the class out of about twenty. The two largest groups in the class are Russians and Indians. I have to say that I have a very slight (almost infinitessimal) bias against Russians, but I also have to admit they dress nicely. NOT! One of them was wearing today a tight sequined top which wouldn't have been out of place in an International ice- skating arena, and the thing barely contained the woman's ample bosom.

Morning on the outskirts of the Financial District

By a happy coincidence, the classes take place just a couple of blocks from my future new apartment, in the Financial District. It really is a great neighborhood - very urban, but filled with trees, and relatively quiet since it's away from the freeways. At lunchtime, there's an enormous bustle of young, nicely dressed men grabbing lunch with their "buds" (yes, they mostly seem straight!)

A key concept in Java is that of "threads", by which multiple activities can take place simultaneously. That completely describes my week! This is where the "Oy veh", that started this journal, comes in! Even had nothing extra been thrown in, it would have been hard enough, but added to the mix this week was the brand new laptop that I got at work, and the fact that I have to get that new laptop fully configured in time for a class I'm taking in our headquarters in the south starting on Monday (for which I have to make the travel arrangements). Talk about bad timing! So I've been dashing back and forth between the Java class and my office at lunchtime and at the beginning and end of each day, installing software and so forth.

What other threads are there? Well the project I'm working on is at a crucial phase, and in breaks from class, I'm sending emails and making phone calls trying to shepherd the various involved parties to keep the momentum going while I'm in class. The project will be presented at our national conference in a couple of weeks, and the project sponsor at our customer's site is getting anxious. I can't say I blame him - I'm the only visible worker on the project, and I'm gone for training for seven business days!

And of course I'm moving into my new apartment a week on Saturday, and I've barely even begun packing. Last night, I had the idea that I could reduce the amount I have to move by giving away a bunch of books to Goodwill. The idea was great, but in practice, I could only find about fifty or so that I was willing to part with, and of course I spent most of the time I was supposed to be packing in looking fondly at books I'd forgotten about.

Today, in between all the other stuff, I found time to stop by my new apartment complex to pick up the lease, and measure the apartment to see what I can fit in there. So here it is, the first photo from the balcony of my new apartment. Not bad huh? :)

View from the balcony of my new apartment

From time to time, the sheer volume of details and demands has gotten to me this week, and I've found myself almost breathless with stress. Thank God for that stiff upper lip that we Brits have. I find myself just refusing to let things get to me, and deliberately remaining calm and composed, behaving outwardly like it's just a normal, vanilla week. And in other respects, it is a normal week.