4 December 2002

Remembered the disk today. Yay!

But why couldn't I keep my big mouth shut? I talked about it yesterday, and that did it: The shocking has begun. Thus begins the season where I have to touch Matt's arm before I kiss him, because shocked fingers hurts much less than shocked lips.

I guess it could be worse. I could be in Random's shoes - he's been out all week with some sort of virus. And he didn't exactly have vacation time to spare. Still, whatever it is I hope he doesn't bring it back to work with him. I do not need to get sick.

So, my new assignment at work is to work with Random on building an InstallShield installer for this project. The assignment stretches into January, so I'm on this for at least the next four weeks.

The thing is, the way InstallShield is put together, it's really difficult for more than one person to work on a specific project. And Random is the office expert on InstallShield, so it makes the most sense for him to be the one to put the project together.

There is a small C program we need to write to do some stuff that InstallShield won't do very well. I got the skeleton for it written yesterday, and I can spend some time tweaking it so it works more smoothly.

And once Random starts building the installer, I'll be looking at the project regularly so I can understand how it works. That way, if they ever need an installer for a new version, I'll know how to build it in case Random's not around.

But I suspect for the most of this month I'm going to be sitting around not doing much of anything. I even told the project manager that, yesterday. "You realize that Random's going to be actually building the project, and I'm just kind of looking over his shoulder?" "Yep." "Okay."

Fine with me. I just converted all the chapters of Brothers In Arms to PDF format last night, and I'm going to be reading through it all in one go, just to see how it is. I read through the first half when we finished that, and it was pretty good. Now I can include the second half, which is - in my opinion - the stronger part, actually.

Why is it that I'm always reasonably warm when I get here, and then by the time I'm done writing my journal entry, I'm freezing?

Space heater. Swear to the gods, my next trip to Target I'm getting a damned space heater to keep under my desk.

Reproductive system update: I don't know. Still. If you want the gory details, use "View Source" on your browser to see the TMI.

My period was due Monday. At least it was due Monday if the two cycles I've had off the pill were any indication. It's Wednesday. There's still no sign of a period. I know - that's only two days overdue, not really a big deal, but still...

Monday evening, I dug out the pregnancy test kit from under the bathroom sink and followed the directions. One pink line shows up as a control. A second pink line is supposed to show up if you're pregnant. I got the control line, and... I'm not sure.

I could see the other line, but it was very very faint. Was that because the hormones that it checks for were still weak? Or was it just that I could see where the line was supposed to be because the test-paper was wet?

I had a second kit. I thought I'd wait until Tuesday morning and test then - over-the-counter kits generally work much better with urine that's been sitting around in your bladder overnight. The hormone concentration is higher.

That kit gave me the exact same response: A bright pink control line, and a very very faint second line. The instructions that come with the kit say what to do if it turns out positive ("See your doctor ASAP.") or negative ("If your period doesn't start in a few more days, test again or see your doctor.") They didn't say what to do with an inconclusive test.

It occurred to me later Tuesday that the kits were pretty old - I don't remember when I bought them, but it was quite a while back, just for reassurance, when I'd skipped a period on the pill, as happens occasionally. So it's possible that age affected the results, too.

There are symptoms that indicate I could be pregnant. That weird not-quite-nauseous feeling I've been carrying around for about a week. I'm burping as if I'm chugging soda around the clock. But the semi-nausea thing could be wishful thinking. And I've gone through these burping phases before, without being pregnant.

As we said last night at the game - just about anything could be a symptom of pregnancy. "Ohmigod! I breathed air! I must be pregnant!"

We're going to the grocery store tonight. I'll buy a new kit and test again. If that's inconclusive, I'll... what? Wait some more, I guess.

Or - who knows? - my period could start this afternoon, rendering the speculation moot.

The game at K.T. and Kevin's last night was fun. We didn't get much accomplished - we spent a lot of time wandering off on conversational tangents - but we laughed a lot and enjoyed ourselves. That's the point, right?

We got to do some really great role-playing. Kevin refused to give up his sword, even faced with certainly overwhelming odds. Matt sleazed and bent the truth and mistranslated in the cause of Keeping Us All Alive. I rolled my eyes heavenward as we were led into the orc caves and said, "Oh great god Coatlhiyotl, I know You would not have saved me from the sacrificial altar only to lead me to death in this dark and cold place so far from home. I know You have brought me here for Your purpose. But all the same, I'm beginning to get a little nervous."

A friend of Kevin's from his work and his wife are going to join us on a trial basis soon. I hope they're good. You can do more with a larger party, but a bad player can really screw up the whole party's dynamic. Here's hoping.

--Liz