conditioning

boxing totally rocks! our instructor's figured out that i don't know shit, and took me aside to show me the moves. after getting everything the first time i tried i'm pretty certain that by now i've forgotten all the important things - this is going to take a while. but now that i have an idea of how the techniques are supposed to feel, i'm way more interested in the sport! this is some cool shit.

i'm very glad that i went to the toilet before training: when he said "conditioning" i didn't think he meant "find a partner who'll beat the stuffing out of you while you take it with a smile". it was *very* hard to breathe through all that.

---i arrived at work five minutes late for a meeting that would continue until lunchtime. the new director joined me for lunch, and the conversation we had for dessert totally put me on high alert. i understand what he was trying to do, his proposal was totally fair, but i peered into the future and saw my official title clashing bureaucratically and putting me in a place i really don't want to be. i think i managed to communicate my concerns well enough, and i believe that our compromise was more than just empty words.

basically, he's agreed to prefix "development manager" with the word "temporary", and we'll re-evaluate the situation in six months. what i don't want is to be trapped in a situation where i'm hands-off as far as the code is concerned and the first to get booted out the door if we hire too many developers.

---i finally finished an it project that was dragging on and on, and i'm really glad it's off the table so that i can focus on more interesting things. the office vibe has continued to be upbeat and i'm really pleased about that! the bubble-wrap thing is totally effective.

---the boston bombing is shocking and horrible. my mother and i were discussing this on the weekend: the sad thing about the states is that they respond to terror by terrorizing their own people; a complete victory for their enemies who undoubtedly would not be able to do as good a job as they've done themselves.

this is a tragedy, but it's no less of a tragedy than american citizens (and the rest of us, by proxy) giving up freedom and dignity for the illusion of safety. just because you're paranoid, doesn't make you safe. and whoever perpetrated this? they need to be dealt with not swiftly, and not violently, but in a way so evil that it would serve as a deterrent. sorry, guys, that's the reality of dealing with shitty human beings.