Tuesday

I met with my boss at the Borders bookstore near Metro Center and I demonstrated the current iteration of my project. We packed up and trooped to the client's office where he debugged the admin module, which was broken because their workstation security settings refused cookies. I would never have diagnosed that; as it was, it took him about an hour to fix everything. Interesting that the admin module only failed after we switched from Apache to IIS.

After wrapping up there, we met with my old boss for lunch. He and my boss are old high school buddies and he's been helping my boss with business advice. We discussed how to proceed with this project; our contact has indicated that there's a problem getting other stake holders on staff to buy in to this new system and we're hoping to help him break that log jam. After we broke up, I returned to the client to implement a simple feature we had identified to sweeten the pot, then I caught a train for home. During the trip, I coded another new feature. :-)

I got home and practically fell into bed, having stretched myself a little thin what with all the walking and dancing I did on Monday. After resting a bit, Russell and I went to a deli for dinner, although I wasn't hungry and didn't order anything. Then we headed to dancing.

I was strung out before dancing, but it always seems to revive me, especially dancing to "I Got The Music In Me" -- I certainly got my workout there! I felt like a million bucks! Square dancing almost always makes me squeeze out that last bit of energy and I always have a fabulous time.

Wednesday

I worked at home this morning, planning out a new feature for my project. Our goal is to identify features that are easy to implement that will impress the hold outs on the client's staff. I also had to research some CSS to polish the feature that I coded on the train Tuesday evening.

I also researched an open source fax server, HylaFAX. Our client contact indicated that they were becoming dissatisfied with their current fax software, RightFax. I don't think it's working for them right now, which may explain why I've been unable to get access to anything that would help me figure out how to integrate it with my application. Our idea is to pitch this open source fax server that would save them on licensing fees.

After lunch, I took the train into DC and spent about five minutes at the client's office installing my refinements, then headed over to the home of SJG, my previous boss, to rehearse for the murder mystery party on Saturday. He is renting a floor in a building that used to be one of Marion Barry's brothels, and we'll be having the party on the first floor with the large common room, the stage, the commercial kitchen and the big bar.

The scenario for the party is this: Senator Arthur Gagger is found dead just before a fund raiser for his reelection campaign. There will be several of us playing the cast of characters, including Mrs. Gagger, their son, Senator Gagger's slutty intern, and a journalist from Fox News, among others. I'll be Dennis Carpenter, the challenger for the Senator's seat.

My boss has written all of the characters and the clues, which are full of his quirky sense of humor. The Senator's chief of staff is Dixie Chainlink, whose name is meant to remind you of Dick Cheney's, but who speaks of herself in the third person, like Bob Dole.

Tonight we reviewed our introductions and the clues we will have to deliver as we mingle among the other guests. Even we won't know who the actual killer is until the concluding statements for each character are read at the end of the party. We had a fine time concocting character traits and planning costumes and props. My boss says he enjoys rehearsals more than the actual parties.

If you're free this Saturday evening, July 31, leave a comment here. Remember that the setting is a political fund raiser, so you can dress as some elected official, fatcat contributor or reporter. I know that our Fox News reporter would love to have someone play her cameraman! :-)

Watching the Clock

I've just marked August 21 in my calendar. That date will mark one year since I was told by my doctor that I have HIV. I have no idea how I'm going to react as the date creeps closer.

It turns out that my old boss knew that I had HIV, which doesn't surprise me at all. I suspected as much, because the company wasn't very large. As soon as I marked that HIV box on the forms when we signed with the new insurance carrier, I figured that, at the very least, the woman handling our HR and the boss would know.

I'd like to speak privately with him sometime, face to face, and ask him what he remembers about how I seemed during that time. I tried very hard to keep it together, working the job, going to school almost full-time, wrestling with extreme mood swings and drug reactions. I wonder how successful I really was.

Maybe I should plan a dinner or something to celebrate my accomplishments of the past year.

Anonymous Text

I had disabled anonymous comments when I set up this journal, for what reason I can't really remember.

I've been sharing this URL with a lot of my new friends, none of which are on LiveJournal, so I've enabled anonymous comments in case you're so inclined.

Just don't forget to tell me who's commenting! ;-)

We're all of us refugees

One of my favorite artists is Suede and one of her most powerful songs is her rendition of "The Ones Who Aren't Here," with music and lyrics by John Calvi. He wrote this moving song in 1982 and the words are about those who still live their lives in the closet.

( Here are the lyrics )

I listened to this song again today and was moved to tears, but now it seems to me to describe the HIV closet and how I've made myself learn how to shrug off my fears. "One by one/and it's never been easy/and me and everyone changed."

I've put Suede's rendition here. I hope she won't mind, and I hope you love it, and her. She's a fabulous performer; check her schedule to see when she'll be in your area.

EDIT: link to music file removed.