I drove home last night without the AC on, I opened up the sun roof and all the windows. We hit a record high of 103 yesterday and I wanted to feel it all. When I stuck my arm outside the window the air felt like it came from a hair dryer.

We went swimming against last night but didnt' stay as long. Mosquitoes came out after the sun set. It was still a very plesent evening. Thanks to the swimming, I'm sleeping well despite the heat.

To stave off the heat, RO and I went to Kennydale Beach Park to swim, to have a light picnic and to watch the sun set.

What a great place. After the life guards left, the beach came alive. People kept showing up, mostly teenagers, but many families as well. You could hear laughter everywhere. Of course, the best part of swimming someplace without a life guard is that you can do whatever you want. Lots of people were swimming outside the buoyed off swimming area. People were jumping off the rails, playfully pushing each other off the dock, playing tag in the deep water, floating on air mattress and all those other officially unsafe, yet fun, activities.

The sunset was beautiful and broadly red. Then the sky turned a deep dark blue. Perfect for swimming.

Well... we're going to open a second store. It seams that we will be doing this by maxing out our credit cards, selectivly not paying bills and buying inventory on credit.

If we succeed, then good. If not, it will all be over before my 40th birthday.

We had dinner at Clem & Bates. They had interesting stories to tell.

Clem & Bates have an open relationship. One day while Bates was away, Clem took out an ad on Craigslist, including a below the waist nude shot.

A neighbor, a married woman, called Clem and asked "Did you take out an ad on Craigslist?" Clem tried to be vague and avoid the question. The neighbor continued "I recognize the linoleum on your bathroom floor. I know that's you!"

Busted.

Boone put up a memorial for our dearly departed cat.

http://ronaldscottboone.com/blog/?page_id=47

It's been a busy couple of days. Where to start?

My cat is gone and probably dead.

My mother misplaced her passport and we had to go to the consulate.

RO and my mom got into an argument. My mother started to try cry.

First the cat; the last time we saw him was Friday. We noticed that he wasn't around on Saturday. Sunday we got worried and started looking. In a way I'm glad he's gone because he was a messy cat. On the flip side, I feel bad that i'm a little happy that he's gone.

My mother's passport; when my mom flew to Seattle, she accidentally grabbed my dad's passport. Even with the wrong passport she managed to talk her way into the U.S. But, she was given a stern warning that she had to exit with proper documentation. So Monday, Mom and I went to the Canadian Consulate to get the right paper work. It was relativly stress free, though we did end up waiting around for an hour while things were processed. I learnt that the Candian consulate has my and my brothers names and addresses all on file-- the asked my mother for this info to double check that it was really her.

And finally, RO made my mom cry. We were out for a walk through the Fremont Sunday Market. We were talking about my brother and his perpetual financial and woman problems. Mom my said something that could have been interpreted as RO was using me for my money to support the store. She really didn't mean it that way.

RO stewed on the comment for a while. Then on the way home they talked which escalated to an argument.

They have since made up and all is well. But, I don't like knowing that eventually RO will blow up at all my family and friends. In fact, I can't think of a single friend of mine that he hasn't got irritated with. Mind you, I shouldn't really single out my friends and family. RO has gotten in *very* heated arguments with many of his friends as well. It's his nature. Mostly he's a great man. But, he has his buttons.

At work at work, I see people around me whose careers are underperforming; who are on the verge of being fired if they are junior, or being shuffled off to some harmless department if they are senior. But when I compare these people to me, I don't see that much of a difference. Yet somehow the powers that be trust me and give me great freedom to do whatever I want.

It's this freedom that let's me suceed-- I make as many mistakes, even more, than some of the troubled employees. But the freedom means that people mostly don't notice. If I was a problem employee and being managed for performance, then every mistake I made would become an issue to be delt with and provide a bit of data used to solidify negative judgements. Free from the eye of upper management, I get to clean up my mistakes before anyone notices. I come away looking clean.

I feel uncomfortable talking about this with my employees. As engineers they want firm objective standards for success. For me to suggest that how people judge them is just as important as the actual work they do, smacks of politics and subjectivity. It labels me as one of those managers who has lost touch with the work that needs to be done.

Yet, in an organization of quality people who have good judgement, what people think of you is a real measure of success.

It's Kent Cornucopia Days-- the cities annual fair. There was a shooting at last year's Cornucopia. This year the security is greatly beefed up-- two cops on every corner.

Cornucopia always brings in many people to the store and that's good for sales. But the street fair it self, well, is nothing special. There are a few local crafts and artists, but the bulk of the stalls feel like they were filled by randomly picking vendors from the yellow pages-- gutter guards, health suppliments, temporary tatooes, beads, random churches, the list goes on.

I just got back from the parade. There were a lot of chear bands, dance bands and spirit troups this year. Lots of good moves.

Mom is in town for a couple of weeks. It's good to see her, though, when I picked her up, for the first time I noticed that she's getting old. Not too old, but no longer middle aged.

Tommy, you are welcome to spend some time with us during the winter rain.

I'm a bit sunburt right now. There are three beaches nearby, all within two miles of biking. We went to the northern most one for a dip. We usually don't go there. Now I remember why-- the water at this beach is full of weeds. The diving raft is covered with goose poop.

Still, it was nice to lay on the grass and soke up the sun.

It's been a hecktic week, though this weekend is a long weekend. Friday RO and I dropped by Behr & Lucky's July 3 BBQ.

C6 was there. C6 had a heart attack about six months ago. They discovered that his heart is over large and not working well-- too many years of steroids and partying. He can no longer do cardio as his heart can't keep up. He is concidering a heart transplant.

Two couples at the BBQ are moving from Seattle to Phoenix. They didn't know each other before hand. But, both couples decided that they had enough of the winter rain and wanted year around sun.

RO and I spent Saturday at his sisters on the lake. The whole family was there. We boated, sat in the sun, chatted and drank. It was a pleasent day.