I took yesterday off from work because, just as Phillip was asking me, a few weeks ago, to see if I could leave work early to come to his office party, my clinic's secretary reminded me that I hadn't yet taken my Personal Holiday for this year. So I took my Personal Holiday yesterday, stayed close to home, and then went to Phillip's party.

I drove Phillip to work yesterday morning, and on my drive back home, I stopped by to check on "White Noise." The cache container was missing. I was disappointed, but not very surprised. When I got home I temporarily disabled the cache. I'm not sure what we're going to do with this cache. Before I got home, though, I checked on "U.T." and "I Can See The Dawghouse From Here!" Both of those caches are in fine shape, and I had a nice little walk in the process.

After checking on the caches, and disabling "White Noise," I played on Neopets for a while. Then I walked up to the library and picked up a book I had on hold there. The book is Everything Bad Is Good For You (How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter), by Steven Johnson. It's a book I discovered in a review in a New Yorker magazine I found in the hospital lobby one day. It's a book that sounds interesting, but also a book that I'm approaching with a large amount of skepticism. From what I read in the New Yorker review, I'm not buying into the author's premise. For example, Steven Johnson says that video games involve more complex story lines, involving more inventiveness from the player, than books, with their pre-set linear stories, ever had.

For one thing, I know that not everyone plays video games. I know that not everyone reads books. I'm pretty sure that the people who play video games didn't read books before playing their first video game. I don't think that the type of person who enjoys reading books is necessarily the same type of person who enjoys playing video games - nor that either type is smarter than the other. I don't believe that most people buy video games for their story.

Still, I'm interested in finding out what the book has to say. Maybe it will persuade me, or maybe it won't.

For the rest of the day, I started reading the book, and I played some video games, and then I went to Phillip's office party.

Part of Phillip's office party was a charity auction. I bought a beautiful wooden Japanese vibraphone. I don't know what I'm going to do with a Japanese vibraphone, or where I'm going to put it, but as people kept saying last night, it's all for charity.

I did some internet searching this morning to see what I can learn about vibraphones. From what I've read so far, a vibraphone is made with metal bars, while a xylophone is made with wood bars. So, although the auction described it as a Japanese vibraphone, I think that what I bought is a xylophone.

Because of Phillip's office party, I missed yoga yesterday evening and made up the class this morning (also taught by Lisa). Yoga in the morning is rather different vibe for me. I've become so used to yoga ending my day (and my week) that it seems odd to start the day on a yoga mat. It's not a bad feeling, just a different one - not unlike taking a Friday off and having to remind yourself all day Thursday that it's the end of your work week.

A patient approached the front desk at 11:30. "I have an appointment at 11:45, but I'd like to cancel it," the patient told me. "Not a problem," I replied, "Your appointment is now canceled."

"Now. I have another favor to ask," said the patient, "I'd like to have some lab work done." "Sure, just fill out one of the Nurse Request forms, and I'll turn it in for you."

The patient handed me the Nurse Request form and said, "Now. I have one more favor to ask of you." "OK" "I'd like to schedule a walk-in appointment."

"You'd like to see a doctor right now?" I asked. The patient nodded his head yes. "Well, um, why don't you just keep your 11:45 appointment?"

"I only made that appointment so I could get a refill on my medications, but I don't need it anymore. But I need to see a doctor as soon as possible."

I tried to wrap my head around the logic of the situation, but my brain shut down. I asked the Triage Nurse if there was something I wasn't seeing. The Triage Nurse agreed that I had the correct solution. I rescheduled the patient's 11:45 appointment, and let him think he was getting a walk-in appointment.

Right before the Church Council meeting began last night, Barbara told me that she has reached a decision to end Writers Group. At least, she added, as a church group. The possibility still exists that the group can still decide to get together, Barbara continued.

Writers Group has had a history of attracting people who ultimately disrupt more than contribute, and that is the situation at present. As a church group, it has been a delicate situation to ask people to leave Writers Group. Our pastor, who overheard our conversation, seemed to agree and understand, but added that it was a shame it has to end. Barbara shrugged it off, however. It's been a good group, she said, it's had a long run - almost twenty years, but all things end. (How Buddhist, I thought to myself.)

I saw this as good news, but I kept that thought to myself. I have lost all ties to my church - I felt that last night - except for two. I am obligated to the Church Council for one more year. I have enjoyed Writers Group, and it made me happy to think that I may continue, even if I leave the church.

I've written before about the problem of giving Gladden his medicine. He loves the taste, and may even understand that it makes him feel better, but resists taking it. There's just something about being held down on his back and getting a plastic syringe poked in his face that he just doesn't enjoy. I end up with scratches all over my hands every time.

What I haven't written about is Phillip's suggestion that, instead of using the syringe, I put his medicine in a bowl. I resisted the idea for a while. I was concerned that Gladden wouldn't drink the full dose. (Sugar gliders eat like cats - eat some now, save some for later.) The dose also seemed a little small (0.01 milliliters) to put in a bowl that would be big enough to not get tipped over. There was something to Phillip's idea, I had to admit.

For the past few days, I've been putting Gladden's medicine on his food - a modification of Phillip's idea. I put it on his artichoke heart, or, better still, a piece of chicken. So far, it seems to be working. I notice that the doped food is the first thing Gladden grabs and devours. He does love the taste of the medicine. Maybe he might not be getting the full dose every time, but I don't think that matters, really.

I haven't been getting much sleep lately. I've been waking up at various times of the night. I think it's Gladden who's been waking me up, even when it's Phillip, and not me, that he wants to play with. I was really in the right mindset for yoga Friday evening - I was tired, and maybe that had something to do with it. I came home, watched Prof. Fred's Movie Marvels (it was Bucket of Blood Friday), then I went right to bed.

On Saturday morning, before Phillip got up, I went out and found a geocache - our 140th find. It was a puzzle cache I'd solved earlier in the week. It was a wordsearch puzzle that wasn't hard, but involved some thinking, and revealed a nice surprise at the end. In other words, it was a lot of fun.

After Phillip got up, he and I went to the open house at our friend Kim's new studio and apartment in Georgetown. The last time I saw her, she was sculpting dragons. Someday, I'll ask her why she made the switch to African goddesses. After the open house, Phillip and I did some shopping, including a trip to Grocery Outlet, where we happened upon a Remington beard trimmer for ten dollars. It's not top of the line, or state of the art, but for ten bucks, how wrong can you go? The beard trimmer I bought at Sharper Image died a few years ago, and I've since then discovered that beard trimmers are not something every corner drug store carries.

This morning, we skipped church - that goes without saying these days. We did some more shopping, and then Phillip suggested lunch. I suggested Chipotle, in the U District, but Phillip wanted to go somewhere we'd never been before. I drove to Madison Park, which Phillip soon guessed was a ruse to look for a cache we'd tried to find earlier, but discovered that it had been muggled. We found the cache - our 141st find - and a couple of taverns that looked interesting for lunch, but neither one interesting enough to go in. Phillip then suggested we try Rainier Valley. We passed a Vietnamese restaurant, and decided to try it. It turned out to be an excellent choice.

The restaurant was not very crowded, except for a few elderly Asian diners (always a good sign). The waiter, named Mike, was very, very friendly and helpful. He asked if we were familiar with Vietnamese food. After we told me we weren't very familiar with it at all, he was right there to explain it all for us. He explained that the name of the restaurant, Pho Nuong, means "National City." He explained that "Pho" looks like the same word "Pho," as in a soup restaurant, but is actually a different word. (If my keyboard could reproduce the Vietnamese alphabet, I could show the difference as Mike explained it.) Pho Nuong is not a soup restaurant - it is a grill restaurant. Mike explained the whole restaurant, and explained that Pho Nuong specializes in exotic meat - alligator, bison, eel, kangaroo, etc - as well as chicken, beef, and more traditional seafood. Mike told us that eating wild animals is better for you. "On the farm, you don't know what all they feed them," he explained, "In the wild, what do they eat? Just grass!"

Phillip and I decided on the "prawn fondue" (I don't remember what the proper Vietnamese name is). It was quite an elaborate dish - all of which Mike demonstrated for us. It involved putting a raw prawn in a pot of vinaigrette (boiling over a gas grill, which Mike set up on our table). Meanwhile, we dipped a hard piece of rice paper in warm water (to soften it). Then we made a "burrito" (Mike's word) with the cooked prawn, noodles, a choice of sauce, and a selection of vegetables. Apparently, we were supposed to pick up the burrito with chopsticks, but neither one of us were adept enough, so we used our hands. It was messy but delicious. For desert, we went with Mike's suggestion of Creme Brulee.

The price was very reasonable, I over-tipped on purpose, and thanked Mike for the education. "My pleasure," he replied, "I enjoy demonstrating." I believed him. I got the feeling that he truly enjoys his job.