January 29, 2004 - I didn't bother to shave today, for whatever reason. I was in a period of time when I didn't shave just about every other day. My boss was out of the office today and I got totally inundated with phone calls and things to do that he normally would have taken care of. Somehow I managed to sneak out at lunch time and went to Bob Evans with some friends from work. Carl, Roman, and Shawn and I ate, and then after lunch we got back to work. Today I got more phone messages in one day than I have gotten in the past 6 months combined. I answered most of them, but all the stuff going on today kept me busy. Somehow the girls back in the lab convinced me that I needed to go buy them ice cream at Coldstone Creamery at Newport on the Levy. I stalled, but eventually I went. The trip was only about 30 minutes, so it wasn't too bad. I left work about 20 after 5 so that I could get to the soccer game that was at 6 PM. I like working late on Thursdays because I get to catch up on things, but today the game was particularly early so I didn't get work late. The soccer game was good exercise but my team didn't win. The drive home from soccer was too intense. Snow was coming down and the roads were in horrible shape. I moved my seat up and drove about 30 miles per hour. At home, Tom Crookham had returned from Las Vegas, and Josh was back, of course, so everyone was back in the house. The snow kept me inside for the rest of the night. I finished off my bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz and ate spaghetti for dinner.