Oct. 25:

It's been an interesting couple of days. Thursday night, I went to a speed dating event in Kirkland benefiting the Leukemia/Lymphoma society. It was my first exposure to speed dating, and it was much less structured, and 'interview like' than I had expected. By the end of the night, I'd had 5 minute 'dates' with 10 different women, and marked 3 of them as 'yes, I'd like to know more'... and in marking those, I felt as if I was being generous, and flexible - no one met even 50% of my criteria... but I was trying to be flexible. All in all, it was... interesting, and something I might consider doing again. The only downside to the evening was that my 'wingman' (Joy) was unable to join the speed-dating part of the night, as there was a shortage of men. Still... she got a chance to speak with several men in the restaurant/bar while the speed-dating part of the evening was going on, and she really did seem disappointed - but only in the number of men who showed up.

This weekend, I spent with my sons - as much as possible. During soccer season, that means Friday night at my house watching a movie, or playing XBox (or both). Saturday morning, two of the boys have games in Bellevue, so we rush across to game one, drop off 1 player, then head across Bellevue to game 2, and drop off player 2. Then it's back across Bellevue to game 1 to catch the end of the game, and pick up layer 1, and drive thru Bellevue once again to return to game two, and pick up player 2... (whew!)

Once that's over, we return home, and hang out watching college football, and movies until late at night. Oh... until we got word that one son had a birthday party to attend... in Redmond... at 7pm Saturday. So it's out to Tar-jay for a gift, then over to Redmond (and back).

Later Saturday night, I got a phone call from Joy... Friday, she had developed symptoms consistent with... H1N1 Swine flu. Yikes!!! I asked her how she felt, and she was feeling terrible - fever, headache, stomach cramps, aches, etc. So some quick internet searches brought up the CDC's website, and the data there shows a 1-4 day 'gestation period' before symptoms appear. Now I've been exposed - although only through hand to hand contact - there was neither hug nor kiss... that's something Joy doesn't "do" not even with her teenage son. But I *was* in the car with her for 30 minutes going to and from Kirkland... would that be enough exposure? Did she cough, or sneeze at all (not that I recall)...

Sunday morning. I thought better of the 'exposure' issue, and called the boys' mother, and let her know that I'd been exposed to someone with swine flu. She wanted to come pick up the boys right away, and she did. Only, in their rush to get back to Bellevue, son #3 left HIS soccer equipment in my car, and HIS game was scheduled for SUNDAY at 1:15pm... plus, player #1's gear was still in a heap in the laundry room, and NOT in his gym bag (which was on it's way back to Bellevue). This meant another trip across to Bellevue to drop off gear. This time Kayla wanted to come along for the ride, so she stuck her nose out the window most of the way, and was very happy by the time we returned home an hour later.

Next, I got the e-mail results of the speed dating on Thursday. Results? There were no 'matches' - none of the 3 women I marked as potential dates marked *me* as a potential date. So what was up with that 'Li', and her twirling her hair the entire time we talked? I thought at least SHE would mark 'yes'... I wasn't going to mark 'yes' next to her at all, except that I saw that, and was amazed at the 'yes, yes' body language presented by that flicking of the hair.

So, I'm considering dressing as a monk for Halloween... mostly to get accustomed to the outfit, as it seems I may have to get accustomed to wearing one of those... what is it exactly... a brown mumu? Or is it like the medieval 'snuggly'? But the tonsure... (that shaved circle in the crown of the head) I have to draw the line at that - NO tonsure for me, thanks.

But the question remains: How long have I been unknowingly driving the anti-weinermobile?

[Oh... and the H1N1 symptoms? So far: Nothing definitive. That squirrel in my stomach might have been from not eating lunch, and only eating dry Top Ramen noodles (again)... I'll keep my distance at work, and keep an eye on my overall-feel-good quotient.]