lab works and a cat scan

I’m back from a week in the Bay Area. I had lab works and a cat scan when I spent the evening with a co-worker and her two teenage kids. While the kids were getting ready, my co-worker and I took Friday the Lab around a Berkeley block for her constitutional then, back at her place and the kids still not ready, I wound up being closely examined by Zelda the tiny kitten, who thought my shoulder was a great observation point. We finally went out, and I had a huge chicken burrito AND a great time.

I also had a wonderful time staying at my friend Yoko, who was such an excellent hostess that I probably gained a few pounds from the breakfasts and dinner. I guess this is an excellent incentive for me to resume my regimen of workouts at ungodly hours.

As for the main reason why my manager paid for me to be in the Bay Area…

I did get some informal training about the New System’s technology. Not as much as I’d have liked, but hopefully enough that I can start poking around on my own. I usually learn better that way anyway. That being said, this new technology, which relies heavily on graphical interfaces, remind me of Mister Scott’s comment that the more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain. Well, that’s the technology they have and that’s what we’ll have to use. I do wonder if the New System will ever actually be deployed, what with its target date having become more slippery than a piglet held by buttery hands. We shall see. In the meantime, I’m still providing support for the Old System. I had to spend most of Thursday on that, but the new kids are becoming quite good.

I flew back yesterday afternoon, and my wife and I went straight from the airport to Pappadeaux for what was either a late lunch or an early dinner. After we were sated, we went back home and… Sue dozed a lot on the couch. She’d spent most of the week finishing her fantasy novel “Mist” and had sent it to her Tor editor early in the morning, but she was quite exhausted. She turned in early so I went to the SF club’s monthly meeting where Walter Jon Williams read an excerpt from his latest novel, which involved a reality show’s wrestling in cottage cheese. He then read a novella that’ll come out in “Subterranean” next year, about Tesla and Mark Twain and much silliness ensues.

It looks like this weekend may be one of relaxation, aside from a bit of housecleaning. I may even take Monday off.

I know, I’m a lazy bum.

"When Worlds Collide"

"Without me you would have been wiped out with the rest of them."
"Before you opened your pocketbook, you tried to make this a personal enterprise, a private rocket ship for your own personal use. This project was started by real humanitarians, by Marsden and Spiro. They gave me their money with no strings attached. You're not here under any special license. You're always shouting for facts, not theories. Well, remember these facts: our chance of reaching the new world is as thin as your chance of ever becoming a humanitarian."

This afternoon, we watched George Pal's "When Worlds Collide". Yes, it's obvious that the movie is 60 years old, and not just because every human, male or female, chosen by the lottery is white, but it's still a tight little film about the best of us and the worst of us face the end of everything.

"The Fellowship of the Ring"

Tonight my wife and I started our 3-night watching of "Lord of the Rings".