« April 2006 | Main | June 2006 »
Have you seen this?
onethousandpaintings.com
I'm still trying to figure out what it is about this that works. Funny.
Chapter 60
Sunday, 13 March 2022 – 6:30 p.m. MST
Bryan rushed to finish his investigation. He had grown bored and was more interested in continuing with his hack on the Naidu network. He gathered a few messages that referenced Ramesh and sent them off to Valerie. Most of the day was gone and he assumed that he would not hear from Valerie or Quinn again until morning anyway. He looked at his watch. He had been at work for fifty-five hours. He considered going home for a couple hours rest, but decided to just catch a nap in his office once he initiated the software for the attack on Naidu.
He trudged toward the elevator then down the hall to his office. It was the only lit office on the floor. His heart was pounding as he collapsed into his office chair. He had noticed in the last few steps that his feet were burning, so he took a moment to remove his shoes and socks. He scooted the wet mass of footwear aside and spread his toes to allow the cool air to dry them.
He began. For just over an hour he hacked and tested then hacked again. He considered all of the possible attacks that he might use against the Naidu network to find a weakness. His first attempt would be a software probe, a simple network tool to identify potential weaknesses on any public-facing nodes.
Before he started the probe he reached over and pulled out a replica One Ring he had received as a twelve year-old. He and a few others had waited in line to watch the final Lord of the Rings movie for over a week to qualify for the replica gold rings. It was his good luck charm. He slid it onto the end of his left-hand pinky and started the probe. It worked exactly as he had expected. He watched the log file for a few minutes, then decided to lie down for a nap.
A few moments after closing and locking his door, Bryan was completely asleep. The probe program continued its work, diligently logging its results.
Anyone who has read my blog for more than about a week should instantly know which movie I went to see this past weekend. In fact, based on the numbers, you probably already saw it too.
X-Men: The Last Stand broke the Memorial Day weekend box office record earning more than $120 million. How about that? If I had a nickel for every nickel they earned...
I've read and listened to several reviews of this movie and they all crack me up in one way or another. This morning I read a review that described the movie as "overcooked." I have no idea what that means. Most critics I've heard feel that this movie is eye candy lacking substantive plot and meaningful character development/interaction.
Duh. It's X-Men. This is the third in a series of movies inspired by a comic book. The previous two movies are action-packed fun-filled fantasy movies with a cadre of characters ranging from a man in a wheelchair who can essentially stop time and control minds and an edgy cigar-smoking character with a skeleton of adamantium to a WWII concentration camp survivor who can manipulate all metals without touching them and a blue-skinned, yellow-eyed shape shifting woman. This is what X-Men is all about.
You see X-Men because it's fun. That's all. And this installment was fun. I have to say that it was sad. Not in an "Old Yeller" way, but in a this-is-the-end-of-the-series way. I loved the movie. I still think X-Men United was the best, but I loved this one and I'm sad that there aren't any more planned. The plot of the movie was also sadder. It felt like the end of something. But, as in all good series, there were a lot of things left open.
I recommend seeing it. I'm going to see it again in the theaters. And I'll buy it on DVD. 2π.
Excellent TV night for me.
'Nuff said.
Wow. That's how I felt as the end credits began to roll last night. Just plain wow.
I have to be honest. I loved the book, but I didn't expect the movie to deliver. There's a lot of information in the book that really gives depth to the story. I assumed that information would be necessary to make a good movie and I couldn't figure out how it was going to play into the film. Not every piece of information was there, but what was needed to make the story understandable was. And it worked.
Second, I'm not a huge Tom Hanks fan. I went into the movie expecting to be distracted by him. Nope. He played a good Robert Langdon. In fact, all the actors were cast very well and did a great job.
The whole movie worked for me: cinematography, direction, pace, acting, dialog ... everything. The Da Vinci Code really exceeded my expectations. 2π.
I ordered a couple of pizzas over the recent weekend. Pizza delivery is one of the coolest things. You're at home, feeling too lazy to cook and too lazy to go out, so you call for pizza. Thirty minutes later, you have piping hot delicious pizza in your home and you don't even have to put on your shoes to get it.
There's a similar concept for blogs. You know when you've read a blog that you like and you want to remember to come back? You could bookmark the site, but then you'll get it mixed up with all your other random bookmarks and forget about it. You could use a social bookmarking site, but it might get lost amongst all your other links. If only there was some way to get the stories delivered to your door when they're ready so you don't have to keep thinking about it. Well, that is RSS.
I just published an overview of RSS if you don't know anything about it. I've also updated my links in the right-hand column of the main page to make it easier to subscribe. And if that's not enough, you can use these to subscribe right now:
Click the subscribe chicklet below:
Or, to receive notifications about my posts via email, provide your address below:
What the Heck is RSS?
And why should I care?
Good questions. First, here’s why you should care.
Unlike getting website updates or ezines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.
You don’t have to reveal your email address. If you want to stop receiving content, you don’t have to request to be “taken off the list.”
One click, and poof… the subscription is gone.
Plus, since there’s no email address involved, there’s no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.
That’s right… no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher’s intentions.
You won’t need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into inbox hell. No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts "just in case."
Again, if you don’t like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel. With just one click.
Pretty cool, huh?
That is cool! Umm… What the heck is RSS?
Alright! Now we’re ready to get to that part.
RSS is a simply an Internet technology standard that allows busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.
You might have figured that much out by now. But basically, that’s the essence of an RSS feed – you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.
If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.
What the heck is a feed reader?
You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it. If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you’ve got RSS capabilities built in. That’s how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page. You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.
Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it’s also free and easy to get started with.
If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function. The next version of Internet Explorer will add this feature as well.
Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers. These function somewhat like an email program for feeds. Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.
If it sounds complicated, it’s really not. And things will get even easier when the next version of Outlook integrates feed-reading capabilities. So, you’ll have the same convenience that email subscriptions offered in the old days, without any of the terrible consequences of giving out your email address to potentially unscrupulous characters.
Sounds good. So how do I subscribe to a Feed?
First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason). You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).
If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like Copyblogger and many other popular sites), you’ll likely see the standard RSS icon, which takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you’ll go from there. This is the new standard RSS icon:
Sometimes there will be a chicklet for your particular reader right on the blog that will take you to the appropriate subscription page. You may see these (among others):
Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS. Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish. In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription function.
Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.
In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.
So there you have it… RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it’s a good thing for everyone.
The benefit to readers is obvious. And it’s good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous spam filter.
If there’s anything here that is confusing, or you have a question, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help!
Thanks to Copyblogger for a helping hand with this tutorial.
Ok, so you have been reading my blog and you've just about started packing your bags to move to Arizona. Obviously, you were about to call Justin, but then you heard about this: Voting initiative could create a millionaire.
Well, let me just say that not everyone in this state has completely lost their mind. Yes, the sun and heat can make us a bit delirious in July and August, but for the most part, we're pretty normal people. If we become the first state to turn democracy into another form of legalized gambling, I'm sure we'll get a lot of press, but I don't think much of that press will be good. So, I'm preemptively letting you know that this idea isn't the type of thing we all stand around the cactii and discuss on a daily basis. This is just a run-of-the-mill oddity that could have happened anywhere.
And I hope it doesn't happen anywhere.
Chapter 59
Sunday, 13 March 2022 – 5:30 p.m. MST
Sireesha sat quietly reading when Daniel finally gave up trying to sleep. He had been tossing around for most of the flight, but had not felt that he had ever truly slept. He didn’t feel tired, but he didn’t feel rested either. He cursed as he finally threw off the eye mask and walked to the lavatory.
When he returned, Sireesha was waiting. Her eyes were lit and she was smiling. If Daniel hadn’t been comfortable with the fact that he was on her side, he would have feared that he was in trouble.
“What are you smiling about?” he growled as he poured coffee from a nearby thermal carafe.
“Ramesh has the messenger,” she answered.
Daniel had always been amazed at her resourcefulness. She seemed to know everything all the time. He understood most of it, but he was still amazed how she could so quickly get information from inside Q-Morrow.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
“His flight was diverted to Fort Collins – he lives there now. I am assuming a few things about the details, but it is a reasonable scenario. Brad would have trusted Ramesh.”
“We’re not going to Colorado are we?” Daniel asked.
“No. We’ll just wait for Ramesh to arrive with the messenger tomorrow morning. I have arranged a hotel near the airport for tonight,” Sireesha answered, never looking at Daniel. She was calculating. Daniel could see it.
“Good. I hate Colorado. Too cold and too windy.”
“No, it is much easier if we simply let them bring us what we need...” Sireesha trailed off into her thoughts again. Daniel stared at her for a moment expecting something more, but nothing came. He could see that they were nearing the end of their first move toward their future. It was the end of the beginning and he was ready.
I'm not sure why my hometown (Rexburg, Idaho) is making the national news today, but I've seen this story in four different places already.
What about this story makes it national news?
BTW, have I ever mentioned that my wife lived for several years in Preston, Idaho, home of Napoleon Dynamite? Vote for Pedro!
Vikki asks me to respond to her questions about dealing with people. Now, let me make two initial disclaimers. First, I'm not sure that this is a serious request based on my typical subject matter. Second, asking me for relationship advice is approximately equivalent to asking George Lucas for advice on writing good dialogue.
Here's how I see the world: Every person is responsible for their own feelings. That's it. You choose to be offended, you choose to harbor bad feelings, you choose to be jealous. Or you choose to be content and happy and you choose to allow other people the same.
There's not enough time in life to harbor ill will toward anybody, especially a family member. If they did something that really got under your skin you have a couple of choices:
First, you can confront them, explaining how you feel and all that stuff. In some cases this is the only option, but it must be used with caution. Most of the time when a person does this, they expect to somehow feel better after the discussion, but go into it secretly hoping to make the other person feel bad. This attitude won't work.
Second, you can adjust yourself. First of all, whatever offended you was probably something really stupid and has no long-term impact on your life. Second, whoever offended you probably doesn't even know they offended you because we're all really stupid and have a short-term perspective on life. So, you simply forget about it (really) and remember that at least you still have American Idol, 24, The 4400 and a whole summer filled with great movies and just be happy.
And if everything goes south, just know that you still have half a meat-lover's pizza in the trunk. That always makes me smile.
Bonus points for the first person who can name the movie referencing the meat-lover's pizza.
Thanks to Dan for this great new caricature and the creation of a new term to go along with blog and blook. Yep, it's my blirthday.
And what am I going to do for my blirthday? I think I'll take my wife out to see the Da Vinci Code tonight. I've been avoiding reading anything about it so far this week so I don't get a tainted perspective before I go see it. If everything works out, I'll have a mid-week Monday Movie Review tomorrow.
Oh, and on a completely unrelated note: SUNS WIN! SUNS WIN! OH BROTHER!
If you noticed that I didn't create any blog entries from last Wednesday until today, you may have remembered that I've been moving. Yes, it happened. We closed on both houses (the sale of our old and the purchase of our new) on Tuesday last week. We moved on Wednesday.
The move itself was long and painful, but we did it in just under 24 hours. Thanks to Dan and Chris for their Herculean efforts to make it happen. Without them, it wouldn't have. (At least not under 24 hours!)
So, here's what I've learned about selling and buying a house (in no particular order):
First, you need to have a dedicated real estate agent. Coordinating the sale of a house with the purchase of another house is not a simple task. There's a mountain of paperwork that has to be completed and there are so many tasks to finish before any moving can happen. I don't know why anyone would want to take on all the additional stress of managing that stuff in the midst of the stress of getting financing, lining up the move and all the other related moving stuff. When I say that you need a dedicated agent, I really mean that. Don't run out and list your house with your second cousin's spouse who just got their real estate license so they can make some additional money to supplement the income from their live bait shop. If the agent you hire doesn't know the right paperwork and the right procedures and doesn't have good connections for inspectors, appraisers, lenders, title companies, etc., you'll be doing a lot of work yourself. Don't waste your time. Just hire someone who knows their job. Hire Justin Cook if you live in the Phoenix area. You won't be disappointed. Justin was there when our first appraisal came in low and made sure it was corrected. He jumped through hoops to make sure that the buyers of our previous home closed on time and he was even there for us after we moved into our new home and needed immediate warranty repairs on one of our air conditioning units. You can't afford not to hire Justin. And if you don't currently live in Phoenix, move here. Justin can help!
Second, you need a great mortgage lender. I absolutely, positively, completely and fully recommend Quicken Loans. This is the second loan I have completed with them and I have referred two friends to them in the past. They have amazing customer service and they get the job done quickly. My first loan with QuickenLoans was a HELOC. Start to finish, it took 10 calendar days to have a check in hand. For a conventional loan on our new house, we started about a month ago. We had approval for a loan within days and we were fully underwritten by the time we made an offer on our new house. Being underwritten was the key to us getting the house we wanted as there was another offer already on the home, but the other potential buyers were approved but not underwritten. The customer service experience with QuickenLoans is exceptional. Two people were assigned to our account that we could call or email at any time. Every time I contacted either person, I received a response within an hour (at the very longest). If everyone that works at QuickenLoans is as good as Dina and Fallon, QuickenLoans is sure to excel.
Third, you need the support of good title companies. You probably won't deal with them directly very much, but it's a good thing to know who they are and what they do. You may not choose the title companies that you work with, but definitely get to know the people that will be supporting your move. They are the final word on when your house actually becomes your house. And they are the final word on when you receive any funds from the sale of a house, so you should definitely know who they are and have their phone numbers on hand to make sure that you know all the things you need to know. Again, I was lucky enough to work with two great companies and two great people. Thanks to Melissa at Grand Canyon Title and Teresa at the Talon Group for making this happen!
Finally, you will need help moving. I don't know what to tell you there. We tried Starving Students, but that was a nightmare. They couldn't guarantee a time of arrival or give us a real estimate of costs, so we decided not to use them. We opted for the U-Haul option and did the moving ourselves. Thanks to Dennon, Moises, Ryan, Bryan, Spencer and Jack and Lenore. Again, special thanks to Dan and Chris who put in a full day's work each.
When I get some time, I have a good short story about moving an entertainment center that will definitely make the list.
We went to see Over The Hedge with the kids (and the grandparents) this weekend. I've generally been a fan of the Dreamworks animation films, so I had pretty high expectations.
I was not disappointed. This was a funny movie! The kids loved it for the sight gags and general kid humor, and I loved it for all the inside humor (think Shrek, Hoodwinked). Overall it's a fun family movie that will definitely end up in our DVD collection. 1.75π.
Well, Richard Hatch may have been able to spear fish like no other on the first season of Survivor, but I'm not sure how he'll do in prison. Nothing was mentioned in the articles about the judgement, but I can't help but wonder if he got a couple of extra months just for being obnoxious and walking around naked on national television.
Chapter 58
Sunday, 13 March 2022 – 5:00 p.m. MST
The only aspect of working in the network operations center, the NOC, that Bryan enjoyed was the extreme cool of the air conditioning. He had been working for nearly three hours and hadn’t found anything. He knew that he was probably wasting his time, but he needed to find anything he could use to implicate someone else in the company. It was probably a technical witch hunt, but he needed a witch.
His frustration grew each hour he wasted. He had hoped to continue his personal work with the futurestream, but he didn’t dare risk doing so inside the NOC. Within his own office he had full control of security. In the NOC there were too many opportunities to really create problems. He couldn’t risk disrupting the whole network by running test software on production servers. He continued.
Every few moments he would locate a suspicious outgoing transmission in the server logs. Each time he would inspect the message and find some innocuous bit of personal data or amusing video clip. He found nothing interesting, but he continued.
After four long hours he detoured into something more interesting. He had grown bored with his search and decided to snoop through the company voice mail. He started with the most recent messages and worked backwards. Most were uninteresting meeting reminders and company business, but from time to time he heard some interesting personal information that he locked away for potential blackmail material later. From time to time he also stumbled across some interesting business information that he noted. He particularly enjoyed finding messages to or from Valerie. He listened to the sound of her voice and fantasized about her. He wished he had access to his surveillance video collection.
He glanced around the NOC, reconfirming that he was alone and decided to take a moment and look through Valerie’s recent messages. Most of the messages were encrypted, but from time to time there were some in plaintext. There was a response to a request to change a charter flight plan. Bryan read the message. There were other messages to contractors about her home and one to her stylist about a hair appointment that she needed to cancel. He didn’t completely understand the obsessive thrill of reading her mail, but he did enjoy it. He was disappointed to find that there was nothing interesting in the recent message list.
He spent about thirty minutes with his diversion then decided to return to his task. Hours passed before he finally found something he could use. Apparently someone else in the company knew that Ramesh had been visiting. There were several outgoing messages regarding him. None of them appeared to contain anything important but he decided to copy the messages to a secure area anyway. If he found nothing else, perhaps the ones he found could be altered to appear more controversial.
He reveled in his own cunning. He had sent more information about Ramesh than anyone would ever know, but he had not used the company network to do it. Even if he had, he would still have been the one on the inside searching for it. Nothing implicating him would ever be found in their networks. He controlled it all.
You know I like to mention positive experiences with customer service. I've recently mentioned Flickr, my real estate agent Justin Cook, and a few others.
This weekend I had my first experience with EV1Servers.net customer service. They're the company from which I lease the server that hosts this blog. (If everything in the preceding sentence sounded like Greek to you, good news, you're not a geek!) My server took a dump (that's the technical term) this weekend and I needed immediate service. EV1Servers.net was there, responded immediately and helped me get back online in a matter of minutes. If you're in the market for a great hosting provider (bad news, you're a geek), I suggest EV1Servers.net.
By the way, the fact that I haven't had to contact technical support in the past (almost) two years is a good sign by itself.
The summer movie season is upon us and now I'm starting to get excited. I've dusted off my Wolverine costume and I can't wait to see X-Men 3. If you're not closely watching the upcoming release dates, here's a short list:
May:
The Da Vinci Code (May 19th)June:
Over The Hedge (May 19th)
X-Men 3: The Last Stand (May 26th)
Nacho Libre (Jun 2)
Cars (Jun 9)
Click (Jun 23)
Superman Returns (Jun 30)
Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest (Jul 7)
You should expect a lot of Monday Movie Reviews for the summer movie season. I love this time of year!
Yesterday we officially reached 100° for the first time this year. That's always the psychological beginning of summer for me. I know that we'll be in the 100's until at least the end of September now, so I just have to start living that way. That means sunshades in the car, sunglasses all the time and sunscreen when I'm not at work. Also, don't leave anything in the car that you don't want to melt or warp: crayons, chocolate, cds, pens, etc. And when wearing shorts, never sit on a leather car seat that's been exposed to the sun.
I do have to say that I honestly like most of the summertime in Arizona. It requires a few minor adjustments, but you get used to it. A wise friend once explained it like this: "You can choose to live either in a place where it gets extremely hot in the summer or where it gets cold and snowy in the winter. The hot can be bad, but at least you don't have to shovel it."
And, at least it's a dry heat. ;)
I just received this email from Gather:
Dear Blake,On behalf of the editorial team here at Gather, I am very pleased to inform you that your article “Sour Revenge” has been chosen as an Editors’ Pick. Congratulations! Your article will be featured on the home page of Gather.com on Friday, May 12, 2006 from 9:45 p.m. EDT. Be sure to tell friends and family to go to Gather.com to see your great efforts recognized.
Best regards, and thanks for contributing to Gather!
Jennifer
Associate Editor
Last night we watched the Suns v. Clippers and American Idol. What a disappointment on both fronts. The Suns provided a dismal performance and lost the second game of the series. Sadly, Idol provided no reprieve. Chris was sent home in what I think may be the strangest results night ever in the history of Idol. Fortunately for him, he'll have a career now and he won't be directly tied to Idol for the direction of that career.
I do have to mention Rebecca Romijn appearing on Idol last night. That was cool. When she requested a repeat performance of Jailhouse Rock from Taylor, everyone in our house cheered. That was a great performance (both times). Initially I thought Taylor and the show probably agreed to the request simply because Rebecca Romijn is beautiful. This morning, however, I realized that not only is she beautiful, but she is one of the few people in the history of the world who has survived a full set of adamantium blades to the torso. They may have acquiesced out of fear.
Just a thought.
Need six minutes of entertainment? Rob points us to the funniest dance video I've ever seen: Dance Evolution.
Since we're in the process of moving, we've been doing a bit more shopping and buying recently. Here are a couple of observations:
1. At U-Haul, the 14-foot trucks have a big $19.95 painted on their side. That price apparently indicates nothing of any relevance. I scheduled the rental of a U-Haul yesterday. I am moving about 15 miles from my current home to my new home. Renting the $19.95 truck will cost me at least $55.
2. I bought a dryer for my new home. It cost in the neighborhood of $700. I had to pay an extra $8 for the cord for my dryer so I can plug it in.
3. I bought a refrigerator. It comes with a water dispenser. If I want the delivery person to attach the water line to the refrigerator, I have to pay a $10 insurance fee so that if the delivery person damages my water line, the store's insurance can pay for the repairs. The refrigerator cost about $1400.
Here are my observations and questions. First of all, is there anyone who really pays $19.95 for a U-Haul? Does anyone really expect to pay that amount? I knew going in to the rental shop that I was going to spend at least $50 for a $19.95 truck. I go there because it's convenient and available. Take the $19.95 price off the trucks because that price means exactly nothing.
On the other two, please just build those costs into the appliances. Both of those represent about 1% of the cost of the appliance. Every electric dryer is going to need to be plugged in, so just include the cord. If my refrigerator has a water dispenser, hook it up for me and build the insurance fee into the delivery. At the end of the day, I just feel like I've been to a lawyer's office if I get nickel-and-dime fees for every little additional item that I need to make my stuff work.
That's my 2 cents. Oh, and because I gave you this food for thought over the Internet, I'm going to charge you a 1 cent delivery fee.
I've always been a Taylor Hicks fan, but I'm not sure I've ever seen him as the winner of American Idol. After the past few weeks, though, I'm changing my mind. He has been the best overall performer for at least the last two weeks, maybe longer. Last night was Elvis night -- Taylor was fantastic.
Overall last night was a little disappointing for me because I like Chris and Kat so much, but they didn't deliver. Chris was better than Kat, though. I don't think either of them is in jeopardy tonight. I think they have enough momentum to carry them through a less-than-stellar night. I expect Elliot will go home tonight. After tonight, though, I have no idea what will happen.
PS: Sorry about the Elvis impersonator. I couldn't help myself when I found this photo.
This weekend I went to see Mission Impossible III with my brother who was in town for the weekend. This movie was not very high on my list initially because Mission Impossible II was such a terrible movie. However, since my brother was in town and there really isn't anything else new that I wanted to see, we gave it a shot. It was surprisingly good. Tom Cruise is still a little painful to watch (not a fan), but the story was better than either MI:I or MI:II and it was a little tougher than MI:I, so it was entertaining. 1.5π.
I also watched Aeon Flux this weekend from my Netflix.com queue. I had zero expectations for this movie, but it seemed to be the type of film I would like (sci-fi, futuristic, Matrix-esque). I loved it. The story was interesting, I loved the technologies and it moved. It's not going to win any awards (except maybe on MTV), but it was fun. If you liked The Matrix or The Island, you'll probably like Aeon Flux. 2π.
Chapter 57
Sunday, 13 March 2022 – 2:00 p.m. MST
Ramesh sat in solitude and forced himself to eat something of the catered foods available on his flight. He had no appetite, but felt sure that he should eat. He picked through the vegetables, carefully removing the cauliflower. He had developed a sincere hate for the vegetable during his youth because of the countless servings of aloo gobi that his mother had served.
He had just about finished when the chime of an incoming call startled him. He answered.
“Ramesh?” It was Valerie.
“Yes,” he answered.
“How are you?”
He tried to answer, but nothing he considered saying would have been appropriate for her. He admired her and didn’t want her to feel responsible in any way for his situation. He said nothing.
“Ramesh?” she asked again.
“I’m sorry. I am not well.” His voice reflected the exhaustion and resignation he felt.
“I am so sorry,” she continued. “I wish there was something – anything that I could do...”
“Thank you.”
“Ramesh, I need to ask you something about Brad’s message. Is this a good time?”
Ramesh considered the question. He felt that it was as good a time as any, but that for anything related to Brad, no time would ever be a good time. “Yes,” he answered.
“Brad mentioned sending the messenger device to two people that he called the most ethical he knew. Any ideas about that? I have to assume that he would have included you on his short list.”
“I have been thinking about that also,” Ramesh answered. “If he sent it to me, he certainly didn’t inform me.”
“I don’t think that he would have,” Valerie interjected. “Has he sent you anything? Anything at all since he left Naidu?”
Ramesh thought for a moment. Brad had sent something. It had always been such a puzzling gift, but Brad had sent it and Ramesh had always treasured it. He had tucked it away at home, an unusual wedding gift that he could neither bear to throw out nor bear to display for the memories it invoked.
“Yes,” he finally answered. He had resigned from attempting to determine whether he agreed with Quinn and his business any longer. He had become involved and he would accomplish nothing be refusing to help now. “He sent me a watch. Exactly like the one Quinn wears.”
“Do you still have it?”
“Yes. It’s at my home.”
“I think the watch is one part of the messenger,” she said. “Can you hold for just a moment?”
“Yes.”
There was silence. Ramesh had already considered the watch was something more than just an elaborately expensive timepiece.
“Are you still there?” Valerie returned.
“Yes.”
“If you don’t mind, I will re-route your flight to make a stop in Fort Collins. There is still time to submit the modified flight plan.”
“You want me to bring the watch?” he asked.
“Please. In fact, I have just spoken with Quinn. He would like to meet you in Fort Collins and go with you to your home. You will then fly back here together.”
“Okay,” Ramesh said in a half-hearted daze.
“Then I’ll see you here tomorrow some time.”
“Okay.”
“Ramesh?”
“Yes?”
Valerie struggled to find anything to say. She had only just met him and didn’t know him well enough to truly know how to help, but she could hear the resignation in his voice. He was not the same man who had left for Durban a few days ago.
“Take care,” she finally said.
“Thanks,” he replied. He knew she sincerely cared, but he was alone. His aloneness crushed him. Nothing Valerie could say or do, nothing that anyone could say or do would repair the past. Nothing would eliminate the emptiness.
Since we're buying a house, we're in the market for a refrigerator (new house doesn't have one) and a washer and dryer (staying with the old house). We know when we're closing on our house and we know that we're not going to apply for any new credit between now and then, so what we need is a place that will take some money down and guarantee delivery of the appliances on the day we move in.
That shouldn't be too hard, should it? The Room Store is doing that for our new family room furniture. You'd think there would be someone out there in the appliance world who could do it. Just for reference, Best Buy won't. I walked in there last night and said: "I need a refrigerator, a washer and a dryer." Then I explained our situation and the salesman said that our options were to either pay for it or apply for a Best Buy credit card. I asked how long it would take from the day we close and have the cash until they can have the appliances in our home. "Two to three days minimum based on stock."
We left.
I find it completely insane that a place like Best Buy can't find a way to make that sale happen. So now I need to look some more. Any suggestions?
I suppose it could have been worse. At least I wasn't busted for taking pictures in the store like Seth was.
Okay, here's a question for you: have you ever made a cell phone call just to have something to do?
I was at Chipotle today having lunch and it was particularly busy today, so I had a great opportunity to do a bit of people watching. Just as I was finishing my burrito bowl (mmmmm), I noticed a lady enter with her phone at her ear obviously having a nice conversation. She finished, put her phone in her pocket, then appeared to become uncomfortable with the crowd. She shuffled around for a moment, then took out her phone again and made a phone call. Her attitude changed immediately -- she became comfortable and happy again (apparently).
So, the question is: have we as a society become more comfortable with less personal communication (phones, email, instant messaging) and less comfortable simply interacting with day-to-day people (strangers)? Or were we always uncomfortable and now we have something to do while standing in line? Or was this lady just a social anomaly?
Keep your eyes open when you're out. Then comment back here if it seems like many people talk (or text) on their phones primarily to avoid other social interaction.
I was right about American Idol.
I heard on the radio this morning that the sale of hybrid vehicles was up 133% last year. That is before the current gas price increases. Check sales information here. Maybe Americans will do something.
Lastly, regarding Kobe Bryant. I'm a Phoenix Suns fan, so by definition I hate the Lakers (it's a regional rivalry thing). In the last playoff game, Raja Bell clocked (yep, that's the technical term) Kobe Bryant. Raja was quoted:
"I have no respect for [Bryant]. Because I think he's a pompous, arrogant individual. I think a lot of people let him get away with things and he feels like he's supposed to get away with them and I don't agree with that."
Kobe's response:
"Do I know this guy?" Bryant said. "I don't know this guy. I might have said one word to this guy.""I think he overreacts to stuff. ... I don't think about him. ... I don't know this kid. I don't need to know this kid. I don't want to. We go out there and play the game and leave it at that."
"Maybe he wasn't hugged enough as a kid. I look at him a little bit and he gets a little insecure about something."
Doesn't Kobe's response validate Raja's comment?
Last night's idol featured each hopeful performing two songs. Taylor was the only finalist who really gave two great performances. I thought that Chris' first song was great, the second was so-so. Kat was exactly the opposite.
I'm picking Elliot and Paris in the bottom two and it's a complete guess as to which of them will go home. Based on last week's information, it should be Paris, but Elliot has been in the bottom three before also. Personally I'd like to see Elliot stick around one more week, so I'm going to pick Paris to go home.