Birds on a rock
Here’s yet another in my famous seagull series. Solemn Promise: no birds tomorrow.
No post yesterday – Wednesday night, dontcha know. Besides, not much happened. I got up, got ready, went to work, worked, went home, ate, went to meeting, met, went home, got unready, and went to bed. Some days are just like that.
Today, on the other hand. It was Young Minds At Work day (formerly known as Take Your Children to Work Day, previously known as Take Your Daughters to Work Day [sexist pigs!]) and Loyal Readers Numbers One and Two went to work with me. They were impressed with my overly large office and unimpressed with the general industrialosity of the campus. You can’t win ’em all, I guess.
We did some work and a lot of running around. There were some displays in various buildings on campus – they didn’t do a real good job of letting people know what was where, but we found several things of varying degrees of interest to look at. After the last place, we went back to the car to get back to my office for a few meetings. Much to our surprise, the car’s battery chose that moment to end its mission here on earth. Very sad; sympathies all around. We got the security people to come over and give us a jump start and drove over to my building. We left the car idling with the doors locked (I have one of those keypads on the driver’s door) and went inside for my staff meeting. After the meeting and a couple of emails, we decided to call it an early (about 2:30) day.
We headed for home and had a pretty harrowing time of it. Early on, the air conditioner and radio would occasionally cut out. Deciding this wasn’t a good thing, I turned them off and let the car concentrate its electrical efforts on the engine and other essential items. Twice, it wasn’t enough to keep the motor running. The first time, the entire electrical system just cut out and I started coasting to a stop at a conveniently-located exit ramp. Partway up the ramp, it all started working again and the engine hadn’t stopped turning over yet, so we drove on. The next time was even weirder. The electronics cut out repeatedly for about thirty seconds, turning the car into something of a bucking bronco. Finally, it appeared to be well and truly dead, so I began coasting to a stop on the shoulder. As we slowed, it all came back and, as the engine hadn’t stopped turning over yet, we drove on. This time we made it all the way home. I shut down the engine in the garage and tried to start it back up. Result: negative function. New battery time on Saturday. Until then, it’s grounded.
Also a baptism on Saturday, for which I need to finish preparing. Two very nice young brothers are joining the church – their mother is a member and their fathers aren’t, so they weren’t baptized at the standard age. She’s decided to become active again and the boys are excited to sign up. Good for them. I’m hoping for a nice service. It will most likely be sparsely populated, as we had to change the time last night and it’s hard to get the word out, but I’m hoping at least a few people attend. I’ll be there, anyway.
The landscapers are still landscaping. They tore all the defective concrete out and are scheduled to replace it on Saturday. We’ll see how that goes. Loyal Reader Number Four mentioned today that they couldn’t possibly do a worse job than the first time. And she was right.
Loyal Reader Number Five expressed interest in acquiring one of my fine Limited Edition Framed Great Art Masterpiece Prints. Since I’ve never sold one yet, I’ll have to think a little bit about the price. Let’s just say it’s affordable, with flexible terms and easy monthly payments.
Good luck to Loyal Reader Number Seven in the Ocean Sciences Bowl Nationals! Have fun and let us know how it goes. You’re an inspiration to Loyal Readers everywhere.
See you tomorrow.