I stopped by the IBM Credit Union on Harrison to deposit a check from Robert, and made my way over to the Panera Bread off James Jackson Avenue. I had a delicious French Toast bagel with Reduced Fat (!) Honey Walnut Cream Cheese, and a cup of coffee one-fifth hazelnut, four-fifths non-flavored regular coffee.
I ran into one of my most favorite people, Jenn Cianchetta-Riordan, who I had last seen in my capstone course in the Spring, during which time she had announced her pregnancy. Today, she looked ready to pop, and when I said, “When are you due?” she replied, “Yesterday.” We quickly caught up and I wished her and her husband well. It was so good to see her.
It was way too hot in there, and after 30 minutes, my wi-fi Internet session “timed out,” and wouldn’t let me log back in. This is a new “development,” one which will preclude me from returning there.
I hopped in my car and headed to Helios. I hit a traffic jam almost immediately, only to find out when I finally got to the next traffic light, that all of the signals in that part of Cary were out. What a hassle. I thought of how dependent we are on our infrastructures, and how we take them for granted.
I was at Helios for six hours or so, where I spent a good time of it on a reading assignment and then preparing my presentation for Monday night’s Rhetoric of Science and Technology class.
I am going to be “accommodating” a scientific research paper called “Facilitating Social Networking in Inner-City Neighborhoods” for publication in a “popular” magazine called Property Management.
The Mostly Social Book Club is showing off by reading a fourth book in the same year. WTF?
It was Sharon’s turn to choose a book, and we’re reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. When reading A Prayer for Owen Meany, I talked a little bit about the importance of opening sentences to “grab your attention,” and how Owen Meany’s was one of the best.
Well, this one is pretty compelling, too: “I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.”
I so don’t have time to read this book with all of the grad school reading I have to do, but I have found myself “sneaking time” (mostly in the bathroom, truth by told), because it’s quite the interesting story already. The other nice thing about it is that it has short, short chapters.
I had a heartfelt e-mail exchange with Myra today.
I met Joe at Flex where as Brigner let us in the door he said, “It’s Comedy Video night.” That would be “uneventful” if not for the fact that:
- It’s usually Video Music night on Friday nights.
- Every, maybe, 5th or 6th video was some kind of comedy video, but for the most part they were music videos.
- For the first half of the night, probably, the “funny videos” had music playing while they were on. It’s kind of hard to get the humor of something when you can’t hear what’s being said. I’m just saying…
Joe and I played several games of free pool, spent some time talking to Joe, Phil, and their friend Steve, and a little later Shawn and Josh came in and I spent some time catching up with them.
Joe and I ended up at The Borough for a late-night snack. We each split:
| Vizzini . . . . . . . . . . 8.00 Marinated chicken breast, grilled and thinly sliced, served open-faced on a baguette with provolone cheese and diced tomatoes |
and the
| Uberwisconsin . . . . . . . . . . 5.50 Sharp cheddar, jack, provolone and tomato grilled on thick sourdough bread |
While we were there, a guy named Mike that I know came in, and told us that he had just been “released,” as he had been on this flight.