Thursday, December 13, 2007

yada, yada, yada

Well, it's been an interesting week, to say the least. I made the final pass over the manusript and sent the approprite sections to the scientists I interviewed. Tony flew in from Geneva on Friday evening, and we had our big annual holiday bash on Saturday evening. People always ask how many people come to our party, and I honestly have to admit that I don't know. Over a hundred? And this despite the freezing rain. Eli and I took a whole lot of dead soldiers out the the curb for recycling last night, I can tell you that much.

I learned that one of my guests at the party reads my blog! (You know who you are.) I have to apologize for my momentary brain freeze when I first began talking to you.

Sunday we cleaned and went to a funeral visitation for the father of one of Eli's friends. A sad, sad thing for two teenage boys left without their dad. I suspect that the Christmas season will be rough for them for many years.

Tuesday was my birthday! Tony took me out to dinner at Bacaro, as restaurant we like a lot. I ordered an appetizer made with beef tongue, among other things. I'd never had tongue, although as a kid I'd been licked by many a calf tongue on the farm. Apparently Tony's grandfather used to make a pickled tongue regularly, so he grew up with it. Anyhow, it was DELICIOUS! So was my roast chicken with greens and mashed potatoes. How homey does that sound?

Tony flew back to Geneva on Wednesday. He's beginning to make this transcontinental travel thing look like commuting. Fortunately, he comes home for good next week. Well, for good until he goes back to CERN, but he won't be staying for such extended periods!

This week, my wonderful MacBook Pro was attacked by a Leopard--the new, super-duper operating system, that is. First the hard disk icon disappeared from my desktop, then the Finder wouldn't launch, and after an hour and a half on the phone with the Apple tech support people (who suprisingly seemed not to know about this problem, even though people were discussing it on the boards), he advised me to archive and re-install Leopard. But first I had to make room on my hard drive. And that's when I got the blank blue screen. So I took my computer to the doctor, who will hopefully make it as good as new. Words of advice? Back up your data! (I did; that's why I'm not going crazy now.) And don't get Leopard...yet. I think it's still got some serious bugs, even though I really like a lot of its features.

4 comments:

PJ Hoover said...

Happy Birthday! You're a better woman than I on the tongue thing. I have a bad memory of my parents making me try it. Yuck!

Anonymous said...

As I read through this post so many responses flew through my head;

first - my heart goes out to both the boys and their mom. I hope they are able to cherish the memories they share and can toast each one with a smile, even if the tears threaten to spill. It is possible to laugh and cry at the same time - and feel better because of it.

second - I think a Leopard's bugs should be called fleas

third - I'll take a page from Madeline Kahn's character in Young Frankenstein - "No tongues"

fourth - it is not a good thing that Mac is capable of producing the blue screen of death. Those of us who have relied on PC's all these years have long dreaded the BSOD. Now what will all the Mac devotees have to feel superior about?

Tony said...

One of my friends said of my Leopard problem: "That's what you get for trying to change your spots."

From what I understand, the Mac blue screen is NOT the same as the BSOD. And I'm writing this on my good-as-new MacBook. Take that, John Hodgeman!

Anonymous said...

Oops, that was me (Sara) and not Tony who left that comment.