QOTD: "If a cat can kill a rat in a minute, how long would it be killing 60,000 rats? Ah, how long indeed! My private opinion is that the rats would kill the cat." - Lewis Carroll
Reading: Nicholas Crane, Mercator: The Man Who Mapped the Planet
Listening to: the original cast recording of Goblin Market
Decluttering accomplishments: almost finished one major household paperwork project
I often make proclamations that start with the phrase, "if I were the Queen of the Universe." Among the things that I'd proclaim are:
I've clearly failed in the first, but being articulate stopped being a requirement for presidents around the same time that speech writers first sprang into being. As for the second, I try to avoid buying anything that violates this principle, but I've been swayed by good fit and style and have only myself to blame. The third is what had me most frustrated this week. Wednesday morning's ice storm was decidedly unpleasant. On the plus side, I discovered that the ice cleat thingies I'd bought at McGuckin's (the hardware store of the gods and one of the obligatory stops of any trip to Boulder) do work. On the minus side, without them, I'd probably have gotten killed falling down the steps at my apartment complex, never mind surviving the walk to the metro station.
At least I was bright enough to drive out to Chantilly for an annual meeting on Tuesday, getting it out of the way at the first opportunity. The drive was surprisingly fast, but that's deceptive since the meeting wasn't until ten. I'm sure that I-66 is considerably more annoying at rush hour. My car really got some use this week as I also drove to Bethesda for a story swap last night. The traffic on the Beltway going there was irritating, but I still made it. The swap itself was so-so. Ralph and Margaret did a tandem telling of "A Child's Christmas in Wales" which was enjoyable, but nothing else was notable. My own telling of a Chelm story disappointed me. I hadn't told that particular story in a couple of years and floundered a few times. Oh, well, I can't be brilliant all the time.
My other accomplishment of the week was sending in a deposit on my next real vacation. I'll be going to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in May. Robert simply thinks I'm nuts. Alex (one of the guys I work with) told me I should see the movie "Proof of Life" so that I'll know to specify in my travel insurance that Russell Crowe has to come rescue me if I get kidnapped. I've read the state department information sheets and they're not particularly frightening to me. So there are areas one is advised not to go to (and which I wasn't planning to go to). That's just as true here. To all the naysayers, I've just been proclaiming, "I hear the oil field flares on the Absheron peninsula are lovely this time of year." The only real problem with this plan is that I can't use United miles for the airfare since none of their partners serve Yerevan. (British Air serves both Baku and Yerevan and I should be able to get a free ticket on them via my Alaska Air miles. I had been thinking of saving those miles to go to Yap and Truk someday, but I'll just have to rebuild that account.)
I should also note that I'm not very concerned about the United bankruptcy. Past experience is that these things have had little impact on frequent flyer miles. I do plan to use some of those miles within the next year, but I tend to earn them faster than I can use them.
On another news story, the real problem with Trent Lott's comments on Strom Thurmond's birthday is not his racism itself. What he thinks, even if it's something immoral, is nobody's business. It's that somebody in his position should have the sense to anticipate the reaction. He said something stupid in public and that's why his leadership is being questioned.
Copyright 2002 Miriam H. Nadel