First, let me apologize for getting this up late. I was exhausted after I got back from New York on Sunday night (though I still watched the season premiere of "Desperate Housewives") and I couldn't get a decent enough connection to upload files on Monday night. My crappy internet service is on the long list of things to do something about, but I've been so totally swamped that it's just not a high priority.
Anyway, the work week was moderately hellish. Lots of long, tedious meetings and lots of waiting around while people were inefficient. I did have one reasonably interesting issue come up, which is related to how we measure relatively complexity of different developments. I need to do some further digging on this, because I'm not convinced that a lot of the existing work captures some of the real issues.
But the main thing I want to write about is the weekend. As the title should suggest to anyone familiar with Sondheim songs, I went to New York. A hell of a lot more than another hundred people must have gotten off my Amtrak train Friday night, as it was completely full. At least now that they require reservations in the northeast corridor, you don't end up with people standing in the aisles. I got in just in time to buy my Long Island Railroad tickets and call my mother before catching the train out to her house.
The purpose of the trip was to see Spamalot so it was back to the city on Saturday, this time with Mom in tow. We went in a bit early so she could buy slippers at Macy's. Unfortunately, they're renovating the store and the slippers weren't where they usually are. And nobody could tell us where they might be. We went to at least four different shoe departments and one department that had a few pairs of socks and even the lingerie department, but there was not a slipper in sight. I still think we should have tried hosiery on floor one and a half, but Mom wouldn't consider it.
Then we walked up to an Applebee's at Times Square for lunch. There's a waitress there named Harriet who I am now nominating for sainthood. See, Harriet let Mom order from the breakfast menu even though it was after twelve and they don't normally sell breakfast that late. And she made sure the eggs were cooked thoroughly enough and so on. I'm far less fussy and the tilapia with mango salsa over rice did fine for me. I made sure we left a very generous tip.
As for Spamalot, it's very silly and has mildly offensive moments, but it was also very funny. There's all the usual Pythonisms, but there's also a fair amount of Broadway parody. For example, one of my favorite bits was just a bit of a song that ran, "and another hundred people just contracted the plague." I'm not sure if the typical Monty Python fan would get the Sondheim reference, but I'm not sure if the average Broadway fan would catch some of the Python stuff. I'm a moderate Python fan and a Broadway lunatic, so I laughed very hard. I don't think my mother was ever all that keen on Monty Python, though she does like John Cleese based on a few movies he's been in. Fortunately, she also enjoyed the show. I should also note that they handled the special effects, e.g. dismembered limbs and killer rabbit and so on, all quite well. I wouldn't say it's a brilliant Broadway essential, but it's certainly entertaining and I was glad I saw it.
Back at Mom's house, I sorted through part of her file drawers and had the usual argument when I tried to throw things out. "They" say you should keep three years worth of utility bills, for example, but Mom can't exactly tell me who "they" are. (My argument is that the bills are of no use whatsoever once you've paid them and everything I've ever read suggests that there is no reason to hold onto them at all. But my "they" doesn't seem to trump hers.)
As for Sunday, we didn't do much. Mom wanted to go to Kitty Cove (a no-kill shelter inside a local pet store) and play with the cats. I wish I'd had a camera with me because there were three kittens in a hammock who'd have made a classic cute photo. I'd love to have a cat or two, but it's just not feasible with the amount of traveling I do. We also went to the pizza place so I could get my fix of New York's finest. Other than a bit more household decluttering and chatting with one of the neighbors, that was pretty much it for the weekend. The train back to Washington was just as packed as the train up had been, by the way.
Finally, I was very very frustrated with the TV news. Everything was Hurricane Rita. What about the important stuff - namely ,the baseball scores? Here the fate of the world is in the balance with the Red Sox tied with the Source of All Evil in the Universe and all they can talk about is a few more drops in a region where they sell land by the gallon instead of the acre. Priorities, folks!
Copyright 2005 Miriam H. Nadel