Thursday. November 29, 2001

the statues are looking a little cold and stiff this morning

collection of books and maps

"The inexorable boredom that is at the core of life."

Jacques Bénigne Bossuet

In the larger scheme of things, a few thousand dollar investment doesn't matter. It adds up, of course. Win some. Lose some. I tell FFP a story about a widow whose late husband worked for Enron. All her savings. More or less. That's a big deal.

We've gotten bored with big stories, though. Like thousands of displaced Afghans starving and Africa's AIDS plight. We are back to worrying about guys arrested for going the wrong way in the airport and the reputability of flag salesmen. (Really, could they make the flag any more ridiculous? I saw a candy flag. Yep. A plastic stick with candy inside doubling as a stick for a cheap plastic flag.) And, of course, we are worried about spending our way out of a recession. Never mind that people lost their jobs and have credit card bills. Sacrifice for the nation. Buy Play Station! (Or is it xbox?)

So, yeah, it was cold this morning. No dangerous ice, though. Sanded bridges and overpasses. But as the day wore on the sun came out and the wind died down. Winter has trouble biting in Austin. I'm glad for that. I notice my sweater collection is a little sad. One has a hole worn in the elbow. But, then, I don't have much need of sweaters.

I decided at work that I would go through some technical papers for a proposed feature with a fine tooth comb. Details I don't usually bother with. But it was the big picture that needed work, it turned out. Still does.

At lunch, I couldn't decide where to go. So I went to Whole Foods and loaded up a box with spinach and greens, broccoli, dolmas, garbanzos, olives, dressing, etc. I ran into someone who had been laid off from the company a while back. She is working for another company, watching people be laid off around her. Good worker, smart. Shame we lost her. We discuss the tough economy, the realities.

I decide to walk through a couple of stores. Just get some ideas about gift ideas in case I'm moved to buy something for someone. Or, more likely, Mom needs some little gifts. So, yeah, I walk through Linens 'N Things, Learning Express (a little toy store) and Container Store. Same old stuff, pretty much. A few interesting ideas.

I've been trying to shop for a digital camera for my niece. And some toys for my great nephew. On ebay but also looking at other sources. There were years when I would have just bought and thought later. I am concerned that the kids be able to use the digital camera and get the software to work on their computer. It's a baffling shopping thing. I've been through three digital cameras, just buying one suggested by my camera store at each stage and I've had good luck with them and been happy. I wish I lived closer to my niece and could help her. I haven't succeeded in getting FFP up on the cameras although he uses generation minus one to shoot stuff for a client and takes the camera to his Mac layout guy for download. I wish I had more time for this stuff.

Just as I wish I had more time for reading and studying about things I wanted to do on trips.

So SuRu came over and we had some cheese and crackers and chips and guacamole and drank a bottle of Rhone. Then we spread out all the books, maps and clippings from the New York box and started surfing. We looked for Broadway tickets and we looked at the special exhibits at various museums that would span our stay there. We decided what shows we might like to see, if we could get tickets and found some WEB sites offering various deals. Some tickets were very, very pricey. But we will have fun, I think. The concept of having fun in New York (did I mention I love NY?) is always clear to me. However, even with Guilliani imploring us to do just that, a little part of you wonders if it is OK to have fun there. But it has to be, doesn't it?

I watched TV and read the paper and finished the wine. FFP was in the middle of some weird, arty film on Sundance. It was interesting both in what content I could figure and the filming. I wish I could remember the name or had seen it from the beginning. Oh, here it is. (I love the WEB sometimes, too.) FFP walked in whilst I was typing this in and said the title was someone's name and I remembered 'Claire' and the wonderful imdb took me the rest of the way.

JUST TYPING
Seeing the big picture.
Is so much harder.
When you know the details.