July 1, 1994
Dear Everyone:
As “Jeannie” would put it, "Nothing funny happened this week."
In spades.
Spent three intensive days converting data from CRMIS into
Versatile
with the help of the consultant. “Mimi”
did the extracting from CRMIS while the consultant and I wrote the
configuration files that would tell
Versatile where to put it.
Then we'd run the file, watching
the screen carefully and saying things like, "Gee, why do you suppose
it's rejecting (fill-in-the-blank)?"
Of course, all of this was going on between CRMIS Crises and
interruptions that always begin with, "I know you are terribly busy,
but…"
Nevertheless, by 4:00 yesterday afternoon, we had loaded about 9000
boxes (out of 750,000 in CRMIS) into
Versatile.
Since less than half of the boxes
in that particular file had rejected, we counted it as a victory.
Apart from that…
“Jeannie” and I saw
The Lion King
last weekend. In a nutshell, it's
Bambi…with
teeth. Consider the similarities.
Take the name "Bambi", change one
"B" to an "S", mix the letters around a bit, and you have "Simba".
Bambi had two friends, Thumper and Flower.
Simba has two friends, a
Not-Quite-as-Bright-as-the-Average-Bear warthog and a meerkat (cousin to
the mongoose) with a very smart mouth.
Matthew
Broderick plays Simba. James
Earl Jones plays his father, dripping with noble dignity.
Jeremy Irons
excels as the evil uncle. Whoopi
Goldberg leads a pack of hyenas. The
actors put everything into their voices, relying on the animators to
supply the facial expressions and body language.
You don't have to be a kid to enjoy this film.
There were some
very funny jokes that sailed right over the little ones’ heads, but
the taller members of the audience got them.
And the writers didn't hesitate
to bite the hand that feeds them, poking fun at their own roots with a
particularly wicked stab at everyone's
Most-Hated-Disney-Song.
The songs are OK. You don't
exactly drive home humming the tunes. But
five will get you ten at least one of them shows up at next year's
Oscars.
In other news…
“Jeannie” and “Marshall” are driving up to
Oregon for the long
weekend, which means they can deliver Mom’s birthday present (it would
be much too expensive to ship). As
for me, I'm taking next week as a well-deserved and much-needed
vacation. No real plans, just
relax, read, rent movies and try not to think about work more than 27
times per day.
Ergo, no letter next week. Everyone
have a great 4th of July!
Love, as always,
Pete
PS. I know what you're thinking:
Why don't I go up to Oregon with
“Marshall” and “Jeannie” if I have the time?
Simple.
There isn't enough room in the
car for “Marshall” and
“Jeannie” and Mother’s birthday present
and me. Somebody had to make
the sacrifice. So don't worry
about me; I'll be fine. I'll feed
“Jeannie's” cats and then just sit in a corner and count my toes or
something…
PPS. What did we get for Mother's
birthday present? Well, all I can
say is, if it looks like a
gargoyle, sits like
a gargoyle, and is as big as a gargoyle, I wonder how “Marshall” and Dad are going to get
it up on the roof?
| Previous | Next |