June 6, 1996
Dear Everyone:
They’ve been
upgrading the security system and you know what that means:
Bugs.
The first bug came
when the security people couldn’t come to “Livermore” the week that they
said they would. But that’s
OK. We just went on using
the old badges like always.
Then, one day a couple of weeks ago, they showed up and installed the
new badge reader, the one with the plastic label that reads “New
badge required.”
Actually, we’d had
the “new” badges for months since Company Park had been upgrading,
building by building, for quite some time and we got our “new” badges
when they started. Using the
new (i.e., previously unused) badges worked pretty much the same as the
old ones. You hold your
badge in front of the badge reader, it reads the magnetic code inside
the badge, checks it against a computer in Company Park and, if you’re
cleared, the badge reader goes “beep!” and the red light flashes green
and the door unlocks.
At least that’s the
way it’s supposed to work.
The day after the new badge reader was installed, when the majority of
the crew showed up for work, the door wouldn’t open.
The reader goes “beep!” and the light flashes green and the door
stays firmly shut. Two out
of three ain’t good enough.
Interestingly
enough, these are the people who show up for work at (shudder!!!)
between 5:30 and 6:00 am.
The badges wouldn’t work until (surprise!) exactly at 6:30.
Security swears that it was a coincidence.
Or maybe somebody in security just can’t conceive of anybody
starting work at 5:30 am.
Certainly I can’t. Coming in
at 7:30, I’m one of the “late-comers”.
That problem was
apparently fixed. The next
big bug showed up last Saturday when I stopped by to check on the
Database Integrity Check.
Again, the badge reader goes “beep!” and the light flashes green and the
door stays locked. I
reported it on Monday.
Hopefully, they’ll convince security that some people
do work on weekends before
the next time I need to get in on a Saturday.
Speaking of the
Versatile Database
Integrity Check, it finally did go all the way through to completion
over the weekend, even without me hovering over it.
Three cheers. And
let’s not try and do that again until the next 3-day weekend, which will
be Labor Day.
Fortunately,
checking on the computer was not my only reason for being in the
“Livermore” neighborhood.
There were three movies playing nearby that I was interested in seeing.
So it wasn’t a completely wasted trip.
Movies...
The
Arrival.
In spite of it’s “The Aliens Are Coming!
The Aliens Are Coming!” advertising, “Jeannie” and I are in
agreement that this is the best film we’ve seen this season.
It’s logical, but manages to present enough plot twists and
surprises to keep you going.
The bad guys have a nifty gizmo that will clean your apartment right
down to the paint in next to no time.
And it presents an interesting, if chilling, possible explanation
for NASA snafus and the
recent trend in warmer weather.
It’s sort of like The X-Files,
but with a much bigger budget.
DragonHeart.
This is your basic Buddy Picture.
The fact that one of the Buddies happens to be a 43-foot
fire-breathing dragon with a Scottish accent is immaterial.
It follows the classic plot line:
Two guys (or, in this case, one dragon and one disillusioned
knight) start out not liking each other but, for some reason they have
to learn to get along.
Pretty soon, they’re Buddies.
Then Something Awful Happens and they have to deal with it.
In this case, the
Buddies are medieval con artists, pulling the old “village in peril from
the fire-breathing dragon” con.
The dragon buzzes a village.
The disillusioned knight shows up and tells the villagers that
they have a dragon problem which, for a price, he will solve.
Then he and his partner fake a dragon demise.
In between bouts of artificial mayhem, they have philosophical
discussions and barbecues.
Meanwhile, the
nearby king is oppressive, the peasants are revolting and there’s a fair
maiden who needs to be rescued before she takes matters into her own
hands. In time, the dragon
regains his nobility; the knight regains his illusions; and (nearly)
everybody lives happily ever after.
It’s absolutely charming and the audience actually applauded at
the end.
The dragon is
portrayed by Sean
Connery who, for once, didn’t have to deal with a hair piece, and by
the model and computer wizards at
Industrial Light and Magic.
They based the dragon’s movements on Connery’s own body language
(you can really see the resemblance in the way the dragon scratches the
back of his head) and on just about everyone’s favorite cat, judging by
the comments from the people in the theater:
“He moved just exactly the way my Smokey does!
Well, except for the flying, of course.”
The disillusioned
knight is played by
Dennis Quaid with a self-deprecating humor and a really bad hair
style. And
Pete
Postlethwaite does a fine job of playing a monk-would-be-poet and
being mistaken for
Star Trek’s
Patrick Stewart.
Love, as always,
Pete
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