February 25, 1999
Dear Everyone:
I’m flying to “Hobby” this Saturday; so, naturally,
I started packing Monday night.
I pulled the suitcase down from the closet shelf and started
going through it, picking out things that need to go with me and things
that can stay behind this trip.
The last time I used this suitcase was in
September. After four
months, some things need to be upgraded.
Shampoos and conditioners, and especially moisturizers, do have a
definite shelf-life. So I’ve
been puttering around, topping off some travel-size containers, rinsing
out and refilling others.
I have a list, of course.
How else can I make sure I remember to pack enough clothes for
five days and still make room for a nightshirt?
Not to mention all the “support” things you need.
Like a hairbrush and a toothbrush.
I’ve traveled enough times that many of these things just live in
the suitcase full-time. But
others, like a portfolio, only come along on business trips.
And I’ve learned that checking the list twice, just like
Santa Claus, is good insurance.
Speaking of insurance, I was wondering where I
could find a map of “Hobby”.
I’ll have a car and will be driving quite a bit, from the airport to
downtown, then from downtown out to “western ‘Hobby’”, then back to the
airport. When I worked in
San Francisco, finding maps was easy because there is a huge
Rand McNally
store right on the corner.
But out here in the
East Bay, I was racking my brains trying to think of where to go
when “Jeannie” shrugged and said:
“Just go to
AAA.”
Well, of course!
Why didn’t I think of that?
I’ve been a member, in addition to getting my auto insurance
there, for years. What’s
better, I pass one of their offices on my way to work every day.
So I dropped in at AAA and said, “Taking a
reluctant trip to ‘Hobby’.”
And was promptly handed a 430-page tour guide to the entire state of
Texas and a street map
which, when I measured it, turned out to be 36.5” X 46.5”.
Or just a smidgen under 12 square feet.
And that’s just the map!
Such a big city…so many opportunities for getting lost.
Can’t wait.
In other news…
“Jeannie” has been redecorating.
Her bedroom is now painted a shade of gold and the cats’ room is
now lilac. Both are looking
very nice. She also decided
that the rooms needed some shelving on the walls.
Between the two of us, we managed to get them up without creating
too many extra holes in the walls.
We also (finally!) managed to get to a movie.
We decided on October
Sky, which is a wonderful family film.
Meaning, it’s more a movie about a family than anything else.
It’s about a teenager who, along with living in a dirt-poor
coal mining town in
West Virginia,
and going through the throes of puberty, has also been saddled by his
parents with the name of Homer.
Homer has little hope of ever getting out of this
company town, or of evading the fate of becoming just another coal
miner. The only accepted
method of escape is to win a football scholarship to a college; and
Homer just isn’t the jock that his older brother is.
But then, one day, the Russians launch the
Sputnik and
Homer catches rocket fever.
He is determined to send a rocket up into the sky and soon enlists the
help of a trio of misfit nerds like himself.
Little by little, in a parallel of the early U.S.
space program,
they stumble through a trial and error approach to rocket design and
fuel formulae. Along the
way, they come close to blowing up the school, the coal mine and
themselves.
But they persevere and are rewarded with better and
better launches. Then the
science teacher at the high school (played by
Laura Dern, the
only “name” actor in the cast) suggests that they enter the state
Science Fair.
A light bulb goes on over Homer’s head as he realizes that there
actually is a way to get a
college scholarship (and out of the coal mine) without playing football.
But his father can’t conceive of anyone getting
into college because of some silly (and dangerous) toys.
The father has reached the pinnacle of a coal miner’s career:
He’s the foreman, having climbed up through the ranks, and now
finds himself caught between the company and the union.
The actor’s
performance is so good you can almost taste the coal dust in your mouth.
All of the performances are excellent.
And the fact that the plot is pretty predictable (for every minor
victory, there will be an opposite and equal setback) doesn’t detract
from the fact that this movie will warm your heart up one side and down
the other. It’s a little
long, so get extra popcorn and remember to take
Kleenexes.
Love, as always,
Pete
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