Love, As Always, Pete

The Weekly Letters, by A. Pedersen Wood

April 18, 2002

Dear Everyone:

I forgot to mention last week that I would be in “Grapevine” this week.  Hence, the Letter was either going to be early (Tuesday) or late (today).  Then I realized that, of course it would be late.  I needed Tuesday evening to pack for the trip.

We left “Livermore” Wednesday afternoon, only a half-hour later than planned.  (The other half of “we” is the Project Manager.)  This morning we drove from beautiful, downtown “Grapevine” to the Kern River Field Office to train Move Coordinators in the Southern Valley.  I figured, the training room was scheduled for 8:30 – 12:30, and we’d be off on our way back to the Bay Area in plenty of time for me to get home and write the Letter.

Then I heard the Project Manager cheerfully inform the class that he and I were prepared to stay until dark, if they wanted us to.  There went my plans.

Actually, the training went pretty well and broke up at noon, when the food arrived.  I must say, this food was very different from the usual “…and lunch will be provided”.  The “usual” lunch consists of pre-made sandwiches, frequently soggy on one side and stale on the other, with chips of some sort, and an assortment of cookies, as well as soft drinks.

This lunch:  Broccoli salad, twice-baked potatoes, chicken kabobs and cheese cake.  Certainly not the common fare.

Also, everyone started to leave once lunch broke up, so we actually got back on the road at around 1:30.  This got me home by nearly 6:00, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for Letter writing, so I’ll be brief tonight.  For one thing, training is very tiring (lots of standing and projecting your voice), as is a four hour-plus drive, even when you trade off on the actual driving.

Last weekend, “Jeannie” and I finally got to the movies again.  Panic Room stars Jodie Foster, both pre- and post-pregnancy.  Seems Jodie found out she was expecting just after they started filming.  Since her costume consisted primarily of a pair of knit pants and a string T-shirt, they had to stop as soon as she started to show.  No walking around behind a laundry basket to hide the baby.

Jodie and her teenage daughter buy a house in Manhattan, almost on a whim, because they find out it contains a “panic room”.  This is a hidden room, with state-of-the-art electronics, monitors and such, which a person can hide in until the bad people go away.  Along comes a trio of rather inept thieves who intend to steal something that turns out to be inside the panic room.

Seems they weren’t expecting anyone to be home that night.  Mother and daughter screw up their plans.  But they have enough equipment to start their own hardware store, so they continue with their plans, even when Jodie and Company barricade themselves in the panic room.  Naturally, there are complications on both sides of the steel door.

It’s not the greatest thriller of all time, but it definitely holds your attention.

That’s all for this week.  I need to get to bed soon.

Love, as always,

 

Pete

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