Love, As Always, Pete

The Weekly Letters, by A. Pedersen Wood

October 9, 2003

Dear Everyone:

Well, as of yesterday, I’m not going to Singapore late next Monday night.  Don’t know yet how much of a reprieve this is.  Won’t know anything really until the end of next week.  So I do know that I have all of next week before I have to think about going to Singapore again, if at all.

If you’re feeling confused, you’re not alone.  Apparently the customer had a change of heart, or something, and a new plan is being considered.  The analyst who is the project manager on this tends to keep things under wraps.  So I’m not leaving as yet, but need to be ready to leave on short notice.  Or not.  It’s important to be flexible.  It also helps to be double-jointed.

On the plus side, “Jeannie” and I had a great time shopping for travel accessories last weekend.  Got the pouch-thingy that hangs around your neck and holds the driver’s license in a clear pocket, so you don’t have to risk losing it.  Also has pockets to hold your tickets, passport and anything else you need to provide instantly while keeping your hands free.

Got the utterly essential neck pillow, the kind you can fill with air in a few short breathes, with the really soft cloth cover.  Very similar to the one “Jeannie” stole from “Marshall” while he was sleeping when they went to Italy last year.  Also got the special travel socks that keep your feet and ankles from swelling up like watermelons when you’re in an airplane seat for 14 hours.

And I got vaccinated last Monday.  The only vaccination really necessary was a diphtheria-tetanus booster, since I hadn’t had one in over ten years.  And, as long as I was there, the doctor threw in a flu shot, since it looked like I would be out of the country when the free shots at work will be scheduled.  And I may still be.  And the doctor gave me a travel medical kit to boot.  Which I may still use.

Also, last weekend, “Jeannie” and I picked up an honest-to-God office chair that she had bought, but couldn’t get home in her car.  All these years she’s been using what used to be called a “secretary’s chair”, which was little more than a narrow perch.  Finally, she got a real chair.  Naturally, it was on sale, starting around $130 and marked down, with discounts, until she got it for maybe $40-$50.  My expertise was required to interpret the “assembly required” instructions.

And we checked out “Jeannie’s” new patio, which continues to come along nicely.  Some plants did not survive the transfer and will have to be replaced.  But she flanked the lion’s-head fountain on either side with very genuine-looking Cyprus trees.  It really helps pull together the Italian theme.

Now, as to politics:  Did California really get the “lesser of 135 evils”?  We’ll never know.  Certainly a lot of people seemed to feel that they were going to get shafted one way or the other, so they might as well let the government know how they felt about it.  In some ways, this is very similar to Proposition 13, the tax revolt of the late 1970’s.  Darned good arguments for and against; but part of the current economic problems can be traced back to the decision to reduce property taxes then.  So it may be a couple of decades before we really know the long-term effects of the “circus”.

In the meantime, three more years of “Terminator” jokes.  On the plus side:  fewer Schwarzenegger action movies.  And a Kennedy in the “governor’s mansion”.

Love, as always,

 

Pete

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