Free time... or not (zaibatsu), 07/18/2019
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I thought I'd have some free/down time while I was in
Oregon, but it didn't turn out that way at all. On the plus
side, I got to see my mother and grandmother, and spend some
real time with them, and that's worth more than free/down
time.
This was just a "strategy meeting" trip for my client. We
did meet, and we did come up with a few things that their
company needs (or needs to do), so it wasn't a waste. I'm a
little bit of a stickler about people spending money to fly
me around and rent cars and hotels and such, but it's their
money, and they wanted to spend it, so I can't complain.
Here's an odd thing about humans (I can't be the only person
that feels this way): when I'm at home, I think about eating
out more, fancy restaurant food, etc. When I'm traveling and
eating out all the time at fancy restaurants, I think about
eating at home. In all honesty, I've come to a point where I
already know that I'm not going to like eating at
restaurants over and over. It gets old. I want to be at home
eating my rolled oats and sandwiches and whatever anyone is
willing to make that day for dinner (sometimes it's awesome,
sometimes it's so incredibly lazy that it's hardly worth
eating at all). But, it's home. Plus, they use way too much
cream and meat in so many foods.
My mom is doing well, except that her health could be better
than it is. I say that specifically because it's not that
her health is bad for reasons outside her control (which is
the case for many), but for reasons that she could have
major impact on *if she wanted to*.
My grandmother is the sweetest, brightest person you could
imagine. After decades living in the US, she still has a
Swedish accent. She smiles endlessly. Her life has been
active and full, and even at 92 she still can't really sit
around for very long. Her memory is only recently starting
to fail for short-term. While I was there, she asked if I
had seen her project room; she walked me through and showed
me her paintings and dolls and audio tapes and instruments.
We had some ice cream and chatted, and twenty minutes later
she asked again if I had seen her project room. We walked
through it again and I asked her some questions about things
she hadn't already mentioned much about.
It's a blessing to be around people her age. It's a blessing
to be around people of all ages, for different reasons.
Now I'm sitting in PDX, and for the first time in what feels
like a long while, I have some time that isn't ear-marked
for something else. I don't have access to any of the things
"that I should be getting done", so I can just sit here and
think. I haven't perused gopher in a while, but I miss it. I
miss reading about Palm pilots and old workstations and life
in general. I miss updates from all over the unix world (and
all over the real world). I miss it, but at the same time I
know that it's there, and that I'm not falling hopelessly
behind, even if I'm gone a year. That's kind of nice.
Visiting Portland in the summer makes me really miss Oregon.
I need to visit in the winter, when it's raining for 4
months solid, so I can remember that part of it. The summer
is full of so many memories, it's hard to leave.
