I journeyed over to Jepson Hall to catch up with my pals in Information Services this morning. Kelley recently had to get rid of her Jeep Cherokee after the brake system caught fire. She's expecting her second child, and told me that she was test driving a minivan. I was shocked. Kelley's younger than I am and she's giving in to the dark side. Minivans are evil. Worse yet, she was test driving an Oldsmobile minivan. Her father must be proud.
Saturday night Brian and Alice spoke of their experience test driving a minivan. Apparently it's great to have all that space. Plus you're up high, so you can see things. The good news is that Brian and Alice escaped without buying the minivan. I'm afraid that Kelley doesn't know the power of the dark side.
Minivans are like little living rooms now. They're big on the outside, big on the inside. There are even ones with video monitors. The ad I've seen on television is nuts: the van is driving down one of the prettiest highways you can imagine, but everyone's watching the video (don't look at the Grand Canyon, kids: this is the part where Barney and the kids sing that song, remember?).
I suppose talking would be out of the question.
I know, I know. Everyone tells me that when I have a child, and I have to deal with a stroller and all the required baby accessories, I will see the sense in a minivan. But that's not true. If I have to move to a vehicle larger than my Saturn (and I agree that this is likely), I'll go retro and buy a station wagon. If that can't get the job done, something has to be wrong. I have two brothers and two sisters and we all found a way to fit in the station wagon growing up. Granted, wagons today are smaller than their 1970 counterparts, but families are smaller today too.
Late in the afternoon I took a break. Today was Finance day, which meant that I devoted my afternoon to learning more about the Banner Finance system. I've been working on some queries that are helping me to understand the structure of the system, and I decided to stop in on Natolyn (who knows Banner Finance) to ask questions. We talked Finance for a bit, but before long Natolyn wanted to figure out her computer. She's got Windows and network passwords synchronized, but the network password expires every thirty days, complicating her logging in.
Lynn next door knew how to get rid of the Windows password, and told Natolyn how to do it. I was pretty sure Lynn had it right, but told Natolyn to hold off until I checked with our help desk just to be sure. Natolyn made the change anyway, and we spent ten minutes trying to rebuild her desktop, since deleting the Windows log in essentially deleted her user profile with her desktop customizations. I think she's back where she used to be.
Jean met me on the way home tonight, and we walked the last bit together. After dinner I ran out to the grocery store on a maintenance run. Now she's off to bed while I stay up a little longer to read.
I'm listening to the second movement of the Pathetique sontata by Beethoven
right now.
I grew up listening to my mother playing this piece at night after we'd gone
to bed, and I will always hear this piece in that context.
It was clear today and warmer than it had been over the weekend. The humidity
seems to be higher, though. On my walk home the air seemed damp. The
night time sky was streaked with pale clouds, but I could clearly make out
a couple of stars (one was a planet I think).
Listening: Moonlight, Appassionata and Pathetique Sonatas (Beethoven).
Reading: Tobit (Introduction), "Cauldron of Changes" by Mara Freeman (Parabola 23.4).
© 1998 Kevin J.T. Creamer