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Back on station...
Aug. 14th, 2003 11:27 pmLightning struck twice, and Olga had no assigned telecon, so I was relieved at the appointed time this morning (an eternity ago). When I got home, Natalie was showering, in preparation for the long trip to Bush International to pick up her long-time friend Becky. I went along, both because I wanted to, and because I wanted to swap out the ink bought yesterday for the right color.
Since Natalie's car is not particularly air conditioned (the A/C needs servicing and only one window opens), we considered taking my car, but that would mean having to stop a number of times along the way to pay the tolls on the Beltway. (Personally, I would've taken I-45 through town in the middle of the day, but what the hey...) Moreover, the rental agreement makes ominous noises about how only I, the official renter, am authorized to drive the car, which would imply having to drive all the way there and back, which was not a prospect of which I was particularly enamored.
So we ended up taking Natalie's Mitsubishi, which is equipped with the appropriate transponder that allows the car to zip through Beltway 8 toll plazas like a welding torch through soft oleo.
On the way back, Natalie treated us to lunch at a place called Todai, a Japanese buffet off of I-10 between the Beltway and I-610. The place is huge, with the kind of ambiance that William Gibson keeps warning us about. Separate serving lines offer sushi, traditional hot foods, noodles, steamed goodies, fruit, and dessert. I'm afraid I may have overeaten, but it was a glorious feed!
We did stop at Dromgoole's, where I made the decision to keep the mislabeled bottle of dark green ink (the color of which may 'officially' be Avocado instead of Spearmint) and bought a bottle of Lake Placid Blue (as they did not stock Naples Blue). All is now right with the world (especially after cleaning up the mess that occurred when I mistkenly concluded that converter inserts were interchangeable... they may seem to be, but they aren't, trust me).
Upon arriving home, I managed to take care of some financial business in fairly short order (whew!) and then downed a tablet of melatonin in preparation for sleep. I had been intending to buy some melatonin - the people who work nights at the MCC swear by it - for a while (and indeed, should have remembered the trick, since I've used it before), but didn't get around to actually buying some until yesterday, at the same time I bought the ink. Unfortunately, I left the bottle in the car and was too lazy to retrieve it until today.
In any event, my subjective assessment is that I slept sounder today, and for a longer uninterrupted period (5 hours) than any previous day in preparation for a night shift. Of course, that may have nothing to do with the melatonin (i.e., it may have just been fatigue setting in), but for the moment, I'm a believer.
I woke up this evening to a phone call from Galina, who mentioned the power problem back East. That brought back memories of the '65 and '77 blackouts (I was in attendance at both events) and evoked some concerns. I hope everyone makes it through the night okay. The Russians I'm working with just got through discussing the disrupted travel of their boss through JFK; apparently, the flight eventually left for Russia several hours late.
Time to get to work. The daily report awaits.
Cheers...
Since Natalie's car is not particularly air conditioned (the A/C needs servicing and only one window opens), we considered taking my car, but that would mean having to stop a number of times along the way to pay the tolls on the Beltway. (Personally, I would've taken I-45 through town in the middle of the day, but what the hey...) Moreover, the rental agreement makes ominous noises about how only I, the official renter, am authorized to drive the car, which would imply having to drive all the way there and back, which was not a prospect of which I was particularly enamored.
So we ended up taking Natalie's Mitsubishi, which is equipped with the appropriate transponder that allows the car to zip through Beltway 8 toll plazas like a welding torch through soft oleo.
On the way back, Natalie treated us to lunch at a place called Todai, a Japanese buffet off of I-10 between the Beltway and I-610. The place is huge, with the kind of ambiance that William Gibson keeps warning us about. Separate serving lines offer sushi, traditional hot foods, noodles, steamed goodies, fruit, and dessert. I'm afraid I may have overeaten, but it was a glorious feed!
We did stop at Dromgoole's, where I made the decision to keep the mislabeled bottle of dark green ink (the color of which may 'officially' be Avocado instead of Spearmint) and bought a bottle of Lake Placid Blue (as they did not stock Naples Blue). All is now right with the world (especially after cleaning up the mess that occurred when I mistkenly concluded that converter inserts were interchangeable... they may seem to be, but they aren't, trust me).
Upon arriving home, I managed to take care of some financial business in fairly short order (whew!) and then downed a tablet of melatonin in preparation for sleep. I had been intending to buy some melatonin - the people who work nights at the MCC swear by it - for a while (and indeed, should have remembered the trick, since I've used it before), but didn't get around to actually buying some until yesterday, at the same time I bought the ink. Unfortunately, I left the bottle in the car and was too lazy to retrieve it until today.
In any event, my subjective assessment is that I slept sounder today, and for a longer uninterrupted period (5 hours) than any previous day in preparation for a night shift. Of course, that may have nothing to do with the melatonin (i.e., it may have just been fatigue setting in), but for the moment, I'm a believer.
I woke up this evening to a phone call from Galina, who mentioned the power problem back East. That brought back memories of the '65 and '77 blackouts (I was in attendance at both events) and evoked some concerns. I hope everyone makes it through the night okay. The Russians I'm working with just got through discussing the disrupted travel of their boss through JFK; apparently, the flight eventually left for Russia several hours late.
Time to get to work. The daily report awaits.
Cheers...
