Tampa

I’ve had an exciting couple of days. Here’s a hella-long brain dump about my adventures. It’s presented (mostly) in reverse chronological order, because I like to review from the present back as far as I feel like going.

Thurs

I drove like a bat out of hell to get from my grandmother’s apartment in Bradenton up to Tampa international in time for my flight. I left her place at 4:30, and I arrived at the airport at or around 5:25. My flight, for reference, was supposed to depart at 6:05. I was, no kidding, averaging around 85mph during rush hour, and I made it. I totally arrived at the gate at around 5:45. The world, not being sure that my rock-star nature was up to the challenge, took the liberty of delaying my flight. It’s currently scheduled to leave in 5 minutes but (a) we’re not even boarding because (b) there is no plane at the end of the jetway. I’m torn between gratitude and irritation that I burned through so much road-karma for nothing.

Grandma is lookin’ okay, though she’s pretty much tied to her walker. We had a good lunch and talked about all sorts of stuff. The past, the future, politics, family, relationships … I’m glad I went. It cost a day and a bit of driving, but it was totally worth the effort. The only seriously ooky point was when she pointed out the “Inn” portion of her “progressive care facility.” She’s currently in the “apartment where we schedule busses to take you to the grocery store if you don’t feel up to driving” area. The Inn is a lot more “nursing home,” and then there’s (apparently) the “Happiness floor,” which is the locked area where you go when senility kicks in and you can’t be trusted to not wander off into the night.

During the drive across florida, I listened to an hour of alternative radio which was basically a monologue from the woman who founded Code Pink, which is an anti-war group. She described deciding to protest with eight of her friends on the day that Bush took the resolution for war powers to Congress, and planning lots of logistics to be able to find each other …. only to arrive and realize that they were the only 9 women there.

She was really compelling in a direct and genuine way, and it made me think (once again) that I should be doing a lot more about the state of the world than sitting on my fat ass and writing the occasional check. A random idea that occurred to me was to take some of the money we budget for “charity” and put it in a bank account that would enable activism. A fund for flying to DC to take part in a march, or taking a month off work to go build houses in New Orleans. Right now I feel a little constrained to keep showing up for work every day, and most of my arguments against political activism involve the time and money commitments. Why not “donate to my personal cause” and see what happens? Random thought, not yet parsed.

One story she related involved Cindy Sheenan’s camp near Bush’s Texas ranch. Apparently life was full of surprises from the people who showed up there. She had many stories, but the best described a huge texas ranger type who came up and wanted to help. Once they got him settled in, she asked what had drawn a man like him to come out? He responded “It’s Mrs. Sheenan. I see the Buddha in her.” Judge not the book by its cover, grasshopper.

Long drives are good for me, because I get to rant, rave, and wax political (occasionally pounding on the dashboard for emphasis) and nobody gets irritated and wants me to leave the party so everyone can get back to having fun.

Anyone who is totally strapped for Christmas gifts, and feels an obligation to CONSUME on my behalf is welcome to consider almost any book mentioned on NPR, or reviewed in the NYT. Today’s selection included “Misquoting Jesus” and the book by the Code Pink people. The party line, however, remains that I have everything I want and I don’t need more stuff. Last time I moved, it involved a bill for something like 5 tons of stuff. Simplify, simplify.

Also, there were birds: Kingfishers, Falcons, Egrets, and Herons abounded. I miss them, but they’re probably much happier in the warm Florida weather than in the bitter RI winter.

On the way up to Grandma’s house, I stopped at the Mote Aquarium. They have two manatees, who were contentedly munching lettuce in their tanks. Also sea turtles (loggerheads and greens), and a bunch of neat smaller stuff. I like well run zoos and aquariums.

Wed

My training session went really well. The high point was, during the section on how to submit batch jobs to the cluster, when one of the scientists jumped out of her chair and demanded to know if she could really submit a batch of jobs, running the same script against different input data all at the same time. I said yeah, and sketched out how to do it. She literally ran out of the room, exclaiming with joy, and in short order we saw the cluster fill up with a bunch of her jobs. fanwe recently asked “What makes you get out of bed in the morning and go to work?” My answer: That. The sheer joy of showing someone how to use a computer to make their life easier, to get their job done faster and better.

Afterwards, I tried to get back to my hotel. I called the cab company and told them I was at the main entrance to Florida Atlantic University. Apparently, there are more than one of those, and the cabbie went to the one 30 miles south of my location. I called again and was more specific, giving the dispatcher the names of the streets where I was standing. Her response: “Honey, we don’t pick up on the corner.” I needed to provide an address … which was tricky since it was the standard “small university” access road for about 1/2 mile back to campus. I wound up walking up the street about half a mile to a restaurant, eating dinner, having a drink, and having the bartender call me a cab when I was good and ready to go home.

Oop. Hard deadline. Flight boarding. Yee haw!