10 November 2013
Conversations
10/11/13 05:23
A series of unconnected exchanges I’ve had this week.
==============================================
Tuesday
You’ve probably heard about that hoard of art they just discovered in Germany. A billion dollars of painting looted by the Nazis and hidden in an apartment in Munich. Marsha and I were talking about it and had the following exchange:
Me: Of course now they have to try and find the original owners.
Marsha: Oh, of course.
Me: What do you think the odds are that one of those paintings will be returned to us?
Marsha: Um, Pretty small actually.
Me: It could happen.
Marsha: Except that neither you nor anyone in your family has ever been to Munich.
Me: Um, well, Marsha, there’s something I need to tell you.
Marsha: What is it?
Me: Before I met you I was an elderly Jewish art dealer in Germany during the Weimar Republic.
Marsha: (After a long pause) No.
Me: I could have been.
Marsha: That was like 80 years ago.
Me: So?
Marsha: You’re only 52.
Me: Yes, well, OK, I guess there is that.
So it appears that we won’t be rich in a few months.
================================================
Wednesday
A couple of us at work were discussing plans for the upcoming office Christmas party.
Receptionist: The Christmas party is going to be huge this year.
Me: Why?
Receptionist: They’ve reserved the ballroom at the Grand Hotel, they’ll have food, and all sorts of fun things, and speeches, a special room for the kids. They’re even going to have live music
Me: Oh I don’t think that’s a good idea at all.
Receptionist: (Puzzled) Why not?
Me: Mechanical Engineers dancing. Not a pretty sight.
Receptionist: Um…well…
I’ll let you know how geeky and awkward it turns out to be.
================================================================
Thursday
I got a call this week from the research wing of the Vancouver Island Cancer Centre. She was checking to make sure that it was OK for them to include me in a research project. They like to check back periodically as it includes their having access to the patient’s medical records as well as tissue samples. I told her that I had no problem with them using my information for research purposes and added
“Actually I’m all for helping in any way I can with this. First I come from a university background so helping with research projects is very natural for me. Secondly I kinda like the idea of someone conducting horrible experiments on the tumour that caused me so much grief this year.”
I don’t think anyone had given her this answer before. She seemed more than a little flustered.
================================================================
And then there was the week long conversation I had with UPS. You see, last Friday I ordered a new iPad. It was scheduled to be shipped within 24 hours. As I expected on Saturday I got a note from Apple saying it had shipped. So far so good. The message included a link marked Track Your Shipment. Clicking on that took me to the UPS tracking site where I was greeted by a message saying the tracking number was not in their system. The package may have shipped but UPS didn’t know about it. But it was Saturday. Maybe they just hadn’t gotten it in the system yet. I wasn’t worried, nor was I worried on Sunday when it still wasn’t in their system.
Monday however when it was STILL not in their system I was starting to get concerned.
On Tuesday evening the package showed up on the UPS site. It said the package had been picked up. Hooray. What was it doing for four days I don’t know and then there was a note that said it had been tendered for shipment after the last pick up, which I found odd. I can’t imagine that UPS only stops by the Apple warehouse once every few days. But, I figured at least it was moving.
Wednesday, It said it had left Mt. Hope Ontario.
Thursday we saw a note that while on Wednesday it had been put on a plane in Mt. Hope Ontario, however the plane had mechanical trouble and was late leaving. Later in the day we got a note saying that the package had gotten to Calgary and had been put on another plane, but that plane ALSO had mechanical trouble and was late. Now it was starting to look like a comedy. At the end of the day the package showed up in Richmond BC, a suburb of Vancouver. Finally it was only some 30 miles away from us. But then a note appeared saying that it had arrived so late that it had missed the connection to the island.
Friday we saw a message saying that the package was on the road for delivery that day. I told Marsha that it may have been on the ferry but the way things had been going, I expected the boat to sink before it got here. But luck and fair winds were with us and the package arrived that morning. It’s long odyssey was over.
========================================================
Lastly, this week I ran across a great name. I love words and let’s be honest palaeontology has some great names. I now have a new favourite: Lythronax arrestees. It was a relative of Tyrannosaurus. However where Tyrannosaurus Rex always struck me as a bit, what’s the word, pompous perhaps, blunt, self aggrandizing maybe, not subtle in any way whatsoever, the same is not true of Lythronax arrestees. Let it float across your tongue. Lyth-ro-nax arr-tes-tees. It’s even fun to say. Say it with a Spanish accent and roll the r’s. Look deep into your love’s eyes and whisper Lythronax arrestees with a lecherous growl. Pick up a toddler and teach it to her with a smile and a cute voice “Can you say Lyth-ro-nax arr-tes-tees, come on I know you can.” It reminds me of Comet Hyakutake, another fun science name. Better yet Tyrannosaurus Rex means Tyrant Lizard, a name that’s not only pushy, but wrong because they weren’t actually related to lizards. On the other hand once you sort out the Latin Lythronax arrestees means The King of Gore. Now there’s a great title. The King of Gore. What could be a better nom de plume for a big Cretaceous carnivore than The King of Gore.
I love it.
Doug & Marsha
PIX: We've been working on the lower level all week making slow but steady progress. This week we got the new storage room finished with a Dri-Core Floor, cabinets, and most importantly a couple of shelves. Now we have the one thing this house has been short of; storage.
Unless someone comes to visit us at which point it becomes the guest room.
==============================================
Tuesday
You’ve probably heard about that hoard of art they just discovered in Germany. A billion dollars of painting looted by the Nazis and hidden in an apartment in Munich. Marsha and I were talking about it and had the following exchange:
Me: Of course now they have to try and find the original owners.
Marsha: Oh, of course.
Me: What do you think the odds are that one of those paintings will be returned to us?
Marsha: Um, Pretty small actually.
Me: It could happen.
Marsha: Except that neither you nor anyone in your family has ever been to Munich.
Me: Um, well, Marsha, there’s something I need to tell you.
Marsha: What is it?
Me: Before I met you I was an elderly Jewish art dealer in Germany during the Weimar Republic.
Marsha: (After a long pause) No.
Me: I could have been.
Marsha: That was like 80 years ago.
Me: So?
Marsha: You’re only 52.
Me: Yes, well, OK, I guess there is that.
So it appears that we won’t be rich in a few months.
================================================
Wednesday
A couple of us at work were discussing plans for the upcoming office Christmas party.
Receptionist: The Christmas party is going to be huge this year.
Me: Why?
Receptionist: They’ve reserved the ballroom at the Grand Hotel, they’ll have food, and all sorts of fun things, and speeches, a special room for the kids. They’re even going to have live music
Me: Oh I don’t think that’s a good idea at all.
Receptionist: (Puzzled) Why not?
Me: Mechanical Engineers dancing. Not a pretty sight.
Receptionist: Um…well…
I’ll let you know how geeky and awkward it turns out to be.
================================================================
Thursday
I got a call this week from the research wing of the Vancouver Island Cancer Centre. She was checking to make sure that it was OK for them to include me in a research project. They like to check back periodically as it includes their having access to the patient’s medical records as well as tissue samples. I told her that I had no problem with them using my information for research purposes and added
“Actually I’m all for helping in any way I can with this. First I come from a university background so helping with research projects is very natural for me. Secondly I kinda like the idea of someone conducting horrible experiments on the tumour that caused me so much grief this year.”
I don’t think anyone had given her this answer before. She seemed more than a little flustered.
================================================================
And then there was the week long conversation I had with UPS. You see, last Friday I ordered a new iPad. It was scheduled to be shipped within 24 hours. As I expected on Saturday I got a note from Apple saying it had shipped. So far so good. The message included a link marked Track Your Shipment. Clicking on that took me to the UPS tracking site where I was greeted by a message saying the tracking number was not in their system. The package may have shipped but UPS didn’t know about it. But it was Saturday. Maybe they just hadn’t gotten it in the system yet. I wasn’t worried, nor was I worried on Sunday when it still wasn’t in their system.
Monday however when it was STILL not in their system I was starting to get concerned.
On Tuesday evening the package showed up on the UPS site. It said the package had been picked up. Hooray. What was it doing for four days I don’t know and then there was a note that said it had been tendered for shipment after the last pick up, which I found odd. I can’t imagine that UPS only stops by the Apple warehouse once every few days. But, I figured at least it was moving.
Wednesday, It said it had left Mt. Hope Ontario.
Thursday we saw a note that while on Wednesday it had been put on a plane in Mt. Hope Ontario, however the plane had mechanical trouble and was late leaving. Later in the day we got a note saying that the package had gotten to Calgary and had been put on another plane, but that plane ALSO had mechanical trouble and was late. Now it was starting to look like a comedy. At the end of the day the package showed up in Richmond BC, a suburb of Vancouver. Finally it was only some 30 miles away from us. But then a note appeared saying that it had arrived so late that it had missed the connection to the island.
Friday we saw a message saying that the package was on the road for delivery that day. I told Marsha that it may have been on the ferry but the way things had been going, I expected the boat to sink before it got here. But luck and fair winds were with us and the package arrived that morning. It’s long odyssey was over.
========================================================
Lastly, this week I ran across a great name. I love words and let’s be honest palaeontology has some great names. I now have a new favourite: Lythronax arrestees. It was a relative of Tyrannosaurus. However where Tyrannosaurus Rex always struck me as a bit, what’s the word, pompous perhaps, blunt, self aggrandizing maybe, not subtle in any way whatsoever, the same is not true of Lythronax arrestees. Let it float across your tongue. Lyth-ro-nax arr-tes-tees. It’s even fun to say. Say it with a Spanish accent and roll the r’s. Look deep into your love’s eyes and whisper Lythronax arrestees with a lecherous growl. Pick up a toddler and teach it to her with a smile and a cute voice “Can you say Lyth-ro-nax arr-tes-tees, come on I know you can.” It reminds me of Comet Hyakutake, another fun science name. Better yet Tyrannosaurus Rex means Tyrant Lizard, a name that’s not only pushy, but wrong because they weren’t actually related to lizards. On the other hand once you sort out the Latin Lythronax arrestees means The King of Gore. Now there’s a great title. The King of Gore. What could be a better nom de plume for a big Cretaceous carnivore than The King of Gore.
I love it.
Doug & Marsha
PIX: We've been working on the lower level all week making slow but steady progress. This week we got the new storage room finished with a Dri-Core Floor, cabinets, and most importantly a couple of shelves. Now we have the one thing this house has been short of; storage.
Unless someone comes to visit us at which point it becomes the guest room.