Birthday, etc.

[stoutfellow]

For Christmas, C gave Dad a discount card at Appleby's, so that was where we - Dad, D, E, her husband, and I - went for dinner. I stuffed myself, ordering one of their two-for-one specials - a small steak, salmon, and a mound of garlic potatoes. On returning home, I felt the need for horizontality, so I lay on my back on the floor while the others ate cake and ice cream. (No, they weren't really so callous. We did carry on conversation about a variety of things, including such matters as intellectual property law.) I was incapable of eating any that night, but I got some the next morning. Other than that, my birthday was uneventful, apart from another couple of "good questions". (I think, between New Year's Eve and my birthday, I came up with enough material for another paper.)

The flight home the next day met with the usual difficulties. The plane I first boarded had something wrong with its de-icing gear, and - since the next stop was St. Louis, scheduled for freezing precip that night - they decided to shift us to another plane. (From Gate 27, we were first directed to Gate 32 and then Gate 23. Run, sheep, run!) Chicago's troubles proved our gain; American cancelled its flights to Chicago because of the heavy snow, and one plane originally destined for the Windy City was reassigned to St. Louis. That got us there faster than would have been expected, but still about an hour and a half late. Once we got off the ground, things proceeded smoothly. (The small child seated next to me soon desisted from kicking me and went to sleep.)

Murphy and Ben were, of course, very happy to see me, though Ben seemed - and seems - subdued and clingy.

It's snowing lightly now, but it's supposed to warm up again, into the 50s by the weekend. Classes resume on Monday.

Comments

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on working up enough for another paper! That has to make you feel like you accomplished a lot while on vacation.

I was grinning when I started the paragraph on your travel woes, then chuckling, but it was the small child kicking you that did me in. That was a guffaw! How long did Prince Charming kick you before he drifted off? You must have the patience of a saint - I don't think I could have waited that long without making it very clear that I was not a soccer ball (g)!

A snowy day is good for staying home, hanging with pets, and reading by the fire...

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

The paper... yes. It startled me, how quickly it flowed. There was a certain phenomenon I'd thought about intermittently for a couple of years, without any notable progress. New Year's Eve, I realized that there was another way to look at it, and (as Bunyan put it) "Still as I pulled, it came." (Okay, when is it this shape? What about that shape? What happens if I flip it over? If I do this, and then do that, am I back where I started?) It just all worked out very neatly. But I have to finish the other paper before I start another...

The kid wasn't deliberately kicking me; he was just squirming around, trying to find a comfortable position, and not paying enough attention to where his extremities were going. His father seemed more bothered than I was. Anyway, as I said, he fell asleep pretty quickly.

[toraks.livejournal.com]

Yay on the new paper ideas!! That's really cool!

Sounds like you've got the creative juices flowing!!! :-)