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Jun. 20th, 2016 03:43 pm
stoutfellow: My summer look (Summer)
Well, that was fun. [personal profile] mmegaera is on a cross-country trip, from the Pacific NW to the East Coast, up to Canada and back west, and we just got back from a (rather long) lunch. I hadn't seen her since - well, we were briefly in contact at the Spokane WorldCon last year, but we hadn't had a good long conversation since Reno in 2011. A delightful talk - life, aging, Bujold, space flight, General Grant, various museums, pets, the value of e-book readers (and their disadvantages), and a host of other topics....

It's so good to have time with old friends.

Miscellany

Nov. 2nd, 2012 08:33 pm
stoutfellow: Joker (Joker)
1. I can state plainly that I am more confused about my current research problem today than I was a week ago. Every time I investigate something further, something unexpected happens. Normally, that's fun - but I'm not getting even a glimmer of pattern out of it.

2. My request for offsite access to my office computer has gone through. I had thought it would involve downloading software to both my office and home computers, but apparently it's just a gateway; if I understand correctly, I should be able to access it from anywhere. I may be able to tinker with my research when I'm in California!

3. Even though I'm only teaching T/Th this semester, I've been on campus every day this week. I can unequivocally say, though, that I won't be going in next Wednesday. (I expect Tuesday to be a long night....)

4. I'm rereading Meluch's Tour of the Merrimack series. Not great writing, but pretty good space opera. There are occasional flashes of unexpected humor. (Lt. Col. Steele to a confused underling: "You have a brain! Use it!" She protests that she's trying as hard as she can. He calls out the name of one of her men and hands him the confusing instructions. "Make this happen!" He turns back to her, points with his thumb: "That!" She replies, suddenly enlightened: "Oh, that brain! Yes, sir!")

5. I'm also well into Master of the Senate, volume 3 of Caro's life of LBJ. (A few days ago, a bus driver saw me with it and asked if it was any good. I assured her that it was; she told me she'd seen Caro on TV, and had been intrigued by his description of the book.) It is, indeed, interesting; Caro doesn't let the reader get away with a black-and-white picture of any of the people he describes. His discussion of the MacArthur hearings, after the general was recalled from Korea, is very interesting indeed. (His discussion of Leland Olds' confirmation hearing, masterminded by LBJ, is simply horrifying.)

6. And a tip of the hat to [personal profile] mmegaera - kudos for the good newspaper review of her latest novel!
stoutfellow: Joker (Joker)
A couple of nights ago, in the midst of the usual barrage of charitable and political solicitations, I received a call which Caller ID did not label as "Toll Free Call" (or any of the other Usual Suspects). I couldn't make out what it did say, so I hovered over the phone, waiting for the answering machine to pick up. When it did, I heard a familiar voice.

I first met AJ in - was it 1979? - at a Dungeons & Dragons game DM'ed by a mutual acquaintance. A week or so later, we ran into each other again, at an outdoor play. (I think, but wouldn't swear, that it was an interleaved performance of "Hamlet" and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead".) We hit it off pretty well, and soon become good friends. We played a lot of D&D and other RPGs; he was usually the gamemaster. (I tried my hand at GMing occasionally, but I wasn't very good at it.) Chivalry & Sorcery, Traveller, Call of Cthulhu, we played them all.
I still vividly remember our first game of Traveller. At the end of the first session, our party was aboard a submarine, being pursued by the Imperial Space Navy. The charges included poaching, several counts of assault, hijacking, kidnapping, trespassing on government property, destruction of government property, theft of government property, espionage, sabotage, and extortion. We were not, in fact, guilty of poaching. For the rest, let's just say that we meant well.
Eventually, we both earned our doctorates - I in mathematics, he in theology - and embarked on our careers. I still managed to visit him once or twice a year, but most of our contact was by phone and, later, e-mail. We would indulge in hour-long phone calls, most often devoted to discussion of books we'd been reading. As time passed, as such things go, the contacts became rarer and finally evaporated.

As soon as I recognized his voice, I pounced on the phone and announced my presence. After a few minutes of badinage ("How do we know you're actually the :name: we were trying to reach?"), we settled into the old routine. I told him about The Perilous Frontier; he responded with 1491, and we exchanged favorite bits from that book. I continued with 1493, which he has not read (though I'm sure he will, soon), and we meandered into discussion of my Bering Land-bridge time line (with its quasi-Confucian Kwakiutl).

To be able to say, "Do you remember, in The Rise of the West, how McNeill talks about :blah blah blah:?", with the expectation that yes, he did; to have the same issues come to his mind. but with a different slant, that I had glanced at before; to meet once again with a kindred spirit.... Old friends are the best.

Diane

Feb. 9th, 2012 09:08 pm
stoutfellow: (Winter)
I lost a friend today. Diane Echelbarger died today in hospice, of cancer.

I lost a friend today. What else is there to say?

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