After some preparation (namely, packing my office PC, just the box - assuming we'll be able to borrow a monitor, mouse and keyboard), Larry and I got into my new/old Poozhoe and hit the road north, to reach Houston by evening. Left the car parked there and then at the check-in I discovered I got the wrong set of plastic in my rear left pocket. My drivers' licence and debit card were at home. I did have Kroger card, Food Lion card, perhaps Harris Teeter, and video club. And I had a big PC in a cardboard box. Luckily, Larry made it all legal, he did have his licence and convinced the lady there so we took off without too much hasle. Except he got frisked just like every time, his body activates each metal detector even when he's undressed.
We got into a fancy Meriott hotel, just across the hospital where Leanne works, had a dinner and a beer (he had company credit card). Beer from a frosted glass, too cold and still too bland. At least it seemed to be fairly expensive.
The next two days we spent seriously working. Or was it three? Checking now, I'd say we flew out on tuesday 16th, worked our asses off next two days, and worked some on friday morning, then flew home. I remember it was still day when we got the Pužo from the parking on Dulles (why did we have to drive there, really, flight from the local airport would have added perhaps a 50$ to the cost, but then refunding the cost of the car ride, at a price of a galon for every three miles, would be about 55-65$). Well, we got home nice and dandy.
At some point we just ventured out of the building, to eat real Texan food, which was a burger on a plate. Burger was always something to eat on foot; here it's a meal, with fries and salad around. The bun is just as bland and spongy as what they made in LebarProm for Mc, but the rest was great. As for beer, learned my lesson, so I asked for "darkest they have". Got Shiner Bock, which is great. A true exception among american so-called beers. In the following years I got that whenever I could find it, which was not often. It would appear on the shelves in Kroger, then vanish for months. It's made by a family business somewhere in Texas, by a german family who, once they settled there, realized they have no decent beer around, so they imported a family of brewers from back home and started a brewery.
The potential customer, near Leanne's Leevor, was the THC. I unhooked my PC from whatever monitor I got, loaded it on a hospital trolley (ugly contraption of recycled plastic) and pushed it down the block. Got there, installed and played with it all day, and in the end I'm not sure anyone seriously took a look.
In that building they didn't have any coffee machine that I could use, so when I got my ACIS (acute caffeine insufficiency syndrome), I had to go to a Mc (where we did eat once, passable for that once) and buy it there. Hot and thin, but did the job.
Remember nothing of the trip home, except that we had a layover in Atlanta, which was awful. We had to walk and walk and walk, take the internal train, go up, down, walk, walk. Upon return I discovered that a large swath of my sole skin is now doubled in thickness, I guess from wearing sneakers with plastic soles. It pealed later... but it nearly repeated a couple of times. I started wearing sneakers back in stour, for the winter, as bicycle would spray my ankles with the dirty water, so I had to buy rubber boots. The socks would slither down in them within half an hour, so I bought a pair of sneakers to have at work. Then I somehow continued with them for the next decade, but then I was still able to find leather topped ones. These here were, well, lookalikes. I had one more pair of sneakers after this, they resembled suede by texture, but my feet had a difference of opinion... and then I just switched back to shoes, leather. Never went back to sneakers.
Ate in a nameless chinese restaurant. He had some teriyaki chicken while I had some chinese version of goulash - I guess both were equally far away from their alleged original recipes, but at least my chinese stuff was tasty. No drinks this time, I still had to drive some 80 miles from Dulles. Never understood why did Zero always book tickets to Dulles and not to A-burg's local airport, which is within spitting range and the fare is two pittances more, still far cheaper than the refund of a price of a galon for every three miles, or rental.
Just found an email where Greg elaborates some plans with Brlja, and says that Larry and I should return on sunday... which is 21st. That is equally possible, those days were a blur, and from today's perspective (2022) it seems like one long day. Another confirmation that I found, an email I wrote to myself, with a to-do list, from Leanne's email address, on 21st. So that fits, and my illusion that we were there for only three days... is what it is.
Added in 2024: wrote this to Škrba:
No, I didn't buy a white Stetson, nor did I need one. I spent six days in a strictly controlled atmosphere: it's a heap of buildings between 5 and 24 storeys high, interconnected with pedestrian corridors at the third floor level. I'd have to go down five storeys for a cigarette, you go figure that. The only good joke is the texan reader exercise:
M.R.dux!
M.R. not dux!
O.L.B? C.M. wangs!
O.S.R
M.R.dux!
That's what only a true Texan is capable of reading properly. That's about two oldsters hunting ducks, spotting something, and one goes:
-'em are ducks!
-'em are not ducks!
-Or ey'll be? See 'em wangs!
-Oh 'es are!
-'em are ducks!
The other paper, with verse „starkle, starkle, little twink“ I have, unforch'nat'ly, mislaid (n.b. both things are courtesy of Leanne). As it were, I got horse tired there, and today on the squad meeting I was publicly praised, whereby I got the chance to tell to the firm that the code is full of holes, and that I was, for small stupid things I was fixing there, almost carried on shoulders. Good part of this just reminds me of
Slaves on a galley were rawing each day for a handful of rice, untill one day each one got a whole fried chicken. They ate it right away, but towards the end of the meal they got suspicious. Finally one of them asked
- Hey, whipmaster, what's the meaning of this?
- Oh, nothing special, it's just that you'll have to push a little harder tomorrow. The boss wants some water-skiing.
(this last thing eventually ended among programming jokes, once I made a website)
On seventeenth, email from Boća, he's packing some sound processing apps, so we can expect a bunch of old music ripped from old longplejkas. We'll see about delivery of that.
Meanwhile at home she had a serious clash with the school psychologist, around Nina. The shrink claimed that antidepressants were due, but the mother, being also a doctor, knew better. She's got no friends yet, there was probably some PMS timing involved, she's far away from home, and still struggling with some parts of the language. All of which are pretty much problems, and problems can be solved. So the offer to get her drugged was flatly refused, and there was nothing further said about it - the shrink did what she could or thought she should, ckecbox ticked, next. The problems, as expected, gradually vanished one by one. Depression? Don't fall for the appearances.
13-XII-2019 - 16-IV-2026