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Of cabbages and kings...
Item the first. Avoid yogurts with cutesy names. Particularly those that mush two flavor names together. "Banilla" comes to mind... mostly because I'm staring at the container still trying to figure whose legs to break over this abomination. It's not that it's *bad*, it's just that my tongue is at war with itself over what flavor it *really* is, and I've got a regular papillary Hatfields and McCoys going on in my mouth.
Item the second. The second conference was a success as well, I think. Called in as the pinch hitter to run the demo when my advisor was invited to be on an NSF steering committee the same day. Vancouver BC. Woot! 37 hours on the ground. Bummer. Prepend that to gingko's post about the goings on after I got back, and it's been one hell of a week.
Item the third. My grandpa is dead. Yes, I know he died May 18th. Yes, I know I attended his memorial service. But it's just now hitting. Nov 5th would have been his 85th birthday... this was the day I was flying back from Vancouver, and things were just starting into the insanity phase. About 3am that night I suddenly realized what it day it was and immediately thought "Oh crap, I didn't call Grandpa..." That brought me short. Last night I was organizing receipts from the past few months, and it was like peeling back the time - here was a bar tab from Asheville, there a lodging receipt in Utah, and that... that was when I purchased a bottle of Macallan 18yr scotch to toast my grandfather with two days after his death. I started crying. It took a while to stop. Well, actually, I'm still working on that.
I miss him terribly. I miss his hands that worked with wood and tended his orchard, I miss his hearty guffaw of a laugh that always made me feel warm. I miss his *smell*. I miss the feel of his rough flannel shirts in the winter, of how we'd sleep on his chest as children. I miss him. I've lost several older relatives over the years, but god help me, this is the first that I'm going to miss on a regular basis.
I have his journal.
I still haven't read it. I keep putting it off.
I brought a flask of the 18yr Macallan for courage to crack it open one of these nights and actually read his words to me. Maybe it will help me hear his voice again.
I desperately want to.
Item the second. The second conference was a success as well, I think. Called in as the pinch hitter to run the demo when my advisor was invited to be on an NSF steering committee the same day. Vancouver BC. Woot! 37 hours on the ground. Bummer. Prepend that to gingko's post about the goings on after I got back, and it's been one hell of a week.
Item the third. My grandpa is dead. Yes, I know he died May 18th. Yes, I know I attended his memorial service. But it's just now hitting. Nov 5th would have been his 85th birthday... this was the day I was flying back from Vancouver, and things were just starting into the insanity phase. About 3am that night I suddenly realized what it day it was and immediately thought "Oh crap, I didn't call Grandpa..." That brought me short. Last night I was organizing receipts from the past few months, and it was like peeling back the time - here was a bar tab from Asheville, there a lodging receipt in Utah, and that... that was when I purchased a bottle of Macallan 18yr scotch to toast my grandfather with two days after his death. I started crying. It took a while to stop. Well, actually, I'm still working on that.
I miss him terribly. I miss his hands that worked with wood and tended his orchard, I miss his hearty guffaw of a laugh that always made me feel warm. I miss his *smell*. I miss the feel of his rough flannel shirts in the winter, of how we'd sleep on his chest as children. I miss him. I've lost several older relatives over the years, but god help me, this is the first that I'm going to miss on a regular basis.
I have his journal.
I still haven't read it. I keep putting it off.
I brought a flask of the 18yr Macallan for courage to crack it open one of these nights and actually read his words to me. Maybe it will help me hear his voice again.
I desperately want to.