Potpourri

Okay, lots of stuff to chat about, and not all that much time to chat about it. So, from the top …

1. We elected an Episcopal bishop in Colorado last weekend. I got to be part of the process, down at St John’s Cathedral. It was a full house. All the parishes of the diocese were there, most of the missions, and, after the first vote, a quorum of the registered clergy. That meant we only needed a simple majority vote in both orders — lay and clerical — to elect, rather than a two-thirds majority. That affected the outcome, I believe, because it didn’t force as much compromise on the candidate.

   We ended up electing Rob O’Neill, who previously served in Colorado, but has been rector at a parish in Massachusetts for a while. An avowed “moderate,” he was certainly the most liberal candidate on the ticket — which in the Episcopal Church, right now, means he’s liberal on various same-sex relationship issues. That’s the ongoing doctrinal division within the church, and I don’t know if O’Neill’s election will make things better, or cause more tension. O’Neill had very strong support from the clergy, from the first ballot to the third. He was not my actual choice, but he’s certainly someone I could live with (and moreso than some other candidates).

2. Nothing to report about our flight out here, except that the magnetometers at the security checkpoints were cranked up way high, and a 7:30a flight with a three year old is a tad on the early side. We all needed a nap by the time we got to California. None of us got one.

3. The meetings I’m attending are with the New New Boss and his other direct reports. They have been going quite well — we ended up spending way more time than anyone expected on going through our departmental and group charters, but it was a very useful exercise: I have a much better idea of what my group is supposed to do, what the other groups do, and how we can communicate that to the rest of IT.

   Also going well, as the last two nights have indicated, have been the festivities. Monday night, cocktails at the Parkway, Italian dinner at Celestino’s (with much wine and port provided). Last night, dinner up at the New New Boss’s house up in Castaic (much wine, no port). Lunch today at Off Vine (very scrumptious, with still more wine). Tonight …

   Well, tonight we’re all taking it easy, getting away from the boss and CIO, and just noshing at the Cheesecake Factory. Which is, I must admit, a refreshing change.

   

4. Watched Daredevil on Monday night, here at the hotel. Not nearly as bad as I had heard it was, frankly. The wire work was so-so, the fight scenes ditto, the CGI had the same problems as Spider-Man, and, sorry, Jennifer Garner was not in the least bit convincing in any of the two dimensions of her role. On the other hand, the villains were great, Affleck’s DD wasn’t half-bad, and, as is usual with comic book adaptations, if you leave the fanboy continuity geekiness at the door, the story worked okay.

5. Along the lines of that dinner and socialization thing, I’m staying up in a hotel in Pasadena this week, rather than with Margie and Katherine down at the Ks. It made the most sense, to avoid the 70-90 minute commute in every morning (and long post-dinner drive, too), and to maximize interaction time with the rest of the folks.

   This was confirmed, indirectly, by two things. First, driving in Monday morning, there was an accident and SigAlert on the 60 eastbound, in the mile or so where it is merged with the 57. Chewed up 45 minutes crawling through that.

   The next morning, watching the TV news, I saw there was another accident, in almost exactly the same spot, completely snarling up things. Good that I wasn’t in the snarl.

   The rest of the reasons have held true, but it was nice to get that sort of karmic confirmation.

6. While I love gardening and winter and spring, there are a few plants from SoCal that I miss, largely because they don’t wnter in Colorado: star jasmine, and agapanthus (Lily of the Nile).

7. We drove the Cooper Mini last weekend. Okay, it’s fun — a teeny-tiny quick-maneuvering vehicle. But you feel every bump in the roadway driving it. And, to be honest, it had less zip than my Saturn coupe. Someone likened it to driving a go-cart, and that analogy fits very well. YMMV.

Much more to write about, but I’ve got homework, not to mention a particular fax to peruse through …

I wish I could say the dry spell here is close to being over, but it’s not. Tomorrow I’m at work, then head to the Ks to help pack for the camping trip. Friday-Monday I am not only out of Internet range, I’m out of cell phone range. Tuesday we travel home. I’m thinking … may be Tuesday night, unless I sneak back on here tonight, or sneak something in here and there. Ah, well …