With the latest South Park being a time-travel story about Nintendo Wii, atheism, and sea otters, I must admit I did momentarily consider the possibility that either Trey Parker or Matt Stone had been reading my web site.
However, it’s quite common that people think that TV episodes contain coded messages specifically for them, and 99.9% of the time it just means they stopped taking their medications. So unless there’s an upcoming episode with a squirrel named Frida, I’m going to assume it’s a coincidence.
It appears I have located another job within IBM. What’s more, it’s one that’s entirely suited to my skill set, in the technical sales part of the organization. My appetite has come back with a vengeance.
On Saturday we went on a day trip to Dallas. Kind of insane if you look at the map, but [rothko] had a business meeting, and I didn’t want her to have to drive for 8 hours given her tendonitis.
I don’t buy the tomatoes with the stems on them. They don’t degrade. They go down the sink and into the water. Then they get lodged in the throats of little otters.”
—Christopher Walken in The Observer
England seemed much more bearable this time. I think there were several reasons for this. Firstly, now that my family have all up and moved to Bournemouth, there are actually things to do when I’m visiting. About the only thing worth doing in Hyde Heath was getting a lift to Amersham station and a train to London.
The second thing is that it was summer, which means the rain was slightly less frequent and it was pleasantly warm.
Last night I spent what seemed like almost the whole night dreaming about sea otters. Swimming with them, feeding them, petting them, helping them clamber onto the dock, examining their paws, talking to them…
Wednesday we got a courtesy car pick-up from the rental company. We rented a Toyota Prius. I was intrigued by how well a hybrid gasoline/electric car would work, and this seemed a good chance to give one a thorough test drive. Or rather, for sara to give one a thorough test drive…
What we hadn’t been expecting was that it was a fully tricked-out Prius, complete with GPS satellite navigation system and route finder DVD-ROM for the onboard computer.
Undoubtedly, one of the high points of the weekend in Minnesota was spotting an otter. A wild otter. It was just otting along between two of the ten thousand lakes.
From the Telegraph:
A zoo keeper was held captive inside an enclosure for half an hour after a pair of otters made off with his keys. Warren Crutchley, 38, had to call for help when Filly and Smudge disappeared into their pool with the makeshift toy. He had left the bunch of keys behind him in the door of the compound at the Aquarium of the Lakes, in Windermere, Cumbria, when the animals struck.