Was It Something I Said?

Friday evening we sat in the living room, computers at the ready, exchanging information. Eric and the Medlins had been planning to stay until Monday, but they decided to leave Sunday morning, since Kim was still not well. Andrei gave us Zion screensavers to help remember our stay here. We were all on the road by 10am local time. I went back the way I came, once again listening to Italian tapes and highway radio, another 7-hour trip through desert, small towns, desert, billboards and more desert. This being a holiday weekend, I was spared the usual Sunday bumper-to-bumper between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

I had a great time. It was nice to spend time with old friends and to have a chance to get to know Andrei and Nida a little better. I don’t know whether or not they are planning a repeat event next year, but in any case I would certainly recommend a visit.

Yesterday morning Nida and I drove into Zion National Park. On the way, I got a speeding ticket for doing 45 in a 30 mile zone. Of course, the streets here are smooth and wide enough so that even 45 feels outrageously slow. The speed limits are posted, but tourists (like me) gawking at the beautiful scenery are likely not to see them. And it’s hard to keep an eye on the speedometer when you’ve got an eye on everything else. The local cop was pleasant, though, and even let me take his picture for my scrapbook.

In the park we hiked out to a beautiful vista point. The scenery is really spectacular, with all kinds of interesting rock formations, arches, pillars, crevices, etc. There was big patches of snow on the ground in many places, always interesting to a girl from South California. We also walked through part of a river bed to a cliff where there are petroglyphs, ostensibly the work of people who lived here in ancient times.

In the afternoon, Jerry, Kim and Eric arrived. They had come from Napa through a different Nevada route than mine. At one point, I was told, their speed exceeded 130mph, but they did not get a speeding ticket.

Over snacks, we discussed wireless networking, hardware configurations, and other technical matters. Then Andrei went with us to see Grafton, where the scant remains of an old town and cemetery are being restored by the local historical society. Nida very generously made dinner for us. Then we all piled into Jerry’s car and went to the local community center where a jazz ensemble from St. George was playing for our listening and dancing pleasure. Some of us actually danced. Nida and Andrei looked great; they know some steps!

After another delightful breakfast, Jerry, Andrei, Eric and I went into Zion National Park. We took the scenic drive, hiked to two of the three Emerald Pools and took a walk along the river. We came back to the Inn for lunch. Unfortunately, Kim was still feeling ill and spent most of the day in bed.

In the afternoon, Nida, Jerry, Eric and I drove along another road that runs through an area called Kolob. We reached over 7000 feet elevation. Throughout most of the drive there was little or no snow on the ground, but eventually we came to a long section of road that was covered with snow and had to turn back. This was a beautiful drive, and we were thrilled to see a large herd of deer, and later a small group of elk. These are beautiful animals, and we got a very good look at the elk when they crossed the road, single file, ahead of us.

We had dinner at a nice local restaurant, and then went back to the Inn to hang out. Andrei and Nida are incredibly nice people, and excellent hosts. They have chosen an amazing area to live and work.

There are two kinds of radio stations in the desert: oldies and country. I miss Wolfman Jack.

Mapquest’s estimate of my drive time was well under 7 hours. That would have required that I average 62mph for the entire trip, and didn’t take into account any stops, roadwork, or traffic. My estimate was 8-9 hours. I reached the California-Nevada border at Primm in about 4 hours. There I stopped for a quick lunch and refueled the car. I got back on the highway and kept on going. I’ve never taken that route past Las Vegas before. The desert is just as barren beyond Vegas as it is before. The small towns can be surprising, though, with bright green golf courses, shiny casinos, and lots of new McMansions. There is a stretch of road just outside Vegas where there is a series of huge billboards plugged into solar cells so they can be lit at night.

I left Nevada and drove across a corner of Arizona. The scenery began to get interesting at the Virgin River Gorge. It’s a steep-sided, twisting passage where the winding road and the winding river cross more than once. On the other side, things are different. After hours in the infinitely beige (and rather shapeless) desert, it was exciting to see the huge, red mesas and spiky rock formations in this section of Utah.

Enjoying the scenery, I drove right past my destination and had to turn around about a mile later. It was a real pleasure to be greeted by Andrei and Nida as I approached the front door of their charming B&B. Nida showed me the view from a plateau above their place. I met the cats, we had dinner and talked about life, travel, books, and software development, and I went to bed, ready for a good night’s sleep.

It seems that I will have to drop the online class. Although its website finally appeared, the teacher has never uploaded any content. According to the log on the site, she hasn’t even visited the site in six days. Maybe there is a technical problem, maybe she’s disorganized and irresponsible, maybe she was in an accident or had a heart attack. The reason doesn’t matter. If the class isn’t going to be operated correctly, I simply won’t have the time to deal with it.

I made a little video about my cat, Bob. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiJNdsqu6ZE.

The short version is that the pain in my chest was so similar to a heart problem the ER professionals were concerned, even after tests showed it was not an actual heart attack. There might be a dangerous blockage, they thought. They persuaded me to spend the night in the hospital (by the time I get into a room it was 2:30 am) and get further tests. I took the “stress test”. (As if trying to sleep in a hospital with a noise level comparable to a cocktail party in a bus station weren’t stressful enough.) It’s not as difficult as one might expect. The good news is that there is nothing wrong with my heart. The bad news is that the doctors believe this was a severe episode of acid reflux (despite my not having a lot of tummy trouble normally) and they want me to stop eating and drinking things I like, including caffeine. How can I expect to get through a semester of algebra without caffeine?

Not every paragraph deserves a title. But the blog wants one.

I’m taking an online history class. One’s presence is required for the initial meeting and for tests, but everything else is online. Maybe. Yesterday the class was not listed on the school’s website. The teacher was understandably annoyed by this, and hoped to have it in place by the end of the day. But here it is, the afternoon of the next day, and the class still is not visible. This does not bode well.

We’re all going to die, and we all know we’re all going to die. And in the meantime, we sing and plant flowers and argue over what color to paint the living room. On the one hand, we try to make the most of life, and on the other, we waste so much. But, oddly enough, I love us for exactly that, being conscious entities who can see just how big it all is, and at the same time being ordinary animals just looking for a bit of comfort right now.