A funny thing happened at a team meeting yesterday. My manager asked if anyone was planning on taking vacation during first quarter because she had to include it it in her project plan. ( We are swamped with work, at the moment). Casey mentioned that she would be taking some time off, but would be taking the red-eye back which would mean that she would be worthless on Thursday. Without skipping a beat, my manager asked "and we'll know the difference, how?". You should have seen the look on Casey's face. It took a lot of self-control not to laugh too hard.

I went to see "About Schmidt" with my sister Gina and brother-in-law Tom on Saturday at Old Orchard. We then went to Barnabie's for pizza. It was a good time. The movie was interesting. It's about a guy, Jack Nicholson, who is retiring. His wife dies shortly afterwards and his only daughter has her wedding. He goes through a lot of internal turmoil and feels like his entire life has been wasted. It's not entirley depressing, though. Jack Nicholson is frequently funny in situations which he can not control and his new family has a lot of odd characters who are funny. It is not that far from real life. Everyone has dreams about their life which don't quite match with reality. Even someone like Bill Clinton who dreamed of being President, probably thought it would be better than it was. Such is life.
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The movie was also interesting because my niece Carrie is getting married this summer. She has had some very strange boyfriends, but luckily this one seems like a decent guy who treats her well. I remember one boyfriend who stood her up for Thanksgiving dinner that my sister was cooking. He was a real jerk. He's lucky he didn't meet me on the street the next day. I think that he would have learned a few manners the hard way that he was obviously lacking. Anyway, she definitely waited for the right husband. I don't think that Tom will be calling George a nincompoop like the Schmidt character calls his new son-in-law.
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It was so strange hearing about the Columbia disaster. I saw some footage on the TV at Barnabie's, but I thought that they were remembering the Challenger which exploded on January 28, 1986. It wasn't until later that I knew what happened. Astronauts are like the last true heroes. There are so many athletes that are in it just for the money. There are police officers who are corrupt. There are reports of firemen who are racist or lazy. There are doctors who dispense too many drugs. There are ministers who abuse their flocks. But, I have never heard anyone say anything bad about astronauts. God be with them.