G: Friday
night I went with Dorian and Elena to Glen Echo for some dancing. We
met Luisa and her friend (whose name escapes me right now) there. We
knew it was going to be a big ta-do with the celebration of a renowned
dancer who had recently passed away, but didn't realize it was going to
concentrate on West Coast style swing dancing, which is not what we do.
But we took the lesson in the beginning and still did mostly East Coast
swing. There were many pauses for performances of different kinds of
dance, which was very cool. Steve was there and I danced with him quite
a bit, plus lots of other random people. It was fun.
I can't
recall what I did on Saturday, but while John was away I did spend a
lot more time in my studio, making cool vases. I'm going to be selling
at the first annual
Hyattsville Arts Festival on April 19 from noon to 5. Should be a fun day, so mark your calendars!
On
Sunday I did yoga at Alex and Renee's then I think I napped most of the
afternoon. That night I went back to their house to hang out and watch
a movie. I went with Izolda and Rich came later. We watched Somewhere
In Time which John will at some point attempt a haiku for from my
descriptions of it.
Monday I attended a St. Patrick's Day party
at Cooperdad's. It was a small crowd which turned out to be nice for
conversation. But when I got there John's brother Eric was on the phone
from Japan so I chatted with him for a while. I told him I heard his
name mentioned somewhere, and figured out it was at the end of a
This Week In Science
podcast. He had recorded a song and sent it into them and it
turns out they are putting it on their cd! They also played a snippet
of it on
this show.
caracter
J: I've been spending two
weeks in California. For a rental car I got a Prius. This is the first
time I ever felt like buying the kind of car I rented. It's great!
Lotsa power, and nice little perks. Three come to mind:
- There's a fish-eye camera mounted in the back.
Whenever you put the car in reverse, the dash-mounted display shows you
a back view. My parallel parking, which was already good, got even
better!
- No keys (essentially).
With the electronic fob in my pocket, I can just walk up to the locked
car and open the door (the car senses my presence), get in, push the
power button, and drive off. Using keys seems so archaic now. Doors or
trunk individually unlock as you touch them. If I'm only parked for a
few hours, I can leave the power "on"; the car will shut off all
systems and wait for me to get in, put it in gear and drive away.
- Really nice, friendly displays, arranged across the dash and on the lcd touch screen. Lots of good feedback on fuel consumption, climate control &c.
All in all, a most impressive ride. Too bad I already have two working cars. I guess I'll just have to wreck one of 'em.