Toledo, April 13th, 2001, and Chicago, April 29th, 2001
"No, lad, it no be the treasure that makes for seeing the
world...things you never dreamed of, in more places than you can
see in ten lifetimes. *That* be the strangeness that will draw
you..."
Back in the years when I was merely a lurker on here old froup,
one of the things I enjoyed most about it, and one of the things
that really set it apart from the rest of Usenet, were the DFS
Reports --the long string of stories from DC and California,
Chicago and Toledo. The antics that turned screen names into real
people. I *never* tired of hearing those stories; quite looked
forward to them. Seeing the Binghampton reports reminds me I had
better get off my arse and do my own...
Life is *good*. I'm doing really interesting research that has a
really good shot of making life better for lots of folks someday,
and clinical work is equally satisfying. I'm basically lucky
enough to get paid to learn, do neat stuff, and someday maybe
change the world. I have many close family members who live
nearby and whom I am able to spend much time with on a regular
basis, and many good friends. But it's also nice to break out of
the lab every so often, a thought that occurs to me when I've
just spent twelve straight hours measuring and diluting DNA from
three-hundred odd mice and having not had a non-scientific, non-
medical discussion in the better part of three days...
Tale of Two Cities 1: Toledo, 4/13/01
The wonderful, beautiful, incomparable Anne Willick and her
adorable baby son Nick pulled into the U. Michigan Cancer Center
early one Friday afternoon for the beginnings of a Toledo Social.
Madhu had, through unfortunate circumstances regarding his foot,
been unable to make the previous larger Social a few weeks
before, but now was coming down with Kenn. Thanks to Anne, the
Michigan DarkFriend contingent sailed down to greet him one last
time before the Midwestern contingent hands Dr. Natarajan off to
our colleagues out East...take care of him, guys. He's been
great.
A quick stop at Borders, and conversation about the wonders of
downsizing [punctuated by the Pooh Shape Game, being avidly
played by Nick:
"Purple Square!"
"Pink Triangle!"
"*My*, what a wonderful shape!"
(Repeat seventy-nine times between Ann Arbor and the Ohio
border.)
Me to Anne: "You know, aren't there any shapes that *aren't*
wonderful? I mean, why don't we hear Pooh comment: "My, this
shape sucks ass?" ]
and before long we were back at Chez Brazeau. Hugs about, easter
baskets, discussion of the demerits of Toledo Taxi service (Hint:
if you say you're sending a Taxi in twenty minutes, it is
somewhat preferable that that taxi come within, oh, say, two
hours of the phone call), the pluses of sharing recipies over the
froup and then Madhu and Kenn arrive.
In his brand spanking new, race-red BMW.
Appropriate ogling was in order, Madhu let Nick sit in the front
seat ("He's really smart! He's figure out how to put the keys in
the ignition, and he's almost figured out how to turn it!" "Um,
you don't mind if I move away from the back of the car, no?") and
other witty banter was exchanged, and soon we all retreated back
in for some of Maggie's incomparable home-made Pizza. (Feta,
Basil and Sun-dried tomato. Mmmm...) Madhu related how he ran
into Oprah. The merits of decapitating chocolate bunnies was
discussed. There was much playing with the carpet mice (Rugrats,
otherwise known as Alex, Ernie, and Nick). Alas, the afternoon
was all too short and Anne and I begged off to leave, her to a
meeting with friends to make three-hundred odd trinkets for an
event (" They'd better have liquor." "Wouldn't it save time if
instead of making three-hundred individual ones, you just make
one *really* big one?"), I back to the (transgenic) mice. I
understand Kenn and Madhu stayed a few days longer...
Tale of Two Cities 2: Chicago 4/29/01
About two months ago, the Director of Admissions here at Michigan
med wrote me asking whether, as a Northwestern Alum (BME/HPME
'97), I would be interested in helping represent U. Michigan Med
at a pre-med conference.
Hm...my brother (who is a way cool guy) lives in Chicago. A whole
passel of Darkfriends live in Chicago. The Med School will pay
for my tickets. Gotta think about that one there. ;-)
Pam kindly round up The Usual Suspects and so a place and time
was set. Before that, tho, came a chance meeting with the
esteemed Madhu in the Method Atrium of Northwestern Med, as he
was in the middle of packing on his last day in Chicago. He also
had, in hand, the offical papers awarding him his Doctorate. Hip,
hip, Hurrah!
Come 6:30 PM, I pulled off of the Wellington Red Line El and
hiked down Clark towards the Duke of Perth, an Scottish Pub of
which she had spoken of highly. [1] Soon enough, Pam strolled on
in and we pulled into the Pub, Novak soon to join.
Novak was not having a good week. ("I made a viewgraph to explain
the problem to my managers, including happy faces and frowny
faces on the block diagram..."
"We're designing the boards in Illinois; they're being
manufactured in Maryland; they're being assembled in Illinois and
then integrated and tested in Maryland. This works as well as it
sounds."
"How bad is the mistake?" "Five Orders of Magnitude." (stunned
silence) "You know, this isn't giving us a whole lotta faith in
the defense establishment of the United States...")
We grabbed a table in the back, and dug into the all-you-can-eat
Fish and Chips. (The Restaurant was every bit as good as Pam had
advertised. And the Chips did kick ass.) After a period of time,
when Kenn did not arrive, a phone call was placed, whereupon it
was discovered Kenn had forgotten about said event, but he
quickly hailed a taxi and raced on over. Conversation swung
across many neato techie topics, including scramjets, selective
prostaglandin inhibitors, colloidal drug-delivery systems,
Proxicom's takeover, the outlook for genetic control of metabolic
processes (i.e., eat lots and not gain weight) the nature of
scientific authorship (Novak soon to be so, hurrah!) and how life
in academia is much more pleasant than in private industry.
Off to the local bookstores. Kenn bought fiction by the foot.
Much novelage was praised and mocked. The most memorable opening
line to a novel was shown (ask Novak; I can't do it justice, but
he was right). (Pam, commenting on some of the selections in the
magazine rack, featuring scantily clad ladies astride powerful
Harleys: "You know, some of those chicks and motorcycle mags are
kinda scary. I mean, wearing just those bits of kleenex, wouldn't
you get nasty windburn?" I: "Yeah, those bikers are pretty
scary." (Kenn then shows us the cover of a large coffee table
book of Gay Biker Porn.) "Okay, that's more scary.") Eventually a
night was called and Novak dropped me back at Northwestern Med.
Thanks to all, and until next time...
-Jeff
absentee rasfwrj-ian
Warder #3 to Maggie Sedai
[1] Well, not before a slight detour enroute, when I saw
something in a shop window that caught my eye..and some haggling
and seven bucks later picking up a huge, cuddly and impossibly
cute 36" teddy bear to add to my collection at home. That was the
big thing that I was carrying in the shopping bag the rest of the
evening, for those of you there who were wondering. [2]
[2] What? What? Every man hath his vice...large stuffed bears be
my weak spot. As was once said:
"It is astonishing, I recall, how many thoroughly mature,
well-adjusted grown-ups harbor a Teddy bear- which is perhaps why
they are thoroughly mature and well-adjusted."
(grin)
