Washington
I stayed in Washington with a woman I'll call Amy who works for a non-profit organization there. Visiting her was a tremendous amount of fun, and I'm very grateful for her hospitality.
Amy and I found that we had a lot of things to talk about, and so we started to make a list of topics, lest we should forget any. We never made it through the list. I still have it, and it seems to contain more than fifty outstanding conversation topics. I hope we have a chance to catch up on them.
Amy is studying Perl; I wanted to suggest that she learn Python, but she has some sensible practical reasons to learn Perl. Since she's already a C programmer, I don't think Perl ought to hold any great terrors for her (so long as it's possible to conceive of Perl failing to hold great terrors).
I think we did great honor to Eric Eldred and to the advancement of learning -- or, if you like, the promotion of science and useful arts. And I had an enjoyable and memorable visit.
I also spent some time with Mike Godwin. Some people I know may be vaguely surprised at the thought that Godwin is an actual person -- they may remember him best for "Godwin's Law" -- but indeed he is a real live lawyer, and one who's making useful contributions to our efforts. (Maybe I should say: "Godwin is not just a law but a lawyer".)
I was in Washington as the recent sniper attacks were going on, and it felt as though practically nothing else received news coverage during the week. I believe there were two or three new sniper attacks while I was there, all in the suburbs of Washington; many public events, especially those involving children, were being cancelled. All the parents I spoke to were extremely concerned about their kids, and typically weren't letting them go outside alone or walk anywhere alone.
