Re: Too quiet here

Mattis Fishman (mattis@argos.argoscomp.com)
Fri, 26 Jun 1998 12:51:00 -0400 (EDT) 

Hello everyone,

   Well, you know, a complaint that it's too quiet almost reads
like an invitation for me to post another epic, but I think I can
control myself. I know of a lecturer who once said that when he sees a
podium he feels the way a drunkard feels when he sees a bottle. When I
see a quiet mailing list I feel like a lecturer who feels like a drunkand etc.

   I just returned from Menlo Park/Palo Alto CA where I was getting some
training and picking some brains at a company whose software we hope to
integrate into our own applications. Of course the high point of the
trip was lunch with the director of algorithm development, not because
he filled me in on all the behind the scene computer sciencey details,
but because, being vacation time and all, he had his 10 and 7 year old
daughters along. So while cutting class at the darling of silicon valley
startups, I spent an hour and a half discussing important things like
which planets their teachers come from, nail polish and pierced ears.
After spending some quality time on Charlotte's Web and The Little Prince,
(I have to be honest: we also discussed the Babysitter's Club series, too)
talk eventually got around to knock-knock jokes (doesn't it always?)
and then riddles in general. Eventually, I said to this up and coming
fifth grader that the next joke might be familiar if she had read
For Esme With Love and Squalor, and before I got a chance to ask the 
riddle she piped up in pure sincerity, "No, I haven't gotten to that one yet"
(you were expecting maybe that she had read it?). If I were Holden, I would
say, she just knocked me out, heck I'll say it, she just knocked me out.
She did not guess the answer, and her little sister did NOT cover her
face with a napkin.

   I did not happen to meet any little girls with dolls on the plane,
which was just as well, since it was the overnight flight. But going as I am
on 13 hours sleep in 4 days, you will excuse me if I'm a bit manic as I
stop into the office on the way home and find a total of like 6 messages over
three say, so I just decided to waste your time a little and ...

all the best,
Mattis