What You Make It
There is nothing so dangerous for anyone who has something to hide as conversation!
-- Agatha Christie
Monday, July 10, 2000
Two years ago: Bill Elliot
Two years ago I went on a blind date -- with a married man! Sheesh, what a weasel. I guess we could be generous and ascribe the incident to bad communication on his part.
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I got the Greyhound bus to Seattle, which leaves Bellingham at 6:45 am. There was a bit of stress when Jack tried to get his daughter H--- moving quickly enough that we could all leave the house together. This would be good, because he could get to work early, which he likes for the lack of interruptions. She wasn't quite ready, and I was getting nervous about being late and missing the bus (though there was really no danger of that). So he left her at home and drove me to the station, swinging back for her later, I guess.
The bus driver was a woman, very calm and efficient. As I'm riding the bus more regularly, it's interesting to hear the variety of styles that each driver makes his or her little announcements in. They range from almost monosyllabic -- "Everett" as we pull into the station, to rather lengthy -- "Welcome to Everett; thank you for using Greyhound [as if anyone has a choice these days -- my comment]; please take moment to look about you and gather up your belongings."
The connection from Greyhound to local transit goes very smoothly. I haven't had to wait long at all!
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We had a meeting with a designer today at work, to look at what he's coming up with in concepts for a site redesign. It took some doing to get the right guy from an agency, but this one is sharp and experienced. He's gratifyingly impressed by the site (but I guess he would never say "Gee, this is really dry and boring!"). He soothingly recognizes that the issues we've struggled with are tough ones. A ton of different content that all fights for top billing is the most general issue.
Things got a bit heated on a fannish mailing list I'm on. Some folks aren't pleased with the current topics, or the style of discussion -- and I certainly can sympathize! It's not that the subjects are controversial, it's the style of debate, the nit-picking, the endless repetition and the lack of editing quoted messages. (This last may be the biggest sin of all!) I've been deleting a ton of messages unread or almost unread. I decided to try and make more of an effort to put my oar in. I also wrote privately to encourage another list member who seemed to be doing the same thing. It's an old maxim that a list (or forum or discussion group) is what you make it. I've talked about it in one of my earliest entries here!
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