(feeble tapping)
(door opening)Hi there, you don't look very well. WHAT!?!?! You've been trapped in the Seneca St stairwell since a week ago Friday!?!? You have GOT to remember to bring along your security access card. Otherwise, no entree... Remember that next time. Okay, let's go over to the snack machine and get you some Doritos, I bet you're starving, and I'll catch you up on what you missed.
Not a lot, really. You probably don't care that Hyperion Web Analysis offers 'smartcuts' that allow you to embed dynamically linked data cube displays into ordinary civilian webpages (altho that won't be happening here), but it may make my life somewhat easier. There's been all that political ho-haw, but we don't discuss that here in the office, although Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have been ON FIRE all week. As opposed to those who were just fired. BTW, we are just dying to try Stephen's new Ben & Jerry's flavor 'Steven Colbert's Americone Dream', but the trucks appear to be bypassing Ithaca.
Yesterday, Da Ellie G Show went public at the annual Vet School Open House (where they still display the cow with the glass stomach. I wonder if it's the same cow, and if so, how old she is and how old do cows get anyway?). As a proud alumna of Golden Retriever Rescue of Central New York, she was asked to appear as an exhibit of the wonderful dogs that are available via rescue. So, along with a couple of older dogs (and Rosemary) she greeted an adoring public with aplomb and dignity. Those Rescue folks who knew her before she came to us were amazed at how calm and collected she was - apparently she used to be quite timid. I attribute her newfound moxie to a month of chewing on my manly shoes.
Unfortunately the photos Rosemary took all fell victim to the 2 second delay problem and wound up being blurry shots of the back of Ellie's head. Yours truly, Ace Shutterbug, was about to pack up his digicam and head over to the Open House when 'Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World' came on the TV. I am helpless before this movie - it is an absolutely wonderful (aside from a couple of early 19th century shipboard surgery scenes which necessitate the use of the Mute button, at least) seafaring epic of friendship, cunning naval strategy and early exploration of the Galapagos. Highly recommended. So, no shots of her Big Debut. But now that's she's a seasoned pro, I expect she'll be called upon to fly all over the country demonstrating her wonderfulness.
We're starting to catch the back end of the big Nor'easter that's sweeping up the coast 4"-8" of the white stuff are in our forecast, but I think we're getting the gentle end of the stick.
OK. Those Doritos set you straight? Come on into my office, have a seat, and lemme show you the sights...
Yes, this is where the magic happens. Widely regarded as 'the coolest office in the building'. Actually, there isn't a whole lot of competition. Usually the overhead lights are off, so it is, errrr, softly lit, but I turned them on for the photo shoot.
This is my African sculpture on all-but-permanent-loan (~15 years now) from the Johnson Museum (I doubt that it's particularly valuable. Every five years or so they send people around to try and track down where the Loan Collection has gotten to. They're just happy to be able to find it. Not sure if, next time around, they'll approve of the Mardi Gras beads, but the girl just looks so sombre without them.) There is a matching male figure, which somebody in our division had years and years ago, but he is long since disappeared into the mists of Cornell beaurocracy.
And here are my Very Impressive Scrolls, one Japanese, one Chinese. They look very expensive, but they cost about $15 each, plus about that much more for shipping from Hong Kong. Via eBay and other sources, I have furnished this place with items from around the world without leaving my office.
Here we see the Illuminated Screen, the Illuminated Fake Bamboo Plant, and the Vortex Generator, which likes to spend its days blasting papers off my desk (foreground).
What have we got here, oh yes, a photograph of the clock tower signed by Project Managment in thanks to me for participation in a Project I had nothing to do with, memorabilia from the MARS project, which I had rather a lot to do with, and a Faux Stone Buddha which I smuggled across the border from Pier One (yeah, I actually had to leave the office to track that baby down.)
Sorry about the sideways shots, I'm still wrestling with the photo-editing software. I've found and deployed the Rotate command, and the picture looks Rotated to me, but when I upload them, they're still sideways.
