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| March 5, 1997 |
Get It: 83 |
Vol. 1, No. 37 |
DAY 2 (San Jose): Monday's
speakers were fabulous ... we've got this MC guy ... a
Brit ... who's some kinda television host or somethin'
... he's pretty good at keepin' things movin' ... which
can be kinda hard when you have the Senior Researcher
at Microsoft ... the Director of the HP labs ... the EVP
for Creative Technology and R&D at Walt Disney ...
hey! ... wake up! ... this is important stuff you're learnin'
here! ... 'n ya didn't have to pay either! ... that was
Monday ... I had to pretend I knew how important these
people were ... I'd never heard of 'em ... Tuesday was
a little better as far as name recognition went ... we
started with William Perry (former Secretary of Defense
among other things) ... Fernando Flores, former Economics
and Finance Minister of Chile ... finally a name I recognized
... Vinton Cerf ... oh, excuse me ... Vint to the "in
the know crowd" ... when I went up to say hi I had
to wait for all the autograph seekers to back away ...
how juvenile ... no ... they weren't askin' for MY autographs,
sillies ... they thought Vint was more important ... he
looked purty spiffy with his matchin' red hankie 'n tie
(for those who notice such things) ... now where'd my
pen go?!?!? ... some more important people talked ...
finally it was lunch time ... we were told to be back
early for a surprise speaker ... I strolled down the block
lookin' for a little sustenance ... someone had recommended
a restaurant to me but the line looked a little long 'n
I sure didn't wanna miss the nooner ... I stumbled on
a cozy little French place called Jacques en le Boxe where
I dined in style ... turns out our surprise speaker was
the fella I'd followed to breakfast on Monday! ... I'm
glad he didn't embarrass me by tellin' everyone 'bout
it ... I'd be so mortified! ... he was followed by some
more equally important people who I've never heard of
... we were finally cut loose around 5:00 ... I decided
to take the walkin' tour of downtown ... I'd seen most
of it from my window 'n I was really psyched! ... like
some art ... sometimes the further away you stand the
better it looks ... now don't get me wrong! ... I'm not
criticizin' anybody's town ... when ya' live off the exit
to Scaggsville ya can't be throwin' no stones ... but
on the other hand the Chamber of Commerce prob'ly won't
be askin' me to write any promotional material for 'em
... now I'm sure that when all the construction's finished
on the nice park across from the hotel it'll be really
super ... the arrangement of the construction fences 'n
barricades is pretty contemporary ... it appears that
the area's ripe for a boom time ... there's lot's o' real
nice retail 'n restaurant space ready for movin' into
... why I'll bet the rent's even cheap! ... I mean the
police protection looked super ... there were squad cars
passin' me all the time ... I don't know where I was headed
but I was the only one on the street ... I began to feel
a lot like I did at breakfast Monday ... like maybe I
should excuse myself 'n try to find the herd of my kind
... I made a loop 'n finally found my way back to the
hotel ... I went out on a foragin' expedition again after
dark ... wandered up towards San Jose State ... I was
gettin' that feelin' again ... finally I realized that
I was missin' an important accessory ... no, not a gun
... a grocery cart! ... everybody was pushin' one around!
... obviously I survived ... now I'm gettin' ready for
some more stimulatin' discussions ... we start this mornin'
with a Sci Fi writer, Bruce Sterling ... when I first
read his name I was all excited! ... it took me a while
to figger out that I thought he was Rod Serling! ... I'm
lookin' forward to the flight back this afternoon ...
guess I'll have to try to find a cut-rate sale at the
airport for souvenirs ... the hotel soaps 'n shampoo aren't
restocked regularly 'n I can't find any unattended maid's
carts ... can you believe that none of the exhibitors
were handin' out any stuff? ... the closest was Boeing
with some little paper airplanes 'n some pencils ... there
weren't any t-shirts, coffee mugs, mouse pads ... nothin'
... jes' simply nothin' ... bunch o' cheapskates I tell
ya! ... see if I buy any o' their crummy computers anyway!
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"Saying no all the time can
rob you of some valuable learning experiences. Like for
instance, how many of you know how to cancel a 'free'
million dollar life insurance policy on your spouse that
only pays if they're riding in commercial transportation
when they get called up yonder? By the way, Hon, your
cab's here to take you to the store." -- Mikey,
Thinkin' Too Hard
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| Mikey's Muse(tm)
is published weekdays as a commentary on stuff. Editor,
Michael T. Rusk. Copyright © 1997 by Michael T. Rusk.
Printed in the U.S.A. This publication may be distributed
freely as long as there is no charge. Commentary is loosely
based on actual events and may contain embellishments,
bits of fiction, and editorial liberties (lies) under
the guise of poetic license. All characters portrayed
in my writing are purely fictional and any resemblance
to any person, company or animal is purely unintentional.
If you don't get it, you just don't get it. Don't blame
me for anything I say and don't do anything I say, either.
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