Day 112 April 25 (cont.)

Well, I didn't finish telling you about yesterday (day 112) so I'll do that first. I got everything sorted and packed pretty well before dinner. What can I say? When you're good you're good. OK, the truth is it is a lot easier to pack to go home than to start a trip. I just chucked a bunch of stuff in the trunk after I had the important decisions made and the majority of the breakable stuff carefully packed in the lower half. I found a good use for those empty bottles (coke, water, etc.) I had been saving from different countries. If you put the cap on tight they make pretty good shock absorbers. Well, I hope they do. I lined one end of the trunk with them and packed the souvenir dishes and platters they gave us in that area and figured that would work. I got the chance to give a little physics lesson at dinner about that. I mentioned what I had done with the bottles and Anita asked why the top needed to be on tight. The answer of course is that if the top isn't tight when something pushes against the bottle it crushes it but if the air is trapped inside and can't get out the bottle won't compress as much and then becomes a bumper in a way. At least that is the plan. I'll let you know if this doesn't work successfully. I wouldn't want to be guilty of spreading false packing tips.

After dinner the show was excellent. The singer's name is Dorothy Bishop. She has opera training and has performed in many plays and in operas. She has a beautiful powerful voice and a sense of humor. The only reason I can figure that we got her is that she got tired of the routine of performing in the usual way and wanted to travel more and work less.

I went to the computer lab after the show to get them to give me credit for the 22 minutes I had wasted trying to send the last email. Poor Rob (or Ron, I'm not sure which). He doesn't know me so he started to grill me about what I had done as if he thought I might be the reason his system didn't work properly. I must be getting cranky because I went off on him a bit. I reverted to my military training and, as we used to say, I tightened him up a bit. When I got done explaining in no uncertain terms how long I had been working with computers and how long I had been putting up with his pitiful system he just asked my room number and promised to credit my account. I didn't explode all over him but I'm sure he was aware that I was about to if he didn't see things my way. Smart man. He came around to my way of thinking.