In which nothing happens

Suddenly nothing seems to be going on. That’s odd. (As I type this there’s a rotating ad in my email demonstrating that it’s a lot cheaper to stay overnight in Newark than at Disney World. Who knew?)

Let’s see. I looked at some Sailor cases and decided that my work here is not done, which needs to be balanced against the fact that no one ever listens to me. I feel like Mr. Debate Rogers. “Can you say ‘evidence’?” Maybe my blahs will be erased by the presence of endless alums on the bus to Lexington. We can play Spades and recall a time in the distant past when—wait a minute. They never listened to me either. Sigh.

I’m throwing things out into the universe and have no idea if anyone is watching them fly by.

All right. Sundry and various business. First of all, I booked flights for my spring vacation, and am happily to report that neither of them is on the NightmareDreamliner. I’ve never believed in heavier-than-air flight in the first place, much less in planes that leak out of every seam. As I have endeavored to explain to people, the idea that an object that weighs more than an apartment building can fly if you get it moving fast enough does not sit well with me. I mean, I have yet to see an apartment building fly, which as far as I'm concerned is QED. I’m an instant convert to TripTik, however, which allows the family (coming or simply observing) to know what’s what, where and when. We will be down and out in Paris and Londor for a couple of weeks, possibly at the time you are in Birmingham, Alabama. Okay, at least I’m the winner in that celebrity deathmatch.

Then again, come to think about it, I actually am staying overnight in Newark soon. The tournament got a special rate for a block of rooms that is only a few dollars over the Expedia price. This seems to be the rule, lately. No one’s blocks are any better, and occasionally they’re worse, than the published prices. Of course, schools that fill their blocks get benefits like extra rooms for their tournament judges and the like, so I’m not suggesting that people don’t go through channels, but it is slightly dispiriting that hotels don’t really give anybody anything, which is fine except that they’re pretending that they are giving somebody something. They were doing “Cat” this morning on NPR, from which I simply remember the one word they were talking about, mendacity. Mendacity! (Meanwhile, those hotels are still popping up. Good rates at the Dolphin at WDW. Same as Newark!)

I’m going to a banjo music summit tonight. Humph.

CP said he’d prep the data for me for Bigle X. Obviously doesn’t trust me. The feeling is mutual. I don't trust me either.

O’C is busily adding hired judges to the pool for the Gem. I’ll sell them out tomorrow, after people pare down their needs correctly. A lot of folks don’t understand the difference between buying to cover slots and buying a judge in general, which isn’t a particularly complicated distinction. Then again, whenever I send out a general message to the effect “X,” I immediately get a couple of responses asking, “So, in other words, X?”

Stay calm and carry on.