It was time for one last trip west before entering the big house
where my time won't be my own.
Wonder of wonders, we ran into Jane's parents
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at Newark airport. They wouldn't have been nearly as happy if they knew
that this meal
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would look like this
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and then this
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once fully opened.
On the other side, I checked my rental car out of the airport
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and parked
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near this corner
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to head to Pike Place Market for lunch
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and then off to UW where the plumbing works
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(well, sort of) and off to see the new building
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that Paul gave
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and Ed built. I had to wear these boots
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and dress like Ed did
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to get inside. It's an impressive structure all around. Afterwards,
we went to Chez Lazowska where Lindsay
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and Ed
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were enjoying their chairs as I took this self portrait
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before heading to the hotel in Kirkland.
Once there, I went to dinner with Maria
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where we started with this bread
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and then I took this artistic picture of our neighbors seen through
a wine glass
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as the main course came
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and ultimately the waiter brought dessert
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as the team of waiters
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gave us serious Father's Day service as Jane had arranged.
Next morning there were the strawberries
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as Jane
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prepared me for another day along with this breakfast
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and coffee
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so that I could look for the elusive building 112
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where this gentleman
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could sign me in.
Wonder of wonders, who should appear again but Maria
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as I was winding down with Mark Lewin
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and getting ready to see Chris Fraser
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Dave Hanson
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and Michael Cohen
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before a quick meeting with John Nordlinger
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who also set me on my way to see Nathan.
Nathan's office was, as always, a museum. In the conference room, I did a
closeup
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and then some wider shots
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of his adding machines and typewriters. In his office, there were more
instruments
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and a dinosaur
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meters in a case
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and his desk
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and finally more meters
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though the piece of the original Eniac is still at home. Nathan
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was very vibrant and our conversation would have been endless if I
didn't have to pull out of this parking space
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and head to this one
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to get back to Microsoft where they had this sign for the collection
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before I hooked up with David Treadwell
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to get things going on our joint MSFT-PUCS project.
After giving Janice
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my car, I had this food
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and this company
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of a man who couldn't wait to get to King Salmon, Alaska to go
fishing for a while (and maybe couldn't wait to get away from
a lunatic who would take his picture at this Taco Bell?)
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Once the plane landed, Dansyl
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were there to greet me and got into the mood for a better picture
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as we talked about heading to dinner where I got this sign
for my collection
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and this pizza
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and wine
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for my stomach. Dan's dessert
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really amused our neighbors
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even though they couldn't solve the mystery of the bumps on the bottoms
of the pots. Dansyl ate some more
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and then we headed back and were careful
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with their neighbor's car.
Next morning, we admired the fruit
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as Dan had his breakfast
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and helped to compose this picture of art meeting reality
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as I admired the mug
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and vase with
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and without flash
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that came for Mother's Day.
Lunch was soup
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and olives
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and fried matzah
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with added decorations
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as Michelle called to bring Sylvia
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up to date on the happenings in Baltimore. Dan produced his dessert
of choice
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and Sylvia showed me various food options
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but before long we were back in and out of the car
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heading for Seaport Village with the other clowns
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there. To get in the mood, Dan tried on this hat
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and Sylvia put on the birthday hat
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to celebrate her special day.
After a break, we dressed for dinner
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and Sylvia showed off her new earrings
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as we made our way
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to P. F. Changs
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where the menu
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offered this great appetizer (roll your food into your lettuce)
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and hot and sour soup
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with our entrees
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brought by this waiter (a civil engineering student, not an actor)
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who took these pictures of us
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on this happy day.
Next day, we made our way to the airport
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where Dansyl
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tried not to look too happy to see me go. On the other end, Jane
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tried not to look too impatient about having me arrive. We were early
for our first stop, so we stopped at the Java Street Cafe for strawberries
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and water
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as Jane expressed utter joy
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knowing that I would capture this picture
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for the collection.
At Network Appliance, Jenny First posed in the elevator
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and out
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as Jane posed with flat Dan Warmenhoven
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before she took the shots of 2 men in blue shirts
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in front of their headquarters building.
Next we made our way to Ebay
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where the map
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lead us to the meeting with Meg Whitman
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who showed us her cubby
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complete with Teletubbies.
We had another break in our schedule and so called Jacobo
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who joined us for coffees
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as he
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together with Jane
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marvelled at the wonders of digital photography.
The last stop of Wednesday was at the offices of Sutter Hill
where this formal photo of Jane with Paul Wythes
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led to these informal pictures
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where Paul helped me get respectable
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and then posed with me
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so that I would be prepared should C-Span ever call.
For dinner that night, we decided to pass on P F Chang's
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though we did get the horses and head to Bravo Fono where the bread
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and wine
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seemed to put Jane
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in the right mood for the pear based salad
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her veal
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and my pasta
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before we called it a day.
Thursday morning, we headed out to Buck where my breakfast
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looked better without flash
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and Tom's massive meal was partly hidden by syrups
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as Jane had even more strawberries
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to the amusement of Tom Kessler
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who then rode off on his motorcycle
but not before posing with Jane
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and me
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though neither of us got to try on the helmet. The next stop was Sand Hill Road
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where we forgot to record Geoff Yang. Our final stop of the day was at Google
where I was able to capture the CEO with the other founder, Sergei Brin
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and so now have a complete photo album of the place.
Back at the hotel, Jacobo arrived with the prototypes
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and was excited about his new bowling shirt
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as he called ChefRob
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to arrange for dinner. En route to our walk, we stopped in Woodside
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at Roberts Market where she
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served the food, she
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took our money (my ribs still are tender) and he
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bagged it so that I could eat my chile relleno
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Jane could have her pasta
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and Jacobo could have his bread and juice
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before we began our climb up to Redwood Flat
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and beyond where the conquering heroes
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posed at the peak though one of them
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seemed in a hurry to head to the memorial bench
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before we recorded our highest elevation
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and started down to Salamander Flats
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before finding the path down
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to our base camp. On our descent, we came across a photo op, so I
climbed back up as Jacobo captured me in the tree
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and then starting
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and completing
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the complex maneuvers of my descent
much to the relief of Jane
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who didn't realize what came next.
Once back on terra firma, we headed off to see ChefRob who posed in his PuCS hat
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and then admired his shirt
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while preparing for the machinist bowling team photo
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with Jacobo. The shop tour highlighted the lathe
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and mill
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along with the sample pennies
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used for precisions tooling. The lathe controls
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and sorted parts
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wildly impressed me as did the original prototypes
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including the one
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that cut their fingers
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even with the flash off
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for a better view. Jacobo showed his new part
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which will eventually be jewelry and ChefRob showed his micrometers
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with their meters
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accurate to thousandths of an inch. Then, we were ready for dinner
at the El Paso Cafe
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which needed a pitcher of beer
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to get Jane and Rob
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ready for the bowling team photo
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as Bonnie and I
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watched (and played the role of important people (x2)). The chips and salsa
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helped Jacobo empty the pitcher
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as the main courses came
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for the others. I can't remember what they ate, but my vegetarian burrito
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was excellent if not colorful.
The next morning began at Starbucks
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and led to SanDisk
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where they had a repeat collection sign
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which coupled with their concern about SARS. The CEO, Eli Harari
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seemed quite happy about his business these days. En route to our next stop,
we paused for a picture of Armadillo Willy's
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before parking the car next door at Portal
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and having an enthusiastic meeting with John Little
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there.
Our work done, our plane much later, we headed to Half Moon Bay where the
people in this sandwich shop
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were kind enough to point us towards this restaurant
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with an extensive history
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and fine indoor art work
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where the wine
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gave a chance to unwind and enjoy the beautiful scenery
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before my lunch came.
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Jane
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got her cheeseburger
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and became a happier person
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as was I
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now that work was done. We took the obligatory ocean pictures of
Jane
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and me
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and observed the scenery
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a final time before getting down to the business
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of broadening penny research to see how mint marks distribute
to different locales.
Back at the airport, we returned the rental car
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and headed for the monorail (though not the hand built one)
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where we rode on
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in the bold new car
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along the tracks
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past the other car
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leaving the trip behind us
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until we finally emerged
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to get to the plane in time for this meal
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that could not seem to uncover
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without being blurred.
Back at home, Jane's posse assembled the next night
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to say good bye to Dan who posed here with the hostess
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as the others
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completed a video game
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and Jane and Dan
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chatted while Lucy and Anna
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chatted
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in a different medium.
Eventually, I opened the screen door
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to welcome Ed Konin
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who came to pick up Ned and Tommy
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and leave me to experiment with my prototypes
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which often needed help from a fondue fork to get the pennies aligned.
In all, it was a great trip, though I wish I'd had the camera when I ran
into Marsha and gave her the details.