Movie Star

I only had very vague memories about this, but when I was in high school we made a short, short movie and I got to "act" in it. We had a substitute teacher for a while and he created it on 8mm film and using us as actors.
Some of my school mates thought it would be fun to watch it again and, with a lot of luck, were able to locate that substitute teacher, and luckily he still had the film. The husband of the woman who organized the class reunion digitized it and added a sound track. I must have borrowed that tie and have no idea where the shirt came from.

The class room is where I spent my last three years of high school, and the building is where I spent the last five. My father went to school there too, and I recently learned that my grandmother had gone there as well. During World War II, the gym was used to house soldiers. They ruined the floor with their heavy boots. When we were using it, it was warped and had little pits the size of boot heels all over. I didn't care for sports, but that gymnasium didn't make it any more attractive.
By now they rebuilt it and renovated the main building, but it is basically still the same as it was back then.

Sunset

I have been very busy lately with work and have not had much time to blog. Last week I was first in Dallas for a funeral and then spent a week, mostly working, in Albuquerque. Within the last year both Lee Ann's parents passed away. My condolences Michael, Lee Ann, John, and Stacy.
March was a beautiful and warm month here. People dressed in short sleeves and enjoyed being outside. This month has been quite a but colder and also more rainy. Since I have been back, the day would start out sunny and then produce a heavy but quick downpour of rain in the afternoon. In the evenings, with the dissipating clouds, we would have beautiful sunsets.
So, yesterday evening, I hopped into my little car and went looking for a good spot to take some sunset pictures. I came across the cemetery above just after sunset. The sky was beautiful and the crosses and trees were large, looming shadows.

It was a nice evening and I drove around a little bit to find the perfect spot. I have been meaning to do that, but never seem to have the time, and, until recently, no convenient, quick transportation. I need to do more scouting to find a really good place.

I did manage to get a few decent shots.

But of course, I was not alone out there. This one was watching me the whole time I was standing there snapping pictures. Although I was probably about 200 yards away, she (he?) noticed me right away, kept two eyes on me, and did not move until I was back in the car.

Crazy Phone

The other day I payed my phone bill and was wondering why it was twice as high as usual. I use my land line as my DSL umbilical cord to the life-sustaining rest of the world; and the occasional call to Switzerland or the US. After some navigating the phone company web site, I found out that I had made couple of longish calls to Switzerland that would have made it almost cheaper to just fly there and talk in person.
So, I created a table of what the costs are to call the US and Switzerland:

Destination		Type		Cost
to USA				0.09/min
to Switzerland		Landline		0.35/min
to Switzerland		Mobile		0.75/min

Calling the USA is cheaper than calling Switzerland, which is closer. The Irish have more relatives and connections in America than Switzerland, but this is still strange. The costs above are in Euro, so calling a cell phone in Switzerland would add up quickly!
Then I looked at the cost of using my pay-as-you-go cell phone:

Destination		Type		Cost
to USA				0.15/min
to Switzerland		Landline		0.15/min
to Switzerland		Mobile		0.30/min

It is cheaper to call Switzerland from my cell phone, than using my land line!

I took the pictures, had notes on costs, and was going to blog this weekend, but didn't have time: Supercomputing paper submission deadlines are looming!
This afternoon, Vodafone, my cell phone and land line provider called and asked whether I would like to get a better deal when calling mainland Europe, including Switzerland, from my land line! I am 100% sure I had not typed any of the above thoughts and information into any computer; so that was kind of spooky!
The deal is this: I enter a contract for a year to keep them as my provider, and they give me 60 calling minutes to Switzerland per month. I pay nothing for this for the first six months, and then 8.99 per month.
I am gaining new respect for the Irish: This is pre-preemptive.