Bones

Chris and I went to the Oklahoma Osteology Museum which, appropriately, had a large collection of extant animal bones. The collection spanned all the major classes and orders of vertebrates and the work was impeccable.

Peaking Milkduds

Some of the displays were rather light hearted a la this raccoon skeleton and while there while the discussion of life and death was frank it never crossed into being morbid. I expected there to be dinosaur or other bones at some point but realized that those would be fossils instead. The one exception to this was the display on hominids which provided a set of replica skulls making a nice family tree.

10279-BoneMuseum-20120829 Picture

After the bone museum, Chris and I went to Walgreens to get Christine a card as today was her birthday and I received a call from a firm with which I had interviewed.

Me: Terry Robinson speaking.
Her: Terry, this is <name>.
Me: What can I do for you?
Her: I’m calling regarding your interviews with us. I’ve spoken with my bosses and the other interview members and I’m sorry to say *my heart dies* that we really wanted to offer you a position *heart breaks into pieces* but we can’t *broken heart pieces scattered to wind* until October. *Heart pieces re-assemble, and forge into super heart, fist rises skyward*
Me: That sounds wonderful. I look forward to working with you.
Her: You’re ok with that.
Me: Yeah, I’m on a road trip right now, I’ll probably fill the time with studying and taking another one.
Her: Oh, well if another position opens up elsewhere that you’d like to take in the mean time, please keep us informed.

I emitted a victory howl and Chris and I went to a Braum’s which provided a presentable lunch. Their burger was fine but the ice cream I couldn’t have looked far better. We picked up Suzie and returned to Chris’s and talked. Normally, a third person in a conversation proves a wildcard but there is an unusual degree of synchrony between Suzie, Chris, and myself. Chris and Suzie share a knowledge of programming that’s alien to me and Chris and I get to talk about Web 2.0 crap and our membership in the Cult of John Roderick. The next two hours passed quickly and then we went to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Christine’s birthday.

This was my first visit to a Cheesecake Factory and I didn’t see much of the draw besides incredibly rich food. The simple strictures of low-carb eating kept my meal under 1000 calories which proved less than a single slice of cheesecake. One menacing aspect was that the decoration appeared to be both palatial and Tolkeinesque.

I don’t know if it’s a phenomenon I am only now noticing or only now affected by but when visiting someone I haven’t seen in a while, it takes a few hours to remember who to talk to that person. Maybe it’s re-aquainting with cues or collecting enough background information to have a conversational foundation but the number of silences decreases rather than increases over time as if we weave more conversation from whole cloth over time.