I have to go to Lafayette, IN, next week for no good reason. It's a big pain because Brian is on travel, too, so there are complicated babysitting arrangements to be made. Thank god I had the foresight to have a kid 19 years ago who thinks it will be fun to help out.

The last time I was in Indiana I was manning a booth for Project 2061 at an NCTM conference in Indianapolis. I snuck out of the exhibit hall to hear two of the guest speakers, Ray Bradbury (he sounded like a cranky old fart, but I still like him plenty) and Ray Kurzweil (very exciting dude, I fell in luuuuv). Then on the penultimate night, my office manager invited me out to visit his mom and sister. Our office manager was the kindest, friendliest guy you could ever hope to meet. He was also a tad fussy about appearances so I was kind of surprised to meet his mom, who was not particularly fastidious as far as I could tell. We said hi, then sat down and started drinking Buds, smoking Marlboros, and playing pinochle. After a while, his sister came home. She had been working the concession stand at the bingo hall. She was taller than I am, by a couple of inches at least, and she was drop-dead gorgeous. She joined us and we played all night long. I mean all night. The sun was rising as we drove back to the conference. I'm betting that this trip won't be that much fun, but you never know.