Up, UP and Away

We actually went to see a movie.

Jeri and Phil had seen Up, the Disney 3-D cartoon, and she said I had to see it so we could talk about it in Paris (doesn't that sound cool?). So Walt and I took ourselves to the theatre to see Up.

She was right -- it's a great movie. And Steve was right. He said it was the best love story he'd seen in a long time. Go see it. Take the kids. Take the grandkids. The theatre where we saw it wasn't showing it in 3-D, but that didn't matter. It's just as good in 2-D.

And an appropriate film to see right before I'm going to be hurtling through the air in a flying machine.

The morning started with a nice surprise. When I got home from the last planning meeting, there was a box here. Walt says it's like Christmas every day around here, I get so many boxes delivered (well somebody has to help the flagging economy, right?). I opened it and inside was something called a "Morphie Juice Pack." I didn't have a clue what it was.

Was it some other electronic gizmo that Peggy had ordered for me to send to her and just forgot to mention to me?

Then I remembered having a conversation with a couple of people on Twitter about the battery life of an iTouch and would it last all the way to Paris if I tried to read the whole way. The concensus was--no, it will not last. The battery life will probably not be more than 4 hours.

One guy sent me a link to a place where I could get a back-up battery for it. I thought I had decided that it was too much of a luxury and that surely I could make do for a few hours in a plane without the iTouch working!

So what was this ?

Peggy had a saying when she was buying things in the United States. I'd roll my eyes at yet another pair of shoes or yet another 3 pairs of sox and she'd shrug her shoulder and say "it's only money, right?"

Had I made an "it's only money, right?" purchase and then forgotten about it? I could have sworn that I didn't because I decided that I'd rather put the money toward sponsoring a Compassion kid than buying a new toy for me.

I didn't think about it too long because it was 1 a.m. and I had to get some sleep, so I went to sleep (and, miraculously, slept all night!).

When I got up in the morning, I opened the battery back-up and started to try to figure out exactly how it worked. I wasn't really sure. I rummaged around the papers I'd discarded and found the Amazon packing slip, where I could get the product number and look it up, hoping to get a clue from what was said on the web site, but I got a huge surprise. Not only did I get the product number, but I also got a "bon voyage" message from Tom. He had bought me the battery backup as a gift for my trip. What a sweetheart! I've now figured out how to use it, and I'm now set for the duration. I'll be able to read as long as I want on the plane and, assuming I can connect to a USB port on a computer, be able to recharge it before we leave for the flight back home again.

I figure that even if I don't need the extra boost across the Atlantic because of all the other diversions on the plane (movies, games, free booze, food, and, if I'm lucky, sleep!), this will be invaluable on trips to Santa Barbara, when Walt is driving. As the battery life of the iTouch is only 4 hours, I can't read the whole way. Now I can. Thanks again, Tom!!!

We made it a double header tonight, two shows in one day. The second was a stage show, Music Man. I wonder how many times I've seen this show? I saw it with the original Broadway cast when it came through San Francisco whenever that was. It was the first "big" show Paul and Jeri were in. Paul was Winthrop and Jeri was Amarylis and of course I went to every performance. Then shortly after that, Paul did Winthrop again at Woodminster Amphitheatre in Oakland. I don't know that we saw every performance then, but darn near. He later played the older Tommy Djilas and we saw it then.

Then you add all the times I've reviewed it....and all the times I've seen the movie (what can I say--I like the show!)...and it adds up to knowing every single line, every single inflection, every single note. This, of course, can make me very picky when there are little mistakes or when someone has a different interpretation of a character than I'm accustomed to.

But fortunately, this was overall a good production. And--how can I give it a bad review? It's Music Man and everyone loves Music Man...and I'm leaving for Paris on Monday and everything is good.