Dodged a Tidal Wave

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I was very scared yesterday morning, fearing for the life of our COO, Eric Porres, and his wife, Margaret, who are vacationing in Sri Lanka. An earthquake and subsequent tsunami have killed over 20,000 people in the region. Thank God for technology. I tried to hail Eric on his cell early yesterday and sent an e-mail to his Blackberry. A few minutes later, an SMS text message came across the screen of my Treo - it was Eric and he reports that he is fine. Thankfully, he was on the other side of Sri Lanka.

WHEW!!!

Thanks, Dad

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Last night, I came home and found several boxes waiting for me. One contained a new clock radio, to replace the one that could only wake me up with staticky renditions of Burl Ives singing annoying Christmas music. And it plays CDs and will lull you to sleep with background noise like the sound of ocean waves breaking on the beach or running streams. (Last night, I fell asleep to crickets chirping in the forest.) In another box was a Star Trek DVD - the entirety of Season Two of TNG. Very nice - I watched the episode last night where Counselor Troi gets impregnated by an alien and Wesley Crusher decides to stay on board the Enterprise instead of leaving to go hang out with his mother at Starfleet Medical.

And then there was a new backpack. Just in time. It replaces the old ratty one with the torn straps that I got at the IAB conference a couple years ago. It's really nice and it has padding to accommodate my monster 17" Toshiba laptop. It's even got a little holder on the front for my Treo. Very nice.

Thanks, Dad.