Miscellany.

Jon drove down today. We chatted and he met the cats (who are doing enough better that they were actually out and said hi to him, though Babe was very shy and spent most of her time in her cupboard corner, and Basta eventually headed into the cupboard as well to take a nap). He also got to meet Scott (who, I'm happy to report, did not then proceed to hide in the cupboard). It was a good conversation. And 'twas very good to see him again, if a little strange - since we grew up and went to college, I have related to him mostly through Dad's occasional report on what was up in his life, and the reverse is true as well. So I still had a mental image of him looking like he did when we were young - and those are so often false. (Though, except for the glasses, I think I still look similar to when I was in middle and high school - not identical, but just similar hair, build, etc.)

We headed out to my parents' house where he helped me with the various Linux/Unix boxes (my knowledge of Unix being fairly rusty, and my knowledge of Linux being limited to what I can derive from Unix or from the gui). Made great progress there and figured out some stuff I'd been wondering about, so that was good. I put food out for the barn cats. Need to get more cat food to take out there next time I'm out.

Apparently "suss out" for "figure out" is a Davidson-ism. Who knew? (Okay, I know, not literally. But a very us thing to say, apparently. I didn't realize that phrase was something I picked up from family, though I know "fair to middling" as an answer for how you are doing was.)

On the way back, picked up a copy of the Newberg Graphic, which has my parents' obituaries in it (the Saturday edition). I had just been going to run Dad's, but the funeral home said they might run the picture I wanted (a picture with both my parents in it) with the obituary if I made it a double, if Mom hadn't been in the Graphic already. (She hadn't, she was in the Oregonian originally.) So I submitted that way. I had some errors in my first draft, so sent in a second. The Graphic assured me when I called that they were going to use that picture, and use the second draft. They used head-shots cropped from that picture, used the first draft with my errors in, and chopped the double-person writeup into two separate sections, repeating some things and otherwise tweaking. I...find myself less than impressed. If somewhat amused, and embarrassed that my errors made it into print. (Here, if you're curious what it said in print, though the photos aren't online.)

On the other hand, the purpose of the obituary in the Graphic was largely to let any local folks who knew my parents and might want to know of their passing, but weren't friends / close in any way that led to them being listed in Dad's address book, know what had happened. None of the errors (such as incorrect information on where Dad got his bachelor's degree) is going to harm that. I'd have chosen a different picture of Mom if I'd known they were going to split it straight off, though.

I plan to post the writeup, edited a bit, tomorrow (it is too late tonight, considering I am quite tired). I will include the picture as I originally intended it to be used, as well as a couple other pictures I had that were secondary possibilities.

Came home, grabbed a late snack, fed the cats, decided to post what my day was like. Have now decided the last was an insane idea and am going to bed. (Jon, meanwhile, is off to stay with and visit with another friend of his in the area - combined-purpose trip. Which is nice.)