A few more mundane updates

Almost done writing up Dave’s story–former methamphetamine addict who contracted AIDS from a dirty needle and/or unsafe sex (could be either). Also, the ultralight laptop arrived today, and B. has been busy setting it up for me (bless his heart 🙂 ). I’m hoping it allows me to make my work portable, and in particular let me work on it in bed, at cafes, and on this upcoming trip to LA.

Had lunch with Lena, my friend the translator for a Tibetan lama, and it seems likely that B. and I will go visit her in India during the Tibetan New Year (Feb 18-20). We plan to take three weeks in India, and hopefully sit in on some of the Dalai Lama’s Losar teachings. Neither of us is Buddhist but we both lean in that direction, and when I was sitting in on the Losar teachings during my travels, I was seriously impressed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s wisdom. I think if anyone is truly the incarnation of the Buddha of Compassion, he is probably it. I want to see the Losar teachings again before this incarnation dies.

Been reading up on international travel, and am really getting excited about this upcoming trip to India. We plan to travel on the whim of the moment (instead of taking a packaged tour); both of us are adamant that we’d rather wander around and poke into odd corners than race around from monument to monument without ever getting under the skin of the country. We’re hoping Lena and Joy are able to travel with us, as Lena speaks fluent Tibetan and passable Hindi.

Had an irritating moment this morning when I discovered a bulging sidewall on my left front tire. Went to get it replaced, and discovered that the tire place where I got my tires had screwed up the installation and torn the bead on the tires, resulting in the sidewall damage. It subsequently transpired that they had also screwed up the installation on the left rear tire (nearly new!), meaning I wound up replacing all four tires, to the tune of $380 or so. (The back tires were still under warranty, but like hell I was going back there again.) Not the best start to a Monday morning.

I’ve also started work on (re)learning the Dvorak keyboard. I keep trying to learn it, because it’s reputedly faster and easier than the standard QWERTY layout, but always get frustrated and quit around the time I finish my typing lessons. The reason is pretty simple: at that point, I type at 95 wpm on QWERTY and about 20 wpm on Dvorak, and the inefficiency frustrates me. One of these days, I’ll stick with it long enough to learn it properly.