Animals are people too

So, Cerner trumpets its "people-oriented" architecture, and it's true: the Person table is the central item in our database, to which all other tables are connected. I was, therefore, incredibly amused the first time I noticed there was a column devoted to species. Someone finally clued me in to our veterinary clientele. At Cerner, it's literally true: animals are people too.

I swear it hasn't been this long since I posted last. I think maybe Blogger ate an essay or two. I've been living a relatively uneventful life. Went to the Mid America Freedom Band's concert last weekend, and tomorrow I'm off to my very first Royals game with my entire department in tow. And spending a lot of time with someone I don't have to mention here. :)

I hear UNL's getting out in just another week or two here, and people are scattering to the four winds. If you're going to be anywhere near the midwest this summer, my door (and couch) are always open.

Internet Archaeology

I've spent the past few days trying to locate and get in touch with a variety of people: roommates from college, friends from high school, and a few from even further back. Google's been invaluable in this respect, of course, and it's good to stretch my information mining muscles. But you know what's been even more useful? ICQ.

Anyone younger than me is probably literally too young to remember it, but it was the ur-IM, predating AIM, Yahoo, and MSN. And it was way ahead of them in a lot of functionality, notably and handily, the auto-archiving of all messages. Very few people I know use it today, but it was and is very popular in Europe, and with a slightly older generation of Net users.

So I've been perusing through my hundreds of old contacts, looking for email addresses, scribbled notes, clues in message logs, and the like. Already found one roommate, now working at a hotel... in Beijing. (If you're reading this, hola, jefe.) Another search has taken me through the organizational remnants of the Howard Dean campaign. Not to mention the National Forestry Service, the english department at the University of Chicago, and a food company in Tulsa, OK.

It's been a lot of fun, actually. I'm tempted to say I need to lose people more often, just so I can have the pleasure of finding them again.

Holy Matrimony

(Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't been posting often enough. Just been busy and happy lately, I guess.)

Spent the weekend in Lincoln, mainly for Adam Brehm's wedding. And a lovely wedding it was too, but then, I'm a sucker for them. The church was just a block from my parents' house, and packed fuller than I've ever seen it. Almost standing room only. I'm pretty sure their entire fraternity, sorority, and every living relative was there.

Oh, and it was a big old JDE reunion, too. Saw Mark and April, Mike, John, Cody, Dan, and a dozen more. It's so relaxing to run into people you've know for years - easy to slip into all the old patterns. And it turns out that Black is living in Kansas City now, too. I know you're not reading this, but I'll be giving you a call soon.

Stevenson will be pissy at me if I don't mention that it was his birthday, too. Decadent dinner at the Oven. And he got a bottle of amarula. Unusual stuff; if you've never had it, hit him up for it.

Much as I might love spring and thunderstorms, driving home through a torrential downpour for three hours sucks. So does being so far off the ground that you can't hear the rain from your bedroom. Being downtown is nice, but I need to get back to somewhere green eventually.

Spring in the air

So apparently half the trees in Kansas City are pear trees, because they're all blooming in brilliant white just now. I've been informed, repeatedly and emphatically, that they're Bradford pears, though no one seems to know what the distinction is. I do: the pear trees back home smelled nice in the spring, but these things smell like urine. Wikipedia suggests either rotting crab meat, or a cross between jasmine and dog vomit.

They've been building these strange concrete columns across from my apartment, where you coem off the bridge into downtown. They're finally finished, and it turns out they they're covered with these banks of lights that flow and shift colors in complex patterns. I have no idea what they're for, but they're sure hypnotic to watch.

Went to a choral concert tonight, the Heartland Men's Chorus to be exact. It was all religious music, with narration by special guest Rev. Mel White. Really good music, and they had some sharp words about the gay marriage amendment that's up for vote in Kansas on Tuesday. Their next concert, in June, features the music of Kander & Ebb - Cabaret and Chicago, most famously. Turns out that John Kander is a KC native, and will be in attendence. Cool stuff.