ph Quintessensual PH Stopped to visit for a couple of days a couple of weeks ago, while travelling from Seattle to home, quite aways east of her place. You asked how she is - you seemd frantic to know - so here are my notes on the visit. She is generally fine, doing well, as full of energy as ever. That ebullience of hers always seems so incredible to me, never seems to diminish. We discussed some if perhaps that impression I have about her energy level never changing, even when we do not visit for a couple of years, is because the impression of energy level is actually an impression of difference in energy levels, not absolute energy level. You know, as the beholder ages and slows down some so does the beholden, so the difference in energy level, as perceived by the beholder, is nearly constant. Ever so charming, she thought in the end "Oh, dear professor, the problem is that this fine, long experiment of ours disproves your hypothesis. Please note that I too am a beholder and you a beholden. I see you as much more energetic now than when you were trying to keep me from blowing up that freshman lab you were the teaching assistant for so long ago." She's a little miffed that the lastest work has been badly panned by the critics. That wonderful smile came back to her face when, after she'd vented for about half an hour, I said, ever so wittily, "What did you expect? How can you expect somebody who has done nothing but study English literature, philosophy or 'creative' writing, sit behind a desk, and live in a zoo like New York City, Chicago or LA to appreciate your life?" She remains happy as always to be hidden away from groping and clawing - and, you know, I don't mean bears here. Sometimes she is quite lonely. Like all of us, I suppose. She, though, has more reason than most of us to be that way. She does, not unreasonably, believe she is about as close to heaven as one can be while still kicking. Assuming it might matter for some of us, hopefully the real heaven will not be as quiet as where she lives. Often the only sound up there is the whispering, or the howling, of the wind. Then there is the silence, often so loud it stuns you into deafness. She wishes her internet connection were more reliable. She laughed when I reminded her that she is lucky to have a connection at all. "You do realize, don't you, that, with most of what is on line now, heaven as most understand it would not be expected to have any connection." She said "Yeah, I suppose you're right, Q. I suppose I do not understand heaven that way." "You don't, dear, and thank God for small favors," I replied. Winter has been mild so far, but she's been out on a couple of long treks on the skis. All alone, of coure. I told her that that sort of daring do by her scares me and most of her other friends and her many fans. She never hears those pleadings. She did, you know, nearly blow up the lab! The extreme, even foolish, risk-taking comes along with the energy. It does scare me, a lot, yet it also is a major reason why we've not lost touch with each other, why we look forward so much to visits. The coffee as always was wicked, and with the whiskey, well, the time there was precious and we didn't waste too much. She's of course planning another adventure. It will blow everyone's mind, but I'm sworn to secrecy. Copr. 1999 991203 ... lotusflower balanced. 000322 ... Equin0x My initials. Oddly, the only person to make the connection with the acidity scale was my woodwork teacher. 000605 ... phil speaking of ph what sound does BH make? 010719 ... scuzz pH plus pOH equals 14. Don't ask me why or who cares enough to write it down, but there it is. My whole Honors Chemistry education in a nutshell. I never even knew if that 14 came with a unit, making it completely irrelevent to anything. Maybe it's part of the Ksp, but screw it. 19 school days left. Tomorrow comes with one desire. 030514 ... kele-de Hyramid Head 070530 ... kele-de Pyramid* 070530 ... gs4 potential sub hydrogen hydrogen_potential 090117 what's it to you? who go blather from