Yesterday we completed Phase One of “Operation Spay and Neuter”. I got up around 6:30 and was on the road by 7:00, four cats in traps and four carriers (for the ride back) in the truck. Leona had a cat of her own, Ernie, who needed to see the vet about a bad tooth.

I dropped the cats off just before the rain started and headed back to Leona’s house. I had tasked myself with cleaning up her ancient PC – running Windows XP in 256MB of RAM – and I was partially successful.

I had five bars and 3G reception on my iPhone, so I would play on it while waiting for her machine to reboot. On Sunday night I had put a notice out on Facebook that I was in Charlotte and my friend [Beth][1], from my NCSSM days, offered to meet me for lunch.

So toward noon I headed back into Charlotte and we met up at a Brixx restaurant. She had here 3 year old son with her, Evan, who was quite well behaved.

I always enjoy talking with Beth, so it was a bright spot on a rather dreary day. We did have a somewhat unusual experience. While we are eating an elderly woman came up to us and started talking about Evan (he is a cute kid). This was more than the usual “drive by” mention and at one point she even sat down next to Beth. She seemed to have a hard time understanding that we weren’t a couple. She asked “You’re not married?” to which I replied “Well, I am, just not to her. We’re friends.”

She didn’t seem to get it.

Beth had to leave just before 2pm in order to meet her other children at the bus stop, and I had to go get the cats. I called Andrea once I got back to the truck and she told me that Leona had found out that Ernie’s tooth was caused by a tumor, most likely cancerous, and he had to be put down, which is always sad.

On the way back to the vet I drove down Carmel Road, which is home to a number of incredibly expensive homes. I noticed that many were for sale.

The surgeries had gone smoothly, and we neutered two males and spayed two females. I dropped them off, packed up, and headed back toward the Farm.

Since my trip took me past my folks house, I stopped by to visit. I bought Dad a Mac awhile back so I had nothing to do with respect to his computer, but I did reset the voicemail password, change the battery in the garage door keypad, help examine the broken dryer and load up on tomato cages.

(grin)

The trip also involved dinner at Sir Pizza. If you grew up near Asheboro, NC, then you know the magic that is Sir Pizza. I try never to pass up an opportunity to eat there.

I made it home a little before 9pm and was in bed before 10pm.

Today was spent trying to catch up on all of my work as well as preparing for a trip to Los Angeles. I’m giving the keynote at the Southern California Linux Expo on Sunday, so it should be fun. I’m going to see some old friends, make some new ones and dine on at least one In-N-Out burger.