Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2002 23:48:18 -0400 (EDT) From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at keithlynch.net> To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net Subject: [WSFA] Busy week It's been a busy week. On Monday evening, I went to the local library and a nearby grocery store. On Tuesday evening, I went to Rockville by Metro to stock up on cereal at a better grocery store. This took about four hours. I was within sight of Sam Lubell's apartment building, and my brother's workplace, but I didn't visit either one. On Wednesday evening, I went to a free Objectivist Center reception at a hotel on Capitol Hill. I had RSVPd a couple days earlier on the web, and I was pleased to see that they had a printed name badge for me, and that I could just pick it up, put it on, and walk in, without having to show any papers or any other hassle, even though there were two congressmen there. I saw Ron Kean and Pat Bahn. (Pat has been to one WSFA meeting and several Disclaves.) There were about a hundred people. I talked to several of them. And gave out two Capclave flyers. I also told people about the next day's demonstration in favor of medical marijuana. I was pleased to see I was not the only man who wasn't wearing suit and tie. Early Thursday evening, I went to the demonstration in favor of medical marijuana, in front of DEA headquarters in Arlington. Unfortunately, there were never more than seven people there at one time, though about twice that many showed up at one time or another. Perhaps people were deterred by the rain, though it didn't really start raining hard until the demonstration was over. There were signs, but nobody carried them until I suggested doing so. There were flyers, but nobody handed them out to passers-by. Nor were the demonstrators saying anything, other than chatting quietly among each other. I think whoever was running the show was new at this. I appeared to be the oldest one there, so I was almost certainly the only one there who had demonstrated against the Vietnam War. There were over a hundred policemen present, on all sides of us. I was surprised that we were allowed to just stand in one place on the sidewalk. Usually, demonstrators are required to keep moving. Alan Grimes was there. I think he was the only one who was there who had heard about the event from me. (He has attended one WSFA meeting, three years ago, also at my instigation.) I learned that there had been a more active medical marijuana demonstration earlier that day. Several demonstrators had themselves chained to the Justice Department's doors, and were (with difficulty) arrested. Perhaps that event drained off the real pros. After the demonstration, Alan and I walked to the nearby DC Transhumanists (http://keithlynch.net/dct/) meeting in Crystal City, which Ron Kean also went to. Houston Westphall and Chris Fedeli (who have attended one WSFA meeting each) were also there. I gave out two more Capclave flyers. (No, I didn't give out any at the demonstration.) On Friday evening, I went to the WSFA meeting. As usual with Virginia meetings during good weather, I walked the whole way. It took just under three hours, and despite my not wearing a watch, I arrived within two minutes of when I intended to (8:45 pm). I returned via Metro. The Ballston station is just a 35 minute brisk walk away from the Gillilands'. On Saturday I went to a used book sale in Vienna. I walked there with my hand truck, and used it to carry home a box containing the 36 books I bought. Unfortunately, it turns out that two of them are duplicates of books I already have. I will donate the duplicates to WSFA. On Sunday (today) I had dinner with my brother. After dinner we watched the Plan Nine From Outer Space movie I had bought at Balticon last month. Also, he scanned in the two July 1995 WSFA Journals. I should have them online within a week. At which point we'll have a full seven years of Journals online. As I've mentioned, I'm working from home these days. While my usual work week is well under 40 hours, it tends to be more around the beginning of each month, since hospitals do various special things at the end of each month. I find that I can't just stay home all the time. I have to get out, preferably every day. If not commuting to work, then going other places. This coming week should be less busy. So I'll be able to return to working on the WSFA web site. Before putting more Journals up, I'll update the Capclave page to contain all the information on the flyer (e.g. the hotel room rates), and will update the calendar of upcoming events. The archive of this mailing list is already up to date, at least for the moment. -- Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/ I always welcome replies to my e-mail, postings, and web pages, but unsolicited bulk e-mail (spam) is not acceptable. Please do not send me HTML, "rich text," or attachments, as all such email is discarded unread.