Many people swear by coincidences. They say it is the stuff of which life is made. I do not agree. But now I think they can be damn convenient. Coincidences are what make life.
Yesterday Anu got surfcace mail saying she can renew her license on the internet by using the number provided. Hell, that means my license expired a couple of days back. I do not even have the magic internet number. And I am supposed to drive to Palomar. In a rental car.
DMV was of course closed at that point. I decided to send in a cheque along with a form printed off the internet. Anu said may be I should call them as I will still be stranded with an expired one. I did. They said I can go over. I did. And in 15 minutes I had a new temporary license.
Visited the Proud Bird on Aviation recently to admire, behold and check out the WWII birds on the ground as well as those alighting at LAX. The large glass windows at the speciality restaurant right under the landing path of flights and close to where they actually land make it a great spot for a long lunch. And it is not expensive either. Worth a visit for anyone who likes airplanes.
Weekly Astroboardgames were started a few weeks back. A welcome addition to Caltech astronomy's otherwise often geeky outlook. Got to play many excellent games with fellow gamers. Besides the longtime favorite settlers, I like Puerto Rico and Hacienda for the large number of possibilities, and the limited resources within which to accomplish the tasks. Less interesting, and yet good are St. Petersburg, Ninja burger, sequence, robo rally.
Lost cities is very simple and yet excellent. A short game can be played in 5 minutes and yet be challenging. Don't go by the simplicity of the rules. In fact, a slightly lamer version can even be played with a standard deck of cards. Remove the 4 aces and treat the deck suites as 4 cities rather than the 5 in Lost Cities.
Two other simple (and likely not strategic) games I have not tried (though own them) are tri-ominos and star wars card game. Some slower day.