My favorite rose bush bloomed. It is a fragile, old-fashioned climber. It blooms only once each season, early in spring, and turns one side of our backyard frothy pink for just a week or two, then it is gone. I say fragile because every year it gets infested with aphids and spends most of the summer covered in mildew. But it is actually a volunteer that grows out from under the neighbor's side of the fence, blooms heartily with little attention from me, and comes back year after year after year.
I had a surprisingly good time in Las Vegas. My previous two visits to that city weren't especially enjoyable, and I was very glad to leave the place at the end of those trips. This time I stayed long enough to find my rhythm with the place, find my way around, learned how to overlook the cheese. It helped that I had a guide to the finer dining experiences this time, and dine finely I did. I got to meet some new people that I hope to work with in the future, and got to others better. I also really enjoyed working the show floor at NAB this time. I was very nervous before my shift, but by the end of it, I was sorry that I had not been signed up for more shifts. I really enjoyed talking with people about what they are using our stuff for, and what they'd like to use it for. I was also working the station where the only Apple TV unit was being shown, and it was cool to introduce people to a new product and see their excitement about it. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that there are people out in the world using the stuff we work so hard on, when we are heads down in development, cut off from the customers. We hear the negative feedback in the form of bugs, but rarely get to see the excitement and enthusiasm.
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