04-VI-2007.
Writing this on an airplane. OK, IN an airplane. It's a wrong plane, but never mind, it'll get me there.
In the morning, took the last few pics of Go and Ricardo, wrote a bit of code (someting to copy the default values from tables to views) and then packed and started taking buses as planned.
The story is a bit longer, though. I thought Go would drive me to the airport, but it turns that all the flights go during working hours, nothing in early morning or late afternoon. So I printed the whole bus schedule, took the pages for my buses on the side and... when switching from the first to the second page I missed a line and started with a whole hour late, should have gone at 11:35, not 12:35. It takes three rides with the local bus, and each line's schedule takes a whole printed page, so I read it slightly diagonally... and I got to the airport at only 19 minutes to my flight, and of course my check in is at exactly opposite side of the building (and no fast lanes either). So the old guy got me on another flight, I guess he liked me, obviously a gentleman of the old mint, happy to show off his in-depth knowledge of the system, via DC instead of Charlotte, and I'd even get home about 20 minutes earlier. Price the same. Go figure.
Shot one last autopatch of my room, before leaving.
Even launched Byo while in the plane (this is page 20... so, early in the game). There's a nezavisni.ini file with this date and 23:05 (though I don't know what'd linux do with timestamps across timezones... all bets are off). All three ladies waited for me at the airport (with Nina's car, mine need some air in the tires), drove me home, I dined, rested and at around 22:10 we went waiting for the boys to come off the Chinese bus. Recognised them by color and shape - never saw them before - they were the only ones neither black nor Chinese. On second look, Žarko has all the distinct features of his grandfather and his brother - the shape of mouth, nose, jaw. Can't miss that. Got them into Nina's SX, rather cramped in the hatched back, but hey, in one piece. We'll try to get them some jobs here, as their employer up there in NYC didn't. Though, speaking from experience, it'll be hard. There may be jobs lying around, but these days the paperwork just doesn't allow anyone to just hire and pay cash, like they always were able to.
The next day we went to the social [security] and got them the cards, so they can get legally employed now, and then they went for a walk to the nearby shopping mall to look around and see whether there's any job to be had. They still haven't seen Lena, she was asleep when they arrived and was at school when they woke up.
Dad reports that our terrace „leaks rain, even more than before. You have some tiles in the basement. Probably slated them to use for the terrace. I'd see with Prletić to put another, thinner but stronger layer of concrete on the basement, and then to top that with these tiles, it's damage to let it degrade like that. At the moment it's not [amenable] to work, considering rains often“. I reply „These are leftover tiles from the inside and wouldn't suffice for the terrace, and wouldn't be good, they are interior type, smooth and slippery when wet, don't want to endanger anyone to break a leg.“
On eighth Go watched the shuttle launch. We were supposed to tell her when, as the radio is mostly on in the kitchen, but she couldn't guess which friday would that be, as the Nasa personnel announced a strike. Instead, someone in the EA sent a circular email with the time and an aerial shot of their building, with an arrow pointing in the direction where to look.
By 10th there was already a game of lorum on the floor.
Mentions: Byo (Byo), Gorana Sredljević (Go), Jelena Sredljević (Lena), lorum, Nevena Sredljević (Nina), nezavisni, Prletić, Ricardo Manuel Bariero (Ricardo), Žarko Zarin, in serbian