To: Lane3 who wrote (54762 ) 8/18/2002 9:09:17 AM From: Neocon Read Replies (3) | Respond to By the way, I got together with Tim Fowler last night. He and his roomie came to Bethesda, we had a little dinner, and then went back to my place, since I was tired and did not feel like walking. My wife and son were along as well. He is a pleasant looking fellow, perhaps ten years younger than I, maybe a little more, with a characteristically earnest and intelligent manner. We spent awhile getting acquainted, touching lightly on various topics: fundraising for professional associations, the advantages of the location of our new house, the diverse interests of the company he works for, the different perspectives of natives of the metro area from migrants, and so forth. Then we got into SI, explaining some things to my wife and his roommate, although they had been briefed on some issues, discussing some of our frustrations, analyzing some of the recent history, taking up various personalities,recounting tales like Edwarda's illness and my work on funding a memorial. It was all quite lively, and all had a chance to participate, although, of course, Tim and I carried much of the SI discussion. Since it was early when we finished dinner, I proposed that they check out our new digs, gave instructions (the house is very close), and proceeded ahead of them. Back as Casa Neo, we broadened the conversation to include difficulties of getting around the District, the deadliness of Parisian traffic, the tendency of some posters to have hot buttons, the logical problem with accusing people of stupidity when dealing with complex issues, our views of various controversies on SI, and so forth. After a couple of hours, they left,to return home at a decent hour. It was gratifying to have things go so smoothly, and my wife and I were happy to have had our first non- family guests at the new house turn out to be enjoyable to entertain.........
