interviewed by alaricmacconnal
1. When and where did you and Dani first meet?
An SCA dance practice (in Porter Hall at CMU). I can't remember exactly when, but probably 1985 or 1986. He was a grad student at CMU at the time. He was into international folk dancing and that caused him to check us out.
2. Have you ever had any pets other than cats?
We had dogs when I was growing up. First was a Collie/Shepherd/small mix, Joby (acquired as a puppy), who was about six months younger than me. ("Small" meaning she was smaller than either of the other breeds so I kind of assume there was something else in there too, but we don't know because she came to us as "a mutt".) When I was 12 my father came home one day and said to my mom "you said you always wanted an Irish Setter, right?". A coworker of his had rescued a setter puppy who had clearly been abused, but couldn't keep the dog himself. So a day or two later we had a second dog, Shannon, and that's when we found out how dumb Irish Setters are. But he was affectionate and friendly (once he realized these people wouldn't hurt him), and he perked up our other dog.
I didn't get any pets of my own until I bought a house -- wanted them but didn't want the landlord hassles. I hadn't really planned to adopt a Dutch bunny (I named him Stuart, or Stu for short), but I saw an ad on a local newsgroup, did some quick research, and took him home. Alas, after a few months I was not able to train him to use a litter box like the folks on rec.pets said I could, and I gave him away to someone who had other house rabbits. I don't like keeping creatures in cages, so once I realized I couldn't get past that I figured this was the correct thing to do.
The rabbit had been a distraction from the idea of cats, so after that I called up Judith, who as you know does a lot of cat rescue, and asked if I could get in line for a pair of kittens. She said "funny you should ask..."; just that week she had taken in a pregnant stray. I got Erik and Baldur from that litter, another SCA person got the two girls, and mom got spayed and still lives with Judith.
3. You made a fairly recent trip to Israel. If you went back again, what places would you visit that you didn't on your first trip?
I'd like to find out what's in the Negev, the desert in the south. We did go to Eilat (way down at the southern tip) so we drove through a little of it, but I gather there's stuff to see there.
We also didn't really do anything in Tel Aviv/Yaffo, but I don't know if there's really stuff to do there. It's a big city, but I don't know if there's anything special about it.
4. Plane, train, or automobile?
High-speed train if it were available. I like trains in principle, but to actually take one anywhere takes as long as driving, and I usually don't have that much time, even if the trains go there. So usually the options are plane (unpleasant but fast) or car (ok if I'm hitching a ride but not so great if I have to do all the driving).
5. What is your favorite movie?
I know this sounds wussy, but I don't really have single favorite books, movies, recordings, games, etc. It's all context-dependent and variable. A few movies I can watch a lot: Henry V, B5: In the Beginning, 1776, Dances With Wolves (yeah, I know), Real Genius. If you ask me in a month I'll almost certainly name different ones. I don't think of it as "fickle" but rather "varied". :-)
An SCA dance practice (in Porter Hall at CMU). I can't remember exactly when, but probably 1985 or 1986. He was a grad student at CMU at the time. He was into international folk dancing and that caused him to check us out.
2. Have you ever had any pets other than cats?
We had dogs when I was growing up. First was a Collie/Shepherd/small mix, Joby (acquired as a puppy), who was about six months younger than me. ("Small" meaning she was smaller than either of the other breeds so I kind of assume there was something else in there too, but we don't know because she came to us as "a mutt".) When I was 12 my father came home one day and said to my mom "you said you always wanted an Irish Setter, right?". A coworker of his had rescued a setter puppy who had clearly been abused, but couldn't keep the dog himself. So a day or two later we had a second dog, Shannon, and that's when we found out how dumb Irish Setters are. But he was affectionate and friendly (once he realized these people wouldn't hurt him), and he perked up our other dog.
I didn't get any pets of my own until I bought a house -- wanted them but didn't want the landlord hassles. I hadn't really planned to adopt a Dutch bunny (I named him Stuart, or Stu for short), but I saw an ad on a local newsgroup, did some quick research, and took him home. Alas, after a few months I was not able to train him to use a litter box like the folks on rec.pets said I could, and I gave him away to someone who had other house rabbits. I don't like keeping creatures in cages, so once I realized I couldn't get past that I figured this was the correct thing to do.
The rabbit had been a distraction from the idea of cats, so after that I called up Judith, who as you know does a lot of cat rescue, and asked if I could get in line for a pair of kittens. She said "funny you should ask..."; just that week she had taken in a pregnant stray. I got Erik and Baldur from that litter, another SCA person got the two girls, and mom got spayed and still lives with Judith.
3. You made a fairly recent trip to Israel. If you went back again, what places would you visit that you didn't on your first trip?
I'd like to find out what's in the Negev, the desert in the south. We did go to Eilat (way down at the southern tip) so we drove through a little of it, but I gather there's stuff to see there.
We also didn't really do anything in Tel Aviv/Yaffo, but I don't know if there's really stuff to do there. It's a big city, but I don't know if there's anything special about it.
4. Plane, train, or automobile?
High-speed train if it were available. I like trains in principle, but to actually take one anywhere takes as long as driving, and I usually don't have that much time, even if the trains go there. So usually the options are plane (unpleasant but fast) or car (ok if I'm hitching a ride but not so great if I have to do all the driving).
5. What is your favorite movie?
I know this sounds wussy, but I don't really have single favorite books, movies, recordings, games, etc. It's all context-dependent and variable. A few movies I can watch a lot: Henry V, B5: In the Beginning, 1776, Dances With Wolves (yeah, I know), Real Genius. If you ask me in a month I'll almost certainly name different ones. I don't think of it as "fickle" but rather "varied". :-)