Unauthorized Person on the Tracks

This is the first blog entry I am doing on my new MacBook Pro, Boethius. (Yes, I know it was the name of my old bike, but Rich's MacBook Pro is Aquinas, and Kathbert's was Praetorius, so Boethius kind of matches theirs.) It was an adventure just getting started, because the instructions said just push the power button and it would turn on, so I pushed the power button... and nothing happened. I called Apple Support, and they said plug it in, so I did, and then it worked. Odd, because the instructions specifically said the battery would be charged enough for it to just start, but anyway it's working now. So I finally have my own laptop.

I forgot to mention during my last post (which was long enough) that on Saturday, while we were taking the Red Line of the El in Chicago, the train suddenly stopped and the power went out completely. As you may remember, Saturday was beastly hot, so it was not that pleasant on the train with no air conditioning. Then the conductor told us, "An unauthorized individual has fallen on the tracks, so they have turned the power off for the whole system. Once this medical emergency has been cleared up, we will resume service." We all looked at each other in shock, because if there is one thing we all knew, it is that making contact with the third rail generally causes more than a "medical emergency," in that it is usually fatal. Then the guy across from us said, "An unauthorized individual? Can you imagine the person who is authorized to do that?" He pointed at me and said, "'You! You're authorized to fall on the tracks!'" and we all laughed. Later I looked up on my iPhone whether there was any news about the unfortunate unauthorized soul, but all I found were stories about people in May and July who fell on the tracks. One guy died and the woman was in critical condition. So hopefully this person was okay, or there would have been a news item about him or her.

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