Screen Shots

In “The Lord of the Rings,” Pippen waits for the coming war in Gondor and remarks to Beregond, the soldier of Minas Tirith, that the battle preparations seem to have come to a pause. Beregond replies that it is because everything is now ready; this is but “the deep breath before the plunge.”
Yeah, they gave that line to Gandalf in the movie.
That, however, is the state at which Samantha and Dave’s wedding rests. All of the decisions, hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth have past. Now everyone who doesn’t live in Havens has their plane tickets and are set to arrive. (Don’s team was eliminated from the NBA playoffs, so he’s free.)
Dave’s teammates are flying in from Florence on the Wednesday before the wedding, and few of them speak English so Dave will be busy translating for them. That’s probably for the best; giving the groom a task that he can focus on that’s removed from the actual battle plans of the ceremony.
Dave and Samantha spent an afternoon with Ms. Havens for the perfunctory pre-marriage counseling. Since Ms. Havens (I still can’t call her Sue!) feels that the two are eternal soul mates and who really don’t need counseling on making a relationship work, it ready turned into a catching-up session.
One more thing. Why do I think a “storm” will be involved? What, you’re new to this crowd?

We all know that the captain of a ship (and a number of other officials) can perform wedding ceremonies, but the director of a day care center? Apparently so, although they’d have go through the same ordination procedures as anyone else.
That was the case with Ms. Havens who, about a decade ago, decided that running a day care center didn’t offer quite enough opportunities for responsibility and chaos. She chose to become qualified to marry individuals who sought her special brand of firm, maternal control during a ceremony.
I certainly can’t argue with Samantha’s choice. In Sue Havens she’s getting someone proven to handle the unexpected…which considering our group’s track record occurs more often than not.
In other wedding news, Samantha has changed Palmtop back into Pam Topp. With the dorm closed for the summer “Pam” has moved into one of the spare bedrooms in the former Argus house, now owned by Luis and Jenny. Those two are happy with the arrangement as it provides yet another adult human in residence to assist with Candide’s child care.
The wedding is five weeks away. Actually, four weeks and six days now. I’m glad I’m on the other side of the country, and that all I have to do as one of Dave’s groomsmen is to upload a tux image to the screen of my mascot costume.

With all the preparations that Samantha has obsessed over for the wedding, she’s been dragging her feet on the things that involve others giving her stuff. That’s so her; even when she’s in Bridezilla Mode she’s thinking of others rather than her own self-interest.
That meant she was long overdue in planning a bridal shower, or even in setting up a gift registry. Eventually her bridesmaids insisted that it had to be done, so somewhat reluctantly she went along.
For her gift registry she was told to put down things she really needed, and one big-ticket item just to see what would happen. As it’s turned out, no; no one has bought her an electron microscope.
The shower was another problem as Samantha didn’t want to inconvenience her friends, some of whom would have to travel a great distance. (That would be Bambi and Remora who are both in Vegas right now. Bambi is rehearsing for her summer concert tour while staying with Remora, Thomas and little Marlon.)
So instead, she just had an online shower with everybody chatting. That seemed to fit everyone’s busy schedules, and the only one discomfited by the outcome was Samantha’s mom. As Governor, she tends to see everything as a potential photo op.
Having the wedding at the Governor’s mansion will more than make up for that loss.

It’s always been the plan that Samantha and Dave would accompany Bambi on her summer tour, after the rest of us had stints with her during the fall, winter and spring. Since they’re getting married on June 15, that would in effect be their honeymoon.
The thing is, Bambi is between CDs so she’s not selling out arenas right now, In fact, every one of her dates are at amusement parks.
Dave was initially thrilled to hear this, since he’s a roller coaster aficionado and traveling around the country visiting theme parks is a dream come true. That is, he was thrilled until Samantha told him how it looked from her perspective.
Outdoor summer concerts are a distinct challenge for touring musicians, even under canopies. With temperatures occasionally in the high 90s, the physical exertion reaches the demands experienced by professional athletes (like Dave). Samantha was simply unsure that she could cope.
Luis consulted with me, as I know a thing or two about being cool inside a mascot costume during the summer. He designed an A/C system that should keep her from overdoing it, and in the end Samantha’s innate love of drumming won out.

Once upon a time, Samantha, Dave, Jenny and I attended the Safe Havens Day Care Center, run by Sue Havens. After we all went into kindergarten that locale receded from our lives.
Probably it was only Samantha who was aware that, through all the ups and downs of the past twenty years, Ms. Havens was still quietly nurturing wave after wave of young minds in the same converted residential house. She’s even outlasted her nemesis, the rival Mega-Care Center across the street which went out of business in the late 1990s. (The imposing building was torn down to be replaced by a bucolic park.)
When Jenny began shopping for a day care option for Candide she was astonished when Samantha told her that she could be that rarest of things: a day care Legacy. She and Luis visited Ms. Havens, in her sixties, with her once-blonde hair now an un-dyed white pulled into a bun, and still with the energy to keep up with her charges. It was a foregone conclusion that Candide will enter there on Jan 2, the day after she turns two.
I have fond memories of my time there. I was shy, and retreated into a box on a daily basis. Instead of forcing me to become something I wasn’t, Ms. Havens helped me develop in a way that felt natural, and eventually find success in both my career and personal life on my own terms. I’m forever grateful.

With the wedding now making its final approach for landing (just two months away) the last thing Samantha needs in her life right now is additional turbulence…but that’s what she’s got.
First, she’s been completely unable to make the data stripe on Rosalind’s face go away. It seems to be an absolutely permanent part of her pigment, and no matter how many times Samantha alters her genetics it stays in place. Rosalind finally told her to give up; she’d just hide it with makeup from now on. Samantha still felt responsible, and demanded to pay for all the makeup Rosalind will be using from now. Rosalind did take her up on that offer.
The other issue concerned the dodos Paul and Mary, the original birds that she transformed from a rooster and a hen. After the wedding on June 15 Samantha will be heading out on the road for Bambi’s concert tour, and the dodos will travel to Stanford to join their son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The daughter-in-law (who hasn’t yet been given a human name) has taken exception to this arrangement and has gotten quite territorial. One hopes that the researchers out at Stanford have some skill at deftly managing social conflicts, but that can’t be counted on. They’re researchers.
Since Marcy and I are nearby in San Jose we promised to check in on them when Marcy’s team isn’t on the road.

Security is a major concern at the university’s genetics lab, especially since there have been some recent breaches with potentially devastating consequences. Of course, Samantha hears the phrase “major concern” and mentally translates it as “a problem I need to solve.”
She attacked it from the standpoint of creating a data card that was totally unique to one specific individual. Form there she reasoned, what if the data card *was* that particular individual, and the data was their genetic profile? Rosalind, who is always up for any sort of transformation, immediately volunteered.
The process worked, although there are obvious drawbacks in that not everyone at the lab is as eager to switch species as Rosalind or Rupert. The trouble began when Rosalind changed back. She was human again, but the data stripe remained.
So now Samantha has another problem. The stripe itself isn’t digital anymore, but reads out in plain English the likelihood of Rosalind contracting specific illnesses. It’s obviously not something anyone would want displayed to the world.
Makeup succeeded in hiding it, but that’s obviously a temporary solution. Samantha has her work cut out for her on this one.

It seems that every bridesmaid harbors a secret fear of the dress that her friend the Bride will choose for her. This was one of the reasons Marcie was thankful that Samantha didn’t ask her to be a bridesmaid. (Marcie was scheduled to play a WNBA game on June 15, and Samantha didn’t want to force that kind of conflict on her.)
That left eight young women at Samantha’s mercy, two of whom were Samantha’s sisters, and another was her transformed cat Palmtop (a.k.a., Pam Topp.) The remaining five were Jenny, Bambi, Remora, Ming and Rosalind. Of those, Samantha had already been a bridesmaid for Ming and Remora, and Jenny saved her trouble by getting hitched at a Las Vegas wedding chapel.
Samantha chose a design that none of them would be embarrassed to wear, and then she made the big reveal: she would pay for the dresses out of her own pocket. One could almost hear eight jaws dropping on their respective keyboards.
Okay, seven jaws. Palmtop probably assumed she’d be given a free ride, being a cat and all.

Florence, Italy grew upon the banks of the Arno River, and the most famous of its bridges is the Ponte Vecchio. Standing since the Renaissance, it’s one of the city’s most photogenic sights, perhaps second only to the Duomo.
Recently a custom sprang up in which couples affixed a lock to the iron railings of the bridge and threw the key into the water below.  That romantic gesture caught on, and soon masses of locks were dangling from the bridge, becoming a threat to its structural integrity. The practice was soon banned, although one does still find locks surreptitiously appearing during the night hours.
When Dave told Samantha about the custom he knew that she just had to take part, but that she could never bring herself to consciously break the law…especially if it would put Dave in jeopardy. Of course, Samantha just took that as a challenge.
She created a lock that would dissolve when exposed to the atmosphere, which it did before the eyes of two of Florence’s Finest who were about to take Dave in. When it vanished before their eyes the only thing left for them to do was ask for Dave’s autograph.

I wish everybody a happy St. Patrick’s Day.  In honor of the occasion I’m using a green screen saver on my mascot costume.  (With a green screen its a good thing I’m doing any on-camera appearances, as I’d be invisible.)
Meanwhile, even with the wedding three months away the strain is showing on Samantha.  She’s avoided any further Bridezilla transformations, but that doesn’t lessen the demands she’s taken on.
The rest of us have travel plans to contend with. Unfortunately, Marcie and the San Jose Twitters will be playing at Seattle against the Storm on that day so she won’t be able to attend.  However, since it’s an away game for us I’m free to make the trip.  After all, I’m one of Dave’s groomsmen. (Yes, I’ve downloaded my tuxedo app.)
Hopefully Spring Break will allow Samantha to get caught up on the preparations. Dave, back in Italy, is busy playing for Pallacanestro Firenze.  I know the two miss each other, and the rest of us don’t know how they’re going to make a long-distance marriage work.  They Skype every day, even they admit it’s not a substitute for actual contact.