Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

Catfish and Mandala

I just finished reading Catfish and Mandala by Andrew X. Pham.It is a fascinating, moving, enthralling read. The book was thought provoking on lots of different levels. Pham and his family arrived in the US from Vietnam in 1977 when he was 10. Catfish and Mandala is the story of his family and of his life both in Vietnam and as an American immigrant.  It is also the story of his return to Vietnam and of his journey by bicycle through Vietnam. Although  the book is about his travels it is much more an exploration of Pham’s Vietnamese American  experience. It is really hard to describe this book because it delves into so much. But I couldn’t help feeling a connection to Pham  even though so much  of what he experienced is so alien to anything I have every experienced. Pham is an extraordinarily talented writer. I highly recommend the book.

I’m in Atlanta

I’m in Atlanta (actually Marietta) on business. The flight was smooth and on time, direct from Oakland to Atlanta. This is my first visit to Georgia outside of the Atlanta airport. I’m going to be pretty busy with meetings so I don’t imagine I’ll get to see much but it is still nice to be some place new. I ordered sweet tea with dinner, something I only do when I am in the south.

Telescopes

Last night Duke and I went with friends to the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland.  I enjoyed the exhibits but the planetarium and the telescopes were the highlights of the evening.  I didn’t know this but their telescopes are open to the public free of charge every Friday and Saturday night. It was so cool to go out into the night air in the dim red light and look at Venus through the refractor telescope. We looked out the window and saw Venus in the west and then looked through the telescope and saw that Venus looked just like a half moon. It was also really cool to realize that the telescope
is the original 1883 instrument donated by Anthony Chabot who founded
the center. We also looked through the  telescope which is the largest refractor in the western United open for public viewing and saw the globular cluster M15. It gave me shivers.

The planetarium at Chabot was just reopened recently. It has the latest and greatest in the way of planetarium equipment. The man who gave presentation had just the right amount of fascination and awe about the universe mixed with a scientific skepticism and telling of the facts.  The planetarium night sky was wonderful. At one point he raised the lights a bit to show us how the lights of the bay area wash out the stars. I think that was part of what made the bay area night sky of the planetarium so awe inspiring, It was just like we were up in the back country of the Sierras able to see the millions of stars that take your breath away.

When we left the planetarium we went for dinner to the Downtown Restaurant in Berkeley. Last time we went there the dinner was great and this time I thought it was even better.

Inside Track

My daughter  started a new job last August. She is working for a great small company called Inside Track. They are doing something that I don’t think has been done before. Inside Track  provide success coaches to college students  and they sell the service to the colleges. There was an interesting article about the company in USA Today a few days ago. The article  explains how the Inside Track business model makes a lot of sense. From a student’s point of view having an inside track coach makes a lot of sense too.  It is no wonder  they are growing so fast.