My amazing daughters have a text chain going. They named the group "Smith Babes", which somehow included me. Jill was eventually added, and so far I have not been booted.
Here, in three (ish) acts, are tales of the Smith Babes
Running out of Alphabets
Alex is in New Orleans, finishing up a hybrid semester at Loyola, living in an apartment and taking mostly on-line courses. Certainly, she's just a few blocks away from the school, but much of her school is still virtual.
Even the classes that are in-person have been disrupted by the 53 named storms that have landed in or around New Orleans this year. She has actually been very fortunate, as it was only the recent Hurricane Zeta that hit New Orleans directly, taking out power for the city.
Having run out of A-Z names, and finishing up the Greek alphabet, I am left to wonder what's next in the taxonomy? Sanscrit? I honestly believe I could do this better. They skipped a whole bunch of English letters - like X, Y and Z. Xavier? Yolanda? Zachary? Zoom? Hurricane Zoom is the perfect distillation of 2020. And then, like Excel, shouldn't Hurricanes go into the double letters? Hurricane Aaron. Hurricane BB King. Hurricane CeeCee. Hurricane DeeDee. Hurricane EE Cummings. Hurricane French Fry. Hurricane GiGi. Hurricane Hubert Humphrey. This is not that hard. All of these are preferable to "Hurricane Nana." I want this job.
Our Lady of Lake Travis University
Abby was not able to go back to Trinity this fall, but was able to move out to my brother's lake house with my niece Hannah and another displaced college student to join a collective distance learning cooperative. It sucks that she isn't able to be back in San Antonio, but it has certainly been nicer for her than the alternative Smith House Community College.
She is working on getting dorm housing for the spring, with a backup being long-term stay in a hotel for the spring. I was thinking about how much fun that sounds is entirely dependent upon how old you are. The 20 year-old me might have enjoyed that for a month, maybe two. The now me thinks that I would hate this within four days.
Tracking Varmints
Kaileigh is in the midst of her next research project - tracking the efficacy of aerial vaccines to inoculate racoons and oppossums in South Carolina against a specific form of rabies. She loves the work, and is living her best life. I worry that with only a few days left before the election, the president might hear about this and decide to have the Air Force fly over cities dropping hydroxychloroquine, or Windex, or whatever. But who am I kidding? She is engaged in a scientific study, so no way it comes anywhere near him.
Speaking of Kaileigh and voting, I got this exact text this week:
"Hi Russell, this is Josh with TX Dems - thanks for casting your ballot! Public records say you may live with Kaileigh who hasn't voted yet. Can you make a plan with them to vote?"
Several things here. First - kudos to Josh for not assuming which pronouns Kaileigh prefers. And kudos to the democrats for their ground game and use of data to support get out the vote efforts to remove the orange pestilence from the White House.
But, holy fuck! Josh knew that I voted, that Kaileigh hadn't yet, and that she gets her mail sent to our house (Josh was a bit off there). There is way too much accessible info about us out there.
As evidenced by his follow-up text two days later:
"Hi Russell, this is Josh with TX Dems again. I saw that you had take-out at Mi Amigo food truck on St. John's. How are their carnitas tacos?"
