Friends

Part of the reason I have been in Mexico this week was to visit a friend who was having a heart procedure. Originally he thought he was going in to have pacemaker installed and to do some other minor corrective activity. But as with many other things in life this did not go as planned. They were not able to use a pacemaker with his particular problem and recovery has been slower. So each day I intend to move out of the hotel near the hospital and each day he is not ready so we re-up - the hotel staff must think us bonkers.

He seems to be on the mend a bit - last night we got down to discussions about our next set of projects - I have enjoyed working with him because he has energy and a wide range of interests. He is inventive in a situation (Mexico and Universities) where that is often lacking. In the places we have worked together he has developed some interesting programs with almost minimal resources (at least economic).

Yesterday I took a young associate of his to the Trotsky museum so my friend could rest a bit - that is a wonderful testimony to Socialism. Trotsky was a virtual prisoner in his own house and was finally done in by one of Stalin´s henchmen with an ice pick. The museum has been refurbished - when I went there first it was shabby with no real barriers. Now it even has alarms.

One of the highlights of this trip was bringing this friend an iShuffle fully loaded with music of my tastes but his also. Watching him listen to the mix was a true joy indeed