The IBM Learning Center is a weird place. It’s built in campus style, with all of the buildings widely separated — not the way I would have designed a training center in snow country. The rooms are rather spartan, but serviceable. And the Fitness Center is absolutely wonderful…except that it’s a long cold walk away from the dorms…err, hotel buildings…and it has rather limited hours (6am-9pm, with gaps during meeting times).

My meeting didn’t end last night until 8:30, so I couldn’t go to the Fitness Center then. And the weather forecast for today was snow, so I didn’t even bother setting my alarm early enough to go this morning. But the snow was very light and had ended by the time I went for breakfast at 7am; oh, well.

And I really need to get to the Fitness Center, because one thing that the Learning Center does well is feed people. This meeting includes three buffet meals a day, as well as continuously-available snacks and drinks — and it’s all tasty. But today isn’t likely to be a Fitness Center day either, because I’ll be in my meeting till 11pm. I see lots of caffeine in my future….

I got to the IBM Learning Center a bit after midnight, and, foolishly, checked my e-mail before going to bed. I found a note from a colleague asking me if I could help out with something we were working on, because he was going to be out for a while, burying his son, who had fallen on ice while doing volunteer work, hit his head, and died.

And then this evening, I got the call I was expecting, telling me that the friend who I’d written about on Saturday had died.

May both of their memories be blessings.