Today was both my annual review <1> and the meeting where I held forth with the viewgraphs. They loved me; everything went like gangbusters - a promotion as well as a tasty raise were suggested. Will know for sure in a few days.

The boss from New Jersey assures me that the "Host" computers will turn over w/o problem at 2000. These are the ancient IBM mainframes which process radar data into the information displayed on controllers' screen, as well as drive the very system I work on. This guy is an Atlantic City native, and he was full of amusing tales of that resort when it was really something - he worked on the piers as a teenager in the fabulous fifties. His brother was in radio and would bring home celebrities for dinner (like Bill Halley & the Comets and the Beach Boys). This man's about nine years older than me; I like him a lot.

Nowadays you might go to Atlantic City to lose money at a casino, but if you're in aviation you're probably there for the big FAA National Test Center (NTC). This is where air traffic control systems are stress-tested with simulated data. (I'm trying to wrangle a short business trip there.) The boss, with his usual optimistic jocularity, says countless simulations have shown they'll be fine come Y2K.

A moment of silence for the dead, please. (Today was the catastrophic ICE train crash in the Fatherland).