Venice, Systems Engineering, and the would be Mosquito
Ami Gates 5/18/14

Here we are in Venice Italy. An amazing city built completely on water and with no cars. It is magnificent and yet rustic and old. Every photo taken is a work of art and all the coffee is smooth.

Two days into our trip, we were at our Homeaway on a Sunday evening. Jeremy had to give a lecture on Systems Engineering and I was cooking a soup.

Now, for those of you who are not aware, Jeremy is deathly terrified of mosquitos. As such, any flying bug will send him into a panic during which time he will shriek, curse (in Spanish), runaround frantically, and attempt to kill the flying culprit. At times, I have seen him stalk and chase a flying bug for over 45 minutes until victory was had. We also have a huge mosquito net that we travel with.

Well, as fate would have it, an unsuspecting flying insect wandered by Jeremy during his live lecture on Systems Engineering. In a complete freak-out and effort to attack the would-be mosquito, he thought he hit the pause/mute button but accidentally hit the “increase volume” option. Then, he proceeded to curse and run around the house slashing at the bug.

In the meantime, I had ventured into the bathroom and overheard the ruckus just in time to be barged in on. So naturally, I yelled that I was peeing and demanded that the bathroom be vacated immediately. A paranoid and frenzied Jeremy spun in a circle, looked at me apologetically, and then continued his hunt.

Soon after, he prevailed, and the insect was eradicated.
He then returned to un- pause his lecture only to realize that he had never muted or paused it. The entire event, including the declaration of urination was all recorded and saved for future viewing. He stared at his computer, thought for a moment about what to do, and then sat down and continued in a most calm and collected voice to explain the definition of systems engineering.