4.13.12 - Anniversary joys

4.2.12 - Random evening

Tonight after work I took a half hour nap. That shows you how desperate I was. It was okay, though it would've been nicer if I didn't need to get up at all.

I worked on some SPL stuff which, after how busy I was last week with no time to do so, was a relief.

I worked out. I couldn't think of anything I really wanted to watch so I watched the first two episodes of the first season of Saved By The Bell. They were nostalgic and awful, haha.

Then I realized Jack had actually gotten back to the apartment awhile ago and was making us both dinner. :) He wouldn't let me in the kitchen because he wanted to surprise me with what ended up being a great tortellini covered in a tomato spinach sauce and a bottle of moscato.  I joked that Jack and I don't really have a song but we do have a wine: Mirassou moscato. Whatever, it's delicious.  We laughed about how if we ever got married, instead of dancing to a song we dont' have, we could just walk to the center of the dance floor in dead silence, stand side-by-side, and each chug a bottle of Mirassou. Delicious. ROMANTIC.

Anyway, we enjoyed dinner and some 70's songs off Pandora that actually remind us of high school, though we went to high school in the...oughts?  We then looked at a bunch of funny pictures online and laughed a lot.  I laughed hardest, probably, at this one:

Now he's getting whatever dessert he had in mind while I wait in suspense in another room.  Not bad for a random night.

2.25.12 - Mockingjay

Yesterday, after Jack left for work in the morning, I went to BreadCo by myself and had a pecan braid while I read a few chapters of Mockingjay.  I then had a quick drive up to SF, not having to stop even once on Franklin--the lights just lined up for me.

I made some extra cash doing construction-related work for a little over six hours at Dad's house.  Most of that time I was by myself, either listening to Law and Order episodes or Pandora's Pink-by-Aerosmith station, a lot of which reminds me of high school, actually (AC/DC, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Queen...)  At one point in the middle I got to visit with Ellen and Charles for awhile too.

When it got a bit later, I had a good workout on the elliptical machine while reading more of Mockingjay.  I've been reading while I workout all week because I am enjoying the Hunger Games trilogy that much. I love being really into a book series.

I then cleaned the kitchen while I made dinner and talked to Jack on his ride home from work.  We got to eat together for a bit, and then we lay in bed for about an hour, him reading Catching Fire and me reading Mockingjay.  It was very relaxing.

Pleasant day.

2011 Dates

1. Jan 4 - Tangled
2. Jan 15 - Mt. Tam picnic
3. Jan 20 - Edoko
4. Jan 28 - Triple Rock Brewery
5. Feb 5 - Zachary's Pizza
6. Feb 11 - car picnic date
7. Feb 20 - Sausalito Italian Cafe
8. Feb 26 - The Fighter
9. Mar 4 - Edoko
10. Mar 13 - Battle Los Angeles
11. Mar 18 - Solano Cellars Wine Tasting
12. Mar 27 - Angeline's
13. Mar 30 - Zachary's
14. April 7 - BreadCo
15. April 16 - Source Code
16. April 17 - Noodle Theory
17. April 23 - Homemade Bread picnic
18. May 7 - Olive Garden (after apartment hunting)
19. May 11 - Edoko
20. May 20 - Barney's
21. May 21 - I Squared
22. May 26 - Zachary's
23. May 31 - Thaiger Thai Food (first San Mateo date)
24. June 10 - Super 8
25. June 16 - TGIF
26. June 25 - Chez Saigon
27. June 26 - Rocca's (late anniversary date)
28. July 4 - Foster City Festival and Ben & Jerry's
29. July 9 - Steelhead Brewery & ice cream
30. July 18 - U-Buffet
31. July 22 - Harry Potter 7.2 in 3D
32. July 26 - The Attick (and Blush frozen yogurt)
33. Aug 1 - U-Buffet
34. Aug 6 - Rise of Planet of the Apes
35. Aug 20 - Picnic at the playground (and Blush)
36. Aug 27 - Grand Lake Coffee House and later BreadCo (failed USS Hornet attempt)
37. Sept 1 - Sapore Italiano
38. Sept 11 - Half Moon Bay Beach picnic!!
39. Sept 23 - BreadCo picnic and swings in San Mateo central park
40. Oct 9 - Ides of March
41. Oct 15 - Edoko
42. Oct 23 - Monagan's On The Hill
43. Oct 30 - Squat & Gobble
44. Nov 5 - Lanesplitter
45. Nov 12 - Apple Hill (picnic, Apple Pantry Farm, Oak Chan, Davis)
46. Dec 3 - SF Bach Choir (& hot chocolate)
47. Dec 10 - Coconut Bay lunch
48. Dec 11 - Baywatch Cafe
49. Dec 18 - USS Hornet
50. Dec 21 - Olive Garden

1.14.12 - 2011 Date Nights

Before I put my 2011 calendar away...

1.4.11 - Movie night: Tangled (excellent)

1.15.11 - Picnic on Mt. Tam

1.20.11 - Edoko dinner (all-you-can-eat-sushi)

1.28.11 - Triple Rock Brewery dinner

2.5.11 - Zachary's (pizza)

2.11.11 - Car picnic overlooking the Bay

2.20.11 - breakfast at a cafe in Sausalito

2.26.11 - Movie night: The Fighter

3.4.11 - Edoko dinner

3.13.11 - Movie night: Battle LA (suck)

3.18.11 - Solano Cellars wine tasting (bonus thunderstorm)

3.27.11 - Angeline's dinner (cajun cuisine)

3.30.11 - Zachary's dinner

4.7.11 - Panera BreadCo lunch

4.16.11 - Movie night: Source Code (excellent)

4.17.11 - Noodle Theory lunch

4.23.11 - picnic overlooking bay (homemade bread)

5.7.11 - Olive Garden lunch

5.11.11 - Edoko dinner

5.21.11 - I Squared dinner

5.26.11 - Zachary's dinner

5.31.11 - Thaiger Thai food dinner (first San Mateo date)

6.10.11 - Movie night: Super 8 (excellent)

6.16.11 - TGIF dinner

6.25.11 - Chez Saigon dinner

6.26.11 - Rocca's dinner (very belated anniversary celebration)

7.9.11 - Steelhead Brewery & then ice cream

7.18.11 - U-Buffet (all-you-can-eat sushi)

7.22.11 - Movie night: Harry Potter 7.2 in 3D (excellent)

7.26.11 - The Attic dinner (and Blush frozen yogurt after)

8.1.11 - U-Buffet dinner

8.6.11 - Movie night: Rise of Planet of the Apes (excellent)

8.20.11 - Playground picnic

8.27.11 - Grand Lake Coffee House breakfast

9.1.11 - Sapore Italiano dinner

9.11.11 - Half Moon Bay picnic!!

9.23.11 - Panera picnic at playground (swings after)

10.9.11 - Movie night: Ides of March (pretty good)

10.15.11 - Edoko lunch

10.23.11 - Monagan's On The Hill dinner

10.30.11 - Squatt & Gobble dinner

11.5.11 - Lanesplitter dinner

11.12.11 - Apple Hill!!

11.20.11 - Godfather Burger (with Odoms)

12.3.11 - San Francisco Bach Choir concert

12.10.11 - Coconut Bay dinner

12.11.11 - Baywatch Cafe breakfast

12.18.11 - USS Hornet tour

12.21.11 - Olive Garden dinner

:)

1.12.12 - My new job...

Is Awesome.

I've been working at the Boys and Girls Club for just over a week and I love it.  In the mornings I help the Executive Director with administrative stuff.  So far it's nothing I can't handle and he's very appreciative.  The rest of the staff are also nice and relatively laid-back.  I think I'm the only new staff in some time, so everyone else knows very well what they're doing and they're a great support system.

In the afternoons I help watch the kids, and I love it.  They're good kids.  

My first day I had a kid disobey me directly; the site supervisor pulled the kid aside and the three of us talked, and the kid has been no trouble since.  On the contrary, he sits at my office desk to do his homework and keeps asking me to play him in pool.  And since that first day no other kid has directly disobeyed me.  Sure, I have to repeat myself ALL THE TIME but once I get a Tone I don't seem to have any problem.  

Meanwhile there are many kids who seem to like me quite a lot.  My desk is right out in the main rec room, as opposed to in an office or in a separate room like the library.  Frankly I really like it that way.  I get to see the kids more and they feel free to walk up to my "office" and sit and chat with me.  

My desk is also directly outside the computer room, so I am typically in charge of rotating the kids out of the 10 or so computers every 15 minutes.  They know the drill really well, and often at the 12th or 13th minute they will leave their computers early to try to get in the wait line first and get a double turn.  Today I began using computer time as a bribe, and it worked fantastically.  I offered four boys the chance to have two 15-minute shifts in a row if they picked up all the litter on the playground (juice boxes and granola wrappers from snack time, mainly).  They jumped at the chance and were remarkably meticulous.  I'm pretty sure the word of this new system will spread fast and people will be asking me if they can pick up trash by tomorrow.  :)

I love helping the kids with their homework.  There are way too many kids for me to help them all so it's the one's who seek me out who get help, and it's pretty pleasant working with kids who really do want to do their homework.  Plus it gives me more of a chance to talk to them.  

  

I know it's a bit early for me to decide definitively how I feel about this job, but so far I just completely love it.  I'm still going to grad school and everything, but this was a great decision for the interim.

12.23.11 - Last day at the law firm.

I went to work to find everyone giving each other baked goods and alcohol and other gifts.  I had made cards for my own team, but several people had made gifts for every single person at the firm!  I walked out of there with several different sets of baked goods, a gift card to Panera, and a bottle of Merlot.  Plus my team had its own Secret Santa and Nanci got me a 500 recipe 5-ingredient cookbook.  Yessss.  I made Ian an elaborate and purposefully difficult Harry Potter crossword, which he is looking forward to.  What's more, several people in the office wanted their own copies of it.  It's pretty spectacular when people thoroughly enjoy a gift that took so much effort.  It was also a convenient segue into many Harry Potter-based conversations, which were fun.

The morning went by quickly and then everyone headed over to a local restaurant for the firm Christmas Party.  This firm has a tradition called the Rookie Show which they host every Christmas.  Every person who was hired within the last year has to perform in what amounts to a silly talent show.  Since today is my last day, I probably could've gotten out of it, but I'd already re-written "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" for the occasion, so I decided to just go ahead and do it.  I was the 4th act up and the ones before me included a very good violinist, so that was tricky to follow.  In the end, though, I didn't get booed (a common occurrence at the Rookie Show) and actually got a fair amount of applause, so I was satisfied.

The rest of the show was a lot of fun to watch.  Some people were truly talented (great pop-and-lock routine, for example) and others embraced their talentlessness wonderfully, and it ended up being a lot of laughs.  Afterward I gave my team the Christmas cards I'd made them (which had included copies of my poem, hence not giving them out before the show) and got my bonus and said goodbye.  Two of my team reiterated that if I ever need recommendations or other support to let them know, which was very sweet.  

I'm really glad today ended up being my last day because I doubt I could've left on a higher note than that.

On to packing to go to ST. LOUIS tomorrow!!  Woohoo!

Home Video production

12.5.11 - So Many Good Things Are Happening Right Now I Have To Make A List

1. Someone at work at a client conference or co-counsel conference or some other kind of conference that involved lunch, and I got to take two extra sandwiches home for dinner (one for me, one for a late-snack for Jack when he comes home) and I am now eating the one for me, and it has EGGPLANT on it (which should almost get it's own entry in this list.)

2. I found the Christmas CDs I'd burned last year, and am listening to a live version of Mariah Carey's "O Holy Night" that I forgot about and that I love maybe more than the recorded version.

3. I just changed out of my work clothes into baggy pajamas even though it is only 6:21pm.

4. I just turned on my space heater.

5. When you pull into my apartment complex the Christmas tree from our apartment (2nd floor) is the first thing you see, and it's pretty.

6. I got a letter from Hugo WITH PICTURES.

7. And right after that I got a text from Jill saying Sola loves the chess word search I made her.

8. I gave notice at work today.

9. And my boss was totally understanding about it.

10. And then I signed the contract for the job I am switching to and picked up the application.  Get that?  I already have the job and I haven't even formally applied yet.

11.  And the job is at the Boys and Girls Club, and I suspect it will be a great experience.  Super excited!

11.29.11 - Visiting the Kiddies, Tday 2011

This note is not in chronological order!

This Thanksgiving trip was awesome.  I'm always very happy to be with all 4 of my siblings simultaneously, and now I have a separate, additional joy of seeing my step-siblings and Rocket.  Sola and Harrison are very sweet kids and I spent as much time as possible with them over this long weekend.  

Jill and I went with them to the playground most days.  The first time Sola offered me a kiss if I would push her and Harrison on the tire swing.  I figure that's a good deal.  Also a good workout, which in no way negated the massive quantities of Thanksgiving/junk food I had all week, but whatever.  Anyway, Harrison liked for me to watch him on the monkey bars.  Another day Sola and I went on the "big kid" swings for a long time, just talking about her Girl Scouts troop and who knows what else.  Sometimes she asks a lot of questions.  It's very enjoyable.

I also got to accompany them to the library on the way home one day, which was very nostalgic.  I've always loved libraries, including when I was a kid.  I also loved being read bedtime stories, and I find nowadays I love listening to Jill read the kids bedtime stories.

That's another thing I got to do--Sola and Harrison share the fold-out bed in the living room when they're in town.  One evening Jack and I sat by the fire listening to Jill read them a book about a clever little pig tricking a fox, and then a book about...Nuffle Bunny?  Or something.  And while they were cuddled up listening to her, Rocket kept going up to Jack, pointing to Jack's apple, and making the "more" hand signal.  Jack would say "What do you say?" and Rocket would make the "please" hand signal, and then Jack gave him a piece of apple.  Then Rocket would climb into the folded-out couch, climb out the other side, walk around the coffee table and the chair I was sitting in, back to Jack, and repeat.  Rocket seems to like eating and then circling things.

On Saturday Dad, Jill, Jack and I took the kids to the Redwood Railway, which was a huge success.  Harrison was especially excited to be there, and the place was great.  Beautiful redwood scenery stretching almost as far as you could see, a steam engine with a great whistle, and young boys--maybe 12-ish?--collecting train tickets and oiling the tracks.  You could tell they loved their jobs.  How cool of a job would that be for a 12-year-old?  Sola was concerned about the steep cliff drop that Dad kept insisting was coming up.  She suspected he was lying but just wasn't entirely sure.  I taught her to call him a "charlatan" and she liked that.  Later we rode the train without Dad and made a devious plan to tell him that therewas a huge cliff and we jumped it and it was so much fun!  She told him that and he clearly didn't expect it.  It was pretty funny.

During one ride it was just Jack, Sola, Harrison and me, and I kept singing parts of this very cool version of the ABCs, and Harrison really liked that.  After awhile it went from "I say 'A'!" to "I say 'Harrison'! I say 'Sola'! I say 'Pet pals'!" and whatever else the kids wanted to sing.  They thought it was hilarious.  I also showed them Mahna Mahna for the first time, and they loved it and watched it all weekend.

Another theme of this trip was chess.  Sola was examining a chess game Neil and Everett had been playing and exclaimed that two pawns directly in front of each other were about to kill each other.  So I explained that's not how pawns attack.  And it went from there.

I taught her and Harrison together, but Harrison kept interrupting the instructions to ask when we could start playing.  Ah well.  I helped them play a full game against each other and it was filled with anticipation and anxiety and delight and heartbreak!  In fact there was a point at which each of them was ready to cry and I had to pause the game.  I turned to Harrison.

"Are you going to get upset?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, then we aren't going to play anymore."

"No!"

"So are you going to get upset?"

"No!"

"Okay, good." 

Then I turned to Sola.

"Are you going to get upset?"

"Well...I might be a little disappointed, but I'll be okay."

"Okay good."

Haha.

So they finished.  Sola won, but Harrison seemed mollified by them shaking hands and saying "good game." 

Harrison played one or two more games with Sola over the course of the trip, but he wasn't into it and didn't really understand.  So I started playing Sola.  It's tricky playing at the right level to where they are learning and you aren't just crushing them, but I think I got it.  We discussed a lot of strategy and it was just completely delightful to watch her grasp the game more fully with each session.  She wears everything on her face--intense focus, fear, surprise, mischief, everything!

However, she lacks the necessary killer instinct.  Once I showed her the 6 places her knight could move: 4 places in which I could kill the knight, one place in which the knight was safe but useless, and one place in which the knight would take my pawn and fork my queen and rook.  She chose the safe, useless spot.  She said the knight was afraid and wanted to stay closer to its side.

Another time we traded queens.  I killed her queen first.  She apologized as she killed my queen.  Haha.  I said "You don't have to apologize, Sola--this is war!" She said "Yes, but we're step-sisters!"

During other times she would take captured pawns and pretend they were flying above the board, talking to the live pieces from heaven.

I decided to go ahead and drive up to SF after work last night (Monday) to hang out with them one more time, and Sola and I played two chess games.  She seemed to be thinking very hard about the entire concept.  She asked "Why do we have to kill the pieces? Why can't we just hurt them?" She went on to ask questions about real war, such as whether our soldiers keep white flags with them in case they don't want to fight.  She was emphatic that if she ever had to be in a real war she would surrender right away.  And that she'd rather be a teacher.  Not sure where that came from.  

I wanted her to win at least one game against me, lest she get down from losing repeatedly, but it was harder than I thought because she didn't want to hurt my king.

One final story: last night Rocket kept hiding behind Dad's office chair and peeking out at me.  I would yell "BOO!" and he'd laugh really hard and do it 1-2 more times.  After about the 3rd time he's squeal and run toward me, and then stand right in front of me and turn around facing away from me, prepared to be tickled.  It was the funniest thing.  I'd tickle him a bunch and he'd squeal with delight and wave his arms up and down and then he'd run back behind the chair and start over.

The end.

PS - I also had a great time visiting with my full-grown siblings.  Julie and I especially got to talk when I drove her to the airport.  Neil, Ellen, Everett and I stayed up to around 3am Saturday talking and laughing.  It was great.  The stories just aren't quite as adorable.  Except Everett! *pinches cheek*

Thanksgiving 2011

All of these are good memories from Thanksgiving of 2011, the year I had first started my Joy Inventory.

11.21.11 - Julie is pregnant.

I waited impatiently for work to be finished and then waited somewhat happily/excitedly in rush hour traffic to get to the house and a) see everyone! and b) witness Julie telling them she's pregnant.

When I first arrived Rocket kept staring at me in what appeared to be stunned confusion.  Apparently 19-month-old babies don't remember you from 5 months ago.  But he got over it relatively quick.  Jill has taught him baby hand signals.  He can say "more" and "please" and he uses both of those all the time.  Very adorable.  I did not realize how much babies can understand even when they can't verbally articulate it.  He also uses a sort of high-pitched squeal to say "yes."  As far as actual words, he is getting more comfortable with "Mama," "Dada," "Uh oh," and "Up!"  Slowly.

Meanwhile, Sola is comorftable with all words all the time.  I feel a particular affinity for her because she reminds me so much of me as an 8-year-old.  She actually talks more, but I can appreciate that.  She's also more into kittens than I believe I ever was.  Very sweet girl.  She greeted me wearing a dollar-tree type tiara Ellen had given her, and immediately apologized for not writing me a letter yet, it's just that she's "been very busy."  Like 8-year-olds are.

11.2.11 - November happy

Today:

1) Bosses were out of the office all day, leading to the calm environment needed to catch up on a lot of background projects.  Both relaxing and productive.

2) I had tutoring, which I like more all the time.  The girl finished a chapter of Nancy Drew (a new record) so as a reward I showed her how to make these:

As a bonus, her adorable 5-year-old sister joined us.  We each did one hand print, glued it together, and wrote our names next to our respective hand prints.  They were pretty tickled by this and excited to take the turkey home.  Super cute.

3) I came home to a heated apartment.  It's not that chilly out here but it's just chilly enough to justify a heated apartment, and it was really pleasant to come in to a warm bedroom.  Also, I like the smell of the heater when it's first turned on after not being used in a long while.  Reminds me of DuPre.

4) I had some homemade onion soup with cheddar cheese and Artisan bread.  Delicious.

10.27.11 - Oblivious

So a few weeks ago I started one-on-one tutoring with a 4th grade girl at the local Boys and Girls Club, and so far it’s been really nice.  She is working on reading comprehension, so I’ve been writing out multiple choice questions for her as we read a Nancy Drew book.  I also have her circle any words she doesn’t understand.  One of the words she circles last night was “oblivious.”  I told her it means you don’t know what’s going on, you are unaware.  “For example, if you are asleep, you’re oblivious.  If you are watching TV and you are sucked into the show, you’re oblivious to whatever else is going on around you.”

Normally she reads out loud to me, and she did for most of last night.  However I had to leave early yesterday so, in order to finish the chapter before I left, I read the last couple pages to her.  For those of you who haven’t read Nancy Drew books (shame) every chapter ends in a little cliffhanger.  When I finished this chapter, she got wide-eyed and asked me to keep going.  I told her we could pick it up next week.  She said “But I feel like that word we learned! I’m oblivious!!”

It was the cutest thing, haha.  So proud.

10.2.11 - Jack's Birthday

Many good things happened today:

1) Got to sleep in.  In silence.

2) Beautiful weather.

3) Chocolate chip pancake and turkey sausage "breakfast" (around noon.)

4) Jack got nice bday cards/gifts in the mail.

5) Jack had time to take a nap (he works crazy, long, fluctuating hours so it's good he gets some real rest for a change) while I had time to visit with Neil, whom I hadn't seen in person in several weeks.

6) Jack really liked the robe I got him, and wore it around the house unnecessarily until it was time to go to Berkeley for wall ball. 

7) Lots of great wall ball with good friends during which I got some great footage and got to visit with people when they got out.

8) Hawaiian pizza!  Also other pizza.  Also Riesling, free Starbucks chocolate chip cookies, chicken hearts and Briskit.  Not necessarily in that order.

9) A long back-and-forth (good) Tichu game.

10) Lots of laughs with Neil as we made a few montages of the wall ball footage.

Birthday = Success!

10.2.11

8.27.11 - cafe and BreadCo

This morning Jack and I used a Living Social coupon ($10 for $20 worth of food/drink) at a cafe in Oakland.  We sat in a corner with a small bookshelf that had a bunch of historical books, a small globe, and a Where's Waldo book.  I haven't seen one of those in years.  We enjoyed grilled chicken salads and berry smoothies and talked about the future, which is a new favorite topic of discussion for me.

We went home and cleaned the apartment the boys' apartment is pretty cozy when it's clean.

We went to the only BreadCo in East Bay for lunch.  I opted to get the 250 calorie bowl of French Onion soup instead of the 800 calorie Frontega Chicken Sandwich.  I still had a few bites of Jack's Frontega so I feel it was the best of both worlds.

We've basically taken care of odds and ends the rest of the day.  Goodwill donation.  Preparing some food for a BBQ tomorrow.  Way, way overdue laundry.  Etc.  It's just been really nice for both of us to have a full day off at the same time to relax and spend time together. :)

8.12.11 - Sunshine Fruit Salad

Ingredients
3.4oz instant lemon pudding
20z pineapple chunks in 100% pineapple juice
1 c. quartered strawberries
1 large banana sliced
(Optional) 1 c. mini marshmallows
(Optional) 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans or whatever you prefer

Directions
1. Drain the pineapple, setting the juice aside
2. Use the juice instead of milk to make the pudding
3. Add all the other ingredients to the pudding and mix

7.24.11 - fishing and a picnic

This morning we made a Safeway run and then Jack made Neil, himself and me sausage and eggs for breakfast.  I enjoyed a lazy hour or two perusing HP fan art (I'm on a kick again, what can I say?) and then we packed a small picnic and the three of us went to Lake Chabot, where Jack and Neil fished and I mostly fed crushed up Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips to some ducks and a goose.  The boys didn't catch anything but we enjoyed the weather and the change of scenery and each other's company.

Jack and I dropped Neil off in the city and then came back to my place where Jack (finally) was able to show me how to change a tire.  It was pretty simple, and I feel all the more comfortable driving knowing I know how and have the right tools.  I really enjoyed it, actually.  I love learning new things, especially when they are so practical.  Next I plan to have him show me how to check all the fluids and car battery and etc.

7.23.11 - Saturday work and a coastal drive

This morning I worked.  I actually really enjoy working Saturdays.  I live very near my work so my commute is only 10 minutes or so, no real traffic.  I get in early on Saturdays and most other people don't show up till around 11am or so, so for the first 2-3 hours I have no distractions at all.  I can also listen to music without worrying about missing someone talking to me.  The other great thing about Saturdays is that if you come in to work Saturday, the firm buys you lunch.  I always get the chicken Caesar salad.  I work until lunch arrives (around noon) and then I leave with my delicious salad and a very cold diet Coke and I go to my beloved bench by the water and enjoy the food and the weather (which is fantastic, much more often than not) and read more of The Wise Man's Fear, a book I am enjoying intensely.  And it's even more fun to do this on Saturdays because instead of taking a half hour and then going back to work the rest of the day into the evening, I just read until my heart's content and then go home or about other business.  Which is exactly what I did yesterday.

I read until Ellen texted me to let me know she was almost to the Millbrae BART station.  I picked her up and we dropped my car off at my place, than went for a nice walk.  We got frozen yogurt (Cookies'n'cream flavor with heath topping) and walked around Burlingame, stopping briefly at a children's playground.  We had a good visit and caught up.  Later we walked to Walgreen's and then stopped by Panda Express as well.  Then we chilled at my place, Ellen reading me bits from a Discover magazine while I worked on my L'abri scrapbook, until Jack got there.

All three of us went to auto zone to buy me jack stands.  Jack was going to show me how to change a tire, but it was such a nice day we decided to put that off and we went for a long drive up the coast.  It got kind of cloudy but it was still really pretty, all the rolling hills dropping off into the ocean.  We drove through a lot of smaller towns advertising saltwater taffy and roadside inns.  It was a strange blend, making me think of CA and parts of MO and parts of MI at the same time.  Eventually we dropped Ellen at home and went back to East Bay.