New Shoes

I finally got my butt in gear and bought some new shoes yesterday at DSW, just up the street from the office. I'm a big adidas fan but this time I wanted some slip-ons. I tried on over 8 pairs until I broke down and tried some with laces. I ended up buying two pairs, both Skechers.

The Urbantrack, a Sport Fusion shoe
I haven't worn this one yet. It's cute, huh?



The Urbanspike, a Sport shoe
I wore this pair home from work last night and I've worn them all day today. They're doing pretty good and are easy to put on (with the help of the long long long shoe horn I got at Walgreens!).

Hot Spot

It was freezing here in the office yesterday afternoon and into the evening. My hands were starting to hurt when I left around 6:15. There are a couple other people who stay later as well and they were still here when I left. Turns out they discovered where the thermostat for our floor is and turned up the heat. Waaay up!

When people arrived at the office this morning it was 85°! So not only did they forget to turn down the heat setting when they left, they also were under the impression that if you turn the heat way up, the space will heat up faster. Not true!

So it's been sweaty here in the office today. I'm glad I normally wear layers though my light sweater is still too much and I have the fan turned on to medium. Maybe I should open a window.

Drat!

I forgot to stick my umbrella in my bag this morning and it's raining! I need to go out and grab some lunch too. Maybe I'll check the radar and see if it's going to clear up anytime soon. I might be stuck with running next door for a slice of pizza (no!). Maybe I can make it down to the soup place. Mmmm, Grandma Mary's chicken soup sounds pretty good right now.

Raise Your Hand

Raise your hand if you're excited about the new Survivor! The series starts February 7 with a new Fans vs. Favorites format.

I was looking forward to this season until I saw that Jonny Fairplay is one of the "favorites" then I wasn't so sure I even wanted to watch it. I can only hope that he gets voted off early and doesn't make the jury so I don't have to see his smarmy face very long. Perusing the list of returning castaways makes me wonder whose favorites they are. Certainly not any of mine.

The most intriguing fan just from reading a few bios on cbs.com is Chet. He describes himself as "magical" and is a pageant coach for Miss America!

TV for Tonight

Project Runway

You know it's not gonna last long when the designers are excited about a challenge. You can just sense that soon Tim is going to be gathering around the designers to throw them for a loop. Chris was so thrilled about creating a look inspired by a hair style. Plus he was partnered with his mini-me, Christian. This challenge was right up their alley. Their avant garde look was amazing. I was a bit surprised by their choice of color. It wasn't really that pretty, you could even say boring. No one was happy about having to come up with a ready-to-wear version but C&C did an okay job. I was happy to see Christian win, especially after his scare last week.

I found it very painful to watch Victorya and Jillian try to work together (V kinda gives me the willies), but their final product was awesome. Jillian's coat was my favorite creation of this season so far. Pairing a satiny punk trench with riding boots and jodhpurs was inspired. Of the last-minute, surprise ready-to-wear dresses, I think Sweet P's was the best of the lot. Rami needs to lighten up on her.

Ellen DeGeneres Show

Poor Ellen. She's sick with a cold but she's still doing her show. For her monologue (currently sans writers), she stretched out on a sofa with an afghan and had a couple of her audience members dance around the set since she couldn't.

In one of the oddest segments I've see on her show, a crazy guy with a brush in each hand (then later with no brushes at all) slapped various colors of paint on a huge rotating canvas all the while dancing to some tunes. At the end he flipped the painting 180º and all of a sudden it became Ray Charles. They got some great reaction shots of the disbelieving audience as they rose in a standing ovation. I guess he's huge on YouTube.

Tonight on My Telly

American Idol: Dallas Auditions

I have a new favorite for Hollywood Week: Kyle, the Politician, with his red tie and adorable smile and curly brown hair. Right, that Simon is confusing sometimes. I couldn't believe he immediately said yes to this college boy. I guess what he admires is when people are themselves and Kyle was genuine and really didn't have that bad a voice.

Oh, dear. The teaser for this commercial break just made me pee my pants. A guy in a wig and floral print says, "Just give it a try. Pants can be restricting." Yes, you guessed it, a man in a dress. Can't wait to see Simon's reaction to this guy in pearls... .... .... ... Rats, he was just part of a boys-as-girls montage. Oh, well.

Wow, there's a guy from Edwardsville, Illinois, auditioning in Dallas. The rocker with eyeliner. Oof, he's horrible. Plus he has a really fake tan. The judges vote no.

Man, I love those montages when they have everyone singing the same song. Of course, since we're in Dallas, they're singing Kelly Clarkson's Since You've Been Gone. Such funny editing.

Deal or No Deal

Awhile back Howie was on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and they showed a clip of her guest spot on DoND. Well, tonight was that episode. Strangely enough on Ellen's show today I didn't hear mention of it. Maybe I just missed it. Sometimes when the heater's running it's hard to hear.

Like I said on Monday, Howie's on a Million Dollar Mission so tonight's contestant has seven cases each containing one million dollars. Let's play!

The case models come down the stairs but there's one spot missing so Howie has to call out for the last model and Ellen comes out (so to speak). She's wearing a green, sparkly, spaghetti strap dress. Don't have a heart attack! She's also wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt and black trousers and sneakers. Of course. Take a deep breath. When Howie starts explaining the Million$Mission, Ellen has to sit down on the stairs and call her mom. While they're taping!

Okay, on with the game.

1. Round 1: My first deal is $55k and Shaquilla, after sadly opening two million-dollar cases, gets a record-breaking first offer of $145k. No deal! *
2. Round 2: Another million-dollar case exposed for our contestant, but her offer goes to $166k. Mine dipped slightly to $49k. No deal!
3. Round 3: Ellen has now removed her dress and left the stairs to stand with the supporters. I guess the stage manager couldn't let her case remain un-modeled so they brought out a replacement model. But then the contestant chose her case (why?) so Ellen ran back to open it. She gave loads of different hilarious faces and finally opened the $300 case, then left (bye, Ellen!). My offer went up to $67k and after opening another million-dollar case, Shaquilla's offer went to $181k. No deal!
   
4. Round 4: Man, another million-dollar case gone for our contestant. Her offer goes to $197k. I still have my top two cases, so my offer increases to $78k. Two cases to open in the next round. I think she should take the deal but she doesn't. I'm refusing mine too. No deal!
   
5. Round 5: Ouch, my million is gone and my offer drops to $56k. Shaquilla opens both her remaining million-dollar cases. I told her! Her offer plummets $15k. Her highest case left is $75k. No deal!
   
6. Round 6: S's offer: $18k. My offer: $67k. No deal!
   
7. Round 7: S's offer: $27k. My offer: $107,730. Do I risk one more round? Hell yeah. No deal!
   
8. Round 8: Paid off for me. My offer is $154k. I gonna take it. Shaquilla's offer went to $36k. Everyone's telling her to take it. So she does. Deal!
   

Did I have the $750k in my case? Nope. Surprisingly enough we both had the $25,000. So we both made good deals. Tune in Monday for eight cases filled up with one million dollars. Should be fun.

*OMG, did I just see a Knight Rider promo??!! Get out! I will be all over that show.

Today in My Lunch

My friend Paul and I went to the sister restaurant of our favorite Thai hole-in-the-wall today for lunch. Our place is currently undergoing some rather significant remodeling so we are reduced to lunching across the street in the slightly higher-priced, somewhat fancier place which is owned and run by the same people. Our familiar wait staff are working over there now too.

We walked in and the place was packed and noisy. I decided I wanted to splurge and get not only a Thai Iced Tea (delicious) but also some spring rolls (yummy). I noticed that they had brown rice on the Sides menu (I did say fancier) so I asked for brown instead of steamed along with my ginger chicken (surprisingly less tasty than normal). Our waitress wasn't writing anything down so I just knew one of us was going to have something wrong with our order. Of course, me requesting no bell peppers in my entree didn't help either. But, hey, I like what I like.

Our orders came and, yes, we both had white rice. Bummer. Next time I guess.

Tonight on My TV

Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann

Ooo, I'm so glad my two faves were picked by Bruno. I did so want to root for his team. I admire Carrie Ann but I just luuuv Bruno. Zack is my favorite guy. He's got it all. He's good looking but not too pretty. He can really sing and he's got the moves. Bruno also picked my favorite girl, Kelsey. She's the one who came to auditions with her two friends both of whom didn't make it into the top 14. She's a really strong dancer and has a lovely husky voice. Bruno got to go first for the last two and picked my other favorite guy, Phillip. Carrie Ann had earlier picked my second favorite girl, Elizabeth, who is not a trained dancer but has an amazing voice and incredible green eyes. Drew Lachey is the host and is doing a great job. He got some practice when he filled in on Dancing with the Stars when Samantha Harris was out having a baby. I'm hoping Tom and Len show up sometime on Dance Wars. That would be hilarious.

Deal or No Deal

DoND has fast become my not-so-secret obsession. I love it so much. I'm even taping all the re-runs on CNBC. Howie Mandel is a perfect host for this show. Lately he's been on a Million Dollar Mission where if a contestant doesn't win a million, the next contestant gets that million in one of their cases. Tonight's contestant had six, that's SIX, cases with $1,000,000. Crazy.

1. Round 1: Her first offer, even after opening one of the cases with a million, was a record $131k. Needless to say, she refused that deal. I love to play along online (yes, I'm a nerd) and, without having so many million dollar cases, my first offer was only $50k.
2. Round 2: Her $170k second offer (she knocked out another million dollar case) was also refused, as was my $65k second offer (I still have my million dollar case in play.)
3. Round 3: My third offer was just under $65k after knocking out the $300k case (but I still have my top four cases). This time she didn't knock out another million dollar case so her third offer was again record-breaking -- $268,000!
4. Round 4: I opened my $400k case in the fourth round so my offer went down to just under $59k. Margarita opened another million case with her last choice so her offer also dropped to $239k. She only has to open two cases in the next round and there are still three million dollar cases on the board.
5. Round 5: Her husband had to use his inhaler. He is so stressed. Wow, after opening up two more cases, I still have the top three in play so my offer went up to $79k. Margarita opened up another million dollar case and the penny case so her offer was $284k. We both said, "No Deal!!" She has two million dollar cases left.
   
6. Round 6: Only one case to open: Ouch, mine was the $500k case; even ouchier, hers was another million dollar case. My offer went up, though, to $130k! Hers had to drop, down to $173k. Is she brave enough to open one more case? Her next highest case is $100k. But she's gutting it out. No Deal, Howie!
7. Round 7: Yes! My $100 case is knocked out and my new deal is $207k! Do I take the deal? No way! Margarita opened her last million dollar case. What a shame. I'm going to win more than her. Her deal is $22,000. Does she take it? No way. She's after the $100k.
8. Round 8: Oof. My million is knocked out. I should've taken the deal. But I'm going one more round. Margarita's offer is $33k and she doesn't take it either.
   
9. Round 9: I knock out my $5 case and my deal is $238k. I'm taking it. Margarita's offer went up to $40k and the banker adds in flying lessons for the would-be pilot making the offer $55k. She takes her deal too.
   

So did we both make good deals? Nope. Her case held $100k and mine, well, my game has stopped responding so I either had $5000 or $750k. I guess I'll never know. Tune in to the next DoND on Wednesday for seven million dollar cases. Will that contestant win the million? Will guest model Ellen DeGeneres successfully open her case? I can't wait to find out.

Greatly Exaggerated

Hi, I'm back from my self-imposed hiatus. Though my absence may never be fully explained I can refute the following strangely persistent rumors:

• I am not dead
• I did not become a chef and move to Nevada
• I have not lost my ability to speak
• I have not been on strike along with other writers
• I am not a contestant on American Idol
  

So, thanks for all your concern. Now, back to my book.

Twizzlers Are My Favorite...

Dress??

Yes, that's right. Only on Project Runway, of course. A dress made of the delicious strawberry-flavored licorice was one of the creations on a recent episode where the challenge was hosted by the Hershey's shop in Times Square. The contestants were set loose in the candy store with five minutes to collect materials for a garment they had to make that day. Only Jillian had the eggs to use an edible material. All of the others grabbed pillows and toys and wrappers. My favorite, Christian, used the brown wrappers from peanut butter cups glued to a brown halter dress. My least favorite, the oddball Elisa, was finally "auf" of the competition for her boring brown dress. Jillian's confection creation gave her a lot of problems but the judges approved of her finally completed design.

This past week's episode was a prom dress challenge where the clients were high school girls from New Jersey and were also the models. Christian's client was a design student herself who had very definite ideas for her gown. He was caught between trying to put in all the elements she requested and creating a garment that had his look. He wasn't that successful and on the runway he blamed his client for his difficulties. That turned off the judges and he only escaped being cut because Kevin had a really bad week. My favorite gown of the week was Chris' green creation. Lovely.

Lame Blogger

I am lame, lame, lame. I have had so many fun happenings around here and have told you nothing about them. I thought I'd get some photo editing and post writing done this weekend with a couple days off but I did not. And I apologize. Which does you (and I) no good until I actually get something done. I will try this week to upload some images and tell some stories. In the meantime you can check out my photos website for a peek at my parents' visit.

Back home

Our trip to Yosemite was great. I'll post some photos and stories from the trip later but, in the meantime, you can get a sneak peek at my photo website.

Anne & Don in California: San Francisco

So Sunday night I left Anne and Don at their hotel near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and loosed them onto the City. I didn't see them again until this afternoon. Here's a rundown of their week so far (sorry, no photos):

Monday: They woke up super early (pre-dawn!) so went walking about on the wharves. A guy on the street stopped them asking, "Are you hungry? I've got clam chowder in a bread bowl." They thought that sounded pretty good so they got a couple bowls and sat on a bench in the big parking lot watching the seagulls (and enjoying a good chowder). Later they took the cable car down to Chinatown and joined three dozen others in a walking tour. That's a lot of people to organize in and out of those little alleyways. Supper was a Wharf staple: Scoma's (Don had the swordfish).

Tuesday: It was clam chowder bread bowls for breakfast again (those crazy kids). Then they hopped on the F line streetcar around Herb Caen Way... to Market Street for their morning tour of the historic Palace Hotel. After lunch, they caught up with the historic Market Street walking tour in the financial district. They ended up near my office but Anne couldn't remember exactly which building it was (and had forgotten her cellphone I guess). They cable-car-ed it back up to the Wharf and I forget where they went for supper, somewhere delicious, I'm sure.

Wednesday: Chowder again for breakfast? Out at 9 and back at 2, Anne and Don spent most of the day out on the Rock, also known as Alcatraz. They had a late lunch at Houston's to fuel themselves for their hike up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. They found a different set of stairs back down and just kept walking back to the Wharf. They took a self-guided tour of the famous sourdough Boudin bakery and I think it was In-N-Out for supper.

Thursday: They were actually able to sleep in this morning so had to skip their chowder but after catching a cable car down to Union Square they found a nearby diner where Don had corned beef hash and Anne had a turkey breast omelette. They met up with the Victorian Home Walk group at Union Square where they caught a bus out to Pacific Heights. They got to see where Mrs. Doubtfire was filmed and where Don Johnson lived when he was here filming Nash Bridges.

They made their way back my way and decided to come by so I gave them a tour of our office and they met some of my co-workers. We made plans for tomorrow's pre-Yosemite rendezvous then I sent them to the BART station to buy tickets for their morning trip (after chowder, of course) over to my place. They discovered the movie theater in the mall next door so decided to see Dan in Real Life and by the time that let out it was suppertime so they checked in with me about plans for dinner. I was just finishing up a project for the day so was happy to get out of the office before 7. We had a lovely supper at Out the Door (shrimp spring roll, crispy vegetarian roll, grilled prawns with rice noodles, cellophane noodles with crab) where they told me all about their week so far.

Oh, my BART trip home was uneventful. Well, I did just miss a train and had to wait 18 minutes for the next one (had a book though {of course}).

My BART Adventure

Whew! I'm finally home.

This afternoon we had a going-away party at a local diner for a collegue who's leaving (even though she was sick and couldn't come). I hadn't eaten lunch so I ordered some breakfast for an early supper. I was ready to go about 5 or so but still had a few things to do at work so, instead of heading home like a smart person, I went back to the office. Big mistake.

About an hour later I headed home but when I got down to the BART station there were crowds around the gates. People were only coming out and not going in. I hung out a bit to see what was going on and heard a BART cop say the station was closed. As I left to go back to the office to wait it out, I heard someone say that a train had run over someone. Oh, no!

I checked online to see what was going on. One website said there was a person under a train, condition unknown. They figured it might be a couple hours before the trains were running through the station again. In the meantime, trains were being sent back at the neighboring stations.

The next station in my direction is pretty close so Gunther and I decided to hoof it. It only took a few minutes to get there but the lines to get through the gates were ridiculous. Gunther was reluctant to stand in line and was getting hungry so we went to a nearby Chipotle. I was still pretty full from my early diner breakfast but couldn't resist sharing a basket of crunchy tacos with black beans and rice. Yum!

That wasted about a half hour and by that time the lines had dispersed and when we got down to the platform the trains were running in both directions again. My train came in about 5 minutes so I left Gunther in the City and settled in for my commute. I even got a seat!

But that wasn't the end of my evening's adventure. We were in the tunnel in Oakland when the train pulled to a stop and an announcement came over the PA system that there had been an earthquake so we had to hold there for at least 5 minutes. I didn't think that would be so bad but after each earthquake they have to do a track inspection so we had to go very slowly for a long time. I overheard a station announcement when the doors were open that the quake was a 5.6 centered in Alum Rock down near Fremont where I used to live. That's pretty big.

Anne & Don in California: Napa & the GGB

Disclaimer: Some of the following photos were taken by Anne.

Today Anne & Don and I headed up to the Napa Valley and wine country. It was again a lovely day for sight-seeing. We stopped off first at the Visitors Center to pick up some ideas of where to go.

We decided to start at a big name so drove up the road to the Robert Mondavi Winery. The tours were a bit pricey for our taste so we just looked around. It's a beautiful place. As you enter, a statue of St. Francis welcomes you.

(detail of statue)


The parking lots are surrounded by fields of vines.


Colorful flowers...

...and a lively fountain beckon you inside.


We strolled around (some of us hand in hand) enjoying the sun and manicured vineyard.




Since I'm not a fan of wine I was hoping to find somewhere to taste some local olive oil. Just up the road from Mondavi we saw a blackboard sign advertising "Local Olive Oil Tasting". How lucky were we? Soooo lucky. The fun, off-beat store of the St. Helena Olive Oil Co. was offering tastes of not just olive oils but balsamic vinegars, fig compote, barbeque sauce, honey, pesto, and mustards. The flavor of olive oil that caught my fancy was lemon. It was so fresh tasting I just had to buy a bottle. I also got some Italian pesto and some local barbeque sauce. It was great place.


Anne & Don aren't big wine people either but they've had some and they knew they liked one from Sutter Home so we stopped at their store after seeing the sign for "Complimentary Tastings". As I was browsing I saw these funny flip flops that seemed to be sized for small round feet. Turns out they are coasters for wine glasses. I'm not sure why they need to wear crazy looking flip flops.

We then crossed the valley to a less-travelled road where Anne spotted a field with some grapes left on the vines.




Then I spotted a bunny.


We were not anticipating just how many wineries are in Napa Valley and just how concentrated they are. We drove by one after the other after the other after the other.



We were going to go to the geyser at Calistoga but I had read online that it costs $8 so we decided to skip it. We also choose to forego the petrified forest, so sorry, you'll have to wait for pics for a couple weeks until Mom & Dad and I visit it. We crossed over the hills to the west then drove south through the Sonoma Valley and landed in Sonoma for a late lunch at the awfully, unbearably cute and tasty Black Bear Diner (pot roast for me, ham steak for Don, chicken avocado club for Anne).

As we drove south on the 101, we spied the Marin County Civic Center which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. (better photos)


We paused at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge...


...crossed over it...


then paused on the south side and walked out on it for a bit.


It was getting darkish and I still had to drive back home so we headed over to Fisherman's Wharf and Anne & Don's hotel where they checked in, I used the facilities and we parted. I started home only to be stopped by a jam of cars trying to go home the same way as me.


I eventually made it across the bridge and home.

Next: Anne & Don visit San Fran without me (sniffle) then Yosemite with me (yea!)

Anne & Don in California: Berkeley Pier

On our drive north after lunch I mentioned (as we passed through Berkeley) that it had been a really long time since I had been to the pier at the Berkeley marina. It's quite long and from it you can see many of the famous bridges and sights of the SF Bay. It was just about sunset on our way back south so I suggested we stop and walk out on the pier.

The view to the northwest of the pier.


Don and Anne (left of frame) walk off into the sunset.


The Golden Gate Bridge shares the golden spotlight with the sinking sun.


Mt. Tamalpais and other Marin hills where we had just been a short while ago.


Sailors head home in the soft light of dusk. Can you spot the Richmond Bridge in the background?


The San Francisco skyline behind the sister islands of Yerba Buena and Treasure Island.


One last view of the GGB spanning the Golden Gate -- entrance to the SF Bay.


Next time: A&D visit Napa Valley, Calistoga, and the Petrified Forest (oh my)

Anne & Don in California: Muir Woods

My sister Anne and brother-in-law Don are spending 10 days here in my neck of the woods. Just as I was putting on my shoes this morning I got the call from Anne that they had arrived. She said there was no rush so I made a quick stop at Starbucks on the way. Once I got to the airport, I paused at the curb just long enough for them to pop the hatch, toss in their bags and climb aboard. We exchanged hellos then Anne said, "What do you think about going up to Muir Woods today?"

I had no problem with that though I worried their day would get long (their flight from St. Louis left before 6am!). Once we were on the road, it was too early (and out of the way) to check them into their hotel so we came back to my place to find maps and consider our route. By that time we were hungry so grabbed lunch at a local family restaurant (rib-eye with shrimp for me, chicken burrito for Don, breakfast burrito for Anne). It was a gorgeous day for tripping around the Bay Area so Anne and I enjoyed the weather and scenery on our drive north while Don caught a few winks in the backseat (sorry, no photo).

We arrived at Muir Woods to find the typical weekend parking hassle. They have two parking lots but if they're full you're supposed to park on the side of the narrow road. We drove to the end of the long, long line of parked cars but decided we'd rather spend our time waiting for a parking spot to open up than walk that far from -- and back to -- the car. We circled the main lot a couple times then shifted to the auxiliary lot where we got lucky and snagged a spot after only 15 total minutes of stalking.

If I had a color design for my life, Muir Woods at this time of year would be it.
(Click on the photos to see a larger size.)


Wouldn't you like to just hang out in this living room?


There was just a slight sense of fall in the woods with a few yellow leaves...




and just a trickle of water in the creek.




I love being in amongst the super tall trees with their orangey-brown trunks on display.


The fallen logs and branches of shorter non-redwoods strike a counterpoint of mossy green.




I was headed back down the main path when I spotted a deer several yards away. It was crouching low to the ground acting almost like it was injured or ill. Then all of a sudden others were there and two of them were fighting. They were close enough that we could hear the crack of their antlers crashing together. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to catch it with my camera and the shots I did get of the deer were too far away and blurry (as you can see).




Of course, we had to take the traditional "there are people inside a tree!" shot.


The angle of sunlight in the late afternoon provided some dramatic views of these amazing trees.


Next time: A&D visit the Berkeley Marina fishing pier

Words for Hunger

For all you vocabulary fans: FreeRice.com

For every correct word chosen from a four-word multiple choice list, FreeRice.com will donate 10 rice grains to the United Nations World Food Program. So far 232.7 million grains have been donated and the site only began on October 7. I earned 1000 grains tonight.

The site itself is gorgeous and they customize your test as you answer the questions. Read the FAQ for a description of how it works. I fluctuated around the mid- to low 40s. How 'bout you?

Here are some of the more difficult words I got (descriptions in the comments):

teredo
hebdomadal
meretricious
amercement
leister
rumen

SoCal on Fire

I've mentioned here before how much I love views from above. This view is sadly lacking in joy, however. The red marks on the satellite image of Southern California represent active fire areas this afternoon. And it's easy to identify the smoke flying out to sea. What's crazy to me are the plumes of dust kicked up by the gale-force winds blowing down from the desert and through narrow canyons thanks to those awful Santa Anas. Click on the link below the image to see a larger view (takes awhile to load) which you can zoom in on.

One interesting thing I heard on Nightline tonight was that they got plenty of rain down in the Southland a couple years ago so there's loads of fuel (read "shrubbery") this year for the fires to burn. One of the most dramatic videos I watched was a darkened street full of burning embers being swept away to start up more fires wherever they may land.

The area of high pressure over Salt Lake (that's causing the severe winds from the east) is supposed to diminish and move on by Wednesday so there may be some help for firefighters in getting some of the fires under control with some higher humidity levels.

That same high is giving us some pretty warm weather up here in the Bay Area as well. I hope people are being very careful with their cigarette butts and are making sure they put out their camp fires and grills.

Phantom Unsafe Passenger Reading

I have so many library books on my front passenger seat that when I added the weight of my work bag to the pile it triggered my car's seatbelt sign sensor and the dashboard light began flashing warning me of an unbelted passenger.

Books on the seat:
The Bishop's Heir (read), The King's Justice (in bag), The Quest for Saint Camber, King Kelson's Bride by Katherine Kurtz
Dark of the Moon by John Sandford
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

Can You Speak Up?

Ah, Fleet Week. Who doesn't like screaming engines and screaming to be heard over them? I'm surprised we got any meetings accomplished today with the Blue Angels and their jets flying over downtown all day. I'm sure glad our big anniversary party isn't this week. I may have to wear ear plugs tomorrow.

A Chicken Coop of Goodness

I arrived home just at 8pm this evening with high anticipation of some good TV. Little did I realize how much good TV was happening at 8 o'clock. I already had my DVR scheduled with the results show for Dancing with the Stars and the second episode of the current cycle of America's Next Top Model.

When I turned on the TV it was tuned to the Food Network and my favorite, Good Eats, was on and it was about waffles. How could I miss that?

Then I found out that it was Barry Bonds' last game with the Giants. I just had to watch that. So I had all four of my tuners going at once.

But then I suddenly remembered that Joanna had said Kid Nation was on tonight. I watched it last week but hadn't set a series recording. I abandoned Good Eats and flipped over to CBS. I tuned in after the chicken controversy but caught the water challenge and Michael's triumph at the town council meeting. I was so glad to see him get the $20k gold star. He deserved it so much more than the graffiti-drawing suck-up Greg.

ETA: I just tuned into Bionic Woman and, hello, John just might be right.

The Return of the Dance

Oh, I'm so excited that Dancing with the Stars is back. It is the most fun on TV. My favorite stars so far are Hélio Castroneves, the IndyCar driver, and Jane Seymour who I've loved since Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve.

I was a bit apprehensive when I saw that last year's profressional champion Julianne Hough was paired with Hélio. She is so good she deserves to last to the final. I didn't think to give him much of a chance so I was worried she wouldn't be around very long. But their foxtrot tonight was divine. Hélio was so elegant and smooth. I can't wait to see him dance more.

Jane is paired with Tony Dovolani who is one of my faves of the pros. They also danced the foxtrot and it was perfect dance for her. I'm not sure how she's going to with the Latin numbers. Can you believe she's 56?

Last night everyone was saying that the boxer Floyd Mayweather was going to be the toughest competition for the guys but he was awful. I felt so sorry for his partner while they were dancing. I was disapointed the judges didn't call him on how awful he was. At least they gave him the worst scores of the night.

The new pro Mark Ballas (who is paired with Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan) is too adorable for words. I'm glad he got an excellent partner (they rocked the cha-cha last night) so he'll be around for many weeks to come.

SepteRemember: John #8

In 1984, my older brother Mike got married in Idaho. John and I were in high school and were so excited to go, perhaps because we took our exams and got let out of school early to travel there by car. The car we took was the little red Toyota Tercel, or the Toy as we called it. There was just enough room in it for Mom, Dad, me and John.

John and I had saved up to buy our first ever Walkman for the trip. I don't remember what tapes we took along but we kept hearing one song over and over on the radio: True Colors by Cyndi Lauper. Hearing that song sure takes me back to the cramped backseat of the Toy and fighting with John over whose turn it was to listen to the Walkman.

We did some pretty cool stuff on that trip. If you happen to be going anywhere near southern Idaho (like Yellowstone), I highly recommend you go to Craters of the Moon National Monument. Now that's some odd landscaping. However, I wouldn't recommend the slow drive through Route 12 north of there where all you see for miles and miles are trees and waterfalls (and more waterfalls). Okay, some people (Dad) might like it, but for me it got rather tiring. I was happy to get back to civilization.

SepteRemember: Mom #8

One of the longest-lasting memories I have of my mom is the letter she wrote to us kids expressing how disappointed she was in us and our lack of interest in doing our chores. I think I may have been in junior high at the time or possibly younger. I remember crying and crying about it. I think I could've withstood a spanking better than those pointed words on the page (carbon copy, I think). I found that letter years later and still felt so guilty and sad.

Squawk!

That's just stupid of them to vote off Chicken. That Ashley is worthless. She and her huge breasts and ugly lip piercings should've been outta there. Or the most-annoying-so-far Peih-Gee (or PG). I thought for sure she'd be first one out. You know how the tribes love to get rid of those early in-your-face, let-me-tell-you-what-to-do "leaders", especially those with a high, whiny voice.

I was disapointed in Frosti's performance in the challenge. I expected him to fly over those walls seeing as how he's a practitioner of Parkour. (btw, he's orginally from Traverse City and is, interestingly, half Russian/half Japanese)

I just love Courtney, the ultra-skinny, platinum blonde New York City waitress. Her interviews are hilarious.

TP to the HC

Please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't there something seriously and inherently wrong with using Handel's Hallelujah Chorus to sell toilet paper?

SepteRemember: John #7

I don't like to drive and haven't from the very beginning. As John is only a year younger than me, I was particularly enthusiastic about him learning how to drive and getting his license. So, of course, he could drive me around.

We had a couple cars at the time, one of which was a full-size Chevy van. John's a pretty good driver but for some reason he kept veering to the right side of the road. I asked him what was going on and he said he was trying to keep the steering wheel straight. I looked over and sure enough the horizontal supports on the steering wheel were askew which made driving like an airplane pilot a bit of an adventure. He thought he had to have them parallel to the ground.

Stay on the road, John!

Happy Birthday, John!

Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday

Misery is in the air
People dying everywhere

Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday

Now you've lived another year
Surely death is drawing near (but)

Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday

You are now entering your 40th year of life. Congratulations on making it this far.

SepteRemember: Mom #7

When I think back on all the birthday presents I've received from my mom perhaps the most memorable one was what she sent to me in Barcelona. My birthday is often near Easter and she wanted to send me something that didn't weigh very much and therefore wouldn't cost too much to ship. So her ingenious solution was to send some marshmallow peeps. If I remember right, they were the yellow kind. She also sent a tape of a Tigers game she had recorded from the radio so I could experience a bit of home while I was in baseball exile.

SepteRemember: Mom & John #6

This is one of my favorite photos of our family. I was too little to remember sitting for this photo session but from this shot it sure looks like we had a lot of fun. Well, I look a bit mesmerized. And John seems awfully interested in that funnel. I bet there's candy inside. Mom looks a lot like her sister Joyce in this photo. Joyce married my dad's brother Dave so their girls are our double cousins. I always thought that was pretty cool.



From this footnote to the proceedings it look as if Dad was:

1. 1) really tuckered out,
2. 2) suffering from narcolepsy, or
3. 3) hamming it up as usual.

And for some reason, I don't appear that amused.

SepteRemember: Mom #5

While I'm pulling out the old photos I just had to include this one of my mom when she was a girl. Aren't those curls awesome?


She still likes having curly hair. I remember (not so fondly) our forays into home perms when I was in high school. For some reason, mine never came out like the box showed. And boy were they smelly! Mom sure put up with a lot for us girls.

Mom goes to the hair salon nowadays. I've sworn off perms and other curling mechanisms. I did henna my hair red for many years. But after seeing some white hairs recently I've let my natural color grow out just to see what it looks like.

Here's a couple photos from this week of my mom with her mom and her birthday candles in Pennsylvania.

SepteRemember: John #5

Here are a couple other pictures of little John. Isn't he sweet? These are from 1974. He turned six that year.

The first one is John with his dad (nice beard!) and grandpa: three generations. John is the youngest of six as is Dad. I don't know about Grandpa. I don't think he had that many kids in his family. At this time Grandpa was living in Virginia and we were up in Michigan. This may have been the trip where he moved up north to live with us.


Grandpa moved not only himself but his TV too. We didn't have one before then so you could often find us kids hanging out with Grandpa in his room with our eyes glued to the tube.

This second photo is from Carolyn's birthday party in June 1974 when she turned 9. That is not Carolyn's midrift. I doubt Mom would've let us wear something like that. Mike was the only dark-haired one of us six kids. I wonder if he ever felt odd about that. Knowing him he probably just thought that made him special. Doesn't he look like he's up to something? John looks like he's eaten a tad bit too much birthday cake.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

A really really bad poem in honor of my Mom's birthday today:

Happy Birthday to my mum
She and Dad's where I come from
Tho' she's doesn't squeal and cry
When we say hello or bye
I always know she cares a lot
So let her never be forgot
(or her soup of yummy corn)
on this day that she was born

I hope you're having a lovely birthday wherever you are.

SepteRemember: Mom #4

Mom had to work hard to feed all us growing kids (and Dad) while I'm sure she would've rather been doing things other than slaving away in the kitchen. Dad loves to garden and we would grow lots of corn, peas, beans and tomatoes, among other things.

A lot of my memories of Mom are preparing those veggies for canning and freezing. I never liked to be out in the hot sun with the bugs biting me so I was able to whine my way into helping to snap beans or husk corn and help Mom freeze them. We'd have an assembly line of water to blanch the corn still on the cob while the sink would be full of cold water with drainers ready for the cooled off cobs. When I was old enough I got to help with cutting the corn off the cobs. That can be tricky! Ah, the joys of homemade frozen corn. One of my mom's still oft-requested meals is her chicken corn soup made with that juicy, milky corn.

Mom also made homemade spaghetti/pizza sauce and ketchup to store in her walk-in pantry. We would often come home from school to the house smelling of long-cooking tomato sauce as an electric kettle of ketchup would be bubbling away on the counter.

The whole family would be involved in food collection. We'd load up the family van and take trips over to nearby orchards to pick cherries and peaches and pears. While Mom would can most of the peaches, she'd always save some out for peach cobbler. And the same was true for the cherries. Watch out for the pits!

Our area was famous for pickles. They even called the raw cucumbers growing out in the fields "pickles". Mom would make pickles at home of the dill variety but my favorite was her lime pickles. She'd go down to the pickle shed where they sorted them for size and quality and would bring home the big ones that were due to be discarded. We'd peel them and slice them lengthwise into long strips removing the seeds as well. They looked like little canoes. After the pickling and canning, they'd get almost translucent and so crispy. Yum, yum, yum.

What were your favorite homemade foods when you were little?

SepteRemember: John #4

My dad's sister's daughter got married in the summer of 1972 and requested that John and I be her ring bearer and flower girl. I'm sure we were very excited and not that well-behaved but someone else will have to report on that as I don't have really any memory of it myself.

The traditional family story of this event that everyone loves to tell is that John fell asleep during the reception in the nave of the church under some coats. I'm sure he was just worn out from all that ring bearing.

SepteRemember: Mom & John #3

One of my favorite things about my family is that we always took a lot of family trips. This picture is from the summer of 1972 when we visited historic Williamsburg. Poor Mom and John got put in the stocks for being bad. (left to right: some stranger, John-3, Mike-8, Carolyn-6/7, Mom-36, me-5, Dad-37)

If you look closely you'll see I'm holding my birthday present from that year. I was taken to the the toy department and had the opportunity to pick out whatever I wanted ("within reason" I'm sure Dad said) and I chose a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh. I still have that sad bear in a box at home. He took some damage even yet that summer when John and Mike threw him into the pool at camp. At least that's what I remember.

SepteRemember: Mom #2

I celebrated my sixth birthday in the cold house in the valley. My mom made me a super cool cake in the shape of a cat. That's her with the fancy cuffs.



I don't have a lot of specific memories of helping out in the kitchen when I was that age but I do love to cook so I bet I was always under Mom's feet while she was trying to get supper on the table.

I've always been a fan of cats as well. One of my first memories is of playing with the cats by the back door of our house in Virginia. Supposedly I would get up very early and go outside to be with the cats.

SepteRemember: John #2

We moved to Michigan when I was five and John was not quite yet four. The first house we lived in was part of an old farm in a valley. The house was pretty small for all eight of us. In fact, my parents' bed couldn't fit upstairs so they had to sleep in the living room. It got really cold there in the winter and we'd run downstairs to the wood stove to get dressed in the morning.

There was a big barn by the house that I'm pretty sure was off limits for me and John but I'm also sure my older brother got all us youngers into trouble many times for playing in it and climbing up into the haylofts.

Years later, John and I would ride our bikes over there because of the valley. We loved coasting down the big hill, pass the Vickers' house, and then pumping furiously to get up the next hill, just to coast back down again.

SepteRemember: Mom #1

Mom always prepared the bulletins every week for the church services and the church newsletters every few months or so. She'd create stencils on her electric typewriter then run copies off on a mimeograph machine. The ink couldn't dry fast enough so would often bleed from one copy to another. One of us kids would be drafted to stand by the machine and insert scrap paper in between the copies. It got hot and smelly but it was a fun challenge to be fast enough to get the scraps in before the next copy shot down onto the stack.

After printing there was always sorting the scraps out from the newsletter sheets and collating. Mom would put stacks of each page around the dining room table and we would run around it collecting one page from each stack. Then we would staple and attach mailing labels. It was quite the industrious printshop and mailhouse. Of course, it helped having six kids.

SepteRemember: John #1

John is about 18 months younger than me. One of my first memories of John is sitting together by the side of the road waiting for the school bus to deliver our older siblings back from their day away from home. We would play in the dirt and hang out by the mailbox of our rural red brick multistorey house in Virginia. The olders would jump off the bus and we'd all run inside for an after-school snack.

It's possible I'm making most of that up as I was probably only four.

Do You Remember...September?

September means a lot of things. The sidewalks loosen up as the tourist population decreases. Kids and teachers go back to school. Football starts up again.

For me, it means the birthdays of two of my favorite people in my family: my mom and my younger brother. I'll be posting some memories of them throughout the month.