I've recently gotten back in touch with a lot of old high school classmates through Facebook and have found it really interesting to see how some of them have turned out and how their lives are today. When I was in school, I didn't fit into any one clique. I had a small group of friends that I hung out with, but really, I was friends to all groups. I knew people who were jocks, stoners, band geeks, drama students, art students, brainiacs, punks, gay and straight, black and white. Sometimes I surprised even myself to find who I might be hanging out with on any given night, especially as the end of high school drew near.

My old friend, Reid, who I've written about before (I recently saw him in Seattle when visiting Robert) just posted a bunch of photos from high school - high school the way HE experienced it, and some of the photos really moved me because I found that even though I wasn't a part of the group of kids he hung out with back then, I was at the same place emotionally. I thought I'd share a few photos here (I hope Reid doesn't mind).

This photo, from 1987, Sophomore year in high school, with our good friend, Sara (she sometimes posts here under the name Saladbats).

I don't remember who the other person in this photo is, but Reid's caption perfectly summed up the moment: "Childlike innocence in a photo booth. No job, no prospects. Portland, 1991."

I found this old photo of myself and Sara, also. I'm pretty sure this is summer right after high school graduation during those months where all you can think is, "What do I do NOW?"


Then I saw another photo from junior high that another old classmate posted and I thought, Man - I can't relate.

Back in the day, I was an angst ridden teen. Now, I look back somewhat fondly on those times which surprises me. Still, I look back fondly knowing there's no way in hell I'd ever go back there for ANYTHING.

In The Breakfast Club, everyone had a label. You were either a jock, a princess, a brain, a criminal, or a basket cast. Which one were you, if any?

Those of you readers who reside in California are I'm sure all too familiar with the upcoming vote on Prop 8. For those of you in other states (or countries) not in the know, gay marriage was legalized in this state earlier this year. Proposition 8 overturns that right. Many of my friends feel very strongly on this issue, and one of them went to trouble of making a video for YouTube to show her support in voting NO on Prop 8. I applaud she and her girlfriend in putting themselves out there in support of that vote.

When I was coming back from Blockbuster earlier this afternoon, I noticed our mailman was at the boxes delivering mail for the day. I also couldn't help but notice another guy in uniform standing behind him with a clipboard taking notes. From the looks of things, the mailman was being evaluated - maybe because he's new, maybe because he's a screwup - who knows. Anyway, seeing him there reminded me that with people in town visiting, I'd been negligent in picking up my mail from the mailbox. I went out to get it an hour later and was shocked to find my box virtually empty instead of brimming with mail and newspapers shoved in whether there was space or not, which is what usually happens when I'm remiss in emptying my mail box on a regular basis. The only thing in there was a slip from the mailman. I've never had this happen before, but apparently, if your box gets too full, they can just take all your mail out and make you come to the post office to get it. Either that, or I can sign the slip and have them redeliver it - in three days. Sigh. Now I have to go to the dreaded post office. I guess that's what I get for not checking it.

Happy Wally Wednesday everyone! Here's a photo of Wally kicking it at Venice Beach a few weeks back. As an extra bonus picture (for the kids in my friend's class in the 'Couv), here's Gracie enjoying her very first time at Venice Beach.

I'm officially addicted to the BBC America show Skins. I was just watching the latest episode on Tivo during lunch. If you haven't seen it, it's about a group of college aged kids in England and all their coming of age drama and comedy. I love how the English shows aren't so prudish when it comes to swearing and nudity. The only place you can see shows like that here are on cable. The shows stars a young ensemble cast, the most notable actor being Nicholas Hoult who you may know as the young boy in About a Boy. Hoult is all grown up now and plays Tony Stonem, a bit of a big man on campus. I just started watching the show this season (the show's second) and am looking forward to when the first season is released on DVD so I can see how it all started. If you're interested, it's on BBC America Sunday nights at 10pm. It's sort of like the OC...with better acting, dialogue and story.

Jakks Pacific Inc, the company that makes Cabbage Patch Dolls, has come out with four new one-of-a-kind dolls. What dolls, might you ask? They've been made in the image of Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden, and Sarah Palin. The dolls will be auctioned off on eBay. The auction, which begins Thursday and ends on November 4, will benefit the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. On one hand, I'd like to have the Barack doll because he's just so cool. On the other, it would be fun to stick pins in the McCain doll or give the Palin doll to Grace as a chew toy. Which doll would YOU buy and why?

I played hockey last night and am I glad I showed up because we only had 8 skaters, including me. Luckily we were a) playing a really crappy team, and b) they had less players than we did. The final score was (I think) 10-1 us. I had four points - 2 goals, 2 assists, so I was pretty happy with the game. My sister was there to see me play for the first time ever, so at least I looked good!

Today has been a pretty lazy Sunday. I did a little work at home earlier to try to get a head start on the week, then finished catching up on the rest of my Tivo. Has anyone been watching E.R. this season? Have you noticed that it's pretty much a constant cry fest? Jeez...I like that show, but it's becoming exhausting to watch. I think this is the last season, and they've been saying good-bye to lots of characters. Sad, sad, sad. Still a great show.

On the down side, Wally has thrown up three times since last night. I'm not sure what made his stomach so upset, but I know I'm tired of mopping up dog vomit. Poor little guy. Time for some Pepcid!

I've been enjoying headaches daily for most of the past week and it's driving me crazy. I finally got in to see my chiropractor today and he did a bunch of adjustments. I think my neck actually felt worse when he was done and then I had another headache later in the day, but I feel much better now. My sister and her friend are out driving around the coast...I didn't think a day in the car would be particularly enjoyable for me, so I opted out. I'd planned on trying to get some work done with the spare day but have instead spent a lot of time catching up on more Tivo.

I ran into my neighbors downstairs earlier. They were getting ready to go to a Halloween party at Sofie's school. Sofie is dressed as Fancy Nancy, and Wesley is dressed as a bag of Pirate's Booty. Jeff is...well, you might get it if you're familiar with Flight of the Conchords. I think right now he's trying to figure out how he'll be able to eat or drink anything at the party.

On today's agenda: Knott's Berry Farm. I had actually never been there before so I didn't know what to expect other than what I've experienced with other theme parks - long lines and expensive food. I have to say, though, it was pretty cool. For one thing, since it was a weekday during the school year, there was almost no one there. We didn't have to wait in a single line for any rides which was very cool. We were able to walk right up and get on the rollercoasters and such. I was able to talk my sister into riding the Silver Bullet, one of their biggest roller coasters. It had been awhile since I'd been on one myself, so we rode it together. She was terrified! It was sort of funny actually, and I was really impressed that she faced her fear and gave it a shot. I wish I had bought the photo so I could share it with you.

That would be the last rollercoaster Darcy would ride, although she did thoroughly enjoy the log ride and the river ride (where we got soaked). I went on the Boomerang myself, and I must say - there's a reason they call it the Boomerang. I was done after that. All in all though, a pretty fun day.

Today has been a pretty easy day, touristy wise. My sister and her friend found some big estate sale going on in Silver Lake for which they had to leave at 8am. I told them to have fun and gave them the keys to my car. I have no desire to search through the remains of some dead person's estate. At least I got to sleep in. The dogs and I caught up on some Tivo. When my sister and her friend returned, it was nearly lunch time so we took the Gold Line into downtown and ate lunch at Philippe's, which I've blogged about before. We then meandered through Olivera Street, then back to Union Station for the ride back home. After a quick break, we headed into Old Town Pasadena for some shopping, then made it to my 6:30 soccer game (another loss - drat!).

One benefit of having my sister here is that my kitchen is actually being used to cook. At this moment, she is making Sloppy Joe's for dinner. Yum! I am sooo hungry. Then, I believe we are playing a board game (Sorry) or watching a DVD (Zohan).

I'd also like to take this moment to wish a very special birthday to regular blog reader, Kings Fan. Did you get anything good for your birthday?

My sister arrived in town with her friend today and they are both staying at my place. The dogs are happy to have more visitors and Wally is quickly figuring out who will give him food. We've already made a stop at In and Out and then went for a walk around the Rose Bowl. Rather, my sister and her friend went for a walk and were kind enough to drag Wally with them. Wally is absolutely horrible on a leash...he pulls and pulls and I've never been able to break him of it. He is so much better walking off leash, but there are too many dogs down there to let him do that. While they were walking, Grace and I took off running. It was Grace's first time going for a run with me and she did really well. It will be nice to have a dog to run with. I tried doing that with Wally when he was about a year and a half old. We got half a mile in and he just sat down and refused to go any further. Hopefully, she'll be tired out for the rest of the night.

I also haven't forgotten that it's Wally Wednesday. Here he is playing with his little sister in my office earlier in the week:

A long time ago, when I worked crazy hours and it was nearly impossible to find time for things like doctor's appointments, I found a dentist in Burbank who had Saturday appointments. Perfect! Not that I like going to the dentist, but it's good to at least be able to go. I've been seeing this dentist now for about 8 years. I like her, but I have come to feel like she sort of oversells what she's doing. Or, as another friend who sees her put it, she tends to upsell. Often times, she ends up doing things that aren't covered by my insurance and I don't find out about it until I go to check out and owe a bunch of money. The last time I went in, she found a ridiculous amount of cavities and it sort of put me over the edge - especially since two were cavities she just filled last year. And my teeth feel fine! They tried to make an appointment with me when I was on my way out the door, but I told them I'd have to get back to them. She told me she wanted to do the fillings in three appointments. Three visits to the dentists!!

As I knew would happen, her receptionist began hounding me on the phone. I've been dodging her calls for weeks now. I stupidly answered my telephone at home today and it was them, trying to schedule the filling appointments again. I told her I had to get back to her. I want to change dentists. It's bad enough being scolded every time I go in for not taking good enough care of my teeth. I don't like being harassed on the phone as well.

Has anyone else ever had problems with over eager doctors?

This is about the 10th time I've tried to post today. I wonder if I'm the only person having problems with Blogger.

My aunt and her husband left this morning and I've spent the day trying to catch up with work and then get ahead so I have time to spend with my sister. She arrives Wednesday morning. I've been tired all day. Being a tour guide is exhausting work! I have a hockey game to play this evening, not too late, which is nice. I think I'll spend the rest of the evening catching up on some Tivo. I did get to watch Mad Men last night. I wonder what the hell is going to happen with Don Draper?

On today's whirlwind Los Angeles tour agenda:

Griffith Park Observatory (I hadn't been in about 10 years, since before they re-did it)
The Hollyhock House in Los Feliz (Frank Lloyd Wright design)
Mann's Chinese Theater

Then we had lunch in Burbank (Poquito Mas) and drove back to Pasadena to let the dogs out. We then put the dogs in the car and Grace experienced her first day at Venice Beach. She did a good job considering the sensory overload (it was super crowded down there). She was a little scared, but she handled it like a champ. There were two things that bothered her, though - the constant drone from the drum circle, and the annoying guitar guy on the roller blades - she cowered every time he skated by. I don't blame her - he creeps me out, too. Here are a couple of quick iPhone photos from the day:



The dogs conked out after their day at the beach:

Wow, am I tired. With visitors here, I'm sleeping in my office on the futon. It's comfortable enough, but Wally was upset that the door to the master bedroom was closed and he spent a lot of time whining during the night, which kept waking me up. He didn't actually want or need to be IN the master bedroom, he just doesn't like closed doors.

My aunt's husband likes architecture, especially Craftsman style, so we already had plans to visit the Gamble House here in Pasadena, built by Greene and Greene. Before we went there, we headed over to the Huntington Gardens which happened to have a Greene and Greene exhibit opening today. Not only did we get to tour the Gamble House, we got to see a lot of furniture the Greene's had designed for their homes up close and personal, more so than you get to see when touring the house. If you haven't been to the Gamble House, it's definitely worth the $10 admission. It's easy enough to appreciate the design of the home itself, but when you realize that everything in the home, from the furniture to the light fixtures, the heating grates to the carpets and curtains were designed by the Greenes themselves, it's really incredible.

My aunt and her husband are driving in tonight. They're coming through on their way to Arizona from Oregon and will stay here until Monday. I then get Tuesday to myself before my sister arrives with a friend on Wednesday to stay through the following Monday. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Before I know it, October will be gone and it will be November. Hopefully, we'll be just that much closer to a change of guard in the white house.

When I got home from soccer last night, there was a message on my machine from an actual human who had called to ensure I was voting YES on Proposition 8. Boy, do I wish I had been home to take that call.

I got an e-mail from a very old friend this morning. Jennifer and I have been friends since we were about 13 years old, and she now teaches at a Catholic school back in our hometown. If you had known Jennifer like I did back in the day, you would find this pretty funny. At any rate, here is her e-mail:

"I know you will laugh at the first few sentences cause it will strike you as a great irony in life.

I was teaching a religion lesson and the teacher guide explained that Jesus taught us about God- even though we did not know God, Jesus did and told people about him. It went on to direct us to tell the class about a friend of ours. So...

Now all my students know about my friend, Tiffany. They know that Tiffany lives in LA. and that we have been friends since middle school. They know what you do for a living, that you play hockey and soccer and have two dogs - they know the names of your dogs and that you have a blog. They also know about Wally Wednesday. So we do calendar every day- you know what day is it today? Cause the kids are learning days of the week and all that- so it has officially become in my classroom WALLY WEDNESDAY! Wally has 24 fans that are 6-7 year old who actually ask me if you have up any new, funny wally photos! I showed them a couple once- they also think Gracie is very cute. What is even funnier is they remember so much about you. They raise their hands to say, "Tiffany has a dog named wally and on Wednesday she puts up photos of him and sometimes Gracie is there too!" What is even better is they were reading a story about a puppy that was chewing things- and started talking about Gracie eating through your cable and blinds and what not. Part of reading comprehension is connecting things they read to real life.

Anyway, Ithought you'd get a kick out of it. One of the little boys in my class thinks Wally is the bomb and some of the girls really like watching HH on HGTV. It is great. They think they know you. Because I told them about you the way Jesus told people about God.... LOL. I guess the lesson worked.

You (and Wally) are celebs....

jen"

Good evening and welcome to Wally Wednesday! About a week ago, I was working in my office when I heard a loud ruckus coming from downstairs. I called out for the dogs to stop whatever it was they were doing, but they ignored me. I peeked down the stairway to see what was going on and this is what I saw. It went on for about an hour, by the way - non-stop.



I went to the Kings game last night and got to experience the new Ice Girls for the first time. Up until now, whenever there was a break on the ice, two kids aged between about 12-17 would skate out with snow shovels and clean up the goalie creases and the area right in front of the player benches. Now, as often as possible, 6 nearly identical girls in tight pants and half shirts (on ice, mind you) skate out with shovels and go to town on the ice, like a group of anorexic little elves, their hair all straight, long, and a matching color of blond that exists no where else in nature. The person with me, Kings Fan, pointed out how much more the girls were getting done than the way it used to be done. I pointed out that it seemed to have been working just fine for the past 80 years or however long they've had those kids cleaning up the ice.

My second hockey team had a 0-4 record yesterday at the beginning of our game against a 4-0 team. When the puck dropped, we had only 5 skaters. As you may or may not know, that's exactly enough to play, and exactly enough to not have any subs or play well. We played well in the first period, starting up a goal that they evened out shortly thereafter. We then led 2-1, but they eventually led 4-2 with 6 minutes left. Somehow, we scored three goals in the next 4 minutes, winning the game 5-4. One of our weaker players had a hat trick. We will now refer to it as the Miracle on Van Nuys.

I'm off to see the Kings play the Ducks tonight. As part of our league dues at Toyota Sports Center (practice facility of the Kings) we get one ticket per season. ONE ticket. Some of the guys on our team couldn't make it so I was able to get two. The tickets are awful, really far up where you have to lean in to watch the game, but hey - they're free. Kings Fan and I will enjoy the game and be very, very surprised if the Kings can pull out a win.

Today has gone by in a haze. We had a late hockey game last night and, as a result, I didn't get to bed until around 2am. I slept until almost 10 this morning, like a complete rock. I rolled out of bed and right into my office where I worked on notes all day. Work for the rest of the week looks pretty uneventful, and things are finally starting to slow down a little bit.

Usually, no one ever comes to visit me in Los Angeles, but my mom and sister came earlier this year. Now, I'm expecting my cousin and her husband next weekend. They're stopping by on their way to Arizona on a road trip. Then the following weekend, my OTHER sister is coming to stay with her friend for a few days. The upcoming weekends should be busy!


My cousin's husband enjoys woodworking and has been refurbishing their home for a while now and it's beautiful. They're looking forward to touring the Gamble House here in Pasadena, which I always enjoy visiting. I'm hoping to take them to a Frank Lloyd Wright as well, though I didn't really enjoy my last tour of the Hollyhock mansion in Hollywood. Are there other tourable Frank Lloyd Wrights in the L.A. area? Anyone?

It's nearly the end of the weekend and I'm suddenly tired. I'd like to take a hot bath, read and then get to bed early. Unfortunately, I have a 10:30pm hockey game. I always want to play hockey, but sometimes I wish the games weren't so freaking late.

Since my work schedule has been so busy the past few months, whenever I actually do get a full weekend off (I did have to do some work earlier today), I tend to want to do nothing rather than run around doing all the errands that need to be done. For instance, my "garden" looks like a jungle in a third world country, but it's the last thing I want to take care of when I have a spare moment. Instead, I spent the weekend catching up on Netflix. I watched "The Secret," a film about a mother who dies and ends up stuck in the body of her teenage daughter. It stars David Duchovny and was based on a Japanese film. I was really glad to see Duchovny NOT have sex with his wife while in the body of his teenage daughter. I also watched "The Namesake" with Kal Penn and "The Good Night," an odd film directed by Gwyneth Paltrow's brother (and starring Paltrow). Not worth your time. I really need to go over my queue and get some better movies lined up.

I've mentioned in the past how some of the guys on my hockey team like to go out to IHOP after a game. We almost always end up at the same IHOP - the one closest to the rink - assuming the game is early enough to get there before they close. That late at night, we usually have the same waiter, and we've come to know him over the past year or so. Nice kid. We leave him a good tip and he doesn't seem to mind giving us stuff that isn't necessarily on the menu, and doesn't mind when we walk in 15 minutes before close.

When we were there last week, James, Jeff, Dean and I were finishing up our meals when he came over and said, "If you don't mind my asking, what do you all do for a living?" I thought it was cool he felt he knew us well enough to ask. We all told him, and when he realized we all made a comfortable amount of money, he proceeded to try to sell us on what was clearly a pyramid scheme. Wow, was than an uncomfortable moment. James immediately got up in sudden need of a restroom, and I was pinned on the other side of Jeff, unable to escape. Between Dean, Jeff and I, we all politely said no, but the kid was having problems taking no for an answer. He just kept pushing and pushing, and we had to pretty much back out of the restaurant with our hands on our wallets.

I had an old high school friend send me an e-mail with a similar pitch in it just a few months ago. I couldn't believe she could be so naieve to think one could get rich with such a scheme, and almost sent her an e-mail back saying, "Hey - you might want to check your account - it looks like someone is spamming people with a pyramid scheme with your e-mail address."

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

I mentioned earlier that I've been thinking of going to Iceland in the next year. Since I've technically only been an employee where I work for about 6 months, I have no vacation time to speak of. We get two unpaid weeks off at Christmas, and other than that, I will only get one week next year. I've always worked through Christmas, at least for one week of it, making it home for maybe 5-6 days. I'm always exhausted and unrested by the time the New Year rolls around. One thing I am bound and determined to do this year is NOT work over the holidays, regardless of what I decide on doing.

I bought a tourism book on Iceland the other day and was surprised at how mild the temperatures there are. During the summer months, highs are in the low 60s, and in even the dead of winter, temperatures hover right above freezing. I can deal with cold. I can even deal with cold and dark (it's only light about 6 hours out of the day in December there). The tourism book made it look like the weather is A-ok there, even in the off season. Then I looked at the weather on the internet - right now, it is in the 40s and raining there, with projected rain for the rest of eternity. I then Googled Icelandic weather and discovered it pretty much rains there all the time. So the question is - can I handle cold AND dark AND...wet?

I was working in my office yesterday when Gracie walked in with a chewed up piece of black plastic in her mouth. I took it from her and looked at it - it appeared to be a strap from something but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what. In a panic, I decided it might be part of my new snowboard bindings, but a quick inspection of my equipment showed everything on my board still intact. The plastic clearly appeared to be part of something and it bothered me that I didn't know where it came from. Later in the day, I walked downstairs and happened to notice more plastic on the floor in the dark corner of my living room next to my stationary bike. I turned the lights on to discover not just one but both pedals completely chewed off the bike.

Now, you might say the evidence is circumstantial. Just because Grace showed up with the smoking gun in her mouth, so to speak, didn't mean she committed the crime. She did have a motive (it was chewy), the means (it was within reach), and the opportunity (I wasn't watching her at that specific moment). I'm no legal expert, so I'll let you decide. I submit the following:

Exhibit A


Exhibit B


Exhibit C


What do you think? Does Grace get the chair? (And by "the chair" I mean the big, soft green one that Wally likes to lay in).

Welcome to Wally Wednesday! I didn't realize until I saw how this photo turned out that dogs could actually roll their eyes.


I've been thinking a lot about vacations lately, probably because I'm desperately in need of one. I can take a week next year and have had a few plans. My ideas are constantly changing. My first idea was to go to Sydney for a week in May because it's a cheap time of year to fly to Australia and my friend just bought a house down there so I have a free place to stay. Still, even though I absolutely LOVE Sydney, there is so much of the world I still haven't seen. Plan two - go snowboarding in Chile next summer. Our summer is their winter, so it would be the perfect chance to get more snowboarding in AND visit someplace I've never been. A good friend from work is Chilean and can hook me up with friends of hers and cheap places to stay. My latest idea is to visit Iceland, a place I've been wanting to go for some time. Summer would be a great time to visit there. I have a gift certificate to the travel store here in Oldtown so I think I'll go pick up a book and read up on it. I do get two weeks off for Christmas - maybe holiday in Iceland and summer in Chile? (They don't force you to listen to Bjork in Iceland, do they? That might be a deal breaker).

I spent some time watching the debates tonight. It was good to see Obama out there doing his thing. Unfortunately, listening to John McCain just made me irritated so I had to turn it off. I knew the program had taken a wrong turn when he referred to Ronald Reagan as his "hero." By the way, how many heroes does he get to have? In his next at bat he referred to Roosevelt as his hero, as well.

Speaking of Heroes, am I the only one disappointed by the show thus far this season? How many more plot turns can a story take? How many more characters do we need? How many more versions of those characters? When did the South American girl with the black eyes from last season turn into a Puerto Rican. Did I miss an episode? I hate to give up on a show, but they're starting to lose me.

I am looking forward to the premiere of the American remake of the BBC's Life on Mars on Thursday. I thoroughly enjoyed the English series and am looking forward to seeing what they do with this version. I know the pilot is nearly the same as the BBC version. The first season of the Office pretty much shadowed its English counterpart but then broke off on its own. We'll see how this one does. The show features Jason O'Mara (Men In Trees) as Detective Sam Tyler who suddenly finds himself inexplicably in 1973, where he must try to solve crimes while battling the often unethical police conduct of the era. Since the original shooting of the pilot, all the actors have been replaced with the exception of O'Mara. Other series stars include Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli and Gretchen Mol.

Am I the only person who finds something sort of...wrong...with this commercial?

With all the projects I've had my hands in lately, I guess I've exhausted myself. I did nearly nothing all weekend. I honestly can't think of a single useful thing I did. And I have to admit, doing nothing was sort of exhausting, too. I just woke up from a nap on the couch with Grace curled up next to me. At least I have a hockey game to go to this evening - and an early one - so I can get some exercise and still get in bed before midnight.

For those of you who have enjoyed watching Palin try to answer questions while put on the spot, you might also enjoy looking at this Debate Flow Chart. You should be able to click on the image to enlarge it.

I decided to just take a day OFF today. I didn't do a single useful thing, not even the laundry. I did buy new clothes (collars) for the dogs because Grace had eaten both their leather collars (along with two pairs of my shoes) this week. This is why I can't have nice things. She's lucky she's cute, let me tell you. When it rained today, I was reminded that if this were later in the winter, snow here would be powder in the mountains. That's exactly what I was thinking when I moseyed into the sporting goods store next to Pet Smart, and ended up walking out with a new pair of Burton snow pants.

So far, I've watched two movies on DVD today. One called "Meet Bill" with Aaron Eckhart. It's a comedy about a man whose life is falling apart (in a funny way, of course). It was actually quite good. Then I ran out of new DVDs and watched "American Beauty" again. I heart Kevin Spacey. I'd like to see him in a good movie again. "21" was ok - but I mean a great role, like in this film or "The Usual Suspects."

I also found a box of old photos in the garage and scanned some to e-mail off to friends, and just got back from a 3 mile run in the dark and the rain.

Anyone else doing anything interesting or fun?

It feels like it's been an extremely long week. I can at least say I got a lot accomplished, but now I'm tired. I have some work to do over the weekend, but it shouldn't be as busy as it has been recently, so maybe I can actually get out to see a movie or something. I'm still interested in the Coen Brothers latest, "Burn After Reading," and I'd like to see Bill Maher's "Religulous." I'm even thinking I might have time to go mountain biking, but we'll see. That might be a little over-ambitious.

I found out today when I have to go back into the office for rounds 2 & 3 of SS. I'm editing two complete episodes this time - they're trying not to break them up act by act. Last time, we were so behind schedule we had about 10 people working on every episode and it was very confusing. Sadly, I am doing the first and 5th episodes, which means I go back to the office in November...and pretty much stay there until March. I think I get about three weeks to come home in January. As a friend said, I should be grateful to have the work and not be looking for any, which I am, but still...I was hoping to spend much of the winter snowboarding, then working later in the day. So much for that. I guess I'll just have to slum it at the resorts on the weekend with the common working people.

I just played double-header soccer games. Two games, back to back, with about 10 minutes in between, which is...pure craziness. I don't even remember playing double headers when I was a kid. Now, I'm exhausted. I did, however, score my first goal in 22 years. It was the saddest little goal ever. I had to kick it with my weak foot so it had nothing to propel it, then the goalie reached down to stop it with her hands, which she did - but her fingers were a little buttery and it rolled slowly into the goal. We won the first game, 3-0, then lost the second 4-3, which is a shame because we were ahead 2-0 early on. At any rate, I'm going to go soak in a hot tub and read. Unfortunately, the only book I have right now is in electronic form on my iPhone, so it will be hard to completely relax without fear of dropping my phone in the tub.

Apparently, the morning bed wrestling will be a daily show. At least when they get tired of wrestling, they settle down and get cuddly. My neighbors who own Stryder the bulldog moved this past weekend, and I think Wally really misses him. He seems to have decided having a little sister isn't so bad after all. Here's his photo for Wally Wednesday:


I'd also like to point out that today is Oct 1...and it was 105 here today. What the hell?