Message 700

Yesterday I stayed in San Mateo after breakfast at Heidi's Pies and picked Beech up at school at noon and took him to McDonalds for lunch. Afterward we picked Annie up at daycare. When we got home Beech and Annie went out to jump on the trampoline and I went home and left them with Vanessa.

In the evening I watched the Sharks play Detroit in the first game of their second-round playoff series. Joshua got tickets, so he went to the game with Kevin. In the middle of the first period the Sharks had a burst of good fortune and scored three goals in one minute and nineteen seconds to go ahead 3-0. They then held on to win the game 4-2. Pavelski scored both the first and last goals, and the other two were scored by Heatly and Setogucci. Marleau was out with the flu. It was wonderful to see them win the first game of a series for a change. The next game is Sunday afternoon.

Message 699

I am just leaving to meet Reggie at Heidi's Pies for our usual Thursday breakfast, but I thought I would get this message off before I go. Vanessa called a little while ago to say she can't make it this morning because she has some urgent sewing she needs to get done for her business. Yesterday I started reading a book Susan gave me, a sort of autobiography by Stewart Copeland of The Police. It is very interesting. She knows how to pick them. In the afternoon I refilled the prescription for my antibiotic saline solution and had my six-month check-up by my dermatologist at PAMF. She froze a few spots and took a scraping from my neck for a biopsy. On the whole my skin is better lately, probably because of the soap substitute and body lotion Liz suggested for me when we were in Arizona recently.

In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Holy Smoke. It is another movie by Jane Campion, who did The Piano, but this time Harvey Keitel plays opposite Kate Winslet, who does her usual wonderful job. It is intense, but funny, and is filmed in Australia and India. I give it four stars.

Message 698

Yesterday I babysat Annie in the morning and again in the afternoon while she napped. I also picked Beech up at school and took him to lunch for our usual Tuesday routine. He chose McDonalds again, and I helped him with three pages of his homework. In the evening I went out to dinner with Larry at Gombei. Judi is still out of town. In the evening I watched Nova, about psychology and money. I also watched a DVD of the movie The Blind Side. Because I had just read the book and felt so highly about it, I could not help being disappointed in the movie. It is almost always the case that movies do not measure up to the books for me. If I see the movie first, I can like it and then like the book even more if I read it later, but if I read the book first I am critical of the shortcomings of the film. I realize that this is not fair, because film and book are completely different art forms. Anyway I give The Blind Side film 3 stars.

Message 697

I just received an email from Netflix asking me to review the movie Taking Chance, and I realize I forgot to mention in Sunday's message that I had watched the DVD. It is a very well done film based on a true story about a Marine Colonel, played by Kevin Bacon, who volunteers to escort the body of a 21-year old who was killed in Iraq and whose name was Chance Phillips, home to his family in a small town in Wyoming. I did not expect much from the movie, so I was surprised by how good it was. It reminded me some of the Japanese movie Departures because it dealt with the ritual and respect with which the military carries out the duty of returning the dead to their family for burial. I give it four stars.

Yesterday I finished reading The Economist and in the evening Joshua came over and watched 24 with me. I was amazed to learn that there are still five more episodes left in this season. It seems like it is longer than usual, but I must confess that I have forgotten what time it was when it started.

Message 696

Yesterday I inadvertently sent this out before it was finished, so I am adding to it now.

Yesterday I finished reading The Blind Side, Evolution of a Game, by Michael Lewis. It is a wonderful book, and written by the best non-fiction writer of our time. It was compelling reading and full of brilliantly interesting and inspiring characters. It is as much about the game of football as it is about the people in the story. It has a lot of stuff about Bill Walsh that I did not know in spite of my following him closely when he took the 49ers through their glory years. The author had many hours of interviews with all the people in the book, including Bill Walsh, and many other coaches, players, scouts, and agents, both for the college and professional game.

In the late afternoon I went to San Mateo for the usual family dinner. This time we went to a Mexican restaurant and I had fish tacos for the first time. They were quite good. Afterward we had ice-cream at McDonalds. In the evening I read some more of The Economist and watched the second part of Small Island on Masterpiece Theater on PBS.

Message 695

Yesterday I did my grocery shopping and started reading The Economist. In the evening Joshua brought in Mexican food and watched the Sharks game with me. They beat Colorado 5-2 to win the series 4-2. The last two goals were empty netters, so the game was closer than the score indicates. Their next opponent in the Stanly Cup series is not yet determined, so they will have a few days off to rest up. I hope they can sustain their level of play for the rest of the series. I then turned in early (before midnight) for a change.

Message 694

Last night I went to see the movie La Mission with Larry. Judi is out of town at a meeting. I did not care much for the movie, although it was well made. It dealt with Latino culture and especially their intolerance of gays, but it was too strange and heavy for my taste, so I give it only 2.7 stars. After the movie I read some more of The Blind Side and watched Charlie Rose.

Message 693

Yesterday I had breakfast at Heidi's Pies with Vanessa and Reggie. I worked some more on my memoirs and in the evening I watched the Sharks win their game against Colorado 5-0. Three of their goals were scored by rookies that were brought up from the farm team for the last few weeks of the season. Another goal was scored by Joe Pavelski, and the last one was scored by Patrick Marleau, their regular season leading scorer. Joshua joined me at the start of the second period when the score was still 0-0. He had been skiing all day, so we were both thrilled with the outcome. The Sharks finally came alive, or rather Colorado's team was not able to continue playing above their heads, and the Sharks emerged as the champions they really are. Anyway, it was great to see them return to form.

Yesterday I also read some more of The Blind Side. It is so good that I stayed up reading until 3:30 AM, and I am now about half way through it. When I finish it I will watch the movie too.

Message 692

Yesterday I finished reading Science, worked some more on my memoirs, and started reading The Blind Side. In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Brothers. It is a remake of a Danish movie about soldiers in Afghanistan and problems with PTSD when they come home. It was kind of a downer and not much fun to watch, so I give it only 3 stars. Charlie Rose had another good program in his series on the brain.

Message 691

Yesterday I worked some more on my memoirs and finished reading The Economist. At noon I picked Beech up at school and took him to lunch. We were headed for Subway, but when we passed McDonalds he changed his mind and we went there. Afterward we went home and I helped him with his homework until Vanessa and Annie got back from Little Wonders.

In the evening I watched the Sharks game. This time they scored the first goal for a change, and it was scored by Dan Boyle, which helped make up for his scoring the losing goal in the previous game. Joshua showed up by the second period in time to see Colorado tie the game. It eventually went into overtime, for the third game in a row, but this time Joe Pavelski scored the winning goal half way through the first overtime period to win the game 2-1. The series is now tied 2-2, so the Sharks need to win two out of three games now to save themselves from further humiliation and move on to the next series.

Message 690

Yesterday I worked some more on my memoirs, read some more of The Economist, and watched 24 with Josh in the evening. All in all a nice quiet day at home.

Message 689

Yesterday I finished reading the book My Stroke of Insight, A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor. It was a quick read, and it had a lot of good ideas in it about how the brain works and how you can tune into your right brain at will to feel happy and at peace. After a long life, I was pleased to read about many of the things I have learned to do myself. In the late afternoon I went to San Mateo for our traditional family dinner. In the evening I watched the Sharks blow another hard fought game to Colorado when Dan Boyle put one in his own net in overtime to lose 0-1. How strange can things get? After the game I watched the start of a new two-part series on PBS about Jamaica and England during and after World War 2. After that I read some more of The Economist and turned in early.

Message 688

Yesterday I started working on my memoirs again for the first time in weeks, but my computer monitor went out (even though it is a CRT), so I had to replace it with the other CRT monitor that Josh gave me from his work. While I was at it I tried to set up Skype for which Bill gave the camera to me when they were all here recently. The camera that Bill gave me and the microphone that Jason gave me all work fine, but no one was home in Houston when I tried to test the system out. Instead of returning to my memoirs (I am in Texas now in the summer between college and graduate school), I read more than half of the book Liz gave me titled My Stroke of Insight.

In the evening I also watched a DVD of the movie Yes. It starred Joan Allen, who is a favorite of mine, but it was a strange movie with all the dialog in poetry. It was like watching a modern attempt to write like Shakespear. In addition to dealing with interpersonal relations, class and religious differences, England, Ireland, America, and Lebanon, it also tried to show how the conflict between the West and the Muslin world can be resolved by love. It was somewhat interesting because it was so different, but it was pretty boring for the most part, so I give it only 2.8 stars.

Message 687

I just got back from Starbucks with Helen and Jim and Joan and David. Last night Joshua came over and watched the Sharks play the second game of their Stanley Cup series with Colorado. What a game! The Sharks fell behind within the first minute again, and then tied the game five times before going into overtime and winning. The series is now 1-1. It was heartening to see the Sharks had enough grit to hang on and win in another very hard-fought game.

Message 686

Yesterday I had breakfast at Heidi's Pies with Reggie, Vanessa, Annie, and Maureen. I finished reading The Economist and Science from last week. In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Talk of Angels. It was a movie about the start of the Spanish Civil War, and I had the feeling I had seen it before but I could not remember it for sure. It was well done, but I did not care much for it, so I give it only three stars.

I also finished reading Hyperion by Dan Simmons, a book Marty recommended to me after we both read another of his books titled The Terror, which I liked a lot. Hyperion was also the title of a poem by John Keats and this book made a lot of references to him. It was modeled on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but it was mainly a science-fiction/ fantasy-fiction work that mostly did not hang together too well, perhaps because it has a sequel that I have not read.
.

Message 681

I forgot to mention in yesterday's message that I started taking Zithromax Wednesday at 5 PM for my sinus infection. I am already feeling much better. In the afternoon I packed and got ready to fly to Phoenix to meet Liz and go to Tucson for Laurie's (Sally's sister) son Matt. Because I will be away, I will not send out messages on Saturday or Sunday. Last night I watched the Sharks beat Vancouver 4-2. They were ahead 4-0 in the third period when a whole lot of fights broke out so at one point the Sharks had six players in the penalty box. The resulting 5-on-3 and 4-on-3 power-plays allowed the Canucks to score a couple of goals, but the Sharks won anyway. Joshua did not show up, but he called later and said he had had to work late.

Message 684

Yesterday I resumed my usual Tuesday routine of picking Beech up at school at noon and taking him to lunch. He now prefers to go to Subway where he is known by the workers behind the counter. After we ate I declined to stop at another store and buy him a toy, but took him home where we read part of one of his new Dr. Seuss books. He is making progress on his reading, but he seems mostly to want to work it out for himself instead of having me help him. After he tired of reading, we played some of his new Wii games.

In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Whip It. Ellen Page plays a seventeen-year old school girl who sneaks out to become a Roller-Derby star. The skating was new and interesting to me, but the plot was pretty simplistic and formulaic, so I only give it three stars.

Message 685

Yesterday I went out to dinner at Gombei (my favorite Japanese restaurant) with Larry and Judi. I got back just in time to watch the Sharks play Colorado in the first game of their Stanley Cup series. It was a fast and hard-fought game. Colorado went ahead 0-1 in the second period, the Sharks tied it in the third period, and Colorado scored the winning goal to win 1-2 with 49 seconds left in the game. Joshua was at the game, so I am sure he was disappointed.

I also watched a DVD of the movie Lady Jane, another story about the succession to Henry the 8th for the throne of England. The film was released in 1986, and Helena Bonham Carter must have been a teenager. She looked like the 15-year-old girl she was playing. I had not previously known about the nine days that Jane Grey reigned before she and her teenaged husband were beheaded, but I thought it was a good story and very well done. I give it 4.5 stars.

Message 682

My weekend with Liz at Matt Wilhelm's wedding in Tucson was wonderful. It was everything I had hoped for and better than I expected. Except for all the cousins, who were not invited because they were thought to be too numerous on both the bride's and groom's sides, presumably for economic reasons, everybody was there and were great fun for us to be with. I have encouraged them all to join come to Northstar this summer, and I think many of them may well manage to join us at our reunion. Except for a two hour delay in taking off from Phoenix because of mechanical problems with the airplane, the travel part of the trip went smoothly.

I just got back from getting more antibiotic solution at PAMF so I can resume catheterization. Fortunately I was able to get along just fine by skipping it for a few days. I saw on the news last night that the Chicago Blackhawks lost yesterday, so the Sharks have the Western Conference home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which I think start Wednesday.

Message 683

One last note about my trip to Matt's wedding. On the way home, Liz caught her flight a couple of hours before mine was scheduled to leave, and then mine was delayed a couple of more hours. Fortunately I was able to meet up with Matt's sister Robin and her boyfriend who were waiting for their flight back to Denver, and we had a chance to have a nice visit at one of the Phoenix airport's Starbucks. Last night Joshua came by to watch 24 with me. I thought it was the last episode but now I learn there is another one next Monday. Maybe it will be the last. Joshua had taken the day off and gone skiing and just got back in time to see 24.

Yesterday I finished reading The Big Short by Michael Lewis. It was very good and a worthy successor to Liars Poker, which was his first book that I read and was about his experience as a bond salesman in London after he finished Princeton.. I have also read Moneyball, which was about the Oakland As and applying the scientific method to evaluating talent for the baseball draft. I also have The Blind Side, which I will get to soon.

Message 680

I just got back from having breakfast with Reggie at Heidi's Pies. Vanessa was not there today because she and Julian took the kids skiing at Bear Valley. Last night I watched disk 5 of My So-Called Life, which is the end of the series. It is too bad that it was cancelled before the end of the first season. It is good that we have at least as much as we do. Now that I have seen it all, I give it five stars overall.

Message 679

Yesterday I finished reading The Economist and Science. In the late afternoon I watched the Stanford women lose the NCAA basketball championship to UCONN. I also watched the Sharks beat Calgary 2-1 to clinch their division title. Joshua showed up in time to watch after the first period to watch the rest of the game with me. Julian and Vanessa have taken the kids to the mountains to ski for their spring break, so I am having a quiet week at home. Yesterday was Caroline's tenth birthday, but I gave her present to her on Saturday night.

Message 678

Yesterday I spent most of the day at the Toyota dealer getting new tires and my 95k-miles service on the Sienna. It turns out that the check engine light that has been on for the past few months was because an oxygen sensor in my exhaust had gone bad. It had nothing to do with the engine, but if it stays on my car would not pass the smog check, which is due this year, so I had to replace it even though it cost a ridiculous $500. I got an entire new set of tires because the old set was six years old, and even though they still had a lot of tread they were starting to crack from age. My car still has only about 90k-miles on it (even though I have had it nearly eleven years) because I drive so little, in spite of frequent trips to San Mateo and Los Gatos.

In the evening Joshua brought in dinners from Boston Market and watched the double episodes of 24 with me. I thought it would be the end of the series, but it turns out there is another episode next Monday. In the meantime Jack still lives. During the ads in 24 we switched to watch the NCAA men's basketball finals between Duke and Butler. At the end, Duke was lucky to win by one point.

Message 677

I went to San Mateo for a very nice Easter family brunch yesterday. In the afternoon I came home and watched the Stanford women's basketball team win their game to get into the final game against UCONN. I also watched the Sharks lose to Colorado in overtime 4-5. When I was in Los Gatos yesterday Jason pointed out to me and showed me proof on the sports page of his paper that the Sharks actually won the previous game against Minnesota 3-2 on Friday. I know that I switched channels in the third period when I thought they were going to lose, but I do not know how I thought it was Dallas they had lost to. After the Sharks lost last night I watched Nature and Masterpiece Classics on PBS.

Message 676

Yesterday afternoon I went to Los Gatos and had a nice dinner at Live Oak Kitchen with Jason and Susan and the girls (except for Amelia who was babysitting, but I saw her after dinner). Caroline will be ten years old on Tuesday, and I wanted to give her present. When I arrived at their house I discovered I had a flat tire, so Jason helped me put on the spare. It was the first time I have had to change a tire in many years. After dinner Jason showed me the new wall-mounted big LCD TV that he has now installed in his bedroom.

When I got back to my condo I watched a DVD of the movie Maid in Sweden. It was filmed in 1971, and it was pretty primitive by modern standards, so I give it only 2.5 stars.

Message 675

I just got back from Starbucks. I walked today because I did not need to carry any groceries, although I did pick up a couple of Prescriptions at CVS. Yesterday late afternoon I watched the Sharks lose another disgraceful game to Dallas 2-4. After all the Friday PBS shows were over, I watched disk 4 of My So-Called Life. Now that I have seen almost all of the series, I think I will eventually upgrade my rating to 5 stars. I is amazing that this series originally aired on commercial television on ABC, although they cancelled it after only one season.

Message 674

I had breakfast at Heidi's Pies again today. It is the first time we have ever been on Friday, and it was the first time we have ever gone twice in one week. We had Annie with us today, but she was real good. Afterward I took Annie to the library, She does not like to listen to the story, but she likes to run around and get into everything. Last night I picked up Larry and Judi at the airport after their return from New York.

Message 673

Yesterday I got a haircut in the morning and after The News Hour in the afternoon I watched the Sharks lose to Dallas. They played so badly and were so far behind that Joshua did not even bother to come over when he was able to get away from work. They were behind 1-5 in the third period when I switched over to watch Disk 3 of My So-Called Life, which is continuing to hold up as a good series. I am up early this morning, so I am sending this message before I go to Heidi's Pies.