Message 784

Yesterday I packed my suitcase for Tahoe. This will be my last message until I return from Tahoe in a week. I have arranged to meet Kirsten and her kids at the Sacramento airport tomorrow morning. This afternoon I will pick Charlie and Kat up at Jason's house about 5 PM and bring them to Menlo Park to spend the night. We should all leave tomorrow morning by 8:30 Am to get to Sacramento by 11 AM.

Message 783

We had a great breakfast yesterday at the Live Oak Kitchen. Beech and Annie loved seeing all the kids. Annie fell asleep on the way home and had about an hour-long nap. Jason took all the other kids to Great America while Susan and Julie went shopping, or something. It was great to see Julie and Alex who has grown a lot since I saw him last year. Last night I watched a DVD of the Spanish movie The Maid. It was supposed to be a comedy/drama, but I thought it was mostly boring as well as strange. I give it 2.5 stars.

Message 782

Things have changed since I sent my message yesterday. Julian and I are now going to be driving separate cars, so I will take Charlie and Kat with me to pick up Kirsten and her kids at the Sacramento airport. I will thus not have to put them on the train to San Francisco, so Chris and Linda will be only two in their rental car on the drive to Tahoe. Vanessa will be here in about forty minutes to drop off Beech and Annie while she sees her doctor to discuss her surgery next week. I am going to take the kids down to Los Gatos to have breakfast with the gang, which now includes Julie and Alex, who flew in last night.

Message 781

Chris called yesterday and asked if Charlie and his girlfriend Kat can stay here Friday night. They are staying with Jason and Susan before that, but they are all leaving for Tahoe on Friday. I will drive to Los Gatos and pick Charlie and Kat up and bring them to Menlo Park to stay Friday night. Saturday morning early I will take them to the train station so they can ride the train to San Francisco to meet Chris and Linda to ride in their rental car to Tahoe.

Last night Joshua joined Mimi and me for a burger at The Dutch Goose. I was glad Joshua and Mimi had a chance to get to know each other.

Message 780

Yesterday I finished reading Science and also I finished the book Half the Shy by Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn. Its subtitle is Turning Oppression into Opportunity Worldwide. It is a very good book, and I recommend it for anyone interested in women. In the evening I watched a DVD of the Chinese movie Farewell my Concubine. It is the third time I have watched it and I am finally beginning to understand it and like it a little better. It uses Chinese opera and the process of training its performers from childhood, or even infancy, to be performers. It also uses opera as an allegory to present Chinese history of the 20th century.

Message 779

Yesterday Mimi and I had coffee at Starbucks with Helen and Jim and Joan and Dave. I also read all of The Economist and part of this weeks Science. In the evening I watched Presumed Innocent on PBS. I had read the book years ago but I had not seen the movie. I was amazed at how young the cast looked. Harrison Ford was still on the way up and a couple of the others later became famous for their parts on the TV series West Wing.

Message 778

Yesterday I finished reading Science and started this week's issue of The Economist. In the evening I watched for the second time a DVD of the movie The Painted Veil. It is based on the novel by Somerset Maugham. It is an unusual role for Edward Norton, but it is a great and well done movie.

Messgae 777

Yesterday Mimi and I met Vanessa and Reggie for breakfast at Heidi's Pies. Afterward Mimi went back to San Jose where her mother is now being fed through a tube through her nose with her hands tied so she will not pull it out again. I went home and finished reading The Economist and started reading Science. In the evening I watched a DVD of the Chinese movie Temptress Moon. I had completely forgotten it from my previous viewing when I gave it 2.9 stars. I still agree with this rating, although I now appreciate it more. It is a classic story, sort of a Chinese Romeo and Juliette, about how the absurd customs of a decaying and collapsing society of early 20th century century China ruins the lives of everyone, especially women.

Message 776

After a nice coffee at Peets with Annie and Vanessa yesterday, I read some more of The Economist I also watched three more episodes of True Blood Season 2. Mimi's mother had to be taken from the Nursing home to the hospital again. This time her feeding tube ruptured and the doctor told Mimi her mom would probably be dead within ten days. It si a rough time for her.

Message 775

Yesterday I had lunch with Jason and his family and Evelyn in Los Gatos. Afterward I drove Evelyn to SFO to catch her return flight to Houston. In the evening I watched a PBS show about Gladiators. I also read a little bit more of The Economist. I am just about to leave this morning to meet Vanessa and Annie at the train station. They are riding the train as a treat for Annie. We will have a coffee and then they will take the 11 AM train back to San Mateo.

Message 774

Yesterday I did three loads of laundry and played some more with my computers. I still have not figured out how to get my SETI program running again. I also read some more of The Economist.

Message 773

Yesterday I began to get familiar with my new computer. I still have not figured out how to restart my SETI program on my old computer now in the guest room. I ate dinner in San Mateo with Julian, Vanessa and the kids. Before that I did some Safeway shopping and watched Episode 4 of True Blood Season 2. In the evening I watched Murder on the Orient Express on PBS.

Message 772

Yesterday was a busy day. When Julian and Beech came over they came to lunch at El Cerrito with Jason and Ellie and me. After lunch Julian took the kids swimming in my condo pool while Jason and I continued setting up my new computer. Jason actually did all the work while I offered suggestions. What a great guy he is! We went to Fry's about 7 PM and picked up a couple of more items to complete the setup, and stopped by to see Joshua afterward to pick up the speaker system from my old Dell computer that is now broken and he no longer uses. I am writing this message on my new HP computer that has a different email system, so it looks a little different and acts somewhat differently from my old one.

Mimi had to spend the day and night yesterday at the hospital helping with her mom. The ambulance is scheduled to take her mom back to the nursing home at 4 PM today. Last night before I went to bed I watched Episode 3 on Disk 2 of True Blood Season 2.

Message 771

Yesterday I had a nice lunch in Los Gatos with all the girls as I described in yesterday's message. This morning Mimi and I met Helen and Jim at Starbucks. Jason and Ellie were with us there too. After coffee Mimi went to San Jose to stay with her mom at the hospital. The IV antibiotic is working and has caused the feeding tube to come unblocked, so she will not need surgery to put in a new one. Tomorrow she should be able to move back to the nursing home. Jason and I and Ellie went to Costco and bought me a new computer when we left Starbucks. Jason is hooking it up now while I am writing this. Julian and Beech are coming over in a little while so we can all go out to lunch.

Message 770

I am just about to leave to pick Evelyn up at Stanford. I will then drive San Jose to pick Mimi up at the hospital where she is with her mom while she waits for the IV antibiotic to bring down her fever enough so the can operate to put in a new feeding tube for her. I will then drive Mimi and Evelyn to Los Gatos where I can then take all the girls to Live Oak Kitchen for lunch. I am glad I will thus have Mimi get to know more of the family, and they to know her.

Message 769

I just got back from having breakfast at Heidi's Pies with Vanessa, Reggie, and Henry. Mimi was not able to join us this morning because her mother was taken to the hospital last night, and Mimi wanted to be there this morning for the emergency surgery required to replace the feeding tube, which is now blocked and infected.

Message 768

Vanessa brought Annie down yesterday around noon so I could watch her while Vanessa went to an appointment with Beech's shrink. I took Annie to the Redwood City McDonalds with a playground. I got myself a Number 13, a one-third pounder Angus beef bacon cheeseburger meal. I shared my French fries and ketchup with Annie. She also drank two chocolate milks. I was lucky to get her to eat that much. She is so busy playing with the other kids there that she generally just runs back to grab another French Fry and then rejoins the kid pack

I was sorry to hear form Julie that her dad is now in a nursing home with Parkinson's disease. It is a sad and tough situation for all involved.

Message 767

Yesterday I finished reading The Economist and did two loads of wash. It seemed like Sunday, so it is strange for me to realize that today is Tuesday, not Monday. Mimi and I are still seeing a lot of each other. She has to spend every afternoon helping take care of her mother in a nursing home in San Jose. She has Parkinson's disease and can not eat or walk, so she has to be fed through a tube through her abdomen into her stomach. One of Mimi's brothers is a doctor who lives in Florida. He insists on keeping their mother alive, so he and her other two brothers who are engineers in Silicon Valley pay to keep her in the nursing home and pay Mimi to help take care of her seven days a week. It is a hard job because her mother is pretty much a vegetable.

Message 766

Yesterday I read some more of The Economist. I should finish it today. Last night Mimi and I ate dinner at a Chinese Restaurant on Santana Row. Afterward we watched fireworks all around us as we drove back to pick up her car.

Message 765

Yesterday I read some more of The Economist. In the evening Mimi and I watched a DVD of the Japanese movie Departures. She lived in Japan for a while so it was especially interesting to her. It was the second time watching it for me, and I still think it is a wonderful and beautiful movie. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it.

Message 764

Yesterday Mimi and I had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in San Jose. For dinner we ate pizza on the sidewalk at Amici's in Menlo Park. This morning she joined us at Starbucks and met Helen and Jim and Dave and Joan. Dave still looks terrible, but at least he is feeling good enough now to get out of bed. I started reading The Economist yesterday, but did not get very far. In the evening Mimi and I watched a DVD of the Chinese movie Shanghai Triad. It is one of my favorites, and she had never seen it.

Message 763

Yesterday I had breakfast at Heidi's Pies with Reggie, Henry, Vanessa, and Mimi Greer. I was surprised that Vanessa joined us because she had planned to be in Petaluma. I met Mimi a week ago on POF and have seen her several times since. She is a 61-year old Vietnamese woman who escaped with her parents and siblings when the North Vietnamese took Saigon. In the afternoon I worked some more on my memoirs. In the evening I watched the commentary for episode 2 of True Blood Season 2. I also finished reading the new Science.

Message 762

Yesterday I returned to writing my memoirs for the first time in a couple of weeks. I was able to get quite a bit done. In the evening I watched the first two episodes of True Blood Season 2 on Disk 1. It is quite good and keeps up the standard set in Season 1. I think I may eventually watch Season 1 again sometime, because I had forgotten a lot of it. I also started reading the new Science.