Message 337

Yesterday I had lunch in Nealon Park with Vanessa and the kids. It was so hot I had to find a place in the shade. The heat wave set records yesterday, and is supposed to continue today, but then move away and let us return to normal. In the afternoon I finished reading The Economist. Larry Morrill picked me up at 6 PM and drove to Gombei for dinner. Judi is still in New Orleans at a meeting.

Last night Joshua, Pat, and Natalie came over and watched 24 with me. We must be getting near the end of this season, but I can't remember what time it started, so I do not know when it will end.

Message 336

Yesterday I started reading The Economist. In the late afternoon I went to San Mateo and ate a BBQ pork dinner that Vanessa cooked in the crock-pot. I got home by 7 PM so I could watch the Sharks game. Unfortunately, the lost again to the Ducks 2-3. It was a very close game, and the Sharks played well, but the Ducks had that little bit extra. Jason and Joshua were at the game. Clowe and Cheechoo scored for the Sharks, but it was not enough. If the Ducks continue to play at this level, they may win the Stanley Cup again like they did a couple of years. It is too bad the Sharks did not get to play St. Louis in the first round. However, it is not over yet. All the Sharks have to do is win four out of the next five games, something they did easily many times in the regular season.

After the hockey game, I watched Part 4 of Little Dorrit on PBS.

Message 335

Yesterday I got a haircut and started reading The Economist. In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Kagemusha, which is a three hour epic Japanese film directed by Kurosawa. It was beautifully staged and filmed with incredible colors and scenery, but the subtitles are distracting, and the motivations of the characters are hard to comprehend, because of my lack of understanding of Japanese culture and history no doubt, so I give it only three stars.

Message 334

Yesterday Beech, Vanessa, and I had lunch again at Una Mas. Afterward I had Beech stay at my place for a while so Vanessa could run some errands. He was real good at my place. He watched a monster DVD that he had brought with him while I watched BBC World news and The News Hour on PBS.

Last night I had dinner with Ron and Marci and Larry at Sundance Mining Company. Judi is in New Orleans at a meeting. Afterward we went to the movie State of Play with Russell Crowe. It was very good. I give it four stars.

Message 333

Last night I watched the Sharks lose the first game of their first round playoff series with the Anaheim Ducks. It was a good game, well played by both teams. No goals were scored by either team until the middle of the third period, but the Sharks ended up losing 0-2. The Ducks are a good team that has come on strong at the end of the season. They are a serious threat. The Sharks are going to have to up their play if they are to survive this series.

After the game, I finished reading The Terror by Dan Simmons. Marty recommended it to me. The Terror is the name of one of the ships that was lost on the Franklin to find the Northwest Passage in 1845. It is an imaginary account of what happened to the expedition that takes all the known facts into account, but it makes an exciting and intriguing story out of it for nearly a thousand pages.

Message 332

Yesterday I had lunch at Una Mas with Vanessa and the kids. Afterward we went to Nealon Park for a while until we had to leave for Vanessa to take the kids to PAMF for Beech's appointment with his pediatrician.

In the evening my friends Joan and Dave picked me up to go to Stanford to see an interview with Kenneth Arrow, one of their professors of Economics who won the Nobel prize in 1972. It was a Charlie Rose type interview and was a very interesting program. I had never heard of him before, but he is a very interesting guy who is still working and is sharp as a tack.

Message 331

We had a lot of strong winds yesterday, and last night a tree fell in San Mateo so the power was out all night , starting about 4 PM, at Julian and Vanessa's house. Thus, they all four stayed here last night. Julian left early today to get to work and found the power had been restored, so Vanessa and the kids are gone now. They will be back down here later for Beech's appointment with his pediatrician.

Last night Vanessa and I watched a DVD of the movie Head in the Clouds. It was a well-done epic about life in England and France before and during WW 2. I give it three stars. It was worth watching, but nothing special.

Today is Nicole's birthday. She is no longer a teenager. Happy birthday!