Message 644

Yesterday after breakfast at El Cerrito I helped Rob with some work he had to do at Kinko's and then showed him around Stanford for a while. He had to meet with people in the afternoon and evening, so I did not see him again until the third period of the Sharks game. After giving up four goals in the second period, the Sharks trailed New Jersey 0-4, but in the third period they got their act together and scored three goals, so they lost 3-4, and saved themselves from total disgrace. At noon I picked Beech up at school and took him to lunch, which is our usual Tuesday routine. At midnight I watched Charlie Rose as usual. His show was quite good again as is also usual.

Message 643

Yesterday I had Orlindo's crew in to clean my condo. I walked up to Starbucks and had a coffee while they were here. In the evening I watched 24. I had finished The Economist yesterday, so I read Science until Rob Ballard arrived about 11 PM. You all probably remember him from our reunions. He is Joe Cleaver's sister's son, and his son is named Carson and is in kindergarten. Anyway, I invited him to stay in my guest room while he has some legal business in Redwood City for the next few days. His plane was scheduled to land at 8 PM, but it was a couple of hours late, so he missed watching 24 with me. He was ready for bed shortly after he arrived, so he was asleep while I watched Charlie Rose. We are about to head up to El Cerrito for breakfast.

Message 642

Yesterday I watched the Americans lose to the Canadians in overtime for the Olympic gold medal. I did not really care who won, but the Canadians had the better team, including four of the Sharks best players. The Americans had only one Shark on their team, and I had never heard of the others. Also, the game meant more to Canadians than it did to Americans, so it is just as well that they won. I the evening I went to San Mateo for the usual Sunday family dinner. In the evening I watched 39 Steps on PBS Masterpiece Classics.

Message 641

Yesterday I rode with Helen and Jim to San Jose to have lunch with Joan and Dave at their new condo in San Jose. Dave is too run down from the effects of his chemotherapy to join us at Starbucks. Their condo is very nice, and Joan had fixed a very nice lunch. Helen and I agree that we do not want to make this trip very often, but we do not want to be unfriendly, so it is a somewhat awkward situation. In the evening I read some more of The Economist and watched the Olympics until time to pick Julian up at the airport at 10:15 PM. He and Alex had a good time in Cancun and visited several Maya sites. Alex finishes his internship in Connecticut in July and then moves to Los Angeles to start his residency in anesthesiology.

Message 640

Yesterday Josh came by for lunch. It turns out he does not fly to Amsterdam for two weeks until today. He did not come for 24 last Monday because he had been skiing and was in slow traffic coming home, so he watched at Pat's house. Last night I went with Larry and Judi to see the movie The Last Station. It was a biopic about the end of Tolstoy's life in Russia in 1910. It had great performances by Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren as Tolstoy and his wife. All I knew about Tolstoy was from watching the 13-hour production of War and Peace on PBS in 1974 and a couple of more time when it was repeated in the following years. Also I watched the PBS production of Anna Karinina. It was interesting to see the how these books reflected the experiences of Tolstoy's own life. I give this movie 3.5 stars.

Message 639

In the afternoon yesterday I watched a DVD of the movie Miranda. It was a romantic thriller-comedy with Christina Ricci. It was nothing special, but I give it three stars. In the evening I watched the Olympics, including cross-country skiing, ski-jump aerials, and women's figure skating. I also read some more of my book.

Message 638

I just got back from having breakfast at Heidi's Pies with Vanessa and Annie. Annie was too sick to take to the babysitter, but she was real good and did not cause any trouble. She sat at the table and ate her food and watched her DVDs on the portable player that Vanessa brought along. I dropped her of at Maureen's on my way home.

Yesterday I had a quiet day at home. I watched a DVD of the movie The Hurt Locker. It has been nominated for best movie this year, and I have seen a lot of discussion about it on Charlie Rose. It is a very realistic portrayal of the military experience of EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) units in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is directed by a woman who is nominated for best director. The screenplay is written by a reporter who was embedded with an EOD unit in the early days in Iraq. The actors are pretty much unknowns, but they are all very good. Even though the film has a lot of action, it is mostly a character study of the military people who do this work. It is very well done, and I give it 4 stars.