Message 706

Yesterday I walked up to the plaza and bought some things at CVS. In the afternoon Beech came over and visited with me for a while. In the evening I watched Disk 2 of Dollhouse. I have seen eight episodes now along with commentary on two episodes, which were originally two versions of the pilot.

Message 705

Yesterday I picked Beech up at school and took him to Burlingame for a haircut and then to McDonalds for lunch. I also read over half of a book Vanessa gave me titled The Explosive Child, which has some helpful tip about how to help us help Beech avoid his meltdowns.

In the afternoon Joshua came over and watched the Sharks play the Redwings in Detroit. The Redwings went ahead 2-0 in the first period, but 1.8 seconds before the period ended, Setogucci scored for the Sharks. In the second period the Redwings scored again to make it 3-1. In the third period Thornton and Coutour (a rookie recently brought up from the farm team) scored and sent the game into overtime. In overtime Thornton passed to Marleau on a two-on-one breakaway and won the game, so the Sharks are now ahead three games to zero in the series. All of us fans are now thinking maybe the Sharks are finally starting to be the team we all thought they could be.

Message 704

Yesterday Maureen and I had breakfast at Heidi's Pies (the first time I was ever there on a Monday) and then went to Annie's nursery school (which was once Beech's nursery school too) for grandparents day. I read the kids a book from their library called Me First about a pig who always wanted to be at the front of the line. When I came home I read this week's Science. In the evening Joshua came over and watched 24 with me. There are now only 4 more hours left in the series.

Message 702

Yesterday I read a good bit of The Economist and in the late afternoon I went to Los Gatos with Julian, Vanessa, and the kids and met Jason and Susan and their family at Live Oak Kitchen for dinner. Amanda and Iris were there too, so we had a table for thirteen set up in a separate room. It was great fun, and everyone had a good time and a good meal. After dinner we went next door to Sweet Retreat for ice cream, as is our usual habit. When I got home I watched a DVD of Dollhouse, Season 1, Disk 1. Dollhouse is Joss Whedon's new TV show about young people who are brain washed and then reprogrammed by a special machine to go on missions to do good. The main character is the bad-girl-slayer from Buffy, Eliza Dushku.

Message 701

I just got back from seeing Helen and Jim at Starbucks. Yesterday I finished reading the book Strange Things Happen, A Life With The Police, Polo, and Pygmies by Stewart Copeland. The book was given to me by Susan. I had not intended to read it so fast, but once I started I could not put it down. I mostly was familiar with The Police because Jason was so fond of them when he was a kid, but I found the story and the writing style very interesting.

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.