Message 285

Yesterday Vanessa had her laparoscopic surgery to remove her gall bladder, and other things. She had to get to the hospital at 5 AM. I helped Maureen pick her up at the hospital about 11 AM. We took her to Maureen's house and put her to bed. I then picked up Beech at school and Annie at her babysitter's. Annie was ready for a nap so I took her to Maureen, and I took Beech to the barbershop so he and I could get haircuts. After that I took Beech to Los Gatos so he could play with the girls for a bit while I visited with Susan. When we left at about 4:20 PM, Beech bragged that he was the best driver in the video game he was playing with Melanie and Caroline. I suspect Melanie let him win, but I do not know about Caroline. I got Beech back to Maureen's in time for Julian to pick him and Annie up to take them home for dinner and then to a party at Annie's school. I then got home in time to watch all my news shows and the Friday night lineup on PBS. Finally I watched the last episode of Generation Kill. It was a busy but successful day.

Message 284

Last night Josh brought in dinners from Boston Market, he had the chicken and I had the meatloaf. We watched the Sharks beat Ottawa 2-1. The Sharks did not play well, but at least they won.

After Josh left I watched a couple of more episodes of Generation Kill on disk 2 of the series. I also watch the commentary on each episode, so it takes two hours to watch one episode. This is a really good series. I am even tempted to read the book, because I am sure it must be even better and have more detail. This work gives the most realistic depiction of combat and of the Iraq war that I have ever seen. It is really good.

Message 283

I just got back from having breakfast at Heidi's Pies as usual for Thursday. Afterward I took Annie to the library for story time.

Yesterday Josh brought in pizza and we watched the Sharks lose to Detroit. After he went home I watched a couple of more episodes of Generation Kill , and re-watched them with commentary.

Message 282

Yesterday I picked Beech up from school for our usual Burger King lunch and his Gymnastics class.

Yesterday I also got the money from my new mortgage. I borrowed more than I owed on the old one, so $24,296.84 was deposited to my checking account. I will now be able to continue living the lavish life that I have become accustomed to. The interest rate on my new mortgage is 4 7/8 percent, so my monthly payments will be lower than before in spite of the higher principal.

Last night I watched Obama's speech, then I watched the first two episodes of Generation Kill, which is a miniseries on HBO from a non-fiction book of the same name by Evan Wright. He is a journalist from Rolling Stone who was embedded with the marines in the lead unit in the 2003 Iraq invasion. I saw him interviewed on Charlie Rose a few months ago and was impressed. The miniseries was made by the same guys who made The Wire, so the quality is excellent. If this were a movie, I would give it five stars, but I will not include it in the movie list on my blog because I have not included any other miniseries there.

Message 281

Yesterday I went to dinner with Larry and Judi. I was watching the hockey game when Judi called, but I said yes because they were going to the Japanese restaurant I like. The Sharks were playing Dallas and there was no score in the middle of the second period when I left. The Sharks should have won easily, not only because they have the best record in the NHL, but also because most of their best players were out with injuries. The game was over by the time I got home, but I later saw on the news that the Sharks won 1-0 when their good second-year player scored near the end of the third period.

Joshua came over at 9 PM to watch 24 with me. I had already eaten, so he brought in Taco Bell for himself. That reminds me. I heard a funny bit of music on PBS the other day. An a capella choral group, I think maybe in San Francisco, sang about eating Taco Bell food the tune of the Pacilbel Canon, it went through the entire score and did not miss a note. It was called the Taco Bell Canon.

Message 280

Yesterday in the morning I had coffee with Helen and Jim, which was unusual for a Sunday. During the day I finished reading The Economist, and in the evening I watched a Nature program about wolves in Yellowstone, and then part two of Oliver Twist on PBS. Later in the evening I read this month's Physics Today.

This morning I went to PAMF to get two new bottles of antibiotic solution. When I finish this message and read the NY Times online I am going to take a shower and do another load of laundry. Thus my routines continue.

Message 279

Yesterday I read most of this week's Economist. In the late afternoon I joined Vanessa and her two kids and Maureen and her other two grandkids for dinner at Una Mas. I missed the Sharks game at noon because I made a mistake and read the schedule wrong and thought the game was on Sunday instead of Saturday.

In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Silk. I give it 4 stars. It was beautifully photographed and the acting was very understated. It had Keira Knightly in it but the rest of the cast was unknown to me. Is Michael Pitt Brad Pitt's brother? Some of the dialog was in Japanese, but there were no subtitles, so you had to guess at the meaning from the context, which was OK because the movie seemed to be about the difficulty of human communications and having to imagine what is going on in other people's heads. Even though it was very metaphorical and implied that what went on in people's minds was more important in relationships that what actually happened, it dealt with serious subjects like life and death, so I give it four stars.