Message 297

Yesterday morning Liz and I had breakfast at El Cerrito. Vanessa joined us after we finished, so we went to Starbucks where Vanessa had a coffee. Jason eventually joined us and had a coffee too. Liz and Jason then left to pick up Josh and go on to pick up Ethan and Bill at SFO.

I am headed up for Heidi's pies now. I will fill in more tomorrow about the DVD I watched most of last night.

Message 296

Yesterday I had my usual Tuesday routine with Beech at Burger King and his gymnastics class. When I took him home I met the girl who is helping Vanessa while Julian is in New York. She seems very nice and competent.

Liz has finished with her dermatology meetings in San Francisco. I picked her up at the Palo Alto train station at 5 PM, and we ate dinner at the Sundance Mining Company. This morning we are having breakfast at El Cerrito, and Vanessa is joining us at 9 AM. Jason will pick up Liz there at 10 AM, then they will pick up Josh at his house. The will meet Bill and Ethan at SFO at 11:10 Am and head for Northstar.

Last night Liz and I watched the Sharks beat Minnesota 5-4 in overtime. The game unfolded just like last week's game with them in San Jose, but with the opposite ending. After the hockey game we watched a Netflix DVD of the movie Body of Lies. It was a spy thriller in the Middle East with Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio, and directed by Ridley Scott. It was good, but I only give it three stars. The plot was too convoluted and it was hard to tell who the people were and whether they were good or bad, which I suppose was partly the point.

Message 295

I took Liz to the train Station again this morning. This is her last day attending the meetings. Last night we ate at Sultana, where Pot au Feu used to be. It was very good. Later that evening Josh came over and watched 24 with us. He is working hard to get enough done to be able to go skiing with his siblings tomorrow.

I have already run the dishwasher. I think maybe I will do another load of laundry today too.

Message 294

I just took Liz and Andrea to the Menlo Park train station to go to their meeting in San Francisco. Andrea is flying home to Spokane this afternoon, and Liz will catch the train back here this evening. Yesterday Liz took all the females (Andrea, Susan, Vanessa, Chelsea, Melanie, Amelia, and Caroline) to tea. Ellie decided she would rather stay home with me and Jason, and Jamie and the twins instead of going to the tea party. Julian came down with Beech and Annie, and we all stayed through dinner. Beech, Ellie, Caroline, Liz, Jason, and I all went in the hot tub after dinner. Beech was the only one to jump in the cold pool (several times). It was wonderful to have everyone get together over the last two days.

Message 293

Liz and Andrea have gone out for a three-mile run. When they get back we will go to the Golf Course Grill to meet Helen and Jim and Joan and David for breakfast. We had a great dinner and Texas Hold Em game at Jason and Susan's last night. Julian was there with the kids, and Jamie and Chelsea came without kids. It was only their second night out using a babysitter.

Message 292

Liz stayed in San Francisco last night with her doctor friend Andrea from Seattle, so last night after the Friday night PBS shows were over I watched the second disk of Kingdom of Heaven, Director's Cut. Even though it had a cast with a lot of stars, and was directed by Ridley Scott (who directed Gladiator), I give it only three stars. This film was originally released as The Crusades in a version that had cut out a lot of the story and left mostly the battle scenes, so this version restores it to its original version that is over three hours long. Even though it is a very ambitious concept, it remains a complex and convoluted story with characters with motives that are hard to understand and relationships that are unclear. After watching several hours of commentary in addition to the film, I decided to only give it three stars because we should not have to work that hard to appreciate a movie.

I am waiting for a call from Helen and Jim for a call to meet them at Starbucks.

Message 291

I am up early so I can take Liz to the train station so she can get to San Francisco for her meeting. I picked her up at the San Jose airport yesterday afternoon as planned, except that I missed her calls to my cell phone. I thought my cell phone was set to ring when it received a call, but it did not ring even though it was turned on, so I will have to read the book and re-set it. Anyway, we connected just fine and stopped by Mountain View for a nice visit with Chelsea, Audrey, and Jack. Jamie got there too just before we left at 4:30 PM. We all had a wonderful dinner at Ten Fu at 6 PM with the Daidsons, Jason and Susan and their girls, Vanessa and her kids. and Joshua. Julian could not get away from work that early, so he missed out. (He is working long hours these days to save the global economy.) There were sixteen of us in the back room at Ten Fu, including three in high chairs. Everybody had a wonderful time, especially Beech and Ellie who sat next to each other and laughed and giggled the whole time while they ate and then chased each other around the room still laughing and giggling. After we ate, Joshua came back to my condo and watched the hockey game with Liz and me. The Sharks took a three goal lead over Minnesota and then blew it to lose 3-4 in overtime.