A big happy birthday goes out to Dan today! One of my few friends who is actually older than me (though only by about a month). Happy birthday, buddy. I hope you can manage to get in some good surfing today!
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The weather today reminds me of winter in L.A.: overcast, rainy, cool, but to cold. It's the perfect weather for a lazy day. Kelly and I made waffles for breakfast. Then around 11 AM, I headed home while she went shopping with a friend.
I made myself some lunch, started some laundry, and then settled down in the office to read more of Joe Haldeman's serialized novel, Marsbound. I read for a while, and then napped in my chair. Then more reading and then more napping.
Late in the afternoon, Kelly and I did a video chat, and then, after some more laundry, I headed to the grocery store to stock up on lunch supplies for the week. I made myself some Macaroni and Cheese for dinner and then settled down to write for a little while.
I called Dan and Megan today and spoke to Dan for a while. He and Megan will be out here in the DC area in April for a conference and so I'll get to see them then.
All the while, the skies were overcast, gray, and rainy. Much of the same is expected for tomorrow, I think.
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Labor Day. Up early again and did more reading of The Reagan Diaries. After Dan and Megan got up, we had a quick breakfast and then headed into San Luis Obispo and wandered around the town. The weather was gorgeous but surprisingly few people were out. We had lunch downtown and then headed back to Dan and Megan's. I hit the road at 2 PM.
My flight wasn't until 11 PM but, given that it was Labor Day, I suspected traffic. I didn 't hit any until just south of Santa Barbara, but then it was pretty steady from there to the airport. I was through security by 8 PM, so it took me 6 hours, when it normally takes 3. I'm glad I left early.
I was feeling a little better today. When I got to the airport I headed for the Red Carpet Club--nice setup at LAX, nicer than BWI for sure--and found a comfortable place to sit for the next 2 hours. I ordered a Margarita from the bar (Kelly had been texting me over the weekend and on a number of occasions, mentioned she was having a Margarita, so I was craving one by this point) and watched a few episodes of The Office on my iPod. I boarded the plane at 10:30 PM, first class, and had an uneventful flight home. I even managed to get a little sleep.
There was traffic coming down B/W Parkway but I was home by 8 AM. Zeke was fine, happy to see me. I had a note from the town of Riverdale that my grass it too long and I have to cut it within 10 days. Such sticklers!
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I woke up early in the morning and I was sick. A full-blown cold with "extras", the extras being things like fever and chills. It was in the upper 80s in Morro Bay and I wasn't going to allow something as annoying as a cold to ruin my weekend so I sucked it up. We headed out, stopping at the drug store so I could get some cold medicine, then we headed for breakfast.
After breakfast we decided to go to the beach. We packed up some stuff and headed off to the beach, where we sat basking in the sun for a couple of hours. I did a little reading and Dan and I got into our usual philosophical debates for a while. I managed to get burned a little on one side of my face. Megan slept through most of the beach time.
Dan and Megan on the beach.
Lunch--or, "linner", rather, was quite possibly the highlight of the trip. We were on a mission. It had been over 18 months since my last partaking of In-n-Out and, sick as I was, I sought an end to that particular streak. So we had In-n-Out for lunch. I couldn't taste much, but I still enjoyed my Double-Double and fries. So sick, was I, however, that I couldn't finish my burger. It was the first time I've ever desperately wanted to eat something sitting in front of me and simply couldn't. Just in case it ends up being another 18 months before I have In-n-Out again, I took this picture prior to starting on my lunch:
We spent the rest of the evening in, watching a few more movies, hanging out talking, joking around. Megan made me some vegetable soup for dinner which was just the ticket for me.
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[Written on 9/4/2007]
I was up at about 7 AM. I had started The Reagan Diaries on the plane yesterday and continued reading it this morning until Dan and Megan were up. I figured that I'm so biased against Reagan as a president that I needed to read something that might alter my opinion of him. However, so far, his personal diaries have only reinforced what I suspected. Still, it is an interesting read.
We had a quick breakfast and then headed out. First, we went bowling. That was fun. I won the first game easily and then grew majorly overconfident. I bet Dan on the second game, and so confident was I that we bet big. I'm sure you can guess the results. I lost. Both Dan and Megan beat me. I did make a comeback in the last few frames, but it was not enough. Fortunately, Dan, sweetheart that he is, didn't hold me to the bet.
We had Mexican food for lunch in San Luis Obispo and then went to see the movie Superbad, which Dan and Megan had already seen twice, but which they insisted I had to see. It was pretty damn hilarious, but I think they may have raised my expectations of the movie. I don't think I'd pay to see it three times, although I'd gladly watch it again on DVD.
Later in the afternoon, we went to Avila beach and saw a couple being married right there on the beach. We wandered around the pier for a while and then headed back to meet some of Dan and Megan's friends for dinner at an Italian place. I had a meatball sandwich that was excellent.
That night, we rented some movies and watched one of them before going to bed. The weather was super all day long. I've really missed hanging out with Dan and Megan and it was great to be back to visit them.
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Long day. I was up at 4 am eastern time. My flight to LAX left ontime and was uneventful. We even got in a little early. I picked up my rental car from Hert and headed to the Santa Monica office to visit some friends there. I spent about an hour there and then headed up to Morro Bay. The drive tool about 3 hours and I was tired by the end of it. Great to see Dan and Megan though. We spent the rest of the day catching up. We grabbed some food in the early evening and I had an excellent tri-tip sandwich.
Weather us great here--much better than inland where it hit 100 on my drive. Calling it an early night because I'm exhausted. More tomorrow.
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I'm already looking forward to my long Labor Day weekend, which starts tomorrow. I have a 6:30 AM flight to LAX, followed by a 3 hour-ish drive up to Morro Bay. I'll be spending just about 3 full days with Dan and Megan and I can't wait. The last time I saw them was nearly a year ago.
I still have a lot to do. The lawn could use some mowing, especially in the front yard. I don't know if I'll get to that today. I have a bunch of laundry to do, as well as some other minor errands and chores. And I have to get up at about 4:30 tomorrow morning. At least I don't have to stay up late to watch the Yankee game tonight. The game is on at 1:05 PM ET.
I'm back home early in the morning on Tuesday and I've taken Tuesday off, so that I can rest and get the rest of my errands and chores done. More than likely I'll cut the grass on Tuesday. I don't think I'll have time to do it this evening.
Incidentally, I upgraded my flight to LAX tomorrow, but hadn't yet upgraded my flight back. But I just had a bunch of miles dumped into my Mileage Plus account so I'm going to upgrade that flight as well. I was originally planning on using some upgrade credits for that flight, but I'll save those for shorter flights.
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It's official! I'm heading up to Morro Bay, California for an extended Labor Day weekend with Dan and Megan. I used a credit I had with United for a previously canceled ticket. I fly to L.A. very early on the morning of Friday, August 31, and return on the red eye the night of Monday, September 3. I haven't seen Dan and Megan since last October so it will be good to see them again and regale them with sordid tales from my recent vacation.
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I didn't get up for the gym this morning. I wrote longer than I intended last night, which was good, but which kept me up later than I'd planned. I also owed Dan a phone call. Originally, I was going to call him at 8 PM and talk for half an hour. Instead, I called him close to 9:30 PM and talked for nearly an hour. It was 11 PM before I finally got into bed and given that the day had been particularly long and busy, the extra hour of sleep could help, so I slept in until 5:30 AM and don't think I don't feel guilty about it.
The writing last night (and the fact that I watched my TiVo'd episode of Heroes also kept me from doing any Italian lessons yesterday, although I was mumbling phrases to myself throughout the day.
I'm glad this is "season finale" week, for the most part. No new shows to watch, except on HBO and once those seasons are over, I'm done with TV for a while.
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Today is Megan's birthday and so a hearty happy birthday is in order:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEGAN!
I have now known Megan for nearly 15 years (which is close to half her life) and she is one of the nicest, sweetest people I have ever met. She reminds me of a dark-haired Meg Ryan, and Dan, of course, reminds me of Jim Carrey, which would make for an odd Hollywood couple, but which makes Dan and Megan one of the sweetest couples in the whole world. They have been married for more than 11 years now and they still act as though they were newlyweds.
And while they read this blog from time to time, neither ever lowers themselves to the point of making a post, no matter how much I bait them, but that's okay, because I love them to death anyway.
Good old Bill Shakespeare is lucky enough to share his birthday with Megan, and so he is clearly in the finest of company. It is one of my biggest regrets that upon moving back east nearly five years ago, I rarely get to see them anymore.
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Meanwhile, I asked Dan for a recommendation on a second Social Distortion album, because I liked their debut album so much. He recommended Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, which is ironically how I feel right about now. I bought it from the iTunes store tonight and I look forward to listening to it tomorrow.
Thanks for coming to the rescue, Naked Man!
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Just wanted to wish Dan a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Dan reads this blog, but lurks, and never ever comments. I hope you have good surfing weather today.
So how does it feel to be old enough to run for President? Let me know because I'll be joining the club in a hair over a month. Happy birthday!
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| 2006-11-01 18:19 |
| Good mail day |
| Public |
| Riverdale, Maryland |
 happy |
| andrea, collections, dan, doug, eric, grandpa, letters, lisa, mail, paul, trevor |
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I left the office half an hour later than usual and had to stop at the grocery store on the way home to pick up a few things. I was trying to figure out what to do tonight (Wednesday evening is the one week night evening where there is nothing good on TV). I arrived home to find that today was a good mail day.
First, my autographed copy of Visions arrived, personally signed by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) strausmouse right beneath the article he wrote on his recent skydiving experience. Believe it or not, I have a small collection on my bookshelves, of items signed by my friends. I have a Master's thesis signed by Tawnya. I have a signed copy of Healthy Pet magazine, which Lisa edits. I have a signed copy of an article in the San Luis Obispo Tribune featuring Dan. I have a signed copy from an Oxnard newspaper mentioned Grandpa. I have a signed copy of an article from the UCLA Law Review, "On Regulating the Internet: Usenet, A Case Study" by Paul. I have a guest editorial in the Rockland County Journal written by none other than Doug many years ago. (That one, alas, is not signed. I'll have to bring it to Seattle with me next time I go.) And now, I can add Eric's article to my collection. I swear, the day I finally publish something, I'm going to sign 50 copies of it, personalize each one of them ("To Jamie, a really swell guy!") and stuff my shelves with them!
Second, I received a letter from Trevor and Andrea (aka, thepopeswife). Actually, it was two-and-a-half letters, as Trevor wrote one letter, Andrea wrote another letter, and then she included an addendum to tell me that she agrees with my spelling thoughts! And so our mutual snail-mail, letter-writing pen-palism continues.
I now know what I am going to do tonight. I am going to compose a letter back to Trevor and Andrea. I may even autograph it for them so that they can start a collection on their bookshelf (if Trevor clears away some of the Lord of the Rings DVDs to make some room). Those autographs will be worth something, someday!
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Details coming soon. With all of this travel, I am still trying to catch up.
The day began with a short walk, followed by a yummy breakfast. I had a "scramble" which included bacon, cheese and eggs, all mixed and mashed together. Also some potatoes. Very tasty. That was followed by a traditional walk out to Morro Rock, where we spent a few minutes watching the surfers (and a small dog).
We headed to the San Lois campus, where they have bowling alleys and pool tables and bowled a few rounds. It was the first time I'd bowled in over 4 years, and I surprised myself by doing very well for my standards. I bowled a 144 in the first game and a 160 in the second game. I thought the first game was a fluke, but then along came the 160 in the second game. It defies explanation. We played a little pool and then headed out to grab some lunch. I talked Dan and Megan into going to Carl's Jr. for lunch, and I reveled in my Wester Bacon Cheeseburger. Yum-my!
Back at their house, Dan, Megan and I sat down to watch a movie and chill. Megan put on Fargo and we watched that. (Actually, Megan and I watched. Dan slept through the entire thing.) When the movie was over, it was time for me to leave. Dan had an extra output cable which he gave me and that meant that I was able to plug in my iPod to the car radio for the drive home. I listened to Pink Floyd the entire way back to LAX. I arrived at the airport at about 9 PM. The flight departed on time and arrived in Baltimore nearly half an hour early.
It was a fun weekend and my one regret is that it was just too short. I don't get to see Dan and Megan very much these days and spending a day and a half with them just isn't enough.
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I got into LAX ontime last night, picked up my car from Hertz (a Chevy Impala, very big, blue, with a nav unit) and got to Mom and Dad's in Oxnard just before 11 PM. I was pretty tired so I went right to sleep, and I was up at 6:30 AM this morning, after sleeping surprisingly well. I said goodbye to Mom and Dad and hopped in the car for the drive to Morro Bay.
I had told Dan I my ETA was 9:52 AM. In actuality, I arrived at about 9:15 AM. It was good to see Dan and Megan. It's the first time I'd seen them since our trip to Hawaii almost one year ago. I'd forgotten that they had put hardwood floors thoughtout the house, which looks great. It's been more than a year since I have been up here and apparently, the hardwood floors were here the last time I was, but I just didn't remember.
We walked to breakfast at a small place down by the water and after breakfast, we headed into San Lois Obispo. We arrived downtown around 12:30 PM and made our way to Coldstone, where I had a large chocolate shake. Megan also had a shake and Dan had ice cream. After that we headed over to the bookstore and browsed books. I ended up picking up a book on the history of algebra, but I managed to set it back down before we left the store. It was tough, but I told myself that I don't need to buy a book every time I enter a book store. After the bookstore, we bought tickets for a 3:30 PM showing of The Departed which turned out to be a pretty good movie. It was a long movie, too, and it didn't let out until just after 6 PM.
After the movie, we headed to Pizza Solo for dinner where I had a caesar salad and where I also noted that the Cardinals shut out the Mets 5-0. From there we headed back to the parking garage where Megan discovered that she'd left the driver's side window wide open. Fortunately, nothing was taken.
Back at Dan and Megan's, we popped in the Elizabethtown DVD. Dan and Megan had never seen the movie before and I think they enjoyed it. We sat around chatting for a little while but by 11 PM, I think we were all beat. It was a fun day and I'm only sorry that I could be here for so short a period of time. I still have almost all day tomorrow to spend with Dan and Megan. I don't have to head back to the airport until about 5 PM. (My flight back to Baltimore tomorrow is at 11 PM). I do miss being able to drive up here on a weekend, however. I remember that I used to really look forward to coming up after a long week a work. We always had a good time.
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| 2006-09-23 12:22 |
| Passages |
| Public |
| Riverdale, Maryland |
 nostalgic |
| andy, dan, eric, lisa, megan, norm, rich, shannon, tricia, ucr |
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It was approximately 16 years ago today that I first met Dan and Shannon and Rich and Tricia, when I moved into the D1-East hall of the Aberdeen-Inverness dorm at U. C. Riverside. If I was a newborn on the day that we all met, I would be about to get my drivers license today!
In a similar note, it was approximately 19 years ago today that I first met strausmouse and Andy at Former President Grover Cleveland Humanities "School Without Walls" Magnet High School. (I think I met Norm and Lisa a little later, and I first met AJ more than a year later). Who would have thought that 19 years later, both Eric and I would be living on the East coast, and that Norm would be living in Nanuet, right around the corner from where my Grandparents lived for 30 years?
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I haven't been to visit Dan and Megan for a while now and so I decided to check the fares on United from Baltimore to LAX. Over the summer they'd been pretty outrageous. So I checked and round-trip fares are currently $218! I called Dan and asked if I could come out the weekend of October 13-15. He said come on out, so I booked my flight. I leave Baltimore Friday evening, October 13 (I have no superstitions about flying on Friday the Thirteenth) and fly back home on the red eye, Sunday night, October 15.
I even managed to upgrade my outbound flight to first class. All for a mere $218! I should check the fares to Seattle!
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I'm all packed and ready for the trip to NYC tomorrow. I'm getting up 15 minutes earlier than usual so that I can make sure that everything around the house is set. Also I have to take a taxi to the metro station tomorrow and I need to leave time for that.
I'm well over 100 pages through It's Superman and so far, it's super!
I also watched Smallville tonight and once again, it was great, especially the twist at the end.
Spoke to Dan on the phone this evening for about an hour and promised that I'd send him the pictures from Hawaii next week. (It's been months. He and Megan have almost forgotten they were ever there. It's all my fault.)
And pushups: 40/25
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groggy
calm
hot
blah
exhausted
lazy
tired