We took Dad to happy hour last night after work, but overall, it was an early night for us. We were up around 7 AM this morning and were on the road just after 8 AM. It took us about 2-1/2 hours to drive the 149 miles or so to Williamsburg, Virginia. Kelly and I had gone early last fall, but Dad had never been and we thought it would be a fun day-trip.

We wandered around the grounds for 5 hours or so, eating lunch, looking at the historic buildings, etc. I think this time, the most interesting thing I saw was the printer and the printing press. I missed it last time I was here. It was fascinating to listen to how it was all done.

Dad wanted to see William and Mary and we walked over there later in the afternoon so he could see the Christopher Wren building and some of the older parts of the campus.

Sometime around 4 PM, we headed home. We hit a bit more traffic on the way home, so the drive took us a little longer. We decided to go straight to Pentagon Row and had dinner at Lebanese Taverna.

The weather cooperated with us all day long. It was a good (long) day.

Roughly in that order.

We were up around 8:30 AM. I didn't sleep too well, I think because we were just sleeping on the floor. But I survived. Mom was already up and everyone else was up shortly after us. Kelly's parents were going to stay until Monday, but decided to leave first thing this morning. They had driven up from south-western Florida and with the tropical storm headed their way, they wanted to get back in time to avoid the rain and get their house battened down. They were on the road by 9:30 AM.

Mom, Jen and Jason headed out for coffee and bagels while Kelly and I got ready. When they got back, we all piled into the car and drove out to Annapolis. Everyone got to see the Inn where we are having the wedding. We walked through the Naval Academy campus and found a shady spot to sit for a while. We headed to Buddy's for lunch. By the time lunch was over, it was time to head home. On the way, we dropped Jen and Jason off at Union Station so that they could catch their train home.

Back at the house, we debated taking a nap, but Kelly decided that she needed to go to Whole Foods first, so off she went. Mom and I sat around talked. A short while later, Kelly called. Her car was "broken". I headed out to meet her. The exhaust had rusted through at the base and fallen off on one end. We called AAA and the tow truck was there in 10 minutes. Since the exhaust had rusted through, we had the car towed to nearby Honda deliver and used the after hours service drop to drop off the keys. Meanwhile, Mom fed our hungry cats.

We were back home by 6 PM. We sat around talking and chatting for a while, and then headed over to Pentagon Row for some Thai food. It was Mom's first time having Thai food. It was my first time having duck, which I really liked. We hung out for a while longer and then we all decided to call it an early night. Kelly and I headed off to bed around 10 PM.

Despite being up so late last night, Kelly and I were up before 8 AM. Everyone else was up shortly thereafter. I decided to cook breakfast for everyone. stubiebrother helped. I made two batches of pancakes, and Jason made a whole bunch of scrambled eggs (with an without cheese). People said it turned out pretty good, and there were plenty of pancakes and eggs to go around.

Various people had to run errands. Around 11 AM, Kelly and I headed over to Union Station to pick up Ian and Jan. We saw them over by the outer curb, and I pulled over to pick them up. I was stopped there for 12 seconds, but nevertheless, I think I got a parking ticket. At least, a women was taking down my (new) plate in a hand-held computer and I suspect I'll be getting something in the mail. Since I've never had a ticket of any kind, it will officially break my streak, but I imagine the streak would have to be broken at some point.

Back to the house and more introductions. Various people ran errands. When Jason got back, he and I headed across the street to the courtyard and threw a ball around for a little while. My arm felt great until the end, when it was, once again,killing me.

Around 12:30 we were all ready to head over to Sarah's for the shower. Kelly took her parents, Ian and Jan and headed over. I took Jen, Jason and Mom. We stopped at Giant for 5 bags of ice (80 lbs of ice!), and then we headed to Sarah's. We were there right on time. Kelly and company had already arrived. The place looked great inside (and Sarah was all dressed up, which I had never seen before). Carmen and Leanna were already in the back, and Sarah's parents (who I've met once before) were there too. The shower was a lot of fun. Lots of people showed up, including AJ and Denisse. We spent a lot of time out back, in the hot sun. There was all kinds of delicious food: fruits, bruchetta, mushroom dips. It was great. Eventually we all made our way inside. Sarah and company did a wonderful job setting up and decorating for lunch. Lunch itself was delicious with pastas, and chicken, and other delicious goodies. After lunch Kelly and I opened gifts. We have generous friends and family and we both had a lot of fun opening gifts. Then there was cake, and shortly thereafter, it was time to go. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to Sarah and thank her for the incredible job she did on the event. We had a terrific time. We were delighted by the fact that so many of our friends and family came so far for the event and we were really glad to get to be able to see all of them.

AJ and Denisse came back to the house with us. Various people napped and rested and prepared for the evening events. Around 6:30 PM, we all headed out again: the girls to the dinner, and the guys to the Rockies/Nationals game. AJ, Jason, Kelly's dad and I took the metro to Nationals Park. It was the first time I'd ever been there. We had seats way up the first base line in right field. The weather was gorgeous and there was a nice breeze up there. We got to the game in the top of the first inning. It was a lot of fun, the four of us hanging out, watching the Rockies rout the Nationals (6 runs in the 5th inning!) We ate hot dogs and drank beer and ate peanuts and sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". I was a little anxious about the metro ride home, but it wasn't crowded and we lucked out by walking onto trains. The game was over around 10:10 PM and we were home before 11 PM.

Mom, Kelly's mom, and Jen were back. Kelly was off at the bachelorette party. We got home just in time to watch the edge-of-your-seat final relay race where Michael Phelps won his 8th gold medal. Everyone in the room was on their feet and cheering when he won. Slowly, everyone went to bed. Kelly got home (safe and sound, and mostly sober) around 1 AM and after that, I ran AJ over to the metro station so that he could head home.

It was a long day, but a great one, spending time with friends and family, celebrating. Kelly especially seemed to really have an especially good time today.

Headed home from work at 4 PM. Kelly had her first flex-day today and so she was home. Around 6:30 or so, her parents arrived. We had moved Kelly's car onto the street so that they could park in our driveway. Shortly thereafter, I heard from he11o_sunshine: their train was delayed a few hours and they were going to try and get on another train. They called back later; they managed to get on the 8 PM regional train and would be in D.C. around 11:30 PM. Kelly and I and her parents walked over to Shirlington for dinner at Capital City Brewery. We walked home through a light rain afterward. Sat around talking, watched some Olympics, and finally shortly after 11 PM, Kelly and I headed out to Union Station to pick up Mom, Jen, and Jason.

We timed it perfectly. They were just getting off the train and we didn't have to wait for them at all. We headed back to the house, introduced people all around. Kelly's parents headed up to bed. The rest of us sat around chatting for a while, and finally, around 1:30 AM, headed off to bed. I'd been wired so around 1 AM, I took 2 Tylenol PMs to help ensure that I would sleep. Kelly and I slept on an inflatable mattress in the family room. Apparently, around 3:30 AM or so, the mattress had collapsed in around us. I was dead to the world and didn't notice, but Kelly, who found it uncomfortable to sleep in a collapsed mattress, had moved to the couch.

I went home at lunchtime today, mostly to check on Kelly and see how she was feeling. I left here at noon, was home around 12:08, and we sat on the couch in the family room, napping, until around 12:50 when I headed back to the office.

Yet another benefit of my shortened commute!

Kelly met me after work and we went home together. She's still sick (she stayed home today) and when get got back to the house, she went right to bed and slept for a few hours.

I got my bike back together and then took it out for a test-drive. I rode up Army-Navy drive to the country club and then turned around and came back. I had a headwind on the way, plus it is a gradual climb, so it was more of a workout than I expected. Also, I still need to do some adjusting of the rear brakes. But the bike is now fit for road travel and anytime, I can start riding to work.

Kelly had eggs and beans for dinner and I had French Bread Pizza, which did not really fall into the "no carbs" category. Also, I noticed after that the last remaining piece of French bread had a little mold on it. I guess it wasn't enough to hurt me, but it creeped me out a bit.

When Kelly woke up, we passed the evening watching a few episodes of Dexter on Showtime HD On Demand. Kelly frames some more photographs and put them up in the family room, so that, between the mantle and the coffee table, we have a ton of pictures on display.

Got a "Save the Date" magnet from Lauren. I was in such a fog yesterday that when I stuck it on the fridge, I didn't even look to see what the "date" was. I have no idea.

Late night. Got to bed sometime after 11 PM and up this morning around 6:30. Kelly is still sick. She decided to take the day off today, which I think was a good idea. She can use the rest to try and get better.

Today is Kelly's first day at her new job! We drove to Pentagon City together this morning; Kelly got on the Metro and I headed up to the office.

I've been cleaning this morning. Friday (August 1) was the first day of my 7th year in the Washington office, and this morning, I decided I needed to clean said office. I've had the same posters on the walls for 6 years and it's time for a change there, too. So I took down my posters of the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence and M.C. Flagg "I Want You" U.S. Army posters. Between Kelly and I, we have more than enough framed pictures for the walls of our new place, so I plan to bring in some of my framed NYC art and put that on the walls here. Feels good to get the office cleaned. It's kind of like cleaning out all of the clutter in your head. The move is good for that kind of thing, too.

I didn't sleep well last night. I'm not quite sure why. I felt like I kept Kelly up half the night. I felt okay when I woke up this morning, although now, I detect the slightest of scratches at the back of my throat. I'm hoping it's just my imagination.

The bike shop called yesterday afternoon. My bike is ready to be picked up. I'll head over there after work. Maybe go for a bike ride this evening. It's then my intention to start riding my bike into work this week.

AJ and Denisse came over yesterday afternoon. AJ had been out shopping and so he dragged along his new 32" LCD TV, fresh off the shelves at Best Buy. I teased him that it was his kind of portable TV. We gave them the tour of the new place and then chatted for a while. Kelly and Denisse went out for a walk and AJ and I watched some of the Yankees/Angels game (in HD!) AJ and Denisse are considering a possible move and they were impressed with our new complex so we went to the office and got them information on the apartments. They talked with a rep there, and they are coming back next weekend to look at some of the apartments in person. Who know? They could end up being neighbors. We went to Shirlington for dinner and ate at Guapo's. The food was pretty good. Went to Cake Love afterward for cupcakes.

I submitted by story, "The Golden Watch" to Strange Horizons 29 days ago. That's significant because it marks the longest time I've had something at Strange Horizons before receiving a rejection. (I've submitted 5 items to that magazine and the previous record for rejection was 28 days, and I've gotten a rejection from them in as short as 16 days.) As anyone who has been submitting for a long time will tell you, when it takes longer than usual, it is often a good sign (but not always) because it often means the story has made its way out of the slush pile and to one or more editors for review. So we'll see how that goes. I'm looking forward to getting started on the writing workshop, which now officially begins two weeks from today.

We checked the website last night and it said that Pentagon City Apple store would have more iPhones this morning. We were there just before 9 AM. There was a short line to wait in, but everything went quickly and smoothly. The net result is that Kelly is now the proud owner of an iPhone 3G (white) with 16 GB. We added a phone line to my account so that we are both on the same account and can do some consolidating for our usage.

We stopped at Target again, this time to get some things for the house. Then back home. AJ and Denisse are coming over around 2 or 2:30 PM.

I was up at 7 AM and headed over to Saturn to have my car serviced. It believe it was my 117,000 mile maintenance. A while back I received a $500 gift card from Saturn. Each time I use it, I can get 15% off parts and labor on service and so this time the whole thing cost me 15% less than usual and saved me about $7.50.

I headed home after that and did a few errands. I was going to head over to the post office, but I ran out of time. It seems that they have processed my change of address so that I have stopped getting mail at the old house. Probably not a big deal since I'll be at the new place in less than 2 weeks, but it's still annoying since I specified July 25 as the last date for getting mail.

I drove to Kelly's and arrived there shortly before 11 AM. I'd wanted to get a new book so we headed over to Barnes & Noble and after a moderate search, I picked up The Count of Monte Cristo. I've been reading a lot of non-fiction lately and thought it was time for a change. I was attracted to the book for several reason. First, I've never read it, but have heard that it's one of the most thrilling novels ever written (it's about a jail break and revenge). Second, it's huge: 1462 pages and by my estimate, over 483,000 words. That isn't quite the longest book I've ever read (Shogun was 537,000 and A History of the American People was just over 500,000 words). I have a strange attraction to long books like this. There were several editions to choose from in the bookstore. I ultimately chose the Modern Library edition, but there was another edition that was compressed to 600 pages and I couldn't understand how, until I saw it was an "abridged" edition. What a sin!

We went to Hard Times for lunch and I had some excellent chili. Then back to Kelly's. Later in the afternoon (after a nap), we booked four excursions on our honeymoon cruise, one at each of the ports we'll be stopping in. We have one more to go (in Jamaica) and will hopefully have that booked soon.

Around 6 PM, we headed out to Reston for Todd's 40th birthday party. The route took us on the Dulles toll road and I did not have my EZ Pass in the car. Fortunately, we had just enough change for the round-trip journey. The party was fun. The house was on a lake and there were lots of people there, many of whom we knew. We left somewhere around 10 or 10:30 PM.

Busy days, both. I was very productive at work the last few days, making good progress on two separate projects. Yesterday, I also managed to make huge amounts of headway on move-related stuff, canceling services at the old house, changing addresses with most of the companies I deal with (and even requesting a new certificate from the FAA to replace my crumbling one). I went to Kelly's after work.

The work day went by quickly today. Todd and I had a late lunch at Johnny Rockets and before I knew it, it was 3 PM and my boss told our team that we could get an early start on the weekend. I met Kelly at the metro station and we headed up to my house. Kelly napped for a while and then we went to Costco so that I could get one more moving kit. I then spent the rest of the evening packing. I actually made good progress. All my books are now packed. It took 36 book-size boxes. All the DVDs and CDs are packed. And I cleaned out the file cabinet, and shredded 4 bags worth of stuff, so that only a small stack of paperwork is left.

I'm about 340 pages through The Language Instinct

Kelly does her laundry at my house every weekend. I find it amusing that when her laundry is finished there is always money sitting on my of the dryer. She has this tendency of leaving cash in her pockets. It ends up in the dryer. Then on the dryer. When you think about it, it's unique savings plan.

June 1 falls at the beginning of the week (a Sunday) which means that next Friday will be Friday the Thirteenth. Can you believe it's already June? Mom's birthday was yesterday and that means that Doug's birthday is just a few days away.

Dad and I went to the Orioles/Red Sox game today. Dad's streak is in tact. No rain. The stadium was packed with Red Sox fans, as usual. The Red Sox had something like 9 hits in the first three innings, and made some terrific defensive plays. I saw Manny hit home run #501 (#500 was last night). It was a fun game.

After the game, we came back home, Dad got some dinner at Boston Market, and then I headed over to Kelly's friend Sarah's house to meet Sarah's parents, who are like a second family to Kelly. They had barbecued and the ribs were outstanding! It was a lot of fun, and I would have stayed longer, but I had to run down to my office to pick up my laptop so that I can work from home in the morning. That took half an hour to do and I was home around 9:40 PM.

I finished up what work I had to do this evening and I'm getting ready for bed. I'm about 110 pages through The Cosmic Connection and I'm really enjoying it. May get a little reading in before turning out the light tonight.

I went to bed early last night and I was up early this morning. I took Dad over to Starbucks so he could get some coffee, then we came back home and I had breakfast. Around 9 AM, we headed out, first to fill up the car with gas, then to Home Depot to look for some springs and window locks. Finally, we set out for Annapolis.

It was humid today, and even by the water in Annapolis, though the skies were clear, it was muggy. We walked down Main Street and then cut over to the Naval Academy. Dad hadn't been through the new visitor entrance. We went through and headed to the gift store, where he got a new Naval Academy baseball cap. We walked around the campus grounds for a while and then headed back to the car.

Next, we set out for Arlington. It took us about an hour to get there, but I drove to where our new house is and showed Dad the area. From there, we headed over to Pentagon City where I parked, called Kelly, found out they were heading to the Spy Museum, and we caught a train to meet them there sometime around 2 PM.

The International Spy Museum was kind of interesting. It wasn't like your Smithsonian. For one thing, it cost $18/person to get in. For another, they had it set up kind of like an interactive game, which I wasn't fond of. Finally, I found that I simply didn't trust everything I read there in the same manner I would from a more established museum like Smithsonian or the American Museum of Natural History. Still, it was fun to wander around the place. Kelly was there, as was her brother and nephew and her brother's friend.

While we were at the Spy Museum, the skies opened up and the rain came down in sheets, with accompanying thunder and lightening. We all managed to make it to the restaurant across the street for a late lunch/early dinner. By the time the meal was over and we were all full, the rain stopped and we walked over the National Air and Space Museum. Dad and I stayed there for a little while before finally catching a metro back to Pentagon City and then driving home.

It was a fun day, busy, too. Tomorrow will be much of the same, minus the rain. We've got the Orioles/Red Sox game in the early afternoon, and then I've got a barbecue in the evening.

We were up early again today, Memorial Day 2008, but we lazed around a bit before heading down to breakfast. After breakfast, we took another walk around the perimeter of the resort. Then we found a shady place to sit on the porch, and climbed into some rocking chairs to relax for a little while. We were both sore from the horseback riding yesterday and the rocking chairs were hard so they weren't completely comfortable. We decided instead to head to the gym.

I didn't want to do a full strength workout; the gym wasn't really equipped for the kind of workout I would have done. So I did an abbreviated core workout. We were at the gym for about 45 minutes or so. It felt good.

We packed, had our luggage brought downstairs, checked out and then waited about 15 minutes for the valet to bring the car (everyone, it seemed, was leaving at the same time we were). And then, at about 11:40 AM, we got on the road and took a leisurely drive back to Washington, D.C. We stopped at a Burger King for lunch. We cut across route 211 on the way back, avoiding a lot of the trucks on I-81. 211 was empty and it went through gorgeous farmland and forested mountains; in fact, we drove right past Skyline Drive.

We were back at Kelly's around 4:30 PM and I headed home close to 6 PM. It was tough separating after such a wonderful, exciting weekend, but we'll be seeing each other again on Wednesday.

We were up early on Sunday, before 7 AM. It was bright, sunny and warm out, a prelude to a perfect weather day. We had an early breakfast in the dining room. What a spread they have! All kinds of breakfast foods, buffet style, including a number of southern specialties like biscuits and gravy, and grits. We ate and then decided to take a walk into the town of Hot Springs.

The town was desolate. It was a single strip, with businesses on either side, all of which were closed today. In style, it reminded me a lot of Katakolon, Greece, when I was there this summer. Except that there were no people in Hot Springs. Or open shops. Or body of water nearby for that matter. It took five minutes to walk through town and then we walked back and decided to walk up around the perimeter of the resort. It made for a pleasant morning walk.

At 10 AM, we had massages scheduled. Most of the soreness from my renewed strength training efforts had subsided. We arrived at the spa at about 9:50. We were each led in the separate wings, Kelly into the women's wing and I into the men's wing. I changed into a robe and waited about 5 minutes before I was called in for my massage. It was the 6th massage of my life. It was not as good as the last two I had on the cruise ship, but it was still very relaxing and I enjoyed it. After the massage, I sat in the serenity lounge and a few minutes later, Kelly came in, her massage finished. We sat there for a while, and then I went to the showers. After my shower, I went into the steam room. It was very relaxing.

We had a quick lunch by the pool, and then went for a 2-hour hike on the "South Trail". The hike took us past the horse stables, and through some very pretty wilderness. It was not a tough hike, but it was strenuous enough so that we could skip the gym today. When we got back from the hike, we went back to the pool and had a few drinks. Then we waited in front of the resort for a shuttle to take us back to the horse stables. We'd signed up for horseback riding. We got to the stables and were assigned a horse. Kelly rode "Micky" and I rode "Sport". There were about 9 people in our group. I'd never ridden a horse before, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. My horse followed Kelly's horse and Kelly's horse was the smart one, staying in the middle of the trail and not really drifting off the way some of the horses did. I must admit I was a bit nervous, but it was still fun. The ride took about an hour and when I finally got off the horse, I was saddle sore!

Back to the hotel to change into our swim suits and then we headed to the pool. We found some lounge chair and sat basking in the sun. I ordered a couple of strawberry maragaritas while we lay there. And when I got hot, I jumped into the pool to cool off. We spent almost 2 hours there before heading back to the room to get ready for the cookout.

The cookout was great. We were seated at 7 PM at a table with a family with twins girls and another couple. Kelly "outed" the couple. She asked how long they had been together and the girl said, "Oh, we're not together". But given the way she said it, and given other subtle hints, Kelly and I were sure that they were having some kind of affair. The food was great. All kinds of delicious comestibles. I had shrimp and hot dogs and hamburgers and ribs. I chocolate cake and delicious rum balls. Both Kelly and I were stuffed and had to forcibly remove ourselves from the table, lest we do further damage.

We discovered that the fireworks would take place out over the driving range, so while people gathered in the cookout area to watch the fireworks, Kelly and I went back up to our room, which overlooked the driving range. We ended up with a perfect, birds-eye view of the fireworks display, which lasted about 10 minutes, the perfect end to a perfect day.

Not to bury the lead: Kelly and I are now engaged! I asked her to marry me today and she said yes. Now, let me go back and tell the story.

I didn't sleep much last night. Having gone to bed at 8 PM, I slept until 9 PM and then, it seemed, I was up every 15 minutes until we both finally got up at 7 AM this morning. It was one of the longest nights of my life. Part of the reason was that I was really sore, my muscles were aching and twitching, and that was because I started up on strength training again. I couldn't find a comfortable position and kept tossing and turning all night. Part of it was that I was anxious about today's event. Originally, it was my plan to propose to Kelly after the formal dinner tonight, but I quickly decided I wouldn't be able to wait that long.

We had gone ring-shopping several weeks ago. I wanted to make sure I knew what she would like, so we looked at several places, until I got a good idea of what type of ring she liked. I then went out by myself a few weeks ago and got a ring, had it sized and it had been burning a hole in my soul ever since. It was very hard to wait for this weekend, let alone dinner tonight.

We hit the road at about 8:15 AM. The weather was perfect and the drive out to The Homestead was a nice one. It took us about 3-1/2 hours to get there. Some of the scenery going through the mountains and forests was really spectacular. We arrived at the Homestead just after noon. What a place! It's in the middle of nowhere, in Hot Spring, Virginia, but there it is ! We checked in, had lunch--in which I tried fried green tomatoes for the first time--and then finally went up to our room. Our room was on the top floor of the tower. It was a large room with a views to the south and east. We changed clothes and I suggested we walk around the grounds.

We walked around, and found a trail, the Deerlick trail, which headed up into the hills. We followed the trail up to a spot that overlooked the resort, at the edge of a green on the golf course. I suggested we take some pictures there, and we did. Looking at the green, I then suggested that I mount the camera on the green and get a timed pictured of both of us, with the resort in the background. I mounted the camera but instead of putting it on the timer, I put on the video. I told Kelly it was on a minute timer. We posed and after about 20 seconds or so, I said, "Oh, I almost forgot..." I pulled out the ring, got down on one knee, and said, "Will you marry me?"

She said yes.

The ring fit perfectly and she loved it. When we looked at the video, it captured the moment, but after I proposed, the camera fell backward (as though fainting from the romance of the moment) so that all you can see is sky (although you can still hear us).

I was elated for the rest of the day. We called our families to share the news. I'd already told my family what I was planning, and I'd called Kelly's parents earlier in the week to tell them and to get their permission. (This, some people have said, is rather old-fashioned of me.) Meanwhile, we toured more of the resort until it was time to get ready for the formal dinner.

Dressed in suit and tie (and Kelly in her elegant black dress), we headed to dinner at 7 PM and were seated at once. Dinner was excellent. We shared a small bottle of red wine. For an appetizer, I had BBQ shrimp and Kelly had Ahi tuna. For the main course, I had rack of lamb, which was very good. Kelly had a pasta dish. In between they brought us a sorbet, which was good because the shrimp was spicy and the sorbet took the edge off. For dessert, we both had the chocolate mousse. We lingered over our meal and didn't finish until almost 9 PM.

After dinner, we wandered out to one of the greens where they were showing a movie outdoors. It was Night in the Museum and we watched it in mild amusement before deciding to call it a night.

It was a wonderful day, however, and I feel incredibly lucky.

We had a really lazy evening last night. Kelly got home from work and we sat on the couch for five hours doing very little. We watched TV, mostly switching between the Yankees game and the Travel Channel, where we were amused by a show, "Disney on a Dime". After that, we watched an episode from the first season of House before we finally went to bed.

Heard from Rich, who made it safely to Balad. More on that in the next post.

We have our first softball game of the season this afternoon. If the weather cooperates.

Kelly met me after work Friday at the Pentagon City Mall. We headed over to Champs to have a beer with Todd. We then had some errands to run before meeting AJ and Denisse for dinner. We decided to go over to Lebanese Taverna for dinner, and we ended up having a great meal. We caught up with AJ and Denisse, who we hadn't seen in a little while. AJ treated us to dinner. After, we headed to Maggie-Moo's for dessert. We wandered around the mall for a bit and finally, around 10 PM, headed home. We had a really nice evening.

It's been 3 or 4 weeks since Kelly and I have had a free weekend, but we planned to have a quiet, relaxing one today. I stayed in bed until 8:30 or 9 AM, I think. Kelly was already up when I finally pulled my way out of bed. The weather was warm--the first really warm morning of the year. We decided to take advantage of it. We grabbed the basketball and headed over the local park to shoot some hoops. I was terrible at first, but slowly managed to get my game back. Kelly was very good, but as she pointed out, she had a hoop in her driveway growing up.

After, Kelly went to the gym and I did some reading and worked on the computer. Around 12:30, we headed to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. We'd invited A.J. and Denisse. A.J. was off playing tennis and our lunchtime was too early for Denisse. I had a good chicken salad sandwich, but it was way too much food for me.

We walked back to Kelly's, collected her laundry and then headed up to my house. At 4 PM, we took Zeke to his regularly scheduled vet appointment. He got his shots, and impressed Kelly (and the vet) by his strength when he tried to keep himself in his carrier once at the vet. Everything is good, but he needs to lose some weight. He weights about 16.5 lbs and should be around 13 lbs. Much of the weight gain is due to his special diet. Beginning this afternoon, therefore, I started him on "meals" rather than leaving his dry food out for him. He gets 2/3rds of a cup in the morning, and 2/3rds in the evening.

We were supposed to stick around from 5-8 PM to wait for the cable guy to "cap the line". We spent some of that time reading parts of The Last Lecture to one another. Sometime around 4:30, I noticed a cable truck across the street, but no one ever stopped by. By 6 PM, I was a little impatient. I checked the cable, and wouldn't you know it!--they had capped the line--and I now only get the local channels, as I requested. I was annoyed enough, however, to call Comcast and ask them why I had to stick around if no one had to come in the house. They didn't have an answer for that, of course.

We celebrated by driving up the lake and taking a walk around it. Usually, we walk around twice, but there were dark clouds looming close by so we kept it at a single loop. From there we headed to the grocery store to do the shopping.

At home this evening, I made french bread pizza, which turned out okay. We watched last night's The Office and we both agree that the show is going downhill. It's depressing.

I wanted to take the telescope out tonight. Saturn is visible and it would be great to get a look at it, but it was still cloudy when I last checked.

We got to sleep in this morning, which was nice. Kelly's friends picked us up around 10 AM and we drove to a quaint little place for brunch where I tried to wreak havoc on the strawberry pancakes and failed. It was really nice meeting Kelly's friends and I had a good time at brunch. I also had a good time on the walk back to the hotel. Kelly and I decided to take the long walk back. We passed through sections of Santa Monica with which I was completely unfamiliar, until we got to the park above the beach, and then walked the length of the park and finally back to the hotel. It took us well over an hour, but we walked at a leisurely pace. The weather was perfect. I think that walk was the best time I had all week.

We packed up the remainder of our things at the hotel and then got a cab to the airport. There were no lines of any kind and we were through security before we knew it. We spent nearly 2 hours in the Red Carpet club, before heading next door to our gate to board the plane. We didn't have seats together, but we made the best of it. The flight went by surprisingly fast, actually. I spent about 3 hours reading, getting through more than 100 pages of In Joy Still Felt. We finally touched down at Dulles shortly after midnight and headed back to Kelly's.