My new glasses. (You can click on any photo for a larger view.)

Winter storm.

Dad and Tante Hilla in Orleans

December 4, 2004

Hey Everybody:

We're doing all this again already. Isn't it great? At the rate time goes by soon we'll be doing this once a month and then every other week, and then ... hey, I can think of a lot worse things that can happen to a person.

Another good year with lots of adventures. I was going to try to come up with a theme, like Sideways (you've got to wonder what that movie is doing to the Merlot industry. I used to drink Merlot happily without blinking. Today I was buying a bottle of gift wine and I was thinking, "No, not Merlot, anything but Merlot") where wine is a metaphor for life, but I'm not that clever so instead I ask you to participate in this poll:

Have you, or has someone in your household ever rolled over or sat on his or her glasses? (I won't add misplace because that's too easy.) This happens with alarming frequency in this household.

I got bifocals this year. YEAH! 40 isn't so bad. I suppose you could look at it like, bummer, all these things I thought I'd do and now it's too late. But isn't it better to think of it, like, thank God, I never have to do that. I'm never going to climb Mt. Everest or Mt. Kilimanjaro. I'm never going to land a jet fighter on the wobbly deck of aircraft carrier. I'm never going to have to carry a ring to the fires of Mordor. It's all a big relief.

SF to Utah Part I: PDX to SFO

My sister moved to Logan, Utah temporarily in March and I helped her drive out there. I flew into Oakland because it was way cheaper than flying into SFO. I bought a 1-way ticket because I was returning from Utah. I totally expected a strip-search which is why I was pretty surprised when zero airline employees checked my ID. (I did go through the regular security drill.)

Why do they say, "This is very full flight"? Either it's full or it's not. In this case, the plane seemed particularly small. "A Barbie plane," I remarked as we crammed into our seats. During the flight I could hear the people behind me talking about their therapists and then at the end of the flight I heard them introduce themselves. You've got to LOVE California.

At the airport BART a silver-haired executive type asked me: "Is this AirBart?" and I love it: like I know. Erin had warned me that the ticket machine was testy so I made sure I had the most pristine $1 bills that the bank has to offer. I noticed his shriveled bills and said "See ya," and headed for the stop. Moments later Silver Hair appeared and I was impressed. He told me the hotels in CA have perfect bills. I told him I came from Portland and he said they have perfect bills too, only wet.

The BART train zoomed off. I knew we would go under the Bay and worst case scenarios sprang to mind. The huge "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY" sign was not reassuring but everything went smoothly and I arrived in SF and Erin picked me up and we were off for packing.

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