It felt like the old days -- Aidan and I early on a Saturday driving to a distant venue in Northern California for a soccer game or tournament. But this time it was to help him join his mother and sister for a weekend vacation at Asilomar, on the coast south of Monterey. He had to work until midnight last night so we left the city, fortified by coffee and him by a breakfast burrito, by 10:30.
It is a long drive, about 125 miles, and we passed Morgan Hill and the stadium where he played many games back when he was competing.
Using GPS we met Julia and Connie at a Mexican restaurant, Peppers, in Pacific Grove. After that, I headed north without my navigator.
I should say I have a terrible sense of direction and have lost whatever confidence I used to have I can find my way on the road. Everyone drives so fast and the various parts of the route come up too fast and confusingly.
But Aidan set my phone for the ride home and it worked seamlessly.
Nearing the coty, I had an awful realization that last April my accountant told me I had to submit quarterly payments to the IRS for the 2015 tax year. I checked my tax file and while I paid in April, I forgot to in July and October. Luckily, January is due next week.
So I will have hit two for four and I'm sure there will be some sort of penalty. These are the kinds of complications that make people hate the tax system!
Poor Dylan has had a bad cold and so many work assignments he could not go to Asilomar, but at least today I could drop off the Beatles' Abbey Road in vinyl for him.
-30-
Saturday, January 09, 2016
Monday, January 04, 2016
Comfort Zones
As I was walking home tonight, the rains finally started a bit, but so far, nothing very impressive. I may regret that word "impressive" if our weather turns horrible, since I have no real way to get to work without being soaked. I do not have a raincoat and only a small umbrella that perpetually appears to be about to fly away in the wind.
If it gets reallly stormy maybe I will work from home until a let-up occurs.
Today, also, public school started back up in SF, so it was Julia's first day back at her inner city charter after a semester at Oxbow. When I texted her she said it went "fine" today.
Then her report card arrived and I read what her teachers and she herself wrote about her growth at the fall program. What her teachers wrote is very satisfying for a parent to read, and while I know that is probably an objective for a private school, it also was genuine in a way any experienced editor can recognize. We become pretty good at smoking out what is not genuine.
They all clearly like and respect Julia very much, her work ethic, her artistic talents, her intellectual growth and her willingness to push herself in the realm she finds the most challenging -- in her social life.
She said in her self-evaluation she feels ready to handle Gateway now. I hope so. No one wants his or her child to struggle socially; being a teen is already hard enough. But with an exceptionally high GPA and good initial indications that she will test well, my hope is that my youngest will be able to attend the college of her choosing.
And Oxbow may well have helped her figure that out.
-30-
If it gets reallly stormy maybe I will work from home until a let-up occurs.
Today, also, public school started back up in SF, so it was Julia's first day back at her inner city charter after a semester at Oxbow. When I texted her she said it went "fine" today.
Then her report card arrived and I read what her teachers and she herself wrote about her growth at the fall program. What her teachers wrote is very satisfying for a parent to read, and while I know that is probably an objective for a private school, it also was genuine in a way any experienced editor can recognize. We become pretty good at smoking out what is not genuine.
They all clearly like and respect Julia very much, her work ethic, her artistic talents, her intellectual growth and her willingness to push herself in the realm she finds the most challenging -- in her social life.
She said in her self-evaluation she feels ready to handle Gateway now. I hope so. No one wants his or her child to struggle socially; being a teen is already hard enough. But with an exceptionally high GPA and good initial indications that she will test well, my hope is that my youngest will be able to attend the college of her choosing.
And Oxbow may well have helped her figure that out.
-30-
Sunday, January 03, 2016
Water
On a cloudy day, I am sorting through various materials with the luxury of not having to do anything specific. I'll be watching sports and old movies on TV all day, hoping that the rains will come, though there is none in the forecast.
In the midst of this drought, the worst in 500 years in California, we also are experiencing the early impact of El Nino storms -- heavy rain and snow on some days. It may seem like a contradiction, but these warm storms could cause more damage than good if they prematurely melt what to date is a very impressive snowpack.
The Sierra snow generates most of our water when it melts at the proper time -- next summer. Between now and then, melting could cause massive flooding and mudslides, destroying the dry areas rather than restoring them.
We're all on edge out here, wondering how this will all play out.
-30-
In the midst of this drought, the worst in 500 years in California, we also are experiencing the early impact of El Nino storms -- heavy rain and snow on some days. It may seem like a contradiction, but these warm storms could cause more damage than good if they prematurely melt what to date is a very impressive snowpack.
The Sierra snow generates most of our water when it melts at the proper time -- next summer. Between now and then, melting could cause massive flooding and mudslides, destroying the dry areas rather than restoring them.
We're all on edge out here, wondering how this will all play out.
-30-
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