Clouds to the West and South

More rain overnight plus thunderstorms. Came home at lunch to get Dylan (on his day off this week) his burrito at El Metate. Watching Monday Night Football and hoping my fantasy team will finish the night in sole possession of second place, with a 6-3 record. Tomorrow night, going to the SPJ awards dinner with my team to clap for them as they collect the hardware.

White Butterflys

It rained again last night and the sky is cloudy today. We are starving for water around here, so this is welcome news.

I went to Safeway this morning to stock up on meals for Dylan and me, and also to buy a lot of canned foods and water. Why? I have finally been convinced that I should be better prepared for the aftermath of an earthquake or other disaster.

So now I have a dozen or so cans of soups, beans, corn, artichokes, potatoes and fish in the cupboard. I already have lots of water, candles, and matches.

Not much other news. A huge fire near here this morning.

Aidan solidified his insurance in Missoula for his car yesterday. They had their first snow of the season this week.

Julia doing well in Napa, as far as I can tell.

My team of interactive producers (4) all got huge raises this week from KQED. I have been pushing for this to happen for many months. One of them, Olivia, broke into tears when she got the news. That was the highlight of my week.

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Old Laptop, New Updates

This laptop is ancient (early 2009) and doesn't work very well any longer. None of my technology seems to work very well any longer, which is a bit frustrating for me. Tonight, my second TV stopped cooperating. Or maybe it is the cable box. Either way, I cannot watch what I had wanted to watch.

Yesterday, driving Julia back up to her school in Napa, I somehow missed Napa entirely and we had to drive an extra 30 miles and a half hour to get her there. To be fair, that was not the technology, but me. I thought I had memorized the route but clearly I had not.

She was not chatty yesterday, opting to listen to music through her earbuds instead.

Today, Dylan went to Canyon Market for an orientation. Tomorrow, he starts shadowing to learn how to do his job. He says now he will start drinking tea or coffee in order to be awake enough to do his job.

Tomorrow is also our local election. And also election day throughout the country. I hope everyone who can exercises their right to vote.

Biggest news in these parts? Rain!

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Happy Birthday, Youngest!

Julia turns 17 today (technically in the middle of the night's early morning hours last night) and I always hope for special happinesses on my children's' birthdays. In her case, today, a jacket I ordered for her arrived a few days ahead of schedule at her boarding school this afternoon.

She's out for pizza with friends tonight. Her Mom, 19-year-old brother and I are headed up there to take her to dinner on Friday night.

There are so many emotions wrapped up in transitions like birthdays, for most of us. Right now, I just feel proud of her. Here is a photo of one night four years ago, when she was able to calm down a troubled niece, Sophia, when we were babysitting her.

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Happy Birthday and an Engagement!

Happy Birthday to my youngest grandson, Oliver! He is four and I got him a soccer ball.

Big news from my oldest son, Peter. He and Claire are engaged!

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Online Shopping

The back part of this week was dominated by virtual commercial activity around here.

First, on impulse, I ordered Google Cardboard, a sort of virtual reality prototype that is very cheap. Dylan will probably help me assemble it later tonight.

Then, since his third birthday party is this Sunday, I ordered a size 3 soccer ball for Oliver. That arrived today.

I got a message from Julia that she would like a sweatshirt, maybe for Christmas. I ordered it today and she will get it next week, a few days after her 17th birthday.

Tonight, Dylan and I ordered Indian food from Spicy Bite, which arrived a bit ago and we have consumed about half of it.

As close as I have followed and covered the tech revolution, it still amazes me how much the Internet has changed our lifestyles. None of this would have been possible 21 years ago.

Now it is routine.

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Monday Break

Came home at mid-day to drive my youngest son to Trader Joe's, where he dropped off a job application form. He gets very nervous about things like this and he thinks people can tell. But he didn't look nervous as he handed the application to a man behind the counter at the back of the store.

The man looked it over, said they are indeed hiring, and asked Dylan what his favorite TJ product is. He said a Mac & Cheese that it is easy to microwave and the guys smiled and said, "That *is* good."

They shook hands and I thought I could see a flicker of positive impression cross the man's expression. Dylan is such a good kid; he probably doesn't realize it yet but people can sense that about him. Honest, smart, funny, a bit shy in a good way.

I hope he gets a job soon for his sake. I think he finds job searching much more stressful than school. He told me this "gap year" has already made going back to school an attractive option.

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