Got the "official" Halloween pix from my sister so I can get going on next year's family calendar.


My sister with her brood in the pumpkin patch. Yeah, this one's going on the calendar for sure.


This is here because of the volcano costume. Hey, it made him happy. I also made the black sheep costume my youngest nephew is wearing in this picture.

Sure 'nuff, you can spot[inlink]ajay,205[/inlink]the beach house, looking sadly abandoned.



This is the house "immortalized" in my Postcard from the beach [inlink]twisted,8[/inlink] post. That's the only time we splurged on a rental on the ritzy end of the beach, nestled between the ocean and the lagoon (for Brenda and Kathy's anniversary party). They won't be seeing the likes of us again soon unless one of us wins the lottery.

The house we usually rent is down the shoreline a piece with the other beach shacks. We love it. B&K (and their dog Maggie) take the guest annex building to the right off the deck. The main house has a ladder up to a sleeping loft in the peak of the roof. That's where I sleep.



Damn! I want to go to the beach now.

p.s. - can't see much without electronic binoculars, but as NoCal promoter I would be remiss not to include links to the clothing-optional sections of the beach. Hey, whatever it takes to get you people out here.

You have no idea how happy I was to find these today. I've been trying to replace this color for a long time.

Seems like everybody's moving, changing jobs or both. I just got back from an interview at PeopleSoft. I did some contract web production work for them about a year and a half ago. It would be so awesome if they hired me for more ongoing contract work. They say they'll decide by Wednesday and have the new person in for training by the end of the week.

My friend Brenda works there, which is how I heard about the job. She says the only reason I want to work there is because I'm so excited about their lunchroom. That is only partially true. Mostly I'm excited about the paycheck. But the lunchroom is a close second. There are many things I've become jaded about, but food is not one of them.


The place is freakin' huge. This is just one of their buildings.


The "Diablo Cafe" salad, sandwich, sushi and soup bars


Main entree du jour and pasta stations


Individual-size pizzas from the brick oven (glowing in the background)


I decided to go for the "Road to Romain" salad with balsamic chicken, carmelized walnuts, blue cheese and mandarine oranges blue plate special.

Going back to work fulll-time in a corporate environment would be shock to my system, but I think the Diablo Cafe could get me through it.


Update 12/08 19:45

PeopleSoft just called. I got the job! Yay!

I had a great time with my sister the past 4 days. I can't believe she left her husband, three kids and home business behind to come out and see me. It would have been a helluva lot easier for me to go there.


My sister arriving at San Francisco airport, looking very happy to be kid-free.


We had to pick up a shipment of wine for Dad. It would have been rude not to buy a few bottles for ourselves, and accept the gracious offer of a free reserve wine tasting while we were there.

It was so funny to go shopping with my sister. We tried out a bunch of toys for her kids and she cracked up at every one, which made me crack up. She bought this puzzle for her youngest kid that makes the animal's sound when you put the right piece in. It kept going off in the back of the car. We took all the puzzle pieces out of it, but it still went off whenever I banked hard to the left. (Many of my passengers have complained of feeling like crash test dummies.) Mostly we ignored it, but every once in a while it seemed to punctuate the conversation at a particularly apt time.