...coastal, that is.

I still go to elmwoodstrip.com first thing in the morning - home for the past 67 days. But what a thrill when estripwest.com comes up. Thank God it wasn't just a dream!

So now it's time to promote the site. Guess we'll see soon enough how my Peep Mystique fairs in real life. I've sure never sought out the limelight, but I'm so freakin' excited about the site. This might be just the thing to pry me out of my shell, even as boring ol' (Lisa) (in estrip:west-land that is - no relation to (e:Lisa) of estrip:east, who I'm sure is not the least bit boring).

Hey, maybe there's a Wizard of Oz thing going on here too. Ok, now I'm definitely reading too much into this.

p.s. - I got a 'new' hand-me-down digital camera for my birthday, which will come in very handy while I attempt to localize estrip:west without compromising the incredible look and feel of the original. The new cam has 2.1 megapixels. I'm swapping back my old 1.3 megapixel cam (which has served me well for the past 5 years) in an elaborate hand-me-down chain. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

p.p.s. - Seriously, if anybody ever wants to pop over to estrip:west either virtually or in person, all support/ideas/feedback always welcome. Don't all 167 of you come out at once though. Oh what the hell, we'd figure something out.

OMGosh! This was my best birthday ever. I still can't believe it.

Have you guys checked out the west coast version of estrip? It's for real. If any of you have the inclination, come on out here and chalk the walk, meet the peeps, press the... ok, you get the idea. Seriously, it would be so fun to round up a posse to spread the word estrip-style. I've got a guest room, a pull-out couch, and even a tent I can pitch in the back yard. I'll take the tent, just get your butts out here.

Luckily, Brenda and Kathy are onboard. Sure, we're no (e:PMT), (although we do have a sea lion[inlink]twisted,11[/inlink]named after us). Still, seems there's an uncanny east/west yin/yang thing going on. To me anyway. Am I reading too much into this again?

(e:Paul), the site redesign (less than 24 hours after launch) is absolutely gorgeous. Somehow you have internalized and embodied the west coast heart and soul. Happenstance, fate, probability? I don't know. Just glad it happened.

So Brenda and Kathy invited me over to help decorate their tree this morning. I knew something was up when Kathy said "why don't you arrive around 9:45am?" Since when are we scheduling in 15 minute increments? Sure enough, my birthday was announced on my favorite (broadcast) radio program, KFOG's 10@10 - 10 great songs from one great year. 1969 today. Last song was "Someday, We'll be Together." I hope so.

Even though decorating was largely a pretense, I ended up spending the whole morning (breakfast AND lunch included) with them because we had to return their Christmas tree. Pix tell the story below.


The unfurling of tree #1


Uh oh


Back to the tree farm


Pine needle evidence from the crime scene


Voila! Tree #2.

The good news from all this was I got to demonstrate how cool estrip is - both east and west - since I posted this (pic taken on my cellphone enroute to Santa's Oakland Coliseum Tree Farm) to elmwoodstrip.com.


Pine needles in hand and offending tree visible through the sunroof

You can read the rest of my birthday story on

e:west

Looks like I'm on my own for dinner. Time to buy the fondue fixings. Grinch at 8!

The api[inlink]news,544[/inlink]really is awesome and easy to use. Maybe I'll just populate estripwest with estrip posts until my separation anxiety diminishes.

I thought the api would be a good first step toward integrating my (e:) life with my RL - a direct feed from one world to the other. It's kind of weird to see estrip out of context, but I like keeping an eye on it locally.

I've been so preoccupied with estrip lately, my friends and family are starting to wonder what's going on. My ex called me in the middle of a critical post (ok, they all seem critical at the time) and he accused me of watching Ellen Degeneres while I was talking to him.

Brenda and Kathy took me out for sushi.

Missing Image ;(

Me and Brenda at our "usual" table


The sushi bar


Our sushi bridge