'Tis the Season

Crab season, that is. We had crab benedicts for breakfast yesterday. We were in Gold Beach, OR. Originally we were supposed to go up to Washington this weekend to visit my cousin. But I am really stressed out at work and our finances aren't what I projected them to be at the time we made those plans, so we cancelled. Too late to cancel the first night's room in Gold Beach, though. So, what the heck; we went to Oregon for the night and came back. We took a full day for the drive and it was nice and relaxing, so I won't feel cheated by working on a Sunday and New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Anyway, I love fresh crab. Crab season is one of the nice advantages of living on the coast. The only problem is that it gets stuck between teeth even worse than chicken does.

Ringing in '08 should be pretty low-key. I think we're going over to some friends' house. They are moving in Jan., so it will be nice to have a last hurrah with them before they go. Doesn't sound like there will be many people, which is fine. I'm saving all my party energy for Sundance.

Speaking of films, my other big weekend project has been burning demo DVD's. We've started videotaping our life. No one in my family has done much in the way of home movies since about 1974, but now that we have the digital camera I am teaching myself some rudimentary video editing skills. Lesson #1: A copy of a copy loses color quality.

Christmastime is here

Okay, I was humming carols last night as the Husband and I played Scrabble. This morning I was a wise man at church. Our houseguest arrives this afternoon. 'Tis the season.

I've really enjoyed catching up on everyone's lives through holiday letters. I think one of my friends from Portland wins for biggest surprise. Your husband bought a GYM this year, and that wasn't even worthy of an e-mail?

Friday was the day we found out if we got selected in the lottery for Sundance tickets. I was pretty nervous because they didn't send anything out right at 9:00 Mountain Time, but by the afternoon I found out that we got a time slot. So Friday night we downloaded the film guide and started looking at what we want to see. After several iterations, we settled on first and second choices for eight films, four in Salt Lake and four in Park City. I'm pretty excited. Now we just have to wait another two and a half weeks to see what's still available at our designated purchase time.

Talked to my sister this week, and her dog is having post-traumatic stress from the ice storms. Then I talked to Mom yesterday, and they were in the middle of a blizzard. SO glad to be in Cali--this weekend's rain storm, supposedly the biggest of the season, hasn't amounted to much yet.

I read a book

Okay, I know that shouldn't be surprising, because I love books. Goodness knows I buy enough of them. But between reading for work and reading for training classes and trying to catch up on magazine subscriptions... I honestly couldn't tell you when the last time was that I sat down and read a book for pleasure. I do know that the length of time is measured in months, not days or weeks.

But yesterday I read a book. A whole book, cover to cover. Or more accurately, I read it yesterday and today, since I didn't finish it until about 1 a.m. If the mark of a good book is its ability to make you feel something, then this was an excellent book.

The book is You Can Run by Jesse Archer. It's about a guy looking for love and escaping the growing-up process by running around South America for two years. I've had several reactions to it--a desire to rush out and adopt a child, a desire to go to Borders and buy the Rough Guide to South America, a feeling of sadness that I'm past the point in my life where I'm unencumbered by things and can take off for a two-year trek with just what fits in my backpack, a feeling of regret that I didn't run off to another continent when I could have, a feeling of guilt for overconsumption, a feeling of relief for having health insurance, a feeling of pride that I did take a year off the beaten path in my twenties, a feeling of familiarity of being trapped in another country with not enough of the local currency, a desire to make travel somehow more meaningful and less diversionary in my life.

Like I said, excellent book.

So many great titles

Usually the problem with blogging is thinking up a good title. Not this time.

We have blue teeth

So, I am now compliant with the California hands-free cell phone driving law. We spent $70 on a Bluetooth wireless headset for the Husband back in October. This weekend we spent $15 on one for me. Gotta love pre-Christmas sales.

Wannabe Foodies

This weekend we went to two of the restaurants that made it into Zagat's America's Top Restaurants 2007. We dined Saturday night at Scott Howard, a 24 rating in SF's Jackson Square area. Then Sunday for brunch we went to Redd, a 27 rating (and one Michelin star!) in Yountville. I know it's hard to compare brunch food with a real dinner, but while Redd was good (particularly the cheese plate) I actually think I preferred Scott Howard.

Would you believe?

An entire weekend in the City and we didn't go to the Castro. Not even a drive-through. We visited a friend in Palo Alto for coffee Friday afternoon (then fought the ridiculous traffic on 101--I am so glad to live in a rural area--to our hotel by SFO), then had the annual holiday dinner for the Husband's company (the ostensible reason for the trip) Friday night in Belmont. Saturday we went shopping downtown, then to the Dance-Along Nutcracker in SOMA, then the aforementioned dinner followed by dessert with friends in Brisbane. Sunday we were up and headed to the Napa outlet mall prior to our Yountville reservation.

Coincidence?

So this morning Stan packed my lunch as he normally does. We stopped at Starbucks on the way to the office, as we sometimes do. However, today he packed me a salad and a cold sandwich. And I got a Frappuccino instead of a hot coffee. What neither of us knew at the time was that my office was going to be SWELTERING all day. There is something going on with the heating system in the building. The weather inside is less predictable than the weather outside! So far, we haven't had rain or high winds inside, but given the wild temperature fluctuations I'm not ruling anything out.