Saturday, August 30, 2008

Old School

Sarah has the dresser that matches the crib. And she said something about a rocking horse.

A rocking horse?

Yeah.

What kind?

I don't know.

An old-school rocking horse? With, springs?

You mean a death-trap?

No, I mean FUN!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

A Small Selection of Random Things

A friend said 'tell me things', so here goes. I'm going to keep it brief because it's 12:20 am and I'm waiting for the water to boil so I can make formula.

Zachary is now 5 months old, and we started him on solid food. He seems to like it, and I'm hoping that it will help him sleep through the night better. He is turning out to LOVE being physical; he likes to be bounced and thrown and swung. He's probably going to love roller coasters. Or flippin' HATE them.

Rachel and I went swimming at Strawberry Canyon today (Cal's outdoor pool up above the stadium) and I was reminded that ... they're baaaa-aaack. The very young college people, that is.
I haven't been on my bike this weekend (I count today and tomorrow as weekend, since I'm taking a couple of days of vacation), which is disappointing in a way, except I haven't seemed to be all that into it. I did start up on pushups and some other morning exercises. We'll see whether I keep it up. And I am teaching Rachel to play hacky-sack. I'm going to be VERY sore tomorrow. Or the next day, really, as old as I am...

I finished The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. Pixel is very funny. And there's a fuck-load of sex in that book, as well as Time Enough for Love. Hmm... No pun intended. I'm starting on the Number of the Beast.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

A Color?

We should get some cereal bowls. They don't have to be from the set, just complement it.

The white bowls don't go with the set? There is white on the dishes, after all.

I was thinking of a color.

But white is ALL colors, honey!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A "Rule" Change

This is pretty ridiculous: the US Department of Health and Human Services is considering changing a "rule" such that birth control will be considered "abortion". I don't see anything about this on NY Times or CNN or MSNBC... The article is from the Houston Chronicle.

Moveon.org is helping Planned Parenthood with this one, of course. The AMA, ACOG, and 112 members of Congress are also opposed to it. Will you sign their petition?

Monday, August 11, 2008

Smash THIS Bernard

Did you watch the men's 4x100 freestyle relay? It was just incredible.

After Phelps' decent start, Webber-Gale did OK, but Jones gave up a bit of time. Then, just when it was looking impossible, Lezak managed to erase a half-body length lead in about 30 or 40 meters. Extremely impressive.

Not only that, 5 of 8 teams beat the existing world record, which was set just 15 hours before by the US "B" team during the qualifier.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Hello, Pot?

Rachel walked into the kitchen just a moment ago and picked Zachary up out of his chair, where he was happily watching Dawn and me do things in the kitchen. We sometimes refer to it as "Kitchen TV".

Rachel: Every time I look at you, you're bigger!

Daddy: Speaking of the pot calling the kettle black...

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Reunion - Campus Tour

I got my wish with Shonelle at the campus tour. Shonelle is living in LA and doing, among other things, some stand-up. No, I didn't tell her to say something funny. I did encourage her to try out for Last Comic Standing sometime, though. There were some other people there I remember vaguely; I suppose that's not surprising anymore. I also finally got to chat with James a little.

The campus has changed a lot. The B building, which used to have offices, the library, and a few classrooms, is gone (apparently torched by students), replaced by a nice looking courtyard. The "round room" cafeteria and the steam plant are gone. In their place, are a very long building along a half or more of the East side of the campus. This new building has the offices and library, a practice gym, a pool and locker rooms, as well as a round cafeteria that seems to sit precisely where the old one did. This one, rather than being a concrete monstrosity is a tall, open silo with nice wood and lots of windows. The practice gym and pool are very nice looking and drew a lot of praise, and not just for not smelling like dank, moldy, sweaty gyms.

The gym that was new when we were students is still there and in decent shape, though unlike the new gyms, it smells of ... insufficient ventilation. The G and H buildings were gutted and remodeled a few years ago; they still have shops, art, and science, along with some humanities, but they also have a very fancy health center. When we were there, the nurse's office had a cot and you might be able to get band-aids. This place has a mental health office, real first aid gear and more. Impressive.

The C building remains pretty similar to what we remember. Smaller lockers (apparently all the lockers are in this building) and a small art gallery where one classroom used to be were the only changes I noticed.

From there, we moved to the theatre, which basically hasn't changed. I don't remember the gallery of famous people who went to BHS over the years. Jack Lalane, Ursula Le Guin, Belva Davis, Elihu Harris. There were several others I recognized but can't think of now. Of course, Chidi Ahanotou is listed in the gym as a member of the BHS Athletics Hall of Fame... And he's from our class. I remember seeing his first NFL game, lo these many years ago. He was with the Bucs then and played Joe Montana and the Chiefs - I love Montana but boy was I shouting for Chidi to get 'I'm when he got close to Montana!

Reunion - Informal Mixer

This weekend, we are celebrating 20 years since we graduated from Berkeley High School: June 15, 1988. It is surprising somehow that it has been so long already. Some of us don't even feel like adults particularly. Of course, my friend John, who made that comment has long been one of the most adult of us all. It does seem as if more of our class has joined us in adulthood, though.

At the 5th year reunion, it felt just like high school. Basically the same clics, partiers partying and planning where to go for more partying, geeks (myself included) being (or at least feeling) socially awkward, etc. 10 years was a bit better. It seemed as if there were more people who were serious about life and definitely more kids. Not that there wasn't plenty of drinking, of course.

There is quite a slate of events this weekend. Last night was an informal mixer at a bar not far from BHS (the bar wasn't there yet when we were kids). This morning was a tour of the campus, tonight dinner at Golden Gate Fields (whose secondary parking lot, in which any number of us learned to drive, is now being replaced with soccer and baseball fields), and tomorrow a picnic in Tilden.

Originally, I wasn't really all that interested in the reunion. The people I most want to be in regular touch with from high school I already am. My two best friends, John and Dan, whom I talk to all the time and see fairly often (seeing Dan isn't so frequent, now that he is in LA, but we agree it is worth his being there - his wife Karyn is wonderful). Kim, one of my closest friends in high school, who now lives in NJ; we keep in fairly close touch, given the distance - I actually didn't even realize she was coming, so imagine my delight when she walked into the bar last night! Daniel, who like John I've known since 7th grade, if not earlier. Danny (first grade).

I planned on going by the mixer, and on the tour once they announced it, and trying for the picnic. Rachel has a birthday party that starts shortly after the picnic, so we'll see whether she and Dawn make it. The dinner, though, is a bit pricey and I don't think I really want to go.

Last night, Dawn was socialed out, thanks to my office summer BBQ, so she skipped. John and I walked down to Thalassa together. I am still somewhat surprised - I wound up staying until almost midnight and made it home just in time to feed Zachary without him waking Dawn.

The mixer was great, if vaguely surreal in a way. I recognized many more faces than I expected but remembered fewer names. There were a bunch of people I recognized instantly, including remembering their names. Alison, Chalyn, Robin, Sarah P, Ted, Dennis, Loren, Cybele, Lucas, Sally, Nicole.

And there are so many people I'm glad to have seen, even though I didn't remember all their names immediately. Lilia, Tawanna, Erik N, Ben G, Jesse, Jessica B, James D. I think I'm already forgetting some of the others, there were so many. And there were some I saw but didn't get to talk to (Sarah H and Maryam come first to mind) or who recognized me but didn't have name tags and said hi in passing so I didn't get their names. As I said, surreal.

A lot of people look GREAT. Cybele, Robin, Loren. John, of course. I suggested he show up in a tight t-shirt that reads "With a body like this, who needs hair?". Chalyn, who does triathlons regularly. Some people look exactly the same, except not like teenagers. I notice this particularly about Kim (and Sarah P), though perhaps it is that I've seen her a number of times since. Dennis, Sarah. Several people commented that I look just the same, except for being taller (I was about 6' at graduation).

I had particularly nice conversations with Alison, whom I remember as far back as 7th grade, and with Lilia, whom I didn't recognize at first. As we talked I started to realize her mannerisms were very familiar, and I agree with her that we had several friends in common. It was a mixer, so there were also many interrupted conversations; I hope to catch up more with Erik N, Sally, and Robin. There are at least a couple of people I didn't even see at the bar: Kelly, whom I remember as very tall as far back as 5th grade, but who I know is shorter than I now (but tall for a woman) because I've bumped into her occasionally, and Shonelle, with whom I had several classes and remember very fondly. Also Jennifer H, Kwame, and Marya.

Now I want to go to the dinner tonight.