Sunday.  Snuffy head has turned into snuffy head with sore throat.  Sigh.

Finished Neil Gaiman's "Graveyard Book" last night.  It was no "Coraline" but was an enjoyable read.  Not quite done listening to videos of him reading one chapter per tour stop which is available FREE on his website (just google "Neil Gaiman").

Photo of recent Kinky Friedman signing S attended.  Wanna see more signings we've attended?  Check out our Just Arrived page.

Saturday.  Usually take Saturdays off, but working today as Monday is USPS holiday and want to get out as many packages as I can today.

Walking yesterday we watched, arms length away,  a humming bird as it sipped from a salvia bush near CFS & W's.

Picture is SIS and CD in their natural habitat; wishing I was there!

Friday.  No, we aren't closing the bookstore (just hedging our bets against this crap economy); thanks for asking!

Another photo from K&C's wedding (Oct 5th).

Thursday.  Rough day; S and I are now <sniff> officially looking for jobs.

Coffee and nice talk/walk with MT this morning (and, got to see her Smart Car).  Did you know there is a company that turns cargo shipping containers into buildings?!    Gotta do something with them (we import more than we export and, unfortunately, it is cheaper to build and use a new container than to redeploy an old container for export).  Very, very cool!  Read more:  http://www.sgblocks.com/

Bye, bye Mother's Cookies; they're closing up shop and filing for bankruptcy.

Image is The LG Harbinger House, constructed out of SG Blocks that was on display at the WEST COAST GREEN 2008 CONFERENCE while MT was there.

Wednesday.  Looking forward to coffee and walk with MT on Thursday.

Tonight I will go with S to a couple signings.  Not my favorite thing (don't care for crowds), but at least I know my guy appreciates the help...

Photo today is one from the wedding...this is Unkle Dunkle and his monkey <--- Dunkle's nickname for DT, not mine ;-).

Tuesday.  Four times I've made over 10k since October 1st.  My September average was 8253, so that is quite the increase for me. And, I notice, according to the WT blog, we hit a record number of steps per day last week.  I can't help but wonder if other people are walking more, as I am, in an attempt (conscious or not) to keep anxiety about the economy at bay.

Planning to start a virtual walk from CA to FL next time I'm in Moss Beach.  Here is basic route planning to follow (including stop off to "see" grandparents)  http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sad … 4&z=3.  At about 3 miles a day, will only take me about 1,000 days (one way!).

Photo today is S @ Jeanne DuPrau signing.  I really enjoyed "City of Ember" which will come to the big screen this week.  Sadly, was so disappointed by the second book that I've not finished the series.

Monday.  Struggling to get caught up from taking yesterday off.

Photo of the happy couple on their wedding day (yesterday).  More photos. 

Sunday.  Day off; K&C's wedding (on their 12th anniversary).  One of the three most fun times I've had at a wedding (including mine & S's and CFS & W's).  Wore sensible dress shoes, but dress shoes and feet swelled...so steps below goal today.  Found it amusing when C's father's wife asked me if I was one of K's siblings...I certainly can think of worse things to be mistaken for :-)

Will post pictures tomorrow.  Eventually should have a group photo of the fraggles  (taken by professionals)...we haven't had a group photo since the "walk in the woods" outing...what, about five years ago.

Photo today is the cake from our wedding (over 17 years ago!).

Saturday.  Working today.  S @ NCIBA conference (they discriminate against businesses that don't have a brick-and-mortar location, hopefully not to weed folks like us out but rather to weed out "mega-listers" and hobby sellers); fellow booksellers got us in.

Yesterday was third day in a row over 10k; I think this is a first for me!  ~7,000 of my steps yesterday were while "chasing" the boy (c) which was a LOT of fun, but made it impossible to get my aerobic steps in.

Photo today is of two of my favorite boys, with their "camera" faces on.  More photos from yesterday here.

Friday.  Taking most of the day off to play with c (while K&C do last minute wedding stuff).  Broke down and "fixed" my hair last night (was still sporting the remnants of the "year of red") so won't look too scruffy at the wedding.  *sigh*

Photo today was taken when S went to see Roddy Doyle last week.

Thursday.  Made a new high step count yesterday; yippee! 

Looking forward to spending most of tomorrow with c (so K&C can do last minute wedding stuff).

S went to Paul R Ehrlich signing last night. And came back telling me about the presentation and about how Ehrlich says we have several things working against us and long term survival of the planet (and the species) , one of which is the biological imperative to reproduce.  Here is an idea...how about we, as a society, stop ridiculing people who *decide* not to further the problem of overpopulation by *deciding* not to procreate?!?  I can't tell you how many people (strangers, too) who, rather than thanking me, actually *argue* with me that I'll change my mind and procreate.  Or, now that I'm starting to appear to, perhaps, be past likely childbearing years, they say things like "well, probably you couldn't have any".   Huh?  Excuse me?!? Same goes for people who *decide* to live in a small footprint (we have about 550 sq ft per person and feel guilty about that), have only one car, use public transportation, don't have a/c in our home, don't have a dryer or dishwasher...all of which cause people to sneer at us, look down at us, or pity us instead of applauding (or at least not ridiculing) our choices.

10/2/08 – Thursday!!  Today’s 10@10 “Classic” is from…1981!!!

1.  Tubes – Sushi Girl
2.  Rick James – Superfreak (BEST OF SET!!)
3.  Red Rider – Lunatic Fringe
4.  Ultravox – Vienna
5.  Joe Walsh – A Life of Illusion
6.  Frankie & the Knockouts – Sweetheart (BEST OF SET!!)
7.  XTC – Generals & Majors
8.  Kim Carnes – Bette Davis Eyes (BEST OF SET!!)
9.  Elvis Costello – New Lace Sleeves
10.  The Jam – Monday (BEST OF SET!!)

BONUS TRACK:  Kinks - Destroyer

Wednesday.  Made my September goal...barely...but I made it!  October goal set 5% higher.

Eleven years ago today our bookstore opened for business!  Nice lunch out with CFS & W to celebrate.  Here's hoping we get to our 12th anniversary.

S stole our ARC of "Couch" by @ben from me and is *really* enjoying it; says it reminds him of Christopher Moore and Tom Robbins.

Photo is our bookmark; pretty cool, huh?

Tuesday.  Weekly backup went off without a hitch this time (*bows* to the Techie).  Now, to tackle the DW problem... ***UPDATE*** Problems have nothing to do with us and everything to do with lack of communication by our hosting company (once AGAIN they failed to notify us that they were "upgrading"/moving us; and YES we are on a business plan.  Idiots.)

Today marks 10 years since we closed on the house.  When we bought it, we encountered a LOT of pressure from loan agents and realtors (the bad one, before we switched to YB) to buy the absolute most house the bank would allow.  Being stubborn, I ignored them and got the house I really wanted which cost about 20% *less* than the total the bank would allow (and a straight forward, non-balloon mortgage to boot...).  Given the economy, I'd say I did the right thing...wouldn't you?  Sadly, I'll bet a lot of people let themselves be talked into spending more than they really wanted or needed by greedy folks (driven by commissions and enabled by so called "creative" financing practices) and are now losing everything.

Photo today is another of the batch from my mother-in-law that was hiding on my desk.  This is S back about the time I met and became friends with him (which was *gasp* 27 years ago this month!).

Monday.  Car goes in for repairs today (from some darn fool backing into our parked car on September 12th).  Their insurance will cover fully and will pay for rental car...'course it won't get 41 mpg mixed use like our car does.

Argh.  It's always something.  Trying to update our site and have discovered, since Tech Support was here, I'm able to make changes to DW and can connect to the server via DW, but changes aren't published.  Now to try to figure out WHY.  At least I discovered the problem before putting in a lot of changes.

Another picture discovered while cleaning my office; this one is my mother-in-law (year unknown).  UPDATE:  JH tells me this was when she was about 16

Sunday.  One of the perks of a day without access to my work computer (Sept 24th) is that I cleaned my office... You know, when I worked on the corporate merry-go-round, I was a very tidy worker...my office was always tidy, organized, dusted, and nicely decorated.  Turns out, I was often frustrated and/or bored and cleaned in reaction to that.  Here I'm very rarely frustrated (well, at least not in the systemic way I was) or bored...so my office is crazy.  I can find stuff, but it isn't pretty.  Who knew?

Experimenting with "buy now" (rather than auction) items on Ebay (they are giving sellers reduced fees if you jump through certain hoops between now and end of the year).  Wanna see?  http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/handee123 … omZQQ_mdoZ

Photo today is one I found on my (messy) desk while my computer was being worked on the other day and I resorted to cleaning my office.  It is S when he was 2 and was given to me by my mother-in-law. I think it was the next year when he got glasses...

Saturday.  At work until nearly 11pm last night; made it really difficult to get my aerobic steps in :-(

Working a short day in the office today and then will work on photos at home.

Paul Newman died @ 83; didn't realize he was just a year older than CHM.

ONM's bday today and picture is from 1947.

Friday.  Late start this morning; S missed his connection and didn't get to the train station until after 1am.  Glad I didn't have a corporate job to drag myself to this morning!

Yes; we bank with Wamu.  Hopefully your financial institution won't be next to fail (although, there may be some merit to being one of the first).

Busy again today with the necessary but tedious process of adding photos to Amazon.  Wanna see?  http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A27MUO3QP7QZ7O

Another picture of W being Tech Support.

Thursday.  After a tough day yesterday, we treated ourselves to dinner out (using bday $$; thanks CFS!). 

Nice walk to and from the restaurant and we saw a raccoon on the way back...on the suburb street by a storm drain.  Big as a small dog (purse rats don't count).

Photo is W being tech support yesterday.  You can't really see his t-shirt but it is the one with the cartoon bear between two trees (his front claws in one tree and his back in another) and saying something pithy about hanging in there ("Some days it's harder to hang in there than others" or something like that). :-)  You can tell that he has a sense of humor, and I'm still trying to shake the earworm resulting from the song snippet he sang yesterday:

Passengers must please refrain
From passing water while the train
Is standing in the station,
I love you.

Wednesday.  Early start so will be ready for visit from W (great, wise, and powerful Techie).  UPDATE:  5:30 pm (started at 9:30 am) and the problem appears to be fixed.  Keep your fingers crossed and *bow* to the Techie :-) 

Thinking about SIS; she has an interview today...

Photo is c & his Aunt T being silly last night (taken with cell phone).  Favorite c-ism from yesterday?  "Hug you up?" by which he meant "[will you] Pick me up?".  Too cute!

Tuesday.  Day off to a rough start.  Computer announced this morning that the weekly backup failed last night.  Spent the morning running QA on the issue to no avail.  Now awaiting reply from customer "support" (not been impressed with them in the past...good app, bad support) and considering calling in my own personal techies.  UPDATE:  A personal techie will be here in the morning to  help sort this thing out.  It is good to have personal techies (*bows* to the great, wise, and powerful Techie).

S took the car in today for repair estimate on the damage done when some darn fool backed into our (parked) car on the 12th.  They admitted fault and, it would appear, their insurance will pick up the tab (including alternate transportation if our car has to stay at a shop; we are proud to only have the one).  Progress.

Looking forward to a visit from C&c this evening...get to babysit him while his moms get their hair cut.

Photo is Aunt Melissa and her new grandson (born last week).