Writing Life

And good times were had by all during a perfect BBQ party.

My honey, Diane, surprised me with a birthday party that brought together so many of my close friends. Thank you so much to everyone who came from near and far; and so many thanks to Diane for making it so special. I was totally surprised and blown away (speechless, if you can believe it!).

Thank you all!

If you’ve ever ridden the metro, you’ve probably seen McPost, a free, USA Today-type news rag from the Washington Post. My friend Heather (on the left) was in it today, re: New Year’s Resolutions. Pretty cool. If you have today’s print edition, it’s on page E9. If you download the PDF file from their website, it’s page 49 of that huge file.

It’s not always about politics or rants on this blog. Here’s a photo from dinner tonight. Diane & I, her parents, and our dear friends Stacy and Marc pose before the tripod. Most excellent evening of talking, eating, and laughing.

After running around like crazy and doing so much, I was able to spend Saturday night with my old neighbors in Columbia, Mary and Sam. We were joined by their youngest daughter, Marrisa, who was in town visiting them. They picked me up at my hotel around 6:15 and we went to this great seafood place south of Long Beach. It was so amazing to see Mary and Sam after so long and we talked and talked about what’s been going on since they moved to LA. I had an amazing dinner of some funky Hawaiian fish that was served with wild mushrooms and diced tomatoes. We washed all our food down with too many martinis and some wine!

After dinner, they dropped me back at my hotel and I grabbed another two pints of Sierra Nevada in the lounge and headed up to bed. I had an 8:45 flight the next morning and wanted to be rested. The trip back was uneventful and not too long. Happily, I was reunited with my honey Diane at the airport around 4:10 PM!!!

After leaving Encinitas, I drove up to Orange County to visit my friend and former colleague Angela. She used to work at CGS and now lives out in SoCal. I was meeting her at 6:30 at this Thai restaurent in Santa Ana. As some of you may know, Santa Ana is also home to the South Coast mall. This mall makes my university look like a pup-tent. The mall goes on and on, across several blocks. It’s full of gucci shops, including Gucci, and it’s filled with middle-aged and old ladies who were wearing the latest in juniors fashion. Ugh! But, there was one redeeming feature, an Apple Store! Off I went to worship at the temple of Steve. I picked up an extra power adapter, to use at work, and a new inCase carrybag for my laptop. Woohoo!

After that, I drove up and down Bristol Street trying to find George’s Thai Bistro, where I was meeting Angela for dinner. I finally found it and waited for Angela to arrive. I picked up their local “city paper” rag and was blown away by the fact that the first 15-20 pages of this weekly paper were ads for boob jobs, botox, lipo, and every other superficial modification that plastic surgeons could enact on a human form. It was insane! But, I guess it goes along with the Hummer-mentality of the OC. I gotta tell you, I never saw so many Hummer deathtraps in my life. Every block!

Angela and I had a great dinner (krapow for me and a spicy soup & noodle dish for her). We talked about the office, life, politics, advocacy, pretty much everything under the SoCal sun. It was great that I got to see her and catch up! We parted around 8:45 and I headed up to LA to check into my hotel right by the airport I started at the previous morning.

Here’s a photo of Missy, Lara, and me at the Wharf Rat in Fells Point. All three of us worked at Community of Science back in the late 90s and early 2000s. COS was a nightmare, but the grunts were great people. We had kind of lost touch with each other, but we got some of the malcontents back together for a few pints at one of my favorite bars in Baltimore. Good porters and stouts here! Missy’s in the middle and Lara’s on the right. We had a great time catching up and playing trivia (every Tuesday night). Last time, we were The Gloved Ones and we won the whole shabang. This time, we were Where’s Waldo and came in last or 2nd to last. Just goes to show you what’s in a name! Hopefully, we can get Joe, Linda, Mitch, and Carol out next time.

Mona Leigh & Joe had their daughter at 11:42 PM on June 26th. She was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was 21″ long. Here’s a picture of me holding her.