A House Cooling Party

 Almost two weeks ago, I went to a house cooling party. 

A friend I grew up with in Santa Rosa now lives over in Alta Dena. While she didn’t lose her house in the fire, she came very close. And she had lots of smoke damage. So, for the last five month, she’s been working on getting everything replaced and redone that she needed taken care of. While working full time and keeping her daughter on track in school. Well, they were finally able to move back in, and they had a party to celebrate. It also happened to be her husband’s birthday. 

And yes, they called it a house cooling party since warming it up didn’t seem like something they’d want to celebrate. 

I knew a couple of the people who were there, and it was nice to catch up with them. And it was nice to chat the little bit I could with the hosts, although they were quite busy talking to lots of others, as you’d expect. It was a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon and early evening.

June 16th's Joke of the Week

A guy goes in for a job interview and the manager says, “We’re looking for someone who is responsible.”

“Well, I’m your man,” the guy replies.  “In my last job, whenever anything went wrong, they said I was responsible.”

June 9th's Joke of the Week

I have the world’s worst thesaurus.  Not only is it terrible, it’s terrible.

The Long One Day Road Trip

Now that I'm caught up, maybe I can keep updates regular.  That would be nice.

In an effort to do that, I'm going to talk about this last weekend.  I didn't have anything else planned, so I decided to take a road trip.

I'd realized that there is a mission in Oceanside not too far from a diner I always eat at when I'm in the area.  Since the Camp Pendleton Mud Run isn't opened to the public again this year (boo hoo!!!), I wasn't going to be going down there any time soon.  And, I'll admit, I had an audiobook calling my name.  So I decided to jump in my car and drive down to visit the mission.

First of all, I do have to mock myself for not really thinking about the Mission San Luis Rey being close to where I regularly go.  You see, the Pit Stop Diner, where I love to eat, is on Mission Ave.  Now, in my defense, there is a Mission Blvd. in the town where I grew up that isn't connected to any of the missions.  But when I realized that last year, I decided to go visit it sometime.  And over the last week and a half, the call got loud.

I actually got up and left early (which may account for the nap I took Sunday afternoon), and I beat most of the traffic Saturday morning.  I spent 45 minutes or so at the mission itself, then grab lunch.

We've been having some weird weather in So Cal.  It had been really hot at home Friday and Saturday, but being near the coast it was cooler there.  But, I could see some lightning and hear thunder, so I decided not to hit the beach.

Instead, on my way home, I stopped by Downtown Disney.  It's been a while since I did that to pin shop.  And I remembered why.  They now charge $10 to park, even with validation.  No free parking like we used to get.  Not that interested in paying to park.  But I decided to go ahead and do that since I really did want to look for some pins.  Between Disneyland's 70th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of Disney pins, I wanted to snag some.  Plus, it's been a while since I bought any at all.  They didn't have any of the limited edition pins I was interested in, but I still bought 9 or so pins.

By the time I did all of that, traffic had really kicked in, and it took forever to come home.  On the plus side, I made it all the way through my book.  Yes, I was listening a little faster than normal reading speed, but still, it was a lot of driving.  I was pretty tired when I pulled into the garage at the end of the day.

June 3rd's Joke of the Week

Replacing words with the names of musical instruments in a sentence often goes undetected, accordion to a recent survey.

May 2025 - Cursed Children

It May, I went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

I went with a friend.  I'd read the play when they released the hardcover years ago, but I'd forgotten lots of it.  The one thing I really remembered was that I had to see it if I ever got the chance.  I had to know how they'd do the magic live on stage.

Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out how they did some of it.  But it was super impressive.  I bought everything I was seeing, and we have some real magic live on stage in front of us.

I have a feeling my reactions to the play in person are probably the same as when I read it.  There is one twist in particular that I wasn't that impressed with.  I'm sure they could have figured out some other way to get the plot going.  But I guess not.

Either way, it was nice seeing my friend and it was a nice night out.

I was shocked at home empty the balcony was, however.  But it worked well since it meant we could move away from the middle schoolers near us who didn't seem to get being a good audience member.  They could have been worse, but they could have been much better, too.

April 2025 - Malice Domestic Again

 I made it back to Malice Domestic again in April.  I figured out I hadn't been since 2017.  Quite a long stretch.  But the weekend they picked worked for me, so I was able to go.

For those who don't know, it's a convention for mystery authors and readers. It's held every spring just outside of Washington DC.  It focuses on the traditional and cozy mystery, which is what I typically read.

I had an extra motivation for going since their Malice Remembers author they were honoring was Dorothy Gilman.  She wrote the Mrs. Pollifax series which is where I stole Carstairs.  I co-lead a book discussion of the first book in that series, in fact.  It was such fun to reread it.  The event itself went well with plenty of people talking about our questions.  And, it truly made me happy that the room was about half and half people who had never read the series before but picked up the book for this event and people who were long time fans.  Always happy to find people enjoying the series.

The rest of the weekend was a blur.  I didn't feel like I had the time to really talk to half the people I wanted to talk to.  I did get to meet some of the authors I've started reading in the years since I was last there, which was a treat.  And I met a new author with a book coming out in September that I'm looking forward to reading.

Friday night, I got to have dinner with a couple of friends I've made in the Trixie Belden community.  One of them was at Malice Domestic since she's also an author, but the other lives in the area.  We'd hoped to meet up with more, but they were busy or sick.  

The only down side was that for the first time in over 20 years, I missed the LA Times Festival of Books, which was the same weekend.  

March 2025 - A Milestone Birthday and Some Family Time

In March, I hit one of those milestone birthdays.  You know, the ones that end with a 0.  Obviously, it didn't sneak up on me, but it's still taking some getting used to.

My birthdays often fall during month end close at work.  At my current job, it's quarter end close, so that's even busier.  But, my birthday was on a Saturday this year.  And it happened to be the Saturday that my friends still host their monthly game day.  Yes, they knew, and they made sure I was wished a happy birthday.  And they let me pick where we got dinner from (Chick-fil-a, for the record).  I even won some games that day.  One was a set up, but I don't think the rest were.

The following week, my brother and his family were in town for a day.  The original plan had been to go to Magic Mountain, which I have a pass to this year.  But it was cold and wet most of the week, and that day wasn't looking any better.  We decided to call it off, and then they wound up not opening at all that day anyway.  So they came over to my place and played some games.  It was a good day.

Then, the following week, we spent some time together in Palm Springs.  My parents and uncle and aunt were also there.  I wasn't expecting, but they had cake and ice cream for my birthday.  Yes, we played some games, but we also swam and played some pickleball.  The weather had really changed, and it was significantly warmer than it had been just a few days before.  Considering we were there to swim, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It was a good month.

May 26th's Joke of the Week

After wondering all night where the sun had gone, it finally dawned on me.

May 19th's Joke of the Week

A guy goes into a lawyer’s office and asks the lawyer: “Excuse me, how much do you charge?”

The lawyer responds: “I charge $1,000 to answer three questions.”

“That’s a bit expensive, isn’t it?”

“Yes.  What’s your third question?”

February 2025 - Rain and a Paddle

We got rain, finally, in February. It wasn’t the entire month, but we had several decent storms pass through. Unfortunately, that did bring flooding and mudslides to the areas that had been hit by the fires in January, but none of that really impacted me. During the worst of the rain, they let us work from home, which was a nice bonus. 

And the last Saturday in the month, I went out paddle boarding again. I’ve only been out one other time since I hurt my shoulder almost two years ago now. This time, my shoulder bothered me less than it had the time before, which I was very thankful for. I’ve got to figure out when I can go more frequently because it was nice to be out on the water again. The water was chilly that day, but the temps were warm enough that it was a very nice day. And hardly any wind. It was nice to be out with the friend who got me into it. Good time catching up with her.

January 2025 - Fires!

In January, LA burned. 

Okay, not all of it, but good portions of it thanks to the dry weather and extremely strong winds. A few people I know did lose their homes, but no one I’m super close to. The fires did get very close to one friend I know from my home town. 

Naturally, this made for a lot of long stressful days. 

Early on, one of the smaller fires was sort of near my condo. The evacuation warning zone was a couple of miles from me. 

There was one fire about half a mile from me one night. Part of a building about half a mile from me burned. The fact that this is all that burned with how strongly the winds were blowing is a testament to how excellent the firefighters are. 

The third week of the month, everyone who reports to my director was in our office in town. And a new fire broke out north of town. It made parts of the meeting very chaotic as people were going to gather things in case they needed to evacuate. Fortunately, everyone and their stuff was okay. But we did cut the last day short.

I was glad when the month ended with the fires mostly out and a little rain to help. Fortunately, it was a minor blip for me, but lots of people are going to have to spend a long time recovering from this.  

May 12th's Pun of the Week

The shovel was a groundbreaking invention.

December 2024 - Home for Longer at Christmas

Yes, I was back in Northern California again for Christmas. But I was back for longer than I would normally get to spend. Despite being hybrid now, they decided to close the office for the weeks of Christmas and New Years. It helped both of those holidays were on Wednesdays. So I packed up my work stuff, including both monitors, and lugged it all to my parents’. I was already planning on taking the Thursday and Friday after Christmas off, but this meant I got to spend a whole with my family, just working two days. 

Of course, it also meant I had a shorter time to get presents purchased and wrapped. I really need to get a better jump on that next year. 

Anyway, because I was up early, I got to go to church with my family twice, including Christmas Eve. And we looked at Christmas lights. Plus I got into enjoy a family tradition - sleeping around the Christmas tree. 

I drove home the Sunday after Christmas, so I was home for New Year’s. I spent New Year’s Eve playing games with some friends who host monthly game days. It was a fun way to ring in the new year. 

November 2024 - Visiting Family for Thanksgiving

 Wow, it’s been a while. I really should post something besides puns, right?

I’m sure it’s no surprise that I went home for Thanksgiving. I mean, I always spend the holidays with my family. It was a smaller group this year since some of the extended family that often comes couldn’t make it for various reasons. 

But we had a great time with those who were there. The food was delicious and the games we played were fun. What else do you need for a great weekend?

Sadly, I had to come home the Sunday after Thanksgiving since I had to be back at work on Monday. It was fiscal year end. 

What was a surprise was that I pretty much had my condo decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving this year. I always say I’m going to do it, but I actually did it. Considering how busy things were when I got back between work and the rest of Christmas, I was so glad I got a jump on it. I’m not sure it would have happened had I waited for after Thanksgiving, but this way, I got to enjoy it for all of December. 

May 5th's Joke of the Week

 It’s hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take things literally.

April 14th's Joke of the Week

Innkeeper: The room is $15 a night.  It’s $5 if you make your own bed.

Guest: I’ll make my own bed.

Innkeeper: Good.  I’ll get you some nails and wood.

April 7th's Pun

For several years, the young magician insisted on a trap-door trick in every show he did.  He was just going through a stage.

April Fool's Day Pun

Restaurant reviews for the new diner on the moon claim the food is okay, but there’s no atmosphere.

March 17th's Pun

I didn’t want to believe that he was stealing from his job as a road worker.  But when I got home, all the signs were there.

March 8th's Pun

The rotation of the Earth really makes my day.

March 3rd's Pun

 I started a band called 999 Megabytes.  We haven’t gotten a gig yet.

February 10th's Pun

My cousin works at the paper factory where his responsibilities are twofold.

October 2024 - Canada and New England Cruise

In October, I was able to get on a cruise to Canada and New England.  It was a last minute thing, as in about 48 hours before I set sail I found out I got approved to go via a program we have at work.  Fortunately, I was already planning to take the week off but hadn't made any firm plans or reservations for the week.  It was still a scramble to get everything together in time and leave, but I did it.

The cruise was round trip from New York City, and my friend Rory, who has moved there, was able to join me for the cruise, which was a lot of fun.  It was nice to have someone to do things with and generally hang out with.

Unlike the cruise I had done in September of 2022, this was one more New England than Canada.  We only had one sea day, and we had two stops in Canada.  There were still come cross overs with the cruise I'd done before, but I saw enough new that I felt it was worth it.

One stop was Newport, Rhode Island.  I'd just started a series of historical mysteries set there, so I really enjoyed getting to visit the area.  I visited with an author I like when we stopped in Portland, Maine, as well.  Other stops were Boston, St. John's Bay, and Hallifax, the last two being in Canada.  It was really foggy the day we were in Hallifax.  Like barely seeing anything in front of you until afternoon.  But that was the worst weather we had, which is pretty remarkable.

And yes, we saw fall foliage.  It took getting in Canada to really see it, but it was nice.  Nothing like the pictures you see out in the country, but still, there were some beautiful trees.

I left late the day we came back, which gave us some time to hang out in New York City.  We went to the 9/11 memorial and stopped by The Mystery Bookstore.

I was very sad when it was time to head to the airport and fly home.  It was a much needed and enjoyable vacation.

September 2024 - Going Hybrid

 Sadly, September saw a change in my life I wasn't at all happy about.

After four and a half years of working from home, I had to go back into the office part time.  We are officially hybrid, which means we are only in the office Tuesday to Thursday.  But it is such a change.  I'm really struggling to figure out how to fit everything else in my life into my evenings.  Something I didn't really struggle with before.

We have some flexibility in our hours, which is wonderful.  But with when I get home, it means I am missing about an hour out of my evening.  That's a hard change for me.

But the thing that doesn't make any sense to me is that not everyone is back in the office.  There are entire departments that are working from home still, I'm guessing due to space.  Plus, those who have moved out of the area since March of 2020 or been hired in other areas when we were told we were all going to be fully remote that aren't having to come in.  I get that last group - those who were promised they wouldn't have to move.  I'm glad they aren't being forced to move now.  But I do feel like we were lied to.  But for those who are still in the area but not having to come back to the office?  Yeah, it infuriates me.  Especially since all of our meetings are still over Teams.

But I am thankful that we still get to work from home two days a week.  They are by far my favorite work days.  I know most companies are requiring everyone back into the office five days a week, so I'm sure that is coming at some point.

August 2024 Part 2 - Visiting Family

 In the middle of August, I took off again and headed to northern California to visit my family.  My parents had just gotten back from an extended trip, so it was great to spend time with them and hear about all the fun they'd had.

But the main reason I headed up was Saturday.  I joined my brother and his family at Great America.  This is a theme park that I went to once as a kid, long before I was big enough to enjoy coasters.  So it's been a couple of decades.  I hadn't done coasters much in the last few years, so this was a lot of fun.  I'm discovering that I'm not quite as big on coasters as I used to be.  Sadly, I think it's an age thing.  But I did have fun that day, and it lead me to getting a pass for Six Flags Magic Mountain again.

Anyway, we also spent a little time in the water park attached to the theme park that day.

My family was used to going on weekdays, so going on a weekend meant the crowds were a little bigger than they were used to, but we still managed to hit most of the big rides.

Then Sunday, I was able to go to church with my entire family before heading back south again.

It was a great visit.

August 2024 Part 1- Visiting a Friend

The beginning of August, I went to central California to visit a good friend of mine.  Originally, it was going to be for a week with me working from his place during the week, but that wound up being cut down to about four days.  Still, it was a great visit.

Saturday, we played ultimate Frisbee and then hosted a game night for his friends.  Many of them the same, which helped me since I am bad with names.

Sunday, we went tubbing, which I really enjoyed.  The tube I was using leaked, which was funny, but I made it to the end.  I also got a bad sunburn, but it was a small price to pay.

Monday, I worked, and then we finished up a TV show we'd been watching together.

Tuesday, right after work, I headed home.

Seriously, it was a great visit.  I wish I got to see him more often.