9-16-06

First day of the weekend and quite a busy one. The weight was decent on the scales as I was about 161 lbs. Felt pretty good all day though the breathing was a little rough in the afternoon. Had a wonderful breakfast with the family and Jeff and Michelle. My father went big and we enjoyed french toast, bacon, potatoes, and a lovely assortment of fruit (I tried to steer clear of the empty vitamins). Beautiful morning on the patio. Eva always smiles when I comment that it is a really nice day. It happens so often in southern California but everytime I say it she says I sound surprised and pleased.

After breakfast, Eva and I went to Wayfarer's Chapel for our wedding planning meeting and minister's meeting. We have been sort of taking a casual attitude towards the wedding as we are already married but it seems like everything should come together. I guess it always works out one way or another. I feel extremely lucky that Eva is as practical a girl as she is. We mused that some American brides probably spend more time selecting flowers than we will spend planning the entire wedding. Other brides probably spend more money on flowers than we will spend on the entire wedding. To each his own. The minister was a very nice and interesting man. Much more progressive than I was expecting the minister to be. He was actually pretty analytical in his approach towards life and spirituality which was something of a refreshing look at religion. Something I found interesting was that he started his academic career as a mechanical engineer at Cal tech and actually had Linus Pauling teach a couple of his classes.

A few college friends had come down for the weekend and we met up after the chapel meetings. Tom and Coffee flew down from the bay area and John Burke drove up from San Diego. Of course Tom and Coffee picked flights that arrived during the few hours I couldn't pick them up but luckily John came through. How John made the trip up from SD in less than 5 hours this time I do not know. They did the beach, burrito, ice cream thing in Manhattan beach while Eva and I were busy and then we caught up a bit at the house. I convinced them I needed a bit of activity so we decided to take a walk down to the tide pools. We did not really check the tides before we left but it looked a little high when we got down there. After a couple minutes of debate, we decided to wade out through the shallows to the tide pools beyond. It was quite beautiful out there and we did see some sea life but draw seemed to be to see how far John and Coffee could go out on the rocks without getting swept away. John really did no take much convincing as the usual request was phrased something like "Hey John,I bet you can't make it all the way out there." Somehow Eva had predicted excitement upon our departure from the house, though I did not know I was going to enjoy it that much. We started to realize the tide was continuing to come in at about the time the lifeguards informed us of that very fact and waded back to dry land.

My father came through once again with an incredible BBQ dinner. Tri-tip, chicken quesidillas, vege quesidillas, fruit, bread, the works. Nothing like eating outside on a warm summer night. Various stories were exchanged and much to Coffee's dismay we all gathered round for a Phase 10 showdown. Eva and my father turned in early (probably not pleased by the progression of the game). Somehow John ended up getting wild cards in nearly every hand dealt. One time he went out with 4 wild cards. How were the rest of us supposed to compete with that. Tom figured his luck would eventually change and we continued through nearly al the phases still in amazement of John's card receiving ability. I came close to taking him down but he continued to phase out before me. In one final desperate attempt, we made up a final phase of 5 pairs. Tom dealt the cards, turned the top card so that John could begin play, of which a wild was revealed, and wouldn't you know, that wild enabled John to make the made-up phase in a single turn and even give a little "screw-you" to Tom as his discard card was a skip directed at Tom. We could not believe it and went to bed bitter (OK, not that bitter just disalusioned).

Live strong.
TN