Thanks, Cass. I try not to idealize him beyond who he actually was, but "who he actually was" was an extraordinary person. (As we were leaving the memorial service, my dad turned to me and said, "I hope they [the people at the service] don't expect all of us to be John Pritchards!")

Back when I was in college, one of my dorm mates would startle you by telling you what she really cherished about you. It's something most of us just aren't in the habit of doing.

I have a friend who does that too! Now I try to do it more often.

It's history. It's mine.

Yeah, this. One good thing about this summer, in the midst of all the sadness, was the sense of being so fully involved with my family and our history: hearing all the stories, looking through old photo albums and scrapbooks. The best picture of my grandfather: sixteen years old, dressed in a suit and tie, on a family vacation through Yellowstone National Park, standing on tiptoe to feed a black bear!

TAR: sumi, I totally agree about the teams.

TAR: I thought this was a pretty crappy leg, overall. Badly structured, I mean. First off, what's up with the start times? I find it hard to believe they all made it in within an hours' time. And the challenges? The thirty miles difference in distance pretty much determined which bus you were on. Which, ok, that sometimes happens, but when the next challenge is a one-by-one where there's really no chance for any time to be lost or made-up, it's pretty crappy.

Next week - the race car thing? That's pretty fucked-up.

God I hope that odious Italian family goes out next time.

Jessica, on TAR, I completely agree, on both your comments.

I should do more of that.

See, I think that too. And yet, you know what? It's hard. It's hard to articulate, it's hard to just not come off as creepy! Kelly didn't do the generic "I appreciate you," she explained what it was about you that touched her. Hell, I can't quite remember what about me she said, but what I do recall is an overwhelming sense of value, care and love. And that's all that counts.

see you didn't think it was creepy. I don't think it would come off as creepy with people you are close with.

I think I totes just saw kat & lori on Ellen on Oxygen. They were getting down.

Having cherry tomatoes for dinner. Bob got this pint of cherry tomatoes from the greenmarket a couple weeks ago that tasted like berries, it was so good, and I've been trying to find cherry tomatoes that good ever since with no success.

One of the reasons I like my neighborhood: on the way home, I realized that I didn't have any food I wanted to eat, so I stopped to have sushi, and then I noticed it was dollar scoop night at baskin robbins, so I had some daiquiri ice.

Why can I never remember dollar scoop night?!?

Also, I have to say, I love the ads for New Jersey governor. They're pretty much all about the Republican candidate, with the Democrats saying, "No really, he's a REAL Republican!" and the Republicans saying, "Nah, not so much."

brenda, that last challenge the gravity- thing? That really made me think that this was going to be a non-elim leg, because with the buses and this -- there was no likely way for anyone to make-up any time.

The reason I'm online right now? I watched my tape of Supernatural and now I'm all freaked out and don't want to go to bed.