Intermission. So it's not a poetry night, but reading short stories. Tonights theme: Food Fictions. Read by Michael Tucker, Jill Eikenberry, & Isaiah Sheffer. Very entertaing. But now I'm hungry again. I'm thinking I might need to subscribe to this lecture series.

I have way too much veggie quesadilla, omnis. Lemme see if I can fit half in this little slot on the computer and send it to you.

Many strong health vibes towards Aims' mom.

I'm one of the freaks who knows that Toyotas score so high but I've never liked their interior designs and am not partial to their ergonomics.

Oh, yeah, you and me both.

I *love* the Civic (better visibility than the Accord, wonderful to drive, and the new Leather Seat model offers the one thing I wish ours had--seat warmers). I was going to get a Fit (zippy! fun! cute!) until we drove the Civic.

DH was going to make diner, but one of his teenage guitar friends stopped by on advice for buying a new guitar - and I was working on my newbery medal class - and now I'm starving. Pass that quesadilla.

Pass that quesadilla

It's not fitting in the little slot. Hmm... lemme try the fax machine.

Thanks for all of the ~~ma, guys. So far, everything is pointing away from any type of cardiac episode, but they kept her overnight after the pain came back. My mom suspects maybe an ulcer or acid reflux because the pain came back after she drank water after a pretty long time of not having anything. And, it turns out she's been having these pains for about a week. Grrrrr.

I'm home and exhausted both emotionally and physically. Thank you guys so much for all the thoughts and vibes going out to me and my mom. It felt good knowing we had so many people in our corner.

What a relief. Ulcer over a heart attack any day.

Totally.

Lots of ~~~ma to the Miracleborns and extended family.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I have had a marvelous day - shoot, a marvelous weekend.

Friday I flew to SF, had lunch with an old co-worker, visited my old office, bummed around Alameda, bought all kinds of treats at TJ's and went to my Dad's for dinner. Once at my Dad's I got my present from him - 3 tickets to see Wicked. That night. Which happened to be opening night. OMG!!!!!!!

SO. MUCH. FUN. I am still in the Wicked afterglow.

Saturday K-Bug took me up to her school and showed me around the dorms, introducing me to some of her friends. Then it was off to North Beach for sushi and rampaging. Juliana - someone asked me which bars we hit and I couldn't even remember the names, let alone how many we visited.

Sunday was a FUN motorcycle ride along the Embarcadero to meet up with more Buffistas and K-Bug for brunch. Someone there asked me what I missed most about living in the Bay Area and it really is the people. I am loving life in Colorado, but I miss my peeps. K-Bug and I shopped in the afternoon and then had nummy Chinese food with Hec, JZ and a sick Matilda.

I flew home today and have pretty much been a bum. It was great splitting my B-day between CA and CO.

That's good news about your mom, Aims!

I was going to say that we have one of the CR annual report books floating around our place and it's yours for the asking, but it sounds like you've already got everything you need off their website.

I might still ask you for some info later. The website is mostly subscriber-only.

P-C, I know you don't want to buy the car that everyone has, but there *is* a reason that everyone has Camrys -- they really do last forEVER.

Unless, of course, you don't want to keep a car forever; I know plenty of people who prefer to have a new(er) car every 3-4 years.

Yeah, I know. And I do want to keep this car forever. But the Camry is not very fun. I want my car to make me feel better about myself. Heh.

I'm one of the freaks who knows that Toyotas score so high but I've never liked their interior designs and am not partial to their ergonomics.

Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled with the interior design. The steering audio controls were terribly awkward; I can't imagine why you would design them like that.

So I just test drove the Altima, the Mazda6, and the Malibu. Despite the hype and some cool features, I think I'm crossing the Malibu off the list because the salesman was irritating. And the steering wheel didn't feel right in my hands. And my legroom was limited. I don't know, I just wasn't feeling it.

Especially after the Altima and Mazda6, which were really cool. Very sporty interiors, easy-to-use dials, etc. Very comfortable seats. I liked them both, though I'm leaning toward the Mazda6 a little more if only for the steering audio controls. And the way it brakes—I've discovered that some cars have really high brake sensitivity, which I'm not used to. It's hard to brake smoothly when just tapping the pedal causes a big jerk. The Mazda6 also appears to have a ridiculous amount of legroom in the back. I think it's also cheaper than the Altima. I'm concerned that it didn't make the CR Top 25 list, but it's still highly rated most other places. The salesman was really nice, too. I know I shouldn't let that affect my decision, but it's part of the car-buying experience. It leaves me with a more positive impression of the car. The Altima guy was also nice, very informative. The Malibu guy was off-putting.