the best laid plans . . .

No pictures today. Not that kind of a day, really. For one thing, we were all on our own for most of it. I was teaching. Corey was working. And Brian was playing video games. All noble pursuits.

I picked up Brian in Berkeley, then we grabbed some dinner at "Askew" grill, kind of a chain restaurant that specializes in Shish Kebab. Tofu and Portabello mushrooms for me, some kind of animal flesh for Brian. Very tasty.

Then we met up with Corey at Barnes & Noble books in Berkeley for a book signing. A close friend of Corey's has just finished a memoir. It's called Will Work for Food or $, and it's by Bruce Moody.

When he was 60 years old, he lost his job and could not find work, so he decided to take up pan-handling. Bruce is an intensely spiritual man, and you can really feel it in his presence. He drifts between telling an ordinary story and handing each of us a polished diamond of wisdom. Really wonderful.

After the book signing, we headed up to the Berkeley hills to the Chabot Space & Science Center. Tonight was the big night for seeing Mars in the southeastern sky. We drove up the winding, treacherous road to the big observatory, only to find out two things:

1. They sold out of tickets early this morning.

2. The sky was shrouded in fog. No Mars tonight for us puny earthlings.

We did spot some freakish humans dressed to look like their favorite martians. That's something you only see once every 60,000 years, right?

So that was our night, sports fans. Check out Bruce's new book. You won't regret it.

Posted: Tue - August 26, 2003 at 11:45 PM

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the best laid plans . . .

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