Category: Journal

The lawn is cut and squared away, and I confess a plain satisfaction in looking it over. Later I put 16.4 miles under the bike, an even, unremarkable ride of the best kind. The afternoon belonged to the Formula 1, and for once the order broke: McLaren first, Red Bull second, Mercedes third, with Lando…

A friend’s daughter turned four today, and the day was built around her. They took over a corner of the park, themed it after Beauty and the Beast, and went so far as to bring in a Belle in the flesh. The girl was overjoyed, which is the whole point of a thing like that.…

Liza asked for a slow day, and after a week that ran through jury duty, a car in the shop, and the usual demands of the house, I was glad to give her one. We watched The Dink and let the hours go unaccounted for. Some days are meant to be spent, not managed, and…

The car went back to the shop today, the same air conditioning that failed once before and was returned to me under a two-year warranty, only to quit again almost at once. This time the verdict was a bad resistor, replaced with Subaru parts; the dial that had given me nothing between Off and full…

Summoned for jury duty and, in the end, not seated. I confess I had hoped otherwise; there is a certain appeal to sitting in judgment of a matter, to being one of the twelve. Justice, it seems, will have to proceed without me for now. The remainder went to more terrestrial concerns: another appointment booked…

The day was spent at the courthouse, pre-screened for a jury and left to wait on whether I would be chosen to sit for a criminal trial. There is little I can set down here, and less I am at liberty to, until the matter is closed. The waiting itself is its own kind of…

Spain took Argentina 1-0 tonight, the goal Ferran’s, and it did not come until extra time. A tight, stubborn match that refused to break until the last stretch, when one clean strike settled it. There are nights when the game feels like it has lost its way, and then a single moment reminds you why…

Liza left for Los Angeles today, her grandmother’s ninetieth birthday. I stayed behind for a matter I judged more pressing, the World Cup third place match, though I concede the ranking of priorities may not survive scrutiny. England beat France six to four, a result the wider world has already declared the game of the…

Eight miles on the bike this morning, easy and unremarkable, which is its own kind of good. We tried the new Korean BBQ place out in East Chula Vista and it did not earn a return; some ventures simply don’t reward the effort, and this was one. The mochi afterward more than made up for…

Finished Warcraft: I today, a campaign carried to its end, and wasted no time laying siege to the Second. Sixteen miles on the bike besides, the roads to myself. When Liza left with Stephanie to find food, I chose to stay behind and assemble the garden hose instead, a small domestic errand I had put…