Sorry for not posting since Wednesday. The Internet access is still out at home, but the fine folks at The Phone Company (you know which one I mean . . . the one that allegedly got broken up some years ago but which is now, due to mergers and consolidations and who-knows-what, back as Ma XXX) assure me that, on Tuesday of next week, the magic switch will be flipped in the basement of the black cube building somewhere in Middle Earth (at some point between 8AM and 8PM), and we'll have Internet access again. Please note that all I wanted to do was get the billing switched from a company account to me personally. No equipment. No installation visit. No nothing. Just a billing change. One week. I kid you not.
The sad thing is that DH and I felt . . . isolated, trapped, stranded, cut off . . . without our Internet access! Yikes! That was definitely not a pleasant realization for us. But, after contemplating that state of affairs for a few moments, we did what any SiliValley folks would do -- yep, took ourselves out to the nearest free WiFi site (tonight, it's Peet's), where we can log on and once again get in touch with the Collective... er, cyberspace... (So, do we feel like part of the Borg? Just a teensy bit...)
Yesterday, we took The Daughter and The Boyfriend down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. DH and I had not been there since the kids were in middle school (and we were field trip parents). I recall it being wonderful, but it was truly spectacular! The drive down was fine, very little traffic (took a little over an hour), and we hit the front door of the Acquarium at 10AM. And thank goodness we did... The place got way crowded later on; when we left, at about 2PM, there was quite a line of folks, waiting to get in. The displays were fabulous, the amount of information absolutely wonderful, the overall quality just the highest. There are a couple of large glass walls in a couple of the areas, and you feel like you are in the ocean. (Given my intense fear of water -- someday I'll talk about me and the scuba issue -- it's as close as you can get without getting wet.)
I think my favorite part of all was the various displays of jellyfish.
They are unearthly creatures... floating in a dream of their own...
And there were so many different kinds!
Here's one that I particularly liked...
And there were strange things,
like this egg pod...
(See the flower-like thing
at the right...)
And, of course, gorgeous tropical fish...
(All these photos were taken using my little Sony Cyber-shot camera -- literally, I set the thing to "auto" and just started clicking away... I love this camera!)
Lots of walking, but well worth it. At about $25 per person, it's not cheap but you definitely get your money's worth. The place was packed. Lots of non-US folks there, which made me feel good. I love it when people from all over the world see some of the best the US has to offer.
And, as to other adventures, it's been great having The Daughter here. We miss her terribly. Today, we all went up to Alice's Restaurant (at the end of a long, winding mountain road) (DH took The Boyfriend in the Screaming Yellow race car, DD and I drove -- a lot more sedately -- in the Saab sedan), for a nice lunch. The SF Bay Area was at its best today -- the views of the Valley were pristine, the air was clear, the temperature was moderate, and all was well with the world. Except for a fatal motorcycle accident along the road -- very sad... Someone lost it going around a curve, and went over the side, into a nasty fall. The road drops off sharply, with anywhere from 3o to 100 feet straight down over the side. It sobered everyone on the road...
Other than that, I'm just still drifting along (like those jellyfish)... Thinking random thoughts of sewing, cleaning, cooking... reading trash novels! Many of the things I simply haven't had time to do for the past few years... I am feeling just the teensiest twinge of guilt, occasionally, but I'm fighting each and every one of those urges down...
Well, that's it from here. Tomorrow, I'm off to an all-day sewing workshop, then on Monday, DD and I are hitting the stores for a bit of competitive shopping, and who knows what else.
Cheers!
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