Dancing Queen

Oh, there you are.

Mama Mia!

There is no dearth of opportunity to connect with others parents, be it outside our apartment door or in the greater San Diego area. I never tried too terribly hard while living in Lanesboro, so I feel a bit amazed. A local, free magazine lists kid-friendly events and there are plenty that are free. We're signed up for two groups on meetup.com and an online network for UCSD graduate parents. We try to get to the Mesa parks at the times when most parents and kids are out, we go to library time when it doesn't land during nap time (and play at yet another park) and have been introduced to the church nursery. So, we show up. We talk. We play. We hope for connections that will last.

Go Cal!

The word on the UC information highway is that Cal should be used for all UC schools and Berkeley should be ashamed of themselves for assuming it only refers to them. I say Berkeley should be The Cal (because let's all admit that's what it is), just like the interstates, and everyone else can be Cal. I will refer to all things Californian as Cal because it's easier to type.

I love that Cal taxpayers fund interstate signs that say "Drive the speed limit. It saves fuel and lives." Thank you! Don't complain about high gas prices if you drive like you have money to burn!

I also appreciate that most Cal public green spaces are watered with recycled water. Sure, you shouldn't let your kids play there, should disinfect your hands if you come into contact with anything and should not steal the water to make your coffee (wait a minute....), but it's a smart idea for a wasteful practice.

Cafe Sabotage

The Weaver family cup of coffee has had a long evolution. It would make the most conservative coffee creationist believe in the 'missing drink', as it were. What we drink now looks, tastes, or acts like nothing we drank way back when. I've had myriad cups of gas station swill, family restaurant chasers with breakfast and even Uncle Bud's hazlenut-flavored water. But since arriving in California the origin of the coffee species has been written out of the cafe chalkboards. I will concede that the Evil Empire will produce a caffeinated iced coffee to send you into convulsions, thus forgetting the well-done BBQ hack job they call roasting, but I have yet to find anywhere else where paying for coffee merits enjoyment return on that hard-earned buck. Sorry, guys. Maybe it's something in the water.