Nov. 11: I met Wolf and his friends, and Janet and Chris for breakfast at the Whitehouse. Spent most of the day at the beach playing volleyball and just hanign out - a fantastic afternoon! After the beach I rushed home and showered then headed out to a party at Wolf's. It was pretty mellow - dinner (BBQ and some incredible curry), hot tub / pool, pool table - and a lot of talking and catching up with old friends. When most of the others went out to a club I called it a night.

Nov. 12: I helped with setting up for the celebration of my grandma's life. Well, I did the windows. The memorial was really nice - there were a lot of people that I hadn't see in a long time. There were friends of my grandma's and neighbors from when my mom was growing up. Most important it was positive and mostly happy - though I still felt sad at times. My aunt did an incredible time on a slide show of old photos and some of my grandma's paintings.

Nov. 13: In the morning I walked down to the store and turned in six rolls of film to be developed (I think mostly from Malawi and Tanzania). I spent most of the day working on the computer and in the evening went up to the pool with Chris. Swimming felt great - for the first few laps - by the end of the (short) workout I was really hurting (only 2000 yards). Later, my friend Suzie called from Australia to report a siting of my car in Melbourne and to say hi.

Nov. 14: Picked up the photos I'd turned in yesterday. They included photos from Australia, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Tanzania and Malawi. As usual I was a little dissappointed in them. It wasn't until I was showing them to people later that I realized some of them were really cool. In the evening Chris and I went for a run on the beach. It was one of the old lifeguard workouts - it wasn't fun - but the memories were good. On the way off the beach we even ran into the lifeguard patrol and got to talk about the old days and get caught up on the local news.

Nov. 15: Spent some time on the internet trying to figure out plane rates to India. Finally decided I couldn't make a reasonable plan without a guidebook, or at least a map in front of me. Questions like how long would a train from Bombay to Goa take were completely stumping me. I looked at Amazon's and Barnes and Nobles' web sites, but couldn't find anything that I could get in the next couple days, so I set out on a mission. I drove through the nearby communities of Aliso Viejo and El Torro looking for a guidebook for India (specifically I wanted the Footprint India Handbook). At Barnes and Nobel I found a couple, but there were all out of date except the Lonely Planet which Amy already has. So for the third time in a row I left a bookstore without spending a $100 (very rare for me). Back home I checked on the web again and found out that there is a new edition of the Footprint book due out this month - hence why no one is carrying it.

Spent the afternoon replacing the stereo in my car. It's gotten very flakey - it turns off so often that it was impossible to listen to. Luckily I'd sent the stereo from Australia home when I sold my car so I had a spare one to install. Ended up the day going swimming with Chris again. Once again it hurt a lot, but not quite as bad as last time.

Nov. 16: Spent the morning on the comuter. In the afternoon went for a run on the beach with Chris. I also picked up 7 rolls of film that had been developed. Covering Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Jordan, Tanzania, and Malawi. Coincendentally the same day I got my film back from Malawi I also got the package I sent from Nkhata Bay (Malawi) last August! Unfortunately one of the two chairs I had made has cracked, but I think it is fixable.

Nov. 17: Spent the morning starting to dig in to the piles of stuff that my mom has crammed downstairs - mostly stuff I sent home over the last several years. It was actually a lot of fun as I rediscovered all the treasures I'd collected. Met Chris in the evening to swim (2,600 yards this time), then made some phone calls up to friends in Seattle.

Nov. 18: Woke up earlier then I wanted by calls from Greg and then Chris, both making plans to meet down at the beach for a couple hours of volleyball. The beach was perfect - calm, sunny, and even warm! We ended up playing ball or hanging out for most of the day. Chris and Chanthu, Greg, Jim and Shannon, and TJ and friends showed up. Back at the house I showered, changed, and headed up to Chris and Chanthu's for pizza and movies with the same group. Somehow TJ talked me in to going with him to the White House for "one beer". Predictable, ended up being a late night.

Nov. 19: Slept in. Spent some time researching flights to India. January looks like a bad time to be leaving price wise... In the afternoon spent some more time cleaning up (i.e. exploring some of the many boxes that I've sent home over the last three years).

Nov. 20: Spent most of the day searching for flights to India. I finally found one that's not too expensive and also gets us a visit to Bangkok and Taipei. In the evening went swimming with Chris - it's starting to get easier, I wouldn't say it felt good, but it didn't hurt as much as it has!

Nov. 21: Finnished organizing and cleaning up my room and storage. I also did some more research on flights to India - found one that leaves a little earlier - January second. In the afternoon went for a run on the beach with Chris - the running is not getting any easier. I stayed up late sorting through the last fourteen months worth of photos - all 1,500+ of them!

Nov. 22: Met Chris a little after noon to swim. It was a beautfiul sunny day and I'd forgotten how nice it was to swim in the sun - but it still hurt. For old times sake afterwards we had lunch at Taco Bell. I left early to try to beat the day-before-Thanksgiving traffic - but it didn't work. It took me nearly four hours to get to Hollywood (it should have only taken one). I'd been hoping to get together with a couple friends, but by the time I got there it was too late to try and arrange anything, so I just hung out with my friednd Wendy. We went to an Ethiopian restaraunt for dinner (good, but nowhere near as good as Addis in Dar that Amy and I went in Tanzania)

Nov. 23: Some unexpected traffic meant that I got home right as the rest of the family was heading out to Linda's for thanksgiving dinner (lunch?). I took a quick shower, picket up some beer, and met them there. Great meal - and I managed to get through it without completely overeating.