My asthma has been getting worse for the past few weeks, and yesterday night we had another of those scary incidents where we go out walking and forget to bring an inhaler. D'oh! I was wheezing horribly by the time we got back home. Thus, I went to the doctor today and got another cortisone shot. Cortisone is NO fun but at least it will get me back in top condition!

I also got a new inhaler to try -- Advair. It looks like a spaceship and you inhale a powder instead of a spray. Anyone out there have any experience with this one?

Spent all day on the patio in the dangle chair, writing page after page after page by hand in my notebook. I don't usually write that way, of course, but this time it was heaven. Perfection. I love this book. I have tons of plans -- I will finally finish this one (Savage), revisit my Falls proposal, then start something new. I already have the outline. Taking the time off while Tony was unemployed was good for me -- I am recharged.

(I might even put some content in the Writing section of this site. Stay tuned.)

Training walk tonight. It's harder now that we're so busy, but essential not to slack off.

Tony took his first train commute this morning, probably the first of many. Ubi Soft is just a block or so away from the station at Pacific Bell Park, which makes for an easy trip and also makes it convenient for me to meet him there for night games. Not bad. Not as good as when he worked just down the street, but not bad.

Tony is home! We went to REI's big weekend sale and got some awesome new sleeping bags (info for gearheads: they're REI Sub Kilo bags, 700 fill down, Pertex shell, rated to 20 degrees, 2.2 pounds for Tony's, 1.8 pounds for mine because I got a shorter one) and a bunch of other gear that we'll need on the 3Day. Also trying to plan ahead for Kilimanjaro this winter (spring?) but it's tricky, because a $19 headlamp is fine for finding a portapotty in the dark but not fine for avoiding a cliff at 19000 feet.

Also a training walk today, but other than that just lazing around with the TiVo and the Playstation II.

Visited a sport doctor about my knee. Turns out that it isn't twisted after all -- it's a tendonitis problem (AGAIN) caused by overpronation (AGAIN) even though I wear motion-control shoes. Even though I only pronate a teeny bit, mile after mile it gradually yanks all the tendons out of shape. I can wear a sport brace in the short term, but in the long term I am probably doomed.

Well, doomed to even stiffer shoes, anyway. Yuck.

I would be getting better faster if the cat would stop yowling. Whenever Tony goes on a trip, Gabe perches on his pillow all night and cries. MROOOOOWWW. YYYYROOOOOWWW. MRRROOOOOWW. If I throw him out of the bedroom he sits at the door and whines even louder. Oh, my head.

Oh, this figures. I'm not in a daze, after all. I'm sick. Well, I have a headache and a mild fever, nothing so bad. But just to make things fun, throw in a twisted knee (been getting worse for the past week) that is now preventing me from using the stairs. Which would be fine except that the kitchen is down there. All I have up here is a bag of low-fat jerky, sardine flavored jelly bellies, and a water bottle I keep refilling in the sink.

And I'm not even kidding about the sardine flavored jelly bellies.

The wettest Bay to Breakers in over twenty years! But we finished nonetheless, 12K in just over two hours. (We were walking.) We saw costumes aplenty, countless naked runners and walkers, floats, bands, a tortilla toss, an HBO crew, and the amazing sight of 50,000 people streaming up the very steep hill on Post street. Then, amazingly, our very first Team Goodspear finish line accomplishment. I have photos, though rainwater got inside the lens early on and the pics are all somewhat blotchy.

We loved every minute, though we were not dressed for the rain or for the biting cold that arrived soon afterward. Needed to set the car heater to 85 degrees and guzzle several hot chocolates before my teeth stopped rattling.

Tony flew off to Los Angeles this morning for E3. Won't be back until Friday. It's so strange to have my playmate gone -- I admit I'm still in a bit of a daze.

Went to dinner at Trader Vic's -- we love all those tikis. Tony had a whirlwind day at Ubi, both getting oriented and getting ready for his trip to LA next week. (He's going to the E3 convention, and his schedule is already packed with meetings, demos, presentations, etc. Amazing, isn't it?)

Now we're on our way to San Francisco to pick up our race packets for the Bay to Breakers. There's a racers-only pasta feast tonight that we're hoping to check out; we'll stuff ourselves silly with carbs and be ready for major effort tomorrow.

It's Tony's first day, and he's at Ubi right now getting oriented and doing all the HR paperwork. I can't wait to take him out to dinner and hear all the details.

Crazy, crazy, crazy. Here are the updates:

Got the offer letter yesterday, and Tony will be officially starting at Ubi Soft tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. And he's flying to LA next Tuesday for the E3 convention.

Our cars are both broken. The last time they needed work at the same time was right around the Electronic Arts layoff. They seem to be able to sense change in the air, and break in response. That's okay, though -- we're used to it.

We're walking in the Bay to Breakers (www.baytobreakers.com) this weekend. No costumes. We'll be happy just to survive the heat, which is predicted to be extreme.

The gosses are huge and gray and beginning to resemble dinosaurs. I'm still taking pictures, just haven't had the time to process them all yet.

Phew. Just posted pictures from the Episode II premiere in the Photos section.

We saw Episode II today! The San Francisco premiere was awesome, just outrageously fun, with free In-N-Out burgers and news crews and goodie bags and celebrities and EPISODE II. Hayden was just perfect. The story was more subtle and much darker than Episode I, with hardly any Jar Jar at all.

Now we have tickets to see it again -- the very first showing on Thursday. And that seems SOOOO long from now.

(Yes, I took lots of pictures in the reception after the movie. They're in my to-do folder with the Boston trip and all the latest gos pics. Tomorrow!)

Thanks for all those crossed fingers. In the past few days:

-- Tony got a JOB OFFER! It's still just verbal, but we're expecting a formal offer letter next week. When that happens, we'll post all the juicy details.

-- We both MADE OUR MINIMUMS for the 3-Day! The minimum-shattering pledge came from our globe-hopping friend, Mike Latham. (Thanks, Mike!)

-- We got tickets to the San Francisco charity premiere of EPISODE II! This Sunday! Red carpet and all, with a reception after. It's being hosted by a great charity, so we didn't mind making the donation for the tickets. And we never would have gotten in except for a tip from another of our super-awesome sponsors, Clyde Grossman. (Thanks, Clyde!)

We have so much to be grateful for; we're paying back some of this awesome karma by volunteering for the Woodside Road Cleanup tomorrow. So if you live in the neighborhood and see orange-jumpsuited folks picking up garbage by the side of the road, it's probably us.

(Oh, and I haven't forgotten my promise to post something cool as thanks. Maybe not Tony's cute feet, but I'll think of something. I also have tons of new gos pictures and Boston pictures to get to as well.)

So. Some exciting contract work upcoming soon... maybe. An exciting job offer upcoming soon... maybe.

All you out there, please cross your fingers for us. We need positive karma this week. In return for your good wishes I will post a picture of Tony's cute feet. No? Okay, how about my feet? No? Well, I'll figure something out, anyway.

Okay, I lied. We didn't crawl back to bed, we crawled to the theater to see Spiderman.

Sorry for the lack of updates. We just got home from Boston last night. (Didn't post that we were leaving beforehand; we felt too paranoid about telling the universe that our house would be empty for five days.) We went for a surprise party, celebrating Tony's grandfather's 90th birthday. He sure was surprised! We also did lots of cool touristy things -- mostly on foot, of course.

...but now we're still groggy and time-zoned, our stomachs are barely recovering from that super-rich Boston food, and we're about ready to crawl back to bed. I'll post vacation pictures sometime later, after I've gotten more sleep.

Ran out of milk, so walked to Hobee's for breakfast; trying to break in the new shoes. OUCH.

Now we're excited because Free Scoop Night starts at Baskin Robbins in one hour. Don't forget to go get your free scoops tonight! Ice cream for everyone.