They still haven't found the key.

Anyone surprised?

Tony is in Vancouver until tomorrow, so I am on my own. Writing, eating sushi with my sister Samantha (today's her birthday) and reading a climbing guide for Kilimanjaro. Our training officially begins on Friday. Scary!

So, the dimwit technician LOST our KEY. Specifically, he lost MY key. The owner and the other owner and the head technician and the parts manager are all sweeties, though, running all over looking for the key for us, promising to 'make it right'. Still no key, though. Maybe tomorrow.

AND the alarm remote is not fixed. After three days of looking at the old one, the knucklehead finally decided that maybe we might need a new remote, and THEN discovered that they don't have one in stock. Thursday. Maybe. We'll see.

Went to another Giants game. The food was great, but the Giants... well... they tried hard.

We brought the car in this morning because the alarm remote is broken, again. This time, it sets off the alarm whenever you try to arm it, and it refuses to unlock the doors when you try to disarm it. Very inconvenient. Of course, the idiot technician says he can't find anything wrong. So now are car is stuck there until Monday because the moron technician (see a theme here?) never called us back, and the dealership is closed on Sundays. GRRRR.

We both got new running shoes this morning and took a Jamba walk to try them out. Only four miles, but very hot. Wearing jeans was a lousy plan.

Until this year, every time we went to a Giants game, they lost. Every time. This year is the opposite, so we're especially glad we went last night.

Feeling blah and emptyheaded today. Don't feel like doing much besides eat lowfat popsicles and curl up with my book. Meanwhile, a terrifying number of things are not getting done. Photos. Walk log. Book revision. Bills. New art scan. Oh brother. I'd better log myself out of here and get moving.

Welcome to the Week of Baseball. We're going to games Wednesday night and then again on Friday. Go Giants! We need to root extra-hard to get the team to first place...

Visited the library today, and viola, found an article quoting ME in last Monday's newspaper. Tony posted a copy in the Walkathon section if you wanna check it out...

Went to the Menlo Park street fair, ate artichoke hearts and chicken skewers, then bought a gourd to put on the ledge over our bed. Then took our Very First Walk since the 3Day, walking a mile to the dog park to see the dog festival they're having today. Mistake. Toe is angry. Off feet for rest of weekend.

(Shouldn't be a probelm -- we rented a mile-high pile of games from Blockbuster last night.)

Turns out that we're not going to Morocco/Barcelona next week after all. The trip was cancelled at the semi-last minute by Tony's bosses' boss. We're disappointed but also somewhat relieved; we weren't ready for another adventure quite yet. Casablanca will still be there in the next month or so, after Tony's calf unknots and my black toenails stop throbbing.

Sorry the 3Day pictures aren't up yet. There are only so many pics I can process at once without getting a headache. Soon.

Busted toe is looking crooked. Had to turn down a paintball game this weekend because we suspected that sprinting, jumping, etc. would not be entirely healthy for it.

!! WE MADE IT !!

Much more difficult than we anticipated. Heat stroke one day, a windstorm and icy fog the next, blisters, salt depletion, the triage tent, sore feet, a cracked toe bone. But also the most amazing moments -- the first step. The top of 'Hell Hill' on Day 2. Arriving in camp and finding our tent already set up, thanks to Mom & Stephen -- our Pit Crew. Amazing, inspiring walkers we met. The San Francisco city limit sign. The first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge. The last few blocks, lined with masses of cheering people. The fact that we finally, at the very last moment, reached our $5000 goal.

Full report and photo album coming soon, but for now I am going back to sleep. Woke up on Monday morning with my lip inflamed like a sausage; the doctor says it is 'angioedema', an allergic reaction to something I ate. The treatment is massive doses of antihistimines, which knock me out. Yawn.

We need our cellphone for the 3Day, so I spent hours today searching for a battery. When I brought the phone to the Sprint PCS store, they took one look and said "Oh, but that's LAST YEAR'S model, we don't have parts for THAT." Neither did Radio Shack, Best Buy, the Good Guys, Fry's Electronics, or AT&T Wireless. I finally found one at a Cingular store. Guess where we'll be getting our next phone from?

Tomorrow is Day 0. We're checking in, watching the safety video, having our bags weighed, then going to the hotel for a massive pasta dinner to prepare us for Friday, the first day of the walk. Weather forecast: 97 degrees.

See you on the other side!

Packing is hard. Ziplock bags have taken over our house. Bitty ones for Cytomax powder -- four bags per person per day. Sandwich sized ones for first aid supplies, pistachios, wasabi peas, camera and camera supplies. Gallon sized for tent stakes and clips, flashlights/glowsticks, an extra tent fly. Two-gallon sized for shoes and also clothing -- one bag per person per day, plus a camp clothing bag. Extra bags for soaking our feet. Garbage bags to line our duffles. Bags are everywhere, we are stressed, we are snapping at each other and tearing our hair out.

Only Gabe is happy right now. He loves to lick plastic.

Went to the Redwood City parade and street fair for the 4th. Naturally, I fell down -- we were walking along the railroad tracks and I slipped on the gravel and ripped up my leg and hip. Of course. Anyway, in the evening we climbed onto the levee with my family and watched all the fireworks shows around the bay. Glorious, as always.

It is official -- in a few weeks we're heading to Casablanca, Morocco, then to Barcelona. Wow. I need to go shopping.

Tony has flown back to Canada until tomorrow night. I've been writing, watching NewsRadio, and visiting the running shoe store to beg for blister advice. They dissected my shoes and stuck two gel ovals under the insoles. They believe these will keep my toes from "collapsing together" after ten-fifteen miles. Feels like walking on squishy ping-pong balls, though, so I'm not sure.

(Guess why one foot has big toe problems and one has little toe problems! I've been *leaning* while I walk. Toward Tony. How romantic.)

Did a 12-mile walk on Saturday (still having blister problems, egad) and went to the Pride Parade on Sunday, the combination of which exhausted us. We have lost the power to do anything besides play video games and eat.

(The parade itself was fairly boring -- ten-minute waits from one group or float to the next -- but the atmosphere was awesome, with music, signs, dancing, costumes and a street fair. Lesson of the day: it is bad manners to call a man in drag 'sir'. Oops.)