Lots of stuff going on at Tony's office. Three new producers reporting to him, a few new games, the promise of a few more upcoming. He's traveling for two days next week and three the week after. Busy, busy, busy!

Plus, we're preparing to do a 10k cancer walk tomorrow with his family in Benicia. This is a very short distance for us and should be no big deal, except that we have to leave at seven in the morning and drive over an hour to get there. Driving is considerably less fun than walking! It'll be worth it, though.

It was heartbreaking. We strolled into the climbing gym, put on our shoes and harnesses, and ... all of our favorite routes were gone. Gone, gone, gone, and replaced with two insanely hard routes that we can't even look at without getting muscle cramps.

We knew it would happen -- they change routes all the time -- but, why ours?

Now we're scouting all the walls, finding new horizons to climb. Fairly successful, actually. There's some fun stuff to try. We're going back tonight to check it out.

We're back from LA. We flew there yesterday morning, had a very luxurious lunch at the restaurant on Hollywood & Vine, then saw the Lion King live show. Fourth row center. Phenomenal. Then we flew home. It was fun and decadent and far easier than we expected, and we even got a Bag o Swag (t-shirt, beach towel, that sort of thing) to commemorate the experience.

Today we must both get serious, though. MUCH work to do. He has games to ship, I have books to sell. No more time to play!

Eyelids puffed out so much they feel a half-inch thick. Not fun. I've always been allergic to pesticides but this is an all-time low. My choice today seems to be between ants in the kitchen and puffed-shut eyes.

Does anyone know where we can get a hypoallergenic, human-friendly ant killer?

Tony missed his flight to LA this morning, so he's on the road now to catch the next one. It's not a major disaster, but still no fun.

He'll be back tonight, though on Sunday we're BOTH flying to LA, just for the day, to see Lion King on Broadway. (Well, not on Broadway at the moment but still the same show.) Been wanting to see it for years & years, so now that it's on the West coast we got VIP tickets and are taking a day trip for the show. How decadant is that?

Yes, there are knees under all these bruises.

Climbed like crazy yesterday. I did my first 5.8 rated course (that's good for a shortie like me) and Tony did that same course for a second time. But, oh! That horrible course from last week! Continued attacking that wall, and this time it attacked back -- I am now a mess of bruises, scrapes and blood spots, and in the end I only got one hold higher than the first time. Took some pretty exciting falls, though.

We've been trying lots of new climbing routes at Planet Granite. Those walls get easier every time, at least until we tried the hardest route yet. Tony fell off four or five times and ultimately made it to the top; I wasn't so lucky. I attacked the wall. I bared my teeth at the wall. I leapt at the wall with wild conviction but so far it keeps tossing me on my rear.

Today is plumber-palooza. We're getting estimates for a massive plumber adventure, fixing just about every pipe in the house.

Not going to talk about 9/11. Not about the one-year anniversary of the attacks, and not about the two-year anniversary of losing my grandpa.

Also not going to talk about having the stomach flu. Or Tony having to get up at 4am tomorrow for an early flight to LA. Or the gash on the sole of my foot. Or even about spilling an entire container of dry oatmeal all over the kitchen.

No words today.

So, what the heck does 'Orange Alert' mean, anyway? It seems as though it means "we know something bad is going to happen but we don't know where." Is that it?

I don't know what came over us.

We went to our favorite Jewish restaurant (well, the only Jewish restaurant in town) for Rosh Hashanah dinner. 20 minute wait, no problem, we'll hang out in the lobby. Fine, right? But in the lobby is a framed letter that some woman sent to the restaurant, complaining about bad service. (She asked for matzo and the waiter didn't even know what it was, etc.) Beside her letter was a response from the owner, ridiculing her, being sarcastic, that sort of thing. No apology. No promises to improve. Superior and nasty and POSTED on the WALL.

So we pointed it out to the manager, said we found it offensive and degrading to that woman, and that we were leaving. He was shocked.

(Question of the day: now that we've made our point, can/should we ever go back? The letter was really offensive but that restaurant is the only place within a hundred miles we can get matzo ball soup.)

Went to see the Giants vs. the Diamondbacks last night. We were in the Tuscon airport last year on the day the Diamondbacks won the World Series, and all the hooting and rampaging fans have left us with a grudge against the Diamondbacks. As a result, we were particularly annoyed when they won last night. At least the company was good, and the food, and the Giants have three more chances to kick the Diamondbacks around the field.

Dragging through the week. Still wheezing. Went to the climbing gym anyway, climbed our regular course three times with no problem, then FELL OFF the next-harder course four times in a row. Luckily, Tony is good with the ropes so I didn't fall far. He's also good with the wall itself. He fell off once, but made it to the top.

To be fair, it's harder for us short people. I have to jump to reach the very first grip!

Went hiking with Jon & Rachel yesterday -- we went back to Huddart park, hiked up to an arts festival being held at Skyline, ate burgers, sampled some honey, looked at a two-inch wood carving of a toad selling for $1200, laughed like crazy, then hiked back down.

Would have been a flawless day except that my asthma is being atrocious. After the best non-wheezing summer I've had in years, ever since Vegas I just can't seem to breathe. I'm back on all my medicines, but nothing seems to help much. Very aggravating!