I was in the middle of writing this post a few minutes ago, needed to check something else, and accidentally closed my web browser. So all the absolutely wonderful prose, well written and succulent, is gone. I get to do it all over again!

I am headed home to Colorado Springs later this afternoon. It’s going to be good to be back home. I’ve been in California since August 3rd (11 days) which is way too long. Actually the real issues are where to eat and what to do at night and on the weekends. Last Saturday I slept in and then went to the Oakland Temple for the afternoon where I did two endowment sessions and a sealing session. On Sunday I went to church in the morning and then took a drive up into the hills on Sunday afternoon.

Church was interesting. I arrived at the building, which is quite near the hotel, a little before 9 a.m. to find that meetings didn’t start until 9:45 a.m. There are two English-speaking Wards, two Spanish-speaking Branches, and a Vietnamese-speaking Branch meeting in the building. The 9:45 meeting time is to accomodate the need for classrooms in the building. The Ward I attended met in the Cultural Hall for their Sacrament meeting while a Spanish-speaking branch was meeting in the Chapel. Must be an interesting Stake issue dealing with all the languages!

There aren’t many places to eat dinner, particularly when I’m by myself. The tendency is to go through McDonald’s drive through…. I’ve eaten at the Macaroni Grill, Matsuyamas, Fujisan Sushi, Hometown Buffet, and a couple of times at Applebies. That’s pretty much the available places, other than McDonald’s and Taco Bell. I’m right ready to get home for some of Nina’s home cooking.

It has been good to meet with my folks out here. Face-to-face is occasionally very valuable. This is the first trip here since February. I’ll probably make trips back out:

Sept 8-12

Sept 29-Oct 3

Oct 27-31

Nov 17-21

Dec 8-12

I’ll also be making a trip to Dell in Dallas, Texas in early October and may make a trip to Phoenix to visit a BlueStar Data Center. With all of these trips, I should get enough segments in to at least maintain Elite status for another year on United. I like the ability to get priority boarding and access to the seats near the front of the plane. So, it’s now time to shut everything down and head to the airport. I’m outta here!