Relaxing

Not too much to report these last few days except that I am happy to say that Sombra has finally emerged from hiding. Well, she IS underneath the dresser right now, but she has come out to say hello to everyone--even the kids--and regularly explores both the upstairs and downstairs. This morning she even wandered outside.

I took the kids to the San Jose Tech Museum a couple of days ago and they had fun showing me around. Most impressive was the computer program which allows each player to create a female or male character. The player chooses her/his character's appearance and then guides it to walk or fly through the landscape where it meets up with other players' characters. Each character can gesture and talk to the other characters. Reminds me of Tad Williams' Otherland series.

I also was impressed with the roller coaster exhibit. The kids first create their ride using a computer program choosing hill, corkscrew, or loop and determining whether the length and height will work. If not, the computer tells them to revise the ride. They could also choose the setting: desert, city or toyroom. When they were each finished designing the ride, they moved over to the the vehicle in front of a large screen, passed the barcode of their ticket over the reader, and enjoyed the ride. As a passenger of each of their rides, I can say: How Cool!

We finished up the afternoon with a bit of rock candy. Man, I haven't had rock candy in about 15 years. Pure sugar. How can you beat that?

Yesterday, I was able to watch the last 1/2 hour of the Tour. It is all a mystery to me this year as to who will grab the Yellow Jersey. I am relieved to still recognize a few of the names left in the race since Ullrich, Basso, and Beloki have said their goodbyes.

We finally made it out of the house around 3 pm and wandered over to a craft shop, Baskin & Robbins (mmmmm, can you say "Chocolate Chip Mint Milkshake"?), and Walgreens. Eventually we ended up at Soto's Japanese restaurant where we indulged in sushi and sashimi. It was the first time I saw a sushi train chugging around the sushi bar.

WARNING SPOILER.
This morning, I woke up early to grab a cup of coffee before I settled in to watch Stage 2 of the Tour. I am glad for George that he finally gets to wear the Maillot de Jaune, but poor Thor. Wonder what scraped against him? Still, I don't think it would've change the results even if he hadn't had that injury.

Today we head over to my niece's friend's to celebrate her birthday with a family BBQ. More food. Yum. I hear the hosts are Tour fans. Should be fun to talk to some fellow enthusiasts.