I made it back and everything is lovely here in L.A. The drive was not as bad as thought it would be. My girlfriend and I had planned to leave Seattle at sunrise of last Thursday which somehow morphed into 9am but we still made it to Central Cali by 9pm, due to me driving like a maniac. We could've continued into L.A. and arrived at about 1am, but we stopped and got a room to chill and eat. The Streets and Trips GPS unit was very helpful in finding a place to stop in the barren land between Northern and Southern Cal. An EEC customer I was working with in the lab, and had to leave prematurely, actually called me on the road to see how it was working so he could determine whether to get one from the MS Company Store while he was on campus in Redmond (and to say Thanks and Bye). I recommended it and hopefully he got it. I enjoyed just seeing the mountain sights and it was funny how hot it got as soon as we left the Puget Sound area.

   Once we made it into L.A. County the next day, of course with traffic, it took about over an hour to get into the heart of the city. And then I felt like a tourist even though I lived here '81-'04. First of all, I forgot how crazy L.A. drivers are since I've had to modify my style to avoid getting a new ticket per month and/or having a heart attack on the streets of Redmond. And Los Angeles is in a constant population boom so anytime you leave for 6 months, there are bound to be plenty of new things around when you return. And did I mention, it's pretty damn hot. But it feels great.

   Anyway, I arrived Friday and just kind of chilled with my family. Then on Saturday there was a birthday party for my 1 year-old-niece who is walking around and causing trouble everywhere now AND a wedding for my cousin. So I got lucky and between these 2 functions I got to see ALL my family who I haven't seen since X-mas within my first 24 hours of arriving in L.A.. It was a crazy, whirlwind weekend and I had to answer the 'How's Seattle?, How's Microsoft?' questions a thousand times. At the birthday party, whenever I was seen holding my niece I had to answer the 'So, when are you gonna have kids?' question and at the wedding it was 'So, when are you gonna get married?'. I probably told everyone something different. Anyway, now for some downtime. Today, I'm just doing things like going to Good Guys with my dad to get an SD card for his digital camera. He's tired of only being able to take 12 pictures. Then, tommorrow, I have to sit on this panel at the USC School of Engineering Summer Bridge Program and answer questions for parents of incoming freshman about what it will be like. Then there's a BBQ afterwards for mingling with the new kids which should be fun. Then I'm on a plane back to Seattle (which a brief layover in Vegas!).

Later,

Stan