Thanks, Everyone!

I have been overwhelmed with the messages of support following yesterday's entry, both on Funny the World and Airy Persiflage, plus those of you who wrote to me on Facebook or privately, by e-mail. It is so gratifying to discover that you all get it, where my angry respondant did not. All of your comments, as well as the stories that you have shared about your own aging parents, have made me feel so much better about all sorts of things. I very much appreciate your input!

We had an interesting evening last night. We drove to San Francisco to meet a friend for dinner. We were approaching Golden Gate Fields race track before getting to Berkeley, on our way to the bridge, when the radio we were listening to got the news of the big gas line explosion in San Bruno, near the San Francisco airport. At first nobody knew exactly what had happened. Some thought a gas station had exploded, some thought it might have been a plane crash. We could see the huge plume of smoke as we drove into the City,

though we didn't see the extent of the damage until we returned home and could watch the evening news. So far at least six confirmed dead, 50 homes destroyed and over 100 homes damaged, and the cause now known to be a gas line which exploded. Someone on the radio described the wall of flames as being as high as a skyscraper, with the fire department staging area half a mile away from the fire itself because it was too hot to get closer.

As for our dinner, it was delightful.

Dave is someone I first met on CompuServe many years ago, when computers were still powered by squirrels running in wheels. We were both members of the CompuServe Issues forum and participated in a host of interesting, maddening, frustrating and irritating discussions with people who held some pretty weird views.

I'm not sure if it was the first time I met him, but we were together in Washington, DC when Georgia Griffith, our then-boss on CompuServe, was being honored by the Smithsonian for her contribution to information technology for the handicapped.

The last time we saw each other was about four years ago when Dave and his new bride came to San Francisco and we had dinner at a Fisherman's Wharf restaurant.

Now he's in town to see his 97 year old ex-father-in-law and called to see about having dinner together. We went to Max's Cafe in the Union Square area and enjoyed sitting and talking about old times, and getting caught up on new times. Dave has always been one of the good guys.

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Today we went to Costco and bought a new TV. Yay! I can sleep again tonight.

Walt spent the afternoon getting it set up, to the consternation of the dogs, who were locked out until it was all working.

When everything was all set up and working again, and I let the dogs in, Buttercup, who had never been outside for that long before, collapsed and napped for a long time.

Oh, and BTW, while we were at Costco, I picked up Polly's Prozac, the medication Ashley hopes calms her down enough to allow her to let strangers handle her. According to the Costco Pharmacy, her name is now officially Polly K-9 Sykes.

All's right with the world again!