Nightglow Window

Gift Card Day

I'm back.

It's Saturday and the ocean is gorgeous this morning -- smooth and deep blue. Sydney is up with me at around 7:00 a.m. and we check out the surf. Stratus clouds with early morning halos of silver line the offshore horizon.

Last night the rain poured down, waking me from a sound sleep and leaving me feeling safe and relaxed in its steady roar. The intersections are full of mud this morning, so it must have been a gusher.

It's small but glassy and very clear. We can see all the way to La Jolla when we turn south down the beachfront no-cell-phone zone in Oceanside.

Later we run into Marny and Paul Bassett and their eight-month old son at Starbucks. It's been years since Paul worked at Transworld and it's good to see him.

At 11:00 a.m. we drop the girls off at a birthday party, head to Lou's Records, and then to Especial Norte for a bowl of Abundiga soup. I think they charged us wrong, because the bill was only 10 bucks. I leave a mammoth tip and slip out the door.

I pick up the girls and we drive up to Room & Board near South Coast plaza and finally get an end table with the gift card I received at my ten-year service party.

Then it's down to Laguna Beach to Tuvalu where I trade in two worn, half-forgotten gift cards for a candle holder and a vase. Finally spent those cards after nearly two years of carrying them around in my wallet.

We stop at Carl's Junior for dinner down by Cypress Shores in San Clemente (I get the salad) and thereby complete the day of eating out. Sheesh.

Anyway, we spot Sal Masakela in the parking lot as we're leaving and he comes over and says hi. He was a receptionist at TransWorld many, many moons ago before he got famous with his TV stuff. He's pretty chill.

Then this wildeye weirdo zooms over and starts pumping his hand, getting all creepy on him. I realize what a hassle it must be to be even a d-level tv personality. I was creeped out the the whole deal, but Sal seemed to take it in stride.

I know, I know: blah, blah. But it was a quiet day. We're going to the Miramar Air Show tomorrow, so that should at least be a tad more interesting.