Bookshelf:

Recently Reviewed:

• Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana
• Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game

Currently Reading:

• Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead

Next Up:

1. Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life
2. Alastair Reynolds, Redemption Ark
3. Howard V. Hendrix, Empty Cities of the Full Moon
4. Tony Daniel, Metaplanetary
5. Yogesh Chadha, Gandhi: A Life
6. Wil McCarthy, The Collapsium
7. Maxine McArthur, Time Past
8. Pat Cadigan, Synners
9. Margery Allingham, The Black Dudley Murder
10. L. E. Modesitt, Of Tangible Ghosts

A Visit from Dad

Wow, what a week it's been!

As I've been leading up to the last few entries, my Dad came to visit me for most of the past week. It's the first time since 1993, when he visited me in Madison, back when I was in grad school. And boy did we ever have a fun time!

I haven't talked much about my father in this journal - at his request. He didn't want details of himself on-line while he was still working. However, he retired last year and sent me an e-mail saying that the "ban" on writing about him had been lifted. I haven't had many opportunities to do so since then, though (I've only seen him once since, and we do live 3000 miles apart). Well, until now.

Dad arrived Thursday around noon, and I picked him up from the airport. I took the day off - every day through yesterday off, in fact - for his visit. Once he'd seen my house and we'd set him up in my study (he slept on the futon I have in there) I took him to Apple for lunch and a look around where I work. (The look around is a bit less interesting than it was a few years ago, now that they've taken away the mini museum near the cafeteria, and we no longer have the nifty banners of recent products we used to have around the courtyard. The latter's disappearance I can understand, but I don't know what happened to the museum.) I also introduced him to a number of cow-orkers, including John, whom he'd met in 1993 (I don't think either of them clearly remembered the other). Most of my cow-orkers said I wasn't supposed to be there that day. I told them I wasn't!

(By the way, I don't show anyone around Apple who isn't a friend, so if I don't know you, please don't ask. I occasionally get e-mail from people who read my journal asking if there are public tours of Apple, and/or if I could show them around. There aren't and I can't.)

After that trip, the weekend got really busy. A rundown of places we went:

1. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (Thursday).
2. Stanford University (Friday).
3. Moss Beach/Pacific Wildlife Refuge (Friday).
4. The Great Highway along the SF coastline (Friday).
5. The Golden Gate Bridge and the East Battery (Friday).
6. Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill (Friday).
7. Muir Woods (Saturday).
8. Ghirardelli Square (Saturday).
9. Past my old apartment in Campbell (Sunday).

10. The F line streetcar along The Embarcadero (Monday).
11. Alcatraz (Monday).
12. Union Square and Chinatown (Monday).
13. The Winchester Mystery House (Tuesday).
14. Miniature golfing (Tuesday).

A few notes on places I haven't been before:

I'd been to Coit Tower once with Debbi, but we didn't go to the top. It's not essential, but you do get a somewhat better view all around downtown. The aged elevator is also pretty cool.

I've been to Muir Woods before, but not in four years. It's still a breathtaking place to visit. Those old redwoods are huge, and even with all the people around, it's still quiet and peaceful. Unfortunately, they've started charging admission to the forest, though I'm sure the ambitious could hike over Mt. Tam to get to it.

Debbi joined us for the Saturday excursions. We had eaten so much on Friday we weren't up for eating a whole lot on Saturday, which I think was not what she'd expected; Dad and I were playing it by ear, mostly (which, actually, is how I play a lot of my life these days, it seems). But other than that I think she had a good time with us.

Alcatraz is quite a bit of fun. I've gotten conflicting reports from people about it, but it (perversely) interested me in much the way Disneyland did: It's a piece of history which you can visit and imagine what it was like back in the day. Disneyland, of course, is also an amusement park and also a going concern, whereas Alcatraz is a dead place (and a number of the buildings surrounding the cell block have been demolished or nearly fallen apart on their own), but it's still quite evocative. I suspect that several of the events in The Shawshank Redemption (or the Stephen King story on which it was based) were taken from Alcatraz and its history. The audio tour of the cell block is definitely worth doing: It's quite well done.

(Of course, I dressed figuring that it would be cold and windy and foggy in the middle of the Bay, but of course it was sunny and about 90 degrees. Gah!)

The Winchester Mystery House has also opened up another hall or two to visitors. Mainly, you can see the windows in some of the front rooms more closely now.

Oh, and I beat him in miniature golf, to, to be fair, I had my best game yet since I started playing again last year, and Dad hasn't played even once in over a decade. He probably did about as well as I did the first time I played last year (it's really easy to over-shoot those putts).

We went to a number of my usual eating joints, including Hobee's, Frankie, Johnny & Luigi Too!, and the Peninsula Creamery. We actually pigged out pretty effectively, and will both have to get in a bunch of exercise for the rest of the month.

I also took him around to several good bookstores in the area, including Bookbuyers and Know Knew Books. Dad bought several books he was looking for, and so did I. He says he thinks the used bookstores out here are much better than the ones around Boston, and these days I'm inclined to agree; many of the best used bookstores in the Boston area have gone out of business, and others - like Avenue Victor Hugo - have gone downhill quite a bit since my high school days (at least in their science fiction selection).

Sunday we had a day off, more-or-less: After some morning shopping, one of Dad's friends from college (!), named Bill, came by my house to meet us for the afternoon. I guess they haven't seen each other in over 20 years, since he lives on this coast (more-or-less). I hung out with them some, and spent some of the afternoon in my study taking care of bills and other little projects. It was a welcome break all around, I think. For dinner, I persuaded them to go to Su Hong in Menlo Park, which went over really well; Dad said he couldn't remember ever going to a Chinese restaurant that was that good!

We also spent plenty of time - mostly at night when we'd collapsed from sightseeing and food - just sitting around and talking, catching up and so forth. We still occasionally clash when we're each sure we're right in a difference of opinion ("You're both stubborn!" says Debbi), but otherwise we get along well.

And, fortunately, Dad didn't have any allergy problems with the cats. I think Newton was a little miffed at being shut out of the study all week, and Jefferson spent much of the week (it seemed) under my bed, but they made it through.

I took Dad to the airport this morning and he seems to have gotten off okay. After a half-day of work I bought my comics and came home and collapsed, basically. It's been a lot of fun, but also a lot of energy. Even Dad said that he's been busier this week than he ever is at home. But we both had a great time, and the vacation went really quickly, it seemed to me. And that's always a good sign.