Dad

My sister was visiting with a high school friend who told her a story about my dad. Twenty-something years ago, the friend invited my dad to speak at her high school. She asked him to talk about being successful in business. He came, he spoke, she was thoroughly disappointed. She said with a smile, "We all wanted him to talk about making a lot of money. But all he talked about was INTEGRITY!" I think that's my dad all summed up. My sister isn't sure she's going to tell him that story. She isn't sure how he'd react. I hope she tells him.

Second dad story. Last night we were down at his house in Laguna and he was talking to Emily about a friend, Dan, who works at the D.C. zoo in the birds section. Dad said that he wanted my cousin, Jimmy, to bring his kids to the zoo for an insider tour of the bird area. Then he said, "They can see the pandas! Pandas are a type of bird, aren't they?" Emily started laughing hysterically, and said, "You're kidding, right?" And he said, "No"! Then he paused and said, "Oh. I meant penguins..." Which is even more hysterical - that after watching "March of the Penguins," he needed confirmation that the penguins were indeed birds. I love my dad.

Terror in London

Woke up slowly to NPR description of what was happening in London today. To paraphrase Dennis Prager, what desecrates a religion more - someone outside the religion stomping on a holy book, or someone inside the religion blowing up innocent people?

Today

Today is the day of my first post. Since it's after midnight, it's officially Claire's birthday. (And my sister's birthday as well! Happy bday Claire and P!) Claire went to the Video Games Show at the Hollywood Bowl with friends. She loved the music of Myst the best. I learned a new word, "cosplay", which is what Claire does when she dresses up in costume. I just didn't know there was a word for it. Emily got to meet Christian Bale at work, so that was a good day for her. She also had her picture taken with the Batmobile from the first Batman movie. I like the handprints on the side of the Batmobile. Rob and I went with friends to the Magic Castle and saw some outstanding magic. Everyone happy. I'm happy.