Last week into this

I'm recovered (I think) from the frenetic activity and corresponding lack of sleep I incurred beginning last Friday evening. The Double Century rider check-in began then, followed closely (and way too soon) by the rider check-in that began at 4:30 a.-of-the-m. on Saturday, then monitoring the action on the course, helping Robin, the director, with whatever needed doing all day long, greeting the thank-god-you're-finally-here riders at 1:30 a.m. (that would be Sunday, folks), and at last getting to bed at 3.

Arising refreshed (NOT!) at 7 Sunday morning, I got myself to the Amtrak station and onto the 9:25 train for Richmond, then caught BART to Berkeley to attend a picnic for my friend Nora, who was receiving her PhD that afternoon. Nora, bless her, still had access to her office on campus and took pity on me, letting me in to zone out for about 40 minutes on the couch, after which I got myself up and back to the BART station, catching the train to SF, then on Muni, down to the ballpark for a 5:05 Giants game against the Mets.

Some anxious-making moments occurred: It was Tim Lincecum bobblehead day, and the game was sold out. Rumors ran wild that since only 20,000 bobbleheads were available, all of them had been given out AND I WOULDN'T GET ONE. Oh, well, I thought, at least I'll see the game. But hooray! When I got to the Willie Mays Gate, the ballpark crew were tearing open carton upon carton of Timmy bobbleheads and handing them out to the throngs pouring through the turnstiles. Score!

Tim "The Franchise" Lincecum

(Some folks didn't get 'em, though, including Heather Hafleigh, a fellow Giants fan I met on BART and with whom I exchanged e-mail addresses. She's a photographer who has spent the last 18 years documenting contemporary ranchers, horsemen and craftsmen in California who are carrying on the Vaquero tradition. Nice work; you can see some of it here.)

Finally made it into the ballyard and found Gishi, who had actually ridden the 200 miles of the DC on Saturday. Grabbed a couple of Stellas, a couple of dogs, and got to our seats. Watched Matt Cain pitch a beauty, and the Giants managed to score some runs to back him up and give us a win, thus avoiding a four-game sweep by the Mets. Home by 10 p.m. via BART and Gishi's car.

Monday I scarcely recall. On Tuesday, I was again up early (though not as early as on Saturday) so I could be at my precinct by 6:30 to be a poll worker for the special election. Our precinct had a total of 256 voters—puny beyond paltry by ordinary election standards, but for this one, we were waaay out ahead of all other Davis precincts, not to mention the rest of the county.

Yesterday, I rearranged the living room furniture, so I could put The Perfect Chair in the spot I originally had intended it to be. The new arrangement opens the room up and gives me much more light on The Chair during daylight hours. It's also the perfect venue for TV watching, and unblocks Phil's painting from behind the table lamp. See for yourself: