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Sat 25 May 2002
	The kids have participated in their first rave. This evening, on the way back from a bit of an Italian caffè dining experience, we noticed unexpected goings-on near the intersection of Castro and Market Streets. Castro was closed off, but with yellow tape, not the usual metal special-event barriers. Trance music could be heard a half-block away. Both Isaac and Lila loved the rhythm, and while the girls club stayed down in the MUNI station - where things were a bit quieter - the boys club went up to explore, and stayed to dance in the middle of the street. Isaac loved to dance, and he loved the ravers, and they took to having him there. Even handed him a flyer, inviting him (a three-year-old!) to an "all-ages rave". Gay Shame SF, a group disenchanted with the corporate flavor of the Gay Pride Parade, staged this event without mentioning it to the city. The police were quite gracious about it, letting it go on for an hour while traffic (and mass transit) were halted. And it was great fun for us. Today we celebrated the first annual Towel Day in memory of the recently-deceased Doug Adams. I'm at a loss for words; his works meant so much to me, my world view, and how I deal with much of life. I haven't much more to say than I've already said before. We spent a few hours at the Randall Museum. Isaac loves visiting the basement, home of the San Francisco Model Train Club. We go almost every Saturday. The highlight of my visit was being able to show museum visitors full-grown Walking Sticks, first a brown male and then a bright green female. Thanks, Quinn.
Tue 21 May 2002
	A bit of comic spammage sent to me by my sister Felicia: DEAR RECEIVER, You have just received a Zimbabwean virus. Since we are not so technologically advanced in Zimbabwe, this is a MANUAL virus. please delete all the files on your hard disk yourself and send this mail to everyone you know. Thank you very much for helping me. Yours, Zimbabwean hacker
Mon 20 May 2002
	What Isaac has been telling all callers (like great-grandmother just now): "I have two engines. One is yellow and one is red. The yellow one has one headlight and the other one has two headlights. The red one is faster than the yellow one. The red one has a smokestack; sometimes smoke comes out of it. The batteries are out of dead; Papa must put in new batteries. Good-bye."
Sun 19 May 2002
	Today was the annual running of the Bay to Breakers footrace, something I wrote about a long time ago. For the first time in many weeks it rained :-| and although it was a warm rain, it still was a bit of a bother. (When Isaac was six months old Rose brought him down to the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park for the apres-race celebrations.) This year we skipped the whole soggy affair. In the evening, as we were hauling our garden clippings to the curb for the green pickup we heard the sounds of a crowd in the Castro, so we hustled to the overlook from the Tropicana Peaks in time to see the forming of the AIDS Candlelight Vigil, the march from the Castro to Civic Center. The girls club went back home - Lila was overdue for sleep - and Isaac and I joined the precession. (I'm racking my brains; I think Isaac has participated in the last three years events. I remember one year, with Rose, making it to the Public Library with an Issac very bundled against the cold. I think we did another year with him. I'll ask her tomorrow.) We got our candle-in-a-cup just as the crowd started down Market Street. Isaac was sitting on my shoulders, piggyback, It was clear and warm as we started, as the sun was going down, but not too long thereafter we the warm rain started falling. I put Isaac's hood on his head, but he kept pushing it off, saying "I like the rain in my hair". As we got wetter I asked him whether we should jump on MUNI and head home, but he demurred, saying he liked the crowd. His favorite things were the candles and the many police motorcycles. I liked the Viet Nam-era protest songs. We were good and wet - but warm - as we reached Civic Center, but still he didn't want to leave, so we listened to some of the speeches and songs. Then we headed underground, taking MUNI back to Castro (Isaac charming a pleasant conductor), and having an evening dinner at Pasta Pomodoro while looking over the bustling kitchen.
Mon 13 May 2002
	Lila is nine months old today. Congratulations, little one. As long outside as you were inside. You're sitting up, speaking to us in sentences of babble, and amazing us with your manual dexterity, fondness for drinking glasses of water, and love of playing with your brother's trains. Isaac felt his first earthquake - actually a series of earthquakes - this evening. We were lying in bed at 22:00, reading stories, when the cottage began rumbling. (I tell folks who have never felt an earthquake that they'll first think it's a big truck driving by.) A few seconds later we felt a much sharper motion. And then it was all over. I explained what had happened, and reminded Isaac of an tectonics exhibit at the nearby Randall Museum. Checking the 'net I see that it had a preliminary magnitude of 5.2, was centered 3 miles southwest of Gilroy, outside San Jose, caused a low rumbling which seemed to last for several seconds and get stronger as it went along, and could be heard in Watsonville, about 100 miles to the south. The USGS said weak to light trembling was felt for almost 200 miles north to south, from Carmel on the Pacific Coast up to Guerneville, a small town along the Russian River 148 miles north of the quake's epicenter. A shock was also felt about 80 miles east in Merced. The quake was immediately followed by four earthquakes centered in the same area with magnitudes ranging from 1.4 to 2.5. (By comparison, the Loma Prieta 1989 'quake had a magnitude of 7.0 and lasted fifteen seconds.)
Thu 2 May 2002
	Last month I made mention of the fifth anniversary of the release of the Apple's since-abandoned Newton MessagePad 2000. Since then I've been spending a bit of time with mine, which - by the way - is affectionately nicknamed El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (The Ingenious Knight Don Quixote of la Mancha). (Tilting at windmills, indeed :-) I'll say it again: Newton technology was incredibly ahead of its time. The handwriting recognition on the 2x00 series is near foolproof. And it's a real computer, not an appliance (as are most of the PDAs available today).