Getting back into my California grooves: had raw fish yesterday (first time in a month), and today I shopped at "Trader Joes" - from the well-stocked dried fruit & nut aisle, I selected a pound of hazelnuts. These I roast to perfection. In the past I've gone through phases where I fancied almonds, pecans, and macadamia nuts; now I like filberts best. My first visit into a Trader Joes was a true revelation, since pistachios were my nut at the time, and this was the first store I found which sold shelled pistachios - for some weird reason they're generally only sold in the shell in America, heavily salted and sometimes with the shells painted red. Since then I've learned easy pistachios can be had at the local Middle Eastern grocery store... I took the long way, driving through Palo Alto, to hit "Rick's Rather Rich" ice cream store today - he didn't have Pistachio just now, rather, Saffron Pistachio.

Holiday at work, Veterans Day, all government workers gone and most contractors, but not me. Only saw one other live person in the building, but I hid in my new tiny office, listening to the ambient backgrounds. One connection with the natural world outside - I could hear the wind. Except for same buzzing and faint pings from the fluorescent lights, there was nothing else - the phone and network jacks are still dead, so no computers were on, and no phones to use or ring - nothing to do but read. I'm in the middle of the wordy Under The Volcano by Malcom Lowry. Here's a sample:

"What's the good? Just sobering him up for a day or two's not going to help. Good God, if our civilization were to sober up for a couple of days it'd die of remorse on the third --"

"That's very helpful," Yvonne said. "Thank you."

The resident manager showed up at 5PM, parts in hand, expecting entry. I sent him away 'til tomorrow morning, or so he said. I've previously described to him three separate points where the plumbing needs attention; most troubling is the shower area leak, coming from a particularly ancient, creaky faucet, is apparently causing water damage to the walls - he's had WEEKS to deal with this, yet he hasn't shown up until today. At 5 PM. The problems aren't to be corrected by tightening a bolt, I'm sure... if this rant hasn't bored you, if in fact you'd like more of the same, it's available - this story's just repeating itself.