There was frost on cars this morning - some had to scrape! But... this is California - it's not supposed to be cold! I'm still getting used to conditions in the North, where T says we sometimes see temperatures BELOW freezing!?

My god-daughter V rang me up - for Science class her assignment was to interview a scientist (or at least, somebody whose work is scienteefic), and so (ahem, ahem) I was put on the spot.

What's the funnest thing about your job? <1>

Using the elaborate hardware, and just being there, on-base.

What's the hardest part of your job?

Solving problems and working with difficult people And so forth, about a dozen questions, some pretty tough. For example, my fast answer to the "best thing about your current job" question ("easy to goof off") was obviously inappropriate so I had to come up with something else; even the euphemistic "lack of supervision" sounded wrong, and I can't recall what my actual, vague answer to that one was, now.

Weird phrase of the day, from "Whad'Ya Know": "Reptiles From the Seventh Level." It's quite nice having access to this radio show once again. Earlier in the morning I was listening to the Saturday morning soundtrack show on KFJC. Host Robert Emmett played the real music of a tune that's stayed with me for thirty years - I knew it from the "Stingray" program, that supermarionation show based underwater. Now the music has a name - it wasn't the main theme, as I thought, rather: "March Of The Oysters". I called him up to discuss that, and also "Panic In The Year Zero" vis-à-vis Y2K, since he played audio from previews for that film.

Later, off through the city, and over the bridge. C is here, staying with T up in Marin County during the weekend, until his official business trip begin Sunday evening. We'd made plans to go out for dinner, but a storm blew in so we stayed put and had tasty beef stew with great hunks of toasty sourdough bread. Much jolly talk of old times, including our days together in grade school. Then I drove home over the Golden Gate bridge. Occasional flooding slowed my City traversal, followed by the long, dark ride down the 280 freeway until I finally cruised through Los Altos and arrived home, exhausted.

Some final notes on my recent trip South:

• One glance at the Theme Building at LAX meant no interest in visiting "Encounter" this trip - the thing's covered with scaffolding, some heavy restoration happening with the exterior, spoiling the view from the new restaurant within.
• A depressing aspect about driving around LA was the shock at seeing new strip malls - not like the smaller mini-malls but bigger affairs "anchored" by large stores, like new supermarkets. The pace of rapid development continues in the Los Angeles basin - when will it end? How much is too much? I like how fast things change in LA; my annoyance is more with the excess - these new places seemed unnecessary. Must every boulevard be developed until they're all completely lined with stores?
• On my way back up here I stopped in Santa Barbara for the first time ever. Seemed quite a pleasant place, and a real eye-popper was their Mission - the thing was huge, like a fortress, and beautiful. It was the first one compelling enough to visit - perhaps next time.