On occasion, I have somewhat of a sixth sense that kicks in; sometimes
when the phone rings I can predict who is making the call, or I can
guess what's on my wife's mind when she tries too much to hide some
Christmas purchase from me.  It is sort of like Spiderman's spidey
sense.  

Last Tuesday, my Spidey-sense went off in a restaurant. I had gone to
the restaurant with a woman, who is not my wife. As I walked in, I
thought, "I wonder if I met someone I know here: what they would think
of what they saw?" No sooner had I scanned the restaurant and
dismissed my premonition as silliness, I got tapped on the shoulder by
none other than my Pastor and his wife who were there for lunch with
another couple.  I quickly introduced Pastor and Julie saying "this is
*my boss* (with particular emphasis). My boss was in town from
Portland, Oregon, and this was a business lunch.  Most business
occasions would find me in a group, but this circumstance found only
she and me headed off to Bainbridges in between the schedule of
meetings.

On Thursday, my new computer arrived (without its speakers) and I
spent Friday evening setting it up.  My teenagers shuttled off to
other places: Emily to Jr. High retreat to play football in near-zero
weather conditions, and Jessica to ENC to visit with sister and
friends for the weekend.  That left Andrew home to help me set up the
computer and to get first crack at the new games on the muscle
machine.  I got to tell you, the graphics on this puppy are yet
another phenomenon of technological advance.

For you bit-heads out there, the new machine is a Compaq Presario
600MHZ machine, Athlon chip set with 200MHz bus speed, 128MB Ram, 16MB
3D accelerated video Ram, CD-ROM R/W, DVD-ROM, 56K modem, 19" monitor
with .25 dpi, and JBL speakers (not delivered yet). I have to exchange
my scanner for one that connects through a USB port, and I have to
find a cable to transfer much of my old system files to the new
system.

On Saturday evening, Joy and I spent the evening with the Hamlins and
Magnusons playing Toonerville Rook at the Lunn/Debow domicile, leaving
the boy home alone to give the computer a good work out.  It was a
much-needed respite from the pell mell pace we've been under.

Next week, Joy and I will be traveling to San Jose, finding a cheap
route through five airports (round trip).  Weather permitting us to
escape the east coast next Tuesday, I'll get some business in and see
some longtime friends (Nancy, and Rosita's family) while I'm out
there, including one of Joy's childhood buddies (Craig Carter) who
will be in San Jose from (Tacoma?), Washinginton.  Regardless of the
temperatures we'll have to endure in California, it will be better
than the sub-zero temps we've been having over the last week.  Stay
warm, folks!

Mark