Whoa! I'm Worldwide!

I was gonna write about the Delta IV Heavy launch from a few days ago and signed into my blog.  I change or add things from time to time and thought that I'd change the 'wallpaper' on the main page.  Never remember how to do that so I just start clicking on things until I stumble into it.  Before I got there, I stumbled into a 'stats' page.  OMG!  I never knew I had 'Stats' until now.  I couldn't believe it.  I have people all over the world reading this blog.  To steal a line from John Denver, "Far Out!".  I mean, I mean, I'm sitting here on the Group W Bench, stunned.  It's kind of neat to see what devices (Nathan and his iPad) and what browsers people are using to read my blog but, from all over the world?  Russia?  Czech Republic?  Norway?  Brazil? Ooooo!  The Boys from Brazil are following me....  Below is a screen shot of my stats page.  Unbelievable, eh?  Cow lovers around the world follow me..... or crazy people do..... Should I be scared?
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Freecycle

There's a part of Yahoo.com that features a service to the community called "Freecycle".  If you have a Yahoo account, you can find it through them.  Freecycle is a bulletin board type of service where you can post items to give away free, keeping stuff from the landfill.  You can also 'request' an item.  This is how we found 'Cat'.  We've given and gotten stuff through Freecycle for years - it's a green solution both money-wise and landfill-wise.  Checking my e-mail tonight, I found the following (and hilarious) posting:

Offered is a bin of dinosaurs. I'd say at least 20. Various sizes.They've been
living in our front yard for some time. Been played with in the dirt, and grass
shoved down their throats. Just a heads up these will probably need to continue being outdoor toys.

If you have a Yahoo account, check it out.  If you are always low on funds and need something, check it out.  Sometimes, the postings make for a good laugh.......

The Book Signing

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A few weeks before Christmas I ordered Charlene a book by one of her favorite authors, Robert Crais.   The only problem was that it wasn't release at the time and wouldn't until January 11.   I told Charlene that her 'last' present would be delivered about the second week of January and I think she forgot.  I had ordered this book through my favorite store, Amazon.com and knew from past experience that it would be here on the release date so I did some research and found that the author would be in Santa Monica (about 70 miles as the road travels) on Tuesday for a 'reading' and signing.

Of course, I 'really' had to twist her arm to go to the signing/reading thing.  Charlene hates freeways so for the trip to the little bookstore in Santa Monica, we took the Pacific Coast Highway.  Normally a beautiful drive along the ocean, I found it extremely creepy dark at night.  The drive home was bright, fast creepy freeways.  At least I could see what was going to hit us......

The bookstore, "The Diesel Bookstore" is located in Santa Monica, right beside Brentwood.  The thought occurred that this is O.J. territory but then I remembered he lives in Florida now and I shouldn't worry about knife attacks.  Oh, wait, he now lives in a Nevada jail.  Cool.  The bookstore is located in an open air food court.  Three or four restaurants surrounding an open air court.  The center of the court has a huge screened-in outdoor gas fire pit.  Since it was very cool and sprinkling, the fire felt great. 

We decided to get some chow from one of the places, settling on a fish basket.  We skipped the baked potato menu.  Sitting by the fire, eating hot fries and Kelly-Style breaded fish.  Yummy and the fire felt so good.

Then, the author, Robert Crais came out to the court area and did some jokes, letters from readers and did a reading for us from his book.

He has a great sense of humor and a nice 'reading' voice.  All the while one of the restaurants was 'catering' this affair with all sorts of gourmet things.  All food was served on plates made from, uh, I guess, palm fronds.  Lightweight and strong and unique.  Very cool.

The food just kept coming and we were on the 'outside' of the crowd so we got served often, and plenty.  The servers would come in waves with something new every few minutes.  First there was gourmet crackers with some kind of crab meat stuff on top, then Deviled Eggs with a different filling than I'm used to (complete with Caviar on top), Butternut Squash Soup with mushrooms, Steak Tallot (to absolutely die for!), Mini sandwiches with a seafood meat, expensive cookies and meringue cookies.  Of course, gourmet coffee and teas from around the world.  Much as I'm not a seafood fan, I gobbled continually.  Worse than Thanksgiving.  It was so good and so free....

When the reading was over, it was into the bookstore to get Charlene's copy signed.  There was probably only 10 people ahead of her but it took almost an hour as Mr. Crais is very 'reader friendly' and talked about anything and everything with his fans.  I wandered throughout the tiny bookstore while Charlene talked to everyone in line including Mr. Crais's wife.  I've taken pics of some of the books that caught my eye:

Finally it was Charlene's turn.  This guy is very accessible, very approachable and very likable.  He's just very 'very', I guess.

He saw me with my camera and came out from behind the counter for a shot with Charlene.  Nice ending to our little sojourn.  In the background is still more food.......