AUSTIN, Texas, Mar. 9, 2005 — Yeah, Spring is getting serious. There is a funky little wind whipping but it's nice really. My dad calls and says he doesn't want to swim because he cut a finger and doesn't want it to get wet. I fool around and finally get up and fool around some more and finally go to the gym. I only do the recumbent bike but I ride for over fifty minutes. Then I come back, shower and FFP and I go to a lunch with Austin Film Festival leaders. They seem to be listening to our ideas like they had some cred. Go figure. What do we know?

When I get home, I call my dad. The refrigerator repairman has come by and finished. Hopefully, it's fixed. He's taking a nap. I go over there. My sister is buidling and painting some tiny thing from a kit she's discovered in my mother's things. We play some games until they go off to a church function. I go home. I feel great thinking about a evening at home, no obligations.

The evening drifts away, though. We snack, I read papers, we watch We Don't Live Here Anymore. We watch a Law and Order. I flip to an old Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward flick Paris Blues.

Yeah, it was surely a wasted evening. I looked over the schedule for SXSW film. I read papers, some of my book. I made a plate of nachos at some point and ate them with a bottle of Shiner Bock. Early enough to sleep.

My brother-in-law called us when he found no answer at Dad's while, I presume, they were still at church. We talked about Sarah's visit. He is concerned about her. And a bit worried that the success of her trip alone will prod her to do more of it, worrying him more although he's proud of her progress back to stable after setback on setback. He's a gem, my brother-in-law. You don't know about people until they are tested. He gave me the rundown on my niece's father-in-law. He had a heart attack, they couldn't revive him but he was an organ donor and so some parts were harvested and that took time and then he was cremated and services are Monday. He said he hadn't heard much from my niece, presumed she was spending a lot of time with her mother-in-law. And, I imagine, proving was again that she is a gem, too.