AUSTIN, Texas, June 18, 2005 — I was exchanging e-mails late last night and early this morning with a friend. She's single and working a billion hours a week at the moment. I was whining about freting about how I spent my time. The resulting advice from her (basically loosen up and enjoy) seemed like good advice. So I did. Although maybe a good workout was helpful, too. And alcohol. And caffeine.

Anyway, after I got up I was sort of goofing off but then I went to the gym. I did my fifty minutes on the recumbent bike which seems

standard now. I did a few static lunges and reverse bicep curls and side leg lifts and gave it up. I should do more, sure. But something is better than nothing. I went home, had a small serving of cereal and nonfat yogurt and around noon I was all showered up.

FFP and I went to Grape Vine Market. He'd bumped into Kathy Benzinger of the Benzinger Winery yesterday at lunch in a restaurant. She said she was conducting a tasting there. We wandered around, spoke with her, tasted her wines, ordered up a couple of cases for parties and tasted some French wines. We wandered around in the gourmet foods, tasting some out of sight goat cheese and finally getting them to make up a couple of sandwiches. We rushed home with the wine and the sandwiches and ate.

We had to get something for Father's Day. Half Price. I knew I'd find something so I just walked around looking at random stuff. I thought Dad might like a nature or biography book but they don't have those sections. In the old store I always seemed to find something on the 'featured' tables. Finally, wandering around 'Texana' and 'Americana' I found a book on the big 1900 hurricane that I thought he'd enjoy. Meanwhile, FFP had picked up some audio tapes for his Dad and some books on the American Revolution for himself. (I guess 1776 inspired this interest.) We stopped at CVS for a card for FFP's dad.

We came home. I made my dad's card using rubber cement and inkjet-printed pieces of paper with old family pictures. I sorted through the maps and stuff for the trip. I set up to record the UT baseball game.

We went to movies. Out at Westgate where we don't go that often. Met our friend and bookkeeper Gayle and we saw Cinderella Man. It was a good movie, I thought, with excellent performances but there was all that fighting. In boxing movies you have to watch all that violence. But, of course, the healing is much quicker in the movies. Russell Crowe's face constantly healed in the blink of an eye. Time heals all things and time passes quickly in the movies. Especially at the end when the unlikely champion's life through WWII and beyond is recapped in a few on screen paragraphs. The best thing about this movie is that it brings to life the depression in a pretty fascinating way. It is kind of a sappy, romantic movie but then the real story is kind of sappy and romantic.

After the movie we went out to Chili's across the way for a drink and a snack and to actually visit with Gayle. It was late when we headed home.

We watched the baseball game on fast forward and didn't get to sleep until midnight.