AUSTIN, Texas, August 19, 2005 — What do I care if it's Friday or not? I really don't, of course. I just get up as usual. It's not that late really. Not much after seven. But I spend until after ten answering email, talking to my Dad, posting my journal, reading comments from imdb.com about the movie we saw last night, putting social events on our calendar, working on a design for gifts for people when I go to Cape Town. Soon it's ten. I get another cup of coffee. FFP left for the club some time ago. He'll probably get home before I get over there, I think. But, then I get an email from him and realize he is upstairs. Did he already go and come back? Why do I spend the first few

hours of my day "doing nothing?" Is it really doing nothing to read stuff on the computer, write? Well, nothing especially useful anyway. So, yeah he made his trip to the gym while I was goofing off. We get into a discussion of that movie last night and how Tim Treadwell reminds him of the father in Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, the SIPS on Amazon books and other meaningless things. Have I mentioned that the WEB is either my downfall or the perfect foil to my attention deficit? It so encourages paying attention to something for thirty seconds and moving on.

I get to the gym around 11:30. All I do is a long bike ride. I would have lifted weights but I'm suddenly hungry. When I get home, though, I fool around at my computer a while and it is after one when get into the kitchen. I eat salad, leftover chicken enchiladas, some chips, generally get stuffed.

I fool around, take a shower, turn on a movie I'm reviewing for AFF. But I feel I should do something useful. I go up to FFP's office and sort through stock info and he logs into my 401K and I have statements spread around and we have three screens buzzing with numbers (and it fact my laptop is also remotely accessing my computer downstairs where I'm updating and looking up stuff there and keeping up with my email). To the casual observer it would appear that we are really getting the Preece/Ball financial house in order or else day trading. But actually we are just marveling at all the weird stuff. Like some innocent stock we bought a while back which has done fine but now spins a part of itself off and you have 47 shares of something that, come time to sell, you have to remember somehow where it came from. (I won't even talk about the nine cents in cash that showed up due to that transaction. The bookkeeper tries to balance the cash accounts and she has been very upset with the form of statements from the old broker. Maybe she will like the new one better although we will still have both so I guess she will just have that many more accounts to figure out. The broker who charges too much to trade gives us a better, grandfathered money market rate or something.) Or we marvel at how much this one broker charged us for trades before we switched. They were cheapest for our kind of trades when we first started doing business with them. Of course many years and a merger intervened. I look up dividends online and see if they jive with payments received. It is around five and I'm scratching my head over a preferred and common stock from the same company...one in one account and one in another. Once I get that sorted and realize they aren't the same I figure that is a good stopping place. I'm in command of my finances. Not.

So. I go downstairs. We are going out to dinner. But I've been going anround the house in pool shoes, shorts and a T-Shirt so I need to dress decently. I get some coffee and a little snack. I dress in black slacks and a nice enough shirt and decent shoes and brush my hair and brush my teeth. I flip on the movie I'm watching for AFF. It's weird which does not, alone, set it apart from the others. You never know what you will see.

Our friends come over and we head for Fino. For Austinites this is the old Granite Cafe location. Now run by Emmett and Lisa Fox (who run Asti). Insiders know that Emmett had some control over this space once before when he was executive chef for Reed Clemons of Mezzaluna fame. There is no more Mezzaluna. The north one long ago yielded to Reed's. The downtown one is being renovated as Capitol Bistro. Yes, with an 'o' like the building, not an 'a' like the city or money. At least according to Virginia Wood. But I digress trying to impress you that I know a lot about the restaurant scene in Austin. Ho hum.

This Fino place is hopping. We have a reservation for one of the alcove tables. These are hot, my friend. The hot table in a hot restaurant. Of course, you can sit outside, too, and given the weather be actually HOT. Emmett greets us on the way in. We order a 2001 Ridge Sonoma County Three Valleys that is delicious. And a couple of bottles of fancy smancy bottled water. We have apps. Fried goat cheese with honey and onion marmalade. Stuffed grape leaves with rice and pine nuts and a yogurt dill sauce. Little skewers of pork with sea salt. They had a name like pachintos but that wasn't it. Pork on a stick. All these apps tasted good. Simple but good. We ordered entrees. My duck was succulent and the braised fennel and thyme and orange sauce was good. I furtively mopped a little of the sauce with a piece of bread. FFP and our friend Sam had lamb. It was so hot they said they couldn't taste the meat. They ate it but they said it was too hot, really. It came on a skewer, too, only FFP said to remove the skewer before bringing it. He doesn't want to work for his food in a restaurant. Our friend Deb had trout, I think, a whole trout. It looked simple, sided with some green beans but she said it was good. She had them remove the head in the back. She doesn't like to look her food in the eye. I had a cheese plate for dessert. Nothing to complain about except they overdid the honey a little. Little figs and stuff were good. Everyone else liked their desserts, too. Several shell fish things were recommended to us but we avoided them becuase Deb is allergic. Next time.

The place is obviously the latest west Austin thing. And it was good, not too expensive and the wine was great. We'll be back I think. With a reservation. Might not order the lamb, though.

The reason for tonight's dinner was, you aren't going to believe this, my birthday! Well, mine and Deb's. We have the same birthday only I'm older. They bought me a beautiful glass and a little Wine Journal. Which I should immediately write in "2001 Ridge Sonoma County Three Valleys" followed by 'yum.' There is room for a cellar inventory. Ha. And a record of winery tours. Maybe. Each wine entry has a place for a label. Too much trouble to remove.

We head back to the house and go in so I can give Deb my present. Very heavy bookends with Eiffel towers on them. She likes them. We dream about Paris, she and I, birthday mates. I think bookends make a good present because, after all, who would I know and like who didn't have books? Too many books.

We go home. I try and fail to finish reading the papers that came today. I finish watching a movie for AFF. And then join the man and dog who have been sleeping behind me for a few minutes.

In looking through my old paper journals I notice that I spent a lot of time writing about diet, exercise and sort of 'to do' lists. In May of 1978, I weighed 148. I was trying to lose fifteen pounds by the end of the summer. I suspect I didn't succeed. I weigh more than 148 now (I wish I weighed 148) but I weigh less than I did when I retired. Back then I thought a good way to lose weight was to count calories and eat a limited amount of them a couple of days a week and fast one day a week. I'm more into exercising more these days. Munch munch. I have gained a bit less than a pound a year since high school. Adds up, though, doesn't it? Of course, what I've really done is flucuate between my high school weight and fifty pounds more. Not that I gain or loss fast. I don't. But enough about fat. Good night.