Today was a "social" day.  We meet Pat and Eleanor at Cafe Fannie in Berkeley.  Outside seating, next to Acme Bakery, We shared two orders of poached eggs and prosciutto.  (I cannot believe what just happened.  I just spent almost 2 hours updating this post, when I clicked on "done" there was an "error on the page" and I lost the whole damn thing!)  I'm pissed!  And distraught!  Ah well I guess I'll just starting copying to a clipboard in the future.  What a bummer!  But I'll just shut up and type.

So here we go again.  The cafe was crowded, we snagged an outside corner table and waited for Pat and Eleanor who ran about 15 late.  I wished Eleanor a happy birthday as she was exiting the car, Pat had forgotten!  He was embarrassed. We had a nice visit, they are here from Hawaii for Pat's High School reunion and his annual Abalone diving adventure.  He brought us an Abalone, which we stored in a small ice chest.

They left around 11am to catch up with friends in Fremont and to catch an airplane to Southern CA where Pat will attend the reunion.  A very nice visit.

We then went to Richmond to attend a retirement party for a friend who has worked for the Social Security Adm for more than 30 years.  It was a pot luck buffet, good food.  I was the Chief of the Facilities Branch at this building in my last job with SSA.  The lights went out about 15 minutes after our arrival so I told a few people that I planned that for my return.  Actually it was a PG&E problem, some construction workers severed a line just outside the building.  It took about 20 minutes to get the lights back on.  The emergency generator had the emergency lighting on instantly.  I don't miss the place.  It's been a long time.  We did see a lot of people we both used to work with, that part was fun.  Many knew about the Oregon Coast Bike ride.  Brewer was at the party, so we talked biking.

We stayed at the party for about 2 hrs.  Parked on the street so had to get going as they ticket after 2 hrs.  No tickets, we stopped at WalMart on the way home to pick up a self inflating mattress for the camp cot, and an ironing board for me.  (I'm trying to save money and gas by doing my own shirts and slacks instead of taking them to the cleaners).  I can watch some instant view NetFlix while ironing.  I watch Dexter while doing shirts and slacks this afternoon.

Around 6:30 I decided to look up some Abalone recipes on the net, and then look at what Pat brought us.  Well he brought a live Abalone.  I've never dealt with a live Abalone.  One site said get a flexible fillet knife and cut under the Abalone as close to the shell as possible.  I did that and then managed to pull the critter out of the shell.  What the hell do I do now.  What is the black stuff?  What's that blue sack?  What about the hard outer skin?  All the instructions I could find talked about the "shoe" and other things I had no idea about.  So on the phone to our friend Jim in Arizona.  Jim is an avid diver and Abalone hunter.  He was happy to hear from me and to help me with this project.  I did some small steaks cut.  Jim also gave some excellent advise about the black stuff and the sack.  It's basically intestines which doesn't get eaten.  He said to freeze it until garbage day, otherwise it will reek.  So I now have to remember to take that yucky stuff out of the freezer on Monday.

OK that's about it.  We watched The Waltons (getting that from NetFlix we're still watching the first year).  Then off to bed around 10pm, to watch the Olympic diving competition.  Boy the young Chinese diver was super.  So was the Canadian!  Very exciting.

Not much going on today.  Rosemary went to her monthly Small Christian Community meeting this morning.  Then stopped off at Destinations Unlimited to take care of some last minute business for the Italy trip next month.

We're off to the Club tonight, going to the Italian Buffet Night.  Should be fun, we might sit out on the terrace if it isn't too breezy.

That's it.