In the good ol' summertime

Monique took this photo of a little buck eating dogbane on July 7. Summer is a good thing.

I was in San Jose last week for a productive but long business trip and an excellent reminder of how good it is working from home.

The best parts of the week were:

#4: Mild weather. The week before it'd been over 100 every day; the week I was there, it was mid-80's.

#3: Using the light rail instead of a rental car. Inexpensive, convenient, safe, and very handy. Can't wait until Seattle's opens in 2009.

#2: Seeing giant redwoods for the first time. They're freakishly big trees that grow like weeds. The Big Basin Redwood State Park has some biggies, and this page has a lot of good photos of trees we saw.

#1: Alaska Airlines customer service + my inveterate earliness = a nice long dinner with Monique in Seattle!

I was booked on the 5p flight from San Jose to Seattle, but got to the airport early enough to see the 3p beginning to board. I asked if there were seats available, and not only got on the flight, but got an aisle seat in an exit row... hello LEGROOM! It was a wonderful flight up, Monique picked me up at the airport, and we drove to Spiros in Kent, my favorite Greek restaurant in all of Seattle.

After a great meal, we went for a little walk. It was a totally un-hectic, good couple of hours together.

It's good to be home.