Archives - Weekly Update

I am writing this note sitting on the curved windowseat in my room at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Outside I can see the hustle and bustle of the city, but here it's wonderfully quiet, save for the sound of the cable cars and the hum of the traffic. My sons, Greg and Cory, are out exploring the city while I work. I have seen the two blocks between here and the Romance Writers of America convention hotel; they have been all over town. Clearly all those hours of watching "Flipper" and learning how to be good brothers that I mentioned last week worked since "Sandy and Bud" have been having a grand old time together this week, with maybe one or two meltdowns.

I think if my summer has a theme song, “California, Here I Come” is going to be it. Yes folks, once again I am going to be racing my way over the amber waves of grain and purple mountains majesty to the left coast. I seriously think that if this keeps up, I am going to be sending holiday cards with a freeway return address, and Larry Kellner, the CEO of Continental Airlines, is going to be on my holiday card list. His face pops up on the monitor before the safety lecture that I seem to view once a week these days. Once again I am writing this newsletter on Wednesday as I know the end of the week is going to be hectic.

The other night, right before I left for Orlando, I learned that I had achieved “Silver Elite” frequent flyer status on Continental, which, given my non-stop travel this year, should come as no surprise. Yes, I danced a happy dance over that one, and then a true nirvana moment of any frequent traveler came through in email --- the complimentary upgrade to First Class. Hmmmm I wonder if they had read last week’s newsletter about my fear of Mickey ears and Shamu the whale in coach. I think I was out of the airport and into a taxi before the last row got off the plane. It is the little things that make me happy!

As readers of this newsletter know, I love to swim. Last Sunday night, as I was watching Dara Torres, the 41-year-old swimmer, set a record in the women's 50M freestyle, I wanted to hit the water and do laps with even more enthusiasm than usual. There have been stories in the press all week about Torres giving those of "her generation" someone to cheer for with a spirited reminder that age can be just a number.

I love fireworks. Always have. For me they are like art in the sky. Usually around the 4th I catch a special about them on television and I learn how the colors are created and how each firework is built, and I retain this very useful information for about three days. After that, I sink right back into just loving the colors and how they explode in different ways. So last Monday night I found myself sitting in a condo parking lot watching the evening display from Disneyland (okay, I know I said last week that I was skipping Disneyland, but this was OUTSIDE the park) exploding above my head. What amuses me is that there were car alarms going off all around me. And dogs were barking. Can you imagine this going on EVERY night instead of just once a year on the 4th? Last night I caught part of the exhibit again as I was driving back to the hotel, and again I was smiling ear to ear and commenting on the way the sky exploded in color, rating each one.