Happily back in San Diego after a couple of days up the coast in Ventura.  The little roadtrip was planned back in September as a pre-Christmas shopping trip scheduled around a billable court appearance but ended up just being a rain-drenched driving nightmare sandwiching an otherwise successful little hearing.  

There was some anxiety about the scheduled trial, because the judge at our September settlement conference seemed skeptical of some of our legal arguments.  Even more anxiety when I showed up at the courthouse and found there were fifteen cases on our particular judge’s calendar for that afternoon, and began to worry if I had enough clean socks and undies to deal with a continuance.  Then when checking in the clerk let me know that because of the scheduling crunch we were being transferred to a different department down the hall.  The new judge, my new most favorite judge, loved our legal arguments, and the hearing was a breeze.  And easily the best part of the trip.

The rest of the trip was simply a rain-soaked disaster.  Most Californians simply can’t drive safely in the rain, and despite a major storm with high winds most Angelenos still seemed to be trying to navigate the highways with a cell phone in one hand and a latte in the other.  The 170 mile trip took 4 1/2 hours to make.  I lost count of the number of totalled cars on the sides of the highways, but loved the semi on the 5 in Los Angeles that managed to block all four southbound lanes after it hit the center divider.  Too bad the camera was in the trunk.  Fortunately his debris only blocked one of the northbound lanes I was using.  

Even walking around Ventura this morning there was snow visible on the nearby hillsides and I almost killed myself sliding on the frozen timbers of the Ventura Pier.  

This isn’t the way a trip up the California coast is supposed to go, even in December.  This wasn’t even Central California.  This is the weather I abandoned in DC and Idaho, and now it’s followed me here.  Maybe I should have tried for a restraining order while I was at the courthouse.

Wind and pouring rain in SoCal are turning Monday morning into a horrendous commute for many.  Spinner just called from the northbound 15 to let me know the southbound was at a standstill.  Not me though.  Putting on the metaphorical fuzzy slippers to go from the bedroom to the office, via the kitchen coffee pot, is still the extent of my commuting effort most mornings.  

Wednesday will be rougher though – 170 miles north by northwest for a trial in Ventura.  Probably in the second half of this same storm, which will nearly double the drive time.   And if that weren’t bad enough, there’s that whole putting-on-pants thing, which always tends to ruin the morning ambiance.  I kinda wish there was a way to teleappear for this thing, but I like Ventura too much.

Despite our inability to end the rain that’s ruining my week, we’re currently attempting to use our special powers to bring good to the household.  I’m using my power to bend time and space by blowing off work until tomorrow so I can catch a matinee of Jumper with Spinner.  Spinner’s super powers include miraculous recovery from diseases (the power is triggered by the hanging up of the phone, and a final, ceremonial, cough) and have allowed him to make thirty noisy children vanish. 

Although the rain’s continued existence mocks our special powers, it will reportedly bring 20-foot surf Sunday and Monday.  That’s a good thing.

Thinking about Tuesday.  This is awfully advanced planning for me, so bear with us.

It’s Election Day, so normally I’d have the flags up here on the site.  Since I’ll be working at one of the polling stations, I had planned on wearing something from the office casual genre.

But then I realized Tuesday is also Mardi Gras this year.  Fat Tuesday 2008.  Howling Point needs bright colors and teases of flesh.  Chuckie needs to wear beads.

Hmmm.  How to balance this.  Now I’ve got something to think about while the rain washes away my hopes for a good weekend.

Good weekend including the Cirque du Soleil Corteo show here in San Diego and a great breakfast with an old friend. 

Lousy Monday with a lot of rain and a router upgrade that’s fighting back.  Even though the symptoms don’t make any sense to me, the common denominator in all our recent internet problems seems to be the wireless router, upgrading the software seems to have made things worse, and replacement looks to be cheaper than having someone come by to confirm the diagnosis.

It’s raining here.

The rain’s been coming down hard since at least 2:30 this morning, the first time the rumbling woke me up.  At least the herbs are getting watered and the BBQ’s getting clean, even if my plans for the holiday are drifting down the storm sewer right now.

Nice swim yesterday.  Back and brain are both feeling stretched a bit.  Gotta remember that the pool is less crowded on the weekends.  On a swimming-related note, giggling at this.  Uptight people Non-swimmers can be so funny sometimes.  [After bouncing around Google a bit, it seems the first photo in this post at Rod 2.0 is the photo in question.]