(No, silly, I am aware that it was last week, I'm telling about it, OK?)

       
The cards the girls handed me during graduation: both Hallmark Shoebox. The insides say: "Now it's back to our fast-paced, exciting life of rented movies and microwave popcorn." Monica says this is too true. I find this hard to believe, of the daughter who has to be on-the-go every day. The other, from Roni, finishes with "...the gray in your hair." Too true. She mentioned driving and going to college, but ignored various boyfriends.

Now we know why he's been insisting that his name is "Zwingali" all year!

I don't have the new Dexen up, nor does Bernadette, but this indicates how the day was spent. She did NOT trip on the podium, but her friend Stephanie (note how she included her friend's names, in alphabetical order!) did trip on the steps. Fortunately, she recovered. I'm doing the graduation separately, Real Soon Now, but after all, the day was all about ME, right?

Vince greeted me first thing with a hug and a wish for a happy birthday. OK, fine. Bernadette had given me GRIFFIN AND SABINE, which I've lusted after for years. Monica and Mark gave me Canadian chocolate, which I've been keeping for myself and out of Rich's greedy paws. Roni had a shirt from the Sausalito Spring Fair for me, and the total was complete when we got home to a phone call from the other kid, with news that I'd been hoping for.

After all that graduation stuff, and the reception afterwards, we headed for the restaurant. Monica, Mark and Roni had headed off early to hold our spot, which was good: they were about to release our table, and the other 6 of us didn't come for another 45 minutes. (Part of that time was the Great Parking Place Hunt, but never mind.) As we walked across the street to the restaurant, we witnessed a kidnapping:

The World's (Second-Greatest) Mom also ended up at the restaurant.

Here is a later review of the restaurant. She talks about a wild mushroom dish which is what I had. (penne with wild mushrooms) And the dessert, which is one reason I gained weight while gone. Our server was really nice, despite his later confusion as to what we actually ordered. He grated parmesan and got positively mom-ish about whether I would have any.

Rich, Jan, Monica, Mark, Rob, Bernadette, Roni, Niki's hand, Vince

When Roni graduated 11 years ago, we took a mob to brunch, and it was the highest restaurant bill, at $150, that we'd ever seen. Since then we've had that kind of bill on occasion, but $315 was really over the top. This is the menu. Pricy, but not THAT much. Once we'd actually had a chance to check the bill, and get in touch with everyone, Rich wrote a letter. Yesterday we got a call. They had caught the problem that night and refunded us $67, making the bill a more reasonable $250. OK, there's a letter I will be writing to the Better Business Bureau with a compliment, sending a copy to Cucina! Cucina! (This is apparently a chain.)

The California kids changed their clothes, Monica lost an eyeglass screw, and they left. (They finally found an eyeglass repair kit in the airport. Spokane was definitely out for their blood this trip!)

Bernadette's friend Rob had a serious nap to get in, so it was the other five of us for bowling, the traditional post-graduate activity. Our scores were definitely better this time than last! Rich and I had brought our own shoes, which helped. The alley rents the lane by the hour instead of the line, which saved us money. The scores: Bernadette: 85, 87, 95; Jan 107, 106, 104; Niki 85, 89, 93 (she hasn't bowled since 1996!); Vince 127, 172, 120; and Rich 166, 128, 169. In '97, (I remind you) it was Rich 140, 124, 108; Jan 84, 103, 109; Roni 48, 86, 133 (so consistent! She's a lot better at Christmas) Vince 83, 126, 109; and Bernadette 65, 56, 63.

And so farewell to the rest of the family and back to our motel. It was a really nice day.

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Talking about the Bay to Breakers, I didn't describe the shirt, which is white with a hill made out of gray "THUD"s. On it, in blue, there are three comments: "Mon Dieu" "I think I can I think I can" and "huff'n'puff'n'huff'n'puff'n'huff'n'puff."
The KGO Club shirt was much nicer than last year's. It had this design, only with chartreuse "THUD"s, and KGO Club and the year on it. Rich also picked up a Nike shirt, so that makes three for this race. I have two from last year, one from '97, and my Bloomsday shirt and my Solemates shirt in my burgeoning walking t-shirt collection.

The special edition of the Examiner puts Diane at #9027! Also, it pictures some of the costumes we saw, the Y2K bug, the Painted Ladies moving company (Roni thinks he should take a deduction for the advertising!) and the squid, who won third place. It says there were 112 nekkid folks (unofficial count). I think we were walking with them much of the time.