The third Saturday of every month, I make telephone calls for
Tele-Care. Tele-Care is a free-of-charge service which has been in
existence of about 35 years and reaches out to elderly shut-ins or
others who are limited in mobility. We call to make sure they are doing
ok. We also call to express our concern and affection for our clients.
For many Tele-Care clients, the daily phone call is the only regular
form of human contact.

I have been a volunteer for about six years. I've often said that I
don't forsee ending my volunteering until I either move out of the area
or pass away. I've not tried to recruit my friends into volunteering
just yet -- but should they be interested I'd be glad to tell them
more.

Several months ago, the SF Chronicle ran an article about the Tele-Care program on the occasion of a great luncheon: East Bay: Lunch brings Tele-Care volunteers and clients face to face.

I like reading the New York Times on a more or less daily basis. Although its columnists (such as Tom Friedman, Nicholas Kristoff, and Paul Krugman) are no longer available for free, I remain an avid reader. There's hardly a day in which I can't find a piece that is either useful or interesting or both. Here are some recent pieces that I've enjoyed:

• Researchers Look to Create a Synthesis of Art and Science for the 21st Century on what Larry Smarr is up to at UCSD in the building of Calit2, which some have likenedd to the MIT Media Lab.

• Learning Everything About an Apartment  As an apartment dweller, I find apartment hunting advice helpful, even if it is specialized for NYC.

• Is It Better to Buy or Rent? covers a topic of perennial interest in the Bay Area.

• I usually find stories like Saying Goodbye California Sun, Hello Midwest interesting because I like many in the Bay Area don't want to be driven out by high real estate prices but wonder whether life elsewhere might not be just as rewarding if we leave.

Hmmm....there's a real estate theme in this list, isn't there?

or

peaceful spot at the GTU bookstore

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

It's been a long time since I spent any time at the GTU Bookstore. Since I walked up to the northside of campus for lunch yesterday (Thursday), I decided to stop in. I didn't remember the couch next to the window, which is a winning feature of the bookstore. How wonderful it would be to contemplate one's life, relationship with the cosmos, with other humans, and with God surrounded by the companionship of books.

Bloggers' lunch

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

A good time was had by all. More pictures are available.

the rains are back

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

I wish that I could be happy with the rains, which are necessary for life in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, I was running late this morning and grabbed a half-functioning umbrella, unprepared for the seasonal return of cold and water.

ad for Sam Harris in NYRB

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

I put a hold on End of Faith from the Berkeley Public Library. Looking forward to reading it.

I love reading the New York Review for its book ideas.

I assiduously avoided every opportunity to carve a pumpkin until Saturday. One of the activities planned for a birthday party to which Laura and I were invited was pumpkin carving. This time, I wanted to carve a pumpkin.

Laura drew the Picasso-esque face, while we be shared in the carving:

We took our pumpkin home and lit it that evening:

I did end up adding a secondary face to the pumpkin, a checkboard reduction of the face:

I'm playing with the drag and drop Flickr functionality in the new flock.com browser which lets me read photo from a particular photostream and drag the picture down into the authoring environment.  For example, let me highlight a few pictures I took but didn't want to spend a lot of time writing about.

An obvious picture of me in a mirror.

I don't know what "tagging" is in this context.  Is this a message to the folksonomic community?

Ten minutes of flipping through this book convinced me that it would be wonderful experience to immerse myself in the visual and tactile world of textiles.

Conclusion:  drag and drop authoring is cool.

Here's a screenshot to show how it was done:

I really didn't want to drive yesterday morning but I was slow at getting out of my apartment. Six minutes was not enough time for me to reliably get to the El Ceritto Plaza station. Hence I reluctantly decided to jump into my car once again.

Unfortunately, the car was not where Laura and I had left it on Monday night. I looked up and down my street in Albany, wanting to doubt the memory of having parked our car. Finally, I went back upstairs to announce to Laura that the car had been stolen. Laura came out with me to confirm what I still found hard to believe.

We had done what we could. We had secured the steering wheel with a club. The doors, I'm confident, were locked. "It's not fair," we said to each other. (Of course, what car theft is fair?) We latched on to the false hope that maybe our car had been sticking into a driveway and thus had been towed.

I called the Albany police department, which then dispatched a young police officer to the scene. We were not that lucky -- our car had not been impounded. I filed the police report while the police and I stood outside the apartment. He told me that there are about five car thefts reported a week in sleepy Albany. I knew that I was only complaining when I said that I had parked for years in south Berkeley without any problems -- so what's wrong with Albany? Such laments weren't going to bring our car back.

Chances are, I was told, that the car would be recovered in several days or at most, in a couple of weeks. We hope that our car won't be banged up too badly. Being a 1991 Toyota Corolla with 110K miles, it was still a good solid car that I had hoped would serve us well for years to come.

This morning, I took a picture of where the car had been and where I still hope it will magically show up again:

Last night, Laura and I consoled ourselves by drawing and telling stories about where the car might have gone. I drew the following:

after receiving some bad news about some dear friends, I was reminded once again that it's only stuff. Still, I got a bit nostalgic for my car -- which is the first car I ever owned. I dug up the last picture I have of it. Has anyone seen it around?