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?

Ha Jin reads from "War Trash" in San Francisco

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

Ha Jin talks about his new book, 'War Trash: A Novel' - SF Station Event Listing.

I knew very little about Ha Jin before the reading. I hadn't known, for instance, that he wrote in English and not Chinese. When asked about he would write his fiction in Chinese, he said that he had to discipline himself not to do so. He had committed to refining his English writing craft and could not afford to diverge from that path.

His comment made me consider the choices I have made professionally and the need to stick to my choices without jumping around too much.

Meet the Life Hackers - New York Times is about "life hacks", techiques to deal with interruptions that most of us as office workers deal with every day. David Allen's Getting Things Done system, which I have been using devotely, is mentioned. I was ticked by two facts in the article: 1) that larger computer screens can make for greater productivity and 2) that being interrupted at the beginning of a task is more likely to cause someone to not finish a task than being interrupted at the end.

My latest Christian reading

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

I'm one of the few people at First Pres who borrow these magazines from the library. Though I would love to be part of a big group of readers at FPCB, I'm also glad to have easy access to the magazines too.

I like to read this selection to get a (reasonably) wide spectrum of American Christian viewpoints. And maybe if it's not that wide, the range still makes for good reading. Check them out:

Books & Culture Magazine

The Christian Century

Christianity Today

First Things

BTW, I can commend a particular piece in B&C: Does Prayer Change God? by P. Yancey.

Get your flu shots

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

These posters, seen on my way from church, are a good reminder for all of us to get flu shots this year.

Returning the NY books to BPL

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

I highly recommend the Berkeley Public Library as a source of fravel books. Instead of buying guides that I'm not likely to ever use again, I like to go to the BPL where I can often pick up the most current edition.

I also learned in this recent trip to New York that physically compact guides are the most useful on the road, especially those with restaurant recommendations. It is when I'm up and about that I need information that I couldn't have prepared ahead of time.

After I got back from New York, I finally made it to the Berkeley Public Library to get my hands on some books on Henri Matisse. This latest kick all started when I read an essay by Hilary Spurling in the New York Review of Books. I did look for online resources, both free and commercially licensed, but have come to the conclusion that electronic coverage is superficial, certainly compared to the wealth of printed materials. Of course, there is nothing like seeing the works themselves -- but I don't quite have the time or money to start a world-wide trek for Matisse's art. At least not yet.

A word on the Matisse and Picasso theme here. I saw a number of books and a reference on the Wikipedia to the complex rivalry between the two major artist. Even though I was looking particularly for more insight into Matisse, I couldn't help seeing a lot of Picasso in New York. So I figure it might be helpful to try to understand both artists in order to better understand Matisse. Narratives involving conflict or back-and-forth between mighty figures are usually a lot of fun too!

-- from Raymond Yee - (?)

It's good to know that there are those who are comfortable enough to sleep in broad daylight on the Berkeley campus.

I find it fun to read about Chinese food, especially how it is expanding in its conception. Craving Hyphenated Chinese - New York Times:

"I call them second-generation Chinese restaurants," said Cheuk Kwan, who has directed a documentary film about the spread of Chinese restaurants around the world. "These restaurants always have a hyphen: Chinese-Venezuelan, Chinese-Norwegian, Chinese-Mexican.

It's pumpkin season!

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

Only a little while ago, it was watermelon season. Now the pumpkins have taken over.