Today Raina and I visited her grandmother in Palm Springs. She doesn't live there, she was down from Berkeley visiting one of her friends. We just went down for the day to hang out for a little while and have brunch together. We left this morning around 8:45 AM, picking up Raina's dad on the way. My father in law, Mark, is always entertaining to have around. Whether he is making you laugh or making you laugh at him. It seems like it is directed at him more often then not. Mark is finally trying to give up smoking cigarettes, or at least trying to cut back. He claims to Raina and I that he is down to ten cigarettes a day. Which still seems like so much to someone who has never smoked. It was funny going throughout the day with him, counting every time he lit one up. We make light of the situation, but I am proud that Mark is taking a step in the right direction towards giving up smoking all together. If you want to know the count for the day, Mark had eight cigarettes in our company. We dropped him off at 6:30 PM. That means he only had two left for the rest of the night. I will have to ask him if he stayed under ten for the day.
We drove out to Palm Springs, listening to our mix CD all the way. Raina and I started this thing, where every time we took a road trip, we would make a mix CD for the road. It has become tradition, and we don't leave town without a new one each time. It took a little over an hour to get out there. It was fairly warm out in Palm Springs. I thought it would be a little cooler and instantly regretted wearing pants for the day. It doesn't help that I am normally warm as it is, so when it gets hot it is really hot for me. I prefer cooler weather. We hung out before leaving to brunch for an hour or so. Raina's grandma Florence always needs to hear the latest news. What is going on in everyone's lives? How their job's are going? When are we coming to visit her in Berkeley again? Grandma Flo is always good company. We always eat at the best places and the conversation is always fun. She has a way of making me laugh every time we go out. I have even had the pleasure of sharing a beer with Grandma Flo, once or twice. It was a nice little day trip with good food, good friends and good laughs.
After brunch, we walked around some of the small Palm Springs museums, working off our food comas. It was a short trip. We left after that, heading to the outlet mall in Cabazon to do a little shopping. I always have to stop at the Levi's outlet to get a pair of jeans or two. I got two this time, and one shirt at Quicksilver. Pants aren't cheap, so any discount helps. The outlets are only half the reason for stopping in Cabazon. The other half is to stop at the A&W restaurant to get a root beer float. You can't beat draft A&W root beer with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was fantastic. The only thing wrong with it, we got it to go. So I didn't get it in the frosty glass mug. I won't make that mistake again. It just isn't the same without the frosty mug. Still delicious though. After our frosty treat, we headed home. After dropping off Mark, we had to make a trip to Whittier to pick up Raina's car that was getting some work done. A little dip into the wallet for repairs and here we are at home. Ready for bed to start out the new work week.
This Day In History: 1675
English religious thinker and writer John Bunyan is imprisoned for preaching without a license. While in prison, he wrote Pilgrim's Progress, one of the spiritual classics of the age.
Born This Day: 1888
Knute Rockne - American football coach at University of Notre Dame
"Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
Yes, I do wear glasses on occasion
Tell him to try electronic cigs. They have helped a friend a lot.
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