10-19-2026 Run

Travel day. I got up and decided to go for a run down by Lake Merritt, weather was pretty great but overcast for a change. Headed down there using a similar route to the one that Heather and I used earlier. I took a much more measured pace on this run, just out to get the miles in, not focused on running negative splits. Once I got down to the head of the lake I took the clockwise direction and ran a little more than half a mile before turning around and running back following basically the same route until I got to Broadway. Once on that road I stayed on it, it's a cleaner way (no tents of homeless people around the freeway underpass) of getting back. Ran to MacArthur Blvd and then used it to get to Webster St and thus back to the Airbnb. It was right at four miles.

Avg pace = 8:20/mi

Total distance = 4.05 mi

Elapsed moving time = 33:47

Avg heartrate = 116 bpm (Coospo)

Relative Effort = 7

https://www.strava.com/activities/20648143996

Got back to the Airbnb and had some breakfast, including a cup of weak Keurig coffee. I had a little time to shower and relax before we packed everything into the car, made sure the place was clean, and left to drive Caleb and Emily to Oakland Airport to catch their flight. We were past morning rush hour, so we made it to the airport with lots of time to spare for them. Dropped them off, then we continued on the first leg of our journey home. I drove east to catch I-5, then we headed down to Santa Nella. Put gas in the car there, then I drove some more before turning it over to Ann at a rest stop south of Coalinga. She drove the rest of the way into Santa Clarita, where we stayed at the Santa Clarita Motel (kinda far from the freeway but decently priced and quite comfortable). We got to the motel around 3:45 or so and relaxed in the room for a bit (I watched a little TV). Then we headed out to a nearby Thai food restaurant (Siam II) for an early dinner. Food was quite plentiful, and mine was suitably spicy. We stopped at a Ralphs for Ann to get some things for breakfast, then we drove back to the motel. I was pretty tired, even though I'd had coffee earlier as well as a short nap in the car. Went to sleep a little after 7:30.

10-18-2026 Run

I ended up sleeping pretty well after the big day previously. Got up later than usual and went out for a solo run at relatively easy pace to begin with, speeding up and ended with negative splits for the three miles. I ran on surface streets up to the green belt, then took Hudson St east to College Ave and down to Broadway. This section was fast, as it was slightly downhill, and there wasn't much traffic to worry about. I ran down to MacArthur Blvd and used it to get back to Webster St. Ended up running up to 40th St to get past 5k, then ran back to the Airbnb.

Avg pace = 8:06/mi

Total distance = 3.25 mi

Elapsed moving time = 26:21

Avg heartrate = 128 bpm (Coospo)

Relative Effort = 8

https://www.strava.com/activities/20637705256

Folks were up and moving when I got back. Had a shower and got ready to meet the family members for the brunch that Ann organized, at Laura's request. It was in Oakland, at Kitchen Story. This place is small. We picked Linda up from the hotel and we all drove over there in the minivan. I dropped them off and parked on a side street in the nearby neighborhood, then walked to meet them. We heard that Laura and Joe were going to be late, so we waited outside for them to arrive. Joe called me after about 15-20 minutes and asked where we were. He was in front of the restaurant and didn't see us. Turns out that he was by La Note, which was where Laura thought we were having brunch. Bad communication here, IMHO. So we waited another 20 minutes or so for them to show up, but thankfully we were able to get seated without them. The place was decent, service was a little spotty and our table was cramped. But the coffee was excellent, and the food appeared to be decent. Good conversation, I had the good fortune of sitting up by Joe and Laura and hearing some more details about their wedding evening. They went to an after-party after we left La Mer, and I think they didn't get back to their hotel room until after 1:00 AM. Oh, to be young again! Joe was looking a little wiped out, but he was fine. After the brunch we dropped Linda back off at her hotel and then went back to the Airbnb. I had a little bit of time, not much, to relax before I had to drive Kathy and Heather to a hotel by SFO, to make it easier for them to get to the airport for an early morning departure. Not much traffic on the way over, but it was a roundabout route due to the closure of 101-S. I dropped them off and headed up the 101 toward San Francisco. This went okay until I started running into traffic. Turns out they had closed a couple of northbound lanes around the southbound 1201 construction zone, and traffic crawled through that area. Very frustrating. Once I got past that backup it was full speed back to the Airbnb, no freeway traffic to worry about. Got back with, again, just a little time to chill before I headed over to meet Joe, Linda, Chris, and Debi at a BBQ place near their apartment. I dropped off the food from the wedding dinner and picked up Ann's sewing machine and related supplied, then I drove to the bar, Heads and Tails Barbecue. The others were eating barbecue, I stuck to a Coke and hung out with them as we watched the first half of the Packers-Cowboys game. Everybody was fairly quiet, it had been a very busy last few days. I said my goodbyes at halftime (they were leaving too), then I drove back to the Airbnb, stopping to get some gas (running on fumes by that time) on the way. The rest of the evening was, mercifully, quiet.

10-17-2026 Laura and Joe's Wedding Day

This was a very special day. No run for me, I didn't want to tempt fate. I basically chilled around the Airbnb in the morning, reading a little bit and watching YouTube videos about fixing up cars and working on small engines. Joe had invited me to his pre-wedding gathering at Zach's boyfriend Ryan's apartment, so Ann gave me a ride to the nearby BART station, and I took the BART into San Francisco. Got off at 16th and Mission station, and that was definitely a gritty area. Lots of homeless folks on the streets by my bus stop, so that wait for the bus to arrive was unpleasant. The bus ride itself was okay, and the stop was just a couple of minutes from Ryan's building. I walked there and arrived to the gather around 1:15. Was very chill, Joe had bought sandwiches, and I ate most of one while watching some college football (Old Miss vs. Missouri). We will went up to the rooftop patio and toasted Joe, others with scotch but I stuck to beer. I talked to Chris from Stonybrook, Connor (forgot his jacket at Ryan's), Luigi, and Ryan after the toast back in the apartment, then watched a little more football while the young guys and Linda helped Joe get dressed and ready for the wedding. I got myself dressed after that (no deodorant, oops), then Linda, Debi, and I took a Waymo (my first) to the restaurant at the Embarcadero. It was a little unnerving sitting in the front passenger seat with no driver. The driving algorithm was pretty interesting, I was impressed with its ability to navigate some complex city street scenarios. We got to the wedding venue, La Mar Cocina Peruano, a little after 3:30, we were the first to arrive, and Jennie (the wedding planner) set us up in the ready room. Debi's husband Chris showed up shortly after, he had dropped Joe off at the hotel to meet Laura and Sherlynn the photographer for some shots of them by a cable car. Kathy, Heather, Emily, and Caleb showed up around 3:45, Ann had dropped them off before parking the car. We chilled in the ready room, got a little anxious about Ann, who had bad Google Map directions to the parking lot and only showed up after 4:15. David and Christine were some of the early arrivals, others started filtering in. Laura and Joe showed up around 4:45, we were starting to wonder if they were going to make it on time. They were reasonably calm, Laura had gotten upset earlier in the day when the flowers weren't to her specifications. But she got them corrected, and all was good. Zach and Madison showed up around that time as well, and we put the boutonnieres and corsages on and got ready for the procession. The ceremony started a little after 5:00. Madison went in first, as the officiant, then Emily and Caleb, followed by Joe and Linda, with Laura flanked by me and Ann coming in last. Madison had some sweet words of welcome that centered on how she knew Laura and Joe and how special they were to her. Joe and Laura read their vows after that. Both of them mentioned Popsicle as well as Feynman diagrams. I got a little teary when Laura recited the classic vows at the end of her little speech. Then they were pronounced husband and wife, kissed, and recessed to the tune of "Mambo Number 5." We followed soon after and waited in an area set up by the bar for cocktails and conversation. Talked with David, Christine, Kay, Earl, and family (inclusing Parker and Lauren) until the five of us in the wedding party got called to meet Joe and Laura in the ready room. They were relaxed and happy. We all walked over to a nearby pier for photos, not an I ordinate amount of time there, which was good. Then we walked back to the cocktail hour, and everybody applauded the new married couple when they came in. All hung out there as drinks and hors d'oeuvres were passed around. Eventually they opened the area where dinner was to be served, and we all walked there. It had a nice view of the bay and was open-air. By the way, the weather on this day was crystal clear and mild, just about perfect. We were seated at the family table, all family along with Joe's good friend Chris and his wife Debi. I sat by them again. There were three courses in the meal, SO MUCH food! I had a completely separate vegetarian menu, and my portions and dishes were more modest. They were also pretty good, except the main course, which was eggplant-based and a little too sweet for my taste. During the dinner Chris and Emily gave their speeches and toasts, and Emily did a great job. As dinner wound down Zach gave his speech (just very slightly cringey for a moment or two), then I gave my speech (I think it went well) and toasted the newlyweds. Not too long after that, the dancing started. Laura and Joe's first dance was to Heart's What About Love?, a terrible 80's song that we all had a laugh about (apparently, I had made a comment while the three of us were in the car about what a bad song it was, and they remembered). Ann and I danced for most of the music, although for some of the less danceable tunes we just stood on the dance floor and chatted with others. In one lull I had another nice chat with Parker, and I also talked briefly to Earl about the earlier Cedar Glen players reference (he made the Chewbacca noise at the appropriate time during my speech). I was starting to tire out as well. The party was supposed to end around 10:00, but I think they extended it to 10:30, when the last dance was announced. We hung around as folks started to leave and grabbed all the bags of leftover food from the huge wedding dinner. We put them in the car, with a couple of other items that needed to be transported, then we said our goodbyes and headed back to the Airbnb. Chris and Debi had left earlier, and they gave Linda a ride to her hotel as well. It was a long, successful day, and I was finally glad to lay my head down. Unfortunately, I had a raging headache, I'm guessing from skipping caffeine on this day. That headache made it difficult to get a good night's sleep.

Partial list of wedding attendees that I interacted with at one point or another:

Zach and Ryan

Connor and Sam - very good-looking couple, he forgot his jacket, with his wallet in it, at Ryan's place

Matt and his wife - Scottish, he knew Laura from living near her in Koreatown, works now at SLAC

Brenda and Andy - Zach's parents

Kay and Earl

David and Christine

Chris and Debi - Joe's best friend from WashU, worked in IT, Debi is retired concert timpanist

Chris from Stonybrook - very smart and dry-witted, told good stories

Sonia, Raha, and Jessica - Laura's college roommates 

Elbow Emily and Stan - from Girl Scout camp

Logan - friend of Laura's, former student when she was a TA at Cal?

Kathy and Heather

Lauren and Parker

Luigi and Evan - Joe's boss and former chemist co-worker, along with his husband

Cherlyn Wagner - photographer

DJ Christie James and her assistant Paul

Jennie - wedding planner

10-16-2026 Run

Had some really vivid dreams during the night, after experiencing trouble getting to sleep (<>). Got out of bed just before 7:00, then Heather and I went for a run down to Lake Merritt. I only noticed that I hadn't started tracking my run on Strava when we got to the lake, so I was off in my recorded distance by about two miles. We lowered our pace somewhat, knowing we were going for longer distance. Ended up running about halfway around the lake (really nice path) before we turned off and started heading back. Heather got us over to MacArthur Blvd, and that road had some climbing that slowed Heather down. This stretch was through a not great part of town. We ended up following this road all the way back to Webster St, including a sketchy little section to cross under the freeway. Finished the run still going at our pace, so that was a success. Heather mapped it as just over five miles.

Avg pace = 11:10/mi (for the 3 miles I tracked on Strava)

Total distance = 5.03 mi (according to Heather)

Avg heartrate = 106 bpm (Coospo, for the 3 miles I tracked on Strava)

Relative Effort = 5 (for the 3 miles I tracked on Strava)

https://www.strava.com/activities/20609875789

Got back, and I chatted with Kathy for a bit about her adjustment to retired life. Seems like it is moving in the right direction, as she looks for ways to keep herself busy and get out of the house. Ate breakfast (Caleb and Emily went out), then relaxed for a while. The early afternoon was pretty quiet, we headed over to the Hilton Garden Inn in mid-afternoon to pick up Linda and drive over to Springer Gateway on the UC Berkeley campus, where we were going to do a wedding ceremony run-through. No parking nearby, so I dropped the others off and went looking for a spot. I found one on the street not too far away and parked the car. Ended up paying for it three times (Ann paid one of the times) because I initially forgot to change the license plate number. Headed back to the meet-up spot and met Jennie, the wedding coordinator. Laura, Joe, and Madison were late (delayed manicurist appointment for Madison), but we had plenty of time to go through the main details of the ceremony. I was stressing because I wasn't sure I had parked in a valid spot. After we were finished with the practice run, I headed back to the car to park it again and make sure it wasn't ticketed or towed. The others walked the fairly short distance to Jupiter Pizza, where the evening gathering was to be held. The car was fine. I got in and drove around the block to try and find a spot closer to the restaurant. No luck, so headed back to the original area and was able to find a place that was definitely legal. Parked it there and walked to the restaurant, finding David and Christine wandering on the street past the restaurant. We all walked back to the restaurant and met the others. This turned out to be a much bigger gathering, maybe 50 folks, than I had thought (I heard later that Linda paid for it). I had a little bit of food and a couple of beers over the course of the evening. Talked with David and Christine, then Linda, Chris, and Debi, and then with Parker for quite a while. That was the best conversation of the evening for me, we need to go and visit them in PA sometime. As the evening wrapped up, we headed back to the Airbnb (Linda got a ride to her hotel from Chris and Debi). Had a little snack, then I settled down for the night.

10-15-2026 Run

Slept okay, got up around 7:00 and got ready for a solo run. I headed generally north to fin the greenbelt we had run on the previous day, and I took it to the end, finding a gate I could pass through to continue instead of turning around. Headed southeast for a bit until I turned northeast again and ran uphill for a bit. Eventually got to Broadway, where I turned and started running downhill back toward the Airbnb. Except for the lights, this was a nice road to run on in the early morning, with few cars parked along it. Down to MacArthur Blvd, turning there and running to Webster St. I wasn't quite at four miles, so I ran around the block before arriving back at the starting point. Had a pretty good pace, especially on the downhill second half.

Avg pace = 7:57/mi

Total distance = 4.18 mi

Elapsed moving time = 33:15

Avg heartrate = 128 bpm (Coospo)

Relative Effort = 9

https://www.strava.com/activities/20596601803

Got back from the run, the others had walked over to get bagels from a nearby deli. I had a couple of bagels and coffee for breakfast, then I chilled for the rest of the morning and afternoon. I looked at my wedding speech and worked on the message delivery and memorizing the key elements. In the late afternoon I drove through traffic to the Hilton Garden Inn in Emeryville and picked Linda Fournier up to bring her back to the Airbnb for dinner with us. It went pretty well, conversation was lighthearted. We probably went too long for her, since she had been going since 11:00 the previous night with travel from Connecticut. I got her back to the hotel before 9:00, hope she enjoyed the time with us. Drove home and read just a little bit before trying to get to sleep.

10-14-2026 Run

Slept okay for first night away from home (<!>). I got up and got ready for a run with Heather and Caleb. We left the Airbnb around 7:00 and headed up to a little greenbelt area I'd found. Iissed one turn, but it didn't get us far off course. Caleb was slow behind us, I was running at Heather's pace. We then retraced our route back to the start, then Heather and I did an extra half mile or so to get up to a 5k.

Avg pace = 10:38/mi

Total distance = 3.14 mi

Elapsed moving time = 33:25

Avg heartrate = 103 bpm (Coospo)

Relative Effort = 5

https://www.strava.com/activities/20583813748

Back at the Airbnb, we had breakfast, then I had a shower. We all went to a nearby supermarket to get some groceries for the week, and then I had some downtime before Caleb and I met Joe around noon to hang out in the afternoon. We ate lunch at a diner near their apartment, then we walked to a nearby vivarium and looked at the reptiles and arachnids on display. Lots of lizards, monitors, and snakes on display, along with some scorpions and tarantulas. It was entertaining to walk around the shop. We then drove up into the Berkeley hills to give Caleb a more expansive view of the Bay Area. We stopped at Whole Foods and picked up the cakes to be used to fashion the wedding cake, then we went to their apartment to drop it off and hang out with Laura for a bit. Saw her wedding dress, which is pretty special, since she made it herself. We stayed there a little too late, then Joe drove us back to the Airbnb, where we turned right around, and all of use drove to pick up the Mexican food and head back to their apartment. Got there around 5:20,and we hung out for a while, chatting and enjoying casual conversation and funny moments before eating dinner. Then Laura led the cake decorating, Ann helped some while Caleb and Kathy cut the synthetic flowers that went on it. It turned out nice, small but cheap, as wedding cakes go. We took the cake back with us to the Airbnb, and that essentially was the evening

10-13-2026 Entry

Travel day. I slept fitfully after the first four hours or so. Woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Eventually I did was awoken by Ann's alarm at 4:00. Showered, packed up the car, and even had time for breakfast before we left a little before 5:00. We first ran into traffic in LA County, and even then there were just a couple of slowdown through LA. Once we got past Griffith Park I don't think we had any more traffic to deal with. Over the Grapevine, we stopped for a bio break once we got into the Central Valley. I drove for about the first 5 hours, then Ann took over after another break at a rest stop. We drove to Santa Nella and stopped for lunch (at Carl's Jr, ugh) and to fill up the tank. Then it was another hour and a half into Oakland, again not seeing much traffic as we headed into the city. Got to the Airbnb early, but the host was able to let us in early as well, which was nice. We settled in and got situated. Kathy and Heather had flown into SFO, and they took the BART to a station (MacArthur) near us. We went and picked them up and brought them back to the apartment. Emily and Caleb's flight was delayed, so the others ended up eating spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner. I waited a bit, then drove to OAK around dusk to pick them up. Traffic was decent, most of the afternoon rush was done. I got to the cell phone lot and waited until I got a text from Emily, then I drove to pick them up, and we drove back to the Airbnb from there. The three of us ate dinner when we got back, then the rest of the evening was quiet for me.