It was going to be a trip to California to see the family and the OC but first I had
to meet with
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Carol Greenhouse from Anthropology on Monday and have the shredder man
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come on Wednesday to take our wares
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to the grinding machine. On Thursday, I had a faculty lunch with
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Joyce Carol Oates (Creative Writing),
Warren Warren (Chemsitry),
Adele Goldberg (Linguistics),
Liz Gavis (Molecular Biology),
Stan Katz (Woodrow Wilson School) and
Kai Li (Computer Science). Then, John Ikenberry
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came by for a minute before this gentleman
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moved his truck but wouldn't allow me to take his picture.
I picked up Jane and we drove to the airport parking here
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and catching the bus here
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so that we could sit next to this gentleman on the plane
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and watch him read Jane's copy of The Catcher in the Rye while he
shared his book
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with Jane but unfortunately it was unreadable. My meal
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was no better than Jane's
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except for the main course
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of mine which made me hope the flight would land soon so that we
could put our bags
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and ourselves
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on the bus to get to Avis
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where this gentleman
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watched as we rented this car
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and took the freeway
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to see Larry
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and Janet
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who was incognito.
Next morning, Janet
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was happier as I played with the computer
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and Jane
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acknowledged that we were in The OC
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as we headed off to see the silos
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and talk to Mikey
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and the other employee
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as we observed the silos
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and the eventual end for their contents as the pellets go into the hopper
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and up the chute
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on their way to production. This gentleman appeared
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as we were recording the gauges
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and the metal machines
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that won't be around for long even as Mikey
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feigned work and Larry
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posed for the soccer picture while we all posed with the silos
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to prepare us if we ever had to do a full scale protest.
Next we drove on down the highway
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past the In-N-Out Burger
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and in the line of traffic
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past Santa Claus
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and onward
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in our search for tourist information
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through various turns
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and beyond the palm trees
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until we found the Orange County van
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and passed through the light
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to the first signs of Newport Beach
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and onward
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until we saw the beach
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and rounded the curve
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to Laguna Beach
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where we parked
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good enough for me but not good enough for the locals and pushed the button
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to make our way
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to the Village Mart
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where the waiter
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showed the way to the rest room where I got this collection sign
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and then on to the beach
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where we used this bench
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to enjoy my sandwich
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as the pelican
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and pigeons
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watched and wondered if the guards
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would appear as I took this self portrait
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and we again crossed the street behind an authentic OC hatted person
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to make our way to the chocolate store
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where there was a good selection
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and lots of Sponge Bob's friends
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as this gentleman
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provided us with chocolate
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you don't want to eat in the car. We said good bye to the Laguna Beach Greeter
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passed an OC sweat shirt
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and found that there were people who felt my parking job
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was inadequate.
We were back on the road and eventually got to San Diego for some food
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though there seemed to be a lot of phone calling
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in the air as I posed for a self portrait
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and captured Jane
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before she started talking on the phone
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but this ended when we studied pictures
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and Syl posed
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as we looked at another picture
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and then took the elevator
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to Aesop's Tables where we captured the tables
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the salad
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crackers
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Mediterranean plate
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and chicken Caesar salad
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before heading back to the decorations
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with a little for Hannukah
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and then playing cards
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until the phone rang
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but Dan focused
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and won as we ate more fruit
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more chewies
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and more brownies
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washed down by tea
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from these bags
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before calling it a night.
Saturday morning, we drove tot he pancake house
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where we had a short wait
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before we were seated with our tea
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given menus
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with the history
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and then left to our coffee
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hot chocolate
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and pancake concoction
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as the waitress took this family photo
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and the omelette
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and pancakes
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arrived. We stopped at Home Depot but they had poinsettias
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and Bonsai
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but not what we were looking for. Then, we drove home and parked
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and had our lunch of soup
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and cheese
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set out and served
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as Jane
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Syl
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Dan
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and I
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admired the vegetable faces
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I made as tea
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and oranges (brought all the way from China?)
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were served.
Later, we drove to Trader Joe's
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and after a few pictures
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the manager told us that we could take her picture
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but no more pictures of the store. We drove on to Rancho Bernardo
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and had a fine dinner with Anne, Irv, Rob and Linda
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served by this waiter
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who also took the picture of the assembled.