It's been a while since I sent a news update. Well, not much has happened. Apple sold out to the Evil Empire (Microsoft). That's the big news at Apple these days.

I did my 10 day mediation retreat again this month at Vajrapani, a retreat center in the Santa Cruz mountains. When I did this retreat last year, there was record breaking 100+ degree heat. Fortunately, this year it was much cooler, even a bit of mist on some mornings.

Ron & I had a garage sale last weekend to get rid of everything we shouldn't have moved. This was garage sale attempt #2. When we tried this the first time, the newspaper put the ad in the wrong section of the paper so no one showed up. This time, we had the right location & there were a fair number of people. I think we made close to $100.

I learned another side benefit of working at Apple: the t-shirts sell well. I had about 3 boxes of Apple t-shirts from various projects. They were snapped up pretty quickly. Everyone wants that 6 color logo. Maybe Apple should get out of the computer business & sell clothing, instead.

Monday night, I came home from work & thought I was lost. I couldn't find the house! But I recognized the neighbor's cars, houses, etc. I knew I was on the right street but I thought I had the wrong house. I parked, stepped out of the car and then remembered: the landscaper was supposed to come this week & do something to the front yard. They didn't just move a few plants - the entire yard was re-done from scratch! Instead of these ugly, overgrown evergreen bushes, I can see the house. Instead of red clay border things which were supposed to stop the erosion (they didn't) there's tasteful 2 layer stone terracing. The entire front yard has been transformed.

This weekend, I'm home getting ready to leave for Amsterdam on Wednesday. Ron has a business trip to Amsterdam & a free business class companion ticket so I'm tagging along on his trip. I have no idea what I'm going to do in Amsterdam but I think it will be fun.

Stacey