The spoooooky sound of sandblasting is reverberating through my head as particles of our 82-year-old house fly off into our landscaping and I get ready to write another four-figure check. Must be Halloween! Happy Holiday!

Actually so far it doesn't seem so bad -- it's insanely ugly and sort of mustard-yellow and grey camoflauge at the moment, but in 3 weeks we'll be done, and our place will have a new surface, new paint, maybe even new lighting. We must be crazy - or maybe just overly particular. Probably both.

My parents were here in time to see the house before its makeover on the trip my brother and I went in on as a gift to mom for her 60th birthday. We all met up in San Francisco on the 13th and had a great weekend before they set out on the roadtrip down the coast that blows everybody's mind, especially the first time they do it. I took Todd to Sausalito on Saturday so he could do the big bridge drive; we all ate in North Beach afterwards once the parental units arrived, at some Italian place (of course) called the Mona Lisa. After hitting Alcatraz and having a great lunch at Fog City Diner on Sunday, I had to get back on a plane, and leave them to their own devices.

They drove that rental Prius ($35 for gas, for the WHOLE TRIP) down the PCH and made it to Pasadena by Friday evening. Of course, we took them to Disneyland on Saturday complete with dinner at the Blue Bayou, and to the Getty on Sunday. The most suprising thing, ok two most surprising things; my father actually seemed to enjoy Disneyland quite a bit, and I actually enjoyed seeing what it was like to have your parents in the same time zone for a whole week. Makes the world seem a whole lot less lonely for some reason. (Did I really say that?)

Okay, back to my weird L.A. reality, which has its awesome moments: last Friday I sat two feet away from none other than Mr. Tom Petty, that's right, the Free-Falling, Traveling Wilburys, man-of-the-(San Fernando)-valley Tom Petty at a table read for King of the Hill. He didn't acknowledge me but I'm certain that he wanted to -- too many people around. Thanks Becky and Tony -- awesome in their own right(s) -- for inviting me to the reading of your very own KOTH script. May there be many more!