Very interesting to watch Akhil buy shoes. He is getting very adept at it, having done it three times in the last two weeks -- and Cole-Haan, at that. (They have those Nike soles now.) His taste in shoes is more expensive than mine. No verdict on jobs yet - it's very hard to look at these opportunities with only cold, hard facts in mind - no passion, no emotion, no pride. But that's what I'm trying to do. If I want a house, I want a house, alas. Goodbye, journalism, goodbye.

Driving out of the parking lot at the Camarillo outlets yesterday we saw this crazy airplane making loop-de-loops and death-defying dives all over the place and Akhil realized it must've been the weekend of the annual Camarillo Air Show. What luck! Well, I was not totally into it at first, I must admit, but we headed over to the airport to see what was up. It was in the plan anyway to go have lunch at the cafe there -- it's right on the airstrip. Akhil always gets his favorite thing in the universe -- one of their famous tri-tip sandwiches -- which his flight instructor Bob had introduced him to back in his flying lessons days. They had all the WWII planes and helicopters and gliders and stuff I'll never remember the name of but the coolest thing was the actual flying - - the last act was this incredible 21-year-old kid who did the most heart-stopping 30-minute aerobatic show you could imagine. He's apparently one of the youngest aerobatic pilots in the U.S. It was really something - regardless of whether you think you're into aviation or not.

Big stuff this week: Heather is considering an opportunity to relocate to L.A.! A little different here than Boston, though. She doesn't get how people get home after happy hour, and wants to be sure you can walk from your apt. to the grocery store. Don't we all... A lso, my dad called today just to say hi. And you know he never does that.

So I'm tracking down comedians this week. Calling them. Leaving them messages. Generally bothering them and their army of "people." It's very odd, odd indeed, because sometimes they call you back. I always feel weird doing this kind of stuff from my dinky little apartment. And definitely weird when I am still wearing pajamas. Glad technology hasn't gotten over that camera-landline-phone hump quite yet.

This past weekend I helped my friend Tom babysit his kids, 1 and almost 4. We took them to Sand Dune Park in Manhattan. I swear, that is the best place to take kids, ever! Leaping down the dune is a blast for all - even us thirty-somethings. I know it sounds nuts, but try it for yourself. Then Sunday Akhil and I went right back out there - to sit on the beach and read. We walked around the sidewalk sales and had a casual dinner al fresco, and once again, I remember saying at least once that day, "I don't ever want to move!"

Los Angeles keeps doing that to me. The everyday stuff kind of sucks, but weekends by the beach and being able to live your leisure life outside -- hard to complain about that. I have another interview today - downtown L.A. - wow, I could even take the Gold Line.

We caught San Francisco on a relatively quiet weekend. I'd read that California was having a slow summer in terms of tourism and they're not kidding. Of course, that means it's a perfect time to travel around out here. Our drive up was a breeze - we met Gunther at his place in Mountain View early in the afternoon and had lunch in Los Altos. Then we took a full tour of the Stanford campus, met some of his students, reassured him that he had a pretty cushy work situation, and ended the day with a great dinner in Woodside before heading up to the city to sleep.

I can recommend the Cartwright Hotel on Sutter near Union Square. It's a clean, cozy place with free breakfast, access to parking, and a great rate of 99 bucks a night. We spent the day on Sunday walking around mostly - up Columbus Ave. to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 to see the sea lions, then a little shoe shopping in Union Square, followed by a hot dog/pretzel lunch and quick jaunt over to the Haight where Akhil had a nutella & banana crepe. Here he is in the City Lights bookstore on Columbus Ave.:



Then we headed to Bernal Heights to see his family - his brother has a great house there near his lab at UCSF's sparkling new campus - another beautiful place. The academic world has been showing some nice aesthetics lately. It's got funky furniture, light wood, scientific-looking artwork and lots of chrome. He took us along with his wife Suzanne and his/Akhil's parents to Andalu for tapas -- which was okay but we're food-spoiled now that we live in L.A. We were exhausted by the end of the day - and I would NOT recommend staying at Le Petit Auberge for a quick sleeping spot - we got a small (they called it "cozy") room where we got to hear the garbagemen do their work at 4 a.m. and none of the little niceties like turn-down service, chocolates on the pillow, 4 p.m. wine... we checked in too late, unfortunately. Monday we had breakfast in the Mission with Hiten and Suzanne before heading back down to 'Hell-A' - where we had our best meal of the weekend, actually, at Billy's Diner here in Glendale. I do love San Francisco - it's so opposite of L.A. though it's unbelievable that the two are related. Well, we're still young, sort of...

After three days of 110-degree heat, today is a bit more bearable, so, in a good mood I took the Civic in for its 45,000 mile service. It's overdue, and we're driving up to San Francisco this weekend so it was a good time for an oil change anyway. Saturday we'll visit our friend Gunther and his lab at Stanford, and then we'll meet up with Akhil's parents at his brother's house in the city on Sunday. Plan to be back in town Monday evening with reviews of our two different hotels and whatever food we eat while we're up there. Oh, to be employed and housed in San Francisco. I thought it was the perfect city and I still do -- at least in this country. Sydney has taken over my No. 1 ranking.

Someone tried to jimmy their way into our garage. So glad we got that renter's insurance! Rough neighborhood I guess. Akhil and I are sitting here sweating in our 95-degree apartment, contemplating the blandness of our lives. Well, bland at the moment since we're still waffling over real estate and I still seek work on a daily basis. Before I get into our latest plans and escapades, I'd like to congratulate "you-know-who" on the baby news! As far as I know it's still a secret in some cases... but I for one am very excited about it.

These last two weeks I got back into the volunteering groove and finally met with Liz Thoman, who runs the Center for Media Literacy in Santa Monica. It's so amazing in a way to have a chance to work with her, as she founded the journal Media&Values that we referred to every now and then in our theory classes in graduate school. A remarkable person. I'll be writing a few things for her in coming weeks.

Akhil has been decorating his new office, and I've been nitpicking the decor of our apartment just to get a few more months/years of life out of this place - yes, we thought we'd have moved by now but things are not cooperating. So, I dug up a few gift certificates from the wedding and reorganized. I can't believe what Pottery Barn charges for furniture. Yet, I feel repelled by most of Ikea's. I think there's room for a new player in between.

Let's see... "Big Fish" was good, "Bourne Supremacy" was so-so, "Collateral" was decent (and L.A.-realistic!) and I am about to finish "A Suitable Boy," finally, which is getting good in pages 1200-1375. Tonight we're going out for booze - a rare activity for us these days, but once in a while it's all you can do.