Had an OK (up and down) Christmas break. Monday---Christmas day drove down to a party at Mike’s friend’s girlfriend’s house. Awful rain. The moment I stopped the car there, white smoke started billowing up from the hood. It smelled like burning rubber. I immediately stopped the car, opened the hood, saw steam and smoke and green ooze covering the radiator.

 

Amazingly, one of the party goers was a mechanic (Jeff Niles). So I sort of hung out at the party, not terribly engaged. We left the car there, and Jeff said he’d look at it in the morning. We drove to Mike’s parents’ house---which is quite nice. His mom was very gracious. We drove back to Oakland and got there around 12:30 or 1.

 

For some reason Mike started to shave his head. Don’t ask me why.  Despite the bad haircut, he still looks very cute.

 

The next day was rainy and windy and generally unpleasant. But Jeff called late in the morning, and it turned out the problem was pretty simple---a crack in the radiator that would cost about a hundred to fix. It would be ready by about six (the epoxy had to dry).

 

We went over to the Merritt Bakery for brunch (I had eggs benedict, Mike had french toast). We brought Monty with us, and of course he had to stay tied up outside (I was a bit worried about this, but I guess in Oakland no one messes with a pitt/mastiff mix).

 

Finally around 4:30 we set out (in the rain) for San Jose (actually, Aptos, where my car was). We stopped at some huge mall in San Jose (don't remember the last time I was in a Mall) where I got ice cream and Mike got a milkshake and I discovered that there is a Jesus-branded mall store that sells clothing to teens---a sure sign of the end-times.