First, an entirely self-serving public service announcement. Above, and below, you should probably see banners for something called "The Fame Experiment". If you'd like to click on one of them, it will take you to The Fame Experiment website. It's not pay-per-click advertising, but in a roundabout way it may help my blog. I'm taking part in the project mainly to study its effects on my blog traffic. New readers are always a good thing! I can explain the logic surrounding that if anyone really wants to know, but it gets a little blah-blah-links-blah-blah-SEO-blah-blah-site-traffic-blah-blah for those who really just want to turn on their computer, plug in a URL, and read. That whole blah-blah thought sequence, though, that's a big chunk of my life. It's actually not as sad as it sounds. ;)

So, all those who click on this banner win........ my eternal gratitude? Good karma? Interesting reading? Newly gained knowledge? Choose a prize! (And seriously, thank you.)

I'm currently collapsed into a heap on my big red couch -- welcome to Monday night. It's not so different from last night, except that Pico isn't up on the couch watching The Italian Job on TV. I'm really not kidding when I say that my dog watches more TV than I do. Wait'll the Stanley Cup playoffs. If I dare to throw his ball and ask him to "fetch!" during a play, he'll exact his revenge that night or the next morning by weaving in and out of the vertical blinds in my bedroom until they're clanging together in a perfect Pico symphony. I'm still kind of scared to see what happens when he realizes his favorite programming no longer comes packaged with the Hockey Night in Canada theme song.

TV time aside, we do co-exist harmoniously. At least until he figures out how to open the Milk Bone cupboard by himself.

I did make it over to the fitness center earlier tonight though, and also took Pico for a walk. When I decided to resume being a Monday night couch potato, I somehow got to looking through old CD backups of computer files and found one from late 2001. I've been reading old blog entries from 2000 and 2001 that were permanently archived offline, and wow. I don't even remember writing half of that stuff! I was a little less self-censored then. I guess time, a semester of communications law, and irate circus clowns can all help you develop the mind-to-keyboard filter.

What else have I been up to? It was a pretty busy weekend. I went for a hike in the Santa Cruz mountains on Friday, and on Saturday, loaded Pico into the car and drove to Fresno to see Kelly, Timothy, T, T & E, along with Kelly's parents, her sister, and brother-in-law. It was so good to see everyone! And Harry Potter fans, if you can ever make it on a drive through Madera county, there's something you're really going to want to see. The world may never know if Platform 9 3/4 exists, but I can tell you that Avenue 15 3/4 does. For real. One day I'm going to need to look up the explanation for this, but I'll guess it has something to do with measurements?

I'll leave you all to ponder that. If anyone knows the history of this, please leave a comment or drop me an email!