Long time no write. Had a great week with the family which I'll summarize as follows:

Tuesday, November 26 - Everyone ventured out to the Independence Brew Pub for lunch. They all explored around town during the day. Had Mom and Dad, Jeff and Lucia, Ron and Pam and Mur to the house for dinner. Jeff and Lucia had sent a beautiful arrangement of flowers, and Mur brought me a book about women and cats. Richard was supposed to have the guys cut a sheet of plywood and fit it with a 2 x 4 to stabilize it, but he didn't. He brought over a door to put on my little table, but it was too unsteady, so we made do with the little table with a leaf in it. Cozy, but nice. Dinner was spinach and goat cheese salad, grilled tilapia with mango salsa, asparagus, and shoo fly pie for dessert. What a nice evening.

Wednesday, November 27 - I believe this was museum day for those partaking. At 6:30, everyone met at Ristorante Panorama for flights of wine and dinner. We had the Castello Banfi Chianti Classico and a variety of Italian dishes. The staff is always so nice and friendly and they treated us to tastes of a lovely California Meritage and a sampling of dessert wines. Ron/Pam and Jell/Lucia treated all of us to dinner, which was very nice. It was more expensive than planned as a result of the two parking tickets on Jeff's car. *ouch*

Thursday, November 28 - Thanksgiving! Mom and I were both up early and got the turkey and other dishes ready to go. We discovered that my balcony made for a wonderful "walk-out" refrigerator, and we stored many of the dishes out there to make room in the fridge. I made a filo pastry wrapped brie wheel and put out cheese, crackers, olives and nuts to start. Mom made two pumpkin pies, cranberry-orange relish, sweet potato souffle, rolls and the potatoes. I found a recipe for Jennifer's Mom's broccoli salad that was delicious. The turkey turned out perfectly, and we paraded it around the living room before Dad carved it. Everyone brought wine and we had some lovely selections: Chalone Chardonnay, Grgich Hills Chardonnay, Acacia Pinto Noir. It was a wonderful dinner and we had dessert in the living room following naps and football.

Friday - November 29 - A day of rest, while everyone did their own things. We all regrouped at the Warehouse at 3:00 for a tour. There were a few guys working in the afternoon, including the electrician. We waited in the cold for a cab that I had called, but eventually flagged one coming down the street. We all met at Cuba Libre, a Cuban restaurant a short walk from the hotel for dinner. What fun! Ron and Pam gave me an adorable mouse candleholder, that goes perfectly with two rabbit candleholders I have. The atmosphere was lively, the food was very good and it was nice to have one last big meal before everyone left.

Saturday - November 30 - As Jeff says, "A Seinfeld Day." Ron/Pam/Mur had an 8:10 flight back to LA and Jeff/Lucia had left early in the morning trying to make it to Columbus, Ohio. We lazed around, watched football and ate leftovers. Mom make turkey stock from the bones and froze it in little packages for me to use.

Sunday - December 1 - Another Seinfeld Day. More football, more leftovers, and I made Danny Kaye's Lemon Pasta with a salad for dinner. Very tasty.

Monday - December 2 - back to work for me, but Mom and Dad came to the office at lunchtime. They met Carol and said hi to David. Jennifer came to lunch with us at a little Irish pub nearby. It was very nice. They went home and I went back to work. I had a business function to attend last night - the Antidefamtion League's "Americanism Award", which was given to an attorney in town. It was interesting, with the speakers including Governor-elect Ed Rendell and Philly Mayor John Street [boo, hiss] and Steven Spielberg [via videotape]. One of our clients was the dinner's Co-Chairman, so we were *invited* to purchase a table.

["Why yes, what a great idea, we'd LOVE to purchase a table."]

So now it's Tuesday, and Mom and Dad are getting ready to leave tonight. And they are getting out just in time, with the temperaures in the teens this morning and snow on the way later in the week. It was WONDERFUL having them here, and I know that both Suki and I will miss having them around the condo.

A recent Boston Globe reported on a pair of social workers and a psychologist writing a book on the latest "It Is Someone Else's Fault And Somebody Owes Me Some Money" theory: post-traumatic slavery disorder, wherein black and Latino young people are being traumatized by things that happened not to them, but to their ancestors. FrontpageMagazine.com expanded on this and asked its readers to come up with suggestions for other possible psychological disorders. Here is the entire list, along with a couple of my favorites:

Don Clevenger: Post-traumatic coliseum syndrome. You see I am a Christian and I can still feel the effects of my Christian ancestors that were horribly killed by lions and other wild beasts in the Roman coliseum during the first and second century. It seems I should be able to sue the Italian government and force them to redress these horrible wrongs of a mere 1900 years ago. I can't even visit a zoo or a circus without being overcome with anxiety! Its horrible.

Michael Thomas: I have PTMD, post-traumatic Mafia disorder, because of discrimination against my Italian heritage on my mother's side. I was traumatized as a child watching "Batman"--whenever a bad guy threw a punch the screen would show "WOP!" And that was compounded by some actor in a commercial saying "thatsa speecy spicy meetaball." Every time someone mentions "The Sopranos" or the Corleones, I sob uncontrollably. And of course, I collapse in grief when someone says "Where'd the day go?"

Bill West: I suffer from RWD, reflected white disorder. I experience anxiety when I look in the mirror and see a white, middle-aged, middle class, middle-level executive from Middle America. I'm thinking of suing myself.

Personally, I think I have Pre-Musical Chair Syndrome - when the music stops I'll be the only one left standing to take responsibility for everyone else's problems.

Quote du jour:

"What other family has this much fun?"

-- Muriel Iverson

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