"You fail at blogging"

That is what my son Brendan says... and considering the more than a month that has passed since my last posting, I'd have to agree! OK, so here we try again. Quick summary of the last five weeks:
-- Went to my men's book group meeting at a house in Kensington and discussed "Stumbling on Happiness," by Daniel Gilbert. Our next book is the Pulitzer Prize-wining novel "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," by Junot Diaz. For extra credit some of us will be reading another Pulitzer Prize-winning novel for 1981, "A Confederacy of Dunces," by John Kennedy Toole. The book was published eleven years after the author committed suicide at age 31. Both novels are considered "picaresque."
-- Flew to Savannah to impersonate the founder of the Special Libraries Association (SLA), John Cotton Dana.
-- Drove down to Palm Springs to play in the annual "Palm Springs Invitational" golf tournament. Retired UC librarian Terry Dean organizes this event each year. The golf is not taken too seriously, but the cooking and wine is!
http://www.campbelldewolf.net/PalmSprings_2009/
-- Went on several more hikes in the East Bay parks, one near Moraga in Redwood Park and others around Lake Chabot. Two of them with retired librarians.
-- Sang several duets with Gayle Marie for an Alta Mira Club luncheon at the historic Peralta Home in San Leandro. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peralta_Home
-- Spent two separate days in San Francisco, which included a lunch with an old friend Eric Nielson and another with Jeff Banchero at the French Club. Visited the Museum of Craft and Folk Art. Met with Bill Van Niekerken at the Chronicle. Turned in some paperwork with the Newspaper Guild. Had a couple meetings of the Friends of the San Francisco Maritime Museum Library -- I'm president for the next two years.
-- During a surprisingly warm weekend, helped Carl Nolte bring his Pearson 28 from Hidden Harbor in the Delta to Sausalito, about 60 miles. We spent the night at Benicia, which is about halfway.
-- Attended an SLA dinner meeting and took Susan and her assistant Anne. The evening's presentation was on the Google book digitization lawsuit and settlement.
-- Last weekend Susan & I spent two nights aboard our cabin cruiser in the Delta, despite wind, rain and cold. We towed our gunning dory, "Draco," up there too, so we could participate in the TSCA scheduled row on Saturday, Valentine's Day. Between storm fronts, the group managed a row of about six miles from Korth's Pirate's Lair Marina to Potato Slough and back. The wind was mighty cold, and was a little much for some of the boats.