We're officially late. I'm shocked. :)

Becky and I are at Union Station in L.A., waiting for our train to Seattle, which is scheduled to depart at 9:30 AM.

Happy Birthday, America!

We bought tix to the Hollywood Bowl 4th of July concert & fireworks show not really knowing who the headliner, Kenny Loggins, is. We'd heard of him but couldn't place him. Well, now we're here, and
let's just say we're looking forward to the fireworks. :)

Portugal wins on penalty kicks, 3-1, after a nil-nil tie in the game. The Brits are out. So much for the Italy-Germany and England-France, Axis and Allied powers semifinals. :)

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At a pub in L.A., watching the England-Portugal game. It's a scoreless tie in the 63rd minute, but England star Rooney just got red-carded.

No, this post isn’t about the father of Shannon’s baby — though he’s a pretty cool guy, too. Rather, it’s about another cool guy named P.J.: Pedro Rivera, one of my fellow summer associates at Bryan Cave (seen below during our recent pre-mock trial mini-retreat at the Hyatt Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale).

The reason I’m singling P.J. out for praise is because he rescued Becky and me from a rather sticky situation: we were planning to either take Robbie to Becky’s parents’ house or board him at a kennel while we’re on the West Coast, but then it turned out Becky’s parents are leaving town and we left Robbie’s vaccination paperwork in Indiana, so boarding him wasn’t an option. I sent an e-mail to my fellow summers, asking — I called it a “longshot” — if any of them would like to “borrow a dog” for the long weekend. To my surprise, I found a volunteer: P.J. So that’s where Robbie is right now, chilling with P.J. and his wife in Gilbert.

So basically, the whole point of this post is to say: thanks, P.J.!!!

Speaking of the two P.J.s, how’s this for an odd coincidence: during this summer before Shannon has her baby, I have a co-worker named P.J. (the same name as Shannon’s boyfriend) and a co-worker named Logan (the same name as Shannon’s baby)!

And Becky is pretty. :)

Our flight is delayed.

P.S. This is why.

Becky and I depart for L.A. at 8:30 tonight, kicking off our whirlwind tour of the West Coast. I’ll be posting occasional blog updates by cell phone, and probably by laptop-via-cell-phone too, throughout the holiday weekend. So, stay tuned!

Oh, and by the way, thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the link to my Britney Spears post, my 61st Instalanche (a.k.a. “InstaBoost LXI”). Glenn has concluded that this must be “blog sweeps week,” given the number of posts about various sexual topics (such as the history of the blowjob), and my post about Britney fit right in with that meme. Not like I planned that or anything… [whistles innocently]

For several weeks now, I’ve been ruminating, researching and tentatively planning various possible scenarios for what Becky and I could potentially do with the upcoming 4th of July weekend. As soon as I learned that I have four days off from work — from Saturday the 1st through Tuesday the 4th — I felt that I definitely wanted to make the most of the opportunity to travel somewhere and do something fun, hopefully with Becky and perhaps other family and/or friends. A trip to Connecticut and New Hampshire was considered, as was a trip to Buffalo, a trip to Las Vegas (flying out mother-to-be Shannon as a pre-baby treat) and even a trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. Ultimately, however, plans for Vegas fell through because of Shannon’s work schedule, going back East was deemed impractical in terms of time and money, and the Montana thing was revealed as totally absurd. So, last night, we finally decided on a far more sensible plan…

We’re flying to L.A. on Friday night, hanging out with Adrienne, then taking an Amtrak train up the coast to Seattle, touring the Space Needle and visiting David, and finally catching a very early-morning flight back to Phoenix so I can return to work bright and early.

As I said, very sensible. :)


The Coast Starlight, reputedly the most scenic of Amtrak’s routes.

Okay, okay, so it sounds a little hectic and crazy. “Fill the unforgiving minute,” as my dad always says (quoting Kipling). But that shouldn’t surprise regular readers, who are well aware of my penchant for random, whirlwind trips. I’m all about travel for travel’s sake, or more precisely, for the sake of “making a memory.” And I’m even more enthusiastic when the itinerary involves crossing an item off my “life’s to-do list,” or in this case, three items: riding the Coast Starlight (especially important since it could be shut down at any time), visiting the Hollywood Bowl (where we’ll be catching fireworks on Saturday), and going up the Space Needle.

Besides, believe it or not, the trip isn’t going to cost that much. Despite the multiple stages, long distances and last-minute bookings, the total cost is significantly less than what a Buffalo or New England trip would have set us back. And to me, it’s totally worth it. As objectively inconvenient as long-distance Amtrak trains are, I love them. Ever since riding the Sunset Limited to New Orleans in 2002, I’ve wanted to take the Coast Starlight from L.A. to Seattle, and now I finally get my chance. Plus, we get visits with Adrienne and David as part of the package deal! Two great friends, two fantastic cities, three states, three life’s to-do list items, 1,389 miles on the tracks and 1,476 miles in the air, all in one holiday weekend? Not bad!

And the best part is, as all this plural pronoun usage implies, Becky has agreed to come along, bless her heart. She’s not usually quite as enthusiastic about this sort of thing as I am, but I guess she’s in an adventurous mood these days. Perhaps it’s that we both feel the oppressive onset of approaching adult responsibilities — bar exams, billable hours, and God willing, babies* — and thus we want to make the most of our youth while we still can! I know I definitely feel that way, and I fully intend to squeeze every possible ounce of memorable fun out of my 3L year… especially if I get a job offer at the end of this summer, knock on wood. :) So this, and the Atlanta thing, probably aren’t the last “random trips” you’ll be hearing about between now and next August. But they’re a good start!

*Don’t worry, padres, there isn’t any big news that we’re keeping from you. We’re talking about purely hypothetical future babies. :)