Sunday. Another computer freeze wiping out the first three paragraphs of undying prose composed this morning just after breakfast and the papers. It's consistent. Boots, runs for about twenty minutes max, gives as often as not a few two note beeps through the speakers, a little low to high two note warning of some kind and then stops. Sometimes there's a temp file created by Dreamweaver, the editor I use, and I can recall what I've lost; most times, as in this morning, it doesn't and what I've written is lost.

Once it's done this once, sometimes twice, it runs without a hitch for the rest of the day, so it's something it does when it's first started. Updating a database over the web, maybe: the anti-virus stuff, Windows, some weird assed little piece of shit I loaded and then never used? Dreamweaver itself? Have no idea, the error messages are mixed, but not unknown out there in GoogleLand.

Up this morning at seven rather than six having gotten to bed after eleven. Watched movies streamed over the Roku box from Netflix last night. Works like a charm. You watch, say, half a movie and then stop, it saves it where you left off so you can start it again later in the day, later in the week, start where you left off or start over, it gives you the choice. Nice feature, better in many ways than getting the DVD's themselves. I may take them up on their download only plan, save the money I'm spending for the DVD's. Don't use the DVD side nearly enough.

Overcast again. We had some sun yesterday, intermittent sun, nothing to write home about, but sun nonetheless. A concert of some kind in a Berkeley park later today near the BART station, I suspect I'll attend although the weather out there at nine-thirty in the morning isn't inviting. I don't think it's going to rain, but you never know. Still, possible adventure ahead, we'll persevere and then let the both of us know.

Later. A bus to BART and then a train to the downtown Berkeley station to head a couple of blocks to Civic Center park where they were to have a band contest of some kind. That's how I remember the blurb in the paper, anyway, I couldn't find it when I looked again this morning. I found the park easily enough, but no one was around. Such is life. Still, the area was interesting, more so than I'd imagined as the store fronts and such along Shattuck, the main drag, are singularly forgettable. So I walked and took the occasional picture.

Feeling in the mood, I then walked up the few blocks to Telegraph where it butts into the University and found the street fair they'd advertised yesterday. They'd blocked off the four blocks or so on Telegraph and lined both sides of the street with various people selling, well, the usual stuff, some of it rather nice. So I walked up and down a couple of times taking pictures. The idea, after all.

Then a walk to the bus stop on Telegraph beyond the street fair to take the bus back to Oakland, except there wasn't a bus and I thought, well, The Looking Glass, a camera shop, is just down the way, why not walk farther along on the lookout for a bud and stick my head inside if it doesn't come? I haven't been inside The Looking Glass in quite some time. So I did. And then walked farther along again, but still no bus. Had it come while I was inside the camera shop? My, my. I ended up at the Rockridge BART station and took BART and a bus back home. A good solid two hours walking. More than enough. More than enough.

The low lying fog was breaking as I arrived at the apartment, the sun now quite bright outside my windows, the back a little sore and I'm thinking that was more walking than I should be doing. Still, it doesn't seem to have hurt. We'll get on now with the guitar, follow on to the good series of sessions we had yesterday and pat ourself on the back for our excellent effort. Sickening, patting yourself on the back in public, but we're alone here, no one will know and sometimes it does help. (hup! hup!)

Later still. Hungry, but in juggling my various options, I decided on driving over to Beverages & More for sake, Swiss cheese and crackers, the longest journey with the greatest traffic. Perhaps my subconscious was telling me something I didn't really want to know, but here we are, a flask of sake to the wind, a wedge of Swiss to the waistline (it never tastes as good as you were thinking it would), a step toward another ocular migraine (if I'm unlucky). What the hell, it's Sunday, I've been a good old photographer over these last several days and I don't have anything involving alcohol coming up until Friday when we have our usual suspects’ annual Christmas dinner. Oh, and I'm safely ensconced here in the apartment, no need to venture out before breakfast.

In looking through today's photographs I'm not sure the ones above give the overall group justice. Well, one or two. There were performers at the Telegraph Holiday Fair. There was a new window display at the 19 Grand Avenue bar beside Bakesale Betty's. There were many, many doors. I'm into doors. I like doors. These, however, are Berkeley doors and won't really fit in my Here in Oakland Doors series, but what the hell. We'll find a way to do these Berkeley doors, we always do.

The week is clear of commitments until Friday's dinner, the attitude is good, although I'm considering breaking my rule on that second (large) flask of sake. I was careful to buy but one 750ml bottle, thinking if it all goes to hell I'll at least have provided a barrier to complete degradation. Did I know when I made the decision to drive to Beverages & More that things were already out of control? Oh hell, probably so.