On my way to nowhere

As we speak, I am not on my way to the Philippines. "The Family" decided it was too dangerous for me to go. They came up with a plan "B", which involved sending my sister in law instead. She tried to get the time off her job--they said no, so she quit.

In the meantime, "The Family" had come up with a plan "C", but didn't tell her, so she now has no job, and doesn't get a free trip to the Philippines either. Kind of like picking the wrong door on "Let's Make a Deal".

Plan "C" sends my brother-in-law to the Philippine Embassy early Monday morning to try and do a one-day passport renewal, and a monday night flight to Manila. He's not too happy about it, but you don't go against "The Family".

I was ready to go. I had it all worked out--the music I would take along, and 800+ pages of Harry Potter to read along the way. I was attracted to the adventure of it. Flying halfway across the world to deliver something, have dinner, and come home. I could have pretended I was a secret courier, carrying the plans for "shadow robots".

It's probably for the best that I'm not going though. It would have been selfish of me to leave right now. Maybe it was more of a temporary escape. Plus, american tourists are sometimes targets in the Philippines, especially if they are carrying secret plans for shadow robots.

So I'll take Leo down to SF tomorrow afternoon, and then have dinner with my dad. Almost the same, but no jet lag.

Best uncle in the world.

I took the girls to Border's books last evening for the big Harry Potter release thing. We got there around 9:30, and I ended up sitting in line for the next 2 1/2 hours while they sampled the goings-on. I eneded up in line next to a friend who I hadn't seen for a couple of years, so we visited for a while. After we ran out of things to say, I grabbed a book I had wanted to read, and got through the first 50 pages. I ended up buying it as well.

outside Border's
Once they started selling the book, things moved pretty quickly, and we were out of the store by 12:20. The girls started reading immediately--out loud, so we could all participate. We stayed up until 2.

This morning, as the girls were getting ready to go home, I had them draw numbers out of a hat. The winner got to take Harry Potter home and read it first. Best uncle in the world!