Back in Cali

It's been a long day, peeps. I was up way too early, and I spent way too much time on an airplane. The flight took off on time, and was relatively pleasant, but the strong headwinds put us about 20 minutes late, which, after you've been on a plane for six hours and 33 minutes already, is a drag.
I had a chatty lady sitting next to me, which also sucked a bit, but I was able to drown her out with the iPod and book, so she really only bothered me when it seemed as though I had nothing else going on ... and of course, whenever the drink cart came by. "Did you want something to drink, dear?" Anyway, she was nice.
Mom and I hit Islands for lunch, which was wonderful, and I got to dig into yummy nachos. And half a hamburger later (yes, Sarah, even in California I tend to always go with the red meat), we were out in the sunshine and on our way to the hair salon.
The beautiful Malia and I share a birthday, so Mom and I picked up some flowers for her on our way to the shop, and we had a good visit while she did my hair. (Just a trim, but I decided to go with the royal blue hair color instead of the orange that Brian was advocating.)
I've had some quality time with Sheila, a good dinner with Lisa at Yolanda's (of course), and right now, I'm tired, stuffed with Mexican food, pleased to have had a good visit with Lis, and getting ready to collapse in bed. And the world just kept on turning.
By the way, two giant pandas donated by the Chinese government to a zoo in Thailand decided to mate for the first time this week ... Jan. 17, actually. Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui got it on with the cameras rolling. You've just got to appreciate that. It's so Pam and Tommy.