The classes in California went well; I stayed with Valerie and it was very nice to see her.

I also got to see Andrew Downie’s cousin, Peter (AKA “Pedro”), and we toured the newly minted Emeryville Bay Street shops. Pedro wanted to go to P.F. Changs, so we did. My advice: avoid P.F. Changs – it is lousy food for way too much money.

There was a band playing Christmas music, and a snow machine was throwing snow around so that it looked like a very light flurry. We walked around the two-story Barnes and Noble bookstore. I’ve added a number of the books I saw to my Amazon wishlist. (hinthinthint)

We did not go through the Apple Store as that store is very, very dangerous to my budget. Mmmm… 17 inch Powerbook...

So, I will admit that while it is nice to be home and again with my family, I’m not thrilled that “home” is in Illinios where it is currently too cold for my tastes.

I must also admit that despite the statements in this post it seems more and more likely that our eventual destination is California. While it would be nice to live in a state that has a reasonable cost of living, I do not relish the idea of what would happen to me if I were to be laid off while living in that state… a state that pays far, far less (on average) to employees than I would find acceptable.

And, yes, the lower wages are related to the lower cost of living. Yet I cannot fail to notice that goods and services that I might want to buy and/or enlist (such as new laptops, etc.) do not scale their prices based on the cost of living in your state. Also, I might wish to travel to states that cost more than Florida and I doubt they’re going to say “Oh, you’re from Florida! Let me charge you only 60% of what we normally charge our customers.”

But, there are a lot of other things to get done before moving is on the schedule. Updates as they are warranted.

In other news, it appears that the Samsonite Gorilla is alive and well. Our largest duffel bag has had a hole punched in it, and as a result I lost a rechargeable AA battery.

Unacceptable! Time to purchase Kevlar duffel bags, methinks.

Finally, this is not why we shop at Target. In fact, it might tend to prevent us from going there. I’m not sure how they do this for the online store – how do they handle shipping with this product, anyway?

Update: (via BoingBoing)

“Mystery solved: A little poking around in the item information for Target’s”Anal Massage item reveals an ASIN. This is because Amazon and Target are business partners and ASINs are the unique identifiers used by Amazon. So if you go to Amazon and search for this item’s ASIN (B0002KPIBO) you learn that (unfortunately) the item in question is not an actual anal massage, but rather an instructional DVD called “Anal Massage.”

Says one reviewer: “It is appropriate for housewives, lovers, massage therapists and everyone interested in deepening the experience of relaxation and pleasure for themselves or for others. The DVD presents an easy to follow hands-on format that is comfortable for all types of viewers.” Hands-on and comfortable!