Yesterday's rehearsal was good. We were able to say things like, "This one should be cut if it doesn't get a whole lot better" and "Let's use close harmonies on this one." When we get back with the instrumentalists, we'll be able to put the whole thing together.

We had recordings, and I was pleased to hear that my voice hasn't started sounding old, a fear of mine.

I also got an A in my web design class.

Apart from these reassuring things, we went to Hollywood, to Amoeba records,  had a drink at the Arclight Cinema, and picked up some Zankou chicken. Following the rehearsal, we took the dogs for a walk. I was surprised that my hostess felt at ease walking around after dark, but it was very pleasant and we met no marauders.

We're having an extended slumber party, with lots of good conversation. I called home, and got to talk to my husband and #1 son (#2 son was out on the river), who assured me that they're getting enough to eat.

Today I've got a fair amount of work to do, while my hostess visits her chiropractor and masseur, and then we plan to go to Seal Beach.

I'm not sure what we did yesterday morning. I got up early and worked a bit, and when my hostess arose we had eggs and tamales, fruit salad, and yogurt, plus tea and conversation, and then suddenly it was 3:00.

At that point we went to an Italian bakery to get ingredients for dinner, plus an assortment of cakes, and got ready for rehearsal.

The plan was to have rehearsal at 4:00, followed by dinner. You're probably thinking that we were running late. I went out to the patio to get basil and chopped stuff and tidied up, thinking we would still be chopping when the other musicians arrived. No such thing. They started rolling up around 5:30. We had everything ready and were relaxing with knitting.

We rehearsed for a couple of hours, and then had pasta with lots of vegetables, fresh mozzarella, and shrimp. Salad, too, with tomatoes and basil, and then we brought out the little cakes and took slices from them so that each of us had several different kinds. This misrepresents the situation, really. Half the people in the group didn't eat wheat, so they were goading the rest of us on to try all of them and report. I have a picture of the cakes for you, when I can put my camera into communication with my computer.

One of the instrumentalists had met that morning with a birder from Michigan, in order to check on a piece of land to see whether it had endangered birds. Interesting job, huh? This guy apparently flies all over the country, checking for endangered birds before construction projects. I had never heard of a professional birdwatcher before.

He was telling me about this because it was his experience with an Easterner like me. I must have looked startled, because he then said, "Or Midwesterner." I offered "Southerner" kindly. I'm from California myself and I understand the geographical confusion. There's California and the rest of the West, which is to say Oregon and Washington, there's New York, and everything in between is just a vague blur, possibly containing wheat.

After dinner we got back to rehearsal. Delicate questions such as where the instrumental break should be and whether the fiddle or the  slide guitar should be employed in this song or that occupied us till late-for-me.

This afternoon we have another rehearsal just for the vocalists so we can tighten up our harmonies.

I'm not able to post pictures from here, so I'll be putting them up when I get back.

Yesterday I started the day with peaches from my hostess's backyard and special delicious yogurt from Trader Joe's. I worked for abut six hours and got quite a lot done, so I felt fine about turning off the computer and being a tourist for a while. Just at that moment, my bag arrived, so I am now able to change clothes and stuff.

We drove around admiring the architecture for a bit, and then went for mani-pedis. My hostess proposed massage, acupressure scopes, and various other things, but the sybaritic nature of the mani-pedi seemed sufficient.

The salon was well-ventilated and lavish, and each of us had two handmaidens so we got to feel like oriental potentates. I assume that's how oriental potentates felt, back when they existed. We sat in massage chairs with our feet in bubbling blue water and the attendants did all sorts of complex things with various tools and oils and lotions and stuff. I had my toenails painted a shade called "Would U Like a Licktenstein," and I am not making that up. They buffed my fingernails to be shiny, because nail polish on my hands would just have been going too far.

They also massaged our hands, arms, feet, and legs with rare unguents -- okay, with pink lotion. It was quite something.

All relaxed, we went to Whole Foods, or "the Disneyland of foods," as my hostess calls it, for fruits and lavish salads for dinner.

Having had our meal, we went out dancing. Contra dancing, in case you are imagining me clubbing in Hollywood.

Contra dancing is sort of like square dancing -- very fun and easy to catch on to, though I got dizzy.

I can tell that it's a somewhat eccentric pastime here, because there were people dressed in the kind of outfit that announces, "Hello, I'm eccentric." One nice gentleman, for example, wore, reading from the floor upwards, black dancing shoes, white calf-length socks, hiking shorts, and an Esperanto T-shirt. Character shoes and ankle socks were popular among the women. People in these unusual outifts were not treated any differently from anyone else, which is another sign that an activity is a special, unusual thing to do. Like science fiction cons or knitting circles, this group embraces its eccentrics.

The music was fantastic.

Everyone I met was very nice, and I enjoyed dancing, though I also sat out a lot getting my bearings because of the dizziness. I felt pretty stupid, but didn't fall down or run into anyone, so I guess it was okay.

I was initially asked to dance by a courtly man who, when I accepted, went to change his shoes and planned to be right back. In his absence, this other guy came along and grabbed me in a manner suggesting that he had been reading romance novles with a masterful hero and I ended up on the dance floor with him in spite of my protests. He alarmed me a little, because he seemed to be getting fresh and I'm seriously out of practice in dealing with that,  but once I escaped from him, I saw that he behaved that way with everyone. Whether this is because of those romance novels he's been reading or because his style of dance demands it I don't know.

It was  fun anyway. We stayed till the end and then came home and talked about politics until 1:30 a.m., which people who know me will recognize as way past my bedtime.

Rehearsals begin today. I have some small bits of work to do, but just really small bits because I'm taking the weekend off.

My travel went smoothly. I got to keep my knitting and wasn't singled out for any special attention, I didn't get lost, and -- as I had anticipated -- the air is vertical to the part of my brain that is in charge of stupid phobic reactions, so I enjoyed flying.

One little thing happened. As I boarded the plane with my carry on bag, it was taken away from me and put on a "valet" shelf. A cart like a restaurant cart with the word "valet" on it. This was done in the chute (they always make me think of the chutes at slaughter houses) from the airport to the plane. When I arrived in Dallas, I asked whether I needed to get my bag and was assured that it would go on to my destination.

It didn't. It is in Dallas. I am not.

I don't really care. I'm near L.A., and not only are they well supplied with toothbrushes here, my hostess even knows of a good lingerie shop, and we now have an excuse to go shopping there. She loaned me a T-shirt to sleep in, and the carry on bag really only contained clothing and make up. I was also carrying a lap top bag in which I have #2 son's laptop, my Kindle, my Blackberry, my billfold, my knitting, and my organizer.

At the airport, though, after we spent half an hour waiting for my bag to come around on the carousel, there was a difference of opinion over whose fault this mishap was.

"How did you think they were going to send the bag on?" the first person I asked said, with a clear implication that I was stupid.

"They looked at my ticket and put something on the bag," I explained pleasantly, and the first person sent me on to another.

He also thought I was stupid, and gave me an 800 number to call. The special 800 number, I think, for stupid people. The woman on the other end of that number listened to my story and asked whether I had put a label on my bag.

"No," I answered, confirming her in her believe that I was stupid. "I wasn't expecting to have it taken away from me."

She then asked me for a description, and what was in it.

"Clothing," I began, and she broke in.

"Ma'am, everybody packs clothing."

I wish I could express the degree of weariness in her voice.

Fortunately, I had also packed a not-yet-published book. They found my bag while I was still on the phone with this woman.

"They found it," she said with no discernible enthusiasm. "Pink tennis shoes?"

I allowed as how it did contain pink tennis shoes. She said they'd send it on to where I'm staying, and accepted my thanks.

The moral of the story, it seems to me, is that you should always pack unusual things in your carry on bag, just in case.

"Or," said my hostess when I expressed this view, "put your name on it."

Thank you all for the good wishes.

I powered out yesterday and got a lot done, including bringing all the current websites up to whatever point I could get them to and sending the bits off to whoever was supposed to do the next bit. I blogged for everyone I blog for, twittered (though of course I have to keep doing that; my girls tell me it's normally done from one's phone anyway), and got all my invoices out.

I also turned in my final project.

I got the bottom tidied up, though in the end it didn't look exactly the way I wanted: it was supposed to be two columns, with one main color and a darker sidebar.

Instead, I think it looks as though I've matted the pale bit on the main, dark sheet. However, I have gotten the whole thing lined up everywhere, so I just turned it in.

I sent it to my two best designers soliciting their opinions on whether there was any little thing I could do to improve it before turning it in, and both gave me suggestions about how to make the text look better -- line height, and making it darker on the sidebar, and padding, which I still haven't mastered. Neither told me the secret of even columns, but I figure the next time I'll be able to get that. It turned out pretty well overall.

This was an online course, but I got to know a couple of my fellow students a bit and have plans to meet for coffee.

Everything is packed for my trip, and I just have to go around and blog for everyone before I go.

I have lots and lots of stuff to do today. I'm leaving tomorrow quite early, and I don't know about my level of internet access for the next week and a half. So there may be sporadic posting here.

I watched TV last night.

I rarely watch TV. Actually, I do watch TV programs, including British and Canadian ones, on DVD or on the computer. There are several programs that I've bought the DVDs of because I enjoy watching them repeatedly: Numb3rs,Coupling, Pushing Up Daisies, The Thin Blue Line. But actually turning on the TV and watching it is rare.

TV is so inconvenient. You have to remember when things are on, and this changes all the time. I think that when I was a little girl, programs were on at the same time throughout the school year and then they had reruns during the summer. Now, a season may be five weeks long, with two time changes in  the middle, and I'm too busy to keep track of that stuff. TV also expects you to watch things when they happen to be on, and how unreasonable is that? It's a machine; why should it have a schedule? I'll work around human's schedules,

So there is typically one program at most that I actually try to watch on the television. For a while it was Monk, but that show has changed its time or gone off the air or something, and now I make an effort to watch The Big Bang. It used to be on at 7:00 on Monday, a fact which I discovered after several weeks of seeing the ending of the program.

I think I was able to watch it twice at that time.

They have now moved it. Last night, I discovered that this program is now on at 8:30. I found this out by watching the programs preceding it on the same station.

I wrote a website yesterday (the client responded with "I'll call you tomorrow," and may therefore not be happy with it; I'll find out) and did a bunch of blogging and social media stuff, and worked on my final project, and by 7:00 my hands hurt and I was ready to quit working.

So I just went ahead and watched the evening lineup.

"It's nothing but jokes about sex," #2 son assured me. He was right. Also jokes about drinking, vomiting, and various kinds of scatalogical humor that I don't always completely grasp.

This was the prime time viewing for families, and here was nothing but depravity as far as the eye could see.

I think The Big Bang Theory is funny, but #2 son lumps it in with the others. He didn't believe that it wasn't available online, and was outraged when he found that I was right.

The other thing I did yesterday was to attempt, along with one of my classmates, to solve the whole length-of-columns thing. We sent emails back and forth during our detective work, inching closer to the solution. I think it's wrapper and clearfix, if only I could understand them. I have to turn the project in tomorrow, so that's the deadline on figuring it out.

Today I have a project for The Computer Guy, an article for the brokers, assorted blogging and social media and analytics, and the follow-up call from that client. I ought to get my Amazon reviews done, too, and possibly I should pack.

I'm reading Joan Hess's Muletrain to Maggody, which is set in a fictional hamlet near the real town where Hess and I both live. I like Hess's books, but Suwanda was saying yesterday that they were offensive. They do rather play up to stereotypes of our region. I sort of feel like it's okay since Hess actually lives here, but Suwanda rejected that notion.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday reading. Otherwise I worked, since I'm trying to finish up my class and as much of my paid work as I can before I leave town. Today I am working mostly for The Chocolatier. I've gotten communications from all the designers I'm currently working with, so I think my chances of getting the current websites wrapped up before I leave are good. Then there are a couple more that will wait till I return. That means I just need to keep up with my retainer people while I'm gone. I should be able to do that, assuming internet connection. I believe that being in the L.A. area guarantees internet connection everywhere I go.

I asked The Computer Guy for advice about my final project, and he sent me a list of stuff about making my text look better. I would never have thought about any of those things, but I bet once I implement them my project will look way better. he did not vouchsafe to me the secret of divs.

There's a guy in my class -- I might have mentioned him before, either as the over-achiever who posts to the discussion board all the time or as the former Secret Service guy -- who is, like me, trying to make his final project look really good. He is using tables for layout. I know you are all shocked. I'll give you a moment to compose yourselves before we go on. Better now? Okay. Anyway, we were chatting this morning about how everyone manages to get their containers to work and we can't. We've been talking about this for weeks, sharing our various theories and all the things we've tried that haven't worked.

He concluded that we just haven't learned how to do that. I said that I felt sure that the instructor knows. I don't get why she won't tell us. I mean, she reads the discussion board, and grades us on our participation there. Here we've been struggling with this literally for weeks. There are no professionally-built websites that don't succeed in getting their columns into the right places, so it can't be some kind of special, arcane skill.

When I teach online this fall, I'm going to try to get the amount of discussion going that this teacher has in her class,  but when people need help, I plan to help them. She requires five posts a week, which is probably the main reason she gets all that discussion, but part of it may also be sheer frustration, which drives us to try to get help from one another.

As soon as I get back, I've got to work on my online class for next term. I think I'm way behind on that.

I shall stop thinking about that right now. I'm going to hit the gym and then get going with The Chocolatier's website. that ought to be fun.

I went to the Farmers Market yesterday and got bitter melons and long beans and raspberries and peaches and nectarines and lettuce and various squashes and French beans and several kinds of peppers.

The market is also a social occasion, of course, and a chance to get out and walk around, which sounds kind of pitiful, but it's true.

Before and after that visit, I worked. I needed to take care of my Aussies and a linkbuilding opportunity for my Northerners, negotiate a bit with a Boston baking company which may need my services, discuss with my daughters how best to bring them into the website, and finish up the last Web Design class assignment apart from the final project.

I did stop and make a nice lunch. This is Mojito Chicken Salad, made with grilled chicken, lettuce from the French farmer, fresh mint from our own garden such as it is, hot peppers, olive oil, mandarin oranges, and lime juice.

Delicious.

Then I got back to work.

I'm working today, too. I won't complain, because this means I'll be able to pay #2 son's tuition, and also because the girls are helping me out.

#2 daughter is doing ten hours of linkbuiding for me next week, and #1 is going to help out with the project management as soon as we can figure out how to do that.

I need to update my website to reflect this.

Along about 4:00, I took a break and lolled around a bit, and once I finished my homework I did a bit of knitting. I needed to start a project to take with me on my trip this week.

Obviously, knitting is a must for travel. But you don't need to take along a sweater,which is the only WIP I have right now, nor a complex project, which are the only kinds of things I had planned.

However, I have this skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton. I bought it at the LYS only because it's such a luscious color, but I think it'll be enough to make Mind of Winter's Southern Snowfall scarf. It's a simple pattern, but I think it looks nice. I went ahead and knitted up enough to get it memorized, and now will put it aside till time to go.

I haven't flown since before 9/11, so I think I have to go look up the regulations and make sure I don't carry any contraband. I think that nylon needles are okay -- I remember reading about that a few years ago.

I'm going to pack up gradually over the course of the week, I think, and get as many billable hours in as I possibly can before I go, and alert my regulars to my lessened availability. Maybe get frozen foods from the Schwann's man for the boys.

Right now I need to have some breakfast (raspberry and flax seed pancakes) and then get some work done before church. I think I'm singing a duet, actually, so I might ought to work on that a bit instead...

The Strengthsfinders books make the interesting point that we don't have terms to describe strengths clearly and well. In many cases, they say, the words we have to describe strengths are actually insults. So we have someone who is brilliant at keeping track of details and organizing things and we call them "anal." We have someone skilled at identifying strengths and we call tehm "egotistiscal." This is why they've come up with their list of superpowers.

Not that they call them superpowers. I don't remember where I got that term -- maybe it's on the Google profile form. I just remember filling something out and having it ask, "What are your superpowers?"

The Strengths books use the term "strengths," distinguishing these natural talents and inclinations from skills and knowledge that you learn. Both my daughters and I have now taken the test, and we have one more secret code left, so I'm trying to get one of the boys to do it, too.

Both the girls got Achiever on their lists. I didn't. At first I was surprised by this, because I though of it in terms of productivity. But when I look back on my year in business (or year or so, since last year at this time I was working full time and thinking of myself as unemployed), I can see that a true Achiever would have decided early on to be in business and set out to accomplish that, rather than sliding into it as I did. And in fact, both my daughters kept telling me to quit looking for jobs and focus on my business.

"I need more security than that," I told daughter #1, point out the need to feed and educate my offspring.
"That's entirely up to you," she said, meaning that as a self-employed person I could make my own security.

And of course she was right.

#1 daughter is also Analytical. #2 and I both sort of figured we'd have that one, too, seeing as how we spend much of our work days in happy analysis. #2's job title includes the word "analyst." Nope. You have to be really, really analytical to get that as a superpower.

#2 daughter has Focus as one of hers. She has, from a child, had a Joan of Arc level of persistence and follow-through. No one is arguing with this one.

Ideation is one of mine. Twice this week I've had conversations with clients who were concerned that I wouldn't really be able to come up with things to blog or tweet about on their behalf on a regular basis. I said, "That's why you're hiring me." I could have said, "No, really, thinking up stuff is one of my superpowers."

I don't think we're at that point yet in terms of adoption of a common language for discussing strengths.

Then, continuing through the alphabet, we reach the one thing that all of us have in common: Input. Which is to say collecting information.

I have Learner (learning stuff) and Maximizer (taking things from good to excellent). #1 daughter has Relator (working with other people) and Responsibility. I have Strategic, and #2 has WOO, or Winning Over Others.

I figure we'll send those girls out to sell, if selling needs to be done.

The drawback to this system is that you have to buy one of the books in order to take the test. I'm not sure that we would have been able to identify our superpowers on our own as accurately as this little test did. At the very least, we would have been hindered by modesty in thinking of these things as our superpowers. When I was asked that on the form, wherever it was, I just left it blank.

And, as you know, I have no self-esteem issues.