Our first weekend without Pepe was a bit somber, for me at any rate. I can't tell when i play with Tara if i'm projecting my sadness onto her or if she's genuinely missing her little friend. I keep seeing the way he swaggered around the house, his little shoulders rocking from side to side. Or remembering how we would try to burrow down under the blankets when we put him up on the bed. I miss our Peppers.

We spent said weekend with Geoff, and subsequently with Naomi after she got back from a two day trip down to La La Land. G spent the night on Thursday after dropping N off at the Oakland airport, and then again on Friday. Before he arrived on Friday night, V and i made an unscheduled trip to Honda of Serramonte. In keeping with my typical lack of patience, i've been contacting dealers in the area to see if anyone already has the 2006 Civic Hybrids in stock. What i've learned is that car dealers have a radically different definition of "in stock" than i do. On Friday i got an email from the Serramonte dealer telling me they had one 2006 Civic Hybrid with the GPS unit ("navi") in stock. When V and i got there, we didn't mention that i had already contacted them, to gauge their reaction. We were told the new hybrids would be arriving the second week in November. Oooookaaaaaaay. My contact called me Saturday morning to ask when i would be coming in, so i asked him to verify that they had a 2006 hybrid in stock. He sounded confused, and then said "oh ... i thought you just wanted the nav system". Yeah right ... i'm going to mount it on my head so i always know where i am. Menlo Honda also emailed me Saturday morning to tell me that the hybrid was currently available, but again on further probing i learned they weren't going to be on the lot for another three weeks. I have no idea how this strategy of misinformation works in the dealers' favor, but it's pissing me off.

On Saturday we ran some errands with G before picking N up in Oakland. That included stopping by EB so i could grab Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PSP, as well as an extra Xbox controller so Geoff doesn't have to use the older, bulkier controller when we conduct our Halo forays. After Naomi got in, we ran a few errands with her then headed home so she could get ready for an evening scooter girl party. Her costume, Uma Thurman/Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction, post-adrenaline injection in the heart, came out nicely. We dropped her off at the function in the city while G, V, and i headed off to Amoeba so Geoff could sell a few hundred cd's. I picked up a Killing Joke compilation while there, then we headed over to Polk for a late dinner at Chai Yo while we watched all the Halloween merrymakers. After retrieving N we headed back down to RC, and got in a coop round of Geoff's new acquisition Sniper Elite, followed by a few late night matches of Halo on Xbox Live. I called it a night when i was traumatized listening to the assorted online nitwits indoctrinate a poor seven year old with a variety of racist comments and sexual abuse.

The mission Sunday was to complete our dining room by painting the trim. Geoff and i masked it off and got one coat on by early afternoon. We watched the very entertaining and somber Sideways on Tivo while we slowly got ready, then collectively headed down to Valley Fair for more shopping. Geoff had eyed an orange corduroy coat at Kenneth Cole on our previous visit, and wanted to grab it this time. In order to qualify for a discount, i threw a laptop case in the sale that is considerably slimmer and more comfortable than my current one. I also picked up a nice pair of black pin stripe velvet trousers from Banana Republic. We got home around 9:30pm after a meal at Red Robin in Santa Clara, although it felt like 11pm given the Saturday night clock change. Geoff and Naomi decided to head back to Sacto, while i put another coat on the dining room trim. V and i removed the tape an hour or two later, and found that we had some bleed onto our beautiful red stripes. We'll have to touch that up sometime, although to be honest it's not really all that apparent. On their way home, G+N spotted a sign at San Leandro Honda saying they had Hybrids in stock. I gave them a call this morning, and again demonstrated that car dealers use the term "in stock" very loosely ... they don't expect them in for another month. By that definition, i've got a 2006 Hybrid in stock.

V and my Halloween will consist of a visit to the Fillmore for Bauhaus. V saw them at the Warfield last week and concluded they weren't as good as on their 1998 reunion tour. The Fillmore is a bit more intimate (although V and Naomi did have the prime front row balcony seats at the Warfield), and it is All Hallow's Eve, so we'll see how it goes. The 1998 show was very theatric, with lots of great stage sets and acting by Peter Murphy, and apparently that's out the window this time. Doh. Oh well ... Bauhaus still command a lot of respect in my book.