Today is V's birthday. I got her her present yesterday at Kenneth Cole, some swank zebra loafers and a matching handbag that she'd had her eye on. Tonight we're heading to Platanos in the Mission for some Latin American grub with Naomi, Jenz, Donald, and Marcus. V's birthday romp actually began over the weekend, as i took her to the A. Rafanelli winery in Healdsburg on Sunday afternoon to buy some of the great wines we'd sampled at Louie and Becky's house a few months back. They're a small-scale operation that gets lots of praise, and don't sell in retail outlets. So we put our names on the waiting list to get on their wine buyers mailing list, and walked out with two bottles of their Zinfandel and another two of their special reserve Cabernet. At their recommendation, we had lunch in downtown Healdsburg at the yummy Willi's Seafood, featuring a lobster roll, clam and garlic flatbread, and a hanger steak skewer (Veronica had to eat something!). Unfortunately, it seems the meal did a number on my stomach, and in conjunction with the long drive home and my ongoing bout of congestion (it seems either our new couch, our recent increased use of the heater, or Tara's bountiful shed hair are doing a number on my sinuses) i quickly felt downright crappy. My poor state of health forced us to cancel our evening trip to Fremont for dinner with my family, including Em back from Texas for the weekend. Doh.

Still no word from the one Toyota and two Honda dealers regarding the Civic Hybrids and Priuses i have deposits on. I have a feeling that when i do hear from them, it's not going to be "your car has arrived at our lot, come and get it", but "we have the VIN for your car, it'll be here in a month". I was hoping to have it this week so i don't have to drive our seminar speaker to dinner in the pathetic Tercel again next week, but that's looking unlikely. Will it be here in time for me to drive it to the upcoming radiation biology retreat in Sonoma on the 21st? Your guess is as good as mine.

Chelsea may be in the midst of the dip in form our rivals waited impatiently for last season and early this one. We're 1-3-1 in our last five matches, beating only Blackburn in the Premiership, drawing with Everton, and losing to Real Betis, Charlton, and Manchester United in the Champions League, Carling Cup, and Premiership respectively. Granted our three losses came at a combined score of 3-1 (how is that possible? Well, although the masses record our penalty-kick loss to Charlton after ending 1-1 in extra time as a draw, i'm a realist and say we lost). We're conceding weak goals that we didn't last season, and our offense seems to have hit a wall. Arjen Robben is not playing like the Robben of last season (he's only 21, i guess i should give him a break), and our striker situation has really not improved from last season. Lampard is scoring the majority of our goals, but we shouldn't be relying on him for that. I trust the boys to pick it up, but in keeping with the approach of winter, the forecast is gray.

I have to admit, i totally passed on Sigur Rós when i first heard them. Next great shoegazing band my ass, i said. Now i'm eating serious crow. Takk is the most beautiful thing i've heard this year. If not ever. "Glósóli" sends shivers down my spine. It's the kind of song that brings tears to your eyes and has you air drumming like there's no tomorrow during its apocalyptic climax. Yet more proof that it doesn't matter what lyrics you're singing (SR frontman Jon Thor Birgisson sings alternately in Icelandic and Hopelandic, a made-up language), as long as you can resonate. And Sigur Rós does that in spades.