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Here's a few pictures of the view outside our hotel room in San Francisco. It's strange… I thought when I got home I might find myself stuck on Pacific time, having spent most of the week there. But no – I actually seem to be more on Eastern time right now. Probably because of the long drive home. We got up at 7:30 this morning, after a rather poor night’s sleep. Remember the nerve-grating refrigerator in the Las Vegas hotel? Well, this time it was an air conditioning unit – every time the fan went off, a loud thumping noise would emanate from the metal vent. It was something I didn’t notice until I was trying to fall asleep, and I didn’t figure it was worth complaining about for a one-day stay. Plus it was close to midnight and I was tired. But this meant that every time I was close to falling asleep, I would subconsciously alert myself to the possibility of the air conditioner waking me up. Which would, of course, wake me up. And then the air conditioner WOULD make a noise, and my subconscious self would say, “see, I TOLD you it was gonna do that…”

But the good thing is, since I didn’t sleep much, I spent most of the night thinking about my chocolate in the fridge and had no problem remembering to take it with me when I left. And I’m sure everyone will be happy to know it survived the trip just fine. I’ve already eaten a couple pieces – for testing purposes only. I had to be sure the molecular structure of the cocoa had not been broken down by its strenuous journey across the country. It was practically a scientific experiment. (I’m not sure what my excuse will be when half of it is gone tomorrow morning… that’s a joke… I’m not going to eat half the chocolate in a day. Really. I won’t.)

The drive today actually wasn’t as long as we were afraid it would be. The navigation system in the car was giving an estimate of 13 hours, but as we traveled along, it kept shaving more minutes off the estimate. It ended up being a ten-hour drive – that included a couple Starbucks stops and gas-station fill-ups. At one point we stopped at a station out in the middle of nowhere in West Texas – and when you get a chance to use a bathroom out in West Texas, you kind of have to take it. Problem was, the stupid middle-of-nowhere bathroom didn’t have a lock. I just couldn’t bring myself to use it. I mean, maybe out there in the black hole of civilization people don’t care if they’re interrupted in the bathroom. But I do. I really, really do. I suppose I could’ve taken my chances and assumed that the nearly-deserted gas station would STAY deserted, but instead, I took my chances and waited for the next town… (thank goodness it wasn’t too far…)

Anyway, I think now, since I’m getting tired, it’s time I went to sleep in my own bed. It’ll be good to know that my air conditioner won’t be making any weird noises tonight. And even if my refrigerator DOES, I can be secure in the knowledge that it’s all the way out in the kitchen, and I won’t hear it… peace and quiet…