This weekend was my second to last unscheduled weekend of the summer. To be honest, it was only partially unscheduled. And to be even more honest, it isn't summer yet. I only said it was because all of my official summer weekends are booked with one event or another (trips, visits, gatherings) and I wanted to be able to claim at least one weekend was free from running around. Don't get me wrong. Running around can be fun, exciting, and rewarding, but it can also be be chaotic, tiring, and anxiety-inducing, especially if all one wants to do is sit still. And right now, sitting still sounds extremely enticing. I suppose I will have to cram as much of it as I can into this coming weekend. In fact, I'm putting it on my calendar.

Anyway, as a writing warm-up exercise, I thought I'd share a few highlights from what was mostly a mellow weekend. This weekend, I:

> attended a birthday party in Burlingame. It was for a newly minted three-year-old and was held at the extremely popular Washington Park, which is tucked between the railroad tracks and Highway 101. The picnic tables were decked out with Handy Manny table clothes and the birthday boy was wearing a felt tool belt stocked with plastic screwdrivers, wrenches, and pliers. He also received a wagon-load of gifts. I was so envious. I never get to wear a tool belt on my birthday.

The weather was strange that day. It was a tug-of-war between sunshine and overcast. One minute it was t-shirt and shorts weather; the next minute it was jacket and jeans weather. Sunshine eventually won out, but only after the day had worked its way firmly into afternoon.

> watched Expedition Africa. It's a new eight-part series on the History channel that documents the journey of four modern day explorers (a navigator, wildlife expert, survivalist, and journalist) as they retrace the steps H.M. Stanley took in his search for Dr. David Livingstone. The show had me hooked immediately. It's essentially a series about hiking, albeit extreme hiking, with treacherous terrain, deadly animals, clashing personalities, and an inhospitable climate. Happily, it's everything my hikes are not. Though, I must admit, the explorers' spirit of adventure is quite contagious.

> finally finished the rocks in the backyard. Putting down rocks for a path is easy as long as the rocks are actually available at the hardware store. Whenever I visited the garden center, the Bermuda Green rocks I desired were never in stock. By some stroke of luck, I was able to nab the two bags I needed to finish the project. The next big backyard task involves tackling the overgrown weeds. I'm bowled over with anticipation.

> got a haircut. After several weeks of letting my hair mushroom out of control, I went to one of the local barber shops for a trim. Five minutes of furious razor and scissor action resulted in this:

I'm actually not embarrassed by the outcome. Of course, at the time, I was scared stiff, fearing even the slightest bobble or tilt would result in the loss of an ear or a stab wound to the skull. For an idea of what my hair looked like before, just imagine the upper half of the photo in black. That's right. Before my haircut, mops bowed before me and cried, "We're not worthy!"