Among The Poplars

Drove across the Bay to Alameda, found the concert venue (a big Victorian building which was once a train station) and since I was 2 hours early, continued to the bay shore, walked around a bit, it was way low tide, took some meaningless photos, including a couple of the Farmer's blimp which passed by twice.

Back to High Street Station Cafe, which has a very limited menu, ordered grilled cheese and iced tea. The iced tea arrived in about 5 minutes, the sandwich in half an hour. Not a problem, I had the Kindle and iPhone for reading, the place has free no-hassle wi-fi, and it's a charming place to hang out.

The front parlor was converted into a salon as I watched, the lovely and talented Moira Greyland arrived a few minutes before the 3 pm start time, her harp was carted in a few moments later.  Moira has de-blonded herself, looking more Celtic in auburn hair to match the tartan skirt.

There was no set list, Moira winged it in her light-hearted fashion. Everything she played and sang was just fine with me. I only knew a couple of pieces, The Shapes of Things was one - I sang it at a benefit for Mountain Community Theater years ago, and it brought down the house. Had to stop several times for laughs. She did a couple of Cindy McQuillan numbers which I did not recognize, and one by Heather Alexander. And a few very nice ones of her own. And some opera. On a few of the Celtic numbers she was accompanied by one of the High Street Cafe staff on his bodhran (a round Celtic drum). He kept it muted, I wish he hadn't - he was very good, but trying to be polite, I guess.

The schedule on the wall said she was slated for 3-5 pm, but she was expecting to be there till 6 - but had to quit early when one of her fingers developed a blister. She ended the concert with an a capella number. 

After the concert I popped across the street to the local market to buy some Uganda chocolate and fresh fruit. Found a seriously moldy tangelo at the bottom of the pile, which is now on display at the top. Also found a red delicious apple which was defective - it had been whacked by a crate and sported a dried-up criss-cross pattern. They really need to inspect their stock more often.

Drove home the long way, forgot just how long it is going to the end of the bay and across the non-toll freeway. $5 toll across the Dumbarton Bridge would have saved me $7 in gas, I think.

Dinner was home made chicken soup, and bananas and cream.

Made a first pass at a will with the free software which came with Quicken. It is way too long, does not require as much information about beneficiaries as it needs to (no SS#, no relationship, etc.) and does not allow opting out of paragraphs which do not apply. Way too brainless. The page formatting is stupid too, it breaks pages in the middle of a beneficiary's info, but adds extra lines with "intentionally left blank" indicators where they are not needed. I'll see if I can find a better program.

Plans for tomorrow:
PO, mail a DVD to England
Send some more resumes
Maybe hear back from the manager who interviewed me by phone Thursday.