So I’m trying out some wordpress plugins and learning a bit about what’s missing in the world of mobile content creation.

Deanna came down this weekend to begin the house hunt. Real estate is far more costly in San Diego than it is in Reno (no surprisee there), but we’re feeling pretty good about our options. The trick now remains selling our current home… a lovely and spacious 4-bedroom, 3-bath with bonus room, upgraded kitchen and great backyard. Tell a friend!

We also made time to have some fun. Google pointed us to a great restaurant in La Jolla called George’s at the Cove , which I would recommend to anyone. George’s is made up of three stories. We sat up top on the terrace overlooking the Pacific. The food was excellent. The price, reasonable. And the view was magnificent. (My cell phone photography? Not so much.)

Sunday came and Deanna headed back to Reno and the kids. I spent the day researching neighborhoods. We’re leaning toward moving up to “North County” where we can afford to live closer to the coast. That will make for a pretty nasty commute at rush hour. But my office is near a Coaster station, so public transportation is a real option (a rarity in SoCal). The Coaster has got to be the most beautiful public line in the nation. It rides right along the coast of the Pacific and through State parks. There’s even an upper-deck for al-fresco commuting. It’s also bike-friendly with plenty of racks.

I ended the weekend with a trail run through Del Mar and into Torrey Pines State Park. It was about 70 degrees today, light winds off the ocean and a cloud or two. The run went by too fast. I just may have a new favorite run.

What I love about road trips, even weekenders, isn’t the destination so much as the trip itself. On this particular trip my family and I were reacquainted with Stockton, California.

Stockton, to me, is a post-apocalyptic port city, divorced from coastlines and headwaters by 70 miles thanks to a thousand years of global warming and nuclear fallout. Stockton is both California’s future and past mashed into a hapless way station alongside the blur of commerce and industry that is Interstate 5.

If these United States ever see another civil war, my money’s on Stockton, CA as the powder keg that sets it all off. Stockton’s the new Mason-Dixon – the line in the sand where out-of-work Mexican agricultural workers from the south collide with out-of-work white supremacists from the north.

There’s a nervous energy in Stockton that’s literally palatable. Don’t believe me? Try it yourself. Next time you’re out along I-5 in Central California, be sure to stop for gasoline, or even lunch, in Stockton. Look around – and listen…

Why haven’t I been blogging?  Same reason I haven’t been screen writing.  I’m completely blocked. 

Here’s the problem.  I’m torn between two stories – and I can’t choose.  One is a story I want to tell – one I think needs to be told.  The other?  If I write it well, dress it up in a short skirt and 4-inch heels, just might buy me a proper set of shoes and put new rims on the Caddy.

I’m about 1/3 the way through each – emerging from the fun, self-absorbed sanctuary of the conceptual phase into the harsh reality – the heavy lifting – of actually writing a feature-length script. 

Maybe you can help.  Here are the log lines…

1) “A once-pious Mexican woman sneaks across the U.S. boarder to avenge the death of her husband.” – THE WIDOW OF JUAREZ

2) “A career-obsessed ad executive plans a family vacation he thinks will help win him a promotion.” – FAMILY CAMP

Let’s see… since my last post…

Carmen ‘graduated’ kindergarten, Curtis wrapped up elementary school and Samantha (God, help me!) is off to high school! Sofia continues to give her pre-school teachers a run for their money. From what I understand, her plot to one-day rule the world is precisely on track.

Deanna has been getting really into her Pilates. She frequents a place called the Pilates Lounge in our neighborhood.

I have to give it to her. Those workouts are brutal! But she stuck it out and she’s looking and feeling better than ever!

The last couple of months have been interesting for yours truly. I just started a new job. After six years at Swift Communications, I’ve moved on to become Director of Production at Twelve Horses, an Internet marketing and communications solutions provider here in Reno, NV. I love the work and the people. If that’s not a recipe for success, I don’t know what is.

On May 6, 2007 I completed my first marathon! I finished the Nevada Wide Open Marathon in 4:29:34, which was slower than my goal but I’m still very pleased with the accomplishment. Long about mile 23, when my hamstrings had all but seized up on me, I sincerely wondered what the hell I was doing to myself. Now I find myself obsessing on how to do better next time! (That’s by starting out slower, focusing more on electrolytes and taking nutrition more seriously, natch.) Next up, I’m running the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey at the end of this month. It’s a 178-mile relay race through one of the most beautiful regions in the world.

Can I getz a “IMHO?!”

I started thinking on the topic of basic computer skills.  Computer skills are a vital component to modern literacy.  What’s going to become of those kids growing up in households without computers?  Experts agree.  They will quickly fall behind the curve, effectively widening the “Digital Divide” - that socioeconomic chasm between this generation’s literates and illiterates.

I’m no expert on this topic, not by any stretch.  But the little research I’ve done was alarming.  Take Robert Fairlie’s findings, which appeared in the October, 2005 issue of Economics of Education.

Among his findings:

I intend to start looking into how Washoe County stacks up…

  Carmen has taken to photography, for example.  She’s the diligent studious type and very artistic, which she gets from Deanna.  Simply taking snap shots wasn’t enough.  She wanted to know how to get the photos from the camera onto the computer, from the computer to the Internet.  (I’ve posted some of my favorites.) 

And then finally, “What’s the Internet, Daddy?”  I considered reciting some of the Jon Stewart bit involving tubes, but thought better of it and did my best to explain.  “Computers talk to each other?!  That’s pretty crazy!”  She’s right.  It is pretty crazy.

My daughter Sofia had just recently scored this sweet fairy princess kite during a recent outing to Costco with Mom.  It was time to try it out!

Sofia did worry that the fairy might get sucked away into outer space. Not an entirely impossible notion, not when you’re four.