I met up with my brother and his friends today and we went to Napa Valley for wine-tasting. They're all doctors. They were three couples in all. My brother's fiance is very nice. Rob Rho and Keiko flew in from Seattle. Rob and my brother used to be housemates in Philadelphia, and the one time I met him there, I was just amazed at the calibre of human being my brother attracted into his life. This time, I also found him cordial and sincere; just an excellent person. Keiko was beautiful and a fine match with Rob. Gene and Susan flew in from Philadelphia with my brother and Bonnie. Likewise, Gene was a fine person, and Susan seemed particularly interesting, but she made horrible eye contact with me, so I can't say I was thrilled by her.

Their company made me glow. We parted ways at Napa; they going to Lake Tahoe for a week vacation, me back to San Francisco. But driving home, I just felt a warm glow at having met them. Good people. Not for me.

the "big" one:
The news reports a "swarm" of earthquakes in the East Bay this morning.

There are two schools of scientific thought.

#1) The quakes are helping relieve the stress on the faultlines, making the imminent possibility of the "big one" less likely.

#2) The stress on the faultlines is so great, that numerous smaller quakes actually forecast the imminent "big one".

Science is so helpful.