All Moved In

Monday morning, bright and early saw Cole, Max, Betty and me heading to Moraga, California to move Cole back to school. It was quite the caravan; Cole in the U-Haul, Betty and Max in Cole's car, and me in mine. We arrived around noon and checked into our hotel, had a nice lunch, and then got back in the car and headed for San Francisco. The nice thing about Cole's school is that San Francisco is only 20 minutes away, so it's the perfect opportunity for Betty and me to go site seeing. Max wanted to go to Pier 39 to look around, so we made that our first stop. After that, we walked down Fisherman's Wharf where I happened upon an antique museum that featured coin operated machines as far back as the 1930s. Many of these used to be on display at the old Cliffhouse in San Francisco and are now owned by a private collector. And they all work perfectly. Admission is free to the museum and it is quite a sight! Filled with people of all ages, they were entranced while playing with the machines. One of my favorites was, of course, the Wizard Fortune Teller. Take a look:


You are greeted by Laughing Sal as you enter the museum


The Wizard Fortune Teller

After spending some time in the museum, we wandered farther down the Wharf and I should probably tell you that Max has been wanting a Nintendo Wii. I bet him $10.00 we'd find one there in the city, and I won the bet! A few stores down was a gaming store that had stacks of them for sale, and, of course, Max walked out with one. Next to Scoma's for dinner because no trip to San Francisco is complete without a meal there.


The famous San Francisco Scoma's

After dinner, we drove back to the hotel where Betty and I were both ready to do absolutely nothing but relax. Max and Cole, on the other hand, had other ideas as their attempt to hook up the Wii to the hotel's television set was something out of a comedy. Since the appropriate port was not available, all they could do was stew and fantasize until Cole realized his own TV was in the back of the U-Haul. You guessed it; they unpacked his TV, brought it into the hotel and proceeded to live in Wii heaven until the "Wii" hours of the morning. They stayed up so late, they overslept the next day. After packing the TV back into the U-Haul, we drove to St. Mary's and unpacked and got him settled into his new dorm room as the new Resident Assistant.


Max's new nemesis: the Nintendo Wii

Oh, and speaking of moving, my daughter, Renee just moved into her new apartment this week as well, and she absolutely loves it. Coincidentally, our very own Ken lives there as well, so she's in good company with Ken and his wife.

This week, Robert Baxt paid us a visit to put the finishing touches on his newest product that we'll be releasing very soon! It's always great when Robert visits; he and Mike talk Apple Mac products and he and I talk magic products until the day is done. Speaking of Mike, it looks like he has a very full weekend; he has a restaurant gig on Friday evening, a close-up walk-around gig on Saturday, a band gig on Saturday evening, and another restaurant gig on Sunday. If he comes to work riding his bike on Monday, I'll be shocked!

No more moving. No more traveling. Just rest and relaxation for me this weekend.

Until next week,

Paul