Hi folks,

Having a nice vacation in Austin... Recovering from my sleep deprivation of last month. A little swimming, some bike riding, basketball, tennis. Beker and i invented a game called "Waterback", wherein Bek, in bathing suit and Texas Longhorns football helmet, hikes the ball to me, then goes long, through the sprinklers, to receive a bomb pass. Then he has to run back through the sprinklers with the ball to either get past me, or to be tackled and tickled trying. Quite a muddy, slippery game, but lots of fun. He's astoundingly fast, Beker is. And throws the ball like a (very) young Joe Montana. (Beker's six)

Tonight's our farewell Austin party. A bittersweet moment, as I really do love being here, particularly for Beker's sake. A truly great town to be a kid.

Also just finished Richard Clarke's book. It's pretty clear from all the insider accounts that have been emerging, at least to all but the most ideologically blinkered, that the problem Bush and Co is facing right now is not that the media is against them, but that the facts are. Complaints to the contrary inevitably resound with the Vatican's imprecations against Galileo. Oh why oh why did Galileo hate God so much? This administration is like a faith- based architect--"who needs things like structural engineering? I've got the Lord on my side." Recipe for disaster.

And Andi, so nice to hear from you-- i'll email you when I get back to LA--maybe you and Mark and I can have a Homewood Ave reunion. Do your folks still live there? Mark has two beautiful kids who are loads of fun. Mike K has three.

Anyway,

Back to the lawn chair for me. I think it's time for my lemonade.

DB