The Pierce family just returned from Spring Break.The first two nights were spent in transit camping at Lake Castaic near LA and then with Aunt Julie in Studio City.

Then we arrived in San Clemente for a surfing holiday.  The kids can’t seem to surf anywhere other than Dana Point.

We met the Louderbacks and the Gutierrezes, and Phillips Sweet and Jeff Scofield stopped by for a visit at our hotel.

We whole-heartedly recommend the San Clemente Inn as family friendly accommodation a short walk to the beach in San Clemente.  Suites with kitchens, swimming pool, hot tub, tennis, pickle ball, miniature golf, ping pong, and barbeques.  Our room had a view of the ocean.  Everything was as advertised on their website.

Pierces are going to hit the 20th Century this Summer.

Robert just realized that, for the most part, 20th century novels were pretty dire.

Rory is already on the lookout for newspeak.

Robert has been working hard to solve a perplexing and time consuming puzzle.  He has finally figured out what wristwatch he wants once the Pierce family pulls itself out of its current financial nose-dive.  Or he retires from a fully staffed law firm.  Or has its 50th wedding anniversary (with a wife that has some money). Important matter indeed. And those reading this blog need  information like this well before the Christmas gift-giving season.

He presents you with:

The Omega Seamaster 300 Co-Axial Master Chronometer 41 MM

With blue dial and blue oxalic anodized aluminum bexel with its diving scale filled with vintage Super-LumiNova. You will, of course, note that the recessed hour markers and open numerals feature Super-LumiNova, which is also present on the rhodium-plated hands.

And note that with so many “master”s in the name, you know its gotta be good.

Here it is, https://www.omegawatches.com/en-us/watch-omega-seamaster-300-co-axial-master-chronometer-41-mm-23430412103001

Robert stumbled on this documentary last night.  Worth a watch.

With more board configurations than there are atoms in the universe, the ancient Chinese game of Go has long been considered a grand challenge for artificial intelligence. On March 9, 2016, the worlds of Go and artificial intelligence collided in South Korea for an extraordinary best-of-five-game competition, coined The DeepMind Challenge Match. Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched as a legendary Go master took on an unproven AI challenger for the first time in history.

In addition to period chick flicks, Robert loves virtue-expressing-verging-on-the-sappy big pics.  Add Mitty to the list.

Forrest Gump
Searching for Sugarman
Walter Mitty

Gotta watch these two clips in order.

The Pierces are busy installing and tuning a new Ikea kitchen.

For numerous reasons, it turns out that they could not extend their countertop as far as they wanted. Never fret, Robert to the rescue.  Introducing, the Ikea cabinet microwave cart hack!  Whoa.  Look at that quartz top that matches the kitchen counter! Look at those wheels! Space solution, with no new electrical outlets needed!  Plus, just a hint of Snap-On toolchest.  Woo Hoo! Further evidence of possible genius!

The Pierces have really been on a spending spree the last few months.  Home renovations, orthodontics, sports camps, and now . . . listening devices.

Robert decided, finally, to replace his hearing aids that went missing about 12 years ago in Argentina.

Kirk Land, of course.

Wow.  He can hear now!

Quite a show on the village green yesterday. Last year when this happened, the deer was taken away by whatever killed it (assumed, incorrectly it seems, to have been a mountain lion).  This year, two coyotes hunting as a pair. Never fear, Robert threw a tennis ball at them then ran back into the house and slammed the door.

Hmm.  What can the Pierce children do as teenagers to make money to pay for college (if there is college)? Why, string tennis rackets, of course!  The Pierces moved one step closer to financial independence last week when fortune struck. A friend gave (loaned?) us a racket stringing machine.

For the uninitiated, the tennis racket string industry is your worst marketing nightmare. Imagine if the wine industry combined its insufferable marketing of the non-quantifiable (if not imagined) qualities of their products with an unrelenting drive to make the infinite and meaningless “technologies” and “innovations” matter. That’s what the tennis string companies do. It’s something like, “Moet champagne combines hints of oak and raspberry with X-487 technology to help you overcome your human physical weakness to finally be a winner and the envy of your friends.” All for only $75!” There are about 1000 string products on offer, each evaluated on about 100 different vectors (e.g., composition,  stiffness, durability, spin, gauge, price, color, etc.).  Totally silly.

That said, we’re taking orders . . .

May we interest you in the Babolat RPM Blast string? It has an octagonal structure with high-density co-polyester, adding phenomenal rotation to the ball that creates exceptional spin? Combine this with its very durable mono-filaments that make it ideal for heavy hitters who expect string performance over time. Not to mention its firm response, providing great control and accuracy, keeping your ball on the court. It’s the choice of Rafael Nadal. Need we say more?

Of course, RPM Blast is a good choice only for the main strings on your racket (the up and down ones). We’ll use a different multi-filament string or perhaps a natural gut string (that’s animal intestines) for the cross strings on your racket (the side-by-side ones).  We’ll set the tension of the mains at, lets say, 50 lbs, while using a higher tension on the crosses, perhaps 52 lbs.  Oh, and the gauge? We’ll use a thinner 17-gauge string (1.05 mm) for the mains, but use a more durable (and slightly less spin-friendly) 16-gauge  for the crosses, unless you choose to go with 15-gauge, which you may want to do depending on your style of play.

You decide.  We’re here to serve.

$50 please . . .

Look at those grades! Wow!

Keep it up, Cadie!