I was right, and I was wrong.

It is not a good dinner movie, especially the beginning, which is the birth of our hero. But I stayed till he emerged from the cave, and found the second redhead. By then I had finished my chili and salad, and came in here to watch this.

The family member makes a very excellent cioppino of his own, and as I was debating whether to just forget the soup, another gentleman stepped up. He headed straight for the cioppino.

I got the small container. Then I headed for the ice cream section where, after much deliberation, I chose Rice Dream marble fudge, Ciao Bella mango sorbet and a dark cherry soy ice cream. More on these another time.

Turned out that the family member ate duck and fig handmade sausages in SF. He was still talking about those sausages during dinner tonight.

No one knows exactly what happened to this hawk, found by the side of the road here in California. The more sensational headlines surmise that the ingested bird managed to claw its way through. A more sensible theory is that the hawk was hit by a car, which caused the its crop to burst. But it’s certainly an startling photo.

But this was someone representing Apple, wanting me to pay attention to their protection plan. I have every intention of getting this plan, but was not willing to put the fork down and dig out my credit card just then. I treated the caller to a detailed account of my computer problems, to which, of course, he had no decent response.

Last night, as I was soaping a pot in order to cook another much-anticipated supper, the phone rang. It sounded very much like the same caller. Checking to see if I was ready to buy. Did he catch me at a bad time? Was I going to rinse off my hands and go get my credit card? Did I give him a piece of my mind?

Does this diet make me grumpy? Nah.

I know these people have to make a living. I also know where I can get the plan for a lot less.

I passed up the quilts, which would have made great backgrounds. Then I got in line to pay. The woman took one look at the bigger bear.

Seller: That can’t be the right price.
Me: That was how I found it on that sofa over there with the quilts.
Seller: And look, the tag is on upside down. We wouldn’t do that.
Me: Silence
Seller: I mean, I can’t believe that bear would go for $15.
Me (not really wanting to pay that much for a used bear anyway): Silence
Seller: Let me ask (indicates other seller) him what he really wanted for this bear.
Me: You are holding some antique measuring cups for me.
Seller (gets cups): Oh yes, these. And the little pitcher too. Okay, let me add these up (calculates).
Me (thinking if she offends me once more, I will leave) Silence.
Seller (smiling): All right, that will be $20 (puts stuff in a bag)
Me (warily): Thanks.

Back into a few more carbs since the family member still faithful to the South Beach diet is now coming apart. Dinner was spaghetti and Vietnamese spinach soup.

The display was of iPhones. A customer was peering intently at one model, hunkering down to get at the right eye level. He wore an expression of intense delight. One of the geniuses was manning the greeter position at the door while the greeter was seeing to my laptop. I truly hoped the customer bought an iPhone, he was quite beside himself as he tried them out.

The answer to the odd date? It was probably the day the online store (not Apple) got a shipment of Macs. When I buy AppleCare, I need to bring this up so they will change it.

On the way to the car, I heard someone upstairs at Zibibbo’s singing in Italian. It was a balmy night, and my option key was fixed.

When I call out ‘Who’s there’, and no one says anything, I get the feeling there’s someone annoying out there. When I say it for the third time, and get a tentative but friendly ‘Hi there!’, I know for sure it’s someone affiliated with a certain religious group. I stand at a distance, thinking I might have to go get some more bunches of daffodils when a face peers through the slats of the gate.

Religious person: Hello, I’d like to tell you about . . .
Me: Do you see the No Soliciting sign right in front of you?
Rp: But . . . but I’m not a solicitor!
Me: Yes, you are. Soliciting.

The bear is neither amused nor sorry to be leaning over so much. The rubber bands are too tight. I resort to tying the flowers around its neck with string. Bingo.

It is spring, after all.

A few weeks ago, a swarm of flying insects appeared near the kitchen door. Soon after, another swarm showed up at the same spot. Today, a guy from the same company checked it out. These, he said, were of the subterranean variety.

My work gets frantic just before 1:00 p.m., and today, it was unusually crazy. Luckily, a family member left work to deal with the matter. When I emerged later, I learned that the soil around the door was treated, a substance sprayed around the door.

But even though the warranty on the previous work had expired, they didn’t charge anything. Nice people.

Finally, it was my turn. Ignoring the jewelry, I went for the masks arranged among the vintage gloves and hats. This week, I’m posing bears again. They generally sit fairly still.

One of the items I looked forward to as a snack was almond butter. Once you get the hang of natural nut butter, it’s nice to know there’s only one ingredient: nuts. However good for me the almond butter was, nutritionally speaking, it was unsalted and very bland. Even though I stored it in the fridge in the approved manner, i.e. upside down, the solids still managed to part company with the oils, and I sometimes had a gob of stuff to coax back to the creamy stage. Given the choice between that and the usual sugar-free popsicle, I made the obvious choice (can’t eat cheese and cheese-related items on the diet).

Three weeks without sugar will sharpen your taste buds. I bought some sunflower seed butter at Trader Joe’s last weekend, and was surprised at the sweetness. The ingredient list contains evaporated cane juice. Very tasty.

A family member picked this moment to ask the genius, ‘Say, can I get one of those Genius shirts?’

‘No!’ barked the genius. No glance up, no smile.

Apple stopped selling the shirts a while back. If you want one badly enough, you can find it at eBay and such.

Meanwhile, it’s going to get hot this summer, a few days anyway, and the G4 tended to heat up fast. If you have similar problems, here are some DIY ideas from Lifehacker via Engadget. A binder, a towel rack and a few corks - your laptop and wallet will both be happier.

I depend on SFGate for most of my news and features. When I’m stressed, I’ll read The Poop, their blog on raising kids. Today, it discusses Garfield minus Garfield.

As one who never found the comic funny, but had to put up with kids who thought it was, this is a fascinating angle.

Via the Museum of Hoaxes. Oh yeah, Happy April Fool’s to you too!

So there I was in line with my name up on the big screen. My first time, but sadly, not the last. The genius pried off the top of the key, showed me what he thought was wrong, fixed it as best he could. It was higher than the other keys, and a part underneath was bent slightly. However, if the problem persisted, he said the Mac would have to go in for an extended stay.

This is actually okay, I have a backup, the older G4 laptop. Next time, maybe Cho’s will be open and I can get potstickers as part of the whole Palo Alto thing.

And I got to mess with the Air. Wow. But I do believe that the air (the kind we breathe) is better in an Apple Store.

If you don’t, you might get trichinellosis (also known as trichinosis), a nasty infection formerly associated with eating undercooked pork. Just because the meat was frozen doesn’t mean it’s safe. At least one species of this parasitic roundworm can survive for a long time in a freezer.

So it is with some irony that I find myself making tarts for photos. Actually, they aren’t so hard to resist because cheese makes me itch. I spent a large part of the weekend looking for raspberries, but had to be content with strawberries. These early berries seem more fragile, and at least one carton furred up with mold before I could use them.

Currently, there are three tarts stacked on top of one another in the fridge. I’m out of the bought glaze. I’m on the last roll of toilet paper again. My tax person is hounding me to make an appointment, but I’m not ready.

Time for one of those popsicles.