Here's how my day went: I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire almost to the end, I worked off and on typing letters for the Boss for a meeting he has tomorrow with potential clients, I took care of some personal correspondence, and I listened to the Giants lose to the A's on KNBR 68, the sports leader.

Since nothing happened to me today that couldn't be encapsulated in one brief paragraph, and since both of my nephews are out of town, I'm going to catch up on what's happening in their lives. I know David doesn't usually read my journal anyway, and Eric, once he gets back, is going to be so busy that he probably won't have time to go through the archives and check out old entries.

Not that I have anything to say that's embarrassing or degrading or should make them uncomfortable. I don't know anything that fits into those categories, and I wouldn't share them with the world if I did. Or with that diminutive corner of the world that reads these pages and pays enough attention to care.

Anyway, they've both given me permission to write about them here and to use their real names. There's no one more important to me than they are, so they trust me.

Eric is moving further and further away from home (and by home I mean his parents and grandmother and me). He works for a software company in Marin, but that company was bought out by a larger company based in San Diego. For some time, we worried that he would leave us for darkest Southern California, but the parent company is still growing and has acquired another outfit with an office in the East Bay, and that's where Eric is headed.

The lease on his apartment in Marin is up at the end of this month, and we've been thinking, until a couple of days ago, that he might move a few miles north, closer to the people who know him best and love him the most.

Ah, but no. He's decided that the best opportunity for him is with the new branch in the East Bay, and he spread the word yesterday to his co-workers at the Marin office. He has cousins he can stay with down there until he finds a permanent place to live, and he has a new roommate lined up to share expenses.

It's a lateral move for him, but a good one, because the Marin office is losing key personnel to more high-powered locations within the parent company. Shrinking by attrition, it is, so having less and less need of an IT support guy. He doesn't want to be as far away as San Diego, so Contra Costa is the most likely place for him to have a chance to move up. He'll still be supporting the Marin office. We don't see that much of him anyway, so a few more miles and a bridge to cross won't make a lot of difference.

Besides, life in the East Bay is good for a young man. Weather's great for outdoor stuff, concert venues are top-notch, and I hear they have a decent baseball team there. (He's a Giants fan like me, though, so I doubt he'll be converted by the A's.)

David is hobbling around on crutches these days, having broken his foot at work last Monday. This was convenient, if painful, because after he went to the doctor Tuesday, he headed up to the lake with the rest of the family Wednesday. He can't do much, because he can't put any weight on the foot, but at least he can relax and get away from work — something he would never do on his own (he likes working, and he loves getting paid, and is not good at sitting with his foot elevated).

He's nineteen and still living at home, but that's about to change. Actually, I'm stunned that it lasted this long. He has a strong, independent personality, and the restrictions of living with his parents have been eating away at the relationship for years. Literally, years, but no permanent damage has been done. Nothing a little distance won't remedy.

He's gone through at least a half-dozen potential roommates over the last year or so, but his girlfriend recently moved back to town and (so I hear) they've found a house that's far enough from Santa Rosa to give him the distance he needs, but close enough to keep him within the protective circle of family and friends. Besides working full time, he's going to the junior college on an ambitious schedule, and I have no doubt that he'll achieve his goals.

However, I won't really believe he's moving until he starts asking for boxes.

Eric, David, if you read this and I have any facts wrong, let me know and I'll print corrections and retractions as appropriate. Or better yet, write a guest entry for me.

On a totally unrelated note, please join me in voting for Jordan, because the house would be so much less interesting without William. On the other hand, if you care at all about the other nine people, by all means vote for Mega.