Very busy. We were at work late on Friday, then from 9:30 am Saturday to 2 am Sunday. It was for a good cause though: volunteering for JDRF’s latest Bay Area fundraiser, a Cars pre-release screening and gala. I’d volunteered for a different JDRF gala event last year; this year I got to see up close just how much volunteer work goes into setting up one of these things. So after over sixteen hours of making decorations and gift bags, draping table cloths, moving boxes and gift bags, entering data and swiping credit cards, and in Susan’s case, many more weeks before hand of rounding up volunteers and coordinating them, was it worth it? Sore muscles aside, it raised almost a million and a half for juvenile diabetes research! So answer: yes.

Donna, an old friend (we had the same piano teacher as kids) who is now touring as part of the Claremont Trio (they have a tour blog!) visited. We saw her play at Stanford, got a CD signed, and had dinner at Fonda in Berkeley (quickly becoming a favourite spot to eat in the East Bay). It was very nice to see a fellow classical pianist with a successful performing career. And the Claremont Trio is very good – if they come to your city, you should go see them – assuming that the venue they’re playing at has a decent piano. Because Donna can’t be blamed for the quality of the piano.

Susan and I have tickets (a Christmas gift – thank you Susan!) for Thursday’s Canucks game at San Jose. Vancouver is currently ninth in the Western Conference and the Sharks are tied for seventh; only the top eight teams make it to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Assuming the Canucks don’t blow it tonight tonight or Wednesday, that game is going to be a must-win for Vancouver. Heck, it might even be the deciding game for who limps into the playoffs. I’ll let a statistician work out what would have to happen for that to occur.