Pebble Beach on a beautiful winter afternoon. The waves are fairly big - 5 to 6 feet. The beach was deserted and in the background is Bird Rock.

Here are two photos from a disposable camera of my recent trip to California. I drove several hours from the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, where it was cloudy and cold, and where I was working on a news story, to the coast for a brief overnight holiday. Beautiful, n'est ce-pas?!

Big News: I'm finally taking my dog home today! After interviews with the animal rescue league adoption counselor, approval from the league committee, and a home visit last night from a league volunteer (whew), we got the official okay this morning. We're taking one more trip to PetSmart to get a few things, then will pick up Nelson after lunch.

The dog is a 77-pound chocolate lab mix with Dobie markings on his face. He's 2 years old and very energetic and sweet. I outweigh Nelson by a mere 32 pounds, so I'll be training him ASAP so he'll know who's boss.

Running Update: After four days of not running (very bad, I know) because of the holidays, I did a 6.5 mile tempo run on the treadmill last night. Today it's going to be a 4 mile moderate run, then free weights. I'm running in the Las Vegas Half-Marathon on January 30, and it's just hit me that I have little over a month to get ready. Yikes!