Got back from Sacramento to Berkeley in time for breakfast date with an NRO fan, who, after singing the praises of conservative Catholicism, rounded off with this memorable quote: “We have absolutely the best intellectuals!” (He reads Crisis magazine, by the way, Kathryn.) Then down to Stanford for my last Prime Obsession gig, at the bookstore there. A lovely crowd again, no rotten fruit–nobody has thrown ANYTHING at me this tour!–lunch afterwards with two more NRO fans, one the kind fellow who made the movie clips for my website, the other a colleague of his named Eleanor–my daughter’s name, and a name very special to me for reasons I’ll explain another time. Then to a v. nice hotel near San Jose airport, whence I shall fly home Saturday. Couldn’t resist the hotel pool. Normally I CAN resist pools very easily, but there’s something about California. The light, the sun, the breeze, the palm trees–how can you NOT jump into a pool? I had to buy bathing trunks & shades from the hotel store–a terribly bad idea, but I was in holiday mood. Then I sat by the pool all afternoon reading Fareed Zakaria’s The Future of Freedom. Aaaah. Mission accomplished. Did not miss any gigs. Did not mis-spell own name when signing (yes, it happens). Did not total rental car. Did not get asked any hard math questions. Did not get heckled by lefties. Sun shining off pool like a Hockney painting. Gentle classical music (Tchaikovsky) playing behind bushes somewhere. Tomorrow I shall be with Rosie and my little ones again. To quote the immortal Al Bundy: Life is good!