Strings Attached Wow, it's been years since I've had my racquet strung by a competent individual. Thankfully, Phu found an amazing stringer that's just down the road from us. He did an excellent job and I'm really happy with him. Stringers are like stylists -- so hard to find one that works for you. The racquet feels great. I played a match with Phu to see how it was. It definitely felt better on my serves (though I'm hitting them flatter than I would like -- my fault, not the stick). My backhand is better than it's been in years. Touch shots are a bit off since I'm getting used to the tension (57lbs., dang I remember when I was strong enough to rock 72lbs.). My forehand sucks though. I guess I've been cheating on my forehand and letting the loose strings provide most of the power. Now that I have to swing harder, it's just not working. I'll work that out in a bit though. I'm going to San Francisco tomorrow. It should be fun. Going to Farley's and not seeing Tobie will be strange though. I guess I'll never see her again. How sad. Originally I wanted to partake in some editor karaoke, but I've got some personal matters to attend to that are far more important and certainly more exciting. On paper, it looks like I'll have some dangerous temptations, but I know in my heart that will not be the case. The last few Sundays I've been chatting with Alison, and I must say that she's become my favorite part of Sunday evening. It's usually such a "blah" day. The weekend is over and you have work in a few hours. But she definitely makes it more fun. She's quite an extraordinary girl... even though she's a skunk (gotcha). My birthday party is on Saturday. It should be cool, but it seems a little weird. There will be many people missing that hold such an important place in my heart -- Raina, Kate, Kate's idiot-wrestler boyfriend (I guess), Rob, Rannie, Dallas (joke), Kitten, Chia, all my friends in NY, and I guess Tammy.... It's kind of weird. I've always had a lot of friends, but I've always had people that know me on a deeper level close by as well. Down in The OC, Steve is the only one that fits that description.