It had taken two days to get the big satellite dishes updated and operating. The control linkages were frozen and the motors stuck but persistence had... paid off. I was told the command center was close to being fully operational.That was good news; I was getting leery of using the embassy for so much JBG business. No one had said anything yet but with all the rumored subpoenas I did not want to give Congress anything else to go looking at.We had to buy space off one of the big communications. Some people wanted to swim, but most of us wanted to do what everyone wants to do when they come to a California beach: surf. My second purchase in California after the car had been a surfboard. I hadn’t surfed in a long time and I knew I’d never be a pro, but I was going to take all this nice empty time and fill it up with riding waves. I grabbed my board, strapped the leash around my ankle and headed out. The water was cold but felt great, and I didn’t even care. I just wanted to get out to. A bit stiff and not very good at moving with the terrain, but she kept a good speed and stopped only ones for a breather on the tour down. I gave her some tips on how to improve her style and she got it right away.As we reached the end of the slope and took off our skis she smiled.“You’re a very good skier and teacher Erik.”“Thank you. You improved straight away very nicely.”“Mmm, thank you. Do you care to ski together some more?”“I’d love to. Let’s take the cabins to the top and take the same. The skating world found out about our breakup, and the person who posted the information only got part of it right, and the message was very unkind to Sophia." Aaah. Well, after she read that, she said 'I'm going out'. I had to go to the library. When I came back in a few hours and she still wasn't there, I went looking for her, because I had an idea of where she went--a frat party a friend of ours told us about. Sure enough, she was there, and drunk off her ass. Shortly after I got there, she.