Hello from warm and sunny Southern California!

I might not be saying that very often in the coming weeks because the weather is supposed to turn and get (relatively) cold and even rainy. I’m talking 59-52F tomorrow and 61-39F on Sunday. Brrr. But I’m not complaining because it’s the perfect weather for putting up the Christmas tree. I know it’s early but my Canadian wife loves Christmas more than anyone. When we first got married I told her that Americans don’t put up their decorations until after Thanksgiving but she argued that Canadian Thanksgiving is the second Monday of October and I lost that argument. Anyhow, I figure there are way worse things to argue about so we put our Christmas decorations up early and this year, I think we all need some holiday cheer. FYI: I make sure I close our blinds at night so our neighbors don’t see the tree (which sometimes goes up on November 1) and think we’ve lost our minds!
Before we get started, I want to thank everyone for all the kind notes and donations. I really appreciate it and they have really helped, more than you know, so thank you again.
Anyway, without further ado ... here are this week’s stories!