Whenever people asked me what I planned on doing for the Fourth of July, I'd answer, "Nothing." And that's what we did today: Nothing. Well, except we did go to Uwajimaya to buy supplies for our next geocache. Then we drove up to Beacon Hill and found a geocache, and ran into a couple of fellow geocachers there. Oh, and I started reading The Time Traveler's Wife (on loan from Emily). Other than those things, we did nothing today.

Last night's Spanish class was probably the most structured classes we've had. With handouts and a nice chart on the whiteboard, we learned about subjects, objects, possessives, and possessive adjectives. We had conversations. Our instructor made sure that we spoke in complete, proper sentences - and also that we spoke in natural sentences. (For instance, the instructor asks, "Are you wearing a wristwatch?" The first student answers, "Yes, I am wearing a wristwatch." Then it isn't necessary, or realistic, for the second student to repeat the same reply word-for-word. They can simply reply, "Yes, I am wearing one, too.")

I was rather proud of myself when I was able to keep the following conversation going, with only minor mistakes here and there: Avilio, our instructor: "¿Tienes hermanos?" Me: "Sí, tengo dos hermanos. Yo tengo uno hermano y una hermana." "¿Dónde su hermano vive?" "Mi hermano vive en Black Diamond." "¿Black Diamond? ¿Dónde está Black Diamond?" "Black Diamond está sur de Issaquah." "¿Es Black Diamond cerca de Issaquah?" "No. Black Diamond está sur de Issaquah, y al este de Tacoma - más o menos." "Ah! ¿Dónde su hermana vive?" "Mi hermana vive de Bothell. Bothell está norte de Seattle."

I brought a book to class that Pet had given me a while ago. It's a children's book entitled El conejo. With a little help, I told Avilio: "Una amiga me dio este libro." (Our instructor stops us from saying "mi amiga" because, he says, it sounds like we have only one friend.) Our instructor enjoyed it a lot, as did my fellow students. The book actually came in handy when we were asked to describe the colors of our clothes. I remembered a sentence from the book: "La mayorí de los conejos son de color café o gris."

At the Pride festivities, Phillip and I each signed up for a contest at one of the display booths. (I don't remember which one.) A few days later, Phillip received a phone call telling him that he'd won the contest, and that he need to call a telephone number. A few minutes later, I received a phone call telling me that I'd won the contest, and that I needed to call a telephone number. Obviously, it was a sales pitch of some kind, and Phillip called them to see what they wanted. Just for showing up and listening to a 90 minute presentation, we'd be given a $500 internet shopping spree, a free dinner for two, and a free trip to our choice of Las Vegas, Orlando, San Diego, Montego Bay, or Cancun. We'd been to this sort of thing before. We knew there was going to be a catch. We knew there was going to be pressure. But for a free trip, why not?

We went to the sales pitch yesterday morning. The pitch was for a time-share condominium in Hawaii, plus points for travel anywhere in the world. The sales woman was cute, with an even cuter Ukrainian accent. Phillip and I were both enchanted with her. At first, as these things always go, the sales woman was low key. She wasn't going to pressure us into anything, she knew that most people go to these things just for the free prizes. After about an hour, or so, of course, she turned the pressure up. Of course, she said, we were free to think about the condominium and choose to buy it later - but there was also the option of buying the travel points, but only if we bought them right now. Once she discovered that we thought she was cute (Phillip told her, actually) she, of course, turned the charm up. She acted hurt that we obviously didn't think she was cute enough to buy the condo. In the end, we told her, honestly, that we thought it sounded like a good value, but that we never make financial decisions like that on the spur of the moment. She kept the pressure up until the end of the 90 minutes, then gave us our $500 internet shopping spree, our free dinner, and our free trip.

The free dinner includes a required limousine service, and that limousine service requires a non-refundable $18 "service fee." The free trip requires a refundable $50 "deposit," payable by cashier's check only. We haven't looked into the catch for the shopping spree - but, of course, we're limited to one obscure internet site that, according to the instructions, can't be reached through a search engine. We knew there was going to be a catch, but I was disappointed that we don't get at least a free dinner out of it.

We did some geocaching in the area of the sale pitch, and along the way to Black Diamond, where we went for Dad's birthday.

Marji had left us voicemails last week, telling us that we were taking Dad out for dinner for his birthday. We didn't return her calls, on purpose, because she'd told us that it was going to be a surprise. Dad knew they were going out to dinner, but hadn't been told that it would be a family birthday celebration. We didn't return Marji's calls for fear that Dad would accidentally overhear. At first, dinner was going to be at Olive Garden, but then plans changed to a Thai restaurant in Enumclaw.

The surprise worked. Apparently, Dad and Mom thought we'd just stopped by on a whim. They told us about a nice Thai restaurant they'd discovered in Enumclaw, and asked us if we'd like to go with them that evening.

Before leaving for the restaurant, we all talked about many subjects. Eventually, the conversation turned to geocaching. We showed everyone an Australian geocoin we'd picked up in a cache in Ravensdale. Then David revived a suggestion he'd made a long time ago - there is a great spot in front of their house for a geocache. This time, we are going to do it. Our next geocache, if all goes OK with the reviewers, will be in Black Diamond. We plan on placing it next Saturday.