'Otay, Buckwheat...

That's pronounced OH TIE not OH TAY...oh, well....

As I mentioned, yesterday was the opening of the Otay Ranch Town Center. Not all of the stores were open but Apple did have it's grand opening--and yes, I was there. My friend, Zan and her friend, Todd were already there holding a place for me and we were about 11th and 12th in line.It was very exciting. Zan had already met all the people in front of us and several behind us. All of us shared a common passion-- Apple Computers. It was a fan club reunion of sorts. And inside the store, we could see all the last minute details taking place before the doors opened; including the pep rally going on to get the employees primed and ready. Channel 8 local news was there to film the opening and many of us. Other people were at the opening of the shopping complex to get free make-up goodies from Macy's--we were there to support the opening of this new store as if it were the birth of a new child in our happy Apple family...and to get our charter T-shirts. This time it is a black T-shirt that has the white apple logo and the word Otay on the front. (I was also at the Apple store in Fashion Valley when it opened-stood in line with Paula Brandes and got our white T-shirt in a tube to commemorate the day).

Everyone was pumped up and we were all hooting and hollering, and what started as a conga line in the store with the employees led them outside to run down along the side of the line of people waiting to get in and everyone high-fiving as they ran by. The camera man following the line of as we cheered them on. Later, he asked Zan and I why we were there--what is the point of being at a new store if we didn't want to buy anything. I told him that I was a MacEvangeista and a long-time supporter. There is a following and a staunchly loyal group of users who really beleve in Apple and support it as an extended community. Apple and Mac users speak my language of passion and creativity and joy. You can't say that about a bunch of PC users. You don't see them rallying at an HP or Dell store.
And yes, I was admittedly thrilled to see us on the 5:00 news segment in all our glory.

It is a lovely store, far more appealing than the one in Fashion Valley. And the new iPod RED is waaaay cool with $10 of the proceeds going to the campaign to stop AIDS in Africa.

Zan and I walked through the rest of the Center to see what was open and of course, we went to visit the Puppy Park. Yes, this wonderful new shopping center has a fenced-in puppy park open from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. for shoppers and families to bring their kidz. It includes a big water fountain that is people and puppy sized for convenience. And they will be adding umbrellas for shade and more seating. Got to talk with the man responsible for the entire Otay Ranch Center and he was very nice and very open to ideas. This Center has a chance to be a real community effort and be unique in what it offers. And if the energy stays as positive as it was at the launch, it will be good for all of San Diego and worth the drive.

Today, Sunshine and I went to the Sabbath service at the Seventh-Day Adventist TierraSanta church. The people there are so sweet. And today, they had a special musical guest, The Chunestudy Mens Choir--and oh, they were magnificent. It was a unique experience to be in a non-religious science church. I haven't been asked to kneel in prayer since Catholic days. One of the laypersons did the morning prayer and I was struck by one of his sentences as he beseeched favor of the Lord to help in ". . . of not becoming disinterested..." What a lovely prayer request--to ask for spiritual intervention to not become apathetic or disinterested. I agree. I want to stay interested in life, in myself and in/with God.

Here it is autumn and over 90 degrees--what gives?? Who is sleeping at the wheel up there? Give me my autumn weather, please. I wait all year for this season. And with all the Christmas decorations finally up in the store, can Halloween be far behind?

Excuse me now, I have to go set all my clocks back now so I don't forget.