Dear Friends,

I have been trying to grow apples up at my house for about 20 years, and this year looked good as the trees seem to have an abundance of apples. However, Hammer and I spotted the doe chowing down on them, and yesterday, my neighbor saw a bear munching on our gardens and yes, our apples, too.

I guess the wildlife has to eat, too, and it is part of living in the woods, I guess. Hammerhead was barking like crazy at the bear, though it took our neighbors’ little dog Osito to chase him from the yards—but not before they got some photos!

I had the embarrassment of having to wear a Lakers championship t-shirt all day yesterday as part of my wager with Hapy. It wasn’t too bad when we were at the office, but I also owed him lunch and our friends at the local restaurant were really giving me a hard time, refusing to serve me with the t-shirt on, until I showed them my Celtics tattoo that trumped the shirt.

Hapy and I have been buying each other lunch based upon the NBA games and we have found our lunch time discussions so valuable that we are now looking for new things to determine who buys lunch. The latest was the Lebron James free agency. We each have two teams: I have Cleveland and Chicago and Hapy has New Jersey and Atlanta—if Lebron signs with one of those teams, lunch is on!

There has been a lot of talk about the new iPhone 4. I love my new iPhone and find a lot to like about it. I am not concerned with the reported issue of the antenna. I know to hold my iPhone so it does not impact the signal and I think for the first time, I will be installing a case on my phone. I do not want to break the back glass the way one of my co-authors has done. I showed my mom FaceTime and she immediately wanted an iPhone 4 regardless of the fact that she does not even use a cell phone!