8/23: I'm no fan of Eckhart Tolle, whose conclusions are sometimes insightful and sometimes completely unsupported. However, most of his new book "A New Earth" is a valuable Buddhist-inspired deconstruction of the human ego. (review)

8/21: Caught only part of a free outdoor show by Dave Wakeling and the English Beat at Government Center before heading over to the Theater District for Thai at Montien with Dharma buds Mark & Mary.

8/16: Had a great time with old friends at the 5th annual DrASK Where's George BBQ, this time in new digs up in Woburn. Followed that up with a very disappointing and uncomfortable first trip to a HB dance.

8/9: Quick weekend trip to Maine to see my brother and niece, and happened to run into my three cousins, too.

8/5: Returned to Boston to discover that a letter I'd written in praise of Didi Senft—the Tour de France's "devil"—was published in the September issue of Bicycling magazine.

8/4: Spent the day with Sheeri, doing another 20 easy miles in the saddle on the Cape Cod Rail Trail, and stopping for food in Orleans.

8/3: Knocked off the remaining 70 miles of the Pan-Mass Challenge, arriving in Provincetown very strong, despite a minor cut on my toe. Had a nice meal at the Squealing Pig before the usual afternoon resting and recovering in the sun at Race Point Beach.

8/2: Had a great time riding 110 miles from Sturbridge to Bourne on the first day of this year's Pan-Mass Challenge. The rain held off until 4pm, but it poured while I made my way another 10 miles to our hotel in Sandwich.

8/1: Met up with Sheeri and drove out to Sturbridge to check in for my eighth Pan-Mass Challenge charity ride.

7/26: After being beaten back by soaring temperatures twice, I finally managed to do a century*mdash;a hundred-mile bike ride—in preparation for my upcoming Pan-Mass Challenge.

7/15: Returned from a long bike ride to find myself on the cover of my condo's newsletter: Views From The Vendome. Attended a going-away party for one of the concierges, and got many comments on the article, which focused on my upcoming PMC ride.

7/14: Got up early to say farewell to the DargonZine crew. The flight home was full of mixed feelings, as I say goodbye to the Summits, fiction writing, and DargonZine, which was one of the most successful achievements of my life.

7/13: After Sunday morning's working sessions—much of which I was able to skip—we drove up to Astoria to see the Astoria Column, hiked out to the Cathedral Spruce, took a rough and enjoyable cruise on the mighty Columbia River on a working (i.e. stinking) fishing boat, and ate at the Wet Dog Cafe & Astoria Brewing Company.

7/12: Saturday's Summit activities included the usual working sessions, riding through town on rented four-person quadricycle surreys, a few rounds of perennial favorite Fluxx, dinner at logging station Camp 18, and a big poker game.

7/11: The Dargon Summit began in earnest, as we drove out to the seaside town of Seaside, then hung out at Cannon Beach, checked out Haystack Rock, and stayed up late playing Carcassonne.

7/10: Began the 2008 DargonZine Summit by flying across country to Portland Oregon, then having awesome Thai food at Cha Ba Thai.

7/4: Decided to stay with Sprint and picked up the new Samsung Instinct phone, which includes GPS routine, voice command, video recording, and selected television. It's nice finally being able to tweet and check mail from my phone.