The constant rain in the Bay Area and the long weekend has made a real task out of getting back on my regularly scheduled programming. I woke up this morning and was almost positive that it was Saturday. My mind raced to figure out what it was that April and I had planned for the day. Oddly enough, if it were actually Saturday, and if it weren’t raining, I would have to be on campus for a tennis tournament.

Eventually, I realized that it was Wednesday morning and that I had a load of things to do once I arrived at the office. What’s worse is that I thought it was Friday evening after dinner. Of course, when reality struck me in the face and the fact that I had to be at work tomorrow morning (a Thursday) sunk in, I relapsed into the same feeling I had in the morning when I was just completely unsure of what day it was at all.

I actually had a productive day at work and came home only to continue my efficient ways. April and I made dinner so quickly that we were able to watch a two-hour episode of The Biggest Loser before I sat through Yes Man starring Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel. It’s not even quite midnight and I’m ready for bed. I can only hope that I don’t wake up tomorrow in the same haze that I woke up with today. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Joyce, Christine, Nevaeh and Tristen are in town to visit April and I for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Of course, when with April, go shopping, right? Their first day in town, they spent nearly three hours in the Old Navy store in San Francisco. As if that weren’t enough, after we had dinner at the Bay Street Askew Grill, we stopped by the Old Navy there as well. Let’s just say, there was a whole lot of shopping going on.

When April and I were in Los Angeles last month, we stopped by a Banana Republic store in Burbank to do some Christmas shopping. While she perused the women’s section, I stumbled upon an overcoat that I really liked. This might sound like an ordinary occurrence for most people, but for me, it’s a cause for celebration when I find clothes that I like. Getting me to buy new clothes is like pulling teeth. I don’t like shopping for clothes and prefer to wear what I have in my closet until it has completely decayed.

Forgive me, for I am not a fashion guru, but I will do my best to accurately describe the coat. It is a long, heavy coat; almost like a pea coat. Being a Banana Republic item, it is incredibly soft and comfortable. There were two shades: black and a dark charcoal gray. What caught my eye was the cut and the buttons. It didn’t have traditional pea coat buttons. Rather, it had a zipper and a set of buttons to close down a flap that conceals the zipper. The collar and the straight-line front make it look something like the cut of my wedding tuxedo.

I grabbed one off the rack and put it on. It fit magnificently, so I walked over to April to show it to her. Of course, whenever I do something like that, she lights up and gets excited that I might actually make a purchase. I told her I liked it and that I would consider buying it since we receive a generous discount. I took it off and looked at the price tag. It was $225 at full retail. I figured, after the discount and taxes, we could get it out the door for close to $130. I don’t particularly like spending that much money, but in this case, I was willing. However, after walking around a little longer and picking out gifts for other people, I decided that I should concentrate my efforts and my funds on things for other people since it was indeed Christmas time.

After Christmas passed, we stopped by a couple of Banana Republic stores for various reasons and each time, I looked for that same coat. It was nowhere to be found. I figured it was just out of stock in the stores we stopped in because it was a popular item. Disappointed, April told me that the stores may have begun sending that set of clothes to outlets to make room for the next season. I was sad, but not completely broken up about it. I figured, perhaps I’d be able to find it at an outlet one day. When we arrived back in the Bay, whenever we would pass a Banana Republic while out and about, I would take a look to see if the coat was on the racks. Of course, it wasn’t, but I wasn’t holding out hope or anything at this point.

This weekend, while the group was shopping at the Bay Street Gap store, I decided to hop across the road to take a look at the Banana Republic men’s store there. It was 8:50 p.m. and I only had a couple of minutes to do any damage if at all. I walked in and my eyes began to scan a la April. I scanned the racks of coats and outer wear but had no luck. I began to think, it was really just gone. I continued to walk around and look at what else the store had to offer and eventually found myself at the clearance section in the back.

There were two jackets on the end of a lower rack so I reached out to brush my hand against them. One of them was a dark charcoal gray color and felt a lot like the same material the pea coat was made of. I took it off the rack and low and behold, it was there. The coat was there, and it was in my size! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I quickly looked at the tag and the next miracle hit me in the face. It had been marked down to $89. I was almost sure I was going to get it but I had initially wanted to get the black one. After a little thought, I decided that the dark charcoal gray was also pretty cool and besides, I had nothing of that color in my closet. I don’t know if I was paranoid, but I felt like a fellow shopper was eyeing the coat as I was trying it on so I took it off and excitedly made my way to the cashier.

When it was my turn, I put the coat up on the counter and the clerk began to ring it up. Because I was overly excited, I made small talk to share my experience. April always tells me I’m “madalal”, which means verbose or something close in Tagalog. I’m glad I talked a little more than I needed to this time, because it made my purchase that much sweeter.

I showed the clerk my Gap employee discount card and she rang the jacket up on the screen. It read $67. Then all of a sudden, it went down to $62. Apparently, I hadn’t noticed the “Take an extra 30% off clearance items” sign that was above the coat I picked out. On top of that, I received the Gap employee discount for already-marked-down items and it made the before-tax cost of the coat $56. From $225 to $56. That is remarkable.

Of course, I gushed about how happy I was to have found the coat and the clerk mentioned that I was lucky to have found it because it was a very popular piece. I could tell she was happy that I had snagged it at such a great price as well. Then came the kicker. She told me that a seasonal employee at that particular Banana Republic store had put the coat on hold during his tenure there but had never come back to claim it. His hold time had expired and she had just put that very coat back on the rack earlier in the day. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

I had just luckily stumbled upon a coat that I really wanted and I picked it up for an incredible price. The clerk reached for a hanger and was about to put it and the coat into a bag for me to take but I stopped her and said, “Oh. I don’t need a bag. I want to wear the coat out,” to which she volunteered to cut off the tags and extra thread for me. I put my old jacket into the bag and wrapped myself in perhaps one of the top 10 deal purchases in my life and walked out of the store. I made my way across the road once more and surprised April with it on as I walked back into the Gap. Her jaw dropped when she saw it and dropped again when she heard my story about how the coat had returned to the rack and about how I had gotten it for such a great price. I couldn’t be more happy with that purchase. It really was a total steal.

April and I went to the Alameda Free Library yesterday evening and each signed up for our own library cards. It was something we had been wanting to do for quite some time. We had set foot in the building one other time to inquire about what the necessary requirements to receive a card were but hadn’t walked around to look at anything.

I had forgotten how much I love libraries. I used to work at the South Pasadena Public Library as a freshman in high school. The smell of the books is something nostalgic to my senses. I love the feeling that people all around are learning or bettering themselves. The scene is something out of a science fiction movie where you can see knowledge as colors flowing directly from the books into people’s heads.

The Alameda library is large enough that there are plenty of areas in which to get comfortable and read in solitude. I’m thinking about instituting a library or reading night for April and I. We’ve each got books that we’ve been reading at a whenever-we-get-a-chance pace so having a set time will do wonders for getting those selections finished. It’s odd something this simple could excite me so much. I’m currently reading Cesar’s Way by Cesar Millan, the star of National Geographic’s Dog Whisperer. After that, it’s on to Malcolm Gladwell’s new offering, What the Dog Saw.

Greetings from Gainesville, Fla. I’m out in the Sunshine State swampland for the 2009 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship. Forgive me if I spell everything out as if I’m writing one of my match recaps or something. I’m in a mode these days.

Just one week ago, I was in Columbus, Ohio, for the first and second rounds of this postseason tournament. The Cal volleyball team won both of those matches and advanced to face an upset-minded Baylor team in the Gainesville Regional semifinal, which takes place tomorrow afternoon. As difficult as it is to be away from April when the team is in season, and as taxing as living out of a suitcase and doing work from sun up to sun down can sometimes be, I really do enjoy myself in these situations. And for that, I am truly thankful. Life is too short to not enjoy your day-to-day.

I’m having a hard time adjusting to the Eastern Standard Time that we’re operating on even after returning to the Bay from Ohio last week. Of course, if the team wins its next two matches, we drive down the road to Tampa, Fla. for the NCAA national semifinal. That would mean I could be away from home for as many as 12 straight days. I mentioned to someone on this trip that it’s been both unnerving and exciting at the same time to not know whether we’re going to be away for four days or 14 days. I’ve learned over the years to take things in stride and much like the team, I’m still kicking.

At Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.

The Cal volleyball team learned today that it will be heading to Columbus, Ohio, for the first and second rounds of the 2009 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship. That means I’ll be braving 30-degree weather for a couple of days. The team had a bunch of mixed emotions about being sent to the Midwest for the third time in three seasons but I’m excited enough. It also means the season’s end is no more than three weeks away. Then, I’ll be back in Los Angeles for a couple of weeks; the most exciting part of this whole deal. I’ll update from the road as time permits. See you on the other side.