We spent the afternoon in Pasadena. First, Jeff and I grabbed lunch at Corner Bakery. When I sat down, I noticed Ben and Kathy’s friends Sam and Dan sitting at the table next to me. I think I’ve met them once in person, but it was some time ago – mostly, I recognized her because I occasionally read her blog (which is linked from both of the Brantleys’ sites). I wasn’t sure I should say anything in case it was a little weird (“Hi, you don’t really know me, but I read your journal…”). At some point, we made eye contact – and I could tell she recognized me as well.

So I said something like “Hey, aren’t you Sam.. Ben and Kathy’s friend? I’m Anastasia; I think we’ve met once. And I read your blog.”

To which she immediately replied: “Oh yeah – you have the underwater pictures on your site. I look at them some mornings when I get into work. And I’ve also looked at your wedding pictures.”

I find it funny that we both kind of know each other, even though we’ve barely met. Gotta love the internet. :)

After lunch, Jeff and I played in the pool with the new camera housing. Ben came to join us and practice his freediving (which he’s getting pretty good at). Jeff took several incredibly unflattering pictures of me, including this one which is nonetheless kind of cool:

And here’s Ben crawling along the bottom of the pool, as he tries to extend his freediving time past a whole minute:

I was completely wiped out after playing in the pool, which surprised me because we really did very little in the way of diving. But I guess we still had to lug all our equipment in and lug it back out, which is half the battle. And it’s just as well I’m tired; it’ll make it easier to sleep on a boat tonight. :) Tomorrow, hopefully, we’ll get to dive at Farnsworth Bank and take some real pictures!