♥ "All You Need is LOVE" ♥

Happy Holidays to all, and best wishes for a Happy 2004!!!

Missed the Boat

I think my MINI missed the boat at the Port in Northampton. :( That's okay, what can you do?

In my head, I have the vision of my MINI, sitting at the port, by itself, wondering, "Hey, where did everyone go?" :D

I think I'm the only member on the mini2.com forum who didn't make it on today's boat. Now, that's just sad. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be joined by others soon.

Next boat is scheduled for December 29th, and arrives in Southern CA on January 22nd. (24 Days!)

In other news, we went to see "The Return of the King Yesterday"! Man, a great movie. What an amazing trilogy. Epic. Go see it!

"A Car is Born"

I'm such a dork. Isn't that okay, though? I mean, if you know you're a dork, and acknowledge that you're a dork, doesn't it mean that it's okay that you're a dork?

Today is my new car's birthday! I just called ASK-MINI, and it currently in the last stages of the Assembly stage. It's actually going through the final quality check "as we speak" (said the guy at MINI).

Yesterday, it finished in the Paint Department, and started the Assembly stage.

I'm hoping that tomorrow it will be on route to the port in Southampton. If that's the case, it just may make it on the boat for Saturday's journey across the pond.

"run, little car, run!" (said like Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker in "Star Wars")

My car is being made RIGHT NOW! :)

Okay, I'm assuming that no one else out there is really interested in this, but humor me, please.

I figure I can use this as a journal for reference in the future..... :)

Latest status of my car:

Yesterday, Monday December 15, 2003: Body Shop Started
Today, Tuesday, December 16, 2003: Paint Shop Started

The guy at ASK-MINI who I just spoke with said it would be in the paint shop for a couple of days, before going to "Assembly Started" then finally "Production Completed".

I have an estimated Completion date of this Friday, December 19th.

There are two ships sailing from the port in England (Southampton) to the corresponding port here in CA (Port Hueneme - in Southern CA).

The Hyndai (!) leaves on 12/20/03, and arrives on 01/09/04. That would be spectacular, but I don't really think my car will make it on that ship.

The next ship (The Elektra) leaves Southampton on 12/29/03, and arrives in CA on 01/22/04. I think my MINI will probably be on that one.

Isn't it crazy how much information I have about the production of my car? It's really very odd, but I'm enjoying it.

What did we do without the internet? ;)

Disk Warrior

Okay, I just ran Disk Warrior for the first time. I guess it went fine - it found a few problems, and fixed them. It was fast - did everything within 1/2 hour. (that's VERY fast, compared to Norton Utilities' day-long marathon last week!)

I don't think it found/fixed anything too major, so we'll just have to see how it goes over the next few days/weeks. I'd really love to put my 512MB RAM chip back in, but I'm afraid that it was the cause of the initial problems.

Maybe Santa will bring me RAM for Xmas..... :)
Isn't that what all "good girls" ask for?

New Cell Phone!

Ahhhhh............. don't you just love a little retail therapy?

I bought a new cell phone yesterday! It's so cool, and cute to boot ;)

I've been eyeing a new cell phone for a few months now. My 2-month contract was fulfilled a few months ago, so I've been shopping around for new plans and a new phone.

I've been with Cingular over the past 2 years, and have happy with the plans, and coverage so far. Figured I didn't have any reason to switch to another company. Dick and I came up with the bright idea to have a "family plan" instead of 2 separate plans. We added my phone number on to his existing Cingular account, and only have to pay $9.99/month extra, and we share the minutes. This works out quite well - he has plenty of minutes, and neither of us have ever come close to going over. Also, with one account, they only hit you with all of those unexpected monthly taxes and fees once - no need in both of us paying that each month.

So, back to the new phone: It's a Samsung SGHx427. Isn't it cute? It has a pretty good UI Design- which is most important to me. I bought it at Best Buy for $49.99. It was a good deal - the prices for phones at the Cingular store were more pricey, and you had to sign up for a 2 year contract instead of only 1. If you're shopping around for phone plans, or a new phone, check out all of your options before buying it directly from the carrier. Could save you a lot of money, or, at the very least, it's good to know you have more options.

Just to prove that I do have a social life....

..and that I'm not thinking about my computer, and my new car all of the time....

Last night, we went to Dick's company's Holiday Party.

It was fabulous. really, it was!

It was at the new San Francisco Asian Art Museum!!! We knew it was going to be held here for some time now, so we've been holding off going to see the museum, in anticipation of the party.

What an amazing, beautiful space! WOW. they did such a wonderful job there. If you haven't had a chance to go yet, I highly recommend it. The building itself is a gorgeous work of art. The collection was amazing. Go. now. What a treat it was to look around at the exhibits without the regular crowds!

What a great party, too! They served all kinds of yummy food. I mostly ate the sushi (yum) but they also served carved turkey and roast beef, veggie curry, cheeses, etc.,

The had all kinds of great entertainment: Taiko Drummers, a Chinese Lion Dance, and live music. They also had booths set up with palm readers, henna tatoo artists, Chinese calligraphy, etc., Very cool!

File Management

Okay, I LOVE Toast!

No, not the kind you eat for breakfast, although that usually is my breakfast of choice during the week.

I'm talking about "Toast Titanium 5.2". My wonderful friend, Sheri, bought it for me for my Birthday earlier this year. It's made backing my files on CDs so much easier! Painless, actually, which is how it should be.

I'm taking a moment to back-up all of my important files on CD. Dick and I back up our data daily using Retrospect onto our "little" 60GB external drive. (or is it 120 GB? I'll have to check) Anyhow, since I've been having continuous computer problems, I thought I'd better back up again to CD....just in case. You never know, and it's better to be safe than sorry.

I'm going to finish backing up my client and web files, then I'll try running "Disk Warrior" to see what exactly is going on with my little computer.

If you haven't done so in a while, here's your friendly reminder to back-up your data! It's a good time to do it, since it's the end of the year :)

It's Official: I'm Obsessed

This just in: (and much sooner than I anticipated!)

Hi Trina, thanks for writing MINI.

Congratulations on your upcoming MINI, how exciting for you!

I checked our records and found that your MINI began production on December 8th. It is estimated to have completed production on or by Friday, December 19th. We can view your order up to the point that it reaches the port of exit in England. Feel free to e-mail or call us for the latest update we have for you!

Hang in there, the wait will be well worth it in the end! Happy holidays!

LET'S MOTOR.
Jen Schuelke
MINI Division
Customer Relations
866-ASK-MINI

It seems as if my MINI is being built (right now!) and a month earlier than I was told. How's that for a nice surprise?

It'll still take 4-8 weeks after production to be transported all the way over here from Oxford, but I'm thrilled!

Good Deed

Just so you know that I do more than just sit around, thinking about my new car.........

had a really nice experience yesterday:

I volunteered for an event hosted by The Always Dream Foundation and The Family Giving Tree for underprivileged kids. There were 60 kids in total, representing 4 different groups from around the Bay Area.

It was a very, very cool experience. The kids were able to ice-skate for an hour with Kristi. They were treated to a pizza lunch, then came the special treat: a visit from Santa. Each of the kids had a chance to sit on Santa's lap, take a picture with Santa and Kristi, and took home a couple of gifts.

The event lasted about 3 hours, and was just a great thing to be a part of.

I was so impressed with the staff of volunteers who work with these kids regularly. What a great group of people. I hope they realize what a great job they're doing.

Scheduled for Production!

I checked the MINI Owner's Lounge this morning - just to see. Ever since I got my production number last Friday, I've been checking it obsessively to see if there's any change.

good news: this morning, I went from "On Order" to "Scheduled for Production".

Very Cool.

I also have my VIN now.

In addition, I got a nice letter from my dealership today informing me that was Cooper was in Production, and that I could expect delivery in about 6-8 weeks.

That would make me very, very happy :)

Funny Visual...

(I'm laughing about this right now, and I'm actually doing this!!!)

I'm in the kitchen, making Jacques Pepin's "Split Pea Soup".

I chopping onions, and garlic, listening to "The Best of Aretha Franklin".

It just occurred to me how funny the visual is.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T !!

Extra credit points to the person/people who can remember why the song "Natural Woman" holds a special place in my heart. :)

Computer Issues

My computer seems to be better today.

It's running slower, though. I'm pretty sure that's because it's running on 256MB less RAM than I'm used too. Kind of frustrating. I just want to be certain that it's not running slower because it's still experiencing drive problems.

I was thinking about buying some new RAM - although I'm still not certain that the old RAM was absolutely the problem. We're just assuming it is. Safe assumption, but an assumption, none-the-less.

I thought I'd look into Apple RAM, so if I installed it, it would still be covered under Apple Care. Here's the hitch: the RAM through Apple is twice the price: $200 for 512MB of RAM, vs. the $100 I paid on Amazon.com for Viking RAM. UGH.

I need to save my pennies, so I don't think I can afford to buy it at the moment.... although, it is, of course, a work expense..... But still.....

Got Comments?

I just put a new feature on my blog.....

Now you can leave comments! :) (thanks to the friendly folks at Haloscan) I noticed this nice feature on Willo's blog and decided to check out how easy it is to install. (answer= very easy)

Hmmmmm.... this should be interesting. I'm curious to see who will actually leave comments.

Is anyone really reading this, anyway?

Now be nice - no mean comments allowed. ;)

Here we go!

computer update

Well, that was a long day!

we *just* got it back up and running.

Really, we've been running some sort of diagnostic program on it for the last 24 hours now.

But, the important thing is: it's working again.

Dick spoke with Pete about it this evening, and he told us that Norton Utilities isn't as good as "Disk Warrior". I'll have to look into that tomorrow.

happy computer :)

Sick Computer

My poor little computer is sick.

I noticed it a few days ago - it was "sleeping" and when I moved the mouse, or pressed a key, nothing happened.

Yesterday, it froze on me a few times - something it had never done since I got it in July.

Uh oh. Time to break out Norton Disk Doctor.

Here's where it really became interesting.....

When I launched Norton Disk doctor, it didn't see my hard drive, so I didn't have the option of selecting my hard drive to be examined. Weird!

I also tried to run the first aid disk doctor program that came with my computer. It only allowed me to view the permission settings, but again, wouldn't allow me to select my hard drive for repair. Big uh-oh!

Finally, I broke out the Norton CD and ran it as my start up disk.
This time it did recognize my hard drive, and I was able to examine it!

I've been working on this since last night, and started running it again this morning.

Bad News: all kinds of kooky things are happening - things I've never seen on Norton before. It's finding several "major errors" in the "directories" section, and does allow me to fix them. However, I'm having some real problems. Every few errors, it might freeze, say it needs to be restarted, or simply quit out of the application.

Good News: every time this happens, and I need to restart my computer, or relaunch the application, it gets further along.

this could very well take all day.

I will call Apple Care later on, but I want to run it through Norton first.

Eek. Hope my little computer can pull through.... I need to get some work done.

And yes, like all good techie-geeks, I have backed-up my files ;)

UPDATE

1:40pm: still working on it.

I remembered (about an hour ago) that my Apple Care program came with a CD that would have some sort of other diagnostic program on it. Indeed it does. We put that in, and it crashed when it was reading through the RAM. This was an "a-ha" moment.

My computer came with 512MB RAM, though it was in two separate 256MB slots. I bought an extra half GB RAM when I ordered the computer. We replaced one of the original 256MB RAM slots with the new 512MB RAM.

We just tried taking out the 512MB RAM, and re-running the TechTool Deluxe program. So far, so good.....

Another UPDATE 4:46pm

Still going.....

It may have been RAM problems, but there's also something else going on.....

As we were running the TechTool Deluxe program, we encountered errors with the volume.... It's running the repair now, but it's taking a very long time :(

at this rate, it still has another couple hours to go.

:(

Finally - new car news!

for those of you who have been keeping track (and i know you are :) ) it's been 3 months since I put my deposit down for my new MINI.

I've been calling the dealership at the end of each month since - they find out at the end of each month how many cars they are allotted to order for the next build month. As I said before, I ordered my car though East Bay MINI, which is the only MINI dealership in Northern Cal that doesn't charge over MSRP. Because of this, they have quite a waiting list.... Each month, they are allotted a (seemingly random) number of cars they can order, which are taken off the top of their waiting list. Make sense?

I've been slowly crawling up the list each month... I knew that going into this month (for the January build) I was 13th on the list. They're average allotment is usually in the high teens, but for the last 2 months, they've only been allotted around 8. (is this more info than anyone reading this needs? probably...)

To add even more craziness, when I called last week (last week of November) they said that they were having computer problems, and couldn't access their allotment numbers. UGH!

Okay, trying to get to the point now....

My order has been placed! I'm very excited. This means that I'm in the January build, which would deliver my car sometime towards the end of February.

Now that I have my production number, I can go to the MINI website and track the production of my car.

Really.

And you thought I was obsessed before. It goes from On Order, to Scheduled for Production, Awaiting Transport, En Route, At Distribution Center, then finally to "At Your MINI Dealer". (!)

Crazy man.

Honestly though, I think the tough part is over - I'm really happy that I actually "know" when it'll be made and delivered.

So, what are the final specs? The only good news with having waited to place my order so long after placing my deposit was that I was able to change my specs constantly without any consequence.

here we go:
MINI Cooper
Chili Red w/white roof and mirrors
Chrome Bumper Inserts
Premium Package: Automatic AC, Dual-Pane Sunroof, On-Board Computer, S-Style Sport Multifunction wheel
CVT (automatic transmission)
15" 8-Spoke wheels
Auto wipers/dim mirror
Silver Wheels
Sports Seats
Cordoba Beige Leather
Anthracite Dash

In all fairness to my dealership (East Bay MINI in Pleasanton) they did give me an estimate of 4-5 months from the time of my deposit to when I might get my car. (1-2 months longer than the other dealerships around here that charge a $1000 mark-up fee)

Okay, that's it for now.

Rest assured, I will keep you posted ;)

♥ Noe's Bad Day

Poor little Noe. She's having one of those very few "bad cat days".

We noticed that she was limping yesterday evening. We didn't know what it was, but thought we'd keep an eye on it. This morning, it wasn't any better, and she was clearly uncomfortable. I decided to call my vet in Milpitas and make an appointment for her today.

Why do I go all the way to Milpitas for a vet when I live in San Francisco? My family has used this vet since the mid-80s. He's seen us through (at least) 5 rats, 2 birds, and 3 cats over the years. Dick and I tried a local vet here in SF, but I didn't like it much - they were a much larger office, appointments were harder to come by, and I usually spent a long time waiting in the waiting room. (which was too traumatic to our kitties, who are vet-phobic)

So, it's off to Milpitas to see Dr. Anderson - he's just wonderful with our little guys.

Unfortunately, (as mentioned before) Noe is especially afraid of the doctor's office. We've had bad visits to the vet (in SF) before where we weren't able to have anything done because she was too upset. (ie: hissing, swatting, etc)

The only solution we were able to come up with was to give her a sedation pill before I drive her down to Milpitas (about 1 hour drive). The pill does a good job of sedating her, although it does make her rather disoriented. This worked well last year, when we brought her in for her annual check up, although we had to put her in "the box" to completely sedate her in order to give her her shots. Truthfully, I think this whole ordeal is far more traumatic on me than it is on her. the way I figure it, she just thinks she's having a really bad dream.... :(

It turns out that Noe had an infected wound on the back of her heel - probably had it for a few days, and it got increasingly worse. The doctor cleaned it up, and gave her an antibiotic shot. He also sent me home with antibiotic pills to give her twice daily for the next 7 days.

Poor little things. She's still pretty disoriented from the sedation. She can't decide if she's really angry, or if she needs to be carried and cuddled. She's probably awfully sore still, too.

I'm experiencing some serious Mama-Cat guilt right now....

haven't blogged in a while

I know, I know.... what's going on? what happened to the blogging?

I've been a little preoccupied lately - sorry.

We went to North Carolina a couple of weeks ago to visit Dick's family, and to celebrate Dick's father's 70th Birthday! Happy Birthday to Richard Craddock Sr! :) Dick's sister threw a terrific party, full of wonderful friends and family. It was really nice.

Last week was Thanksgiving. We went down to Milpitas to my parent's house. Almost the whole Chow family was there. Dick would say, "That's a lot of Chow". All 4 of my grandparents came down from Stockton, as well as my Aunt, Uncle and family from Cupertino. We played a few games of pool with my dad and my cousin, Kenneth. I suppose I *can* be a decent pool player (having grown up with a pool table and all) but I'm so out of practice these days, that good shots are fairly random....

I'm working at The Gallery (very) part time again! Only going in for two half days a week. Thought it would be in everyone's best interest to revitalize the animation art again! I'll keep you posted. Anyone looking for any art out there? I'm your girl! :)

We had dinner last night with Omar and Lora over at their place. It was really nice. We haven't seen them in a few weeks. We also had a chance to spend time with their new kitty, Misha! He's so cute! He's getting big - around 9 lbs now. He's like a little Claude! So cute. And get this: he plays "fetch"! Dick and I both thought Omar was exaggerating when he told us about it, but we saw Misha in action last night! That cat can play Fetch!

Got my first Xmas present in the mail yesterday! thanks to my dear friend Sher Bear for that! what a nice surprise! We'll (hopefully) get our Xmas tree this weekend, so now I'll have something festive to place underneath it!

that's all for now. at least I've put a little something up :)
more later....

♥ 5 Years! ♥

Dick and I don't have any specific date that we celebrate as our "anniversary". Would it be the first day we met (which was a blind date), or our first "date" (which was 1 1/2 weeks later)?

The date I remember most easily is the day we met. We met on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, 1998.

How did we meet?

My friend Alice had sent this email to me earlier that month:

From: Alice
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1998 23:14:20 -0800 (PST)
To: trina@sirius.com
Subject: dick wants...

to meet you :-) you want me to give him your number? you want his?


Alice had met Dick through their mutual friend, Mitch. They had met on a few occasions, and he struck Alice as a fun, smart, & all-around-good-guy. After attending one of Dick & Pete's Halloween parties, she asked Dick if he was interested in meeting a friend of hers. She told him a little bit about me (I was 28 at the time, web-designer, working at an art gallery) and he said "sure!". (or something like that anyway - I can only assume, since I wasn't actually there)

That brings us back to the email Alice sent me, asking if it was okay if she gave him my number. My initial reaction was, "oh no, I couldn't do that" (go on a blind date, with some guy I didn't know). After Alice assured me that I had nothing to lose, I also remembered that I had recently made a promise to myself to be "more open to meeting new people". Really - i had just moved in to my new condo, and had a newfound gung-ho attitude towards improving my social life.

So Alice gave Dick my phone number, and he called me the morning of the Sunday before Thanksgiving. (which looks like November 22, 1998, now that I'm taking the time to look it up)

Dick and I arranged to meet each other at 4:00pm at Tulley's on Castro Street. He said, "I'll be the only straight guy in the Castro". Seemed like a good sign to me....

We hit it off pretty well, and went across the street to "The Patio" to grab a bite. I think we hung out for a couple of hours before walking home. I distinctly remember Dick saying that he wanted to get home before "The Simpsons" and "The X-Files". :) (ah, yes. the days before TIVO)

So there you go, and here we are 5 years later...wow.

I'm still amazed at how happy we are together, and how lucky I am. :)

Best-Boyfriend-Ever

Klutzy day

Oy - I should probably just stay inside all day, and not go anywhere else.

I just got back from my pilates session with Blane. I was in the middle of doing a new excercise (hands behind my head/sitting/leaning flatback at a 45 degree angle)when I suddenly "lost it". Yep, almost tumbled into the reformer...

As I was leaving his house, I tripped on his stairs.

While I was driving away in my car, I scratched myself on my nose while waving goodbye to him.

I think I should sit here, in front of my computer, for the rest of the day.

OS X: 10.3 Panther update

If you're running Panther, check this out:

F9 is my personal fave.

Still catching up from the weekend

Busy, busy, busy lately.

We had a fun-filled, jam-packed weekend. I'm still trying to catch up from it.

The weekend started on Friday afternoon. Dick worked from home that day, and he needed some help to prepare for Shan's James Bond party that evening. Shan is the drummer in their band, Gafas de Soul. He has also worked with Dick for a few years. Anyway, the band was playing at Shan's party, so they needed some help getting all of the equipment over there and set up.

The party started at 8:00 that night. Shan's evite stated: "Come as you are, or dressed as a character from any James Bond or Austin Powers film". I rummaged through my closest, and decided to wear a dark blue Chinese dress that I bought in Chinatown earlier in the year. It's kind of perfect for the occassion: long dress, fairly form-fitting, with a fairly long slit up the leg. I also pulled my hair back in a tight, low ponytail. Even though I haven't seen many of the bond films, I figured that there's a good chance that in at least one of them, there's the token Asian girl. So, that's who I came as....

The party was a lot of fun. I mostly sat at the table, eating potato chips, and talking with Omar and Lora. The band played for about 2 1/2 hours. The were great! I haven't had a chance to just sit, and watch them perform in a while. Check them out!

Saturday, I tried to catch up with some work from the previous week. Dick spent the day playing his new Xbox game, "Crimson Skies". I tried it for a bit - it seems pretty great. Kind of like the Halo of flying games. Saturday night, we went out to dinner to celebrate Lora's birthday. I made a neat connection with one of our friends that night. Paula, the wife of one of the guys who used to work in the same group as Dick, found out that I used to be in color guard. (long story) Long story short, she told me that she was in color guard in High School in Colorado in the early 90s. She also mentioned that her instructor was an Asian girl who had been in the Santa Clara Vanguard. I put 2 and 2 together, and figured out that her former instructor was an acquaintance of mine, Stacey, who I had met through our mutual friend, Jolie. Stacey had stayed at my parents house several times during her time in Santa Clara. Wild. Small world.

Sunday was another band performance day for Dick. Several of our friends are in Company Chaddick dance company. Company Chaddick had it's annual benefit on Sunday at The Marsh. After hearing the band at our Halloween party, they asked Gafas de Soul to play during the benefit. It was a great afternoon, although it meant another trip of transporting the equipment. Tom, the guitar player, informed me that I had gone from being the "band groupie" to the "band roadie". Funny.

Sunday night I went to the Warfield with my sister, Tiffini. We went to see a performance of "A Mighty Wind"! Yep, it was a concert given by all of the actors of the movie, performing in character. Make sense? Okay, here's the really lame part: I had the movie (thanks to Netflix) at our house for the past 1 1/2 weeks, but I had not made the time to actually watch it before attending the concert. (I still haven't watched it) Regardless, I really enjoyed the concert. It was really amazing, especially when you consider what these people are doing. They are all incredible actors, and it was really a treat to have the opportunity to see them all perform live.

Here's a little description of the concert that I just found. Probably explains the whole thing better than I can:

'A Mighty Wind' cast takes its show out West
by Rob Evans
liveDaily Editor

October 28, 2003 02:38 PM - With a short fall tour of East Coast venues now in the books, the cast of the Christopher Guest mockumentary film "A Mighty Wind" is scheduled to tackle the West Coast.

The film followed three imaginary folk acts through the planning and performance of a memorial concert for a great (also fictional) folk-music promoter. Each of the upcoming concerts will feature The Folksmen (Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, who also portrayed the mock-metal band Spinal Tap), Mitch & Mickey (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara) and The New Main Street Singers (John Michael Higgins, Jane Lynch and Parker Posey).

The four-city November tour visits Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and Seattle; dates and venues are listed in the itinerary below.

Does that make more sense now? It was really cool.

My weekend was extended through yesterday. I went to Milpitas to spend the day with my grandparents. My grandparents live in Stockton (all four of them, actually), but my mom's parents came to Milpitas for a few days to house-sit, and cat-sit while my parents are out of town. We had a lot of fun - had a nice dim sum lunch, then drove around Milpitas, window shopping.

Guess that's it. I'm still catching up on sleep, and getting some work done. Thought I'd take a quick break from work and jot down my activities from the weekend, before I forget!

New Software Day

I just finished installing 2 new pieces of software: OS X (10.3) and Flash MX 2004.

I have to say, the installation process went really well. OS X took a really long time (Dick says, "welcome to the world of UNIX"). There were 3 installation CDs! I haven't seen multiple installation CDs/disks since I had to install programs using little 3.5" floppy disks! Aside from that (and a roughly 45 minute process) all went well.

So far, I'm enjoying Panther. That's Apple-ese for this newest version of OS X. I'm calling it OS X code name: Claude. That's because I always joke that my kitty, Claude, is part Russian Blue, and part Panther. (he's very tall, and has very long legs)

Anyway, back to the new software. Dick's friends in the Mac Group have been telling me for months that the new upgrade is really great - they're working on new software, so they've been testing it on Panther for the past several months. So far, it definitely seems faster (very nice!). I also like the configuration of the Finder more so far. A little more intuitive. There are several new features that I know I won't use: I don't use Apple's Calendar or Mail program - I use Microsoft's Entourage instead for all of that. What kind of Microsoft girlfriend would I be if I didn't use all of these things? Anyway, it seems like there are several other changes/additions in here to play with. Guess I'll have to use it for a few more days to figure out how much a difference it will all make. So far, I've figured out how to use a little Raggedy Ann picture as my profile picture on AIM - that's exciting.

FYI:
MSN Messenger: trina_chow@hotmail.com
AIM: trinachow1

I'm on MSN at all times. I only log onto AIM every once in a while. It seems to be more popular with people in my family, and people in Dick's family.

Flash MX 2004. No news for you yet. I'll check it out within the next few days. The last version of Flash I have is about 3 years old - Flash 4. Unfortunately, it was too old of a version to get the full upgrade. Instead, I (luckily) was able to find someone who was able to get the educational version for me at a very reasonable price.

Anyway, I haven't used Flash too often yet - I used it for the opening screen on the Always Dream Foundation site, and for some small, personal projects. My new plan is to learn Flash MX by doing a bunch of personal projects (those I had previously done, or wanted to do with Director years ago) then utilizing my new skills to offer it to clients if they want.

Hopefully, I'll get something started within the next few days. I'll check out the tutorial first. My friend, Willo, is a bonafied "Flash Goddess" (really). She and I may exchange some lessons on Flash for Photoshop and Quickbook lessons. good deal, eh?

Halloween Party

The Halloween Party last night was great fun! There were some really terrific costumes! To name a few, we had Charlie Brown, Where's Waldo, a flasher, and a Chick Magnet! I've posted some pictures.

We had a lot of fun dressed as Superman & Wonder Woman. I'd like to thank Mykail for doing my hair :) We had a party music mix playing throughout the night - Dick arranged it so that every few songs played was the theme some from Superman or Wonder Woman. Very funny.

We probably had about 50 people in and out during the evening. The last guests left around 2:30am!

Dick's band, Gafas de Soul, played for a couple of hours. Most people had not had an opportunity to hear them before, so it was a real "treat"!

Thanks to all who came! We had a great time!

Happy Halloween (part 2)

Dick, Mykail and I carved our pumpkins tonight.
Can you guess who carved which pumpkin?

Here's a great site where we found the stencils for our pumplin carving.

Happy Halloween!!!

We'll be having our Halloween Party tomorrow night. I'll post pictures after the event.

Here's Noe in her Halloween costume from a few years ago when she was still a kitten.

The BEST Surprise EVER!!!

I just got the best surprise!!! Really!!!

Mykail called me this morning as I was ready to go out to run some errands. He asked me when I was going to return so we could talk later. I told him between 5 & 6:00......

The next thing I know, he calls my sister on her cell phone (she's here running errands with me) asking her what time we'd be back so his friend could talk with her.

Anyway, long story short: We come come, I'm emptying the car (lots of stuff for the Halloween party) and I hear someone say "You need some help with that?" It was Mykail & Jessica!!!

They drove up last night with Vicky - completely spontaneous. They all came up for various reasons - one of them being to surprise me, and come to our Halloween Party on Saturday!!!! :)!!!!

It's even more great because Dick is away for a business trip for a couple of days. this was the case the last time Mykail came to visit over the summer, too. Each time this happens, I say, "Now filling in for the roll of Trina's Boyfriend...."

Yay!! Best Surprise Ever!!!

Fired for Blogging?

Yikes. This employee was fired for blogging.

Better watch what I say. My boss could fire me.... ;)

Seriously though, if you think I've blogged about anything I shouldn't have, or have written anything inappropriate, let me know. Would hate to offend anyone, or write anything that I shouldn't.

Now I'm all paranoid.

Opus' Dad

Tuesday, September 28th was a very exciting day for my Mom! My mom, sister and I met up at the Border's Book Store in Palo Alto for a book signing by Berkeley Breathed.

Who's Berke Breathed? Well, he's Opus' Dad, of course. He is perhaps more widely known for being the creator and artist of "Bloom County" and "Outland". However, in our family, we call him "Opus' Dad".

My Mom started to have a small collection of penguins in the early 80s. What really launched her love for penguins had to have been when Bloom County came out - she immediately fell in love with Opus.

Just to make things clear: (pretend you're taking a SAT test again)

Trina: Raggedy Ann
Barbara: Opus the penguin

get it?

Berke Breathed is known to be a very private man. I can't imagine he does many talks or book signings. I can't imagine he needs to - he has quite a following from Bloom County already. He just came out with his latest children's book titled "Flawed Dogs: The Year-End Leftovers at the Piddleton "Last Chance" Dog Pound". That was the book he was promoting.

It was the quickest book signing I've ever attended (although I've actually only attended two). He spoke for about 3 minutes, then started to sign books. I think this is because it was Noon on Tuesday afternoon, and he figured most people were there on their lunch break.

Here's a picture of my Mom meeting Mr. Breathed. She had him sign his new book, and an Opus Poster that I found on ebay for her a few years back. She was really excited. Kind of like when I had the opportunity to meet the family of the creator of Raggedy Ann for the first time! :)

Oh - keep your eyes open! his new Opus comic strip will start appearing in Sunday Papers at the end of November! they're going to be 1/2 page strips! Woo-Hoo!!!

Southern Cal fires

yikes.

Really bad fires down in Southern Cal. I'm hoping that all of my friends who are down there are okay.

I talked with Mykail yesterday. He lives in San Diego. he said the fires were about 10 minutes from him, and he didn't think that he'd have to evacuate. He packed a bag, and was ready to leave, just in case.

The description he gave was really surreal: he said it looks like the first fall of snow outside - only it's ash. The sky was black - this was at 3:00 in the afternoon. He described how all of the TV stations were only covering the fires... until the local FOX station had to go off the air because they had the evacuate the TV station.

It's really awful. If you're one of my Southern Cal friends, and just happen to be reading this, please check in.

Gay Boyfriend

Check out this video:"Gay Boyfriend".

It's really funny, and kind of reminds me of my first boyfriend (who yes, was indeed, ultimately... gay). The people who made it used software from Re:Vision Effects (Pete's Company).

My talented friend, Jason

My friend Jason just left after a quick 3 day visit. He was in town for the SF Travel Expo. He lived here for several years, so he has plenty of friends, and favorite places to visit.

Jason is a man of many talents. First of all, kudos to Jason - he just signed his first book deal!!! I'm just thrilled for him. I'm not sure how much of this is for public knowledge, so I'll write more later when I know.

Another one of Jason's talents? I think I may have mentioned it in an earlier post. Jason shares my love for the original Star Wars trilogy. Last night, we found that we are worthy opponents for "Star Wars Trivia". We had a great time playing. Here's the part I love: Jason is the only person I know who can speak "Greedo". For those of you who don't know, Greedo was the green alien with the pointy snout who had a discussion, and was then shot by Han Solo.

Random thoughts from the middle of the night

Here are some things I've learned by waking up and working from 2:00am-6:00am:

It's really dark outside
The cats are still asleep
the garbage man comes *really* early.
No one is logged-on to Instant Messenger
junk mail never sleeps
I get some pretty good work done.
sfgate.com doesn't put new stories up in the middle of the night
it's too bad I don't drink coffee
i come up with more reasons to blog

Crazy Artist hours

Here's one of the great perks about having your own business: you can establish your own hours.

For some reason, I woke up at 2:00am today. I got out of bed, and walked down the hallway to the office. (I call this my "commute"). I received an email from a new client giving me the go-ahead to start a new design. Suddenly, I was creatively inspired. That's what happens at 2:00am.

So it's 5:45 now. The creative juices were flowing: I managed to create a really great design. (i think - we'll see what she thinks)

Oh, BTW, the new client is "the other" Trina Chow's cousin! Yep, it all worked out, and she hired me to design her new site. I'm giving her the "Friends and Family" rate. :)

I'm trying to decide whether or not to go back to bed now. It's almost 6:00, and I have to get up at 7:00. Yeesh. I'm driving Dick to work today, then going to Milpitas to spend the day with my Mom. (once again, another perk of working for yourself) Dick needs to be to work by 9:00, so we need to leave the house by 8:00.

Oy. I'm thinking I'm not going to be such a happy camper in the middle of the afternoon today....

2 for 1 sales - friend or foe?

I think I have a love/hate relationships with 2 for 1 sales.

I went to Safeway yesterday. I was very excited, because Oscar Meyer Bacon was on sale, 2 for 1! Those of you who know Dick know that he LOVES bacon. Not that he over-does it, but he does have a few slices on weekends. He's also very picky about bacon - it must be Oscar Meyer regular cut. None of that thick slice stuff....

Anyhow, I always get excited when I see that it's on sale. I have to stock up, and put a whole bunch in the freezer. I figure, I know we'll eat it, so I might as well buy as much as I can on sale. And so I did - I bought 8 packs yesterday.

That's a good 2 for 1 sale story.

Here's a Bad 2 for 1 story: while perusing around the store, I came across the 2 for 1 Lay's potato chips. No, I don't need potato chips. If I don't have them around the house, I certainly don't miss them. But, there they were: 2 for 1! what a deal. Plus, we're having a Halloween Party at the end of the month, so I thought I'd buy them now, and keep them for the party.

Silly me. What was I thinking?

Yep, I'm snacking on them right now.

evil, evil, evil.

My best friend from First Grade

This is such a great story. My family moved around a lot when I was a kid. We moved from Stockton, to Modesto, Visalia, Fresno (had two houses there) then to Milpitas by the time I was 8. My sister and I were pretty accustomed to going to new schools and making new friends.

In January 1976, we moved to our first house in Fresno, on Prospect Ave. We went to school at Fig Garden Elementary. Believe it or not, we actually walked through the fig orchards to get to school! (that sounds so "Little House on the Prairie" to me now) I was in first grade at the time. It was then that I met my first "best friend".

Terri was in my class, and lived down the street with me. I can remember being in school with Terri just a little bit: I remember writing and reciting a report about "The Bald Eagle" and how Terri told me how proud of me she was. :) I also remember her singing me Happy Birthday when I turned 6.

Here's a picture that I took during a field trip to the Fresno Zoo when we were in first grade. There's Terri in the background - she's the cute little blond girl waving at the camera. There's my Mom - who chaperoned that day - she's on the left side.

Terri and I became fast best friends. I have so many fond memories of playing with her during our summer break. Terri was (and still is) a movie fanatic! she used to write scripts for us to act out. (yes, we were only 6 years old!) I also remember that she was a huge fan of "The Six Million Dollar Man" - she wrote a script where she insisted that I play Oscar (was Gorman his last name? Random Trivia). Wasn't he the boss, or something like that?

Terri was my very first business partner! We opened my first and only lemonade stand that summer - Actually, we sold Kool-Aid. We made signs, and posted them all throughout the block. I think we made some $$, but honestly, I don't remember that part.

Terri has wonderful parents - I remember that they were always so kind to me. She also had an older brother, Christopher who has downs syndrome. It's interesting looking back at this. Now I know what an amazing gift and lesson Terri's family taught me at such an early age. Chris was the first person I can remember meeting with any kind of physical or mental disabilities. I don't remember thinking anything of his disabilities at the time - which I think says so much for Terri and her family. I just thought of him as Terri's older brother, who had some special needs.

Sadly, Terri and her family moved at the end of the summer. They moved a few hours away to Fair Oaks, near Sacramento. (which, to a kid, seems a world away) I remember being very sad that my best friend was moving away.

Here's the amazing part: Terri and I managed to stay in touch by becoming pen pals. Think about that: 2 6-year olds writing letters to stay in touch. Think about it: snail mail. That's right... no email, no instant messenger, we didn't' even call each other because long-distance phone calls were too expensive back then.

So, we wrote, and wrote and wrote... all throughout our childhood, and into adulthood. We both had strange fascination with SciFi (Battlestar Gallactica and Star Wars). Sometimes, we sent cassette tapes to each other of the other talking, or playing the latest piano song we just learned.

Terri and her family came back to visit Fresno once that I can remember. I think we were in second or third grade. Here's a pictures of us in my family's backyard with my sister, Tiffini.

The next time Terri and I saw each other again was in 1985 - we were both sophomores in High School. My parents have a time-share condo up in Tahoe, and we invited Terri to come up with us for the week. Mind you, I'm sure Terri and I were both a little nervous, since we hadn't seen each other for such a long time. Luckily, we got along really well, and rediscovered our friendship! I think we both made trips to visit each other that summer. Come to think of it, that was the summer that we filmed "Star Wars" using Terri's High-8 camera, and all of my Star Wars action figures, ships, playsets, and "The Story of Star Wars Soundtrack". Really. it's a hoot. Someday, I'll have to get a copy of this from Terri.

In 1987, we both graduated from high school. Eventually, Terri moved to San Francisco to go to State, and I moved to the mid-west for color guard.

The next time we saw each other was in 1994 at Terri's Wedding!!!! Can you believe it? My best friend from first grade was getting married!! She was so sweet to invite my entire family, too. Here's a great picture that she sent me from her wedding! Note: I had just finished teaching 2 weeks of band camp (outdoors). That would explain why I'm unusually dark.

Terri is married to a great guy named Derek. They met while in film school at San Francisco State. My favorite part of their wedding was the "Star Wars Theme". They sent out Star Wars-style trading cards with their wedding invitations - collect them all! it was so clever. each one had a different picture of them standing in front of an important landmark in their relationship - the hospital where they were born, where they had their first date (which I believe was Mel's Drive-In), etc. Really cute.

Terri and Derek live down in Burbank now. They have a beautiful little boy named Deacon. I've managed to make it down a few times over the last few years to visit with them, although I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Deacon yet.

anyway, I'm writing all of this because Terri and I just exchanged emails yesterday. Whenever we see each other, we always marvel at how we managed to stay in touch over all of these years - especially since we were so young.

What a wonderful and special friendship we have. Thanks, Terri!!!

Gafas de Soul

Check out the sounds of Gafas de Soul. Dick just uploaded some sample tunes! They sound terrific.

Have an event that you need a jazz band for? Send them an email.

Jesus Christ - The Musical

We just got back from seeing "Jesus Christ, Superstar" with my family.

here's a little background: Until 2 weeks ago, I had never heard the soundtrack. To be honest, I didn't even know the story - apart from the (very) obvious that is. You may say, "isn't the whole story very obvious?" No, not to me. I'm probably one of the very few people you know who has not read The Bible. For the record, (because religion is such a touchy situation) I have nothing against the bible, or religion for that matter. I was brought up without any religion, and was given the opportunity to make my own spiritual/religious choices as an adult.

So, back to the story at-hand. A couple of weeks ago, Dick and I drove up to Napa Valley for the day. He had grown up listening to the soundtrack of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and LOVED it. I'm pretty sure he can sing the entire album. (or CD, or whatever it's called these days) We had just been to Amoeba Records on Haight Street, where he bought a copy of the soundtrack. Yep, we listened to the entire CD on our way to and from Napa. Dick was kind enough to explain the story along the way to me.

My synopsis of "Jesus Christ Superstar"?

....it's like "Schoolhouse Rock" for the Bible.

editor's note I hope I did not offend, or shock anyone with this post. I try to make it a point never to talk about religion or politics among friends. I figured that since this was a Broadway musical, I could slip it in. :)

What a nice day...

Today was one of those really nice days that just happens unexpectedly. Nothing major, no huge news. Just a nice day :)

First of all, I've been nice and busy all week with work stuff. I've been working with several different clients doing updates, and also had a meeting with a potential new client earlier in the week. (for those of you keeping track, that was Trina Chow's cousin). The meeting went very well, and I sent her an estimate today.

So I'm feeling nice and productive this week, which is always nice. I still have more work to do (it's piling up a bit) but really, that's the way I like it.

All kinds of small, nice things happened this afternoon. I had a hair appt scheduled at 4:00 in the Castro. For those of you who haven't seen me lately, my hair is surprisingly long these days. I haven't had it cut since March, so I figured it was past due.

On my way to the Castro, my friend Tammy called from Chicago. (nice thing #1) We had a nice chat about her weekend in Palm Springs, and she gave me the full report on our mutual friend, Bill's wedding.

While I was talking with Tammy, I explained that I had to go get the battery in my watch replaced. I found the local Sunglass/watch Hut on Castro Street, and went in. As soon as I was inside, I asked Tammy if I could call her back. I simply don't like to talk on my cell phone much in public. It's fairly unusual to find me having a conversation on it while I'm walking around, but I don't like to talk when I'm in restaurants or stores. Anyhow, the clerk at the store noticed that I got off my phone, and he mentioned how much he appreciated it. He said that a lot of customers come in, talking on their phone, and signal him by pointing at sunglasses they want to try on. Tacky. Anyhow, he said he could replace my battery, and that I could come back in 10 minutes. Perfect! I stood outside, and chatted with Tammy while I waited. When I went back into the store, he informed me that he wasn't going to charge me the $10 for replacing my battery - he insisted that I had made his day by not being rude with my cell phone. Well... that, of course, made my day! what a nice guy! So, if you're in San Francisco, and need Sunglasses, or a watch.... Go to The Sunglass Hut on Castro/18th. Ask for Ion. What a nice guy. (nice thing #2)

Went to my hair appt at 4:00. Had a wonderful time catching up with my hairdresser, Ramiro. Haven't seen him in a long time, and we had a good time catching up. (nice thing #3 - plus, I got a good haircut to boot!)

Oh, and did I mention that my tenant gave me his rent check today - all paid up through October now! (nice thing #4)

That's it. Like i said, nothing major, but all nice. Got some work done, sent out a job proposal, had a nice phone conversation with a friend, got my watch battery replaced for free, and have better hair.

Life is good. :)

just found this...

thought it was kind of funny - in that sick and twisted kind of way.


Or, maybe it's not funny at all, and I'm the sick and twisted one.

Hmmmm.

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!!

Yesterday was my parent's 36th Wedding Anniversary!!! :) (sorry, I wasn't able to post this yesterday because I spent the day with them)

Happy Anniversary Barb & Henry!
36 years! They were married when they were 19, but they first started dating at 14 (I think - Is that right, or is it 13?) The story goes: they met in junior high school, while competing against each other for student council. :)

Here's a picture of them from their first date. Aren't they cute? Hmmm... just thought of this: they would have been too young to drive, so what's the deal with the car behind them? I'll have to ask.

My dad took this whole week off for vacation, and my Mom was able to take a couple of days off as well. Yesterday, they came into the City, and we went to The Waterfront Restaurant for lunch. It was really nice - beautiful day, covered, outdoor seating, yummy salads. Plus, we had the added benefit of watching The Blue Angels practice for this weekend's Fleet Week Festivities.

We also went to check out the new Ferry Building, since they hadn't seen it yet. We picked up some Porterhouse Steaks, and some huge Heirloom Tomatoes for dinner. Came back home, (where my sister met us for dinner) and Dick fired up the grill. Delicious!

Costco Gasoline!

Most of you know I'm a big fan of Costco. As my friend Sheri would say, "Kirkland is my middle name". (those of you who actually shop at Costco would understand what that means)

I'm so lame! For years, I only shopped at the SF Costco. This year, I expanded my horizons a bit, and started going to the South San Francisco Costco - near the airport. I found the experience to be much more pleasant - larger facilities, less crowded, etc,

Pete & Richard told me about the Costco in South San Francisco - near Colma a few months ago. I figured I'd check it out someday, but no rush. Last week they mentioned that this Costco location has a Gasoline Station! WHAT? For some reason, I just assumed that none of the Costcos in this area would have gasoline. I've bought gasoline in Santa Clara, Hayward, and Tracy, but no where near SF.

So I went today... get this: Regular gasoline: $1.77. Premium gas: $1.91.

Pretty cheap. When I drove home, I saw signs for gasoline at local stations for up to $.30/gallon.

I'm such a geek, but these are the things that make me happy.

Out-blogged by a 5-year-old.

Dick's 5 year old nephew, Peter, has started a blog in his Kindergarten class. I just looked at it, and discovered that he's been faithfully posting every day! That's a lot more than I can say for myself, or Peter's Uncle Dick!

Imagine: blogging in Kindergarten! Times sure have changed! :)

Another Trina Chow?

This is very funny.....

About 5 years ago, I received the following email:

Is this the Trina Chow who was my childhood best friend from Coffman Drive?
If so, What's Up? If not, please disregard this message.

Thought that was interesting, as I always thought Trina was a fairly unusual name. And really, what are the chances of another Chinese girl, with the last name of "Chow" having the same, fairly unusual first name? Surely, there couldn't be any other Trina Chows in the World! Little did I know...

I replied to the writer, and said I was not the Trina Chow she was looking for. She told me that she and Trina grew up in Montebello, CA (10 miles east of downtown LA). A few months/years later, I received another email (which I can't find at the moment) from someone else looking for "Trina Chow" from Montebello, CA. I was able to quickly figure out that both messages were asking for the same Trina Chow.

So now I know that there are 2 of us in California! (2 that I know of at least - who knows: perhaps there are thousands of "us" out there!)

This Trina Chow sure sounds like a popular girl! Coincidentally, I think we may even be around the same age.

It was around this time that I registered my domain name, trinachow.com. I started to become paranoid that the "other" Trina Chow was going to get to it before me!

I hadn't heard anything else about the other Trina Chow for a while.... until today!

I had received an email earlier this week from a potential client. As always, I asked how she came across my work/name. (always interested in knowing this info) Here's what she replied:

I found you at Kristi Yamaguchi's site. Your name is exactly the same as my
cousin's and I was surprised that she was doing web sites, so I looked into
your site and found that you're not my cousin. My cousin's down in the LA
area. But in trying to find out if you were her, I discovered I like you work.

Isn't that funny? it's like I'm becoming one degree closer to the "other" Trina Chow.

I have a phone meeting with this potential new client on Monday morning. I'm looking forward to learning more about the "other" Trina Chow!

Random (and funny) Tidbits about my name

I will occasionally do a search for my name (Trina Chow, in case you forgot already) on google.com I like to make sure that my website, portfolio, and other sites that I have worked on come up, and are registed. Seems like a good business tactic.

I've never found anything else on another Trina Chow.

The funny part is that there are several web sites out that about women/girls named Trina, and their Chow dogs. That is, the dogs are of the Chow Breed. I've always thought that if I had a dog, I would have to get a "Chow". The lucky little guy could be the "Puppy Chow", who grew up to be "Dog Chow", or even be known as the "Chow Chow". (this is why I don't have a dog)

BTW, my Mom's nickname for me is "Puppy". Yep, that's right. I *am* "Puppy Chow".

I was teased relentlessly when I was in first grade because of my name. Think about this: Those Purina Cat Chow commercials had just come out. "Trina" happens to rhyme with "Purina". You do the math..... I remember coming home in tears from too much teasing, asking my Mom if I could change my last name.

back from vacation...

..and back to the normal routine.

Dick just went back to work after being on vacation for 2 weeks! I didn't blog much because we were too busy running around SF!

I'll try to recap some of the highlights:

Beach Chalet - it was really hot a couple of weeks ago. Dick and I decided to start our vacation by cooling off by the beach. We went to The Beach Chalet for dinner. Unfortunately, it seems the rest of the City had the same idea. We ended up waiting for a table for 1 1/2 hours! Dinner was good, but we were ready to come home and go to bed by the time we sat down!ti

Dick's bday dinner - we had a small cocktail party at our house, then went over to Timo's for dinner. Yummy tapas food. That's tapas - not topless.

We spent one day in Union Square. Did a little bit of shopping, and enjoyed a stroll through Yerba Buena Gardens.the My favorite part of the gardens is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. It's just beautiful, and so well done. What an amazing man.
We met Jim and Cynde for drinks at The View Lounge (the top of the Marriott Hotel). Great view up there- hence the name. As the story goes: The Marriott/View Lounge opened on the morning of the 1989 earthquake. All but one glass was broken!

We spent a lovely afternoon visiting The San Francisco Zoo - we saw baby Flamingos, teenage penguins (they are a shiny silver instead of black, and don't have any stripes/rings yet) and watched "the big cats" eat. There were two lion cubs - born in February.



We also checked out the recently renovated Ferry Building! The building is gorgeous, and the new businesses seem to be doing quite well. We found a terrific produce stand, and bought some delicious heirloom tomatoes. We also went to a butcher and bought some porterhouse steaks that we grilled that night. Lora met us at the Ferry Building, and came over for dinner. Omar was in Japan for the week. We had a great dinner, and topped off the night with a rousing game of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit

Dick and I went to Lucca, our neighborhood Italian Deli, and picked up some salami, and cheese for a Picnic at Golden Gate Park! We drove around the park, discovered all of the tucked away lakes, and ended up spreading out our picnic blanket in the Botanical Gardens. We ate, took naps, and read. it was very nice and relaxing.

We tried to visit the newly restored Conservatory - it had just opened the Saturday prior, but i was closed on Mondays! too bad.
Instead we went down to The SF MOMA to see the Marc Chagall exhibit.

Last Tuesday, we ventured to the East Bay for the afternoon. We went to 4th street in Berkeley to the Crate and Barrell Outlet & Dansk outlet. We've been meaning to replace our drinking glasses. The last set of glasses we had had chips on the rim - apparently, they weren't dishwasher safe! I started to feel silly warning our guests to watch the rim of the glass to make sure they didn't cut their lip!

We met my sister, Tiffini for lunch at Fenton's Ice Creamery in Piedmont. That was delicious. They could quite possibly have the BEST ice cream shakes I've ever had! (and that's quite the statement, thank you)

Last week, we bid a fond farewell to Dick's 1992 Honda Accord. The poor car had been neglected for several months now, and it was time to find a new home. After he attempted to sell it to the local Honda dealership (where they offered Dick a shocking $500), Dick decided to donate it to the San Francisco SPCA. That made our kitties happy. It's a great organization, and we're happy to support them. We're elated that we're finally down to 2 cars and 1 motorcycle between the two of us. No more worries about street parking!

Painting the Interior of the House
Well, we didn't actually get around to the actual painting process, but I'm happy to report that we did manage to select the colors that we'll be using. Our good friend and interior designer, Richard Robertson came over and helped us select colors for the office, master bedroom, front room, parlor and hallway. It's a lot of paint, and a lot of colors! we're very excited.

Last Friday, we spent the day up in beautiful Napa Valley! The only set plans we had was lunch at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville. We had a delicious dinner there a couple of years ago, and lunch was just as good! Along the way, we came across The Napa Premium Outlets. We didn't have any plans to shop that day, but decided to stop because we had some spare time before lunch. Oh my! We did lots and lots of shopping. Dick is now a huge fan of the Barney's New York Outlet. After doing some major retail therapy, we made our way to the Beaulieu Vineyard. Dick is a member of their wine clubs. One of the perks to being a member is that you are able to reserve a tasting table where you can sample their premium wines free of charge. It's a nice service, and the wine was terrific!

Saturday, September 27th was Grace's 3rd Birthday! Grace is Dick's youngest neice. Happy Birthday to Grace! Dick tried to call, but the birthday girl was taking a nap.

Omar and Lora adopted a kitty on Saturday from the San Francisco SPCA!!! We're so happy for them! they adopted a 6 month old blue cat - perhaps a Russian Blue mix like Claude. The name he came with is "Elliott". Last I heard, they are not certain whether or not he'll be keeping that name. Congratulations to the Shahine Family!

We went to the Folsom Street Fair yesterday. It was a gorgeous day (probably mid-70s) so it was completely packed! i think it may have been the most busy I've ever seen it. Lots of good people watching, although it was kind of hard to see through the thick sea of people.

Yesterday was Vivian's Birthday! She turned 24 - what a youngster! :) We helped her celebrate by going to The House of Prime Rib for dinner. Mmmmm. Great Food. I'm most impressed by Vivian, because she's the only girl I know (and a tiny one at that) who can eat her whole meal, and even manage to ask for seconds. Impressive.

And of course, there was LOTS of Ghost Recon throughout the week. Oh yeah.

Wow. turns out we did a lot more than I thought! Dick had a restful vacation, and got to enjoy the wonderful city where we live.

And now I must get back to some of my daily routines. I just returned from my morning walk, which I haven't done in a couple of weeks (my own fault of course). Feels good to get some exercise again! I've been feeling awfully sluggish lately - been eating such great vacation food!

What a great couple of weeks. Thanks, Dick!

Another car name...

How about "MINI Driver"?
:)

my sister thought this was much funnier than "Alice Cooper"

Server down...

My server was down all day. Actually, most of it worked - my site was up and running, and I was able to access it via FTP. However, it wouldn't let me write over files, which is how this whole blog thing works!

Blog is back up, and all is fine in the world ;)

New car obsession...

Yep. Pretty much obsessed about the new car. My poor friends and family have to endure months of me talking about my new car before it's even delivered (which isn't until December/January).

Truth be told, I've ordered the car with the dealership, but the order hasn't even been sent to MINI yet. The dealership gets an allotment of orders they can submit every few weeks. My order is sitting in the queue. After the order is submitted, I think it'll still take 3-4 months before the car is actually built and delivered.

This has, in once sense, worked towards my advantage. I have a few weeks "cushion" to make any changes to my order before it is sent in. So far, I've already changed both the interior as well as the exterior colors! Pretty major, huh?

Here are the new specs (because I know you care):
(exterior) British Racing Green
(interior) Cordoba Beige Leather (it's a black and beige combo - pretty sporty)

Here's something funny I just thought of. (these are the things that cross my mind at 6:30am)
I think I'll name my car: "Alice".
get it?
Alice....
Alice Cooper....
:)

I've never named a car before, but that's pretty funny.

It's almost as funny as Andrew's car, "Betty".
"Betty" is Andrew's new red car. It's a Ford.
Betty Ford.

Computer Recycling Center

Good info to have: http://www.crc.org/donate/index.html

Ew... Spider!

Ewwwww. Yuck!

I found a big, white, spider nested in our window blinds this morning. Ick! We have these little honey-comb blinds in most of our windows. I noticed the shadow of the spider last night. I thought it was dead, dead dead. So I chose to ignore it until I could point it out to Dick.

Turns out the spider wasn't dead! It had just spun a web around itself and settled into the honeycomb. Dick almost pulled it out with my tweezers. "NO!! Don't use my tweezers!!!" Instead, he used a cotton swab and scooted the spider out. It fell to the floor, and Dick squished it. SPLAT. Ick...

I ran screaming away like a little girl. Embarrassing, but true.

Today's Drawing Session....

Went back to the Drawing studio this morning for another 3 hour session. Although I still enjoyed the experience, I was not very pleased with my final product today. My 1 minute studies were pretty good, and I thought I was on a good roll. However, most of the 5-15 minute sessions were pretty uninspired. I did one decent 20 minute sketch, but that's about it for today.

Oh well. I guess these things take time to build up again, don't they? Dick said that when you've been away from doing something for a while, you're usually pretty good the first time at it again, but may slip a little the 2nd time. That's what happened today. I hope next week is a little more productive for me!

Opus is coming back!

My Mom just sent this to me: Opus Saves The World - The goofysweet penguin from Bloom County returns, and the Sunday paper might actually be funny again.

My sister found this: Opus the Penguin Back In the Funny Business

How exciting for comic fans everywhere! Is there anyone else out there who loves the "A Wish for Wings that Work" Xmas special as much my family?

"I'm a Rhinoceros!!!"

"You're a PIG! P-O-R-K ...... You know, the other white meat!"

Late night out....

Late for us, anyhow. dick and I just returned from seeing our friend and neighbor, Dietrich, perform at the bar "Parkside" (on 17th and Wisconsin). He was fantastic! The program tonight (a group of performers) was called F*cked Up music for F*cked Up People. We saw about 4 performers, who were all quite good and talented. Dietrich was great! He did everything from an old Ramones tune, to a special blend of Brittany Spears and Abba. (My favorite Abba song even "Lay All Your Love on Me") You know the one:

I wasn't jealous before we met,
Now every woman I see is a potential threat,
And I'm possessive, it isn't nice,
You've heard me saying that smoking was my only vice,
But now it isn't true,
Now everything is new,
And all I've learned has overturned,
I beg of you,
Don't go wasting your emotion,
Lay all your love on me.

:). That brings back some old memories to me. Does anyone else out there remember The Freelancers' Color Guard, 1983? I'm reallly dating myself, but I loved that show! Plus, Erasure did a cover of that song several years back. Wow. My old gay-bar hopping days are coming back to haunt me.

Usually, we don't have the energy to go out this late (not that 11:30 is terribly late, I admit) on a weeknight, but lucky for us, Dick is on vacation for the next couple of weeks. We're going to San Francisco for our vacation! There's actually a lot we want to do and see here: the Conservatory just reopened in GG Park, the Chagall Exhibit at SF MOMA, etc.,

Oh, on a side note: we were playing "Ghost Recon: Island Thunder" or "GRIT" on Xbox Live tonight. Very fun - especially since we were able to download a New Map! Very cool.

Alright. Time for bed now. Goodnight.

It's 4:05 am - why am I awake?

For some reason, I opened my eyes about an hour ago, and realized "Wow, I'm wide awake". No particular reason. Perhaps it's the weather - it's been pretty hot lately, although it's cooling off now. Could be because today is Dick's Birthday. We're having some friends over for cocktails in the evening, and I have lots to do.

Hmmmm... don't you hate it when this happens? it kind of messes up your whole sleep pattern. Actually, this is the 2nd time in the last 3 nights, so I'm not sure what's going on here. I was up from 4-6am Friday morning. I decided to be productive that morning, and finished working on my G.E. Website for the month.

I suppose I could blame my insomnia on too much Xbox. We've been playing a lot of Ghost Recon, Island Thunder lately. It's a great game, albeit, pretty violent and graphic. My accupuncturist used to tell me to make sure I wasn't working/playing on my computer for at least an hour before going to bed. Makes your mind race too much. Imagine how much worse video games must be for my sleeping capability.

Speaking of Xbox: My Xbox gamertag: Noe Cat (not the most threatening-sounding gamer name in the world, but it works) :)

Just realized I haven't seen my cats since I've been awake. they must be sleeping. Aren't they supposed to keep you company when you're awake in the middle of the night? Isn't that one of their "cat jobs"?

Happy Birthday, Dick!

Happy Birthday to my "techie-honey" - (as my friend, Willo would say).

In case you missed it last time...

It's hot! (again) SF Gate shows the current outside temp to be 93 degrees out. We live in the Mission district. Usually, we're about 5 degrees hotter here than most of the city. I'll let you do the math.

Good thing Pete & Richard are in Amsterdam. (hi guys!)

Gettin back into the creative spirit of things!!!

Oh yeah.....
I'm painting again....
I'm drawing again....

Wow - it feels so good to be creating again!!! Willo came over yesterday, and we spent the afternoon painting away! So much fun - I'm really looking forward to doing this more often. My friend, Sharon, came over a few months ago and got me back into the painting swing of things. It had been over 4 years since I'd last painted. Bad, bad, bad. I'll see if she wants to come over and paint with Willo and I - we'll have painting parties together!

I love to paint in our dining room. there's so much natural light in that room. If it's nice out, I can open the French doors to the backyard and get some fresh air in. Plus, we have the stereo speakers hooked up in the kitchen, so we can Jam away to some music as we paint! :)

This morning, Willo and I met for a 3 hour Life Drawing class. It's at SOMA Arts here in the City. Boy, that was FANTASTIC! what an opportunity! It's only $5.00/session, and they allow walk-ins. There were about 20 people there. One of my favorite things is to just watch other people, look at their individual styles, and learn from all of them. Everyone was so nice - the age range was probably from college-age to over 60. Great variety. I'm hoping to make a weekly habit of it.

I'm a bit rusty still. I realized it's been over 8 years since my last Life Drawing course. Life Drawing was my favorite course over at De Anza College. Lee Tacang was my instructor for over two years, and was one of the best instructor I've ever had the pleasure of learning from. Anyhow, I was a little concerned when I first sat down and drew some quick 1-minute poses today. EEK! I started feeling better about 30 minutes in, though. Some of my favorite techniques (ie: smudging charcoal) came back to me, and then I just let loose, and started to have fun. I met some really nice people today - they were all very encouraging, and told me to make sure to continue. What fun. I think I've been missing this part of my life for a while. Just never made the time to do it again.

Sorry for the lack of blogs...

wow - it's been days since my last blog. I'll try to not make a habit out of that. Truth is, I wasn't feeling well earlier this week. Just a little bug. Nothing major. Mostly tired - I slept a lot. Not a whole lot to report, which goes along with the lack of blogging.

Lots of stuff happening this weekend, though! Tomorrow, my friend, Willo is coming over to PAINT! Very exciting! Time to break out the easels and acrylics again! Even more exciting (to me, anyhow) is that we're going to go to a Life Drawing Class together on Saturday! I'm psyched. Bought a new pad of newsprint paper yesterday. I'm sure I'll be quite rusty (haven't drawn in about 8 years!), but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things. here's my old drawing portfolio. I'll let you know how the whole thing goes.....

Check out my little heart icon in your browser url window! I can see it in Mac OSX Safari, and Netscape, but not on Internet Explorer. Can't seem to see it on Windows XP IE either. Oh well. If you can see it, it's awfully cute! :)

I just ordered a NEW car!

Yep, you read it right.

I just ordered a new MINI Cooper!!! WOW!!!

About a year and a half ago, Dick walked into the room and proclaimed, "I know what your next car is going to be." He showed me a little brochure that was in the New Yorker Magazine for the new MINI Coopers. I was fairly familiar with the car - not that I had seen any in person yet, but I recognized it from our Xbox game "Project Gotham". Of course, Dick was right. The more I looked at the MINIs, and learned more about them, I realized that it would be the perfect choice for me: they're small (perfect for parking in the city), good gas mileage, economical, sporty, and most of all, they're CUTE!

In all honesty, the whole "cute" factor worried me a bit. I was afraid that I was completely enamored with the car based scrictly on the cute factor, and that I was overlooking all other practical matters. We test drove one earlier last year (yes, almost 1 1/2 years ago - I'm not an impulse buyer). I LOVED everything about it except that it didn't handle hills terribly well. Here's the problem: I live in San Francisco. There are lots of hills. I prefer to drive an automatic in the city, so I don't have to worry about the hills/parking. MINI only makes an automatic option on the base model, not the Cooper S model that has a larger engine.

Last weekend, I thought I'd better check the rest of my options. I looked online, and decided to check out the Acuras and Hondas. I liked the Acura RSX a lot - it's the replacement for the Integras, and we all know how much I love my Integra (see posting below). I liked it, it's a good car, it is in the same price range as the MINI,..... but I didn't LOVE it. I also didn't find anything that I liked at Honda.

So then, I did my homework on the MINI Coopers again. I had only been to the San Francisco dealership so far, and didn't have any great experiences to speak of. They were always busy, and quite frankly, weren't very helpful at all. Even when we test drove through them, they really didn't take the time to go over any features/specifications. not impressed. When I expressed my concern about the automatic/small engine to one of the sales guys, he had the gaul to tell me, "Then you should learn how to drive a stick." Grrrrr. It turns out that most MINI dealerships charge a dealer mark-up fee of $1,000 for the base model, and $2,500 for the Cooper S.... because they can! I realize they're popular cars, but that's a lot of $$! I found out that East Bay MINI in Pleasanton is the only MINI dealership in this area that does not charge any mark up at all. (good to know)

Dick and I had such a great experience at East Bay MINI today! Our sales guy, Matt, couldn't have been better. He told us more information in the first 5 minutes than any of the sales people in San Francisco had told me in the dozen or more times I've been in the last 1 1/2 years. Matt was full of information, and gave great suggestions. Dick and I were able to test drive both models: the Cooper, and the Cooper S. That was great fun! I seriously considered the Cooper S for a while, figuring I could deal with the stick thing in the City with time. However, Matt suggested that the automatic would be better for city driving - something about how the Cooper S engine wouldn't be able to reach it's full potential in city driving, and the clutch would burn out quicker. PLUS, the order time for a base model Cooper is 4 to 5 months, whereas the order time for the Cooper S is 12-15 months!!!! Granted, I'm not really in a rush, but I think I'd like my car within a year! :)

I gave them a $1,000 (fully-refundable) deposit, and ordered my new car today!!! Here's the scoop:
MINI Cooper: chili red with white roof and mirrors, Combo #1 (premium) (includes Automatic AC, Dual-Pane Sunroof, Leather Cruise/Multi wheel, on-board computer) CVT (automatic transmission), Sports Seats in Panther Black Leather :), auxillary Input (for MP3 players, etc.,) and an outdoor cover. Phew!

My MINI will be ready in 4-5 months. What's that - sometime around January?

The Amazing 15 1/2 year old car

I love my car. It's an amazing car. My car and I have been through so much together.

Yes, I've had my car for more than 15 1/2 years. How many people can say that? I've had it since I was 17 years old, and now I'm 33! I love telling people that I've had my car "My entire adult life". I can also say that I've had it for (almost) half of my life. Wow.

For those of you who don't know, my wondercar is a 1988 Acura Integra. I got it in January, 1988, during my first year in college. It was also with me throughout my entire "professional" color guard career: In September 1989, I drove it across the country to Dayton, OH. "We" lived there 9 months before driving back to Milpitas, CA in April 1990. In Fall 1990, I moved down to Southern Cal (Garden Grove) for a few months, and drove back and forth with it several times. In Fall 1991, Mykail and I packed it up our lives and drove to Boston, MA! Wow! We didn't stay long. November, 1991 we drove from Boston to Madison, WI (via Dayton, OH to celebrate Thanksgiving). My car and I lived in Madison until May 1993 before driving back to the Bay Area. While I lived in Madison, there were several side trips made to Chicago, Dayton, and even the Raggedy Ann & Andy festival in Arcola, IL.

I moved back to the Bay Area in May 1993. I started teaching the color guard at Logan HS in Union City, CA. I also started to take my first art classes at De Anza College in Cupertino. I commuted almost everyday from Milpitas, to Cupertino over to Union City, then back to Milpitas. My poor little car was really racking up the miles.

My car was able to take a bit of a break in the Fall of 1995 when I moved to San Francisco to attend the San Francisco Art Institute. I lived about a mile from school, so I left my car at my parent's house for a few months. When I started to work for Abbe Don in February 1996, I brought my car up to The City. Now it was a City Car! Street parking, steep hills, parking tickets, towing.... I was living in Nob Hill at the time - my car and I would circle the neighborhood countless times looking for a parking spot. We moved to Eureka Street in the Castro in August 1998. My car was pretty happy there. We had street parking, but I was usually able to find a spot on my block, or even in front of my house. Last year, I moved in with my wonder-boyfriend, Dick. Dick's house has a driveway! Happy car.

My friend, Andrew, and I used to joke that we were the last two people in the "my car has nothing automatic in it" club. That is to say, no power locks, no power windows. Andrew forfeited his membership to the club last year when he bought his new red Ford, "Betty". ...and then there was one...

I'm constantly amazed at how long I've had my car, and how well it continues to run. The only major things I've ever had to had replaced were the radiator, and the muffler. (both in Madison - I blame it on the weather) However, a friend recently pointed out that my car is showing it's age: the speedometer shakes continuously, the trunk doesn't stay open, the rear-defroster no longer works.... all these things that I keep forgetting about, or just choose to ignore. Even my mechanic, who has been servicing my car for 15 years. has been throwing me hints every time I see him. "Trina, it's time to start looking for a new car..."

Alas, I realize that the time has come to start looking for a new car. It makes me very sad to think of "giving up" my little red Integra.

I've started to look for a new car, and I think I've decided on what I want. But, more on that later. This post belongs to my 1988 Integra. I salute you, my faithful friend. Thanks for all the memories.

Happy Anniversary Noe!!

3 years ago today, we found our little Noe abandoned in our backyard. Dick calls her our "Lucky Dragon Cat". She was born in the (Chinese) Year of the Dragon, and we always think of how lucky she was to survive her first few days/weeks. Look how tiny she was!

Mmmmmmm......Donut.

Wow - talk about a guilty pleasure. Here I am, eating a old-fashioned glazed donut, and drinking Sleepy Time Tea. Mmmmmmmm. I can't remember the last time I had a donut, but for some reason, I've had a craving lately.

I had the hardest time deciding between the old-fashioned glazed, and (my real favorite) an apple fritter. I think I made the right decision. Truth be told, I'm not even hungry - just felt like munching on a donut. The old-fashioned is much smaller. If I had actually bought the apple fritter, I'm certain that I would have felt obligated to eat the entire thing in one sitting.

My friend, Sheri, emailed me last week telling me how many Weight Watchers points my carrots/hummus lunch was. Better not ask her about the donut! ;)

DCI on PBS

How crazy is this? Our local PBS station isn't going to televise DCI until OCTOBER 5th. October! DCI finals were August 9th. Considering that two of of the top 5 corps, including the one that WON is here in the Bay Area, that seems ridiculous.

In truth, I haven't even been to a live show in ages - perhaps 10 years or so. I still have several friends who instruct though, and I'd really like to see their programs.

I think I'll have some sort of gathering to watch it in October. It'll be fun to have some of the old guard friends over. (old in the "how long I've known them" sense, not in the "how old we're getting" way) Plus, you know, take advantage of the new HDTV Plasma! :) Will keep you posted...

Apparantly, I've become "mainstream"

does it mean anything that I started my blog a week before this article came out?

a la Oakland

We have a Labor Day "Tradition" of going to a la carte, a la park at Golden Gate Park every year. It's usually a terrific time, and the weather is almost always perfect. Unfortunately, we woke up to overcast skys today. Alice called - she lives a couple of blocks from the park, and reported fog. We all decided it wouldn't be as fun in colder weather, so we opted out.

Dick, Pete, Richard I and found our way to Downtown Oakland's "Art & Soul" Festival instead. It was a great time, plus the weather was perfect. We heard a great band, who I'm just not becoming more familiar with: "Guster". I don't know if this makes sense or not, but they reminded me of a "Toad the Wet Sproket" mixed with a hair of "Greenday". Great music. I may have to buy their CD now. Pete & Blane are already big fans. I'm always one step behind....

Happy Birthday Noe!

Our little "kitten" turns 3 today! We found Noe on Sunday, September 3, 2000. She had been abandoned by her momma cat during the middle of the night when we had a small earthquake. We took her to the vet that night, and they estimated her age to be about 5 days old. See Noe's baby pictures.

Noe got a special treat this morning - a brand new poofie ball! it's her favorite toy. I only have a few left, and I can't seem to find these things anymore. perhaps I'll search the net.

Happy Birthday, Little One!

School House Rock!

I'm a huge fan of the School House Rock! Series. Anyone else? I'm watching the DVD right now, which is why I mention it.

When I first started working at the Adler's Gallery several years ago, they specialized in vintage animation art. Cynde got a call one day from a colleague who had "unearthed" a bunch of production art from the School House Rock Series. Mind you, this is very rare. School House Rock was produced in the early 1970s. Like much animation from it's day, and before, most of the art work was destroyed or disposed of after production. No one thought to keep it as a form of "fine art". Anyhow, Jim and Cynde were a little too old to know what the whole School House Rock phenomenom was. When they mentioned it to me I told them all about it, and I was certain that we'd be able to sell several pieces. After all, it's a pop icon from so many of our childhoods! Long story short, we sold a ton. it was a very exciting time. I LOVED it - it made me happy to reunite so many people with a piece of their childhood.

Of course, I walked away from the whole thing with a cel of my own. It's quite special. My favorite episode was always "Unpack Your Adjectives" - the one with the little girl who goes camping with a turtle, and they post little signs with adjectives everywhere. Remember it? Most people's favorites are a little more obvious like "I'm Just a Bill" or "Conjunction Junction". While I have fond memories of most, my favorite was always "Unpack your Adjectives". Must've been the turtle.

Anyhow, here's a picture of my cel. It's actually much more than just that; it's a cel set-up on it's original Production Background. Meaning: this is a series of cels (3 or 4 layers) that were filmed together on this background. Isn't that cool? This piece, and a piece that I bought for my sister were shown last year at The San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum.

Fun with Electronic Gadgets!

This is the coolest remote control EVER!

Check out the Harmony Remote!

It's so much more than a universal remote - check it out: you program everything via the web. Let them know what kind of TV you have, receiver, DVD, VCR, Xbox... whatever. You also let it know how everything is hooked up: Component 1 on the TV is set for the DVD player which is Component 2 on the receiver... whatever. Then, you connect the remote to your PC via a USB cable. the web site/your computer sends all of the info to your new remote, and voila! You new remote controls ALL of your components! Turn on the TV, it automatically turns the TV on, turns on the Cable Box, and sets the correct component on the receiver. Change to DVD player, and it switches to the correct component on your TV, and receiver, turns OFF your cable box, and turns ON your DVD player. Plus, all of the buttons that you were just using to navigate through your TV, are now the buttons you use to navigate your DVD player.

Trust me, it's very cool. Plus, it's cute to boot! :)
we have it in blue.

Cheap Music this weekend

I just returned from Tower Records. I needed to pick up John Mayer's "Room for Squares" as a gift for a friend's birthday. Turns out there's a sales rack in the front with a bunch of CDs on sale for $9.99. These are not old CDs that no one cares about anymore - they had some very recent releases (Annie Lenox's "Bare" among others). Lucky me, "Room for Squares" was included in the sale, as was U2's "Joshua Tree" - picked that up too. Always liked the album, but never owned it.

Go. Look. Buy!

Today's Lunch

I just finished eating 3/4 bag of baby carrots and 1/2 container (7 oz container) of Hummus. That was my lunch today. that's either really, really bad, or possibly, really good. hard to say...