The Chinese Sushi Place

Okay, I"ve lived in this neighborhood for more than 7 years, and I've never eaten at this restaurant: All Season's Sushi.... until tonight!

Every time I pass by, I can't get past the fact that it's a Japanese Restaurant with a Chinese Take-Out deli in the front. That's just wrong! It's one or the other in my book: Good Chinese food, or good Japanese food. When you combine the two, how good could it really be? Plus, everyone that works there is Chinese! (which is okay, I guess, but it kind of reminds me of when I used to see the Chinese restaurants at the Food Courts in the Mid-West, and how none of the workers there were Chinese. It always made me question the authenticity of the food.)

Then Omar and Lora told us that it was their new favorite sushi spot. I still couldn't believe it. I couldn't get past the not-good-looking Chinese food in the front window. How could the sushi in the back be any good?

But tonight we caved, and met Lora and Omar at All Season's Sushi. We'd heard so much about it for the past year or so, that the time had come to try it out.

Our first impression when we walked in: the staff we very friendly, and very knowledeable. Always a good thing! Next came the sushi: Omar ordered for the table. I think he ordered 4 different rolls from the Daily Special board. All of the rolls were amazing! Really tasty, and unusual combinations!

Dick and I were almost embarrassed that we've lived here this long, yet had never been. But of course, all we had to do was look at the front of the restaurant towards the Chinese Deli. I still think that's weird.

Nonetheless, we'll be regulars at All Season's Sushi now. It was excellent sushi, and was quite reasonable, too!

I can't speak for the Chinese deli yet - that's a whole other experience that I'm not quite ready for yet ;)

Rain, rain, go away...

Okay, you've made your point. You've broken the record for the numbers of days of rain in the month of March in San Francisco. Congratulations.

But, today is the last day of March. You've had your fun. Now let us enjoy some sunshine.

I've got fences to build, and roofs to repair...

Please stop raining now.

It's All That

The Xbox 360, is indeed, all it's cracked up to be.

Our units arrived Saturday around Noon. We spent the next couple of hours hooking them up, finding adapters, etc., By 2 or 3:00 we were playing G.R.A.W. with Mike & Reeves.

Let me just say, it was the best Ghost Recon experience we could have possibly imagined. The graphics are superb, which was to be expected, but more surprisingly, the game play was MUCH better. The U.I. - for the first time- actually makes sense, and doesn't suck. (unlike the previous 4 versions)

The Xbox 360 itself is just phenomenal. I'm a huge fan of the wireless controllers. That just rocked our worlds. We also hooked my Xbox (which is upstairs) to our Media Center (downstairs) so now I can watch recorded TV upstairs when I use the elliptical machine. (bonus points!)

We played for several hours on Saturday, although I had to take a break to join my Mom and many other family members at my niece's school's fundraising auction. It was quite an event, and very impressive! I came home with Macromedia Studio 8 (because I'm a geek, and no one bidded against me).

Sunday morning was spent playing more GR. In the afternoon, I dragged Dick and Christopher down to Santa Clara for the afternoon. Yesterday was the finals competition for the WGI West Power Regional. In my little world, this was a big deal, and I thought it would be a great show to bring Dick to. He's never been before, and I figured that I would like him to see one show with me, and that this would be a great one to see. There were several of the top groups there from around the country, and it's only weeks before nationals, so they should all be nearly at their best. Dick made it through just fine. I had also invited Reeves and Paula along since I knew that Paula used to be in color guard in High School, and that she would enjoy it. I was really glad that they could come to share the experience with us.

Sure enough, we came home by 6:30pm, ordered a pizza and salad, and were back to playing Xbox.

it's kind of sick, really.

But we're happy, and we're having fun. :)

The Arrival....

It's here!
Time for a quick lunch, then set-up....

Our story continues...

Just checked the Fed Ex tracking info. The packaged was sent to Sacramento yesterday, and arrived in South San Francisco this morning. Dick just had me call Fed Ex to see if we could pick it up. (I had assumed that they would not deliver on a Saturday.) To my surprise, FedEx told me that it was out for delivery, and should be here before 1:00pm.

Fabulous!

..and then we'll get to be like Reeves and Mike.

Live Action Simpsons

This is amazing! They did such a great job of matching all of the tiniest of details!

Moooooo

Xbox 360 Update.



Well, it turns out that we're all a bunch of cows.

Reeves calls it "Herd Mentality".

We were all waiting at our homes today for Fed Ex - which never came...

Reeves just IM'ed, informing me that Mike snapped. He went to Costco, found out that they had Xbox 360s in stock, and bought one. (limit 1 per customer)

Which leaves Reeves, Dick and me in the dust...

Then Reeves rubs salt into the wound when he wonders aloud why they (Reeves, Dick and Mike) didn't order 2nd Day Delivery for an extra $15.00. I wasn't there, so I can't really say anything...

except for, "Mooooo".

The three of us (Reeves, Dick and I) were all having a conversation on IM bemoaning our lack of Xbox 360s. That's when Reeves brought up the Herd Mentality.

...and then he changed his display picture to this cow.

and said, "Moooo"

Then Dick and I both changed our Display Pictures, too.



We're all a bunch of cows.

"moooooo"

Not looking good...

So, here we are at 4:15pm, and still no Fed Ex Delivery...

I have to say that it's looking grim.

The first thing I noticed this morning is that the FedEx Tracking system hasn't changed since it left Illinois on Tuesday morning, with an estimated delivery date of 3/24/06. It should say "out for delivery" by now...

..unless it's not out for delivery today :(

(time to face the reality of the situation)

We were looking forward to playing Xbox 360 all weekend, but alas, it's not looking likely.

What's even more pathetic, is that we have every other accoutrement necessary for a guaranteed great Xbox 360 weekend.

We already have:

XBox Live Gold Pack
wireless controllers
Component HD AV cable
XBox 360 Universal Medial Center Remote
20GB Hard drives
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (G.R.A.W)
Call of Duty 2
Project Gothem Racing 3
Dead of Alive 4

So, yeah. We're set. You could say we have everything we need except for the Xbox 360 console.

You think I'm bad, you should read Reeves' and Mike's blogs. Hysterical reading, and makes me somehow feel sane. ;)

It was the tofu that did him in....

My poor Dad has come down with a case of gout.

I drove down to Milpitas yesterday to have dinner with my parents. While I was driving down 101, my Mom called to tell me that they weren't home yet because they were at the hospital.

What!? What's wrong?

All my Mom would tell me was that everything was okay, my Dad was on crutches, but don't worry because he wasn't in a accident, and he's fine.

Thanks, Mom. That wasn't very reassuring!

My parents arrived back home just after I did. My poor Dad limped out of the car on his crutches.

That's when I got the full scoop:

He has Gout, and his doctor blamed it on the tofu and oatmeal.

What?

Now that I've done some research, I've learned that Gout can be caused by a diet high in foods with uric acids. Uric acid in normal amounts remains dissolved in the blood and easily passes through the kidneys, leaving the body as waste. However, uric acid in high amounts makes a person more likely to develop gout.

Some foods contain large amounts of uric acid, especially red meats and organ meats (such as liver and kidneys), as well as some shellfish and anchovies. Other foods that are high in protein can also contain large amounts of uric acids.

Which brings us to the tofu, and oatmeal...

While meeting with the doctor, my parents were asked what my Dad had eaten for dinner the night before. They had an uncommonly healthy dinner, and my Mom proudly announced, "Steamed Chicken, broccoli and tofu". I mean really, what could possibly be wrong with that meal?

The good news is that gout is treatable, and my Dad should be feeling better within a few days. He's on medication, and will have to watch his diet. He's going to stay off his foot through the weekend, but he should be up and about again by next week.

Gout affects more than 2 million Americans -- most commonly men between the ages of 40 and 50, people who are overweight, people who frequently drink alcohol and people who use diuretics ("water pills") to lower blood pressure or treat heart failure.

If you want to read more information about gout, here's a great article on WebMD.

Under House Arrest

Dick ordered our new Xbox 360s off the web last week, and they are supposed to be delivered via FedEx today.

I've been informed that I am not, under any circumstance, to leave the house today until they arrive!

Dick is even driving himself to the train station today... just in case.

I feel like Martha Stewart.

Mike and Reeves placed their orders on the same day, so their boxes should be coming today, too (but I can only be at one house at any given time, so they're on their own). Assuming they all come in, it should be a weekend chalk-full of Xbox 360 goodness.

New Keyboard

My Mac's keyboard died over the weekend, so I had to go to the Apple store to buy a replacement. It was weird because in all of my years of working on computers, I've never had a keyboard die before. Because of that, I haven't had to buy many keyboards in the past. I was fully expecting new USB keyboards to run around $100 or so. To my surprise, they only cost $29.00 now!

We went to Stonestown Mall on Saturday, bought the last USB keyboard that they had in stock, and brought it home. So far, so good. It's funny... no matter what, it always takes a few days/weeks(?) to adjust to a new keyboard. Somehow they all feel just a little bit different. This new one feels a little "softer" to the touch.

Rainy Days and Mondays....

Today is the first day of Spring. Can you believe that?

I'm ready for the rain to be done.

We were so lucky to have two nice and sunny days for the weekend, but here we are, back again with the rain. It's a bit depressing.

We have been trying to get some outdoor house projects done - we're having a new fence built and need to fix a leak in the roof. Unfortunately, neither of these can be done until we have a few days of sunshine.

blech.

A good read

My friend lef has started a blog!

This is very exciting news for me. We met over 10 years ago while we were both attending the San Francisco Art Institute. We only shared one semester together (my first, his last) but we bonded instantly. We were both computer geeks, 2 of the first 6 people hired to work in the school computer lab. We also had one class together - New Genres. What does that mean? I'm still not sure that I know, but the class was comprised of a bunch of wacky, rag-tag artists who pulled together new performance art pieces each week. I think lef and I bonded because we thought we were the only two sane people in the entire class. One of my favorite memories of lef was how he walked me home from school after our late night classes. Sometimes he'd come in, and we'd have a cup of tea and good conversation at midnight.

lef (aka Lawrence, or Lawrence Everett Forbes) is a very talented writer and such an eloquent speaker. He has such a way with words. That's part of the reasons why I'm so excited to read new excerpts in his blog on a regular basis. He's actually in the final stages of writing his first novel! (anyone out there know any good agents/publishers?)

lef lives in Southern Cal now, but we still manage to see each other about once a year or so. I'm hoping that we'll be able to stay a bit "more in touch" with each other through the wonders of the blog. (is that a sad statement?)

The One with the Big Boobs

On today's episode of "Gay Boyfriend"....

(fade in)

Christopher and I were down in the kitchen about 15 minutes ago, having a little chat. All of a sudden he asked me, "Are your boobs really big right now?"

What?!

He said, "Your boobs look really big in that shirt!"

Really?

I said that I was just wearing a normal bra that I wear often - it isn't a padded bra, or a push-up bra.

Then he asked me, "Are you wearing an IPex?"

OMG. Now we're a Victoria's Secret commercial!

That's when I realized, "Yeah, wait! I think this is an Ipex! Check the label!"

So I lifted my shirt up in the back, and he checked the label, and it was indeed, an IPex bra from Victoria Secret.

We were practically rolling on the floors howling at each other.

I also remembered that (I think) this is the same shirt that I wore to Pete and Richard's house for dinner a couple of years ago. That was the night that Pete told me that my boobs looked huge.

It must be the shirt. (just a basic turtleneck sweater, I swear!)

I should've bought one in every color. :)

(fade out)

Greetings from Endor

technically, I suppose that should be "The Moon of Endor"

We had a wonderful time at the Capilano Suspension Bridge in Vancouver. If you ever have a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.

The Capilano Bridge is the oldest tourist attraction in Vancouver. The first bridge (made of hemp rope and cedar planks) was constructed in 1889. I first went with my family in 1980. I managed to dig out an old photo from that trip (that's me, the short one, with my sister and Uncle Rob), and thought it would be fun to place it next to an updated one.



When we were there in 1980, the only site to see was the bridge (not that it isn't a site in-and-of-itself). Over the past 26 years (gasp!) they have put a lot of work into it to make it even more of an attaction. My very favorite part was called Treetop Adventure. Treetop Adventure was built about 2 years ago, and features a series of elevated suspension bridges crossing from one tree to another. Some of these bridges are as high up as 100 feet. I felt like we were on Endor! The views were just magnificent, and walking across the bridges from one huge tree to another was just so amazing. If I didn't know that this attraction was only built a couple of years ago, I would have thought that parts of Return of the Jedi was filmed there!



I took a ton of photos, but really, they don't do it justice. It was hard to capture the enormity of the trees, and the height of the bridges.

O Canada

Greetings from Vancouver, B.C.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon, and will be returning to SF tomorrow. We're up here for one of Dick's work-related/technical-big-wigs/bring-your-significant-others/mixer things.

We're staying at the Fairmont Hotel, which is conveniently located in the heart of downtown Vancouver.

Dick and I haven't had a chance to travel to Vancouver together before, although we've both been more than 10 years ago.

I've actually been a few times: I came in 1996 with my friend Todd. We came up for a day-trip while we were visiting my sister who had a gig in Seattle for a few weeks. I came in 1986 for the World's Expo with my family, another time in 1985 on a color guard trip, and my first time was in 1980 on a family vacaction with my family, and my Aunt and Uncle.

I'll have to tell my family that staying at the Fairmont Hotel is a far cry from the motel that we all stayed at during our first trip up in 1980. We all still joke about it to this day. As the story goes, my parents had arranged most of the lodging during our 2-week trip (we had all driven from Milpitas/San Jose up to Vancouver) and my Aunt was asked to book a hotel/motel for us in Vancouver. I remember that she had my sister and I all excited that there was a pool at the hotel. When we arrived, we discovered that the pool was green with algae, and I still remember the cockroaches in the bedroom, and having to wear flip-flops in the shower because it was slimy! Ewwww. Ah yes, character building... I relayed that story to Dick when we checked into our lovely room at the Fairmont. :)

We've been busy doing the work-related events/social things for the past two days - I've also managed to sneek in a couple of really nice naps. Today we're on our own, and we're going to venture out to Stanley Park, and perhaps walk across the Capilano Suspension Bridge! The weather looks clear, but cold today, but I'll take that over rain anytime.

oh - almost forgot. we had the most amazing dessert during dinner last night (the last night of the event). The dessert was called "fire and ice". It was presented on a "plate" of 1" thick curcular ice which etched with stars. The ice was laying on top of a silver napkin which was surrounded by one of`those little glow-in-the-dark thin tubes that was formed as a circle (so it illuminated the ice above it). The ice plate had two circular indentations - one held a cup made of woven white chocolate, filled with chocolate mousse, and fresh berries, and a tub of dark chocolate. The other circle held a glass made of ice that was filled with ice wine. OMG! It was all so amazing! It was, hands down, the most incredible dessert presentation any of us had ever seen. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me. I really wish I did!

Isn't She Lovely?

Isn't she Beautiful?

Introducing the newest addition to my Raggedy Ann family!

This little beauty was made by the P.F. Volland Company. They were the first manufacturers of the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. The first Raggedy Ann dolls were produced in 1918. I believe that this one was made in the early to mid 1920s.

Dick surprised me a few weeks ago by offering to buy me a Volland Ann as an early birthday gift. (I love my hubby!) We contacted my friend Andrew for advice, and eventually found this doll up for auction. I just received her in the mail a few days ago.

I'm very excited to have her as part of my collection. I met Andrew back in 1988 when he currated a museum exhibit at the Oakland Museum to celebrate Raggedy Ann's 70th Birthday. That was the first time I had ever seen another person's Raggedy Ann collection, and also the first time that I'd ever seen antique Raggedys dating back to the 20s. Secretly, (or not-so-secretly) I've always hoped to be able to have a Volland in my collection, but never actually thought it would happen. Dick really surprised me with his offer, and I'm so grateful!

The first day I got her, I unwrapped her from her packaging, and the two of us just sat and smiled at each other for a few minutes. (that sounds creepy, I know, but really, it wasn't)

She's in great condition, especially given her age. She certainly isn't in mint condition, but honestly, I prefer her this way: she's obviously been loved, and has gained a lot of personality and character from it. I think it makes her more "real", just like the Velveteen Rabbit! :) I believe that all of her clothing is original - she has little mother of pearl buttons on each article of clothing, and they all match each other. She has a few "age spots" on her face and body, but really, at age 85, who wouldn't?

I think she'll be very happy here.

The Scream

I wasn't going to be the one to tell this tale first, but now that Christopher has blogged about it, I figured I could mention it now:

Read Christopher's Post First

Suffice to say, it was the scariest, blood curdling scream I've ever heard. I thought something really bad had happend: he had been attacked, woke up paralized, etc., Mind you, I have a history of bringing Chrisotpher to the Emergency Room, so I was ready for anything. It was actually a HUGE relief to find out that he had only had a bad dream.

Plus, I have some big ammo that I can use to tease him with for a long time. :)

Site Launched!

Whoo-Hoo!

I've been really busy over the past few months working on several new sites. They are all at different stages of completion: some are still in design mode, others are waiting for content, some are so close to launching....

I just launched a new site today: companychaddick.org.

I'm very happy with how it turned out.

I have several friends who are dancers in this company, so I was very honored to have been asked to work on this project for them. They are a really great dance company - I've enjoyed watching them grow over the past 7 years that I've seen them perform. They have a wonderful modern style which is sometimes mixed with performance pieces.

They have a show coming up in early May. You should check them out!

"I Wear my Sunglasses at Night"

I just came home from picking Dick up from the Caltrain station. We were listening to 95.7FM which plays music from the 70s, 80s, and current day.

So, we're driving along, and on comes Corey Hart singing Never Surrender.

Corey Hart! It put a big smile on my face! Dick had no idea what I was talking about.

I said, "You know, the I wear my sunglasses at night guy!"

To which Dick asked, "What else did this guy do?"

Well, there's this song ("Never Surrender"), "Sunglasses at Night", and my personal favorite: he did a remake of Elvis' "Can't Help Falling in Love".

Believe me, many a girl swooned over that song (including my sister, our good friend Diana, and me) in the mid-80s. I specifically remember one time when the three of us were riding in the back of an RV, on our way down to Southern Cal for a Color Guard Regional. It was in February of 1987. One of us, I think Diana, had brought a mix-tape that had that song on it. Good Times :)

I don't think I ever actually owned any of his music, but now I have to check iTunes to see what they have there....

update

Oh, yeah....

they have it.

.99 cents, baby.

One of those days...

Can someone please press the rewind button and just start this day over?

This was my day by 10:00am...

First, our big cat, Marcel, woke up the entire house, and probably the whole neighborhood by screaming for his food at 6:30am. His food dish is always set on timer in the mornings, and I guess it didn't pop open in time. He was screaming, and screaming for a good 20 minutes. Christopher wakes up earlier than us to go to work, and I heard him get up to feed Marcel.

When it rains, I drive Dick to the Caltrain station so he won't have to drive his scooter in the rain. He had an early meeting at work today, so we left the house at 7:50am to get him to the train station by 8:15. Traffic was just ridiculous this morning - worse than we'd ever seen. Dick realized he may not make the meeting on time, so he was going to call in to let someone at work know the situation. That's when he realized that he accidentally left his cell phone at home.

We arrive at the Caltrain station just in time to watch the train pull away. We were going to drive home to get Dick's cell phone, but the next train would arrive in 20 minutes, which wouldn't be enough time for him to go all the way home, and get back in time.

So my poor husband was running late, without a cell phone, and missed his first meeting.

I got home around 8:45am, and saw that the alarm lights on Dick's car were flashing. (I was driving in my MINI). I thought this was odd, so I got the keys for Dick's car, and checked everything out. It seemed fine, and didn't look like anyone had tried to break in. So I reset the alarm and went into the house. Within the next few minutes, I heard the car alarm sound again. I put my shoes back on, went back out to the car, and still didn't find anything wrong with it.

This happened continuously for the next 1/2 hour.

Ugh. By this time, I had pulled out the owner's manual, tried to deactivate the alarm, and figured out that I wasn't able to turn off the towing sensor. I called the car shop, and told them I was coming in, but thought I should eat a quick breakfast first. Then, the alarm started to go off every minute or so....

..and my oatmeal sat in the microwave too long, because I kept having to disarm and check the car. I ended up sitting on the sofa, eating mushy, icky oatmeal, with the car alarm remote in hand, turning the alarm off every few seconds. It was fairly ridiculous.

I just got back from the shop. They think it's probably a short-circuit, but they need to look into it, and will let me know.

I really hope that this day gets better...

update

Okay, it got worse.....

Poor Dick was stuck at the Redwood City train station because there was an accident on the tracks in Palo Alto. Dick didn't make it to work until Noon.

I just heard back from the car shop. Turns out we had a leak from a bad seal around the trunk. We need to replace two fairly substantial parts, which is pretty big $$.

Ugh.

In the days before blogging....

I never really kept a regular diary. This blog, which I've had for 2.5 years is certainly the closest thing I've ever had to a day-to-day journal.

Last night, I was returning a book to my bookshelf, and I came across a journal that I kept from August, 1994 through October 1995. It was the only journal that I can remember ever writing in.

It was such an interesting read, as I don't think I've read it since it was written over 10 years ago.

At the time, I was taking art classes at De Anza College, working at the High Tech Center (also at De Anza) and also teaching color guard (80 students!). The first thing I noticed was my very crazy day-to-day schedule, which would completely exhaust me now. I had a LOT more energy back then! I was constantly on the go: leaving Milpitas at 7:30am for school. Depending on the day, I would have classes through the afternoon, sometimes evenings. Other days, I would work part time at the High Tech Center. Some afternoons, most evenings, and all weekends were spent teaching the guard. I don't remember ever being home before 11:00pm. Yeesh. It's no wonder I'm starting to get grey hair!

Another thing that struck me were the people who I wrote about 10+ years ago. My family is, of course, in there. I wrote about a last-minute trip that my Mom and I took to London and Paris (and Euro-Disney!) in February 1995. I also wrote about my sister's first theater job with Phantom of the Opera (October, 1995). There are several excerpts about going away to visit friends (Chicago, Madison, and Minneapolis with Tammy, Sal, Bill and Eileen) and friends coming to visit me (Tammy came to visit when I first moved to SF) I wrote about my first impressions of Art School at the San Francisco Art Institute, and some friends who I made there. I even mention my bro, Christopher, back in the days that I still called him "Chris". (for shame!) Most of the people who I wrote about in my journal are still in my life today. That's pretty cool. There is, of course, a few exceptions. Apparently, I went on a date with a guy named "Sam" way back September, 1994. I had to strain my brain to try to remember that - I now vaguely remember it. Another funny thing that I completely forgot about was the time that my sister when on a date with a guy named "Holgar". (I had completely forgotten this!)

It was really cool to read about what my life was all about back then. It doesn't seem all that long ago, but at the same time, so much has happened since! Since I was still in art school, my brain was obviously thinking more creatively back then - I drew out a couple of sketches of dreams that I had, with the intent to paint. (never did)

It makes me a bit sorry that I never journaled my life more completely. I'm really glad that I have this blog, which I do a decent job of updating. It also made me realize how much more personal a written journal is than a Blog. A written journal is meant only for the eyes of the writer. It's very personal, and very private. When I write my Blog, I'm fully aware than anyone can read it, and I try not to put too much personal or private information on it.