Green Pinky

A couple of days ago, I went to visit my friend, Eve, in her new garden. Eve, and her partner, Abbe, have recently bought a house a few blocks away from us, and Eve has been tending to the garden.

She's really done a marvelous job with it. It's a sweet garden - complete with multiple tiers, koi pond, and lots of thriving trees and plants. It's one of those inspiring, magical gardens.

Eve was meeting with an Aborist while I was there. The arborist was there to check on the conditions of the trees, the soil, etc., I overheard her give Eve a few quick tips on how to prune a plant/tree.

This morning, as Dick and I were eating breakfast in the sun room, I looked out onto our balcony and noticed the sad state of affairs that the three plants that live on our balcony were in. I have a lemon tree, a jade plant, and a ficus tree. After eating, I grabbed a set of pruning shears, and set out - still wearing my (KN) pjs, and slippers. I pruned back our ficus tree, which was in desperate need of some TLC. I also weeded out the lemon tree, and gave each of the trees/plants a good watering.

This is the extent to which I have a green thumb.

It's very minimal.
Kind of like my ironing skills.

I think the three plants are happier now, and should have a better spring/summer for today's TLC.

My Dad would be so proud of me.

The day I was on the Home Shopping Network

Yes, you read it right. I was on the Home Shopping Network this morning.

Okay, I wasn't physically on the show, but I was on the show via telephone. I was asked to call to give a personal testimony on the featured product.

What was the product? Why, Karen Neuberger Pajamas, of course!

Isn't that hysterical? I received an email about a week back asking if I would be interested in calling in to give a testimonial. They said they were looking for "great customers, like yourself, to speak about the Karen Neuberger brand and your experience with our products".

How did they know that I'm such a fan? It's probably because I placed an order with them over the Holidays, but it's also possible that they may have seen my blog posts here, here, or even here.

I am nothing if not consistent. :)

There was a nice incentive involved, so I figured, "Why Not?". After all, I am a genuine fan of their product, and I've certainly been an advocate of their products to my friends and family over the years. They sent along my contact info to HSN, who then called me with the time and info of when I should call into the program. I had the choice of calling in at midnight last night, or at 7:30 this morning. (I opted for 7:30am.)

So, how did it go? Pretty well, I think. I was only on for a couple of minutes (thankfully). I said pretty much the same things that I've talked about here on my blog: I'm addicted to the brand, it's the only brand of PJs that I wear, and, since I work from home, I tend to wear them all day long. :) How's that for a testimonial?

What a funny way to start the day.


My one-minute of fame.

Star Wars Stamps

My Mom just called to remind me of the date, and that today was the day that USPS was going to make their Star Wars Announcement.

So, here it is! Star Wars stamps, coming out on May 26, in celebration of the 30th(!) anniversary of the first Star Wars Film.

Cool stamps! You know I'll be getting some!

New Harry Potter book cover

In case you haven't seen this yet.

Here's the complete story.

The 7th and final installment of the series is due to be released on July 12th!

No more plastic bags!

Today, the SF Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 to make San Francisco the first city in the nation to prohibit petroleum-based plastic checkout bags in large markets and pharmacies.

Read the story here.

I think this makes a lot of sense, as the plastic bags that we're currently using are not biodegradable or recyclable. This law will mandate the use of biodegradable plastic bags or recyclable paper bags.

I've been meaning to buy a large canvas tote to bring with me to the grocery store for a while now. Guess this will prompt me to get one now.

The only thing I need to figure out now... what will I use for kitty-litter clean-up? :)

Tragic Accident

This is so sad.

The UNC student who has dressed in the UNC Ramses Mascot costume for the past 3 years died this morning after being struck by a SUV on Friday. He was in New Jersey, to cheer at the UNC vs USC game Friday evening. He was hit from behind by an SUV while walking to a convenience store near his hotel.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of this young man. In my many years of coaching High School students and young adults under the age of 22, I often brought them across country to compete in regional and nationals competitions. The parents of these students trusted us to keep their kids safe while we were away.

I realize that deadly accidents happen every day, but when it's school related, it just seems that much more tragic.

Battlestar Galactica

Did you watch the season finale last night?

How about the previews at the end?

Battlestar Galactica...

...continues in 2008

2008?!

What the Frack?!

"Help me, United States Postal Service. You're my only hope."

My sister-in-law just sent this picture to me:


this cracks me up!

I checked out http://www.uspsjedimaster.com, and there's a teaser up there with a video clip, and a statement saying "On March 28th Two Powerful Forces Will Unite".

I, of course, have to know what it is, so I submitted my email address at the bottom so I can "Be the first on Planet Earth to know why".

I'm such a sucker.

I'm hoping this means that we're going to see a lot of little mailboxes around the country dressed up like R2-D2.

That would be hysterical.

...and as my sister-in-law says, It makes me want to dress up as Leia and go mail something!

Random Tidbit

I always thought this was really funny....

When I was first diagnosed with Axial Myoclonus, I had a prescription bottle with the following directions:

Take daily, as needed for jerks.

I was dating an old boyfriend at the time, and needed to take the pills frequently.

I switched medications (and boyfriends) soon afterwards.

S.L.S. (Short Leg Syndrome)

Just how short are my legs?

Having just returned home on a cross-country flight, I'm reminded that my legs get really sore in the upper thighs after flying for a few hours.

This is not for lack of leg room, as one may think.

Quite the opposite, actually.

I think my legs get sore because they are too short, and don't reach the floor when I'm sitting properly in the chair. Because of this, there's no support, and my legs just kind of dangle for hours on end.

Does anyone else have this problem?
(Dick certainly doesn't, so I can't ask him to relate)

March Madness in North Carolina - even crazier than advertised!

Yesterday, I mentioned how huge college basketball is here in the Research Triangle of North Carolina. There's no escaping it - it's everywhere!

Tonight was the first time I've ever had the experience of watching a UNC game (let alone an NCAA tournament game) with Dick and his entire family. (sisters, father, brother-in-law, nieces, nephew, uncles, cousins, and even an old friend from Dick's UNC Graduate days)

Dick's sister hosted a dinner for the entire family to come over to watch the game and visit while Dick and I are in town.

Watching an important UNC game with Dick, just the two of us at our home, is an intense experience in and of itself.

Watching a UNC NCAA game with the entire clan is all that, but to the nth degree.

Even before the UNC game started, we watched back-to-back games all day. They were all pretty close (at least two going into overtime) and exciting.

But when the UNC vs. MSU game came on, that was a whole other thing. Lots of yelling, clapping, knocking on wood, ooohs, ahhs, etc., This game had it all.

In the end, the Tar Heels pulled it out, and were victorious. (Thank goodness!)

I feel like I just survived some kind of crazy initiation into the family!

I took this photo towards the end of the game. It doesn't do the evening justice. The photo makes it look like everyone is just relaxing, watching TV. The truth is, everyone was tense and stressed, holding their breath, anticipating what would happen next!


March Madness with the Craddock/Cohen family.

Basketball Haven

Greetings from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I do believe that this may be center of College Basketball Haven: We are mere miles away from UNC, Duke and NC State.

We flew in Wednesday evening, just in time to meet Dick's family for dinner at Squids.

I've come to North Carolina several times now, but it occurs to me that I've never come during the month of March. March Madness, Baby.

I thought that I've done a pretty good job over the past few years of getting more hip to College Basketball. I'm familiar with the teams now, I'm hip to the lingo, I can follow a game pretty well.

None of this prepared me for being in North Carolina during the month of March. Yesterday, as we were driving around town, Dick flipped on the radio station, and the only thing that anyone was talking about was the NCAA Tournament.

As one of the radio DJs said, "It's like Christmas, for Basketball Fans". This is true, of course, but I had no idea how all consuming it is for anyone who lives here! Anywhere we went to had TVs tuned into the first day of the NCAA tournament. We went to "Four Corners" on Franklin Street - a popular sports bar located across the street from UNC. There were easily a couple of dozen TVs tuned into 3 different games. The place was packed at 2:00pm. That's when I learned that most people actually take days off from work during the tournaments, and at the least, most people will watch it from TVs (or computers) at work (or school!)

I'm telling you, it's a whole different world over here. Having grown up in Northern California, I never even knew what "March Madness" was until I met Dick 8 years ago. He has told me how weird it was for him to move to the Bay Area from North Carolina in 1986: no one knew or cared anything about College Basketball, and it was nearly impossible to watch any of the games on TV.

Now that I'm here, I finally fully understand just how huge this whole March Madness thing really is. In order to get into the spirit of things, I bought a North Carolina t-shirt yesterday from a store on Franklin Street. Now, I'm ready!

We watched basketball all afternoon. We took a break in the evening to go to a Carolina Hurricanes Hockey Game! (it's a big sports week for me!) The hockey game experience was exceptional. We went to see the game with my friend, Kristi, and her two little girls. Kristi's husband is on the team. We watched the game from their private box, which was the coolest way to watch a game. Unfortunately, the Hurricanes lost, 2-3, but we had a lot of fun, anyway. Our box had a couple of televisions in it, so we were able to keep up with the basketball games, even while we were watching the hockey game.


The Cohen family with Dick and Trina at the Carolina Hurricanes game

We came back to Dick's sister's house around 11:00, and continued to watch Basketball. The UNC game ended around midnight, then Dick watched a recorded game that he had missed earlier in the evening.

Right now, I'm sitting here in Dick's sister's living room with Dick, his two sisters, and his Dad. It's raining outside, and we plan to spend the day inside watching basketball all day. I'm pretty sure we'll be doing this all weekend long!

Go Heels!

Geek Heaven

This weekend (Friday afternoon through Sunday morning), Dick and I attended the 2nd Annual Technical Recognition Event for Dick's work. Last year, it was in Vancouver, this year, it was held in San Francisco!

We stayed at the beautiful Fairmont Hotel in Nob Hill, which was a real treat. The weather couldn't have been nicer, which was a welcome change for about 95% of the people who came from out of the area.

The event was for the high-end tech guys at the company, and their S.O.'s. This is a real treat for me, as I had a chance to meet and talk with some really interesting, and brilliant people who have done some amazing things in their careers. As you can imagine the geek factor was very high.

During dinner last night, the promise of a "special guest speaker" was highly anticipated. We already knew that Bill Gates would be speaking (whom I really enjoyed listening to last year) but no one knew who the other speaker would be.

..and then the time came.

...and the lights dimmed...

...and the Star Wars music came...

Yes, it was George Lucas! After Dick and I saw it was him, we thought it made a lot of sense: he's local to SF, is big into technology, and is interested in the same types of education endeavors as Bill. The two of them talked on stage for about 30 minutes before holding a Q&A with the audience. I have to say, it was pretty cool.

After dinner, Dick and I were both pretty tired, and decided to skip the After Dinner Disco Party. Too bad for me! This morning, as we were checking out, we saw that the attendees of the Disco Party received these really cool light sabers as a gift! What a bummer that we missed out on that! I had coveted them at Costco about a year ago, but they're pricey suckers!

Anyhow, it was a fun and interesting geek-filled event.
This computer/Star Wars geek was very satisfied.


Uncle Bill with Uncle George

I Love a nice surprise!

The doorbell just rang.

It was the UPS man!
I wasn't expecting anything to be delivered today.

I looked at the box, and saw that it was sent from Karen Neuburger, my favorite jammie company!

What could it be?

There was a letter in the box that read:

Dear Trina,
As one of our valued Shop KN customers, we wanted you to be one of the first to enjoy KN Karen Neuburger's new sportswear collection!

The letter also talked about the new sportswear collection,where you can buy them, etc.,

Now, I've got to say, I'm very impressed!
Last week, I had received an email announcement from them, as well as a postcard in the mail.

So, they made sure that I'd would already be aware of their new stuff. But, to top it off, they're sending me a free sample?!

I love this company this much more now!

What did I get?

A cute little printed tee. It's cute and sporty. I'll wear it. :)

I've already been raving about this company's pajamas to my friends and family for years. Seriously, they're the most comfy jammies you'll ever own! Just ask Lora!

Now, I just might have to try out their new sportswear line. Perhaps a new hoodie and pants to replace J. Lo? (Dick's name for my old workout suit that he hates.)

It occurs to me that I got my first pair of KN pajamas for free 8 years ago. Since then, it's the only brand of pajamas I'll buy. Dick says it's like crack: the first one is free. I think I'm in trouble.

Anyhow, what a good marketing campaign!
(see how well that worked? They send me a free sample, and now I'm telling you all about their products!)

Madison, WI voted #1 for walking?!

really?

Wow. Here's a surprise. According to this article, Madison, WI was voted the #1 city in the US for walking.

Having had the pleasure of living in Madison for 2 years, I have to admit, that I'm quite surprised. Now granted, I lived there during the months of October through May, so I was certainly there during the cold season.

But the truth is, I don't remember ever walking anywhere when I lived there! It was simply too cold. It's a beautiful place, and really pretty during the spring/fall, but what about the rest of the year? It's really, really cold during the winter, with a LOT of snow and ice. And it's hot and humid during the summer.

San Francisco ranked #3.
Hmmmm...
All I can say is that, personally, I walked in San Francisco on a regular basis a heck of a lot more than I ever walked in Madison.

curious.

In case you're wondering, Austin, TX was ranked #2.
I haven't been there, but I hear it's lovely.
...and warm.
...and it doesn't snow.

Is it really ever okay to ask this question?

I was at our local grocery store a few weeks ago, and the cashier said to me, "So, you and your husband have been together for a while, right? You've been coming here a long time."

It was a friendly enough conversation, and I certainly recognized him as someone who has worked at the store for as long as I can remember.

"Yep," I said, "We've been together for about 8 years."

That's when he asked the question:
"So, when are you going to have kids?"

I took pause for a moment, and assessed the situation.

Here's someone that I don't know at all. I mean, I don't even know his name, and he only knows mine from looking at my credit card.

Is it me, or is this a very personal question?

I gave him the standard, "Oh, I don't know, we'll see..." (in that non-committal, I don't really know you, so I don't feel like getting into this conversation kind-of-response....)

...but he didn't get it...

..and he just kept on going...

"Aw, you've got to have kids! no question! Your life won't have meaning without them."

Now, is it just me, or is this completely inappropriate?

This guy doesn't know me. He doesn't know my husband. He doesn't know our situation. He has no idea what our thoughts are on the subject.

And don't get me wrong, I know where he's coming from: he has kids. He loves his kids. I'm quite certain that his kids were the best thing that ever happened to him, and I understand that.

But I don't think it ever gives one person cause to make assumptions on someone else, especially when they don't even know then.

I mean, it's a slippery question, isn't it?

You don't know...

you don't know if the couple desperately want children, but are unable to conceive. Or if they have medical problems. Or if they are trying to be responsible because they can't afford kids. What if it's an extraordinarily sensitive topic?

Then again, what if the answer is that the couple simply don't plan to have kids? Shouldn't it be okay to say that?

I realize that this is nothing new. I don't get asked these types of questions very often, and I think that's why I think about it when it's brought up.

I have a friend that I've known for several years. She has her degree in some kind of child-care field, has worked for several years in child care, was a nanny for a while, and works as a child-advocate. Although she has wanted to have children of her own in the past, she and her husband have decided that they probably won't have children for very personal reasons.

Knowing all of this, she has another friend, who upon having her second child exclaimed, "You have to have kids! I mean, it's you."

Now, call me crazy, but that's just downright inconsiderate and insensitive?

I guess what I'm getting at is I think people need to think before they make such broad assumptions that everyone thinks and lives the same way as they do.

..and if you really need to ask the question (to a family member or a close friend - not a random stranger) then please consider rephrasing your question:

"What are you thoughts on having kids?"

or

"Do you two plan to have kids together?"

At least it takes the assumption out of the equation.

Note: I'm writing about this because I was back at the grocery store today, and the same clerk asked me the same question: "SO, when are the kids coming?"

The Pros and Cons of working for yourself

Believe it or not, next month will mark 10 years since Trina Chow Design was hired by my first client to design and implement a web site! (That client, by the way, was Adler & Co Gallery way back when they were an animation gallery on Union Street!)

There are obviously many pros and cons to be said for working for yourself. Sure, I get the benefit of setting my own hours, choosing my clients, having creative freedom, etc.,

However, I also work by myself, which, after 10 years, I've learned can be somewhat limiting.

Case in point: I learned HTML the old-fashioned way...
About 12 years ago, I read the classic Teach yourself HTML in 14 Days by Laura Lemay.
I learned all about tables, formatting, how to code by hand, gif animations, image-mapping, frames, etc.,
Sure, I picked up some tips and tricks here and there, but I always stuck to the tried-and-true basics.

This limited knowledge worked well for me for a very long time.

About 3 or 4 years ago, Dick started to introduce me to the idea of CSS. (Cascading Style Sheets for those of you who aren't in the know...) I admit it: I shied away from learning CSS for months, and even years. I couldn't grasp the thought that I might need to change the way that I'd been doing things for years. (gasp!)

A couple of years ago, Dick helped me in the complete redesign of the Adler Gallery site (yes, the one and the same as my first client!). This would be my first major CSS project, and what an enormous project it would be! I came to embrace CSS, and learned to love it. Gone now were the days of doing layout using tables! Style tags don't belong in HTML! They belong in my .css page! Begone you table tags! Stop cluttering my HTML!

So, I've been enjoying a couple of years of basic CSS euphoria, when, every-once-in-a-while, Dick brings in something new and different (gasp - again!)!

Each time, I cringe! I shy away! I wonder why do I need to change?

Each time, I get over my fears and anxieties, and eventually learn that it's good to learn, it's good to expand, it's good to keep up. It's good to learn about "ems".

I feel very fortunate that my hubby is so interested, on a personal as well as a professional level, in some of the same technologies that I use for my small, one-person business. He keeps me up-to-date, and helps broaden my mind to new ideas that I wouldn't have if I kept to myself.

So, it turns out that I'm one lucky girl. I have all the benefits of working by myself, but I also get to benefit from the fact that my hubby will make sure that I won't fade away into HTML oblivion. I even get my own personal tutor who actually enjoys learning, and sharing his expansive knowledge with me!

It turns out that I'm not working entirely by myself after all! I get to work with my hubby!

In case I haven't mentioned it in a while, I love my techie-honey! :)

One Man Star Wars Trilogy

The name says it all...



Friday morning I got a call from my friend, Cynde. She was in the car, listening to the radio as she was driving to the gallery. She had just heard about a Star Wars theater show, and had to let me know about it.

"Cool!" I said, "I'll have to look into it."

I met my friend Andrew for lunch that day. During our conversation, I mentioned that my Mom had recently digitized my "Story of Star Wars" LP for me.

Andrew said, "Speaking of Star Wars, have you heard about the new show in town?"

I said I had just heard something about it from Cynde, but I didn't know much about it yet, because I hadn't had a chance to look it up yet.

Dick came home from work later that evening. He told me someone on Caltrain had told him about this One Man Star Wars show which was showing at the Post Street Theater.

Clearly, the universe wanted to make sure that I saw this show!

So, we looked it up that night. We found it was showing at the Post Street Theater for just over a week, and decided that we should try to see it this weekend! I didn't read much about it. I figured, the name pretty much says it all, right?

We saw today's matinée performance at 3:00pm.

The theater was pretty full, and what surprised me the most were how many kids were in the audience.

The show did not disappoint. It was exactly what I had expected: one man, reciting lines, and doing sound effects for all three of the first three original Star Wars films. It was an hour long in total. I checked my watch at the end of Star Wars: Episode IV, and it was about 20 minutes in length. Barley taking a few seconds to take a sip of water, he launched straight into The Empire Strikes Back.

I was amazed at the amount of energy and enthusiasm this guy had! He put in just as much energy into "Return of the Jedi" as he did into Episode IV. It's clear that this guy was/is one heck of a Star Wars geek. He nailed the lines, and even nailed the special effects sounds.

If you are a Star Wars fan of any level, you really must see this show.

Here's a clip I found on You Tube showing some highlights of the show.

I used to be a good troubleshooter...

....and then I started to date, then married someone who is an even bigger computer geek than I ever was!

I have an external drive connected to my laptop that backs-up my computer each night. Tuesday morning, I noticed that my computer was unable to read the drive, and the only option I had was to initialize the disk. Well, that's never my first choice, so I decided to restart my computer a few times, and re-connect the drive. No go. It didn't work at all.

I considered reinitializing the entire disk, but decided not to do anything until the weekend. A full backup of my drive takes a bit longer than 24 hours, and I didn't want it to disrupt my work for an entire day (or two). I figured I'd have Dick look it over during the weekend, and if I still needed to initialize the disk, I would just leave my computer alone for the entire weekend.

This morning, I asked Dick what he thought I should do. I asked, "Should I just initialize? It hasn't been able to read the disk all week."

He said he'd come up to look at it. I asked if he wanted me to restart my computer, and disconnect an re-connect the drive.

He said he'd just turn it off, and on again first.

....then he left the room.

....then my external hard drive showed itself on my desktop, all fine and happy...

...and I felt like an idiot.

I should have known this! This is the first thing I should have tried after restarting my computer didn't work.

Why is it that I rely so heavily on Dick's geekdome, that I've relaxed my own inner-geek, and can't step up to the plate to figure these things out for myself?

It's like there's some weird geeky-comfort knowing that Dick can fix things. I used to be the one my friends would call for computer questions! I used to be able to figure stuff out like this all the time. This is not difficult.

I've become the techie-geek damsel in distress because I married a knight in geeky armor.

Shame on me. Time to step things up, and become my own geek again.

Dick just walked back in, and read my blog.

He said that Craddock's First Law is "When in doubt, power cycle."

I should write that down.

Oh, I'm so embarrassed!

Dick is blogging again...

...in case you didn't notice.

Yep, there are a few new posts up there. They're pretty funny.

You should read them in chronological order, though. (don't read from the top down)

One Grumpy Dick.

Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets...

...and with a face like that, who could resist?

Congratulations to proud new Papas, Andrew & Barry!

Andrew & Barry adopted a 10 week old Tibetan Terrier Pup last weekend!

I went to meet little Lola for the first time today, and what a cutie she is! It'll be fun to watch her grow!

I have no doubt that Lola will be a happy, and loved little girl. I look forward to visiting her (and her Dads) again soon.

Congratulations, Barry & Andrew!

We ARE those old hags!

Mmmmmm....Chicago-Style Pizza. Just like being back in the Mid-West!

I had a great evening last night with two of my longtime color guard friends, Philip, and Mike Gaines (Mr. WGI Hall of Famer, himself!).

While in the planning stages, the evening was dubbed "Mid West Color Guard Night Out", and later "The Gathering of the Old Color Guard Dinosaurs". Way back in the mid-late 80s, we all used to march in the mid-west, and thought it would be fun to get back to our "roots".

I went all out, and proudly sported my "Friends Don't Let Friends Live in Ohio"t-shirt, underneath my dapper State Street Review member jacket. Philip and Mike both got a kick out of this.

We started out the evening with fruity drinks at the Orbit Room on Market. It's been a good long while since I've had a chance to hang out with Mike (he's' on the road so much nationally and internationally teaching guards still), but we all quickly found our way to talking about "the old days" and catching up on related gossip.

In true mid-western form, we went to a new Chicago Style Pizza restaurant in Hayes Valley. It didn't disappoint - Chicago Style Pizza the way it was meant to be: so chock-full of cheese, you're stomach (and no-doubt your arteries) are full after your first slice!

After dinner, we made our way to Philip's new pad for a few hours of complete and utter geekiness: we watched old WGI videos/DVDs dating back from 1982-1993. Oh, what a guilty pleasure that was: watching some good old fashioned color guards with two of my old color guard friends. Now, I admit that I've watched these shows a few times within the last year or so, but Mike and Philip claimed that they hadn't watched these in over 10 years.

The thing is, once we started watching them, it was if we'd gone back to the days when we used to do this as teenagers: We knew every movement, every toss, every break, every single minute detail instantly! All those years of watching those videos for hour after hour were still there in the back of our minds.

And the funny thing is, all the old emotions and memories came back too:

• Mike was still bitter about losing to being boo'ed during retreat for beating Sac in '89. (corrected on 3/5/07 WOW! How did I get that wrong!)
  
• I still had a personal grudge against the Raiders, and a certain amount of bitterness towards Alliance '91
  
• Philip was still (understandably) bitter about never having made finals, and thus, never making "the video". (yeah, that sucks)

Sure, we know we're old. We know we're "those old color guard hags" that still go to WGI each year. But, the thing is, those were our most formative years when we developed into the people that we became. That's the time when I developed my most close friendships. It's the ties that bind.

I love my color guard friends! I'm so glad that I still have so many in my life. We may be geeks, but at least we admit it! Say it loud, and say it proud!

Thanks for a great evening, guys.
Let's do it again soon!