Out and about...

Dick and I decided to get out for a bit and enjoy the sunny, clear (but cold!) day. It was great to see the sun after all the rain we've been having.

We decided to do something that we usually wouldn't do on a weekend (because some things are too busy on weekends versus weekdays.). We headed out for a stroll around North Beach.

We had a great time walking around the neighborhood. We probably only go down there once a year or so, because it's across town, and parking is usually tough. We strolled down Jack Kerouac Alley, which I hadn't seen before. Not sure how that's possible, as I've passed by that area several times in recent years. It was a great space, and I really loved all of the quotes/poems that were engraved in the alley street. very cool.


Jack Kerouac quote within the alley

Our main purpose for driving across town to North Beach was so that we could have lunch at House of Nanking. We probably haven't been in a couple of years. The food was as good as ever (we always order the House of Nanking Sesame Chicken and the pea shoots), but the ambiance had changed since we were last there. They "fancied" it up a bit with the decor, which was nice, but I kind of missed the "hole in the wall" ambiance that it used to have. They also served fancy tea. Really, all I wanted was a pot of Jasmine Tea. Instead, they brought us each a mug with one of those those beautiful tea flowers in it, and charged us $6/each.


House of Nanking


Fancy Tea

We drove over to Polk Street and strolled around my old 'hood for a while, then decided to drive through Crissy Field, and cross over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was such a beautiful, clear day, that we couldn't resist.



It was so nice to spend an afternoon outside in the crisp, clear air! Rain is likely to come back over the weekend, so I'm glad we got out while we could!

Glass Blowing Class!!

I took a break from unpacking/organizing the new house today and took a really cool Glass Blowing Class with my Mom and my Sister!

My sister signed us up for a great deal on Groupon a couple of months ago. We signed up for a 4-hour Glass Blowing Class at Revere Glass School in Berkeley. It was fantastic!

There were only 4 student spots for each class, so it was just the three of us, one other student, and the instructor. Really nice 1-1 instruction.

I'd never worked with glass before, but I've always wanted to try. The experience was really fantastic and interesting. I think it may be the most technical art form that I've tried yet. It took a little bit to get the hang of the technique, but I managed eventually. I can certainly see how one's technique would improve over time and experience, and how it could become easily addicting!

I spoke with the owner of the studio who said the Groupon campaign was very successful for them, and that they plan to offer another deal in March of 2011. We'll look for it! (we paid $99 for a 4-hour class, which would usually cost $220)

I look forward to going to the studio again and learning (and creating!) more!


Mom and Sis heating the glass tubes


Mom's technique



our instructor demonstrates how to blow a glass ball


my creations from the day

Mykail is here!!

Misha Mouse came out to spend Christmas with our Family!! Merry Christmas! :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Spare Tire

I'm at Costco right now, having a flat tire patched on my MINI. Did I mention that our crazy week of moving started with Dick and Christopher noticing my MINI had a flat on Saturday morning when they were piling in the first boxes from the kitchen? Lucky for me, the took it all in stride, and put my spare on for me so we could keep going until I could get it fixed.

Today is the first free time I had to get it done. I got to Costco at 9:00, just before they opened and was first in line. Yay! My MINI is getting her shoe patched up right now. We'll be on the freeway again for Christmas morning! :)

New Home, Day 1

I need to come up with a catchy name for the new home. "His 'n Hers" Condos was such a great name for our last home. Any ideas? (I guess you'd have to see it first!)

Our first full day in the new home was certainly a busy one. Here was the schedule of events:

Alarm System installation between 8-10; New furniture delivery between 9-11, and Washer/Dryer installation between 12:30-4:30.


New Furniture delivery!

The delivery guys from Room and Board came around 10:00 this morning, and delivered some new pieces of furniture for us. It all looks great, and it's so nice that we were able to have it delivered the day after we moved in.

The guy from the alarm company came around 10:30, and was here for 5-6 hours. It was a big job!

We hired a guy from Sears to come to hook up the washer and dryer that we bought earlier this year. We also bought new pedestals for storage space underneath them so he attached them to each unit. He was here for about 2.5 hours.

The locksmith was supposed to come this afternoon to change out the locks, but he was running late, so we rescheduled until tomorrow. I figured it was okay if my entire list didn't get accomplished today. ;)

While all this was going on, Dick was very busy: he set up all of the media electronics in our new media cabinet, and most impressively, he set up all of our shelving in the garage so that we had enough space to fit everything that was in our basement (Christmas/Halloween/Garden/Misc.,)! We now have plenty of room in the garage to put one car, Dick's scooter, plus the garbage/recycling/compost bins! Yay!

Moving Day!!

Yesterday morning, 5 strapping lads from Flat Rate Moving Company came and moved our entire household of stuff (which includes backyard furniture, potted plants, and a 1/2 basement!) to the the hill to our new home!

And when I say that they moved us up the Hill, they did it in many unexpected ways. The new house is only 1-1/2 blocks away from the old house. Rather than making a 3-point turn (or more) with the big truck on the street at both houses, they put the truck in reverse, and drove it up the hill (they said the truck has more power going in reverse than driving forward, anyhow). That was unexpected! Since the truck was full, some of the guys just walked up the hill carrying various things that were easier to carry, than pack. These guys were really amazing. If you are in need of movers in the Bay Area, I can't recommend them highly enough! Thanks to Brian and the crew for an amazing job well done!


here they are moving one of the BIG Chinese cabinets down the stairs of the condos


You can't really get the effect here, but here's the truck driving up the hill in reverse!


Brian and Heath - still smiling after several hours into the tough job!


Dick and Trina - very tired, but finally moved in!



Noe checking out the new digs!

Test Drive in the New Home

Wooden Trina (and friends) did a test drive in the new house, and spent a night in it before us. They seem happy here. :)

Packing Day!!

This morning at 9:00, five guys from the moving company came to pack up our house. Amazingly, the finished at 12:30! They said it was really helpful that we had already packed and moved our kitchen. :)

Tomorrow is moving day, which will be a long one. It'll be very helpful that the new house is only a block and a half - it'll give them a lot more options as far as loading and unloading.

I've got two full drawers!

We had to take a picture if two of our favorite kitchen drawers!

Behold: the Spice Drawer, and the Coffee/Tea Drawer! These are things that make us happy. :)

We've moved into the Kitchen

We spent the day packing and moving the kitchen! Christopher came over at 11:00am, and we were working hard til 6:00. We've moved everything over and set up the new kitchen. It's so nice to have the kitchen done!! It really makes a home a home. :)

Thanks, Bro, for all of your help! Really appreciate it!!

New House!

I've had some exciting news to share over the past month, but wanted to wait until it was official: Yesterday, we closed escrow on our new home!

Most of you know how much Dick and I *LOVE* our current home, our "His 'n Her Condos" where we've lived together for almost 7 years. I've own my condo (the upstairs unit) for over 12 years - I moved here just a couple of months before I met Dick, so this building has been a part of our lives the whole time we've been together.

As much as we love our Condos, there's sadly one major feature that it lacks: parking. In the 15+ years that I've lived in San Francisco, I've never had a garage. Dick and I have found two parking spots within a block of our house that we've been renting for a couple of years now, which helps a lot, but alas, our building does not have a garage. We've looked into having one put in, but that would require losing at least one, maybe two of the rooms in the bottom condo, and that's not something that we want to do at all. Our condos are 102 years old, and we'd love to be able to keep them as true to their original building as possible.

We weren't really looking for a new home, but Dick and I do enjoy spending most of our Sunday afternoons walking around the neighborhood looking at Open Houses. We found one just a couple of months ago that met all of the criteria that we'd love in a house. Among the things on our wish list: garage, a view and a location that would be in the same neighborhood.

This house meets all of those criteria. It has a large garage, big enough for one of our car, Dick's scooter, and storage. It has a lovely view of Downtown San Francisco. And (almost best of all!) not only is it still in our current neighborhood, it's even on the same street! We're only moving a block and a half up the hill!

We closed on the house yesterday, and our agent dropped off the keys.


Keys to the new house!

Dick and I went in yesterday evening to take care of a few preliminary things. I started to line all of the kitchen cabinets (I'm turning into my Mother) and Dick started to work on the wiring for all things associated with the TV in the family room.


Dick is in Geek Heaven

We invited Pete and Richard over, ordered in some pizza and toasted the new house with a lovely bottle of wine. (Thanks, Pete & Richard!)

The next few days are going to be crazy busy. We'll start moving some stuff this weekend (we plan to move the kitchen tomorrow, and most of the electronics on Sunday), the movers come next week to pack us on Monday, then move us on Tuesday.

We're very excited about our new home, and can't wait to share it with all of our friends and family! :)

Vacation Mode

4:00, and all is well.

Here's my Dad doing one of his favorite pass-the-time activities: playing solitaire. :) it's a good way for him to pass the time.

Dad's Hip Resurfacing Surgery

My Dad had a hip resurfacing surgery this morning at 7:30am. The doctor came out around 10:00 to tell us that the surgery went well. There was one unexpected glitch- turns out my Dad's hip socket is turned towards the back, rather than the front. Nothing major - he just had to adjust a few things to compensate. I asked if it was hereditary (it's not) 'cause that would certainly explain a few things about me and my (lack of) dance skills. ;)

They just brought my Dad into his room at the hospital. It's very nice - private room. He'll be here for two nights.

So far, he's feeling fine. :) He's wide awake and hungry. ;)

Thanks for all the the well wishes - we all really appreciate it.

More later as he progresses...

Happy Holidays from Castro Street!

Another casualty of the Great Purge of 2010

Just another example of me holding onto things longer than I should...


The Mac OS 9.1 Startup Window

This is my first laptop - my Apple Macintosh PowerBook G3.

I got it during the first year that Dick and I were dating, in 2000. He had a discount with Apple at the time, and was able to get me a good deal. :)

In its day, it was the coolest computer around. In fact, I remember bringing it to a client meeting soon after I got it, and the client was immediately impressed with my very cool computer. :)

I don't remember this laptop giving me any problems at all, and I used it for many, many years. I think I got another laptop in 2004 or so. It was a BIG deal for me to get a new one because at the time, it meant I had to make the switch from SCSI and serial ports to USB. I was a pretty late adopter to all of that stuff ('cause I hold onto computers longer than most, I suppose) so that switch meant that I had to but new printers, scanners, keyboards, etc., It also meant switching from Mac OS 9 to the whole new Mac OS X operating system. Too much change! :)

After the big switch, I wasn't ready to let go of my faithful PowerBook G3. There were very few times that I can remember having to go back to it for files or fonts that for some reason hadn't been transferred over to my new machine properly. I just wasn't ready to let it go.

But, today is the day.

I've been keeping this Power Book underneath a little shelf that houses my current MacBook Pro (on top). It hasn't been turned on for years. I still have the AC Adapter, and even (luckily) found an old Norton Utilities Disk that I could use as a Start-up disk and I'm currently wiping my old drive.

So long, my faithful PowerBook G3! You served me well! Thanks for all the good times.

Oh, and I should also mention that I'm finally getting rid of my old Palm V, too! ;)


My Old Desktop - seeing it one last time...


Wiping the drive!