I can get used to this whole siesta thing...

Greetings from Granada, day 5! We´ve been having a great time. Richard (Dick´s father) has managed to switch his Spanish course, and is now taking his classes in the morning. Dick and I have been sleeping in every morning. We managed to get out early enough for churros on Tuesday. We´ve been doing a lot of eating - love tapas! It´s fantastic - you sit down, order a drink, and they bring you free tapas to enjoy! side note: the Spanish love their fried food! We did have the most delicious fried eggplant last night. (not to mention the fried calamari, fried fish, etc.,) Still loving the Gazpacho!

Dick and I went to the Alhambra yesterday afternoon/early evening. Beautiful architecture, and amazing history. I took several pictures.

Aside from eating, and walking around, we´ve enjoyed an occasional siesta - that is, napping in the afternoon. I can certainly understand why Adrianne loves the lifestyle here so much!

Today is our last full day in Granada. We will be having dinner tonight with Adrianne´s Spanish Mother and brother, and one of her friends from school. We´ll be renting a car tomorrow morning, and will head south to meet our friends, Robert & Andrew in Marbella.

Hola from Spain

After nearly 24 hours of traveling, we finally made it to Granada yesterday late afternoon. All of our flights went well, but we were very tired. We were very happy to have been upgraded on our flight from SFO to London (we were on the wait list) and that really made a big difference! The flight was very smooth - it took 9 1\2 hours. we had 5 movies to choose from (i watched ¨Mean Girls¨ and ¨Harry Potter¨!). The best part of flying business class is that they refill you glass of water at all times.

we found a shuttle to take us from Heathrow to Gatwick, and that left us with 4 hours to wait at Gatwick. Our flight from London to Malaga went well - I´d recommend EasyJet to anyone traveling within Europe!

Dick´s Dad and Adrianne met us at the airport, and we took a taxi to the bus station. The bus ride from Malaga to Granada is supposed to be very nice and picturesque, but I´m afraid I slept the entire time.

We took a cab from the Granada bus station to Richard´s apartment, where we washed up a bit, and changed clothes. We took a bus to the center of town and had a lovely dinner. (I am picking up Kathy´s habit of ordering Gazpacho with every meal!)

We went to bed around midnight, and Dick and I didn´t wake up until 11:30 this morning. we showered, then took the bus to Adrianne & Richard´s school. A had class from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Richard has class from 3:00 - 7:00.

had a nice lunch with A, and have been walking around all afternoon.

We´re at an internet cafe now (my first time - very cool).
will try to touch base again before we leave Granada for Marbella.

Adios!

... and... we're off!

We're all set. It's 9:45am, and we'll be leaving the house around 10:30. not bad.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning, by my own accord. Decided to get up, surf the web, take a shower, make pancakes & bacon, and do any last minute preparations. Dick's sister, Meg called this morning to wish us a good trip. She thought I sounded oddly "peppy" for being awake, and getting ready to leave. I told her that my friend Mykail has accused me of being a Disney Character. :)

okay - my parents just came to take us to the airport!

have a great weekend!

Spain!

We're leaving for Spain tomorrow morning!

Dick's niece, Adrianne is studying abroad in Granada, Spain for the entire year. She's having the time of her life. Her Grandfather, Dick's Father, has been to visit her twice already this year. He enjoyed himself so much that he is renting an apartment of his own in Granada for the month of September, and will be taking Spanish courses while he is there. (amazing!)

Dick and I will be leaving tomorrow morning to visit them for a week. We'll also be visiting with my friends, Rob & Andrew. Rob and Andrew are actually from England, but have vacation property, and a new house that they are building just outside of Marbella, Spain.

We're very excited. Neither of us have been to Spain before, and we're really looking forward to visiting with our friends & family there!

Our friend, Vivian has graciously offered to house-sit, and cat-sit for us while we're away. It's so nice to know that someone will be here to look after everything while we're away. Plus, the cats are happy that they'll have company!

Tomorrow will be a very long day of traveling. Actually, I suppose I should say that it will be a weekend full of travel!

We'll be flying from SFO to London, Heathrow. I think it's about 11 hours. We arrive Sunday morning, then have to make our way to London Gatwick airport to catch a flight in the early afternoon. We'll be flying into Malaga, Spain where Dick's father and niece should be meeting up with us. We'll be taking a bus from there to Granada - the ride is supposed to be lovely. We'll be getting into Granada Sunday evening. Wow - that's a lot of traveling!

We're on a wait list to be upgraded to business class from SFO to London - fingers crossed. That would make a huge difference! Plus, we both have tons of frequent flyer points to use!

We're not planning on bringing either of our laptops on this trip. (shocking!) I'm pretty sure that we'll have occasional access to the internet, so I'll try to touch base once or twice.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend!

Ah-Choo!!!

Wow. My allergies are really bad today. Anyone else having an allergy issue today, or this week? I'm going through a lot of tissues.

While we're on the subject: I didn't have allergies at all until after I turned 30. What's that all about? :)

Noe's Birthday!

Today is the day that we celebrate Noe's Birthday. We're not positive about the exact date because we found her in our backyard when she was 4-5 days old.

Noe turns 4 today!

Amazing. Seems like yesterday that we found her, and bottle fed her for the first few weeks. She was so tiny then! who knew she'd grow up to be a healthy little cat!

here are some of Noe's baby pictures! my, how she has grown!

Happy Birthday to our "kitten"!

New Guestbook!

Dick has spent the last few weeks learning asp.net, xml, xsl, & css. He's been building a new guestbook program in order to help him practice his new skills. I've been learning css.

Yesterday we uploaded the new program to my site, and got it up and running.
we spent a better part of the day and tweaking the program, and working on the design.

The result: the New & Improved "Trina's Raggedy Ann Collection Guest-book"! :)

Please check it out. You'll have to go to my Trina's Raggedy Ann Collection Site first, then click on "Share a Story". If you're so inclined, please leave your mark and sign the guestbook!

We're both very pleased with how this project turned out. It was a great exercise for both of us. We may make some more slight modifications, but on the whole, I think it's done!

Noe's World

Dick just found this. I'm pretty sure that this is the kind of conversations that Noe & Marcel have.

Back at the Gallery

I started working at The Gallery again yesterday. I'll only be there once a week, on Wednesdays. I'll also be working from home inbetween my other work.

Cynde & Jim asked if I was interested in reviving the Animation Department, and put me in charge! :) Great fun! I love animation art, and I'm excited to be acting as an animation art consultant again.

I even sold a piece of art yesterday! (thanks, George, and a belated Happy Birthday to you)
it was nice to be back in the swing of things.

So, anyone out there looking for some cool vintage animation art? Disney, Warner Bros., Simpsons, etc.,
let me know.
I'm your girl!

In the meantime, I started to list a few pieces up for auction on ebay today. check them out!

Happy Bloggiversary!

Hey! I just noticed that yesterday was the first anniversary of my Blog!
one year of blogging. you'd think I'd find something more productive to do with my time ;)

it's all over there ---> in the archives.

MINI Run!

...and you thought I was the only one who was this obsessed about MINIs....

OMG. We had such a great time!

The MINI run was so much fun, and a very long day. we met at Noon in Los Altos (near San Jose) (some people drove up from Southern Cal that morning). We drove up Skyline Blvd (great fun! I haven't had a chance to drive like that before!), then through San Francisco, across the GG Bridge, through the Marin Headlands, back across the bridge, down Lombard Street, across and up to COIT tower, through the City some more (I Played tour guide) then we went to Cupertino to a British Pub. I was with these people from Noon, 'til 11:00pm. got home just after midnight!

The people were terrific - most of us have been on our forum thread together for more than 6 months, and had gotten to know each other pretty well. It was so nice to finally have a chance to meet them in person!

here are some of my favorite pictures:

Is it a Plum? Is it an Apricot?

I noticed that Willo blogged about this recently, and it reminded me that I've been wanting to mention this, too.

Have you had the pleasure of eating a Pluot??

A Pluot is a fruit that is a cross between a plum and an apricot.

They're very yummy - and hard to describe. Although really, they do taste like the combination of a plum and an apricot.

If you try one, make sure that it's very ripe, and a little soft. I've had ones that weren't entirely ripe, and they simply weren't full of pluot goodness.

Okay - here's the best part:

In our house, we don't call them "Pluots".

No.

Here, (thanks to Dick's amazing talent for renaming cross-bred fruits) we call them.....

Plapricots.

It's a much better name, don't you think?

Weekly wrap-up

Okay, so it's been more than a week.... (shhhh...)

let's see - what's been going on?

My friend Mykail was in town for a visit last weekend. We had a great time, as always. We went to the DCI Tour of Champions at San Jose State's Spartan Stadium last Saturday night. That was really fun. I hadn't been to a drum corps show in ages. It was such a great way to see everyone - the corps came directly from DCI. Those of us out here on the West Coast never have a chance to see the corps with completed shows unless we go to DCI, so this was a huge treat. Another plus - 6 corps total - it was just the right amount.

I always forget how much longer Drum Corps shows are over Winter Guard shows. They're pretty much double the length. I'm always ready for them to be done about 3/4 of the way in. No offense to anyone, of course, it's just that my attention-span must be dwindling. ;)

I will say that there's nothing like hearing a few hundred brass instruments played at the same time, by hundreds of great musicians. I really enjoyed the finale. i think it may have given me chills!

Kudos, as always, goes to Michael Gaines and the amazing work he did with the drill for the Cavailiers. I was only sitting about 10 rows up, but even from that angle, I was able to appreciate the complexity of the drill design.

On a side note: I started to learn CSS this week! I know, for a web designer, I'm a little behind the times. Dick has been trying to get me to use CSS for years now, and I'm finally caving in. What can I say? I think I'm a creature of habit, and I know how to do good design using basic HTML. Plus, I clients who have clients on old web browsers, and I didn't want to use CSS if it wasn't compatible on most versions/browsers. Anyhow, I'm past that now, and decided that the time has come for this girl to learn some new tricks! ;)

I'm reading through Eric Meyer on CSS. So far, so good. There are several things that I've learned so far that I'm very excited about. My plan is to redesign my own site using CSS - that'll be a good project to get me started!

The big news for this week is that I'm going on a "MINI RUN" with some friends from my MINI2.com Forum. It's actually a group within the group - there's a bunch of us who started the "New Owners Thread" (a.k.a. "NOT") earlier this year. There are about 8 of us who are active participants, and other people come and go. Anyhow, a bunch of the group from Southern Cal are driving up tomorrow (Saturday) to Northern Cal so we can meet, eat, and go out for a drive together.

The guys from Southern Cal had 2 requests: they wanted to drive across The Golden Gate Bridge, and down the crooked part of Lombard Street. Since I am the resident San Franciscian, I stepped up to play the role of "Julie McCoy, Cruise Director". I've mapped out a whole driving route, complete with lunch, picture opportunities, SF trivia, and monuments! We'll also be having dinner together at a British Pub down in Cupertino. There were originally 7 cars, but I think we've dwindled down to 5. oh well, it should still be a great time.

We also have a fun day planned for Sunday! We're going down to Rob & Sharon's house for a pool party!!! :) Whoo-Hoo!

My next MINI?

Yesterday, my MINI and I played "Super Shuttle". I drove Dick to SFO at 7:30am, then headed down to the South Bay to my parent's house. My parents had an early afternoon flight from SFO. They had 5 (count it, FIVE) pieces of luggage. We managed to fit all five pieces of luggage, plus the 3 of us into my MINI. It was a tight fit, but we managed, and we were all quite impressed with my MINI.

Just found this this morning.
This is what I need for the next trip to the airport!

this is real - not a photoshop job. (although it looks like one)
Click here for more pictures of the interior/exterior

Weighing in on scales

Scales are one of life's unnecessary evils.

it's true. they are.

I've made it a rule not to step on scales to check my weight. I mean really, what possible good can come of it?

This all goes back to my color guard days. One of the guards I was in used to weigh us weekly.
I know: years of therapy.

I tend to weigh a lot more than people would guess. I'd like to chalk it up to dense bones, and muscle weight. I haven't actually put these theories to test, but that's what I think, and I'm sticking to it.

I like to judge my weight by how I feel, and I how look.

I think I look decent. I still fit into size 4/5 clothing.
I feel good. I exercise regularly.

We bought a home scale a few weeks ago to help us monitor's Marcel's weight (our big cat is on a diet). We weighed him last night. The last time I was weighed was about 4 weeks ago at a doctor's appointment. I figured I already knew what I weighed from that appointment, so I wasn't too worried about stepping on this new scale.

Well....

according to this scale, I weigh 6 lbs more than I did 4 weeks ago! 6 pounds! that's a lot for someone who's under 5'3".

I realize that the scale is probably inaccurate, and that I should go off of the scale at the hospital.

but, it just goes to show that I was right to stay away from scales in the first place.

evil, evil, evil.

Scootin' around the City

Okay, first things first:

Having a scooter in the city ROCKS!

we scooted all over the place yesterday:

we had an early start, and left the house at 10:30am. (yes, that's early for us on a weekend). First, we went over to Golden Gate Park, and just drove around. We went to Stow Lake and rented pedal boats for an hour. It was terrific! it was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day, and we pedaled our boat around the lake for an hour. There was a small wedding happening in the Chinese Bagota - we were able to watch from a distance. It was so nice - they had a small string quartet playing. We cruised around, watching the ducks and the turtles. Very nice.

Next, we scooted the the other side of town, and had lunch at The House of Nanking" was just outstanding. We parked the scooter right outside the restaurant (which if you've been to The House of Nanking, you know how amazing it is to park nearby). We had a great lunch consisting of House of Nanking Chicken, and Chinese Greens of Snow Pea Shoots. (highly recommend this dish - it's not on the menu). YUM!

After lunch, we scooted up to Coit Tower. It was such a gorgeous day, and the view from the top of the hill was perfect. We also bypassed the line of cars, and parked the scooter in the vacant motorcycle spts, which was also perfect.

We decided to go somewhere where we could walk around a bit, so we headed down to Union Street. We strolled for a bit, then headed into Jamba Juice drink. While we were there, Lora Shahine surprised us! She and Omar were next door, having lunch at Prego. They spotted us a we were walking down the street. We sat with them, and had a nice visit, then invited them over for dinner with my parents.

We scooted over to The Ferry Building and parked right across the street! (LOVE the scooter!) We got a few steaks from the butcher, and also some yummy heirloom tomatoes.

We came home at 4:00, just in time to meet my parents. Omar and Lora swung by at 5:30, and we had a delicious BBQ! :)

What a fun and busy day - courtesy of the Vespa! :)

HUMMMMM BABY!

I just got back from Pac Bell Park! (which is actually now SBC Park I guess)

Giants vs. Cubs! Very cool. My sister was able to get us some comp seats.

It was a good game - saw a home run, and lots of action. We had good seats, too - right next to Left Field.

I love going to watch baseball games. There's something about walking into a stadium that makes me an instant fan. Tonight was free Giants Towel night - we all got these little orange towels to swing around. It was a lot of fun.

I left early (7th inning) so that Dick could pick me up (on the scooter) easily, without having to worry about traffic.

it looks like I didn't miss out on anything, except perhaps traffic!

sidenote
I realize that the whole "Hummm-Baby" thing is really old. It was from the late 80s. It's the ony tagline that I can think of when it comes to The Giants, though. I was really into The Giants in 1989 - that was the year they wen to the world series against The Oakland "A's". It was the infamous "Battle of the Bay".

I lived in Ohio at the time. Can you believe that? I had just moved to Dayton in early September of that year. My sister and I were watching Game 3 of the World Series, when all of a sudden, it went off the air.

Yep. It was The Loma Prieta Earthquake. 6.9 on the Richter Scale.

That was so weird. I lived in California my entire life (I was 19 at the time), moved to Ohio (temporarily) and 6 weeks later, the 2nd largest earthquake in The United State's history strikes. When the television signal came back up, the announcers said they had an earthquake. My sister and I figured it must have been pretty huge to affect the TV signal. We called our Mom immediately, and managed to get through right away. I think we were lucky because we knew about the earthquake and its severity just before the phone lines jammed. My Mom & Dad's power was out, so we relayed any information that we were getting off the news to my Mom. So surreal.

DCI

Hey - DCI is this weekend. I'm so out of it, I almost forgot.

It probably won't be televised on PBS for several months...

We'll be going to the post season Tour of Champions next Saturday at Spartan Stadium, San Jose. I'm really excited about it. Haven't seen a live drum corps show in several years. It'll be the perfect way to see a show - everyone will be fresh from the end of the season! It'll also be good to see a lot of friends.

Short & Sassy

Well, the long hair was fun while it lasted. It was certainly the longest it's been in more than 10 years.

but all good things must come to an end...

Yesterday I decided (kind of out-of-the-blue) that it was time to cut it off.
That's the way to do it - you can't think about it too much, or you'll get paranoid.

I probably cut off 6-8 inches! (oh my!)

Litter Robot - first week review

For those of you with kitties, here's my review of the Litter Robot after using it for one week.

So far, so good! it works as advertised, and does a good job. (Yay!) It's more sanitary than the LitterMaid that we used to use. The Littermaid's rake would often get stuck and full of wet litter (yuck). The LR's unit stays pretty clean, although I still have to sweep off the step and floor a bit for loose litter.

I bought a cheap roll of garbage bags to use with the Litter Robot yesterday. It got 120 bags for $2.99. Can't beat that. I really like that it doesn't require any special recepticles to buy. The clean-up (ie: opening the drawer, and tossing the bag) is very easy!

Both cats took to it pretty easily. We actually went cold turkey, and took away their old litterbox as soon as we installed the Litter Robot. I put a small plastic box underneath the Litter Robot's step to create an additional step for Marcel - he's a big kitty, and I thought it would make entering/exiting easier for him.

The only problem we've had so far is that the depth of the Litter Robot is smaller than our old Litter Box. (See the web site for dimensions.) I think our kitties are used to having a little more space. Noe has occassionally tossed out litter after using the box (natural cat instinct). I don't think she intends to toss the litter outisde. This has only happened a few times, and usually not bad, but twice I found large piles of litter on the floor outside the box. (this also confused Marcel, who must have thought that we were now using the floor as a new litter pan) This hasn't happened for the last few days, so I'm hoping that she has adjusted to the size.

The Litter Robot is just as loud as the LitterMaid, which was a little disappointing, but not a big deal. The cats don't mind it at all - they must be used to having an automated litterbox.

So overall, we're really pleased with our Litter Robot so far. I'd recommend it. I'm much happier with it than we were with the LitterMaid. Plus, with two cats in the house, it really beats having to clean it out manually all of the time!

I'll keep you posted if we have any other problems with it.

update
November 22, 2004

I've just posted a second review of the Litter Robot after having had it for almost 4 months.

A Karate Kid Moment...

... and another reason why it's good to have a small car.

Today, I waxed my car for the first time! :)

"Wax On."

"Wax Off."

I haven't waxed a car in years - I forgot that it's kind of a work out!
The only car I've ever waxed before was my Acura Integra. It was a compact car, and reasonable to wax.

But it was SO MUCH EASIER to wax my MINI! It's so small, and so curvaceous, that it was actually pretty fun to wax. (did I just say that?!) Didn't take too long - maybe about and hour & 15 minutes to wash, dry and wax. I was especially happy having the panoramic sunroof - it made waxing the roof a breeze. There was only a five inch parameter around the sunroof to wax!

She's so pretty & sparkly right now!
(that'll last about 2 hours, since the poor thing is parked outside on the street)

testing...

Can you guys let me know if you are reading this? I'm in the process of switching over to a new web host. It's supposed to take 48-72 hours to propagate the DNS change. My email was up and running by Noon today (about 24 hours after making the change) so I expect everything else will follow soon. (It's already working on Dick's work machine, and Pete's computer, but not yet on our home computers) Anyway, it'll take a couple of days for everyone to be able to access the new server, and I'm just kind of curious to watch it move around. Thanks!

Some things in life should not be mixed...

I think that there is such a thing as "Too much of a good thing".

I LOVE my MINI.

I love playing our Xbox.

I have no desire to combine the two - literally...

check this out

I think I'll stick to "driving a MINI" while playing Project Gotham from the comfort of my own home.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

You may remember that my Mom's birthday was on July 1st. My parents were both born in the same year: 1948. My Dad sometimes jokes that he's married to "an older woman".

This is a picture of my Dad when he was a couple of years old (I assume). It was taken in San Francisco - although it looks like he's in China, doesn't it? My Dad grew up in Stockton, but was born in San Francisco. My Grandma had relatives in San Francisco, and since my Dad was her first baby, she thought it best to have him in SF. He was born in a hospital in Chinatown that was just a few blocks away from where my first apartment in SF was. (I lived on Leavenworth x Washington)

Waiting for FedEx

Our new Litter Robot is supposed to be delivered by FedEx today. According to FedEx's website, it was placed on a vehicle for delivery in SF this morning at 9:19am.

I've been waiting at home for it's delivery all day.

I have a bunch of errands I needed to run. But I just knew that the minute I drove away, the FedEx truck would come knocking at my door.

So I stayed in all day.

I did 3 loads of laundry.

I got some work done.

I cleaned the house.

It's 5:14 pm, and FedEx still hasn't come!
Please come! I really want my package!

Dick will be home around 6:00.
I'm still wearing the sweats that I put on this morning at 9:00am when I was planning to go for a walk (but decided not to, in case I missed the delivery) I didn't even take a shower, for fear of missing the doorbell. I'm am not a very pretty sight at the moment, and I don't even have a new litter box to show for it!

I suppose I could have gone about my business today, and assumed that if I missed the delivery, I could always drive down to the pick up station tonight.

But it's a large, 30 lbs. box, and I just want it delivered!!!

Plus, the kitties are anxious to try our their new litter box.

FedEx Truck! Where are you?

Update

Well, FedEx finally came at 7:40pm. We just finished setting up the new litter box, and introduced both kitties. Here's hoping they figure it out, and use it!

"Lets Scoot"

surprise! We just came back from picking up Dick's new VESPA!!

Dick has been wanting to get a scooter to ride around town, and to take to the train station. (perhaps he grew tired of hearing me sing the Sheena Easton song?)

We went to the San Francisco Vespa Dealership last Sunday to test drive, and fell in love with it. Dick decided to get the ET4. It has plenty of power to carry the two of us around town, and even up the hills. It's so much fun, and a lot easier to manuever than his motorcycle - which is good for easy city riding. Dick still plans to keep his motorcycle for bigger drives.

The first thing that I noticed is that the Vespa is a heck of a lot more comfortable as a passenger. The seat is very comfy, and the sitting position is straight up, rather than leaning forward. We also got the little trunk storage case, which doubles as a back rest for me! :)

So, here are the Vespa's first pictures. She's sitting on the front sidewalk right next to my MINI, and Dick's SLK. She has a whopping 4 miles on her at the moment.

MINI Mods

It's been so long since I've posted my last blog that Blogger has a whole new interface.

I finally made the leap, and installed my iPod into my MINI Cooper! I decided to go with the MINI Auxiliary Cable through the dealership. Here's my rationale:

I was going to get the Dension IceLink which cost $220. (that's assuming I'd be able to install it myself). It's a nice product: it has a nice cradle that powers the iPod, and would allow me to use my MFSW (multi-function steering wheel) to control the volume as well as going up and down in the tracklist. However, it was a lot of money, and still doesn't have the functionality to view the song track information from my stereo.

The BMW iPod adapter was another option. It isn't available for the MINIs until the end of the summer at the earliest. It costs $150 plus dealership installation (possibly another $100 or more). It would allow the same control from the MFSW as the IceLink. However, it would be installed in the glovebox, and the iPod's interface wouldn't be able to be used while it was in use. ie: I wouldn't be able to select a specific album from my playlist. In order to specific specific music to be played, i would have to create up to 5 individual playlists that the adapter could read. They would show up as "Track 1" through "Track 6" on the stereo face.

The solution for me (for the time-being at least) was to purchase the Auxiliary Input from the dealership for $39.95. I have read a lot of installation suggestions on the MINI Forums and Dick and I decided that it would be pretty simple to install ourselves.

It literally took less than 5 minutes.

Have I mentioned that I love my super-handy boyfriend? :)

Benefits of the AUX input:

It works will all portable media that have an audio out. I love my iPod, but in case we ever change to something else in the future, we can still hook it up to my MINI.

I can still control the volume from my MFSW, but I can't control the tracks. Omar had the perfect solution for that: I just plugged in the little remote control that came with my iPod. Works like a charm.

Did I mention that it only cost $39.95?

I also got the Belkin Auto Kit ($40)(which charges the iPod, and connects to the iPod via the dock connector) and the Belkin Tunedok ($20), which allows you to hold the iPod in the cup holders. It's a nice arrangement.

Here's a picture of the setup:



I also did a couple of other minor Mods:

I found someone on my forum who was making little glovebox organizer shelves. He made a great design, and the quality is very nice. Plus, he's only charging $20 for them. It made a HUGE difference to the organization of my glovebox. The glovebox is one thing about the MINI that isn't such a great design. it's small, plus everything slides out when you open the door.

Here's my new glovebox organizer:



You'll see that it has a lot of stuff in there:
My owner's manual, a first-aid kit, an emergency tool, napkins, tissue, and my headset for my cell phone.
Notice that little vent on the lower left side? that's an airconditioning vent in the glovebox. If I want, I can put a can of soda in my glovebox, and keep it nice and cool! :)

Last mod (and it's a small one):

The MINI has a fabulously huge panoramic sunroof - which I LOVE. However, I knew that one thing about it could be a minor problem. The sunroof has a small, mesh screen that you can pull closed when you don't want too much direct sunlight. However, the sun can still creep through, and it can get hot during the summer.

I went to Target yesterday, and bought a sunscreen that's meant for the front windshield. It's one of those acordian folding ones that reflect the sun. I trimmed it to size in both sunroof sections, and voila! Plus, I can easily fold them back up, and store them in the nets behind the seats.

Kitty Litter Boxes

(how's that for a fun topic?)

It was bound to happen eventually: our LitterMaid litter box died this past weekend. from what I hear, we're lucky that it lasted as long as it did - over 4 years.

I was getting ready to order a new one, when I read a review about The Litter Robot. We had a lot of problems with the LitterMaid, but just made due: it got jammed often, and would repeat it's cycle until it was manually fixed, the motor isn't as strong as it used to be, and the rake had to be cleaned often. It certainly had it's problems, but it was a lot better than scooping after our two kitties every day!

The Litter Robot claims to eliminate all of these problems. I just read through the testimonials on the site, and it seems as if a lot of the users are people who used to use LitterMaid boxes, and thought this one was much better. It's supposed to clean better, be easier to clean, doesn't require any special waste bins (you can use plastic grocery bags) it's quieter, and more sanitary. It also seems like LitterMaid boxes tend to break down easily (I had to replace Claude's within a year). The Litter Robot comes with a 30-day trial period, and an 18 month warranty. Not Bad. It's pretty pricey, but if it does the job well, it'll be well worth the $$.

Plus, it just seems kind of cool. At first, I thought it looked kind of space-age-y - like the escape pod from Star Wars. I have fantasy visions in my head of Marcel and Noe reenacting the escape pod scene from Episode IV.

I placed my order this morning, and I think it'll be shipped within the next week or so. More later....

Label-Me.

When I was at Kaiser this morning, I had to fill out a questionnaire for all of my medical history.

One of the first questions was Marital Status:

Single
Married
Domestic Partner
Divorced
Widowed
separated

Hello? where's the box for:
"I'm not married, but I'm not really single either since I'm in a long-term, commited relationship with my boyfriend of over five years"??!!

I think that the last time I filled out the questionnaire (last year) I checked "domestic partner". I thought that was the correct box to check meaning: "I'm in a committed relationship". However, I realize that they might also take it to mean that I am gay, and that may bring about a whole other set of questions. On a side note, I'm very impressed that Kaiser Permanente is forward thinking enough to include "domestic partner" as a choice!

This morning, I literally asked the nurse which box I should check, and she suggested "domestic partner".

So there you go.

I've been labeled.

What a way to start the week

Happy Monday.

I challenge any of you to tell me that you've had a more "eventful" morning than I have so far....

Dick and I woke up at 6:30, left the house at 7:00, and got him to the Cal Train station at 7:15. Then, I made my way to Pete & Richard's house to check on their kitty, Molly. (they are out of town, and there was something about a missing muffin in the house...)

As if that weren't enough excitement for a Monday morning before 8:00am....

I had an 8:00am OB-GYN appt today!

Yep. 8:00am PAP Smear. Now that's the way to start a week!
(should I be filing this in the TMI (Too Much Information) file? Any of you boys reading this getting squirmy?)
Also had my blood pressure checked, stepped on a scale (ugh), and had the routine breast exam.

..and all of this before 8:30am.

I think I can go back to bed now, and declare that I've had a full day.

On a side note, I'm still not thrilled with how much my rates with Kaiser have gone up this year. I mentioned it earlier this year already. This morning was my first time going in for an appointment this year. Turns out that my co-payment charge went up from $15 to $25 this year, PLUS, they charged me an additional $10 for lab fees. (just started that charge in March 2004). Yikes! (sounding like an old woman now) I can remember when my co-payment was $1. (back when I was a teenager) Really! I also remember that in 1998 I was paying $65/month and my co-payment was only $5. Sounds like a bargain now, doesn't it?

Urban Hiking

Dick and I had a very nice urban hike today: we walked from our house all the way to The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. It was quite a good hike - I'm guessing 5 miles or so. We had a late dinner last night with Mike, Bunny, Reeves, Paula, and Omar at The House of Prime Rib to celebrate Mike's bday, and new job. It was a wonderful meal, but I'm afraid we all ate too much! Dick and I both woke up this morning feeling the need for a little bit of exercise! ;)

I really enjoy a good urban hike. It gives us a chance to walk through so many neighborhoods that we wouldn't otherwise see very often. We walked from our house in the Castro, up 17th street, through Upper Terrace, Cole Valley, and the Haight. I especially like walking through neighborhoods on Sunday afternoons, because it gives us a chance to peek into some open houses!

Golden Gate Park is great to walk through on Sundays - some of the main streets are closed off to autos, and the park is swarming with interesting people. While we were at the park, we discovered the carousel, and the Lawn Bowling green! Very cool. I was just talking with my Mom, and she remembers going to both areas when she was a little girl.

We also made our way to the National AIDS Memorial Grove, which I think is one of the most special areas of the entire park; it's so beautiful, and such a wonderful tribute to all whose lives have been touched by AIDS. I've been to a couple of memorial services in the grove, and I can't imagine a better place to pay tribute to our friends who we have lost to the AIDS pandemic.

"Big River"

I just got back from seeing a matinee performance of "Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" today.

What an amazing show. (and, believe me, that's not something I say about a lot of shows) It was so unique: It's a musical, but the cast is a mixture of hearing/non-hearing/hard of hearing actors. All of the actors sign all of the words and lyrics. Some actors only sign, while another character is on stage speaking and singing the role. It's hard to convey how beautiful the effect was. It was very poetic - like watching a dance being sung.

There were some non-hearing/hard of hearing people seated around us in the audience. I just kept thinking of what a great experience this must be for both the performers, and the audience.

There were also several clever details that I thought made the show great: the staging was possibly one of my favorites ever. It was so simple: the props were large (perhaps 10-12 foot) pages out of the book, most with pictures that corresponded some of the poses or actions that the characters did. They would open up some of the pages to present a different scene.

Another detail that I really liked was that the actor who played Huckleberry Finn was non-hearing/hard of hearing, and signing, but that the actor who played Mark Twain spoke and sang his role - which seems so appropriate.

Unfortunately, I think their engagement here in SF ends this weekend, then they move on to Texas. I was really wanting to tell some friends that they should try to see it.

Anyway, that's my not-so-eloquent editorial.

Here's another review that may be more interesting than mine.

trying out a new kind of patch

I'm trying out the new Neosporin Scar Solution patch. I'm hoping that it works as advertised.

I have a fairly small, but unsightly keloid scar on my right shoulder. It's been there for years. This product is supposed to help "restore the raised and discolored scar to a more natural color and texture". Sounds good to me!

What's a keloid? I actually did a small report on it in Science class years ago. Here's a definition of Hypertrophic and Keloid scars from the web:

Q. What is the difference between hypertrophic scars and keloids?

A. Hypertrophic scars are thick, raised and discolored. Most common places where these scars can be found are chest, back, shoulders, earlobes, and lower face. Hypertrophic scars are usually confined to the site of incision or injury.

Keloids are noticeably thick, puckered, and, may be itchy. The scar typically grows beyond the site of incision or injury, and has the tendency to recur. Most common places where these scars can be found are breastbone, earlobes, and shoulders. These scars are more common in people with darker skin.

Mmmmm. nice. (rolling my eyes)

The product says that I should start noticing a difference in as little as 4 weeks. It also says that I should use it for 12 weeks total.

this'll be interesting :)

"Trina" - The Beverage!

This image was sent to me by Dick's brother-in-law, Jeff.

Jeff and Meg (Dick's younger sister) traveled to Spain earlier this year to visit Adrianne (everyone's niece) while she's studying abroad for the year. (do you have the family tree figured out now?)

Who knew? there's a soft drink in Spain called "Trina"! I just tried looking for more info on the web, but this was all I could find (no pictures). It does show a beverage called "Trina" and another called "Trina Pina Colada"!

Hopefully, Dick and I will make it out to Spain later this year, and I'll be able to find some "Trina" for myself.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Isn't she a cutie?

My Baby Takes the Morning Train....

(anyone else remember that Sheena Easton song?)

Check the time: 7:25am.

I'm already back from taking Dick to the Cal Train Station.
*yawn!*

Over the last month or so, Cal Train's "Baby Bullet" train has become available to commute between San Francisco and The South Bay. It's pretty cool, because it chops off about 20 minutes of riding time. Unfortunately, the last Baby Bullet Train that Dick can catch down to Mt. View is at 7:16am at the 22nd St. Station. It'll get him to the Mountain View station at 7:56, then he can immediately catch the MSFT shuttle to campus. (not bad - faster than driving!) There are other trains running at later times, but they are not Baby Bullet Express Trains.

The 22nd Street Station is about 3 miles from our house. If we leave the house at 7:00am, we can get Dick to the station on time. Why am I taking him, and picking him up from the station? Dick used to drive, or ride his motorcycle. The station is in a questionable area, and he had problems with people stealing his helmet from his motorcycle. (3 times in 2 weeks!) We figured it would be safer to just have me drive him there, and not worry about the cars.

It also gets me out and about in the morning, which isn't a bad thing.

Plus, I'm just a good girlfriend ;)

Okay, let's hear it One-More-Time! (it's like a theme-song that plays in my head when I drive Dick to the station)

Strangest Snack ever?

alfalfa spouts rolled up in a slice of provelone cheese.
it was kinda yummy.
but, odd.

Raggedy Ann & Friends at the Cartoon Art Museum

I just came back from my first look at the "Raggedy Ann & Friends: The Art of Johnny Gruelle" exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum here in SF. I went with Andrew who just finished putting the last finishing touches together.




I was very impressed with the exhibit, and think that Andrew did a wonderful job with it.

If you have any interest in seeing the show, please let me know. I'd be happy to try to meet you there, and give you a little personal tour - Raggedy Ann/Johnny Gruelle fan that I am.

The Cartoon Art Museum also has an impressive permanent collection on display - cartoon, comic, and animation art. I really do think it's worth a trip to check out and support this museum.

Oh, BTW, there's an opening reception next Wednesday, July 7th. Please come by if you have a chance!

Barbie gets sued

I just read this article in sfgate.com. It tells of an artist who was sued by Mattel Inc. in 1999 because of an art piece he had created using the iconic doll. The series of photos depicted Barbie dolls in sexually provocative positions. Mattel lost the case, and the artist later pursued to have his attorney & court case costs covered. It's an interesting article, and reminded me of a few projects I did about 10 years ago while in art school.

For some reason, I was on a "Barbie kick" for a couple of years. I think the main reason was because I hardly ever played with Barbie dolls. In fact, I didn't own a Barbie, but I did have her little sister, Skipper. Hmmmm. I was much more interested in playing with stuffed animals, and (of course) Raggedy Ann dolls.

Here's a link to some of my old Barbie Installation projects. I finally added an audio link to the "Discordant Angel" project. I think it's much more affective to read about it while listening to the song by Meryn Cadell.

Pride Weekend

This past weekend was Gay Pride here in San Francisco. The parade is always one of the highlights of the weekend. Unfortunately for me, I was too tired to go this year (I volunteered all day/night at a benefit on Saturday) so I missed out. The part that I most wanted to see was the hundreds of the 4,000 gay couples who had been married at City Hall this year. My friends Pete & Richard and Andrew & Barry marched in this contingent. I'm so sorry that I missed the parade, although I realize that I was even more fortunate to actually be a witness for Pete & Richard when they got married back in February.

Pride weekend is one of three times that it's extremely difficult to find a parking spot in our neighborhood - that would be "The Castro". The other two times would be the weekend of The Castro Street Fair, as well as Halloween. Dick and I parked our cars in front of our house Friday morning, and left them there through the weekend.

While I'm thinking about it, here's one of my favorite stories about living in The Castro:

A few years back, I was walking outside my house and met my new neighbors from the apartment building next door. One was backing out their car from the garage, and I think the other was closing the door. Anyhow, the woman in the car introduced herself as "Nancy", then introduced her partner, "Nancy". (grin). They were very nice, and we discussed how they liked living on the block so far. As we were talking, Nancy #1 asked me, "So, are you part of the community?" I tried really hard not to laugh when she asked this. What I really wanted to say was, "Oh sure. Didn't I just tell you that I just live upstairs in this building?" (giggle). Of course, I didn't say that, and I was much more polite in saying something like "Oh, no, I'm not gay. But, I do have a lot of gay friends, and certainly support the community".

I just thought it was such a strange and funny way of someone to ask me whether or not I was gay. This, mind you, coming from a lesbian, and her partner, as we live in The Castro in San Francisco!

"The Nancys" only lived next door to me for less than a year, so I never really got to see them any other time. But I do have such a fond memory of our first meeting!

Still makes me chuckle when I think about it :)

We now return to our regularly scheduled program....

Ah yes, we're back to the old routine again.

After taking some time off for his sabbatical, Dick went back to work this morning to start his new job! Dick is now the Dev Manager of the Hotmail group! As Omar and Reeves can tell you, there's a lot of exciting stuff happening in this division right now.

So now, it's back to being just me and the kitties at home again. I was actually really enjoying having Dick home all of this time. The house is so much more quiet now.

perhaps this means that there will be more blogging in my future....

Blog Updating

I was just feeling a little guilty that I haven't had a chance to post a new blog in the past few days... I have some stuff to write about, but haven't quite found the time.

I just checked my "Blogarama" list (see right column) to see what all of my other Blogging friends have been up to. Turns out that no one else has been updating their blogs much either. (since the weekend, anyhow)

Most notably: Dick! Update your blog, man! :)
We have faith in you! You can do it!

okay, more coming soon.....

The wonder that is "Xbox Mouth"

This just cracks me up....

Anyone who has played Xbox with or against me has probably witnessed the phenomenon that is "Xbox mouth". That is, expletives come flying out my mouth at any given time, while playing any game! It's a mystery - I'm not sure why or how it happens, but it just does. The funny thing is, outside of playing Xbox, I hardly swear at all. Turn on the Xbox though, and it all comes flying out!

I used to think that it was localized to when I play Halo with Dick and Pete. The three of us really get into it. I even have a regular "nickname" that Pete & Dick use all of the time: "Invisible B****". The shotgun is my weapon of choice. It kicks A**. (do you see what I'm saying here? Xbox Mouth comes out even when I'm talking about a game!)

I quickly realized, though, that Xbox Mouth comes out on all games: driving games, fighting games, shooting games. It's usually okay on Xbox Live, because on most games that we play (ie: Ghost Recon) you have to press the white button for others to hear you. However, on other games (like Midtown Madness) the microphone is always on! oops!

Anyway, most people seem to get a good laugh from it - cracks us all up!

iPod solution for my MINI?

This just in:
http://www.apple.com/ipod/BMW/

Apple/BMW have announced an adapter that can be added to any BMW/MINIs 2002 or newer. It goes into the glove compartment, and can be controlled by the Multifunction Steering Wheel. It's pretty cool, although I'm not certain that it can read individual albums, or if it only reads your library as a HUGE list of song titles. You can set up to 5 playlists that I know it can read, but again, I'd want to make sure it can read individual albums.

cost: $150 plus installation - (supposedly under 1 hour)

I've been looking to get the Dension IceLink - they just came out with the newest model that I've been waiting for. I KNOW that this adapter will allow you to play individual albums (controlled via the iPod directly) then you can scroll through the album, or your playlists with the Steering Wheel.

However...

cost: $229.00 plus installation
(I think Dick is handy enough to install one though)

Neither of the two adapters show you the title of the song on the stereo - instead, it will show "Track 1" "Track 2" etc.,

My understanding is that Dension's IceLink is working on that feature for a new version.

Both adapters are connected at the base of the new iPods, which also will continuously power the iPods when the car is running.

I'll have to find out more about the BMW adapter - could save some $$ with this one. It will be available for BMWs on July 1st, but won't be available for MINIs until the end of the summer (whatever that means).

Anyone out there using the iceLink? I'd really like to integrate my iPod with my MINI, as I feel that I'm not utilizing it yet...

thoughts? Comments?

The Big Cat gets a checkup

Poor Marcel had to go to the doctor today for his routine visit. It's been more than 1 1/2 years since he's been, so he was long overdue.

We used to bring him and Noe to a vet in San Francisco, but it is across town, took a long time to get there, and we'd never get the same doctor twice. Last year, I decided to make the switch to bring our kitties to my favorite vet in Milpitas. It's 45 minutes away, but it's almost easier than driving across town, through stop and start traffic. I've been going to Dr. Anderson in Milpitas for at least 20 years now. We've brought in all of my rats, our birds, and now our kitties. Dr. Anderson has a wonderful bedside manner, and I really think it's worth the extra drive to bring our kitties to him.

We've had Marcel for 4 years now. He's been on a diet the entire time. The poor little guy only gets fed 1/4 cup of food twice a day, and he doesn't get treats very often. Somehow, he's managed to gain a for each year that we've had him! Today he weighed in at a whopping 17.1 lbs! Oh my! Poor little guy - sometime cats, like people, just have slow metabolisms. We got a 4 lbs sample of Science Diet food, and we'll try that out on him for the next few months. The good news is, he gets to have more food with this diet than before!

I need to bring him back in a few months to get his first teeth cleaning.

A lot of Chow

Wow - it turns out that 20 people, plus three girls (ages 7, 3 and 1) is indeed, "a lot of Chow"!

That was really fun. Everyone just left - which Dick then pointed out to me was "8 hours of Chow".

Boy, did we have a lot of food. Perhaps it goes with the name.... My mom brought some dim sum over for munchies. My Uncle Bill & Auntie Junie bought a fresh fruit, and veggie platter. One of my Grandmas brought over some of her famous homemade dim sum, and some other chinese goodies.

and that was just the snacks

for dinner we had BBQ chicken (that my mom brought, and Dick grilled - 3 dozen pieces!), I roasted a huge tri-tip and had potato salad (courtesy of Costco) , my Grandma made fried rice, and chinese string beans! Yum.

and then there was dessert

my Mom made 2 strawberry parfait pies (special request by my Dad) and brought a berry pie from Marie Calendar's.

You can see that my Mom and Dad really helped out a lot. I'm very grateful. They also brought about 10 folding chairs and stools so everyone could actually sit while we ate.

I think a possible highlight for me was watching "The Muppet Movie" with my nieces Evelyn (7) and Abigail (3). I simply love this movie - it's just hysterical. Dick came in to watch it with me (we ate dinner with them in the TV room) and Dick and I started to sing along with all of the songs, and recite the dialog. Who knew that Dick was such a Muppet Movie fan?!

So the house has survived two house-warming parties, and seems no worse for the wear. I think we've sufficiently warmed it now :)

Happy Dad's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

We're hosting a Father's Day BBQ/Family House Warming party today! Yep, the whole Chow clan is coming over. I'm figuring around 20 people. As Dick would say, "That's a whole lot of Chow".

I'd better go get ready!

Entourage Update

My calendar seems to be working now. Perhaps it was just a matter of restarting.. (roll of eyes)

Oh, what a night!

I'm having such a lovely evening so far....

Dick is away on business tonight, so it's just me and the kitties.

I was pretty busy working all afternoon, and only made it outside when I walked to the post office.
At 5:00, my friend Sheri called. She lives in Southern Cal, and we haven't had a chance to catch up for a long while. She was driving for an hour on her way to her first night of school to get her Master's Degree. Anyhow, we had a lovely chat, and are totally caught up now.

Around 6:30, I decided it was time to eat dinner. We had a left-over steak in the refrigerator from the other night when Dick grilled. (We bought an extra in case a friend was able to come over) I heated up the steak, and also chopped up a head of romaine lettuce, and made a lovely ceasar salad out of it. Initially, I was drinking my usual glass of water with my meal when I realized, "I should be having a fat glass of red wine with this meal!" So I got up, uncorked a great bottle of cab, and continued to eat my meal. Oh - and if forgot to mention, I ate in the Media room, while watching a rerun of Sex and the City. Now that my friend is a decadent meal.

Now, most of you know that I'm a light-weight when it comes to drinking. Yep, 1 glass of wine was quite enough for me. I figured I was staying in for the night, so what does it matter anyway? ;) Anyhow, at 7:30, I called my friend Tammy, out in Chicago. We haven't caught up in a few weeks - much longer than usual. We had a fabulous time, and jabbed on the phone for almost 2 hours.

Hmmm... and now I'm thinking about heading downstairs for a bowl of ice-cream.

:) Yep, it's kind of nice having a day day to yourself once in a while.

Not that I won't miss Dick tonight of course ;). I'm sure he's out having a grand time as well!

iMovie

I'm using iMovie for the first time - I'm working on a project for my sister's theater's new show "The Buddy Holly Story". They hired me to create a DVD that they can play on a loop on a monitor outside of the box office.

They gave me a couple of CDs with photos and music clips from the show. It's actually a great way for me to learn this program, as well as iDVD. I'm very happy to be able to fully utilize my Powerbook! plus, I haven't had a chance to do many multimedia projects in awhile - I think the artist in me is getting excited to try out some new projects now!

(plug) If you're so inclined, go see this show! It's very entertaining.

Field trip!

My Mom had the day off today, and the 3 of us went to The San Francisco Zoo for a few hours. The new African Savanna exhibit just opened a couple of weeks ago, and we wanted to check it out. It is very beautiful! The new habitat is just gorgeous, and spacious. The best part was when we saw all four giraffes galloping at full speed from one side of the habitat to the other. Giraffes are such beautiful creatures already, but it was amazing to see them run (especially at a zoo)!

Here's a picture taken earlier in the day when the giraffes were less active.

Check the date

Time to send in those 1/4 tax payments ;)

Saying goodbye to an old friend

I just got back from spending the day at a memorial service for an old friend. Harry Ariza was an incredible man, and I consider myself very fortunate to have known him for the past 20 years.

Harry and his wife, Dee, were the directors of the first color guard that I was ever in. I met them when I was 14 years old. I spent 3 years with them, during my formative high school years. Harry was a very kind man, who was incredibly patient, and always made everyone laugh. He was such a positive influence to so many young adults who became a part of his family. I believe that he changed many lives, and that he may very well have saved a few.

After Harry and Dee disbanded the Sparks Color Guard, he went on to become a judge of the activity. As an instructor years later, I remember that he was the type of judge who gave very fair, and constructive feedback. He was well respected by his peers, and admired by those who he judged.

There were so many people in attendance of his memorial service today - a true testimony of what a wonderful and respected man that he was.

Harry will be deeply missed by so many. I will miss seeing his smile when I go to shows.
My love goes out to the entire Ariza family - and I thank them for welcoming so many of us into their hearts.

Another Entourage Bug?

Hmmm... My address book in Entourage keeps changing around the default email addresses.

That's not good.

anyone else having this problem?

Longest Blogroll ever...

I've been wondering... does Omar really know this many people? Even better, does he really know this many people with Blogs??? And if he does, does he really keep up with all of them?

Perhaps that is why he is "The Oracle".

...and how come I didn't make the list? ;) (I know, some nonsense about not having an XML feed, or something like that...)

Entourage Bug?

I think I found a bug in the new version of Entourage. Perhaps Mike or Rob (or ???) can help me see the light.

The problem happens when I add a new event to my calendar. I create an event, but when I close the window, the event does not show on my calendar. In order to make sure that it shows up, I have to go to the previous month, then back to the current month. (Yes, I have it on "Month" view)

any ideas?

It's kind of annoying since I add events to my calendar all of the time - it's how I keep track of my client work.

Dick's new blog

Heads up!

Dick changed the url of his blog to www.cradworld.com/cradblog. (note the change in the directory name)

Change those bookmarks, and links now :)

got MINI?

hee hee.....

Dick just got his latest issue of The New Yorker magazine.
It had a cool insert in it:

It's a "make-your-own Milk Carton" prop.



The idea is you build the prop, shake it convincingly to show your spouse that you're "out of milk", then head on out to motor.



Pretty funny.

Office:Mac 2004

I'm installing the new version of Office right now.
yikes - my entourage database is quite huge. It took a while to download all of the info.

more later....

update
Okay - first impressions:

I think the new Project Center is pretty cool. I'm going to start using it with a new client I have. I'll be able to link all of my emails, dates, tasks, documents, contacts, etc that are affiliated with any given project, and have them all show up on one cool window. Cool.

It's also nice having my MSN Messenger contacts directly connected with my Entourage contacts. This allows me to send an IM message directly from any of my Office apps. (so far, I've only really checked out Entourage)

Uber-Geeks

Okay, I am so *not* a geek.

I'm a little geeky. I can hold my own on some topics. I am a "Mac Chic".
But I'm certainly not a full-fledged geek.

Dick and I just came back from having lunch with his MS buddies, Omar, Reeves & Mike. I knew what I was getting into before we went - actually, Dick was planning on going on his own, but I asked to go with. I get a kick out of listening to these guys get all super-geeky.

I think I recognized every 10 words or so.... Plus, they covered so many topics, it was hard to keep it all straight! I just sat there, eating my burger, smiling, trying to absorb parts of the conversation. Geekiness through osmosis. ...it didn't work very well.

Oh, and BTW, Reeves has the coolest monitor set-up I've ever seen. I have severe monitor-envy.

Anonymous Donor

Does anyone want to take credit for anonymously leaving 4 bottles of Sparkling Cider on our back porch today? Whoever you are, we thank you very much! :)

Happy Anniversary Marcel!

Today is Marcel's fourth anniversary with us! June 4, 2000: Dick, Pete & I went to the San Francisco SPCA to visit the kitties. I had just adopted Claude a month prior, and Dick was thinking that it might be time to have a kitty in his house again.

We had already been to The SPCA's web site looked at all of the cats that they had info on online. When we were looking around all of the kitty-condos, we saw the one with "Marcel" written on the door, and said, "Hey - there's Marcel." We remembered him from his listing on the website.



There was an SPCA volunteer playing with Marcel in his condo. She saw that we had an interest in him, and invited us in. Dick sat down on the floor, and to everyone's amazement, Marcel immediately walked over, laid in Dick's lap, and started to purr. The volunteer was so amazed that she called in others to watch.

Dick wasn't absolutely positive that he was ready to adopt that day, but Marcel made quite an impression on him. We decided to grab a quick lunch to think about it.

When we returned, Dick told the staff that he was ready to adopt, and they were all so happy. They told us that they rarely see a cat take to a new person so quickly and easily.

As Dick signed the adoption papers, we learned a little more about Marcel's history. He was brought in the week prior by a man who had had him since Marcel was a kitten. The man had a job that required a lot of travel, and he didn't feel right about leaving Marcel for so long so often. The man was obviously heartbroken over leaving Marcel at the SPCA, and even wrote a 3 page letter to introduce Marcel to his new owner. He also left some treats, and some of Marcel's favorite toys.

The letter was so sad to read - it was very obvious that it was so hard for his old owner to give him up. Here's an excerpt:

Marcel is a loving kitty and I'm not around to be the best owner I can be. If you take Marcel into your home you must promise to love him. Pets require commitment, so if you're not sure, please leave him for someone who is sure. It truly is breaking my heart to write this let alone look at his little face. He has always been there to give me love when I needed him...

... Marcel and I thank you in advance for considering him as a potential addition to your household.


*sniff*

Needless to say, we took Marcel home, and would like to think that he's very happy with his new life with us. He's been such a wonderful, affectionate little guy, and we feel so lucky to have him here with us.

Happy Anniversary, "Big Cat"! :)

Dick's at it again....

Dick's Blog

We'll see how long it lasts this time ;)

Do Comments Expire?

I was just going through some of the archives in my Blog, and noticed that some of the old comments have disappears. I wonder if this is a "glitch" with Haloscan, or if they have some sort of automatic expiration date system. That would really be too bad. I enjoy going back, reading through my Blog, and also reading comments from all of you wonderful people. Anyone know?

Update

Okay, just found this in the Haloscan FAQ:

Q: I have a non-upgraded account and some of my really old posts disappeared.

A: All comments over four months old are archived for non-premium members. These comments are simply moved to a different database and are not deleted. This is done to keep the performance of the site at an acceptable level. This restriction does not apply to premium (upgraded) members.

The "donation" to upgrade is $12/year. Not bad, and it is a nice service. I'll have to consider it...

Harry Potter Tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I admit it. I LOVE Harry Potter. Well, not the fictional kid, but I really love the books, and all of the craziness that goes along with them.

My sister and I have a tradition of seeing the movies on opening day - first showing at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. It's a gorgeous old movie house - complete with an organ! Even better - since it's a matinee showing, we get the matinee price! :) It's a well kept secret - big theater, huge screen, good sound system, first-run movies, and yet, somehow, it's easy to get in a get a great seat 1/2 hour before the movie starts. We've gone to this theater for all of the Harry Potter films, as well as the two last Star Wars films.

Unfortunately, my sister has to break our tradition - she can't make it tomorrow, because she has to work. (go see her show!) Too bad. Lucky for me, my parents are both on vacation, and Dick has some free time as well! We're going to see the Noon showing. I'm so excited! Book 3 was certainly my favorite book of the first 3 books - and I think it ranks right up there with Books 4 & 5.

One of our favorite restaurants is closing!

We just came back from having dinner at our favorite Italian Restaurant, Caffe Ponte Vecchio. It's in the Mission, just around the corner from our old house. We used to eat there about once a week - for four years!

We became friendly with the owner early on, and are on a first name basis with him. It's so nice to go to a restaurant, always know that the food and service will be exactly what you want, and never let you down.

We've been remiss since the move, and have only been back once in the past 3 months - we last went in mid-April to celebrate the closing of the house. (seems appropriate.) When we went tonight, we were shocked to learn that Corrado (the owner) is closing the restaurant, and will be moving to Florida! (I'm still stunned) He'll only be here through the end of June.

Which means we only have another 4 weeks of Italian goodness.....

If you haven't been to this place before, and can't recommend it enough. If you've been, please try to go again before it closes it doors at the end of the month.

*sigh*. It's so sad to see one of your favorite places close.

I told Dick, "This is the final straw! After everything we've gone through this year, I can't handle any more change!" (kidding, of course, but still sad)

The only other restaurant that is comparable to Caffe Ponte Vecchio is U-Lee in Nob Hill (another old neighborhood of mine). My favorite Chinese Restaurant. It's about the same size (seats about 20-25 people), and I am on friendly terms with the owners. I hope they stay around for a good long while.

Stupid People

My tolerance for people's stupidity is really wearing thin.

Today I woke up to find that some idiot decided to park their car in front of mine, and backed up into the space so much that they were literally pushing up against it. Luckily, it only did damage to the front license plate and frame, but still.....

Just for the record: there were plenty of spaces around.

I realize this is one of those things that comes with living in a city.

it was bound to happen sometime.

I just think it's disrespectful.

(end of rant)

Postcard Design

One thing I really love about the work I do is that it gives me the opportunity to work on all kinds of different and creative projects.

I spent the day with my friend Andrew today. Andrew is the guest curator for an exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum called Raggedy Ann and Friends: The Art of Johnny Gruelle.

Andrew and I first met in 1988 when he co-curated an exhibit for Raggedy Ann's 70th Birthday at the Oakland Museum. I was only 18 at the time, and he was the first Raggedy Ann collector (besides myself, of course) that I had ever met. His wonderful exhibit really had an affect on me. We became friends when I moved to San Francisco in 1995.

I'm very excited to see how this show turns out. Andrew has so much knowledge, and so many resources. (not to mention an incredible collection of his own) I'm also happy to share that I will be loaning a few of my own art pieces to the show: I have an original Johnny Gruelle pen & ink drawing (my pride and joy of my collection) as well as an animation layout drawing, and a couple original animation cels.

Andrew asked if I would be interested to volunteer my skills/time to design the promotional postcard for the exhibit. Of course, I told him I would be delighted to help out!

We were both very pleased with the final product.




BTW, in case you didn't know, I collect Raggedy Ann dolls and related art.

Hyper-Organization

Maybe there's something about moving-in to a new place that makes one feel the need to be hyper-organized.

I suppose it all starts before the move. You realize how much crap you have and go into heavy-duty purge-mode. You sort through boxes and boxes of stuff that you've had stored wasy in the attic or basement, and realize, "Hey. I haven't used any of this for the past 2 years since I moved here." Which is the sure-sign, of course. purge Donate it. Give it away. get rid of it.

When you move into your new space, it's like a once-in-a-lifetime-chance to organize all of your stuff: do it now, before you've been there too long, you fall into a different pattern, and it simply becomes too late to organize.

So, that's where we are. Let's organize everything NOW, so it'll be DONE!

Our best example or this is the media closet in the TV room. We built a shelf in there to hold all of the TV/Music components: the Media PC, the receiver, the VCR (because I still like to watch an old old guard tape now and then) and the internet hub. It all fits really nicely on the shelf. We put up a smaller shelf on the side wall that holds the Xbox console. Above the Xbox, we installed little hooks on the bottom of the big shelf to hang the Xbox controllers. (see where this is all going?) On Saturday, we took a trip to The Container Store to buy a shelving system for all of our DVDs and Xbox games. I really love the elpha shelving system that they have there. In Dick's old house, we built an entire closet system out of it. But I digress....

The shelving system worked like a charm. I'm very pleased. We have all of the Xbox games on the top shelf (yes, we have a lot), and another 2 1/2 shelves filled with our DVDs. Plenty of room to grow...

Today, we went to Target and bought CD storage binders for our CD collections. We figured this would be a good solution to decreasing the amount of space needed for all of our CDs. This makes even more sense when you factor in the fact that we've already "ripped" most of our CDs onto our computers, so we won't need to access the actual CDs very often.

Turns out I have approx 150 CDs. It's a good amount, but nowhere near the size of most of my friend's music collections. I was able to fit all of my CDs into less than 1 1/2 binders. (We bought the kind that can hold the CD as well as the cover art, so it takes up twice the space.) Dick bought another 5 binders for his music - I think he has somewhere near 500 CDs, plus he's organizing them by category. Anyhow, all of this organization means we can store all of this stuff in significantly less space than it used to take. In fact, all of our CD binders can fit on one shelf in the media closet.

We have hundreds of empty jewel cases now that we'll be recycling. Anyone need any? I've already packed a bunch to give my my Mom and Sister. I'm also keeping some for future CD-burning projects.

I LOVE being organized. The closet is just so cool!

Blog Drought

it's odd, but it happens.

it's not that there's not stuff going on, but I'm not in the blog-spirit-of-things for some reason.
It'll pass.

stay tuned.

Oops, I did it again...

... going for an entire week without blogging, that is. :)
(What, did you think I was trying to be Brittany Spears? ;))

Lots to catch up on, but I want to make sure to blog about this:

Ever wonder who reads your blog?

it doesn't really cross my mind too often. As far as I'm concerned, I figured it was just me, keeping a little online journal that I can look back on one day. Sure, I have some friends who keep up on my happenings by tuning in once-in-a-while, but I really did think that was it.

...until this past week...

in the last 5 days, I've received 3 separate emails from people (strangers) who have found my blog. They were searching for something very specific, which I mentioned in my blog, and found me.

Two people came across my mentioning of my favorite art instructor, Lee Tecang at DeAnza College in Cupertino. You can read the original post here. Both people wrote to inform me that Mr. Tacang is retiring after this quarter. good for him! that was really nice of them to write me. I'll try to visit him before he leaves. I hope he remembers me! It's been almost 10 years!

I also got an email from a person responding to this old post. The guy who emailed me was an old member of the Freelancers Color Guard in 1983 & 1984. He was doing a search on the web to try to find some old friends, and found my site instead. That was pretty wild, and obscure. We've exchanged a couple of emails now. I have copies of video tapes of the shows he was in. He says he hasn't ever seen them in 20 years. I'm going to try to find them, and make copies for him. :)

Finally, I got an email yesterday via classmates.com. What a surprise! I'm not a "member" in the sense that I don't pay any money to access most of their information, but I do have my information in their database in case someone feels the need to search me out. But really, what are the chances of that happening? Well, it did! :) A color guard student from long ago (1990) found me and sent an email. She was a student of mine during my early years of teaching at Saratoga High School. It was so nice to hear from her.

I love the web.

"Little by Little"

"Little by little". That's the mantra that our general contractor kept saying as he worked on our house. He did a ton of work - crown molding, picture hanging molding, window casings, a corner cabinet, and let's not forget the hole in the wall.

Dick and I adopted the same mantra whenever we talked about what needed to be done with the new house.

Yikes! It's been an entire week since my last post. What can I say? It's been a busy week.

here's a brief update:

everything did go according to schedule! :)
The painters finished the bulk of the work Tuesday evening. They pulled up all of the paper covering the floors before they left. They did come back to finish painting the kitchen cabinets on Wednesday morning.

The cleaners came Wednesday morning! that was very exciting! We really did try to keep the upstairs clean while all of the work was going on downstairs, but it was pretty difficult with all of the dust. They finished by Noon, and we had a nice, clean house - upstairs and downstairs! :) We also had a plumber come in on Wednesday afternoon to help us with some gas caps under the light fixtures. We needed to get these installed before we could hang up our new fixtures. Dick also finished the downstairs bathroom - he installed our new medicine cabinet, and the two wall sconces. (he had down all of the electrical wiring for this on Sunday. What a handy guy! The bathroom is gorgeous!

Our new gi-normous refrigerator was delivered on Thursday morning! It's fabulous. The delivery guys were amazing - they took my refrigerator down from the upstairs unit, and hauled it away. They also moved the (newish) refrigerator from the downstairs unit up to the upstairs unit, then installed the new refrigerator downstairs. Lots of work, and they did it in about 20 minutes. The painters came back Thursday afternoon to put install and paint the last two ceiling medallions. Dick and I were then able to install the new fixture in the kitchen. We also had a locksmith come in on Thursday to change out the rest of the old locks. We spent the evening bringing down some of the boxes that we've had upstais in storage, and bringing most of the kitchen stuff downstairs to the new kitchen.

The movers came back Friday morning to deliver the rest of the furniture that we've had in storage for the last month. (it was used to stage Dick's house while it was on the market). My wonderful Mom also came and spent her day off helping us unpack and arrange the furniture. It was a very productive day! We spent the evening hooking up the Plasma TV in the TV room, and hooking up all of the components. I have to say - the TV room is just brilliant. Really. The set-up is amazing. Our general contractor also came back and spent the day finishing up the built-in corner cabinet in the dining room. That room had previously been used as a bedroom, and the original cabinet (like I have upstairs) must have been removed decades ago. Our contractor build a new one based on the design of the original piece upstairs. It turned out really well.

My Mom spent the night (in our new and improved guest bedroom!) and my Dad drove in Saturday morning. We spent most of the day finishing unpacking, and completing projects. We also took a quick field trip to Berkeley - everyone piled into the MINI! We had to go pick up our light fixture rods which had been shortened. (we brought all of Dick's alabaster light fixtures from his old house to the new one. We needed to get the rods resized since my ceilings are 1 1/2 feet lower than in his old house) After we came home, Dick and my Dad were able to hang up one of the alabaster fixtures in the TV room. It looks wonderful. Jim and Cynde came over, and we grilled steaks, and pork chops. Our first dinner party! We were able to eat in the dining room for the first time - really nice.

We took most of the day off on Sunday. Sunday was Mother's Day, so I drove down to Milpitas to spent the day with my Mom and family. My parents hosted a BBQ for our entire family - both sets of Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and nieces! About 20 people in all I think. Happy Mother's Day!

The painters came back yesterday and started to work on restaining the front doors. They are also working on fixing some dry-rot on the back of the house. The last project that they'll be doing is to paint the corner cabinet in the dining room.

So that brings us to today. The painters are still here working on all of the projects mentioned above. I also ordered new blinds today. They should be here in 2-3 weeks. That's exciting.

We were also (just) offered tickets to the Giant's game tonight! Woo Hoo! I'm very excited about that. Should be a blast. I haven't been to a game in a couple of years. It'll probably be pretty cold, so we'll have to bundle up.

So that's the scoop. I'll post pictures soon. I'm going to work on making a little website of the house now. I thought it would be a neat way to show everything.

Almost There!!!!!!!!!

Hurray! We're almost done!

The painters will be finishing the bulk of their work today. There will be some small projects (refinishing the front doors, and painting a built in cabinet) but the major stuff will be done today! They just started to pull the paper in the front room. It looks SO GREAT! It's always so nice when they first pull up the paper covering the floor, and you can see the beautiful newly finished floors against the freshly painted walls. Gorgeous.

Here's this week's schedule of events:

Today, Tuesday, May 4th
Painters finish & clean up

Wednesday, May 5th
Cleaners come and CLEAN both upstairs, and the newly finished downstairs! Boy, do we need some help! We've been trying to keep upstairs clean, but it's been nearly impossible with all of the dust coming up from the work downstairs.

After the downstairs is clean, I'll be able to start moving some things from the storage room/kitchen downstairs.

Thursday, May 6th
Our new, Gi-normous refrigerator is delivered. Woo Hoo!!!

Friday, May 7th
The movers return! they'll be bringing the rest of our furniture that had been at Dick's house, and has been kept in storage for the past 4 weeks. We'll also be moving some of the furniture/boxes that we've been storing upstairs to the downstairs unit. The "storage room" (upstairs) will finally become the guest room/Raggedy Ann room! :)

My Mom will be coming up on Friday (her day off - isn't she the greatest?) to help us with the move and reorganization. She'll spend the night, and my Dad will be coming up Saturday to help us finish.

:)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clean MINI

I'm embarrassed to say that after 3 months of owning my MINI, I've never actually hand washed her before today! My excuse - we moved to our new neighborhood soon after I got her, and I don't have a driveway here. I've brought her in to the touchless carwash in SF, but it costs around $18.00/wash! Pricey! Yesterday, I was inspired when I saw a neighbor washing her car with a couple buckets of water. I thought, "I can do that!". So I ventured out to Costco today, but one of their handy "car wash kits" for $19 (because I literally had NO supplies) came home, parked MINI as close as I could to my house, brought out the hose from the backyard as far as it would possibly reach, and voila: washed my baby by hand! Good news: my hose can almost extend far enough - I'll look into getting a new, longer hose, and that should do the trick. More good news: she seems to be holding up well here - no major dings or scratches (knock wood). Such a fun car to clean - it's great, because MINIs are so small!

mini MINIs!

Check out my growing collection of mini MINIs! (I didn't realize I actually had a collection until today.) My friend, Andrew defines a collection as "Having 3 or more of any one thing".

So, here they are:

I have the 1:28 that my dealer gave me upon delivery,
The 1:36 that I bought off ebay way back in September right after I gave my deposit,
The 1:43 radio controlled MINI that Dick's sister just sent me for my birthday,
.... and now the little 1" version that I just got today! My Auntie Lani and Uncle Rob just returned from Germany. They went to drive their new BMW around, and found this at the BMW store! Isn't it cute? And yes, it races along the floor when you pull it back a bit!

Happy Birthday Claude!

Happy 7th Birthday to my Claude Kitty. (Claude Cat-Chow)

I adopted Claude from the San Francisco SPCA almost 4 years ago. He had just turned 3. His record stated that his actual birthday was April 29th - just a day after mine. We're both Tauruses. I figured that was a good sign. :)

Claude moved in with my Mom and Dad a couple of years ago when I moved in with Dick. We figured he'd be happiest as an only cat, rather than coming in to a house that already had two cats. I definitely had momma-cat guilt about bringing him to my parent's but it all worked out - he's really happy with them, and he makes them both very happy. They spoil him tremendously, and he loves it. (and gets away with all kinds of things)

Happy Birthday, Claude! :)

34 years old

April 28, 1970.
Stockton, CA
9:30am (ish)

Young (and I mean YOUNG - only 21 years old) Henry & Barbara Chow welcomed their 2nd daughter into the world.

As the story goes.... all throughout my Mom's pregnancy, they were told that I was going to be a boy. They were never told otherwise, so they never thought of any girl names at all. They did decide on one whopper of a boy's name though: Lance Everett Christopher Michael Chow. Count 'em - 4 names (plus a last name of course). Could you imagine? Imagine the frustration of trying to learn to spell that name in Kindergarten! Why so many names? My parents claim that they couldn't agree on just two. My Dad wanted Lance Everett (such a power name!) and my Mom liked Christopher Michael. So they simply combined the two. I'm actually not certain on the order. It could have Christopher Michael Lance Everett. Or even Michael Christopher Lance Everett. (Mom - which was it?) Anyhow, I'm certain that this was fate's reason for having me pop out as a girl.

So I was born, and without a name for a couple of days. My Mom and I stayed in the hospital for 3 days before we were discharged. For the first two days, I'm pretty sure I was simply "Baby Girl Chow".

My parents did toss around a few names over the first couple of days. The ones I know about are "Sabrina" and "Tabitha". Unfortunately, these were also both names of fictional witches - Sabrina from The Archies, and Tabitha from the TV series "Bewitched".

Ironically, they had already chosen my middle name: Kristin. I'm not sure where that came from, other than they both liked it, but didn't want it as a first name.

On the 3rd and last day at the hospital, my parents had no choice to name me before we were discharged. (no pressure!) Lucky for me, my Mom was watching the TV cooking show "The Galloping Gourmet", and he happened to mention that his wife's name was "Treena" (note the spelling). My mom really liked the name (but not the spelling) and decided that it went really well with my sister's name "Tiffini". Tiffini & Trina. T1 & T2. The Two T's

So there you have it: Trina Kristin Chow born April 28, 1970.

I'd like to thank the galloping gourmet for mentioning his wife's name on that fateful day!

Oh, and Thanks Mom & Dad! :)

My MINI is officially a "City Car"

Here's the schedule for this morning:

7:00am: wake up (after not sleeping from 3:30-6:30am)
7:40am: leave house
7:45am: go to bagel shop
7:55am: arrive at San Francisco DMV
8:00am: doors open at DMV
take a number, and wait in line
8:15am: change car registration to reflect new address ($15.00)
8:25am: arrive at San Francisco DPT (Dept. of Parking & Traffic)
wait in line
8:55am: present new car registration with new address to obtain a new neighborhood parking permit! ($27.00/year)

Drive home, affix new parking permit to the bumper of my MINI - MINI is now officially a "city car"! (although she doesn't seem to too excited to have a bright blue metallic sticker on her rear)

Here's what I've learned from this experience:

I had sent in a change of address form when we moved back into my condo (about 6 weeks ago). I called DMV yesterday to ask whether or not they received it (they hadn't) and found out that I had to go into an office in person to request a new registration card with the new address any way (can't be done by mailing in, or over the phone). DMV does offer appointments, but all of the DMV offices in the area were booked through next week. My temporary permit expires at the end of this month, and Dick needs his before he returns to work on Monday. So the trick to going to both DMV and DPT is to go as early as possible. They both open at 8:00am. The last time I went to DPT I waited line for over an hour, so this morning was a breeze!