Slurpee!

Dick and I went to Union Square this afternoon. I was a little thirsty, and I noticed a 7-11 across the street!

SLURPEE!

It was the first time I had ever been to the 7-11 around Union Square, and it kind of cracked me up. I went right to the Slurpee machine, and poured myself a Coke Slurpee. Yum!

A little caffine, and little sugar, a little brainfreeze. It's all good!

I have such fond childhood memories of getting Slurpees. My Grandparents (on my Mom's side) live a 1/2 block away from a 7-11. My Grandfather used to walk us down to the 7-11 and buy us Slurpees whenever we would visit. Here's a piture that I found from 1971 that was taken in front of my Grandparent's house in Stockton. I'm on the left, my sister is in the middle, and that's my cousin, Bruce on the right. Cute, huh?


Come to think of it, my sister and I stopped by the 7-11 on the way to their house a couple of months ago, and brought a Slurpee to my Grandfather! It still makes him happy. :)
Here's another Slurpee related photo from 1997. (random!) That's my Mom and her Dad. My Mom is showing off the Star Trek Lotto cards that we brought back for her :)

Anyhow, I had a Slurpee today, and it was good!

Gay Boyfriend

As you may know, my "Bro", Christopher, has been staying with us for almost a month now. He was only going to stay a week or so at first, then move in with one of our mutual friends, David, However, we've all been having such a good time, and it's working out so well, that we've decided to extend his stay here for a while longer.

I have to say, we all benefit from having Christopher here with us. He and I have been great friends for 12 years, so I love having him around. We generally hang out in the office together in the morning/early afternoons. I'll be doing my web design work, and he'll be on Dick's PC, applying for jobs, etc., Sometimes, we run errands in the afternoons. BONUS: Christopher got his undergrad degree at a hospitality school in Sydney. Apparently, he has always enjoyed cooking, but he also took a cooking course in school! All of that translates into Christopher cooking many, many delicious meals for Dick and I! YUM! Dick and Christopher have always gotten along very well - I've always said that the two of them would have been close friends even without me in the picture. In Christopher, Dick has found a new Xbox buddy. We've taught him Halo, GR2, and most recently DOA. Many, many nights of good entertainment! We've also managed to get him hooked on the new Battlestar Galactica Series.

Last week, I was IM'ing Dick while he was at work. I was going out for the evening, and Christopher was planning dinner for he and Dick. I told Dick what the plan was, and he said, "My very own Gay Boyfriend!".

This is hysterical, of course, and now we call Christopher "Our Gay Boyfriend".

We saw a lot of friends at two different events this past weekend. We kept singing the praises our gay boyfriend, and tried to convince everyone that they should have one, too!

What does a gay boyfriend do?

(Now, granted, I think I have an exceptional "model" :) )
My gay boyfriend cooks, cleans, and goes shopping with me. Actually, on his first week here with us, my gay boyfriend helped me finalize my wedding cake order, and helped me pick out wedding shoes. He keeps us company, helps around the house, makes us laugh, comes out to parties with us, and he calls me "Doll". :)

LOL.

Christopher and I have joked about writing a sitcom pilot about our current living situation.... The straight couple who lives in San Francisco's Castro District, who has a gay friend who comes to live with them. We'll throw in tidbits like "His 'n Her Condos", the Gay Boyfriend idea, and crazy cat stories. We even have ideas for the crazy neighbors! We figured that the pilot episode can follow the actual first day that Christopher came in from Sydney: you know - the day I picked him up from the airport, we were supposed to have dinner with Dick and my parents, but ended up having to go to the ER because he had a 3rd nostril growing.

NBC, here we come! Watch out "Will & Grace" it's the premiere of "Gay Boyfriend"!

One last thing, if you've never seen the Gay Boyfriend Video, you really must. It's hysterical. Maybe we can buy the rights to it, and use it as our sitcom's theme song!

PS: The people who made the Gay Boyfriend Video used some of Pete's Company's Software to make it!

A new MINI Neighbor!

My next-door neighbor just brought home her new British Racing Green (BRG/BRG) MINI Cooper! She placed her order 4 months ago, and picked it up yesterday morning. Her old car was a Mazda Miata. Believe it or not, her MINI is a whole foot shorter than her old car! (we all park directly infront/inback of each other, so that makes a big difference!)

My little Red MINI is going to look so cute parked next to her Green MINI during Xmas! ;)

Big Cat Hospitality

As I've mentioned before, Christopher has been staying with us for the past couple of weeks. He's staying in the guest room/Raggedy Ann room upstairs.

Marcel has been a very good host cat, and has been making sure that Christopher feels at home here. In fact, he's taken to sleeping with him most nights. In my mind, Marcel's little cat brain is thinking something like, "Let me help you feel at home. Surely, you should have a cat sleep with you." or "Hey, this poor man is sleeping by himself! I should sleep with him so he has company."

Whatever the reason, Marcel really seems to enjoy keeping Christopher company in bed.

Christopher went to bed earlier than the rest of us tonight, and closed his door.

Poor Marcel has been sitting in front of the closed door, meowing. I think he really wants us to open it for him so he can sleep with Christopher.

I'm trying to make him understand that Christopher will be just fine without him for a night, and that he will probably let Marcel sleep with him again tomorrow.

A cat's job is never done. :)

update
Dick just walked into the office asking if I had opened Christopher's door to let Marcel in.

I had not.

I seems as if Mr. Marcel has managed to muscle his way into opening the door all by himself!
Impressive!

Happy Birthday, Omar!

Happy Birthday to he who we call "The Oracle".

Omar's blog post today was just too funny.
I just had to share it with all of you.

It's really, really geeky.
But, really, really funny!

Happy Birthday, Omar!

Big Girly-Girl Day

Simply put, today was the most girly day I've ever had in my entire life.

I have to admit that it was fun, though. :)

I got together with my Mom and Sis, had a quick lunch, and went to Alameda for my Wedding Make-Up Trial.
Yes, you read it right.
Noe Cat (that's my Xbox codename) got all dolled-up today.
It went pretty well. As most of you know, I'm not a big make-up wearer, so I was concerned about not looking like myself, or (gasp) looking like a clown. (I had enough of that in my old color guard days, thank you very much!)
I was very pleased with the results, and I think it'll do well for the day of the wedding.

After my "make-up session", we headed down to Union Square, and picked up my wedding dress from the Bridal Salon.
The dress is beautiful. I'm very happy with it.

My veil had just come in as well, so I was able to put on the whole "dog and pony show" for my Mom, sister, and Christopher.
(my Mom got a little teary!)

The dress fits pretty well, but I need to have it altered a bit, especially in the length. I swear, they make these dresses for 6'5" amazon women.

I should share a very funny little tidbit here....
The Style Name of my dress is called "Halo".
Yep, you read it right.
Noe Cat's wedding dress has the same name as one of our favorite Xbox games!
How apropos!
(and my maid-of-honor will be wearing a cute little "Ghost Recon" number, too!)

Anyhow, that's the story of the girly day.
Now I need to wash this make up off my face, and go kick some Halo-alien butt. :)

The cat who cried wolf

Our big cat, Marcel, is feeling very smug right now.

He managed to trick us into feeding him two breakfasts this morning.

Now granted, Marcel has been on a diet ever since we adopted him 5 years ago. He is on prescription diet food, and only gets 1 cup of food per day.

We often find Marcel trying to trick us into believing that he hasn't been fed yet. If I leave the house before Dick comes home from work, Dick will have to call me to find out whether or not Marcel has already been fed. This is because, regardless of if he has just been fed or not, Marcel will sit at the top of the stairs and "Meow! Meow!" trying to convince us that he hasn't had a bite to eat in days.

He did the same thing this morning. We were out unusually late (for us) last night at Shan's annual "Bond Party". (Which was fantastic, by the way. Thanks, Shan!) We got home around 2:00. I woke up around 10:00, walked out of the bedroom, and there was Marcel, sitting in the hallway screaming, "MEOW! MEOW!". Now, here I thought, "what a good little guy - he waited until I woke up to start crying." So I happily gave him a scoop of food.

When Dick woke up half an hour later, I told him what a good cat Marcel had been. Dick started laughing, telling me that I'd been had.... He briefly woke up at 6:00am, and had fed Marcel then.

We keep warning Marcel that one of these days, he's going to be the cat who cried wolf. He's going to "MEOW! MEOW!" and we're not going to believe him.

But, until that happens, we've got one smug, sassy, big fat cat who is very pleased with himself.

Burning the (past) Midnight Oil

I've been really busy over the past two weeks with work. My big project is still the gallery site re-design. We started working on it in March, then there was a lull, now we're back in full-swing. I'm really hoping to have this site up and launched within the next week.

This is my 3rd night that I've been up past midnight working.
It's kind of a nice change, and I like being busy, but I'm also looking forward to when it is done, and I can share it with all of you peeps.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy Birthday to my fabulous Dad!
(sorry that I'm a little late in posting!)

Hope you had a GREAT day!
xxooo

Field Trip!

Today, I took a field trip to the lovely suburb of Walnut Creek.

I had an 11:00am meeting with a new client (yay) then had lunch with my sister and my Dad. (My Dad has an office in Walnut Creek for about 1 1/2 days per week). Tomorrow is my Dad's birthday, so we went out on a celebratory lunch today.

Big Bonus from Walnut Creek:

Don't laugh, but I got most excited about the parking meter rates. Compared to San Francisco's ever-rising meter rates, it was a deal! I was actually able to get a full 30-minutes for a quarter! I think the last time I parked at a meter in SF (along the Embarcadero) I only got 7 minutes per quarter. (or something outrageous like that)

I also got Princess Parking right in front of the store of my new client.

My sister and I arrived at the store about 10 minutes early, so we decided to stroll around the quaint shops. We went to a thrift store to see if we could find any bargains. My sister is the Thrift Store Shopping Queen. She has bought many a Vintage Bargain - especially in our days in Dayton, OH. But I digress... I found a most excellent vintage brocade dress with a matching jacket. To top it off, it's from Saks Fifth Avenue. And the best part of all: it fit perfectly. I was so excited, as this was my first really good vintage find at a thrift store. It's super cute - very 50's.

Everybody Everybody....

(just like "Black Box" used to sing...)

Another one of my good friends is blogging!
I think it's officially a "craze" now.

Philip lives in Houston, TX.

I've known Philip for a really, really long time. I think we met in the summer of 1989. We met the week of DCI (where was DCI that year? Kansas City?) Anyhow, Philip was in the guard of "The Cavaliers" along with many of our other friends. Come to think of it, I think we knew at least half of the rifle line that year, and several of the flags. Philip was in the Rifle line, and we went to watch them rehearse before finals. When I was a young teen, and entered the world of winter/color guard around 1982, my friends and I used to swoon over the boys in the Cavaliers. (at that time, they were the only all-male winter guard). After a few years in the activity, I bought a clue, and figured out the whole gay-to-straight ratio, and came up with the motto that I still live by today: "Gay until proven Straight".

Philip originally hails from Louisiana, did drum corps in Illinois, then moved down to Houston where a whole crowd of color guard friends lived. My sister and I used to go out visit them in the summers (Summer in Texas? Were we insane?)

Philp used to come visit me here in SF, and fell in love the City. He moved out here for a few years. I LOVED having him out here. I especially miss having him call me at 3:00 to meet him for tea on Castro Street (where he worked).

He moved back to Texas the same year that Christopher moved to Australia, and my good buddy Todd moved away, too. So many friends moved away in 2002.

Philip says that he "left his heart in San Francisco" and hopes to make his way back someday. I'm really hoping that he does.

I'm looking forward to catching up with him via his blog (because for some reason the whole phone thing doesn't seem to be working)

Welcome aboard, Philip!
The more blogs the merrier!

Finished Harry Potter

Okay, I finally finished Harry Potter: Book VI last night at 2:30am. It was such a busy week that I mostly read it bed in the evening. Yesterday I had a chance to really dive into it, then hit the point where you simply couldn't stop without finishing it entirely.

Suffice to say, I really enjoyed it.
I won't put any spoilers here for any of you still reading it, but now I understand why Meg and Mykail were so anxious to have someone to talk to about it!

Bro has a Blog!

Christopher is back, and and is standing on the corner soapbox waiting to share his "wordly whims and woes" with you.

This should be very entertaining, indeed. ;)

Spoiled, spoiled Girl

I've been working on the new Adler Gallery site all morning.
(It's a BIG CSS project)

I took a break at 2:00 to take a shower.

here's what happened:

The site was working well on all browser/platforms except for Netscape on the Mac.
Dick decided that he would spend some time working out the CSS to make it compatible.

Christopher is downstairs making tuna fish sandwiches for lunch.

I'm a spoiled (and happy) girl!

Girlie Moment

Oy.

I just got out of the shower. I was working hard all morning, but I have a 2:00 appointment in Union Square.

While I was taking a shower, I started to notice all kinds of spider webs up above.
ew.

When I got out of the shower I noticed a large, brown, fuzzy (EW!) spider crawling up under the handtowel.

As luck will have it, I'm not alone today...

I yelled upstairs, "BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

Christopher came down to see what the ruckus was about. I told him about the spider. He rolled his eyes (as men do - straight, or gay) took the towell down, brought it outside, and set the spider free.

ew. (one more time)

I'm way too much of a City Girl sometimes.

Let's hear it for the US Postal Service!

Remember those wedding invites that I mentioned yesterday?

I forgot to say that I had only brought them in to our local Post Office on Saturday morning. I had already been in a few days before, having the clerks weigh one packet to make certain that I had the right postage, finding out how much it would be to send to Europe, and to double-check that they would be able to hand-cancel them for me. Anyhow, I carried my bag of invites into the Post Office on Saturday, and the nice clerk who had helped me the day before saw me standing in line behind roughly 10 other people. He came out to greet me, and asked what I needed to have done. I told him that I had all of my wedding invites, and was hoping that they could still hand-cancel them for me. He gave me a big smile, wished me well on our marriage, and took the bag from me, stating that he'd be certain to get it done. (So nice!)

Last night, I got a couple of emails (and a post from Paula's Blog) letting me know that the invitations had already made their way out to (at least to some people) in San Francisco and San Jose.

Amazing!

I'm so often impressed by the speed and efficiency of the US Postal Service. I once put an envelope addressed to my insurance agent in Milpitas into the mailbox (at the Post Office) on a Tuesday evening at 5:00, only to hear that he had received it Wednesday morning by 10:00. That's so incredible.

I had also ordered all of my stamps online a couple of weeks ago. They had a huge selection (I needed .37, .60 and postcard stamps) and they only charged me $1 for shipping/handling.

I'm sure that the US Postal Service and its employees must their their fair share of complaints about rate hikes, late and lost deliveries and customer service. Let me just make the statement that I've been very happy and impressed with the service that I've received from them for the past several years.

Chow Family Post Office Trivia

• My Uncle Wesley works as a Post Office Clerk in Stockton
  
• My Dad was a mail carrier for a few years (when he and my Mom were first married, and had my sister and me) before he went into banking.
  

Just for the Record...

(in case there was any question...)

I ♥ my boyfriend/fiance/soon-to-be-hubby.

amongst many other things..... he is a CSS GOD!
(that's just so frickin' HOT!)

Invitations are out!

(a.k.a "why I love self-adhesive stamps")

The wedding invites are out! I'm sending them out a little earlier than what's recommended because we have invited a number of guests from out of state, and even from out of the country.

They turned out really nice. We're very pleased with them.

So, this seems like as good as time as any to say this.....
(a little awkward)

Please, please, please... do not be offended or feel slighted if you don't receive an invitation.
The guest list has certainly been one of the most difficult processes we've had to go through so far.
We would, of course, love to invite all of our friends from near and far, but the truth of the matter is we're trying to keep it fairly small and intimate. We're pretty much limiting the guest list to very close friends and family (and my family is quite large).
I hope that everyone understands.

Best. Emergency. Room. Experience. Ever.

I know it sounds really odd, but my friend, Christopher and I had the best ER experience Friday evening!

As you may (or may not) recall, Christopher (my "bro") flew in to SFO from 3 1/2 years in Sydney/Manly on Friday late morning. We had a nice day planned for him: my Mom drove up to meet us for lunch, and to spend the day together. My dad drove in for dinner, and Dick would get home from work around 6:00 to meet up with all of us.

that was the plan

As it turned out, Christopher had acquired some sort of an infection in his nose last week, had seen a doctor about it, and was on antibiotics. It seemed to be doing its job, because the infection started to drain Friday afternoon. (I know, T.M.I., but it's part of the story)

Well, around 6:00, just as Dick walks through the door, Christopher comes out of the bathroom declaring, "I have a hole in my nose. I think I have to go see a doctor".

sidenote: Now, what you really have to understand here is that our very fond memories of Christopher often have "drama" surrounding them. When Dick heard Christopher's statement, he said to himself, 'Yep, that sounds about right".

So, Christopher and I are off to the Emergency Room. We weren't quite sure where to go at first. We were hoping to find an open "Clinic" but when we looked online and called, they had closed at 5:00. We went to the California Pacific Hospital up on Castro at Duboce.

First and foremost, the staff at the ER were simply amazing - so friendly, knowledgeable, etc., We were attended to pretty quickly - which is always a pleasant surprise in the ER. I guess we were early enough on a Friday night.

The doctor told Christopher that he had a staph infection. They weren't concerned about the infection (that has been fairly common over the past couple of years) but they were concerned of its location (on his septum). They suggested giving him a 2-hour drip dose IV of a more powerful antibiotic. We figured it would be the best thing to do, so we called Dick and my parents telling them the scoop, and planned to spend the rest of the evening hangin' out in the ER.

This is where the fun begins.....

When the nurse found out that we'd be sitting for two hours with an IV drip, he offered to bring in a TV and movies for us. Really?

He wheels in a large TV, and brings us a box full of videos.

Sweet!

We select "Galaxy Quest" figuring we could use a good laugh, and pop it in.

At this point, I offerred to take a stroll to the vending machines to pick up some snacks for us. I figured the selection would consist of potato chips and candy. Well, lo and behold, there's microwave popcorn in there! (and a microwave next to the vending machine)

So, I happily come back to our little curtained off section of the ER, with popcorn and Snickers bars.

Picture this: we're both sitting on the bed, watching Galaxy Quest, munching on Popcorn, IN THE ER!
it was the oddest, most surreal, yet FUN experience.

Even better: Dick and my Mom popped in around 3/4 through the movie. They brought us Pad Thai from our favorite Thai place. Mmmmmm....

2 hours later, the movie finishes, and within another minute the IV drip is done.

that was seriously the best ER visit ever.
They sent us off with a prescription for more antibiotics, and requested that Christopher come back Sunday morning for a check-up.

Harry Potter!

Check the time: 12:25am.

I just got back from picking up my copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

I wan't able to attend any book parties, because we had quite an adventure tonight (long story - I'll blog about that tomorrow). But, since I was awake, I decided to drive to the Safeway at Market & Church Street. I got there just after midnight. They had the book 40% off.

I didn't have to wait in any lines... well, I did have to wait in the regular express grocery check-out. Not bad.

I'm pretty tired, so I don't know if I'll be able to start it tonight.
I can pretty much guarantee that Dick's sister in North Carolina is awake, and tearing through the book as we speak.

Harry Potter: Book VI !

The new Harry Potter book is being released tomorrow night at Midnight!

I was originally planning to check out the HP Party at Barnes & Noble in Union Square with my sister and our Mom.

However, I found out a couple of weeks ago that my long-lost friend, Christopher (aka "Spencer" - long story) is coming home tomorrow after spending the last 3 1/2 years studying in Australia! Christopher is going to stay with Dick and me for a week, maybe two, then he'll go stay with our mutual friend (and his old roommate) David.

I got a call from Christopher (who I actually call "Bro") a couple of weeks ago, and I tell him, "Do you realize that you're coming home the same weekend as the release of the new Harry Potter book?"

He said, "What?! I've been gone for 3 1/2 years, and you're talking about Harry Potter?"

"I'm sorry, Bro, but things have changed. You've been gone, and Harry Potter has entered my life...."

Christopher flies in tomorrow morning, so I figured we'd end up spending the whole day/night catching up. I plan to make a trip to Costco early Saturday morning to pick up my copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

BTW, here's a handy little article that summarizes the first 5 books.

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas....

A GREAT time was had by all.

highlights:

• The Venetian Hotel
  
• Dinner at Delmonico (and did I mention the amazing dessert?)
  
• Breakfast at Denny's (yes, that Denny's) the next morning (Grand Slam breakfasts for all!)
  
• Having my dress fly up above my head while walking over a vent on the sidewalk (and having the people behind us clap, and say, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!")
  
• The whole gang learning how to play "Craps" at the Venetian (and winning, then losing, then winning, then losing...)
  
• Me, putting in my last quarter into a slot machine, and winning $20! (I later lost $40 at Blackjack)
  
• Bloody Marys by the pool. (I swear, mine didn't have as much alcohol as the rest of yours!)
  
• Watching Bunny and Mike WIN at Blackjack at the Hilton (sounds like all we did was gamble!)
  
• hangin' out with our friends.

That was a ton of fun.
Dick is hooked on Vegas now. (yeah, who didn't know that was going to happen)
Happy Birthday to Mike!

Vegas, baby, Vegas!

We're off to Vegas today to celebrate Mike's 40th Birthday!!

Dick has never been before, and I've only been once. (six years ago with my family)
It should be a great time! We'll be staying at the Venetian Hotel and seeing Zumanity tonight.

And, no, we're not going to get married while we're in Vegas! ;)

Uncle Blane will be here to take care of the kitties. Thank you, Blane!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wedding Planning...

moving right along....
which is also the name of the best road trip song ever! (sung by Kermit and Fozzie)

Today, I:

hired a new caterer (yay!)
fired the old caterer (even bigger yay!)
arranged for transportation
started to arrange the rehearsal dinner
tonight, we'll decide of which day-of coordinator we want to hire

good grief.
(but it's all good!)

A Moment of Silence

...for the victims and their families in London.

I woke up to the news, and immediately emailed my friend who lives just outside of London. He and his partner are both fine.
I love technology.

Uh oh.....

I just got an email that my Google AdSense account has been disabled.
I think i had too many consistent clicks from my loyal fan base.
too bad.

I feel like I've just been slapped on the wrist for cheating in school... except I didn't know that I was cheating.

:(

Zombie Day

I've been awake since 3:00, and I wasn't able to fall back asleep :(
i hate it when that happens.

"Hi Mom!"

"Happy Birthday" to my amazing Mom! :)

Stop pickin' through my frickin' TRASH!

It's really one of the annoyances of living in City. Does this happen to those of you in the 'burbs?

Thursday morning is trash day. I brought the cans out around 10:00pm last night. Sometime between 10:00pm and 7:00am some stupid soul decided it would be smart to dig through our trash again. That means taking the plastic trash bags out of the garbage can, and emptying the contents on the side walk. Which means that there are bags of used kitty litter and random trash spread along the sidewalk in front of our house. I mean really... what do they expect to find?

The surprising thing is that this time, they didn't touch the recycling bin. All of the aluminum cans and glass bottles were still in there. That's what's usually gone, and I don't care at all about that.

So, I guess this should be a lesson of protecting oneself against identity theft - never recycle or throw away any important documents without shredding them first. Which we do, but hey, you never know.

I really wonder what these people are thinking....

IDIOTS! (as Napoleon Dynamite would say...)

35 Years of Pride

This weekend is the 35-Annual Gay Pride event here in SF. We met up with Pete, Richard, Blane and Lorevic for drinks yesterday afternoon at the Metro for cocktails.

Seeing all of the rainbow flags up in the neighborhood (even more than usual, i should say) reminds me of a fun story from when i first moved to this neighborhood almost 7 years ago. My parents were driving my paternal grandparents (who live in Stockton) to SF to show them my new place. Once they reached the Castro, my Grandfather saw all of the flags and asked, "Oh, is there a parade?"

My Mom, in all her wisdom, answered, "Yes. Yes, it is a parade!"
LOL - I say, "It's a parade every day here in the Castro!".

Another thing that pride weekend reminds me is how thoroughly lucky we are to live in this neighborhood, in this city, and in the Bay Area in general. In this area, people are able have pride in their diversity, sexuality, individuality, equality and acceptance of all, and to celebrate these qualities with one another in public. I've lived in other parts of the country where men and women are not as fortunate, and they have to be much more aware and careful of what they may say and do in public.

This brings to mind one of the most relevant blog posts that I've ever put up, and the ironic thing is: it isn't even something that I wrote myself. It's a letter that was read at the Memorial Service of our friend, Al Nicols. The letter was written by the husband of one of his color guard students who grew up in Wisconsin. This young man wrote a letter that so eloquently explained how meeting Al changed his life. I read this letter every once in a while to remind myself that we can not take for granted that everyone is as open minded or as liberal as we are.

This was actually one of my earliest posts from when just I started to Blog almost two years ago. I wrote it before I had as many frequent visitors to my site as i do now, so I doubt that many of you have read it.

here's the link.

Best of Craigs List

Dick just found this hilarious post.
(and since he doesn't update his blog anymore, I'll put it on mine!)

"Save Mittens!"

Confession time....

Okay, I admit.
I've realized that i have a strange addiction that I can't fully explain or rationalize.

Whenever I stay at a cool hotel like the "W", they always have really nice, quality bath products. This time it was by "Bliss", and times that I've stayed before, they had products by "Aveda".

Well, this stuff is really nice! It smells yummy, and it feels nice to use.
...and I don't use it at home because it's pricey stuff, and I can't get it at Costco! ;)

So when I stay at places like this, I .... um.... well......OKAY, I admit it! I tuck the extra bottles away, and take them home with me!

ahhhh, it feels good to say it out loud.

"My name is Trina and I am a collector of nice hotel bath products."

I totally know where I get it from, too.
My parents have several shelves full of miniature bath goodies!
It's in the genes. I cannot deny it!

I keep these little bottles (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion) in my toiletry bag, so when I go on vacation to other hotels or friend's houses, I'll have my own stuff, and won't have to worry about using theirs. Plus, because I like these little goodies so much, and don't usually use them at home, it's a nice treat to have while on vacation! :) ... and I don't have to go to the Drug Barn or Target to buy overpriced travel-sized bottles before I leave! (...she said, rationalizing)

I also used to keep these little guys in our guest bathroom so that our guests could use them. I don't really do that now, because we don't exactly have a guest bathroom. We have a bathroom upstairs ("hers") and a bathroom downstairs ("his") so we keep full-sized products in each. Our guests can use either/both showers when they stay with us.

The best part of this story is that last year, my dear friend Sheri was up in Cupertino, on business from Southern Cal. We met at her swanky hotel, and went up to her room for a bit before I needed to leave. I noticed that she had some nice Aveda products in the bathroom, and said something like "Don't you love it when hotels have that stuff?". She said that she didn't even notice because she makes it a habit to travel with her own stuff. So she offered me her whole kit-and-caboodle. I thought that was really nice, and kind of funny all at the same time. That's a sign of a good friend: "Here Trina, have my complimentary hotel toiletries".

Even funnier is that Sheri went on a business trip either at the end of last year, or earlier this year. I don't know where she stayed, but it was somewhere that had Aveda products again. Long story short, one day, the postman delivered a fat envelope from Sheri. It was filled with a week's worth of hotel-sized Aveda products! (big smile!) She had sent me the mother load of hotel-sized bath products! What a friend!

sometimes, I can't believe what I spill on this blog....
how embarrassing.

I'm Batman.

Well, it rained all morning/afternoon here in Seattle, so I decided to take advantage of the weather, and became a hermit for the day.

I worked a little this morning, worked out for an hour in the late morning, (it's really cool when you're the only one using the excercise room!) chilled in the fab room, then walked to the mall to see a movie.

Not bad. It's nice to be on a mini-vacation!

So, I saw Batman Begins today.
I dug it! I think it's my favorite of all of the Batman movies so far.
It just occurred to me that I part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much was because they used a more obscure villian for this installment - The Scarecrow. For some reason, I always really liked this character. (from the old WB Batman: the Animated Series) I guess I didn't know much about this movie before I saw it today, because I had no idea which villian was going to be in it.
Anyway, if you like this kind of thing, go see it, you'll enjoy it!

Tonight, we're going to out to Wild Ginger with Omar and Aditya (and maybe Shan, I don't know exactly) I LOVE Wild Ginger! Mmmmmm. My sister will be jealous! ;)

Last night, we met up with Martin to see his new home. He took us out to Typhoon! for dinner. (Typhoon - get it? It's a Thai restaurant) He took Dick there last time he was here, and Dick hasn't stopped talking about it. It was delicious! Check it out if you're ever in the area.

Seattle - as advertised!

Here's the weather report from Seattle: Rain.

what'd you expect?

i just went out for a walk, had a cup of clam chowder and a shrimp cocktail for lunch, and strolled around. I hopped into a bookstore for a few minutes, came out, and heard thunder!

Luckily, I came prepared with an umbrella.

Greetings from Seattle

I'm in Seattle for a couple of days now. Dick has some business up here, and I'm tagging along for the ride. (ah, the joys of having a laptop computer. I love my Powerbook!)

We're staying at the "W" in downtown Seattle. I stayed here with Dick a couple of years ago. It's a pretty swanky place, although I can do without the loud club music on the lobby level in the evenings. bah humbug. I must be getting old. ;)

Whenever we've stayed at any of the W Hotels, it reminds me of Omar and Lora's place. Really, stepping out in the hallway from the elevator here is just like stepping out of the elevator in their place! (only, there's no Misha cat here)

a couple of things that I love about staying here at the "W":
All of their bath products are by Bliss They are all so yummy!
I also LOVE their bathrobes here. I think the style is called a spa robe. I've got to get one of these for home. Then again, if I did, I fear I may never change into "real" clothes. ;)
The bed here is so comfy - 350 thread count sheets with down pillows & comforters. I slept like a rock last night. (but I miss our kitties)

Speaking of kitties, I'm sure that our's are being well taken care of by Uncle Pete and Uncle Richard. Thank you, Pete & Richard!

The weather forecast calls for mid-70s with a chance of showers or thunderstorms today and tomorrow.
Imagine that: I'm in Seattle, and there's a chance of rain. go figure.

Scale highs and lows

As I've mentioned before, I hate scales. I think they are one of the life's unnecessary evils.

My hate from them goes way, way back to my color guard days. We used to get weighed-in weekly, and I admit that I developed an unhealthy relationships with scales ever since.

I even did a performance art piece about it in art school. I walked around in a white unitard, eating oreo cookes, and downing them with slim-fast. All the while, I quoted some of the lines seen here.

I've learned that the best solution to beat the scale is to stay away from them.
I didn't even keep one in the house for years.
I try to make sure that I lead an active, healthy life-style, and I gauge my weight on whether or not my clothes fit ;)

So, here's today's kicker:

We bought a scale last year to weigh our big cat, Marcel. The poor little guy has been on a diet the entire 5 years that we've had him. Anyway, the last time I weighed myself on this scale, it said I had gained over 6 lbs in under 4 weeks.

Evil.

But, I've been feeling pretty good lately: we've had a chance to do some really great urban hikes, and have gotten serious about working out with our new Elliptical Machine. So this morning, on a whim, I decided to take a peek at the scale just to see what was going on. I figured, it couldn't be any worse than last time!

Today the scale was kind and gracious, and showed me a number which, for the first time in several years, I was actually happy to see.

...and now I plan to stay off of it for another year or so ;)

Happy Birthday to Willo!

She turns the big 3-0 today!

It's Kazoo's Mama's Birthday today! I'm picking her up at Noon for a lunch-time adventure! Can't wait to help her celebrate!

Day Four

20 minutes!

Whoo Hoo!
Go Me!

...and I managed to do it without passing out ;)

Don't worry, someday soon I'll blog about something much more relevant and interesting :)

Progress! Day Three

Like anyone really cares....

this is more for my own personal tracking than anything else, so bear with me....

kept to the same settings as yesterday, but today I managed not to get a cramp in my side, and I didn't feel like I was going to pass out after 10 minutes.

now, that's progress!

I think I can shoot for 20 minutes next week (she said, optimistically)

Today's favorite song of the day:
Still off the The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
"I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor
Ah, yes. A classic.
But you've got to admit - it'll keep you going!

Finding Nerverland

We just watched Finding Neverland tonight.

What an enchanting movie. I really enjoyed it.
It made me feel warm, fuzzy, and sad - all at the same time.

You should rent it.

Kitten Games

This is hysterical.

Oh my.
Better not let Marcel & Noe see this.

Today's Work-Out Session

also known as: "Day Two with the Elliptical Machine that kicks my ass...."

Oh my.
This machine certainly performs as advertised! :)

I learned my lesson from yesterday and dialed down the workout today. I figure it's best to ease into this routine, rather than jump right in and kill myself in the process.

For the record:
Fat Burning Program
Level 4 (down from level 6 from yesterday)
15 minutes (down from an attempted 20 from yesterday)

Now, I do feel kind of wimpy doing a 15 minute session, but trust me, right now, that's the right thing to do. I'll see how this week goes, and will try to increase the time next week.

even more important workout information
Today's Workout Music: The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Nothing like a little gay-bar, 70s Disco music to get ya going!
I only made it through the first 3rd of the album today, so I'll continue with it tomorrow.
Today's personal favorite song (because it makes me laugh, and wonder if anyone ever took this song seriously):
I've Never Been to Me by Charlene. (Track 1)
Who writes this stuff?!

Rent The Movie

here's the trailer for the movie Rent. Looks like it's set for release in November of this year.

I know they've been doing a lot of filming for it here in San Francisco. Omar and Aditya both saw the filming in their neighborhoods.

At the risk of sounding too mainstream, I have to admit that Rent and Les Miserables are probably my two favorite Broadway Musicals.

Les Mis just started a run at the Curran Theater in San Francisco again. My sister said that this is a really strong production. (she has a lot of friends on the crew/cast). If you haven't seen it before (like Dick) you really should. It's probably one of the longest shows out there (which isn't good for those of us with increasingly short attention spans) but really, as Broadway Musicals go, this one is Epic. I've seen it more times than I can count since 1989, and it still gets me.

I first saw Rent in 1997 while it was touring in Washington D.C. My sister was touring with The Phantom of the Opera at the time, and I used to plan mini vacations around visiting her in different cities.

I have to admit that I really loved Rent when I first saw it. (Even though my Dad thought the music was "too loud" and told that to my sister's friend who was the Stage Manager of the show) It probably has something to do with the era in my life in which I saw it. I was just out of art school (and 12 years of color guard) and could honestly relate to the characters in the play. Dick always teases me about my "Bohemian Friends" - which I take as a compliment! :) It was also the time that I was dealing with the early stages of my neurological condition, and sadly, I had just begun to lose friends to AIDS. I think that's another reason why this play was so timely for me personally.

From what I can tell so far, the movie looks like it'll be great. I'm thrilled that the cast features many of the original Broadway Cast members who originated the roles in 1996. That's key. (Hello Jesse Martin!)

And really, who doesn't get a little choked up when they hear Seasons of Love?

Need Ink?

I have a couple of (almost) new Black ink cartridges from my old Epson Stylus C84 printer.

They are: T0431
good for: Epson Stylus C84/C86/CX6400 or CS6600

Anyone want 'em?

Think you're in shape? Think again!

We got our new Elliptical Machine delivered on Friday. I didn't have a chance to use it until this morning.

In short, this machine kicked. my. ass.

I barely lasted 20 minutes on it, and I was DONE!

I suppose it's the same sensation I had after the first morning that we worked out in Hawaii (also on Elliptical machines) but I managed to do better as each day progressed.

I guess I'll just have to accept the fact that I need to build up my stamina and strength on this machine, too. Makes sense. Plus, I was sick after we came home from Hawaii, and haven't been able to work out at all since.

So, from my first experience, the machine is fantastic. We shopped online for a few days, and read all kinds of reviews on different machines before deciding on one. We also went to 3 different stores to actually try them out. This machine have a few important elements that helped us decide on buying this one. For starters, it has a large 19.75" stride length, which is important because of Dick's height. Some of the smaller (and less expensive) models that we looked at only had a stride length of maybe 15" or so. Those worked fine for me, and the machines were generally smaller. However, when Dick tried them out at the stores, we realized that he probably wouldn't benefit from them as much, and would be compromising his workout. That's when we focused on stride length as one of the most important factor. The other great feature that this model has is that it is foldable which is especially cool. The foot print of the machine is a whopping 79"L x 27" W x 69" high. However, it can fold down to 42"Long. That's cool. We're going to keep it in our guest bedroom/Raggedy Room since we have space in there, and we don't generally use the room. It'll be nice to be able to fold it up when we do have company.

That's the first work-out report from here. I'll keep you posted on our progress :)

The wonders of the Internet

a.k.a. The follow-up story of the lost amazon.com package

This is just amazing. I posted this blog last night at 10:17pm.

I recieved the following email this morning at 10:19am:

Trina:I have your package - my name is Bill xxxx and I live at xxxx 22nd St., between Noe and Sanchez. Amazon has your address on it, but UPS put my address on it and delivered it to me.The Wonders of Google. I entered your name and "San Francisco" and up pops your post, complaining of losing a package!I'm out with my young daughters around the neighborhood today, but you can call me on my cell at xxxxxxx to coordinate pickup. Bill

Okay, really. That's amazing.
It's my favorite "how the internet has helped me" story ever!

Special thanks to Bill for taking the time to track me down!

another lost amazon.com package

Looks like I have another lost package sent by amazon.com.

Didn't this just happen about a month ago with another package?

This is getting very frustrating.

(by the way, they did send a replacement package for the last one that was lost)

This one is not a big deal - it's an ink cartridge refill for the new printer I ordered - but still, I'd like to have it.
The printer was also supposed to be delivered today, but I wasn't home to recieve it. At least I know that it was sent to the correct address!

The other package, with the extra ink cartridge, was sent to another address in our neighborhood. Like last time, the tracking number showed it was delivered to a different address, and that the sender wasn't amazon.com. So, what happened to my package?

At least I knew what to do this time. I scoured the amazon.com site to find the email link, and sent them an email again. Hopefully, it'll all get sorted out soon.

again.

More about Kenneth's Treasure Hunt

As I just mentioned, my 25-year old cousin Kenneth, is on a treasure hunt.

He came over this morning (to borrow my cell phone with a nation-wide plan) and gave me a brief explanation of what he's doing.

It's all part of a book called A Treasure's Trove. Apparently, it's a big deal. It came out last fall, and is a nationwide best seller. The website says it is "America's first ever Nationwide Treasure Hunt for $1,000.000 in jewels".

There are real treasures to be found - 12 in all. Kenneth said that the first 8 were recently found within the last couple of months. (none have been found on the West Coast yet)

here's a brief description of the book that I just lifted from amazon.com:

Treasure Trove is a fairy tale about real treasure for parents and children of all ages. The book is fully illustrated. This Fairy Tale takes place in a Great Forest and tells a sweet (and sometimes sad) story about friendship and greed, Good Fairies and Evil Fairies and how love is greater than fear. Also, concealed in the pages of this story, are the clues to twelve very real and very valuable treasures that are hidden around the continental United States for you to find and keep ...treasures similar to the jeweled Forest Creatures in the Fairy Tale. The treasures are not hidden in remote locations but rather in places accessible to everyone. You might even find one by accident, as you walk across a field or down a street. But none are on private property, and none are buried. Nothing needs to be lifted or moved for you to find them. But they are hidden well. The simple clues do not need any special knowledge to find or decipher. Anyone who can read can discover the exact location of each treasure --just the way one of the characters does in the story. This book is more than a treasure hunt. Enjoy reading it and take time to read it to a child. It will remind you and the child that we have to take care of each other, and take care of the earth. Oh yes --and not to be afraid of the dark. So, as you read and look carefully at the illustrations, if you believe in Fairies, you may find the clues that will lead you to the treasure.

Kenneth has been working on this for quite some time, and he's off to a location (that I will not disclose) to find a treasure! He returns tomorrow night. I'm anxious to see what happens next!

Swapping Phones for a day

In a series of weird (but not unfortunate) events, I'm swapping my cell phone with my cousin Kenneth for 48 hours. Kenneth is going on a Treasure Hunt (seriously, and literally) for a couple of days, and he needed a cell phone with a national plan (his is for the West Coast only).

I don't usually receive many calls on my cell phone, but I thought it was worth mentioning. If you need to get a hold of me over the next 24 hours, call me at home, or at the gallery.

Busy, busy

I've been really busy the last few days working full time at Kristi Yamaguchi's Always Dream Foundation. Our big fund raising event is this Saturday, and I've been helping to get things ready. Among other projects, I'm on the auction committee. We've doubled the amount of silent auction items from last year, so there's been a lot going on to get it all ready.

I'm already mentally prepared to know that I'm going to be wiped out after this weekend. Saturday is the big event, so we'll be getting everything set up during the afternoon, and working all night. Sunday is full of fun stuff, but we'll be one the go the whole time. We have a tasting with our caterer on Sunday afternoon. That'll be fun. I'm able to bring my Mom and Dad to this one. It'll be at the venue this time, which my parents haven't seen yet, so it'll be cool to show them around. (hopefully, they'll like it!) That evening, we'll be going out to see Company Chaddick's 20th Anniversary Performance. That's the dance company that our friends Pete and Blane (and many other friends and acquaintances) dance in.

Up in the middle of the night...

...for no apparent reason, I've been up since 4:00am.

My body is going to hate me for this in the morning.

...and probably for the rest of the day.

oy.

Good Grief

MISSING: One round-headed kid.

Who would kidnap Charlie Brown?

update
Just saw on the news that Charlie Brown has been returned! :)

spell with flickr

got this from Willo.

so cool.

check it out for yourself!

I hab a stuffy nobe

I'm feeling much better, but still have some symptoms that just won't go away.

my nose is all stuffed up now.

I can't breath.

It's like scuba-diving all over again.

iSick

Wow.
I don't know what just hit me.

When I went to be last night, I thought I was experiencing a bad allergy attack. (sneezing, runny nose)
This morning when i woke up, I had flu-like symptoms, and a 101 degree fever!

How'd that happen?

This is the first time that I've mustered up enough energy to get out of bed.

Luckily, Dick is feeling fine.
We had a very nice evening and dinner at Paula & Reeve's house last night. I hope that everyone else is feeling okay today!

Great Urban Hiking

Today we took a really great spontaneous urban hike.

We took Muni down to the Montgomery Street Station to go to a fitness store that carried the Elliptical Machine that we're considering buying. (we had been talking for a couple of months about excercise plans, and got inspired by our work-outs in Maui)

We left the store around 1:00, and it was just a gorgeous day, so we decided to take a nice walk and soak in the sunshine.

First, we went to the Ferry Building. We walked around, grabbed a sandwich, and watched the ferrys come in and out. Then we walked all along the Embarcadero for a while. We passed Pier 39, and continued on to Geary Street.
From there, we thought it would be nice to walk through North Beach and Chinatown. Once we made our way to Chinatown, we figured we may as well go all the way through Union Square, and catch the MUNI train back home to the Castro Street Station.

The whole walk took less than 2 hours, which is pretty amazing considering the ground that we covered. When we stopped to think about it, it seemed much further than it felt at the time. Too bad I didn't wear a pedometer ;)
I think it felt like it was less because the majority of the walk was fairly flat until we reach Nob Hill. Either that, or we really got in shape while we were in Hawaii!

Dork that I am, I decided to map it out for all of you to see:

Home Sweet Home

We're back!

Our flight left Maui last night at 10:45pm, and we arrived to SFO at 6:15am this morning.

I love taking the red-eye back from Hawaii.
Take one Dramamine, fall asleep instantly after take off.
Wake up about 15 minutes before landing.
It rocks.

We grabbed a cab at the airport, and made it home around 7:00. The kitties were very happy to see us!

We walked down to Castro Street and got bagels for breakfast. Castro Street is really quiet at 7:30am on a Saturday morning! No one is awake yet!

We came back home, ate breakfast, watched a little TV, then took a much needed nap.
All better now!

As much as I love vacationing in Hawaii, it's so nice to know that we still love coming home to San Francisco!

Overcoming Phobias!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wooo Hooooo!
We just came back from an hour of snorkeling in the Ocean!
We had so much fun the first time, that we went back for a second round!

Our scuba instructor from the other day gave us the suggestion that we should start at one end of the beach, swim out about a hundred yards (where there was a green marker) then let the current take you slowly across the way for about 150 yards or so. He told us that it would be less work than fighting the current back, and best of all, we'd be able to see the SEA TURTLES!! We saw about a dozen sea turtles in all - all different sizes. Some of them were Ginormous! The tricky thing was on our way back to the shore, we had to find a narrow strip of sand about 25 feet wide. Otherwise, we'd end up coming into the rocks. That was pretty tough the first time, but the second time we managed much better.

I'm all stoked now! :)

Dick was laughing at me because my "little Chow legs" kept propelling me quickly past him ;)

This was my third time snokeling, and definately the best experience I've had yet.
Dick has been several times, and also said that this was his best experience.

So cool.

Okay, now we've gotta check out of this lovely hotel room. We're going to spend the day lounging by the pool, have a nice little dinner, then take off for the airport.

See you all back in SF!

Aloha!

Maui Wowie

ahhhhh............. It's been a wonderful week here in Paradise!

I just love coming to Hawaii on vacation. It's so relaxing. It's so beautiful. And all we do is lay around in the sun, and play in the water. It just doesn't get better than this.

Turns out, the weather was absolutely gorgeous all week. We had a few minor sprinkles on Sunday, but other than that, It's been sunny and warm/hot all week! We were very pleased with this, as we had read weather reports before we left and the forecast called for rain all week!

Surprisingly enough, we've managed to wake up between 7:00 - 7:30 all week, and have made our way down to the gym each morning to work out! Whoa! What a great way to start the day. There's something about wearing a bikini all day that gives you incentive to work out in the morning.

I think one of Dick's favorite parts of the resort has been the water slide. It's pretty cool. It took me a long time to muster up the guts to try it out, but once I did, I have to admit that I enjoyed it, too. Reminds me of being a kid, and growing up in Fresno when we used to go to the waterslide park.

I also managed to overcome some of my fears of the ocean yesterday, and swam out to snorkle in the coral reef near the hotel. It wasn't terribly far out, but it was a pretty big deal that I went out at all! The snorkle conditions were really great - the best I've seen so far. (we had snorkled in a cove on the Big Island last year, and also snorkled from a boat in Kauai. Yesterday was the first time that I walked out into the ocean, and swam out to snorkle. Anyhow, the visibility was really good, and we saw some very nice coral reefs and colorful fish. No sea turtles, though. We might go out again this morning to see if we can find any.

(edit)I just remembered that I have a photo of what I believe is my first encounter with the ocean in 1971. My parents took my sister and I to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I had just told Dick about this photo when he was trying to get me into the ocean this week. See that look of terror on my face? Some things never change ;)

We did leave the resort and drove around the island a bit earlier this week. We didn't go far, but we did drive to the north-west part of the island, which was gorgeous. I have some great photos, but I'm afraid that I can't share them yet. I gave my sister the adapter cable to our camera, so I don't have it with me. We also made our way to Lahaina. It was fun, because we got to see the annual canoe festival.

Did I mention that our resort has Penguins? Who knew? Okay, my Mom knew. :)

Our resort is situated along the beach. We can walk along a 1-mile path that connects about 5 other resorts, as well as the Whaler's Village Shopping Center. We've been strolling along the path almost every day, as it's a beautiful walk. When we first past Whaler's Village, it reminded me that I had come here years ago with my parents, on my very first trip to Hawaii. I think I was 11 years old. I was also reminded that my Dad and I had taken a very sweet photo there that I've always loved. And wouldn't you know it, I have it on my computer to share with you:


Me and my Dad. circa 1981 ("hi, dad!")

So, today is our last day here. We leave on the red-eye flight tonight, which will get us home early tomorrow morning.
It's been a wonderful trip, but I have to admit that I'll be happy to be home with our kitties again!

Technological Thoughts

I just had a thought... (imagine that)

Given today's technology, I'm much more likely to remember someone's email address off the top of my head than I am to remember their phone number.

...and I used to be pretty good at remembering phone numbers.

I don't even know Pete's phone number off-hand.
For Pete's Sake! ;)

I guess that's what I get for living with the convenience of programmable phones, and digital address books.

X-Wing MINI

...and you all thought I was crazy.
Even I wouldn't go this far. (But I do think it's really cool!)
Kudos to this guy for creativity.

I found this on my MINI Forum.

...and the name of the car is the best part:

"Red Five" (I love that)

Aloooooooooooooha!

Aloha from Maui! We arrived yesterday afternoon, and we're having a wonderful time so far.

We're staying at the beauitful Hyatt Regency which is just amazing. One of the funnier ammenities that it has is a Macy's within the property! This was funny to us because as we were packing, Dick mentioned that he needed to buy a pair of shorts once we get to Hawaii. Little did we know that we'd have the convenience of a Macy's between the check-in desk and our room!

The weather was beautiful today. We're relieved, because the forecast (from last week) predicted rain all week. (knock wood). It was very warm, a little humid, but gorgeous today.

Today's big adventure was taking scuba lessons in the pool! Dick is already a certified diver, although he hasn't gone on any dives in over 6 years. I'm a lot more reluctant of water (especially the ocean) but I realized that learning in a swimming pool would be totally fine. It was pretty cool. At first, it was a little freaky to find yourself breathing under water. I mean, it's just not natural! After I got used to that, it was pretty cool. I learned all of my safey things, and was able to perform them all on the first try. We had the option of trying this out in the ocean, but (for now) that may be a little much for me. We'll see how the week pans out.

We have wi-fi in our room! It costs a bundle, but you know, what are you gonna do?
Originally, neither of us were planning on bringing our laptops. It was supposed to be a computer-free vacation! However, after we saw the weather forecast last week, we both caved it and each decided to bring our laptops. We figured we could both get some work done if we were stuck inside. what geeks.

....which means I'll be sure to check-in again sometime during the week.

until then..... :)

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Okay - here's my review....

Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was good - for a Star Wars movie ;) I wasn't expecting it to be the most brilliant movie ever made, but it did live up to my expectations of it being the best movie of the 3 prequels.

Things I really liked:

Ewan McGregor: he really did an amazing job over the course of the 3 prequels transforming Obi-Wan Kenobi from the young apprentice in Episode I to the oh-so-close-to-becoming-Alec-Guiness from Episode IV. For a Star Wars movie, I thought it was really good acting. (for whatever that's worth - plus, I just really like Ewan McGregor)

I love some of the tie-ins that they subtlety made:
The ship that Senator Organa brought Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi on was the same ship that his adopted daughter, Leia would be captured from in the beginning of Episode IV. That was one of my favorite parts!

I love that C3PO and R2 D2 were given to Captain Antiles. (who C3P0 tell Luke is his rightful owner in Episode IV). I'm also glad that they mentioned that they wiped C3P0's memory after Episode III, but not R2D2s. Hey Mom - Captain Antiles really is related to Wedge! (Wedge's last name is also Antiles, just like we thought!)

I LOVED the reference to Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin) at the end of the movie when the Emperor was showing Darth Vader the beginnings of the Death Star. They had a CGI (although a good one) character of Grand Moff Tarkin standing next to the Emperor, then walking away when Darth Vader entered. Very clever, and subtle.

oh - i also liked the physical transformation of Palpatine to The Emperor (as we know him) when he is battling with Mace Windu. I thought that was a pretty cool transition that actually made sense.

Questions or holes in the plot:

Okay - remember how when Luke asked Leia if she remembered her mother in Episode VI? She replied that she did, but they were only vague memories, and that she was very sad. Well.......... according to this, Leia never knew her mother at all, just as Luke never knew her since she died in childbirth.

I also thought it was kind of lame when they were deciding what to do with the babies: Senator Organa piped in saying he and his wife would take the Leia and love her like their own because they always wanted a little girl. Okay, fine. Take the girl. Let's then ship the boy off to live with his Uncle and Aunt on Tantooine.

Speaking of which: if they were really trying to hide Luke and Leia from Darth Vader (Anakin) then WHY would they send Luke off to live with his relatives on Tantooine? Any WHY would they keep his last name? Actually, wasn't his Aunt & Uncle's last name "Lars"? Shouldn't he have been named "Luke Lars" and had them raise him as a son?

And I really wonder whey they had Padme die of...what...a broken heart? She no longer had a will to live? WHAT?! Shouldn't she want to live for her children? I think it would have been much more convincing if she had died by Anakin's hand. Would have been much more dramatic, and actually be a reasonable cause for her death.

..and was it me, or was her whole character really "fluff" in this movie?

Why didn't Chewbacca ever mention his past with helping out Yoda/jedis after Episode III?

Things that just made me laugh (as all Star Wars bad dialog should)

When Padme was dying in childbirth, and just announces the name of each baby as they were born. Ummmm.... shouldn't there be some interesting reason why she chose those names?

Darth Vader standing up, and screaming, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
It was reminiscent of Captain Kirk in the Wrath of Khan. :)

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure there's more, but I wanted to make sure to get this down while I'm thinking about it. Perhaps I'll write more later.

Overall, I really enjoyed it! It was a nice bridge between the prequels, and the original series. (as it should be!)

Star Wars: Episode III !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is opening day of Star Wars: Episode III.

I'm a tiny bit bummed because today is my last full day on my yoblette, so I couldn't see the movie today.

Which is really fine, because I have tickets to see it tomorrow afternoon with my family a the beauitful Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. This is the theater where my sister and I have gone to see the opening day of all of the new Star Wars and Harry Potter films.

I'll be there for the 3:30 pm showing on Friday.

I'm a little envious of Dick today because he and his entire group at work is seeing the 2:00 show. How cool. I made him promise not to talk to me about it until tomorrow evening!

Hope you all enjoy the show!

"May the Force be with You" :)

Find Cheap Gas in your area

This could be helpful:

http://www.ahding.com/cheapgas/

Rain, rain, go away.....

Is everyone as tired of the rain as I am?
You'd never know that it is the middle of May!

"Gosh!" (as Napoleon Dynamite would say)

We're leaving for Maui this weekend. Wouldn't you know it - San Francisco is supposed to be sunny, and in the 70s once we leave ;)

New Software!!

I've been spending lots of dough on new software lately.
It feels good to know that I'm up-to-date on all of the programs that I use daily.

Here's a list of the latest:

Quickbooks 2005 (PC)
First of all, I bought Quickbooks 2002 3 years ago to use on my PC.
Why the PC version?
At the time, Intuit wasn't making any updates to their Mac version. (they just came out with an update for the Mac last year)
I only use Quickbooks to create/send invoices, and receive payments for my clients. I do all of my personal finance stuff in Quicken on my Mac.
The main reason why I wanted to get Quickbooks on the PC was because (at the time) you could write up and invoice, and send it to your client via email. It was very cool - they would receive an email from you with the Invoice right inside the email. No need to open up any additional documents.

Okay, here's the lame part:
When I started sending out invoices around March of this year, Intuit informs me that in order to coninue to email invoices after April, 2005, that I'll have to upgrade to Quickbooks 2005.

WTF?!

What a rip-off. I'm only using the program for what I bought it for, and I don't need any of the fancy scmancy updates. Of course, since I bought the program to email invoices in the first place, I had to buy the upgrade to continue to do so.

So that's $150.00.

Which I'm dealing with, and it's all fine until I find out that the new version of Quickbooks converts your invoices into PDF files and attaches them to email files! This blows, because that's not what I want. I want my clients to be able to see their invoice in their email window. Now, they have to download a PDF file, and open it with whatever program (outside of their email program).

What bites even more is that this is the exact reason why I didn't buy Quickin for Mac when the new version came out last year. They also convert your invoices to PDFs. I suppose this is fine, because it enables the invoice to look exactly how it should, and not have the potential to have the formatting messed up in email.

So anyway, there's my rant about Quickbooks, and how Intuit made me upgrade.

(end rant)

Next up: Macromedia (soon to be Adobe) Dreamweaver!

I LOVE Dreamweaver so far. I can't believe that it took me so long to buy it.
I'm created 3 seperate sites with it so far, ALL with CSS (yeah, Baby!).
So far, the tools in Dreamweaver are far superior to the last version of Adobe GoLive that I had been using.
Dreamweaver rocks. Two thumbs up.

Apple OS 10.4 (Tiger)
Well, after amazon.com lost my first order, I finally got my copy of Tiger last night.
I loaded it up, and so far, so good.
It took about 1 1/2 hours to load, which seemed like a long time.
I haven't had much time to check out all of the new stuff yet, but so far, I think I like the Dashboard stuff. Kinda cool.

I also got Adobe Photoshop CS2 and GoLive CS2.
Sweet!
I have the boxes on my desk, but haven't had a chance to install them yet.
(see what happens when I have a 10-6 job?! It's crazy!)

I'll try to install them within the next couple of days to check 'em out.

stay tuned....

That's Ginormous!

"Ginormous"

My sister got a real kick when I used this word sometime in the last couple of years. I think I picked it up from Dick.

Apparently, we're not the only ones who use it.

Boba Fett

This may be a week of Star Wars-related posts!

This is a cool article about the popularity of Boba Fett

Personally, I don't remember having any particular fascination with the character when I first saw The Empire Strikes Back but in hindsight, I guess I can understand why this bounty hunter's character is so popular. He's pretty cool looking, is a man of few words, and was the mysterious evil guy.

My first memory of Boba Fett was actually slightly before The Empire Strikes Back came out. I was such a huge fan of the original Star Wars movie (at age 7) that I collected all of the action figures from Episode IV. (which, mind you, back then, was simply called Star Wars).

As you probably know, Star Wars was the first movie to build such a successful merchandise franchise - especially in the toy market. Kenner Toys did such of good job of promoting their merchandise.

If you collected the first, orginal 12 action figures, saved the Proof of Purchase from the back of the blister cards, and mailed them in, they sent you a special stand that you could display them all on. (I thought it was pretty cool)

The next promotion (that I remember at least) was to collect a certain amount of Proof of Purchase seals from any Star Wars toy merchandise, and they would send you a special Boba Fett Action Figure. At the time, it was the only way that you could get it. I'm not entirely sure if you could buy it in stores later or not, but I remember thinking that this figure was really special.

Originally, the Boba Fett figure was advertised to have a rocket that actually launched from his backpack. I guess before they shipped the figure, they figured out that it was a choking hazard, so they made the rocket a permanent fixure in his pack.

Anyhow, I'm happy to say that I'm a proud owner of the original Boba Fett action figure. According to this article it's the most valuable (to collectors anyway) of all of the action figures.

All of my Star Wars toys are boxed in a couple of boxes at my parent's house.

I took them all out to look at them when Episode I was released a few years back.
I should really take them out again.

The inner Star Wars geek in me is re-emerging!

Postal Guidelines

Today I only worked at the theater for a couple of hours, then had to make my way to Downtown Oakland where I had promised to help stuff envelopes for the Foundation that I work/volunteer for. They have a big event coming up next month, just had the invitations printed, and I was going in today to get them ready to be sent out.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that the invitations were square in shape, and they had already placed 37 cent postage on most of them. I mentioned to my friend, Jim (the boss) that square shape envelopes require extra postage. I learned when I had bought square shaped gift cards a few years ago. We looked it up on usps.com and found out that it required an extra $.12 cents. So Jim went to the post office (with a sample invitation to show a postal worker, just to make sure) and came back with a few rolls of $.23 cent stamps. (he got extra, in case the invitations weighed more)

Mind you, we're working with over 300 invitations here.

So, we began putting the extra stamps on every envelope.

Then, another thought occurs to me: The RSVP cards (which will also be used to send in donations) were also square in shape. They weren't planning on putting postage on these envelopes until I brought up the point that most people who send these in will only use $.37 cent stamps, and they may not be delivered correctly.

It was a good point, and in the end, we decided it best to go out and buy more stamps to put on all of the RSVP envelopes.

Back to the post office!

When Jim came back, he was sorry to say that the only $.50 cent stamps that they had were in sheets that were not self-adhesive.

WHAT?!

I'd like to know WHY it is that in this day and age they still sell sheets of stamps that you have to tear aparts, and *lick*. I'm sure it's much most cost effective to produce, but.... let me tell you.... I spent hours tearing apart, licking and affixing stamps this afternoon.

BLECH

Self-sticking stamps are the way to go.

So that's your postage lesson of the day: square envelopes require extra postage, and beware of non-self-adhesive stamps.

First Day on the Yob

Ahhhh... temp jobs.... :)

As temp jobs go, this one is pretty great. Very nice people, nice office. It's all good.
The big difference between this job, and all of the many temp jobs that I've had in the past (which was well over 12 years ago) is the invention of the internet! :) I spent the day cleaning out my hotmail inbox..... because I could ;)

Since I haven't had a temp position for such a long time, it made me reflect back to the many, many jobs/temp jobs that I've had over the years.

An author that I used to read once said something along the lines of, "Do as many jobs as you can before you're 24. That way, you'll know what kind of jobs you *don't* want to do."

During my years of moving around the country to do color guard, I made a living by working through temp agencies.

I just remembered that when I built my first home page in 1996, I wrote out a list of all of the jobs I had up until then. (I just found the file) I'm glad that I wrote it way back then, because there's no way I'd remember all of those jobs now!

Here's the list.

In case you're interested, here's what I've been up to since 1996: Trina's Resume

Star Wars 101

Do your homework before you see the last installment.

This seems like a pretty good guide.

Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, anyone?

anyone?

New Harry Potter Movie Trailer

COOL!

Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire

Store Wars

This just in from my friend, Andrew:

Store Wars

It's pretty funny.

With the release of the new (and final) Star Wars movie coming out late next week, I'm sure we'll see a lot more spoofs like this.

my "yob-lette"

I start a 2-week temporary job this week, which I'm fondly referring to my "yoblette".

I'm filling in for the office assistant of The Post Street Theater where my sister is generally the Company Manager for the various shows playing here. The regular office assistant is going on vacation, that the person who would usually cover for her was unable to. They were in a little bind, so my sister called to see if I would could be available to fill in.

So, I'll be a 10-6 girl for a couple of weeks. I think it'll go well. The people there are very nice, and it might be a good (temporary) change of pace :)

Little Earthquakes

....which is also the title of my favorite Tori Amos CD

Am I the only one who woke up from the two little earthquakes last night? I woke up from both of them. They were actually pretty jolty, but were very short. Dick didn't feel either of them. I also checked with everyone in my family today when we had a Mother's Day BBQ. No one there had even heard about them.

Amazon.com follow-up

Okay - So far, I'm impressed.

This just in:
Thanks for contacting us at Amazon.com.
Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.

I am sorry that you have not received this order #xxxxxxxxx
; it appears the package may be lost. Please accept our
sincere apologies for this inconvenience.

I have placed a new order for the item "Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger."
There will be no charge for this
replacement. Here are the details of the new order:

Order Number : xxxxxxxxx
Shipping Speed : Two-day domestic
Estimated Delivery Date: May 11, 2005.

It hasn't shipped yet, but it all looks good so far...

problems with amazon.com

This is a first.....

I placed an order with amazon.com a couple of weeks ago to take advantage of an offer for ordering Mac OSX "Tiger" early, and having it shipped at the end of April.

According to amazon's "where's my stuff" tracking system, delivery of the item was attempted yesterday afternoon, but I wasn't home. I thought it was odd that I didn't have a UPS slip on my door yesterday though.

I was also out working this afternoon. When I came home, I checked my shipping status on amazon, and it said that the package was delivered and signed for this afternoon. I didn't recognize the name of the person who signed for it.

So, I called UPS to get the skivvy.

I gave them the tracking number (originally given to me by amazon, since I never actually got a Yellow UPS slip), and they saw the same info that it had been delivered. They asked for my name and address, and here is where the problem lies: The name of the recipient, and the address weren't mine. In fact, the package wasn't even one that was sent by amazon.com.

Hmmmm....

I just went to amazon's site to try to sort this out. There's a "contact us" page, but you can't call to talk to a live person. You can only send an email. So I sent an email explaining the whole sitation, and basically asked, "Where's my Tiger?"

Hopefully, this will all get sorted out soon.

Big Coincidence in the City

Yesterday I had 3 meetings in Union Square starting at Noon.
I would usually take MUNI, but since it was raining I took Dick to the Caltrain station, and needed to pick him up after my meetings would over at 6:30.

I parked at the Stockton/Sutter Street Garage on the 4th floor. (where the secret Bat Exit is) I waited for the elevator, which was fairly full once it arrived and opened. I managed to squeeze my way in, and a woman standing next to me asked, "Where are you going?" I responded, "Level 2 please"

Then I looked over at her.

It was my friend, Alice!

LOL. what are the chances?

She was in Union Square for a dentist apointment.

We laughed and laughed all the way down.

I love it when you realize that the big city that you live in really isn't all that big at all.

05/05/05

Cool! I just realized that today is May 5, 2005.

05/05/05

it's too bad that I didn't think of this at 5:55.

Oh - and Happy Cinco de Mayo! :)

Geek Communication

Dick has been under the weather, and worked from home the past two days.

He knew that I had been on the phone with Epson yesterday trying to fix the printer. (he and I had been trying to fix it all weekend before I decided to call Epson)

Once I was off the phone, he came upstairs, and asked what happened. I had just finished Blogging about it so I merely pointed to my computer screen, and he read the blog entry.

It occured to me later that it was very funny that I told him to read my blog, rather than tell him what happened myself.
...and come to think of it, he didnt' seem to think anything of it either. ;)

I'm done with Epson Printers.

Looks like I'm not the only one who had problems with the Epson C84. Read this list of reviews from other customers. That pretty much sums it up. Looks like several other people also had problems with the C84 soon after the 1-year warrantee expired. I also know that it's not worth me lugging this thing across the bay to get fixed. I'd rather put the $$ into getting a new, better printer.

I've had 2 Epson printers over the past 5 years. The first one (a 900G model) lasted for four years. That's pretty good. This last one bit the dust after 14 months. I didn't even use it very often. I don't print photos very often - it consumes a lot of ink, so I'd rather take my digital prints to Costco or Ofoto to be printed. I also make a habit of printing plain text in draft mode to conserve black ink. None of this really made a difference in hindsight: I still went through at least 3 large black ink cartridges, and 2 of each color. Plus, I have 2 extra black ink cartridges that I installed, trying to get the printer to work again. That's 50 bucks down the drain. I also have a box with 3 new color cartridges. I wonder if I can exchange that somewhere?

So now, we're looking at getting this HP PhotoSmart 8450 Inkjet Printer. It looks like a good printer - all of the reviews are quite favorable. It's also a good price ($199 - almost 30% off), without being "cheap" (the Epson C84 was only $99 when I bought it last year, so perhaps you get what you pay for.) One of the features that we're excited about it that it has a an ethernet port so we can easily share it on our network (wireless, even). I know I just said that I don't often print digital photos, but it is cool that it has a little LCD screen, and slots for memory cards. I know that my Mom has been using her HP Printer for a while now, and she's been very happy with it. She prints a lot of photos on it, and I don't think she's had any problems.

Any opinions out there?

Happy MINI

What's the fable about the Lion who has a thorn stuck in it's paw?

My poor little MINI had a nail stuck in it's tire.

All in all, not a bad experience.

I brought it in this morning to the local Firestone. They took my car in, and told me it would be 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Not bad. I also asked them to rotate and balance my tires while I was there, since I just passed 10,000 miles last week.

I brought my computer and cell phone with me, so I was plenty busy. I found a local coffee shop nearby, and hung out there for an hour.

When I checked back, my car was almost done. They said my tire had a nail in it, which they were able to take out and patch up. Yay!

$65.00 later (not bad, considering...) and I have a Happy MINI again.

Printer Lameness

Remember that new Epson C84 printer that I bought last year?! Well, looks like it may be kerbusted.

A couple of days ago, it told me that I needed to replace my black ink cartridge.
No Problem.
Being the ultra-prepared person that I am (anal?) I have extra ink cartridges ready to go.

So, I popped it in, and......................

nothing.

no black ink where there should be black ink.

The other colors work fine.

After cleaning the heads, and performing the nozzle check a couple of dozen times from both my Mac and my PC, I thought perhaps I had a bum ink cartridge. (Which is a huge bummer, because the things cost some serious dough).

So today I went to Office Max, and bought another cartridge.

I shook it, as instructed, and popped it in..... still nothing.

That's when I called technical support.

First of all, since it's just out of its one-year warranty, they said they'd have to charge me $9.95 for my call. whatever Then they asked me to do all of the steps that I'd already done to trouble-shoot. Which I told them I had done several times.

Ultimately, since I was on my second cartridge, and I had done a very thorough job of troubleshooting on my own, they said it is a hardware problem, and I'd have to take it to a shop. Well, that wasn't terribly helpful!

One nice thing: since I had already bought two cartridges, and done thorough trouble-shooting on my own, they said they would not charge me the $9.95 for the call.

Thank you.

So now I have to call these places (in Emeryville, or Fremont!) and see if it's worth bringing in or not.

This blows.

$.50 for air??!!

Sometimes, living in the city is such a rip-off.

Looks like one of my tires has a small leak happening. Last Tuesday, as Dick and I were driving down to the South Bay, we noticed that my tire pressure warning came on. I checked my tire pressure at a gas station in Milpitas, and one of my tires was down about 10 (points?) from the others. I filled it up, and watched it throughout the day. By the end of the day, it still seemed fine.

This morning, when I was taking off last year's parking permit, I noticed that the air level seemed to be low again. I checked it with with my handy dandy tire pressure gauge, and discovered that it was down 20 (points, or whatever the measurement is. lbs.?)

So, I made my way to a gas station on my way out. I stopped by the Chevron station at 23rd x Valencia, right next to our old house. I pulled up to the air machine that had a sign that said, "Free air and water for our customers!". Cool. When I tried to pump the air, nothing happened. That's when I noticed another small machine that said .50 cents for air/water.

What?!

So I went in and asked the attendant: "which one is it? Free or 50 cents?"

she replied, "50 cents".

(roll of eyes here)

I suppose I could have shopped around for another station, but I was concerned about my tire pressure being so low.

Next I drove to Colma to get gas from Costco. I thought I'd check with the tire service department there. (I usually get my new tires installed at Costco) They said that they can't check tires, only install them.

Hmmmm....

So, I guess I have to find a tire shop in San Francisco that will evaluate and maybe rotate my tires (while I'm at it). I know of a place that I went to years ago on Geary around 10th Ave. Does anyone know of anywhere else that they'd recommend?

SF Residential Parking Permits

Why do companies make it so impossibly hard to remove parking permits from our car's bumpers?

I appreciate that I live in a neighborhood that requires a residential parking permit for all resident cars. It prevents the neighborhood from being flooded by cars from out of our area from parking in our neighborhood for an extended amount of time. This is helpful in popular shopping/eating neighborhoods (like Castro Street) and also for neighborhoods that are located near public transportation centers. (again, the MUNI line at Castro x Market Street)

San Francisco requires that we place our parking permits on the bottom left bumper of our car.
That's fine, although not terribly attractive on any car that I've ever seen.

They also make it impossible to peel the permit off in any less than 20 pieces. (and really, you're lucky if you can manage to get it off in 20 pieces!) I suppose It's designed this way so that bad people cannot swipe your permit off of your car.

This is all fine and dandy, but it's a pain in my tuckuss when it comes time to renew the permit each year.

I just spent the last hour painstakingly peeling off the permit from last year from my bumper. I used the old technique of a razor blade, and Goo-Off. It worked fine, in the end, but really, what a pain! (and I was pretty upset when my razor blade slipped and scratched the paint in my bumper) I could have just stuck this year's permit on top of last year's (as Dick did) but I don't like the idea of years and years of permit build-up on my little car's rear end. I plan to have my car for several years, so I know that eventually I'll be stuck peeling off years of sticker build-up.

So now that my bumper is nice and clean, I've decided to live on the edge:
I've taped my permit to the back window of my car, on the bottom left side. I've seen several cars throughout the city that have done the same thing, so I'm going to give it a shot. Technically, I could totally get ticketed for this because I haven't put the permit in the proper place. I have a hatch-back car though, so it would be hard for the meter-reader person to not notice it. That's not to say that they won't still issue me a ticket, though.

anyone out there have any experience with this?
I just might cave within the first few hours and put the permit permanently on my car's rear bumper again.

update
I just spoke with one of my friendly neighborhood meter-readers, and she said that as long as the parking permit is visible, then it should be okay. :)