Trina's page of Blogginess

Trina & Grandma Chan, sporting the 3D glasses

This past Friday was my Maternal Grandma's 84th Birthday. I had already planned on spending the day with her and taking her out to lunch, but Thursday morning, I called her with a radical idea:

I asked her if she would like it if I took her out to see a movie for her birthday. :)

In all my years, I can't remember my Grandma (or Grandpa) ever going out to see a movie in a theater. They were always happy watching TV at home, and later, watching movies on their TV through VHS tapes or DVDs. I'm sure that they thought going out to a movie theater was too much of a hassle and too expensive.

Earlier this week, I went out to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D with a friend of mine in San Francisco. I really liked it, and it struck me that this was a movie that my Grandma would really enjoy. Plus, the 3D was really neat, and I thought she'd get a kick out of it.

So, I asked Grandma what she thought of the idea, and I didn't really know what she would say. She had already heard about the movie, and was excited to see it! I also invited my parents to come with us, as they were already planning to have lunch with us, and they wanted to see the movie, too.

So, Friday late morning, we met up with my parents for an early lunch, then went over to the movie theater together.

The moment that we stepped into the theater's lobby is one I won't forget: It had been so many years since my Grandma had been in a theater, that as soon as she walked in, she stopped, and looked around in amazement. Imagine how different movie theaters are now from what they were like in Stockton a few decades ago!

We figured my Grandma may not have been to see a movie in a theater since perhaps the 1950s, 1960s at the latest. She asked me if they still showed double features, sneak previews, or new reels.

I tried to think of some of the differences that had happened since she'd last been: commercials before the movie, movie previews, stadium seating, and much improved 3D technology. :)

The whole experience was pretty magical, I think, for both of us. She really enjoyed the movie, and I enjoyed sharing it with her. This may be the start of something new that we do together! :)


Grandma, Mom and Dad!

One other funny note of the day: I treated my Grandma and both of my parents to the movie. I thought it was really funny that all 3 of them qualified for the Senior Discount! So, yes, that was 1 adult, and 3 senior tickets! :)

Labels: A day in the life, family

Dick and I were walking on Noe Street in the Castro this evening, on our way to dinner. (Dinner at L'Ardoise! Mmmmm...)

As we were nearing the restaurant, we passed a jogger who was heading in the opposite direction. He was jogging at a good pace, and had his earphones in.

As he passed by, he said, "Cute Dress!"

LOL! Made my day! I was wearing a new dress that I had just bought last weekend.

Only in the Castro!

I love my neighborhood.

Labels: A day in the life, funny ha-ha

This was my status on Facebook about an hour ago:

crazy schizophrenic weather in SF today: it's cold. it's sunny! it's raining. it's sunny! it's windy. it's cloudy. it's raining. it's sunny! it's pouring..... waiting for the hail to wrap it all up.

Then, wouldn't you know it... within 20 minutes or so, we had a hail storm!

I took this photo of our back deck. The size of some of the hail was almost pea-sized!


Hail on the Deck!

Then, we had a pretty rainbow!


The Rainbow Connection...

Another 15 minutes or so later, and we had yet another hail storm!

This one seemed to last longer than the first.

I took another photo - this one is of our putting green in our backyard.
(yes, we have a putting green in our backyard... ;) )


Our putting green, covered in white...

What strange weather we've had today. It's about 30 minutes later, and the sun is out again...

Maybe it'll all repeat the pattern again. :)

Labels: A day in the life, san francisco

First things first:

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Today is Chinese New Year. It's the year of the Tiger! (Dick is a Tiger!)



Today is also Valentine's Day. Happy Heart Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It was a really pretty day in San Francisco today. We decided to take a bit of an afternoon walk to enjoy the weather.



We walked down 18th Street, passing Bi-Rite Creamery. Usually, there's a really long line here - especially on sunny days. When we passed by today, though, the line was short - only about 5 people long. How could I resist? I took advantage and got a kid's cup of Mint Chip ice cream. Yum! By the time we got my ice cream and left the store, the line was out the door again.


Yummy Ice-Cream!

We walked a few more blocks, and found a neat little alley tucked away between Valencia and Guerrero. The first thing I spotted were these cool Koi Fish painted on the sidewalk.


San Francisco Koi, swimming up hill! ;)

We also passed a really nice community garden on the same street. Very cool.



We went to Stockton yesterday to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family. WE did something new this year - we went to a Chinese Restaurant new my Grandma's house. It wasn't the same as cooking at home, but it was obviously much easier for everyone, and the food was really good. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos from dinner, but I did manage to take a photo of Dick checking out Uncle Wes's new Harley.


Dick, sitting on "Bad Boy"

...and just for kicks, I took a video of Dick taking Bad Boy out on a short spin.

Labels: A day in the life, san francisco

well, it doesn't seem like it's been more than a week since my last post...

It's funny - when I'm out and about, I'm constantly thinking about things that I can write about. Sometimes my random thoughts only make it to my Facebook status, sometimes I remember to take a photo, and sometimes my thoughts make it all the way to my blog.

There are several things I've been meaning to write about - I've had a lot of fun outings lately - but alas, I didn't find the time to sit down and blog about them.

I did, however, take several photos over the past couple of weeks to share. Wish I had more. Somehow, I managed to spend 4 days visiting friends in Seattle without ever thinking of taking a photos! drat.

Nonetheless, here are a few things that I have done lately...



Andrew and I went to the Contemporary Jewish Museum a few weeks back to see the Maurice Sendak Exhibit. It was really fantastic. I was only familiar with "Where the Wild Things Are", but Andrew was very knowledgeable on several books and artwork. We had a great time examining several beautiful original illustrations.



A few days later, I made my way down to San Jose to have a long-overdue visit with my dear friend, Kimi. We had a late lunch (yummy dumplings) then went back to the school so I could have a quick visit with her two boys before I had to leave. It was SO nice seeing all of them!


Uncle Wes with "Bad Boy"

Last Thursday, I went to Stockton for the afternoon with my Sister and her boyfriend. We went to visit my Grandma, and to take her out to lunch and run some errands. The first thing we saw when we pulled up to the house was my Uncle Wes and his new motorcycle (named "Bad Boy"). I've never seen a motorcycle quite like this one. So pretty! I was too intimidated by Bad Boy to even sit in the seat!



We had a yummy dim sum lunch at China Palace, our favorite Chinese restaurant in Stockton. Delish!



While we were out and about, Grandma took us to Winco - a grocery store in Stockton, which is apparently a chain, although we don't have any in the Bay Area. I've been hearing about Winco for years from all of my Grandparents who lived in Stockton, but I had never been. Now, I know what I've been missing! They really do have amazing prices - many things (like cereal) were less than half the price of what they would be at another grocery store - especially in SF. Really great deals, good quality merchandise - I'll be back!


Tiff and Graham at the fantastically inexpensive bulk food bins



That evening, we drove to Sacrament to see a performance of "Rent". The tour closed this past Sunday (3 days after we saw it) and it was the last production of the show after nearly 20 years. Two of the original stars from the Broadway production were on this tour (Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, playing Mark and Roger). It was pretty amazing to have the opportunity to see them, and hear the voices that I've listened to on the Broadway soundtrack for so long.



And finally, a cute photo of Noe giving her Daddy some kitten love while he was working on his laptop. :)

Labels: A day in the life, family, theater

Proof that I'm not crazy

Okay - so my Mom and I have a annual ritual of going to MacWorld together every January. We've been doing this since 1985 - unless I was living out of the area.

Everyone knows that MacWorld SF is always the first or second week of January, right?

I always register early - as soon as I'm notified that registration is open - so I can qualify for a free pass into the exhibit hall (which is the only thing I go for anyway).

Earlier this week, I found my email confirmation printout, and put it in my purse so I wouldn't forget to bring it with me (you need this to get your exhibition badge at the expo).

My Mom and I had planned to go today, Thursday.

When we spoke about it earlier in the week, we both acknowledged that we hadn't seen anything about it in the local news, but figured it was because Apple wasn't going to be present this year (a first) and because of that, there wouldn't be any special keynote speech or special announcements. I chalked it up to being low-key, and was going in with low expectations.

I'll even say that I decided to check on Macworld.com to verify the dates, since I hadn't seen/heard anything about the expo. The landing page didn't have anything, but it did have a list of the 2010 Eddy Award Winners (Mac World Expo award winners, which are announced at MacWorld Expo each year) so again, I figured they were being low-key.

I planned on meeting my Mom at 11:00 this morning for breakfast/lunch, then we'd head to Moscone together. I put a status update on my Facebook account, mentioning I where I was going. Right before I was about to leave out my door, a friend of mine (Thanks, Thuy-Anh!) told me that she thought it wasn't until February.

Now, this news didn't shock me, because I thought this whole lack-of-information-thing. I went back to the MacWorld.com site - still nothing, but I thought to look for a section called Mac World Expo 2010.

A-Ha!

MacWorld 2010: February 9-13

there it is!

So, I chuckled, and called my Mom - who was already on BART...

"Uh, Mom... I just found out that MacWorld isn't until February..."

"WHAT?!"

LOL.

So, she decided to just come on over to my house. She hasn't been over in a while, anyhow.

Honestly, this was good timing....

Just last night, I started to watch an Oprah show that was talking about the new show called "Hoarders". I haven't actually seen the Hoarders show, but the footage of it that Oprah showed was enough to inspire me to do a big purge of the "stuff" that's cluttered in my upstairs (extra) kitchen.

Dick and I just did a big clothing/electronics purge this weekend. (10 bags of clothing - just from me) and a whole bunch of old electronics - including the first Tivo Dick had bought about 11 years ago!

So, we're in the purging mood, and who better to help out, than my parents!

My Mom suggested that I call my Dad (who is retired now, by the way) and have him come over to help (he loves to purge/clear out/organize).

Yep - big change of plans for the day, but I have a feeling that this day is going to become so much more productive now!

Stay tuned!

Labels: A day in the life, computers, funny ha-ha

I just found out that Dick sent this out to his team, so I figured I can post it on my blog..

Unedited transcript:

Dick:
I need a picture for a public Windows live blog.
I don't want to use my corporate drone pix - they are too stiff.
I need a basic headshot pic that looks like me, has some character, preferably smiling.
Can you find one and send it to me? Thanks!

Trina:
Here are three for you to choose from
Do any of them work?

Dick:
I like the last one (in Vegas, I think), except that there are horizontal bars going through my head :)
Can you photoshop those out? (Just the ones going through my ears)?

Trina:
Here you go – it’s funny – I never notice things like that until you point them out. :)

Dick:
Hm. Right ear (left from your pov) looks really weird. The top has a funny shape. Like I’m a mutant elf.

Trina: Mutant elf – check.
Pointy-ears – gone!
(sends new image)

Dick: Also – can you fix the red eye?

Trina: (sends new image)

Dick: Actually, I may end up using the one in the hat. It’s pretty good.

Trina: Dude. You’re killing me....

Dick: Imagine how my team feels.

Labels: A day in the life, funny ha-ha

Happy New Year!

In the Southern Tradition, we cooked a meal with Collard Greens and Black-Eyed Peas. We tried something different this year, and made Eastern Carolina-style BBQ Pulled Pork - it was outstanding!

There are several interpretations that I've found for what each item represents. Some say the greens represent paper money, and the black-eyed peas represent coins. Others say that the greens represent wealth, and the black-eyed peas are for luck.

We make some form of this meal each year on January 1st. I've really learned to love this tradition with my husband. :)

Labels: A day in the life, cooking

For those of you not on Facebook (or, at least, not my friend on Facebook) you may not realize that I'm on Facebook (embarrassingly) regularly, and frequently update my status.

It's a bit interesting updating my status on Facebook while also keeping a blog. I've realized the my blog has been hurt a bit because I tend to put my more day-to-day-random-thoughts on Facebook now, when I used to publish them on my blog.

Anyhow, I found a neat little FB app that commpiles select status updates from your account in Facebook and puts them all together in a pretty little collage. I have far too many status updates to squeeze into this screen - I think it only made it through February, but it was fun to read through my status updates for the year.

So, again, if you're not on Facebook (and that's you, Mom & Dad), here's a taste of what you're missing. (exciting as it is.)

Labels: A day in the life, just trina

Dick and I never celebrated any anniversary dates until after we got married, but I always remembered that the first time we met was the Sunday before Thanksgiving, 1998.

We met through our mutual friend, Alice, who passed our phone numbers to each of us, and we went on what I like to say was the first and only blind date I ever went on.

We met at the Tully's on Castro Street (at 4:00pm), but after Dick found out that I don't actually drink coffee, we made our way across the street to The Patio Restaurant where we hung out for a couple of hours. I remember we talked about Macs vs. PCs, Star Wars vs. Star Trek... you know, things every couple talks about on their first date. :)

I never really paid attention to the exact date that we met - only that it was the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I just looked at my calendar to see what date it actually was, and what do you know? It was Sunday, November 22nd! :)

So, today in every way, is the 11th Anniversary of the day that I met the man who would later become my husband. &heart;

It's too bad the Tully's is no longer there. It's now a cigar/smoke store. The Patio has been closed for years, but has been under construction lately, and is threatening to open again soon. :)

Labels: A day in the life, dick

Today was one of those mixed-bag kind of days:

I found out in the early afternoon that Dick's building at work 9and all of the buildings around it) were without power. Apparently, it had been going in and out all morning, but the last time it happened, it lasted for hours.

so, that's not good.

It's hard to work on computers all day without power.

Dick called me around 1:00 telling me about the power outage, and asking if I was free for lunch. His boss was in town (from Seattle) for meetings all day, but since they couldn't get any work done without power, they decided to come to San Francisco for lunch. He asked if I would be able to pick them up from the Caltrain station.

I picked them, and we headed to the Ferry Building for lunch.

We had a very yummy lunch at Slanted Door!

Very good.

We had parked in a metered spot on the Embarcadero, and had until 3:00 - which gave us about an hour for lunch.

A few minutes before 3:00, I offered to run down to the car to check on it (or feed the meter), but we were just finishing up, and were waiting for the bill, so Dick and his boss both agreed that we could all wait, and we'd only be a few minutes late, and I'm sure it'll be just fine....

You know where this is going, right?

We get back to our car at 3:05, only to see a line of tow trucks on the Embarcadero, and yes, there's my MINI before towed away in front of our eyes.

:(

Crap.

We all three failed to noticed the "No Parking after 3:00" sign hiding behind a tree a few cars down. Now, I will say this for the SF towing company they are very efficient. Go figure.


So, we get the information about where we're supposed to pick my car up, and take a cab across town....

I walked in, was helped right away, was asked for the make/model of my car, gave them my drivers license, they look up my car, and print up my bill:

SF Admin Fee - Excluding Tickets: $155.75
$ - Extra Dolly or Flatbed Fee $43.75
Tow - Passenger Vehicle: $174.25
Passenger Storage Vehicle: $0.00

Total: $373.75

Ouch.

..and you know there's more coming...

She gives me my receipt, directs me to the car lot, where I had another guy my receipt.

He tracks down my car (which really, was there for less than 5 minutes) and brings it to me...

...with a parking ticket on the windshield:

Parking Ticket: $83.00

Grand Total: $456.75

nice.

So, there you have it. One of those days.

Labels: A day in the life, san francisco

It's a beautiful day here in SF - mid-70s, clear and sunny. Happily, I was able to get out to enjoy the today.

My day started with a dentist appointment at 11:00. My dentist's office is on the top floor (26) in a gorgeous art deco building just off of Union Square. Here's the view I had from my exam room. You can see Alcatraz on the left, and Coit Tower on the right. Not bad. :)


View from my Dentist's Office

After my appointment, I had lunch with my friend, Philip, at Yerba Buena Gardens. The weather was just perfect. We found lunch at the Farmer's Market inside the Metreon, and ate outside.


Yerba Buena Gardens, with the SF MOMA in the background

I went to the Powell Street MUNI station to catch the MUNI Metro home. They had an interesting advertisement campaign up for the Monterey Bay Aquarium's new Seahorse exhibit. It was actually quite pretty.


The Secret Lives of Sea Horses

Once I was back in the Castro, I stopped off at our local grocery store to buy stuff for tonight's dinner. On my way home from there, I walked past the neighborhood park, and noticed a girls softball game going on. I stopped for a bit to watch, then overheard some kids in the stands cheering for "Rooftop". I realized that's the same school that my 3 nieces attend, and remembered that my eldest niece was playing softball this year! I asked some of the kids in the nearby stands if she was there, and they pointed out that she was playing in Left Field! Go Evie! That was a nice surprise! It turns out that I caught the last 3 plays of the game, and was there to witness their first victory of the season so far. Cool!


"Go Rooftop!"

That was a nice way to end the day!

Labels: A day in the life, just trina, san francisco

This morning, I had the honor to attend the Always Dream PlayPark Ground Breaking Celebration. It was very exciting.

The PlayPark has been in the planning stages for nearly 4 years, and construction should start within the month. The PlayPark is the vision of Kristi Yamaguchi - it will be a playground in her hometown of Fremont where kids with and without disabilities will be able to play together.

The goal is to have the PlayPark finished by the end of the summer.
More information about the PlayPark, and Kristi's Always Dream Foundation.

Labels: A day in the life

This should help...

I dropped Dick off at the airport this morning at 6:45. I'm still really bummed that I'm not going to North Carolina with him, but still positive that staying home with Marcel was the right decision.

On my way home, I decided that since I was up and about earlier than usual, that I should drop by Tartine Bakery on my way home and treat myself to a Morning Bun. A little sugar in the morning is certainly a good way to get out of a funk.

I got to the bakery around 7:10am, but alas, they didn't open until 7:30. Only in San Francisco - it's such a sleepy town. Don't bakeries usually open at 6:00am or earlier?

Not a problem - I found a parking spot in front of the store, and waited in my car until they opened.

I'm brewing a pot of tea, and getting ready to sit down and enjoy my breakfast.

Labels: A day in the life

Apple Fritters

I can't remember how or why it all started, but a few weeks ago, I started to have a craving for a donut. And, not just any donut. I really wanted an Apple Fritter. I haven't had an apple fritter in a long time - possibly years. It just sounded really, really good!

This information went public sometime last week when I had my Facebook status read:

Trina is craving a donut. An Apple Fritter to be exact

I recently reconnected with my friend, Judy, from high school. It turns out that she lived in SF for a long time, and moved to Oakland a few years ago. It also turns out that she also happens to love apple fritters.

Judy responded to my Facebook status, mentioning our mutual love for fritters. That's' when I suggested that we meet for apple fritters! What better way or place to reconnect with an old friend, than in some random donut shop, eating fritters!

Judy was just as excited as I was: we made a date to meet this morning at 10:00am at Bob's Donut & Pastry Shop on Polk Street. I used to live near this place, but never went in (I can't imagine why). I read a lot of reviews, and everyone raved about their donuts, specifically, their apple fritters!

So, Judy and I met this morning at 10:00. It's the first time that we'd seen each other in almost 22 years! WOW!

Trina & Judy together again, after 21 years!

We had a great time. She brought her 2-year old son, who seemed to enjoy eating donuts as much as we did. We attempted to catch each other up on the last 22 years, which was great fun, but we agreed that we'll have to make a routine of this, so we can really have sufficient time to catch up. :)

Oh, and the apple fritter did not disappoint. In true Trina fashion, I was too busy yapping to eat very much, but what I did eat was perfectly divine. I brought the rest of it home with me, and will enjoy it this afternoon.

Since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to drop in to U-Lee to visit my friends, (and owners of the restaurant) Judy and Ken. I placed my order to go, but had a really nice time chatting with them, while they prepared my food.

It was a morning of pure decadence: an apple fritter, followed by pot stickers and tomato beef curry chow mein from U-Lee. It was also (and more importantly) a really wonderful day for me to see old friends.

I just realized that I saw two friends named "Judy" today! That's a fun coincidence!

Labels: A day in the life, friends

let's try this again...

Ugh. This day has not started out so well so far.

The day actually started at 3:30am, when I woke up, and couldn't fall back asleep. This hasn't happened in a while, which is actually quite good for me, so I rolled with it. I was up 'til 5:30 or so, then went back to bed and slept until 7:00 when our alarm when off.

I thought I was doing pretty well - I got the garbage cans out to the front, and brought out the garbage, recycling, etc., then started to make breakfast.

This is where the trouble started.

My usual breakfast is steel cut oatmeal, which takes 30 minutes to cook. I took out my regular pot, put in the water, brought it to a boil, added the oatmeal, and set the timer. Usually, this means that I can leave the kitchen for the next half hour to do other things, while my oatmeal cooks. However, 25 minutes later, I started to smell something burning. I knew exactly what it was: in my sleepy stupor, I had forgotten to turn the stove down to low, and the oatmeal was burning. Bummer. I soaked the pot and the burnt oatmeal, and somehow managed not to ruin my poor pot.

I the meantime, I decided to have a left-over waffle for breakfast. I had made waffles last weekend, and Reeves taught me a trick to freeze leftover waffles, then pop them in a toaster (a la "L'Eggo") to reheat them and keep them crisp. So, I popped the waffle in the toaster while I was scrubbing my pot clean.

...and then the all-too-familiar smell of burnt breakfast happened all over again!

I had the toaster on too high of a setting, and the waffle had burnt, too!

What a loser I am. Two burnt breakfasts in one morning.

This was probably my cue to just crawl back into bed for the remainder of the day.
(still a possibility)

I did manage to make yet another breakfast (eggs in a basket) without burning anything, but my house still smells of burnt oatmeal and waffles.

Here's hoping the day goes a little more smoothly now...

Labels: A day in the life

Dick and I both took the past week off from work, planning on a nice, holiday vacation.

Dick and I were both sick all week.

boo.
That's a bummer.

Luckily, we didn't have any plans all week. Literally. Nothing on the calendar at all.

The silver lining:

We were both able to relax knowing that there wasn't any work piling up, and we weren't missing out on anything.

We both got a lot of rest

We spent a lot of time at home

We spent a lot of time together

We watched a lot of TV, and movies (speaking of which, watching Netflix Instantly via Xbox Live pretty much rocks)

With the exception of taking Marcel to the vet, and the stress of learning about his kidney problems, we actually had a pretty relaxing week.

So, not the best, most exciting vacation ever, but not too bad either.

We're all feeling better now, but still not 100%. I expect that'll take a few more days or so.

Labels: A day in the life, home life

Yeah, we've had better...

It's been a tough last few days. Dick got sick with a cold on Saturday, and I came down with a flu on Sunday. We were both out for a few days, and are on the mend, but there's an awful lot of sniffling, coughing, and general exhaustion in our house right now.

Much worse: we had to take our big cat, Marcel, to the v-e-t today. While we were sick over the last few days, we noticed that he wasn't feeling well, either. He hardly ate anything yesterday, which was the big red flag we needed to get him an appointment early today.

We brought him to our favorite vet down in Milpitas who always takes such good care of all of our animals friends. We've been bringing birds, rats, and cats to him for over 20 years.

Sadly, after a blood test and urinalysis, Marcel was diagnosed today with failing kidneys. :(

I'm afraid the prognosis isn't very good, but we're going to do what we can to make sure that he's comfortable and as happy as possible. We don't think that he's in any pain, or is very uncomfortable - more that he's low energy and a little lethargic.

This news makes me so very sad. :(

Dick and I are home with the kitties tonight - sipping some Sleepy Time Tea, and ready to spend some quality time with our kitties. Not the most exciting way to ring in the new year, but I can certainly think of worse.

Happy New Year, everyone. Hope everyone has a fun and safe celebration.

Labels: A day in the life, just trina, kitties

Nothing says "Big House Project" like a Port-o-Potty sitting in front of your house!"

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while now...

Yes, the Great Backyard Landscape Project of 2008 is still going on. Yes, the original target completion date was roughly a month ago, and yes, we're a few weeks past due. But, that's okay. Really. I absolutely love the team of men and women and we have working on it, and they are doing an amazing job. The craftsmanship and workmanship that they've put into this project ha been incredible. We're really pleased with how it has all come together, and how amazing it looks.

I'd guess we still have another week and a half or so before everything is completely finished.

But, back to the port-o-potty...

So, yes, nothing says "Big House Project" like a Port-o-Potty sitting in front of your house. Our port-o-potty has been sitting proudly in front of our house for 2-1/2 months.

Funny thing is, we're one of four port-o-pottys on our block! That's right, just on our one single block, there are four major construction projects going on. That doesn't even include the project around the corner (with yes, another port-o-potty) or all of the PG&E construction that's been going on for several months.

It's a busy time in the neighborhood, and a loud one. Lots of jack-hammering and sawing going on. Lots of dumpsters and work trucks parked on our street. It has actually been fairly difficult to park on our block during the weekdays.

I don't know about all of them, but I know that at least two of the projects (including ours) should be done within the next couple of weeks. It'll be nice when it's a little quieter on our street.

Labels: A day in the life, Remodel

if our house were a ship, we'd have sunk...

For the second time this year, we woke up to a strange sound in the house, and eventually found that a water pipe had burst. Luckily (I think), this time it was outside.

I don't think it had anything to do with the landscape project. I know this doesn't sound quite right, but there's a stretch of galvanized pipe coming out from the basement that we thought we'd leave for now, and address at a later date, if we were to remodel that part of the house. Don't know if that's going to happen now. I'm guessing this is something we're going to have to take care of now.

By the looks of it, the thread to the old pipe corroded (no big surprise, given our history with galvanized pipes) and the connection simply slipped out. A little weird.

Luckily, I the contractor had just showed me a few days ago where the shut off valve is for the outside water line, so Dick and I were able to shut it off immediately. It doesn't look like there was any damage done - just a lot of water filling up the trenches.

The plumber is coming back this morning to finish the gas line. Guess we've got another job for him.

Labels: A day in the life, His 'n Her Condos, Remodel

Opus is leaving the building.

This time, it's for good.

Berkeley Breathed, the cartoonist who brought us Bloom County, Outland, and Opus is retiring again. He plans to pursue other interests, such as writing books and screenplays.

I was a huge fan of Bloom County, although I admit that once Outland and especially Opus came out, I had stopped reading the Sunday Comics. (because I stopped getting the Sunday paper. Not because I wanted to stop reading comics!)

here's an article about Breathed's retirement on sfgate.com.

Goodbye, dear Opus. Thanks for all the laughs!

Labels: A day in the life

Last weekend, Dick and I did the annual closet purge. The result: 12
bags full of clothes, shoes and even a few purses.

Dick is always much better than I am at this; he doesn't have the
sentimental attachment to things that I might, and he certainly
doesn't have the emotional consequences of clothing that no longer fits.

I did pretty well this year. Finally got rid of some clothes that I've
had for more years than I can really remember (that's a sign, right?).
Also got past the psychological hump of purging anything that
resembles a size 2.

I brought the 12 bags down to my Mom, who then brought them to a
shelter in San Jose. I'm sure these clothes will be put to much better
use now.

Labels: A day in the life

Kitchen #2

Sometimes, living in two (connected) condos comes in very handy! Dick and I joke that with our two condos, we are "fully redundant": two kitchens, two hot water heaters, (two utility bills), two cats, three X-Box 360s (oops! looks like we went a little overboard there!), etc.,

It's been two weeks since the pipes from the upstairs kitchen busted and caused a hull breach on the downstairs kitchen. The plumbers came last week to redo the plumbing, and the contractors are back today to patch up the gaping hole in the kitchen ceiling.

I'm guessing that this job will take (at least) all day. They'll need to put the plastic barrier back up, put up the sheet rock, tape the sheet rock, mud it, let it dry, reapply..... (rinse, and repeat).

I got smart this time around. Right before the came this morning, I cleared out the downstairs kitchen, and brought anything that I'd need for breakfast and lunch to the upstairs kitchen: my toaster, biscuits and jelly for breakfast (and a glass of juice) and a leftover sandwich for lunch. If I get snacky, I even thought to bring up some cheese and crackers. Also remembered silverware and plates. I'm set!

Labels: A day in the life, His 'n Her Condos

This has been a pretty strange week.
All the plans that I originally had have been thrown out the window.

First, there was the leak in the pipes in the kitchen. Besides the immediate and major issues this has brought about (the plumber can't come out to fix it until sometime next week, so no hot water upstairs, plus there's the gaping hole in my kitchen ceiling downstairs), I also had to cancel two appointments (one personal, one job-related) that I had for that day.

It's been nearly impossible for me to reschedule either one of them, because I don't know for certain which days I need to keep clear for the plumber to return, and for the contractor to patch up the ceiling.

I knew that today was clear, so I kept my appointment to bring my MINI into the Pleasanton dealership. I somehow managed to get a large (and growing) crack in my windshield, and my passenger side window isn't rolling down/up. I brought my car in this morning, knowing that I'd have to leave it overnight for the new windshield to cure. I got a call from my service advisor telling me that they're really backed up, and that they won't be able to have my car ready for me until Friday. (and don't get me started on how much these repairs are going to cost!) Thankfully, they arranged for a courtesy rental car for me, (a Jetta) and I won't have to pay anything for the extra day.

However, this means that I had to rearrange my schedule for the next two days as well. I was really hoping to schedule one of my missed appointments for Friday, but won't be able to do that now.

In the meantime, my parents met me in Pleasanton (about 45 minutes away) to join me for lunch (aren't they great?). We then drove separate cars to San Francisco. They had intended to pick up their VISAs for their trip to China that they dropped off last week. They both thought that they were supposed to be ready today, but as it turns out, they both somehow got the day wrong, and they won't be ready until tomorrow. That means that they have to drive back to San Francisco tomorrow (about an hour drive from their house) and that today's trek was all for not. Poor Mom and Dad.

The good news was that they joined me in picking up my 7 year-old niece from school, and bring her to hip hop class with me. That was great fun, and put us all in better spirits after the somewhat disappointing day.

When I brought my niece back home, Dick called me from Seattle telling me that his flight back home tonight was canceled, and that he'd have to spend another night up there, and catch another flight home tomorrow.

Again, none of these things are very bad (okay, the kitchen pipe thing is pretty bad) but they've all made this a really odd week of mishaps and have made it impossible for me to plan anything for at least a week.

I don't like not being able to plan.
I'm a planner.
boo.

Labels: A day in the life, just trina

Oy. This was not the way I was planning to start my day.

I woke up around 6:30 this morning to the sound of water running. In my sleepy state, I had assumed that my neighbor was taking a shower and that I'd simply never heard it before.

But something told me that I'd better wake up...

And when I did, I realized that the sound was coming from downstairs in our house.

I walked into the kitchen, and that's when I saw it...

Water gushing from the ceiling onto the floor.

I ran upstairs, got a couple of large tubs to catch the water, and some towels to mop up the water on the floor.

I'm not sure how long this had been going on, but there was a lot of water on the floor, and the pergo floor that we have in that part of the kitchen had already buckled up where the water was.

Dick was supposed to wake up at 7:00 this morning, to leave at 7:15 to catch a flight out of SFO. I woke him up a little early, hoping he could help me out a bit before he had to leave.

We realized that the water was warm/hot, so we turned off the hot water heater for the upstairs unit and also drained the hot water heater with a hose. This stopped the water flow.

We're assuming that a pipe burst between the floors. It seems as if the hot water pipes go along the floorboard (upstairs) in that part of the house, and down the side walls to the basement. (where there was also a reasonable amount of water.)

I put in a call to our contractor who worked on our bathroom remodel. We figured he'd have all the resources to help us out, and we have a nice relationship with him and his crew. He came over 10 minutes after I called (bless him) to assess the situation. He was just as baffled as we were as to what had happened. (Ah, the joys of old houses...)

He just sent one of his guys to the hardware store to get some drop clothes and tape to block off the area, then they're going to cut through the ceiling to get a better idea of what's going on. He also put a call into his plumber who should be here in the next hour or two.

So, that's the situation so far. What a wacky way to start the day. Marcel is happy because I was supposed to bring him into the vet for a check-up this morning. I had to cancel that, as well as a work meeting that I had for the afternoon.

Silver lining:
(because you always have to think about those...)

It certainly could have been worse. The ceiling and the floor will have to be repaired, but nothing else was underneath the leak. No electronics, furniture, etc., that could have been ruined by the water. Since we live in two condos, we also have the luxury of having two hot water heaters. If we need to keep the hot water off for a while in the upstairs unit, I still have hot water if I need it downstairs. Likewise, I have an extra kitchen upstairs complete with a refrigerator, stove, microwave, etc., If we're out of the downstairs kitchen for a few days, we've got the backup kitchen. :)

So, that's the report from His 'n Her Condos for now. (and it's still only 8:30am)
I'll report back later in the day...

Labels: A day in the life, His 'n Her Condos

Auntie Tiffie, Evie, and Uncle Dick

This afternoon, I picked my niece, Evelyn, up from school for an "Auntie Afternoon" with me and my sister.

It started with a walk down to Bi-Rite Creamery, where we had decadent sundaes with 2 scoops of ice cream, brownie bits, hot fudge and whipped cream. YUM!

Then, we walked down Church Street to Market, and went shopping at Crystal Way, a store which I had brought Evie to before, and she just loved. Dick and I had given her a gift certificate to the store for her birthday, so she was able to have fun shopping with that yesterday. (incense, cone incense, holders for each style, and a rose quartz crystal in the shape of a skull!)

On our way home, we also stopped by The Castro Theater (Aliens is playing tomorrow night at 9:15!), Cliff's Variety Store, Chocolate on Castro (another favorite spot of my niece with a sweet tooth), and finally, the grocery store.

The highlight of the day was when the four of us played Rock Band on the Xbox later in the evening.

I've been meaning to blog about Rock Band for a while now.

A few weeks ago, we went to Jud & Melissa's to celebrate Jud's 40th Birthday (He's a leap year baby, so technically, it was his 10th Birthday). They had Rock Band set up, which Dick played a lot. He was addicted.

He was so addicted that he ran out to buy it the next evening (while I was away!) and even more addicted after the first evening, that he went out to buy a Guitar Hero Guitar the next day so we could have a bass guitar as well as a regular guitar. Oy.

It has been a ton of fun, and Evie was especially excited when she learned that we had it.

So, we formed a 4-piece band: Tiffie on bass, me on guitar, Dick on drums, and Evie on vocals. (We switched it around a bit throughout the evening - Dick and I switched, and Evie also tried her hand at guitar and drums.)

It was quite hysterical to hear Evelyn sing rocks songs from way before her era. Let me tell you, it was a bit disconcerting hearing my 11 year old niece sing "I think I'm Paranoid" by Garbage:

Bend me, break me
Anyway you need me
All I want is you
Bend me, break me
Breaking down is easy
All I want is you

I'm not sure what her parents are going to think when they see her walking around the house tomorrow singing these lyrics! They probably won't let me have Evie over anymore. :)

Labels: A day in the life, family, life in the castro, xbox

This morning, I made a quick trip to SF City Hall. I wanted to pick up a SF Resident Golf Card. Now that I'm (apparently) playing golf, this is something that can save me a ton of money in the long end.

I took MUNI to the Civic Center Station (and actually had a nice visit with my neighbor, Michael, along the way). I arrived at City Hall right before 10:00. It was really gorgeous out, all sunny and clear. I think City Hall is such a beautiful building - plus, I got to watch a bunch of senior citizens practicing Tai-Chi in front of City Hall.

As I walked through City Hall, I saw a wedding being performed under the rotunda. :) (There was another one happening when I left 10 minutes later.)

Anyhow, I finally made my way to the cashier to get my resident Golf Club. (Aditya, have you gotten yours yet?) It was quick and simple, but unfortunately, I forgot that I'd have to take a picture for it - not a pretty thing at 10:00am if you're not expecting it!

While I was there, I remembered to ask if I could also buy a SF Parking Meter Card. I've been meaning to look into this for quite some time now. I don't drive and park in the City very often, but when I do, I'm reminded of how expensive meter parking is, and how many quarters is takes! It's usually 10 minutes per quarter - that adds up fast, and you're lucky if you have enough change. These new(ish) debit cards allow you to just insert the card into the meter, and it deducts the amount automatically - no change required. They sell them in increments of $20 and $50.



So, that was my morning. Very productive. (Especially since Dick and I went out to the driving range at 8:00 this morning.) I even made it home in time for my Fed-Ex delivery! (With 10 minutes to spare!)

Now, on with the rest of the day!

Labels: A day in the life, san francisco

...and don't it feel good?

The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous. I'm guessing low 60s, which is just perfect, especially considering all of the rain and cold we've had lately.

We made it out of the house both days to enjoy the sunshine. Yesterday, we took a walk around the neighborhood, and down towards Dolores Park. The park was packed full of people - you can just tell that everyone was just craving to be outside in the fresh air. Dick and I walked down 18th Street to have a snack at Bakery Tartine. Yum. As we walked down 18th, I laughed when I noticed the incredibly long line outside of the Bi-Rite Ice Creamery. Clearly, this was the first warm, sunny day we've had all year, because people were standing in a line 20 people deep for ice cream! :)

Today, we walked over 17th Street, and up to Buena Vista Park. I love this park. It's so spacious, and woodsy. It makes you forget that you're in the middle (quite literally) of a big, urban City.

I took these pictures during our urban hike, because I thought it made it look like we were "hiking" somewhere outside of the City.



This is one that I took at the top of the Park. You can see The Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.




This weekend was also the first time all year that I was able to open all the windows, and let the house air out. It's nice turn the heater off, and let in some fresh air.

Looks like we'll be enjoying weather like this all week long!

Labels: A day in the life, san francisco

Here I am, sitting in the Jury Assembly Room of the Civic Center Courthouse.

I received my summons for jury duty a few weeks ago, checked the website Friday afternoon, and found that I did indeed need to report in today.

I served on a jury about 3 years ago, and actually found the process rather fascinating. I'm wondering how far along in the system I'll go this time around.

So far, this experience is already a lot better than last time. This time, I'm at the Courthouse in Civic Center, by City Hall. It's a much nicer building than the one I had to report to last time on Folsom Street. Also, last time, there wasn't any good public transportation options, so I had to drive, and park at a pricey lot. This time, it's MUNI to Civic Center! Much better.

The jury assembly room is also much nicer. Lots of large, wooden tables, with plenty of outlets for all of us and our laptops. I opted to pay the $5.95/day for wireless internet access. Since we're on the basement level, my iPhone doesn't have a signal, and I just couldn't sit around for who knows how long without checking email, surfing the web, and updating my Facebook status! Plus, you know, the beauty of laptops: there's always work to do. :)

So, here I am. I got here around 8:15 (15 minutes early) and was able to snag a nice, large table in the room. I've got my bottle of water, my dried fruit to snack on, and my laptop to work on, and to keep me company.

We'll see how it goes.
Stay tuned.

update
12:00 Noon

Well, that was fairly uneventful. They pulled us into the court room at 10:00, then proceeded to tell us how long the trial was scheduled to go for. 6 weeks! I wouldn't have minded serving on a jury, not even for that long, but I decided to submit a hardship form since that would've been too long for me to go without work/pay. I was sent back to the jury assembly room to see if there are any other, shorter trials that I could be considered for, but when I got down there, I was dismissed for at least another year.

So, I'm out about $9 from the experience: $5.95 for wireless internet (which I used for about 1.5 hours) and $3 for round trip MUNI fare. Not bad.

Labels: A day in the life

the Chinese girl from California is learning...

In the Southern tradition, we made Greens (Collard) and Black Eyed Peas (in the form of Hoppin' John) for dinner.

The black eyed peas represent good luck and the greens signify prosperity.

We do this meal almost ever year on New Year's Day. We used a new recipe (for us) for the Hoppin' John - gotta love the Mama Dip's Cookbook. It was both of our favorite version by far. Mmmmm.

Which brings me to to the question: who is John, and why is he hoppin'?

Labels: A day in the life, cooking

Taken from P&R's house. Watching the fireworks from the Embarcadero.

Labels: A day in the life

..and the only thing that's helping me keep my cool right now is that I have to get ready to go out for a client meeting in 10 minutes.

In a nutshell (and because I have to leave):

sometime this morning: some ass let his big dog poop right in front of our stairs, so I had to spray it down so people wouldn't track it into our house by accident (getting grumpy)

1:00: find out Mykail isn't coming home for Christmas. :( (sad)

1:45: painter comes to finish touch ups (yay!)
He asks if I want him to bring the cans of paint back into the basement. I offer to do it instead.

While I'm down there, I drop two containers of paint (that I was using for quick touch ups). Both containers break, and spread paint all over the basement floor, and on my clothes. (over-the-top grumpy!)

This is not the end of the world by any means, but really, I want to scream.

Update:
I've made it to my meeting in time but realized while I was on MUNI that I didn't get all the paint off my hands, and my black sweater has cat hair all over it. OY.

Update to my update:
Client meeting went really well. Nice people, and we hit it off.
I stopped at "Hot Cookie" on Castro Street and got a chocolate cookie on the way home. :) I'm fairly convinced that a chocolate chip cookie can make almost any day a little better.

Labels: A day in the life

Oh man, I hate it when I do things like this.

Like most people, when it starts to get cold each winter, Dick and I will turn on the heaters on both floors (2 condos, 2 furnaces). Both furnaces are pretty old, but the one for upstairs is really old. For the last couple of years, when I tried to turn on the upstairs heat, it wouldn't work, and we'd have to go down to the basement to light the pilot light, and that would get it up and running. While we're down there, we also remember to change filters. :)

About 3 weeks ago, it started to get really cold, so we turned on the heat, but nothing happened. We went to the basement, lit the pilot light, tried to turn it on again, but still... nada.

When we moved the switch on the thermostat, we could hear the little "click" that you hear when you know it's turning on, but nothing was happening. We fiddled with it for quite some time, then figured that a) the thermostat was broken and needed to be replaced, b) the furnace was kerbusted and needed to be replaced, or c) all of the above.

I asked my contractor for a recommendation for a heating company, and got an immediate referral. (always nice) When I called the company, they were booked solid (because it's the beginning of winter, and everyone is calling them now!) and I had to wait more than a week for an appointment. Which is fine.

So, the repair guy came out this morning. I told him the situation. He came upstairs to check out the thermostat first. He turned it up all the way. (I had tested it by turning it up to 75 or 80 degrees, but not all the way up to 90)

Before we headed down to the basement, he asked to use our bathroom. While he was in there, I started to smell that familiar smell that the heater makes when it's blowing warm air up the ducts for the first time in a year....

What, really?

So yeah. The heat was working again. And all he did was turn up the thermostat.
...and we've been freezing our tushes off for the past 3 weeks.

Duh.

He was super nice. Since he really didn't do anything, he offered not to charge me, even though I knew that the company had a minimum 1 hour charge. He also offered to take a peek at our furnace to check it out. He said it was at least 30 years old, and that we should plan to replace it soon.

Anyhow, it was a funny story, and I really appreciate that he was so nice and didn't charge us. You know they'll get our business when we decide to replace the furnace!

Labels: A day in the life

After a busy last several weeks, I decided to take a mental health day today. (one of the big perks of working from home!)

Here I am, sitting in an empty theater, with popcorn and a coke in hand. I'm waiting to see The Golden Compass, which I've been looking forward to seeking for awhile.

I've never been to see a movie by myself before! No real reason, except that I don't often go out to see movies in theaters. It's pretty cool, though - I'm really glad I'm doing this. What a nice treat.

Bonus: before I left the house, I remembered that I had an AMC giftcard! Woo Hoo! ;)

Labels: A day in the life

Some of you may know that I'm a fan of ebay. According to my ebay stats, I've been a member since January 14. 1998. Wow - that's a long time. Being a collector of a few different things, I often follow auctions to see what things are going for, and I will occasionally participate in one as either a buyer or a seller.

When I'm serious about trying to "win" an auction, I do my best to "swoop" in during the last minute or few seconds of the auction. You know the drill: you wait until the last few minutes, constantly refresh the browser, watching the minutes/seconds count down, then, during the final 60 seconds or so, you put in your bid, hoping that once you've completed all of the steps, you will have come out victorious! It's all very exciting - just as they intend it to be. :)

Last weekend, I was trying to swoop on a particular item. My theory: bid as high as your comfortable paying, and if you get it great, but if you don't, you can't feel bad, because you already decided what your limitations are. So anyway, here I was, swooping at the last second with my high bid, my bid is accepted, and I'm the high bidder. But wait: there are a few mere seconds left. Refresh one more time, and damn, someone named "iluvebay" swoops in and wins the auction. (okay, that wasn't really their ebay name, but you get the idea.) And then you curse out loud: "Damn you, (insert ebay name here)".

This happens more often than not, which is okay, because I still follow my rule of knowing how high I'm willing to bid, and not to be to upset that it goes higher.

So there were two more auctions that I was following ending this afternoon. These were both similar items to the item that I "lost" last weekend. (I always try to remember that these things do have a habit of coming back up for auction if you're patient, and wait it out.) I did the swoop again, with about 45 seconds to go. Again, i was the high bidder with a few scant seconds left, then...... "Sorry, you've been outbid".... by the same person as last weekend! "Damn you, (insert ebay name here)".

8 minutes later, the second auction was ending. "Okay, (insert ebay name here)I'm on to you now!" This time, I waited even longer - perhaps 25 seconds before the end. Hit my submission, and....."Congratulations, YOU are the high bidder." Refresh once more, and it is verified that I had WON, and yes, the bidder-who-shall-not-be-named tried to swoop me once again, but I managed to be one up on them this time.

And now you know the crazy antics that I will go through to win an auction on ebay. It's quite hilarious, actually. Dick has watched me in the process a few times, and he gets all into it, too.

Just another day-in-the-life.

Labels: A day in the life, trina-isms

With Dick up in Seattle for the night, and Richard down in Milpitas for his new job, Pete and I decided to get together tonight to hang out and relax.

The plan: Pizza (Chicago-style, even!) and "Elf".

First things first: the pizza was outstanding! One of the best I've had. It was indeed Chicago-style, but without as much cheese as I've had before. The sauce was really well seasoned, and it was chalk-full of goodies!

Secondly: "Elf". Pete has been telling me about this movie for years now - well, at least 4 years, since it only came out in 2004. I just never got around to seeing it.

I really enjoyed the movie - I think it was exactly what I needed. It was hilarious - I laughed so often! Plus, I didn't know it was directed b Jon Favreau. I love that guy.

If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it. It's a very charming and funny holiday movie. Plus, Pete found it at Best Buy for only $10! You can't beat that!

Thanks, Pete! It was a great evening.

Labels: A day in the life, friends

Dick's company's Holiday Party was this past Saturday Night. It was held at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. What an amazing venue that is. It's the second time in the last 5 years that the party has been here, and both times, the parties were really top notch and amazing! Really great food, open bar, and live entertainment (acrobats and musicians). Plus, the building itself is just gorgeous. The museum exhibits were actually open to us during the party, but unfortunately, Dick and I ran out of time, and didn't have a chance to see any!

While Dick's family was in town over Thanksgiving week, we brought them to Chinatown for shopping, and dim sum. I took them to Dragon Seed, the store where I had my cheongsam made for our wedding a couple of years ago. It's a really neat store, with all kinds of beautiful fabrics and clothing.

While we were there, Dick eyed a really beautiful men's silk Chinese-Style jacket. He tried it on, and it was a perfect fit - so much so, that his family and I all agreed that he had to buy it! That's when we remembered that the company Holiday Party was going to be held at the Asian Art Museum this year, and it would be the perfect event to wear it to.



Dick's jacket was a hit - he had many people compliment him on it during the evening. I wore a little black dress, along with one my my Chinese-Style jackets that actually complimented Dick's jacket quite well. :)

Labels: A day in the life, dick

Dick and I went out tonight (on a Friday Night?? Shocking!) to see Graham play at The Red Devil Lounge on Polk Street. Graham is the Bass Player for Jonathan Douglas.

The band sounded great! We both really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my regular camera, which would have enabled me to take a quick little video to post. But luckily, I at least had my iPhone with me, which always comes in handy for a quick shot.

Congrats on the great performance, Graham! We're looking forward to seeing the next show!

Labels: A day in the life, friends, san francisco

I'm winding down from a really amazing evening - one of those times in life that you stop, and take a moment to appreciate what just happened.

We had a couple of guests over to the house for cocktails tonight. One of them was someone from my father-in-law's past - a former student whom he had not seen in 50 years!

It's times like this that I'm reminded of how the universe works sometimes - how an event can occur that you never dreamed would have been possible, but you always secretly hope that it might.

Life is really pretty amazing, and I'm so happy to be a part of it.

Labels: A day in the life, just trina

Poor Noe. The bathroom remodel continues to disrupt her little cat life.

This morning, the painters returned to finish up some final touch-ups and last-minute additions. They came at 8:00, which I'm now realizing is before Miss Noe woke up.

When there's activity in the house, Noe will usually stay in our bedroom where it's nice and safe. Throughout the morning, I kept noticing her coming out of the bedroom, and peeking down the hallway where the work was going on. As soon as she saw one of the painters, she would jolt back into the bedroom. This continued for a about an hour.

That's when it occurred to me: Noe hadn't been out and about before the painters came, and she probably really needed to use her little box!

The kitty litter boxes live in the upstairs kitchen, which is just past where the bathroom hub-bub is going on. I brought Noe's litter box into the bedroom, and she hopped in immediately.

Noe's day should be a lot easier now. :)

Labels: A day in the life

never question the iPhone

Yesterday afternoon, as we were out and about, I was using my iPhone to check the weather for the week. I was surprised that it had forecasted rain for today (Monday). So Dick and I made plans for me to drive him to the CalTrain station this morning. (I always drives him when it rains, so he won't have to drive his scooter.)

We left the house this morning at 7:30. It was sunny, with clear, blue skies!

I told Dick that perhaps the iPhone had lied to us.

"liePhone", he said.

(editor's note: that's funny!)

Well, here it is, two hours later, and lo and behold: it's raining out.

The iPhone doesn't lie.

I owe my iPhone a public apology.

Listen to your iPhone.
The iPhone is your friend.

Labels: A day in the life, geeks

"Uh, everything's under control. Situation normal. Uh, we had a slight malfunction, but uh.... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?"

I just wanted to let everyone know that we're all okay here. I received numerous emails and phone calls today after my last post about our accident in the cab last night.

I realized that since I wrote it minutes after it happened, and I was still a bit shaken up, it probably came across more melodramatic that I had intended.

We're all fine. Richard had a slight scrape on his leg, which fixed right up with a band-aid. Dick is fine, and my head just has a bit of an indentation on it. Go figure.

But we're totally fine. We were more shaken up than anything.

Thanks for all the comments, emails and phone calls.
We really appreciate it.

Labels: A day in the life

First of all, we all seem to be fine.

With that said, Dick, his father and I were just in a minor car accident.

We went out to dinner at Zuni this evening to celebrate Richard's birthday (which happens to be today).

We took a cab to and from the restaurant we wouldn't have to worry about parking or drinking.

We picked up a cab to the restaurant on Castro seat. I remember thinking that I should put on my seatbelt (because I always do) but that it was a little cramped in the backseat of the cab with the three of us, and the restaurant was only about 2 miles away.

With this in mind, we did the same thing on the way home. We caught a cab outside of the restaurant, and none of us (stupidly) put on our seat belts. Well, within a mile after leaving we were involved in a rear-end accident (our cab rear-ended the car in front of us). It took us all by surprise - none of us really knew what happened.

Luckily, we weren't going too fast (I'd guess around 25MPH) so it nearly as bad as it could have been. We all got a little banged up. Dick hit is head squarely on the passenger side headrest, Richard hit his knees and shins on the middle armrest, and I think I hit my head on the side of the headrest in front of me.

I'm developing a bit of a bump on my noggin' right now, and I'm feeling very stupid.

I always make a habit of wearing a seatbelt, and the fact that I thought about it tonight, chose not to wear one is going to bother me until the bump on my head goes away.

It strikes me at how bad car accidents can be - we weren't going very fast, and were on city streets, and the three of us were in the backseat. Had one of us been in the front seat without a seatbelt would've been much, much worse.

So, lesson learned. Always wear a seatbelt, matter how short the distance, and no matter what the inconvenience.

I'm going to go to bed now, and I hope I'll feel better in the morning.

Labels: A day in the life

Labels: A day in the life, dick, family

This morning we woke up around 7:00, and when I looked outside, saw that it is the foggiest morning that I can remember seeing in our neighborhood in a long time. I drove Dick to the CalTrain station, and we went in and out of fog banks along the way.

It's One Foggy Morning, all right.

which is not to be confused with One Froggy Evening!


"hello, my baby, hello, my darling....

Labels: A day in the life, funny ha-ha

That was a pretty strong Earthquake!

According to this site, it was a 5.6, and centered in Alum Rock, which is only 7 miles from Milpitas, where my parents live. We're about 40 miles away, and it was still pretty strong.

My parents called us immediately after it happened. They had stuff falling off shelves, etc., It wasn't nearly as strong here in SF.

Hope everyone is okay!

update
After I spoke with my Mom on the phone, I checked out sfgate, and saw the article saying how close it was to Milpitas. I tried calling my parent's house for the next 20 minutes, but I kept getting that message that "All circuits are busy, please try again later." I was really happy that my Mom thought to call me as soon as she did, and that she was able to before the phone lines went down. (She did the same after the 1989 earthquake, when my sister and I were living in Ohio.) While I was still trying to get through to her tonight, I got a call from a mutual friend who had been trying to reach my Mom but was unsuccessful. She called me instead, so I was able to tell her that everyone was okay. That was very nice of her.

Labels: A day in the life

....did a snail get in the house? That's SO odd! Good thing I didn't
step on it with my bare feet! ew...

Rest assured, I brought the snail back outside. It reminded me of
"Homer" - the snail I had to raise in the fourth grade!

Labels: A day in the life