Weekend in Tahoe

So we had our annual Tahoe trip this weekend. It begin with 12 hours of travel for me and ended with a 15 hour drive home. But let's start at the beginning, a very good place to start...

So I started last Friday in Chicago and woke up at 7AM CST to finish my last day of training. I left at 12:30PM for O'Hare for a 3:30PM flight. I landed in SFO at 5:30 PST, took a taxi to Show's house where we left for Tahoe. We stopped for dinner for about an hour in El Cerrito around 7:30PM. Then, we continued on our merry way and reached our destination around 10PM. So, for all you out there who are time zone challenged, I essentially started traveling at 12:30PM CST and reached Tahoe at 12AM CST. Getting there wasn't so bad compared to the road home. Again, I get ahead of myself.

The weekend went by quickly. I went ice skating with Maika and Kaori (no, she did not skate in her pregnant state) at the top of Squaw in an outdoor rink. When we got there, the weather was perfect and it was sunny and beautiful. By the time the skates were on, the winds had started up and it made for some unpleasant skating conditions. But that Maika was a little trooper- she got on the ice twice.

Leaving the condo was an ordeal itself. We were busy loading the cars when Tom locked his keys in his car. While the car was running. So, we had to wait for AAA to come and unlock his door. They said that they would be an hour because it had already begun to storm. So while we waited, we called the 2 cars that had already left to check out visibility and road conditions and tried to decide whether we were going to stay another night or just try and get home. The vote was to try and get home.

We left the condo after AAA came around 12PM. We spent the next 4.5 hours on the 89 and traveled about 10 miles. We were mostly stopped with the occasional movement of 20 yds. It got so bad that Edwin and I both peed in someone's driveway. However, we were not the first ones to pee in that driveway and we were not the last. Someone said something about the awful sight of yellow snow... When the car behind me saw me, they pulled over so that the female passenger could do the same. We witnessed many males using their car doors as make-shift stalls to shield them from the public eye. There was also a male behind us who knelt to below eye-level in between our cars to pee. I even heard about people knocking on the doors of buses to use their bathrooms. What to do? When you gotta go, you gotta go. It was calamity.

During this drive, Nirav had been turning his ignition on and off which resulted in draining his battery. That was actually not a bad problem. There were 4 cars caravaning at this time and we were the last in line with Pete driving and Nirav in front of us. We call Jamie who is about 10-15 cars in front of us to being over his jumper cables. We pull up and jumpstart Nirav's car using the jumper cables that Jamie brought to us. (Read: he got out of his car, walked back the 10 cars to us, jumped the car, and then walked back with the jumper cables while his car did not move!) Insanity. I think that Jamie was happy to get out of the car for a few minutes and for the distraction.

So, we finally get into Truckee around 4:30. So we stopped for chains for Jamie and Nirav and to get some grubbs. We ended up at the KFC and below is a pic of Bhavana, the vegetarian, enjoying her corn, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and biscuits. This photo alone was worth stopping. Would you be nervous if the restaurant closed while you were in it? While we were eating, KFC locked all of its doors and wouldn't let anyone in. They were letting people out, but only serving the people that were already inside. How weird. They could have made so much more money. They didn't seem to be running out of chicken and they were serving people the entire time we were there. That's just the business side of me.

So we get back on the rode and try to go to the gas station because Jamie's gas light came on. When we got to the Shell station, we discovered that they were closed because they ran out of gas! When we finally got to another station, it took another 1.5 to get gas because of the lines and the utter stupidity of people. Tom got out of his car when 2 cars tried to snake in front of him by turning left in the on-coming traffic lane (which was empty because everyone was trying to get into the gas station.) I thought for sure a brawl was about to begin. However, there was a cop there who restored peace.

Then, after we got gas, there was this idiot who was trying to put on his chains blocking our way out. First of all, there are a ton of people waiting to get gas and he's blocking a gas pump and preventing us from getting out. Edwin had to direct traffic so that we could get out because cars had started coming in both directions and we would have been boxed in if he didn't tell the on-coming traffic to let us out.

When we finally got on the 80, it was still quite stormy and we had a couple of short stops because Nirav's chains had become loose and then to remove them when we (finally) reached dry land. I don't remember much about the drive home after that because I fell asleep somewhere around midnight and we reached home a little before 3. Needless to say, I don't need to go up to Tahoe for while... it actually was that bad. I think that our car was just more amused. However, we do recognize that we were the only car in the caravan that did not have a baby in it, so it was more a fight against boredom and road rage than trying to keep a baby calm in a storm. Pretty funny though- everyone on the trip didn't seem to mind that much either because everyone said that they still want to go up again next year!

Back to School in Chicago

I think that education will always be linked to Chicago for me. Though it seems so long ago that I was at Northwestern. It's just funny because now that I am here for IRI training/orientation, it still feels like I have to walk to my classes in freezing weather and study. If you're wondering why I haven't been blogging, it's because I have had virtually no access to the internet. We only have sporadic access during the day for work and then our corporate apartments don't have access. Also, I've been going out almost every night which doesn't leave a whole lot of time to blog or email.

I was a little nervous coming to training. No particular reason except that I have been feeling like I don't seem to be learning these reports fast enough and I thought that I would be behind. I like a lot of the people here and I was pleasantly surprised that most of the people that are here are experienced hires. No one is straight out of undergrad which was nice. Last week, they had a "reception" for us at the IRI headquarters which was a catered dinner at the office. Then, we went out for Lou Malnotti's pizza on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I organized a group to go to Second City and we had a happy hour on Thursday. I was out until 11 every night and in classes all day. It's been pretty exhausting, so when Friday rolled around, I was pretty wiped. I had dinner at my parents, met up with Xochitl for some girl talk since she lives by Midway, and then picked up Edwin at Midway when his flight landed around midnight. On Saturday, we met up with George and the parents for dim sum in Chinatown to celebrate Chinese New Year. Then, we took a quick cat nap and then went to Santiney and Carlos's reception at the 7 10 Lounge for some bowling. We met up with Xochitl, Eddie, and Christopher for some Mexican and then headed out to Howl at the Moon (a dueling piano bar) with my new coworkers.

Sunday would have been more relaxed except that we discovered that our car had been towed. I was feeling really bummed when I found out that my coworker's friend also got towed. Basically, the sign was unclear. I'm gonna need to take photographic proof for you all. It basically says that they will tow your car if there is more than 2 inches of snow between 3AM-7AM. There was no snow, so we thought that we were OK. There was an article posted at the impound lot stating it doesn't matter if there is snow or not. You will get towed. So, basically, the sign should say "No parking 3AM-7AM." It's one of the dumbest things I have ever heard of. Then, we found out that the impound lot is 20 miles away. Luckily, we were meeting Stacy and Ryan for brunch and they offered to give us a ride. Otherwise, we would have had to take a bus and then cabbed it. It probably would have taken all day. So anyway, I didn't feel quite as dumb since it didn't happen to just me. Morale of the story- don't park anywhere that states that they will tow (especially if there is a condition.)

After the towing fiasco, we went out to a brunch place called Hashbrowns near University Village that was tasty, but had bad service. I asked for ketchup twice and never received it, Edwin had to ask for his toast which was supposed to come with his meal, and Stacy asked for ranch dressing that never came. Then, we did a little shopping on Michigan Avenue and went out to Bolingbrook to meet Ryan and Limanna for dinner. It was a busy weekend in Chicago as usual trying to visit everyone. While I'm here, I'm still trying to meet up with Vicki and Santiney again. Time is just flying by. However, I do have a test on Friday and have to fly back to SFO so that I can drive up to Tahoe with Show for the weekend. Yikes, it's gonna be a busy weekend too. Anyway, I'm glad I got the chance to visit and stay in Chicago for an extended period of time. Now if I could only find some time to finish those Thank You cards...

Oh, and I forgot Happy Belated Valentines Day!

Family Reunion Pictures

Here is the link for the pics from the family reunion this past weekend:

Family Reunion

Chicago is My Kind of Town

So I am gearing up for a 2 week trip to Chicago. I leave on Sunday 2/12 and return on Friday 2/23. Edwin will be coming for part of it as well from 2/16-2/19 since he has President's Day off and we will be attending Santiney and Carlo's wedding reception on 2/17. (We missed their beautiful wedding in Turks & Caicos, but you can see their pics here http://www.tropicalimaging.com/eos/ortiznov06/) So pretty! Anywho, I'm hoping to get to visit some friends and family while I am out there. Should be fun, but COLD! I was told that it was below zero. I've done it before, but it's been a while... guess I should pack some long underwear!

I am kind of dreading it too. I'm not dreading it because of the cold, but it's just that I don't feel that I have had much time at home for the past few weeks. We have spent one weekend in LA each month since December and when I get back, I am heading straight to Tahoe for our annual trip. I would like to have a little more time at home is all. There's so much I want/need to do like writing Thank You cards, putting together the wedding album, going to the post office (don't ask!), cleaning out the closets, and organizing stuff. I guess that I can at least write Thank You cards in Chicago. (We're really good at doing them on planes and while we're waiting for the laundry.) Maybe this is what it means to be married? You just want to be at home all the time. When I was young and single I didn't mind the travel every week for work. Guess I'm used to the comforts of home.

Happy birthday to Jamie! I think that it's actually on the 4th, but we're going to their house for dinner tonight to celebrate. Also, congrats to Crystal and Jeff on their baby Mia.

We are Family!

So we were in LA this weekend for a family reunion. I think it was the first time I remember seeing all of my aunts and uncles in one place. It was fun, but also sad. The family reunion was supposed to happen in July, but it got moved because my grandma has to start more chemo for her cancer. It sounds like she doesn't have much more time left with us. I don't really like to think about it. I used to laugh at my grandma doing her "nightly exercises" which consisted of some squats and stretches. But now I realize that at least it made her stronger and active. Kind of like tai chi, I guess. It's hard to see her fluctuating in weight and losing her hair. Sometimes she's normal and other days she just seems out of it. She seemed to enjoy the festivities, but I wonder what is going through her mind. Is she scared? Is she just happy to see everyone? Here's a big group photo and I'll post the link once I have time to upload the rest.

And we swear that we're not going to do those early Monday morning flights from LA anymore. We're getting too old and it hurts too much!

Do you have a million dollars to spare?

So we have started looking at houses in the Bay Area. We're not seriously looking yet because we don't know what we can afford, but we're just looking to see what is out there. The first house we looked at was in Berkeley Hills and Edwin looked at a house in the Sunset tonight. The prices really make us question living in the Bay Area. However, we can't think of anywhere else we could live.