SNAFU!

So I'll start with the snafu that I am in because of work. I have been working like crazy lately and a majority of my time has been spent on the campaign that Apple is making fun of below. The ad is dead on. I have complained myself about why they don't improve the products to make it easier for us to help them advertise.


To be fair, I guess I need to provide a link to the Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld ads that are part of the campaign that I work on. I won't go into the gory details about why things at work are a snafu since it is pretty boring.

The other snafu has to do with our basement. So we've been having trouble finding a shower enclosure. It still hasn't been resolved, but we're about to give up and just get the basic chrome enclosure with frosted glass. We really wanted the brushed nickel finish with clear glass. Do most people even know the difference? Probably not, but we've been watching too many HGTV shows, so we now care. But the amount of time we have spent looking for something in our price range is outweighing our desire to get exactly what we want. This reminds me of when I was looking for a specific ribbon for the wedding invitations. I spent 3 weeks looking for a ribbon because I didn't want to pay $80 for it. In the end, I ended up buying that expensive ribbon and I'm sure that NO ONE noticed this ribbon except me.

Anyway, back to the basement, the newest issue that came up today is that our contractor said that the vanity we ordered has drawers that will block the plumbing, so we have to re-order the vanity with the drawers on the other side. In the whole scheme of things, this isn't that bad, it's just a hassle because now we had to order another vanity and wait another 3 weeks for it to come in which of course means that the bathroom won't be finished for probably another month. Argh! When will we be done? The toilet is installed, but there's no water in it. (I'm told that it will get turned on tomorrow.) That is just indicative of this remodel. I'll believe it when I see it.

Dinner at Water Bar was really great. I had the oven-roasted dungeness crab while Edwin had the ono. We had the baked oysters which were really tasty and had a sardine appetizer and seafood soup. The dessert was probably the biggest surprise with a pear poached in white wine with a yellow cake, roasted hazelnuts, and maple ice cream. It was a nice way to celebrate our 2 year anniversary.

Baby R Us

This weekend was pretty chill. On Friday, we went out to dinner with the Banerjees for some Vietnamese pho. I was little nervous that I wouldn't be able to eat it because of my meat aversion. I was able to eat most of it luckily.

On Saturday, Edwin went biking and surfing while I went shopping for maternity clothes. I never really considered how I would feel about being pregnant. I always thought that I would just love being a mom. It's not that I don't yet. It's just that I'm not a mom yet. So I'm just kind of shopping for a fatter me in stores where they charge a lot for clothes that are not very cute. I tried looking in Mimi Maternity, but I just couldn't find anything that I really wanted. I then went to Old Navy where I found a few tops, but still just basics. I also tried to look for some "normal" clothes with empire waists so that I could still wear it after pregnancy and look cute at BR and H&M. Unfortunately, I still didn't find anything that I wanted in my price range.

A funny thing happened to me while I was in Old Navy. It was the first time that I bought clothes for our baby boy. Edwin and I have already received a lot of clothes from friends who just had a baby boy or finished some spring cleaning. From what I hear, a lot of people buy clothes for you, so Edwin and I had agreed that we shouldn't buy any. But I just couldn't help myself. They were so cute. They had a surfing theme and most of the shirts were less than $1. How could I resist? When Edwin saw them, neither could he. I spent less than $10.

We also started the baby registry this weekend. It's so overwhelming. The room is already painted green because I thought that we could decorate with yellow and blue if we had a boy and pink and purple if we had a girl. However, we actually ended up with green, white, and brown. We were going to decorate the guest room in green and brown anyway.

Remodel news- the floor got tiled this past weekend, but we still don't have a toilet, sink, or shower installed. Grouting and sealing of the time has to happen before we can install the rest. The bathroom also got painted and the heater got installed. That's great, but I want a working bathroom! As my contractor keeps telling me, "It should just be a few more days!" Can you tell I'm frustrated?

Tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary. Can you believe it? We're going out to dinner to celebrate at Water Bar. I'll let you know how it is.

Tension

This past weekend, my cousin George came up for a visit from LA. We met up with him for a family dinner on Friday with my uncle's family and my cousin Billy and his wife Maggie. Good food at Au's Kitchen in San Bruno. So good that I ate too much. Here's the thing about pregnancy. You think that you can eat all you want, but really you can't. In fact, you have to eat less. Here's why- there is less room in your belly. Your stomach is sharing space with the baby. I've found that if I eat too much, there is no room for expansion. My belly feels like it's so stretched that it will explode. It just gets hard. It's not like belly fat that is soft that you can poke your finger and it sinks it. (Believe me, I know what that feels like!) If you poke your finger, it's like pushing the outside of a balloon. There is tension.

On Saturday, we did a little shopping and then headed out to watch the Blue Angels for Fleet Week. It was a nice day to be outside watching the plane acrobatics. Getting to Chrissy Field was not bad. We parked near my work at Levi's Plaza and then took a cab. After the show, we decided to walk back towards the car and take public transportation. If moving out to Alameda made us forget how bad public transportation can be in SF, Saturday was a reminder. We walked about 15 blocks to the bus stop near Ghiradelli Square. Since we were in the area, we decided to rest and get some ice cream. We lived 4 blocks from there and I think that we only ever went there 4 times when people were visiting from out of town. After we spent $8 on a sundae, we continued on our walk because the traffic was so heavy that no cars were moving and therefore, no buses were coming. We then changed course and took the F street car since it had its own dedicated lane that would take us back to Levi's Plaza. Little did we know that when we boarded the bus that appeared (instead of the street car) that it would hold us hostage. We basically wanted to exit at Pier 23, but when the bus finally got out of traffic, it wasn't letting anyone off until the Ferry Building. When we finally got out, I waited for Edwin at the Hyatt hotel on Market while Edwin had to walk another 10-15 blocks back to the car. It took us almost 3 hours to get back to our car in what should have taken about 30 minutes tops. Tension.

On Sunday, we were going to have a Michelle and Mike come over for dinner. Since we were going to cook anyway, we invited the Banerjees who then invited the Schneiders since they were going to be househunting in the East Bay. It was an impromptu dinner party. I actually like having people over because it forces us to clean the house. The house has been a mess lately because of all the construction in the basement. Did I say that we can't wait until it's done? We had a great time and celebrated Kokomi's 2nd birthday. I was also able to eat beef for the first time in months! Short ribs from Costco- Harris Ranch. Yum.

On the basement, we are so close. This week, the room got carpet. However, the bathroom is still not done. It won't even be worked on until next weekend. We were able to order a shower enclosure so that it doesn't have to be custom, but our contractor waited a full week before ordering and we are told that it wouldn't come in for 14 days. Still, I would just love an extra working toilet. Tiling began last week, however, they are still not done. They have laid most of the floor tile, but they still need to finish and after they finish, they still have to grout. That is 2 days minimum before they can install the toilet. It would be a great anniversary gift. (shhh... don't tell Edwin I said that- I still want a present!) So what's the problem? The problem is that our contractor started some other rush job and says that he won't be able to come to work until Saturday. I've heard of this happening to other people, but this really sucks. I guess it could be worse because I hear some contractors don't even tell you and just don't show up. It's just that we will have to live with the dirt and dust for another week. So this has caused a little bit of tension with our contractor, but what can you do? Guess it will be another 3 days- at least we're not paying anymore.

Food and lots of it

Last weekend, we had a night out with the Banerjees in the East Bay. We went to dinner at a great Italian restaurant called Dopo. Food was very good. My faves were the scallops in a tomato sauce and Matilde's tagliatelle in pheasant ragu. We will have to go back. Then, we went to Fenton's Creamery across the street for some ice cream. Pregnancy does have it's perks.

On Saturday, we went to San Mateo to celebrate Kaori's birthday. Jamie planned a surprise lunch for her and as usual, we spent the rest of the day hanging out. We ended the evening with a Chicago-style hotdog dinner with various hot dog preparations. We of course had the classic hot dog on a bun as well as franks and beans, jambalaya/gumbo, and Asian favorite ramen with sliced hot dog.

On Sunday, we had more good food. We went to Mountain View to my cousin's house for a BBQ. Still can't eat steak, but I had plenty to eat. We were able to sell our blue couch, so now we just need to sell the chaise.

Update on the basement- we have about a week to go. After the they finished smoothing the walls, we discovered that they had sealed our glasses behind the wall. When the framing was put up, we noticed that the contractors had used a few of our drinking glasses and placed on the ledge underneath the framing. We thought that they were using the glasses to test the new pipes for the bathroom. After they sealed the wall, we realized that we hadn't seen those glasses back in the cabinets, so we asked the contractor about it. Apparently, the glasses were left inadvertantly behind the sealed wall. I equate this situation with how a surgeon forgets a scalpel or gauze inside a patient. Luckily, these were just some old glasses that we didn't really care about. Though the contractor offered to open up the wall to retrieve them, we opted to just leave them there. They started tiling the shower and have painted the wall of the family room. We discovered this week that the shower doors that we purchased were too tall for the space, so we thought we might need to purchase custom shower doors. Luckily, we discovered that Jon and Jeannette had used shorter doors and so we're hoping to be able to purchase the same shower enclosure. We cannot wait until this construction is done.

Here are the photos from Tom and Debbie's wedding:

It's a Boy!

We found out yesterday that we will be having a baby boy. We had our second sonogram. Before the technician told us that the baby was a boy, I suspected that he was a boy because I saw a body part that didn't look like an arm or a leg. Edwin suspected a few weeks ago that he was a boy.

I first started noticing something last week with the baby. At first, it felt kind of like a twitch in my abdomen. Now I know that it was the baby kicking. It's definitely more distinct now. He's been very active yesterday and today. Before the sonogram, they tell us to come with a full bladder. During the sonogram, they press on your full bladder to see the baby. I was hoping that I wouldn't have an accident during the exam. I wouldn't be surprised if there have been other women who have.

This past weekend, we had a great time at Tom & Debbie's wedding. I'll post pics later, but the weekend was a blur. We got to catch up with friends from out of town and with friends in town. Edwin was the officiant while I did a reading and sang during the reception with Pete, Nikki, Sanford, and Pete/Tom's cousin.

My Baby Has No Name Yet

We haven't really started to think about names yet because we're waiting until we find out the sex on Monday. (No Dennis, we will not be naming our child Thor and Legolas even if he is a boy. You should save those names for your future son.) However, I really liked this poem.

My Baby Has No Name Yet

by Kim Nam-Jo

My baby has no name yet;
like a new-born chick or puppy,
my baby is not named yet.

What numberless texts I examined
at dawn and night and evening over again!
But not one character did I find
which is as lovely as the child.

Starry field of the sky,
or heap of pearls in the depth.
Where can the name be found, how can I?

My baby has no name yet;
like an unnamed bluebird or white flowers
from the farthest land for the first,
I have no name for this baby of ours.

Traveling Dancer

Saw this video a few weeks ago, but I just love it because it reminds me of all the places that we have been to (and some that we would like to visit in the future!) and wanted to share. It always seems to make me smile.

Changing Lifestyles

Thanks to everyone on the well wishes for the baby. It's funny how it takes a mass email to hear from people again. I think that everyone just gets so busy, but it was like someone openned all the floodgates and we received so many emails from people. Some people we haven't even seen since the wedding. Since we will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary in 2 weeks, that means that we haven't seen some of you in 2 years. How does that happen?

This week was a particularly rough week at work. I'm just glad that it is over and hopefully, that means that I can get back to a more normal schedule.

On Friday, we got to catch up with some friends. It's funny how things change when people start having kids. We used to go out past midnight and now we are usually home by midnight. I guess that when you start having to wake up at the crack of dawn with kids and can't sleep in the next day, you start to question the value of staying up late. I think it gets easier as your friends start having kids as well.

Last night, we went to go see the new DeNiro and Pacino movie "Righteous Kill." Edwin's favorite movie is Heat which also stars these 2, so we were hoping that it would be good. It was entertaining, but definitely not as good as Heat. I also realized that we used to watch movies more often with friends, but lately, it's been the 2 of us if we go to see a movie in a theatre. I guess that's another change that happens when people start having kids. No one wants to pay for a babysitter or paying to see a movie in a theatre when you can watch it at home 3 months later.

Update on the basement- I've been remiss in posting pictures of progress. We are about 2 weeks away from having a new bathroom and family room/guest room. It's actually starting to look like a real room. All the rough plumbing and electrical are done. (For those who don't know contractor speak, that just means that all the stuff behind the walls is done.) They have completed the framing, put in insulation, and put up the drywall. They have started mudding and taping (which just means that they are smoothing out the surface of the walls.) We still don't have the shower, toilet, or sink installed and my guess is that they will start tiling this week. Windows have not been replaced and the stairwell still needs to be covered and painted. However, we have a ceiling and walls.

Trip to LA

These photos were from my trip to LA in August. I didn't have a chance to post them back then, but it was a family-filled weekend for me while Edwin went on his annual surfari in San Onofri.

Belly Bump Watch

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to see a couple of live cover bands. It was fun, but we definitely felt a little old since we were seated for most of it. I can always play the pregnancy card, right? We got to see cover bands for No Doubt, Weezer, and the Smiths. It was pretty loud in the club, so I wonder if the baby was able to hear the music. (I think I remember reading that the baby's ears had formed.) I also remember my mom said that she went to a Bee Gee's concert when she was pregnant with me which is why she is convinced that I like to dance and sing. We'll see.

This week, I guess that I am starting to show. One of my SVP's walked up to me and asked me if I was pregnant. I still haven't gained any weight, but I know that my belly has gotten bigger because none of my pants fit anymore. Last weekend, I was trying to find a dress to wear to a friend's birthday party, and I couldn't zip up any of them. It's a little disheartening, but the reason makes it OK. I do wonder if/when I'll be able to get back into my normal clothes. I definitely have a bigger, rounder stomach.

So if I haven't gained any weight and this is just a redistribution focused on my middle, then where was this weight hiding on my body before the pregnancy? That thought is a bit frightening. I'm not worried about not gaining any weight since the baby is only supposed to weigh about 5 oz right now. Since that's not even a pound, I'm happy that I'm not gaining weight too quickly. Most women are only supposed to gain 25-30 lbs during pregnancy, so I would like to stay on the lower end of that weight gain. I've never been good at going to the gym, so the less that I gain, the less I'll have to lose later, right?

Remembering

So today is the memorial of the September 11 attacks. I remember very clearly that I was getting ready for work as I heard the news. It reminds me that there is more to life than work. Lately, I have been working a lot. It's probably not the best thing for me or the baby, but it's just been really busy and very stressful.

In addition to work, there's also the stress of another remodel. We started finishing the basement right before Labor Day. I thought that the kitchen was stressful, but I feel like this one has been tougher. We had different stressors for the kitchen such as the language barrier since the contractor spoke mostly Chinese. For the basement, things seem to keep expanding in terms of cost, time, and scope. Not things I like to hear. I think that we might have been spoiled with the kitchen remodel because we did finish on-time though we did spend a little more than we had anticipated. We didn't have the typical contractor experience where they were late or found something bad which expanded the scope. So you already know about the water heater. This week, we heard that it was probably going to take them another week to complete the job. I still haven't figured out why. The material costs are definitely going to exceed the estimate, so it's all a bit frustrating. I am so relieved that this will probably be our last remodel project for a while. I can't wait until it will be finished. I don't like bad surprises. Being in strategy and analytics, I like to know about things ahead of time and plan for them. Probably another reason we want to know the sex of the baby when the time comes.

I'm sure that I'll be happy in the end, but it's just nervousness until we get there. I think that when I compare it to the kitchen remodel, I forget about the anxiety we had with that project and just remember the relief when it was complete.

I'm told that pregnant women also are very forgetful. I wonder if that is a factor as well. I feel like my memory lately has been suspect. This week, I forgot my laptop at a restaurant which I have never done before. Last week, I forgot to write an important check. I might have to start relying on Edwin to remember things for me for a while. Scary.

Pregnancy = Uncomfortable

So in case you were wondering why the number of posts have diminished quite a bit this summer, it is because of the pregnancy. I told you about the food aversions, but I haven't talked about the lethargy. For the past 3 months, I have pretty much taken 2 hour naps every Sunday and sometimes during the week. I'm usually OK during the day at work, but once I stop moving and start relaxing, my body says "You're finally slowing down, so you're really going to slow down now." It's kind of like when you are working really hard on a project and you can't afford to be sick, so you power through it and then you go on vacation and you get sick because you finally let your defenses go.

Because I have been sleeping so much and been drained of energy, it's been hard to get stuff done. I'm cleaning less- luckily, Edwin is there to pick up the slack most of the time, but it's hard to motivate if you're the only one cleaning while your spouse is sleeping. For me, that means returning less emails, decreasing blog posts, less phone calls, missing fun events with friends, and a decrease in thoughtful things for others (buying gifts/cards, calling/emailing for a birthday, etc.) This may not seem that significant and I know that people understand why, but it's part of what makes me me. Some of our friends said that they were suspicious of my pregnancy when Edwin appeared at a few events without me saying that "Michelle's not feeling well, so she wasn't able to come."

I'm now at 14 weeks and my pants are starting not to fit. I haven't gained any weight, but I guess that it has just been re-distributed to my middle. I had an OB appointment on Friday and my doctor told me that I definitely was starting to look pregnant. I can't really tell, but both Jeannette and Edwin have started saying that I'm looking bigger. I do feel like I'm in an in-between stage because my normal pants are too tight, but I'm still too small for maternity pants because they feel too loose. I'm also feeling some kind of weird soreness in my left lower back. I'm told that it is my sciatica. I have heard that a lot of women have issues with their hips and backs when pregnant because the hormones are working to "loosen" the joints in preparation for the big day. I guess that's why they say that women with large hips are good child bearing hips. I never thought that my hips were that small. It's usually worst when I wake up or after I have been sitting for a long period of time. I've never had back pain because I'm pretty flexible, so I can't tell if this is because I'm just getting old or if it's pregnancy-related- either way, it's uncomfortable.

So in all the excitement related to the baby, I forgot to mention that we've started remodelling again. This time, we're finishing the basement and the best part- adding a bathroom. We started this past week and unfortunately, we forgot to take the before pictures. So far, they have just started the framing to put up the walls, but we've already had a few mishaps. We're using different contractors this time than we did with the kitchen. We were very happy with the kitchen contractors, but Jon and Jeannette just had this contractor build a similar in-law unit for them, so we thought we would give him a try. On the first day, we met with him and told him that we would be leaving the back door open for him so that we wouldn't need to give him a key. He left to go purchase supplies and was going to return that day to start demolishing the basement. Well, that was the same day that my cousin Esther was leaving our house (she stayed with us this summer while she interned at my company) and she accidentally locked them out. Not a good start.

Then, the contractor was going to move the water heater to make room for the bathroom, but we determined that we weren't going to be able to move it where we wanted to, so now we're going to have a tankless water heater installed. We had been toying with the idea for while, but decided not to because of the cost. As you may recall, we had a slight issue when we first moved in because PG&E came to turn on the hot water and said that there was something wrong with the pilot assembly in the water heater. Though our real estate agent used some plumbers tape and "fixed it" so that we could use the water heater, I never have felt that comfortable with the water heater since. Because of that incident and because of the spatial/aesthetic issues, we decided to go for the tankless water heater. They say that it saves energy and money, so why not?

Our Labor Day weekend has been spent mostly shopping for bathroom materials and cleaning. Next weekend will be the one year anniversary since we first moved in. It's hard to believe that we have been here for a year when we still haven't finished unpacking! Also part of this remodel, we will be adding shelves flanking the fireplace- yay, so we can finally unpack our books. Maybe we'll finish unpacking and put up a picture or 2 within the next year. We also get our new sectional this week. Woo hoo- the joys of home ownership.

We're Having a Baby!

Baby's head is on the right and the spot above is the hand. You can kind of see eyes and a mouth.
3D baby. Looks like a topside view.

It's no longer an April Fools joke. We are expecting. Baby Lager will be joining us in late February. Due date is February 24, 2009. We were waiting until the end of the first trimester to announce, but here's a recap of how the pregnancy has gone so far.

I found out that I was pregant right before I left for NYC in July. I had my yearly exam with the OB/GYN, but was told that they would have to charge me for a pregancy test because insurance does not cover it. What??? That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I don't know why I should be surprised that insurance doesn't cover it, insurance in general sucks. The doctor assured me that the pee sticks were just as accurate, so I took it the next day before I left for NYC. I read the instructions on the outside of the box and took the test. It came out positive. Jeannette reassured me that there are no false positives, only false negatives with these tests.

It's so hard for me to keep my own secrets. It's much easier for me to keep other people's secrets. Maybe it was because I wanted to tell people, but I felt like I couldn't because I couldn't even tell Edwin yet because he was in Nicaragua. That's not to say that I didn't tell anyone, but Edwin was not the first to know. Some people think that I should have emailed him and told him to call me. However, that's just not something that we have ever done. When he's on his trips, he doesn't call me. He usually just emails, but this is not something I wanted to email. And yes, we have not yet discovered Skype because we don't really call anyone internationally.

I finally did tell Edwin over the phone when he was back from Nicaragua. I was still in NYC and was going home the next day. I would have liked to have been able to tell him in person, but I just couldn't wait. It's not like he didn't know there was that possibility, but I think it still surprised him. It's like the clock had already started ticking on 9 months and we didn't even know we were starting until 6 weeks into it. I know it's not right, but somehow I always felt like it was 9 months from when you know.

The first real sign that made me think that I was pregnant was that my breasts were sore for several days. (Is that TMI?) I'm about 14 weeks now and I haven't really had morning sickness where I vomitted, so I guess I'm lucky. I have felt queasy and tired, but that's about it. I have always wondered what kind of food cravings I might have. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought pregnancy would make me want to eat more fruits and vegetables. (Edwin is now convinced that this is his baby!) I can't seem to get enough fruit and I don't think I have wanted to eat salads more than now. Edwin is very happy about that, but he's not so happy that it also seems that the baby doesn't seem to want red meat. I look at a big steak and think "oh, that looks good" but then I can't eat it. My stomach starts to say "don't bother." There have been a few times when I started eating something I thought I wanted and then had to stop in the middle because I started feeling queasy. Baby has also made my portion sizes smaller. In my head, I think to myself, I could eat 2 slices of beef pot pie, but then I am barely able to eat one. Edwin has been trying to get me to eat more meat. It's almost a role reversal. Nobody has ever had to tell me to eat more meat in my entire life! One thing that both baby and I like is soup. Love it. Can't get enough of it.

Things have been somewhat surreal. Part of me thinks that we should be doing more to prepare, but then I'm like, what do I need to do? I think at this point, it's just relax. Maybe look into maternity leave stuff. We probably won't decorate the baby's room until we find out the sex. We both want to know. Right now, I don't really feel anything, so I can't tell if it's a boy or girl. I would be happy with both, but I would at least like to have 1 girl out of the 2 children we will probably have.

Catching Up

Last weekend, we went out to the Castro and met up with Pablo, Steve, and Steve. We had dinner at Luna which had a lovely outdoor patio and a totally delicious clam chowder. Unfortunately, I wish that I had remembered to take a lactaid. Note to self, always take a lactaid when eating creamy soups. We ended up having an impromptu sleepover at Jeannette and Jon's so that I could recover from my gastrointestinal difficulties.

On Saturday, we went to San Jose for Joe and Helena's baby shower/BBQ. We also went to Mike and Michelle's for a dumpling making party. Though we missed the dumpling making part, we were there for the eating part and it was more good times with good friends.

Tea Party

On Friday, we went out with some friends to celebrate my birthday. We went to a French restaurant in the Mission called Garcon. The bartender was very good and the food was not bad, but the service was a little less than I would have expected for that caliber of restaurant. We still had a good time and then went to Bi-Rite for some ice cream dessert. I definitely recommend Bi-Rite. It was quite tasty. I had plain chocolate which was good, but there was a balsamic strawberry that was really great.

On Saturday, Michelle and Show and I went to Debbie's bridal shower in Pacifica. It was quite nice. Debbie has 3 sisters who are very domestically gifted. They had lovely tea sandwiches- salmon and egg salad, chicken curry on croissant, turkey pesto and mozzerella, and peanut butter jelly and banana. So yummy. This is in addition to the 2 trifles, the sorbet, and homemade scones. This was a real tea party.

All in all, a pretty good way to celebrate my 33rd birthday.

iPhone Frenzy

Last Friday, we had dinner with Matilde, Kokomi, Jeannette, and Freeman. Jeannette and Freeman stayed to help me bake an apple pie. Freeman slept while Jeannette peeled and sliced the apples while I prepared the mixture. Poor Jeannette didn't get to taste the pie because she had to leave earlier, and I brought the pie to cousin Billy & Maggie's in Mountain View for a BBQ. It was a nice little family gathering since Esther was there along with my uncle and his kids and Billy's parents. It was crazy hot (90+ degrees) and so weird because on Monday it was like 60 degrees in the city.

Sunday was pretty uneventful. Edwin tried to get the new Apple iPhone, but was told at the store that their system was down. It's crazy to me the demand for this phone. I work on the Windows Mobile campaign and I get a free phone through work, but I still think about paying $200 plus a monthly fee for the new iPhone. Is that crazy? I know that a lot of MS employees have iPhones. How good of a product is Windows Mobile if you can't convince your own employees to use it? Part of me wants to tell MS to build a product like the iPhone and then we can help them to advertise it.

DC Days

Yikes! It's been a while since I posted. It's mostly because we went to DC last week to celebrate Mustafa and Ellen's wedding. We were there from Wednesday to Sunday, but the time went by so fast. When we arrived on Wednesday, Mustafa and Ellen picked us up from the airport and we went to dinner. We also got a tour of their new house. We forget that when we leave the Bay Area, the houses all seem SO BIG. They had a beautiful deck with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. I have bathroom envy when I still have to share our only bathroom with Edwin. Here are some photos from our trip:

On Thursday, we helped pick up all the liquor for the wedding. We purchased the recommended amount from the caterer. We should have anticipated that the 60 guests would not be able to consume the vast amounts of liquor that they recommended- especially when we knew about half the guests and most of them don't drink alcohol at all. I think that Sujay did his best to consume as much as possible. He had 4 drinks before dinner and quite a few after. I always thought that "wedding Sujay" was only affected by wine, but now I know that's not the case. More about that later. After we picked up the libations, we went shopping at the Leesburg outlet mall since we were in the vicinity and sales tax was only 5%. I didn't really get much, but Edwin was able to get some great deals. We then met up with Ellen & Mustafa and some of their out of town guests for some pizza and pasta.

Feeling guilty about not indulging in the more cultural aspects of DC, we decided to go to the Smithsonian with the Banerjees on Friday. I forgot how big it was and we were only able to make it to the Natural History museum where we saw the Hope Diamond, a butterfly exhibit, and lots of taxodermied animals. We had wanted to visit the American History museum, but it was closed for renovations. We also wanted to see the Aerospace museum, but we ran out of time. We took a brisk walk to the Capitol Building in the sweltering heat, made a short stop at the Washington Monument, and then went to visit Matilde's old high school. We made it back in time to enjoy a BBQ at Ellen & Mustafa's where we got to meet up with Michelle and Mike, Derek and Show, Bo and John, Jinn, Kristal, Greg, Wilson, and Lok. We haven't seen Wilson in forever so it was nice to catch up with him and his adventures in HK. Old friends = good times.

Saturday was the big day, but we managed to make a quick trip to Dupont Circle with the Banerjees and Jinn. We had a quick lunch at Wisemillers which Greg had recommended to us and realized that we were no longer in college as we were expecting seating with our meal. It was still tasty and so we dined al fresco on one of the Georgetown campus lawns. Unfortunately, we did not get to explore Dupont Circle as much as we would have liked because we needed to get back to get dressed. It was such a cute little area that reminded me of Beacon Street in Boston because of the cute boutiques and collegiate atmosphere.

We had begun to remark that Ellen and Mustafa didn't seem as stressed as most couples are on their wedding day and surmised that it was probably because this was their third wedding. (They were officially married in December with family only and had another celebration in London earlier this year.) They still had a ceremony and it was lovely. Ellen is one of our dearest friends and part of our wedding party. The words that they shared were so heart-felt and genuine that I don't know that there was a dry eye in the group. Even though they have been married in essence for 6 months, it seemed to me that they were just wed. They were also mercifully short in the hot weather. Pictures to be posted later. There was lots of dancing and then it was all over. We got to chauffer Sujay home because he was three sheets to the wind. We had to stop twice to let him expunge his dinner and drinks. All in all, it was a great night of celebration.

Sunday morning took us a little longer to wake up. We spent our last few hours at Ellen and Mustafa's and saying good-bye to friends before we had a long flights home. We had a connection in Phoenix and our layover turned out to be delayed due to some bogus SF weather claims. Luckily, they let us off the plane and we were able to fly standby to Oakland which was more convenient anyway. After so much activity, it was nice to be home.

This week was horrendous. Work has been killing me. I was working until past 1AM on Monday because of a deadline and I have worked after I got home every day this week. This is not normal for me thankfully, but it doesn't make it much easier. Today was the first day I didn't feel exhausted. This weekend cannot come soon enough!

All in a Day's Hard Work

So I hope that everyone had a good time for the 4th of July. We had a great time. We had a BBQ. We thought that there would be 15 people attending, but then we had more than 30 people come. We started the day with the Alameda parade which is one of the longest parades in the country at 3.5 miles long. It was definitely a slice of Americana. Matilde, Kokomi, Sully, Eric, Wendy, Kian, and Teague joined us for the festivities. There were lots of people who came to the parade via bike. We drove, but were able to find parking only 3 blocks away. As a former city dweller, this was pretty incredible to us. We were able to get great views because the parade was so long that even at one of the busiest intersections on the island, we got front row seats. Here are some pictures of the parade.

After we left the parade, we went home to prepare for the BBQ. The day went by so quickly. Many people had more than 1 BBQ, so we ended the festivities around 5PM. This allowed us to go to Greg's BBQ in the evening in Emeryville where we tried to watch the fireworks, but because it was so cloudy, we weren't able to see much.

This weekend has gone by quickly too. We had a dinner in Oakland and then watched an Adam Sandler movie called Click. It was a fun movie. On Saturday, Jamie came over and helped us fix a LOT of little things around the house. Now I wish that I had taken "before" pictures. In one day, they hung the old kitchen cabinets in the garage, repaired the deck and stairs, fixed the gate latch, repaired the back screendoor, hung several window shades, and tore out the old shed acoustic ceiling. I was hoping for just the cabinets to be hung and maybe some deck repair. I never in my wildest dreams thought that they would be able to accomplish so much in one day. As Jamie kept saying, "Well, since we have all the tools out, what else can we do?" Here's a new addition to a good friend definition- helps you do home repair or clean raw sewage. Thanks Jamie!

NYC and Freeman Jah George

Last week just flew by. As you know, I went to NYC for the week. Here was the day-by-day activities:

Tuesday-I arrived to a hot and sweaty NYC via SuperShuttle. Now, I lived in NYC for 2 years. In all that time, I never took SuperShuttle. Why did I start now? I should have just shared a taxi with someone from the airport. I waited 45 minutes just to board the shuttle. Then, I sat for another hour while we dropped off 3 other parties. I could not stand it any longer. I got out and took a taxi the rest of the way. It would have been faster and cheaper to take the subway. Note to self- SuperShuttle in SF good. SuperShuttle in NYC- very, very bad. I arrived at Priyanka and Matt's for a late night dinner. It was nice to catch up with them.

Wednesday- To prepare for Priyanka's birthday dinner, I wen to Union Square Farmer's Market with Matt to pick up some ingredients. It was really big and had a large selection. I really wish that I had known about this when I lived there because I was always frustrated with the lack of fresh foods though I am told that this market just started getting more popular within the last few years. I also got to meet up with my cousin Vivian. She happened to be on her way to Guatamala for a freelance job. We had lunch at Katz's Deli and then shopping in Soho. That night, I went in to Westchester with my cousin Amy to visit my uncle and aunt. We also went to Cosi for dinner. Cosi is a regional chain that is not in CA, but I used to have it for lunch a lot when I lived in NYC so it was another food to check off my list. These were some really good sandwiches.

Thursday- I met up with Amy in Times Square for Sapporo ramen. When I lived in NYC, I used to meet up with Amy for ramen lunch at least once a week. Then, I met up with Ellen for some more shopping. She came up from DC to hang out with me and Jinn since school was out. It was also Priyanka's birthday and her husband Matt cooked up a a gourmet vegetarian dinner. Matt has always been able to make vegetarian food appealing to me. I'm pretty much the biggest carnivore, but Matt makes vegetarian dishes so tasty that it makes me think that he must be sneaking in meat somehow. He did not disappoint. He started with a 3 types of picked beets on endive. I'm not a big beet fan and I normally don't like endive because I find it bitter. Matt has changed my mind. I think that the pickling tamed the bitter flavor. He then made a cilantro soup. I hate cilantro, but I thought that if anyone was going to change my mind about that soap-flavored herb, it would be Matt. I tried it and had more than I thought I would, but alas, even Matt could not change my mind about cilantro. I tried. The main course was the lasagna. Most people buy the sauce and noodles and call it day. Matt made the sauce and the lasagna noodles. Who does that? This is what makes Matt a gourmet. It was SO good. The noodles were thinner than most lasagna noodles and the sauce was so sweet. I loved it and I had 2 pieces. Then, Priyanka's friend Edina made a cake. Who are these people? How do they even have the materials at home to just whip up a cake? I was impressed. My friends will buy me a nice cake, but I can't imagine anyone having the time to bake an entire cake. Maybe Show. These people live in NYC. They have changed my perception of New Yorkers. I need to step up my hostess game. No more Costco parties- who am I kidding? We're having 15 people over Friday for a BBQ. You bet we're going to Costco. Maybe I'll plan for something homemade...

Friday- I started out the day by meeting Ellen in South Street Seaport to pick up Broadway tickets at TKTS. We worked our way up to the West Village for some lunch at Dirty Bird to Go which I thought was good, but expensive. The whole premise is that the chicken in organic and hormone-free. I guess that healthier chickens mean littler chickens because it was probably the smallest thigh I have ever eaten. It was tasty, but I don't know if it's worth triple the cost of Popeye's for half the food. We also went to The Ink Pad to pick up embossing materials for Jinn's birthday gift. It was a cool specialty store with more stamps than I have ever seen, but I'm not sure that it's for everyone. Then, Ellen and I went to Central Park to hang out. Before our Broadway show, we had dinner at Joe's ShangHai Dumplings with Amy and Sandi. This was probably my favorite new find in NYC. These dumplings were so tasty. All the food was very good. We thought that we had over-ordered, but we managed to finish everything. I think that my favorites were the crab and pork soup dumplings and the seafood fried flat noodles. Yum- my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I think that this will warrant a return the next time I'm in NYC. Haven't had dumplings this good in a while. We then went to watch Spring Awakenings, a new musical. I have to admit, I knew nothing about this show, but it has gotten some good reviews. The music was pretty good and the actors were pretty good, but I couldn't get into the storyline. It was supposed to take place in 1890 Germany, but the music was contemporary and I like my musicals to be more happy and cheesy. After the show, we met up with Bo and her boyfriend for some karaoke at Duet which Derek recommended. Show and Derek were supposed to join us, but unfortunately, Show's flight was delayed 1.5 hours. We managed to still have a blast. We were only going to stay an hour, but we ended up singing for 2 hours.

Sat- I started the day with some bagel and lox with Priyanka at a nearby bagel joint. I forgot how good a bagel and lox can taste. Another NYC food check. Jinn drove us out to her NJ summer house in Bradley Beach for a gourmet BBQ. Anyone going to Jinn's parties will never go hungry. She made pulled pork, hamburgers with garlic chunks, marinated chicken thighs, asparagus, portobella mushrooms, and red peppers. She also marinated salmon, but we were just too stuffed to eat cook it. We spent a few hours at the beach where I took a nice nap. I ended up napping 3 times that day. I think that all of the hustle and bustle of NYC caught up to me. It was really nice to be able to relax in NJ at the beach house.

Sun- For my final day, we made a visit to our friends Val and Jason's house in Brooklyn to meet their son Tyler. It was really great to catch up with them and again I was impressed by Jason's culinary skills. He made a steak with risotto while Val made a strawberry shortcake dessert from scratch. Like I said, these New Yorkers have made me realize that I need to make more of a culinary effort. It can be done!

It was a really busy trip, but I was happy that I was able to spend quality time with all of my friends and family. These are the only photos I have from the trip because Edwin took the camera with him to Nicaragua. This is a photo of me with my cousins Amy and Sandi after we gorged at Joe's ShangHai Dumplings.

Best news of all, Jeannette gave birth to a baby boy on Sunday. Here's a photo of uncle Edwin with his new nephew, Freeman.

Scrubya!

One of my childhood friends Kavita is now a small business owner who make politcal soaps. I used to go to her house almost weekly. If I wasn't at Kavita's house, I was at Priyanka's house. We lost touch after college. I'm not exactly sure why. I think part of it was the distance. She was in New England and I was in the Bay Area. She went into politics (volunteering for some presidential hopeful a few years ago) and I really don't know much about politics. I think it's great to see her be successful and still be able to voice her opinions. I haven't tried her soap yet, but I will be ordering some. If you know of any liberals who would get a kick out of soap with a political statement, I recommend it. http://scrubya.com/

What I think is even more remarkable is how I came to know about Kavita's business. My cousin Vivian was her first Canadian customer. Kavita was one of my closest friends in high school and we went to Toronto with Priyanka and Mariko and stayed with Vivian's family when I turned 19. Since Kavita's picture is on the website and she still looks like she did when we were in college, I'm sure that Vivian recognized it was her. It's such a small world.

Edwin left for Nicaragua yesterday on his surf trip/Tom's bachelor party. I am definitely jealous. I am not that jealous of Nicaragua because I have never really wanted to go there. What I am really jealous of is the travel. I want to go on vacation to another country, but I haven't even updated my passport. I get the travel bug every few years and it's definitely hitting me. I thought after Australia, I was done with travel. I remember being glad to be home after being gone for so long. I don't think that I need to go away for a month. I just get guilty about all the money I'm spending and all the food that I am eating. A nice long 10 day or 2 week vacation is what I would want. We were thinking about attending a wedding in Italy this summer. It would have been awesome, but the cost is just too great right now. $1500 per ticket and that's without food or lodging. I'm so glad that we went 5 years ago when the dollar was stronger.

I am also jealous because Edwin is on a trip with his guy friends. I used to travel with my girlfriends on trips. I went to Boston, Philly, Toronto, and Cancun in college with girlfriends. It just doesn't happen very often anymore. I don't know why. Maybe it's because people have kids or because many of us have coupled up and that changes the dynamics of things. We'll go on trips with couples, but not really all guys or all girls. Maybe it's because there's no one left to organize it. Maybe it's because I'm too lazy to do it and I had more time to plan when I was single. For whatever the reason, I don't get to go on trips with my girlfriends much anymore and I miss it. It just reminds me that I need to enjoy the moment because things can change very quickly.

Don't worry. I'm still going on a vacation to NYC. I'm leaving on Tuesday and will be staying there for almost a week which is still somehow not enough time. So much to do and so little time! I'm saying that a lot these days.

Long Time No See

What have we been up to? It has been a while. Well, my cousin Esther is staying with us for a few weeks. She is an intern at my company for the summer. It's been fun having her around. We are definitely cooking a lot more since her arrival. Since she's staying in the guest room, it did force us to clean a little more in the guest room. Will it ever be done? We have gotten inspired because Jon and Jeannette, who just moved into their house 2 weeks ago have completely unpacked and moved in. They even have pictures on the wall! We have been in this house for 9 monthes and we have not hung up one picture yet. Are we too slow? I think that they might be a little more motivated since their baby is due any day now. I was super impressed by how much they were able to do in just 2 weeks.

There's a lot that I would like to do in the house, but I don't feel like we have the time to do everything or have the right furniture yet. I feel like we should take a few days off just to get some of that stuff done around the house. Jon and Jeannette's house was previously owned by a gay man. I think that our next house should be owned by a gay man. It just makes decorating so much easier. We still need to find a rug for the living room. I think that we have found a couch and a chair for the living room, but we still to need make measurements to make sure that it will all fit. One reason I don't feel like we can unpack everything is that we don't have shelves yet- at least not the ones that are permanent. We are thinking of having custom built shelves flanking the fireplace. Many of the houses we looked at had them, but this house did not.

For the past few weekends, we have had a lot of people visiting. So 2 weeks ago, our friend Ashton came for work and so we had dinner with her. (She's the one that used to be in the FBI- crazy since she is like my size!) Anywho, we found out that she no longer works for the FBI, but still works for the government in Department of Transportation and carries a gun. We haven't seen Ashton in about 3 years when she walked Bay to Breakers with me, but it seems just like yesterday. I'll be seeing her again at the end of the week because I am going to Seattle for work on Thursday and Friday.

Tonight, we also had dinner with Santiney. She and Carlos are in town for work. We haven't seen those guys for over year now and it's like time has not passed. You know those friends who you don't talk to everyday, but it feels like you do talk to them everyday every time you see them? It's just always good times and laughter. That's Santiney to me. It's just so comfortable. I feel like I'm still in college when I'm with her. Doing all those goofy things that we used to do together. This girl does not age.

This weekend, Edwin leaves for his trip to Nicaragua. I'm going to a free concert in Golden Gate Park with friends on Sunday, so that should be fun. Then, I'll be going to NYC on Tuesday for my vacation. When we get back, we'll be hosting a BBQ for 4th of July. Should be a hoot. Summer is just flying by!

Birthdays & Weddings

Last weekend was busy. On Saturday, we attended Alfio and Michelle's wedding in Piedmont. The weather was a little cold, but the location was very nice. Here are my pictures:
And here are more pictures from their wedding: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~alfio/pics/2008-05-31/

On Sunday, we celebrated Sujay's 35th birthday by hosting a BBQ in our backyard. Here are more pictures:

It was a good time with good friends. Happy bday, Sujay and happy belated birthday to Matilde.

My cousin Esther will be coming to stay with us this weekend. She's an intern at my company for the summer.

Sex in the City

So last Friday, we had a girls night to celebrate the premiere of the Sex in the City movie. Michelle, JoJo, Nikki, Matilde, Jeannette and I headed over to Bay Street in Emeryville for a little shopping, a little dinner, and then the movie. We had dinner at PF Changs. The funniest part was that the entire restaurant was all women. Guess that we weren't the only ones with that idea. I had originally tried to get us tickets at the Metreon, but they had sold out weeks in advance. Even on Bay Street, the 7:30 showing had sold out, so we got tickets for the 10:30 show.

As with most premieres, we had to wait in line for seats. Matilde and I got in line while the rest of the women went to get their parking validated. We had a close call when they started letting us in and everyone hadn't arrived in line yet, but then they got to us just as we were entering the theatre. When we got to our theatre, there was pandomonium. Everyone was trying to save seats. We didn't get seats in the back half of the theatre, so we headed to the furthest aisle we could get from the front which turned out to be the 4th row. As we got in our aisle, pregnant Jeannette gets body checked by another woman trying to get into a seat. (Picture grown women playing musical chairs...) Then, we realize that we only have 4 seats and we need 6, so we ask politely to the woman who had rammed into Jeannette to move over 2 seats. (There were 2 empty seats next them.) Her reply to us was, "No, I'm not moving. I actually like this seat."

WHAT???? Who does that? I was in shock. I said to her out loud, "I don't think that I have ever met anyone so rude in my life! Yes, I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU!" as I pointed to her. "First, you ram yourself into a pregnant woman." So she replies, "I didn't know she was pregnant. I'm sorry." Um, DOES IT MATTER if she's pregnant or not? Jeannette graciously says, "That's fine, but that's not the only reason why we think you're rude." Rude woman then has the nerve to say, "Well, I'm just trying to enjoy what is supposed to be a fun night and I can't help it if you have 20 people with you." I had to bite my tongue from telling her how selfish she was (and how I know that she can't count to 6 but...) so I just tell her "I'm trying to have fun as well, but you're preventing that. We have 6 people, not 20."

My friends call me fiesty- I say I'm just fiercely loyal. Maybe I am, but I get really upset when I feel like my friends have been offended. I think that I might get more upset when it happens to my friends than when it happens to me. I don't normally think of myself as a violent person, but I could have seen myself throwing things at this woman.

I remember in Hong Kong when we saw a movie that you got a seat number when you purchase your ticket. I think that it would help in situations like these. I don't know why we don't do that here. Then we wouldn't have to wait in line either.

The movie itself was good. Has all the components of a good chick flick- you laugh, you cry. The only storyline I didn't really buy was Samantha's. She just seemed out of character in this movie. All in all, it was like seeing an old friend- so familiar, so comfortable, and you can never spend enough time with them.

Housekeeping Camping in Yosemite

For Memorial Day weekend, we went camping in Yosemite. This was my second trip to Yosemite. We were originally going to stay the entire weekend, but we came back early on Sunday night because of the rain and cold weather. We still managed to do quite a bit of hiking. Jimbo, our wedding DJ and friend, organized the trip.

We stayed at Housekeeping Camp which is slightly better accommodations than sleeping in a tent. It was made of 3 cement walls and a canvas wall. We got to sleep on mattresses and rented sheets and blankets. Here's a hilarious Yosemite video that they show to campers when they check in which I like to call Bears Gone Wild.

Jeannette (Edwin's sister) and Jon also went. They kicked off their move to the Bay Area by going with us to Yosemite. On Saturday, we started off easy and hiked to see Yosemite Falls and Mirror Lake. Both of those hikes were relatively flat. If I had known how difficult hiking to Nevada Falls was going to be, I probably would have not gone. When we came to Yosemite the last time, we had also hiked Vernal Falls, so I knew that was something I could do even though it was steep. I remembered seeing old people and people with strollers do that hike.

I have to say that Jeannette has got to be one of the strongest women I have every met. She was 8 months pregnant and hiked both the Misty trail and John Muir trail to see both the Vernal Falls and the Nevada Falls. According to the Yosemite website, these trails are moderate and strenuous. We hiked for about 7 hours on Sunday. It was one of the longest hikes I have ever done. It's hard to complain when you have a woman who is 8 months pregnant hiking in front of you. Everyone who passed by us was amazed how Jeannette was climbing these steep trails. Here are some pictures from our trip.

More pictures from Jimbo: http://www.elphotoloco.org/gallery.php?gallery=16&photo=1

We also finally finished painting the bedroom. It seemed to take forever. We took a lot longer because we also painted both the ceiling and the trim which we haven't done in any other room. There were also more crack repairs that were required in this room as well. It seemed to take us even longer than the guest bedroom which had wallpaper removal. I'm loving the color- Bali Blue. We still need to do some touch up and paint the trim in the hallway and guest room, but it will probably be a little while before we get to it. I'll post pics a little later.

Bay to Breakers Among Sounds of Silence

Weekends go by way too fast. We just had a great and sunny weekend here in the Bay Area. On Friday, I kicked off the weekend with a little after work shopping with Matilde. Then, I met up with Michelle, Mike, and Show for dinner at Fuzio's at their outdoor patio. Edwin went after work surfing with Tom and Marty and then met us at Michelle and Mike's. We watched a horrible Jet Li movie called Kiss of the Dragon. It was so bad that we were laughing at the dialogue and talked during most of the movie which Jet Li had written himself. There's definitely a reason he's a action movie actor rather than a writer. He should stick to his day job.

On Saturday, Edwin attended a bachelor party for Alfio while I cleaned the house and attended Byron and Eliza's housewarming party in Glen Park with Mike. (Michelle was in San Diego for a conference.) It was kind of funny because we had to keep explaining to new people that though we had come together, we were not married and that Mike's wife's name is also Michelle. Byron is my friend Abby's brother who I knew from my old church in Cleveland. Small world. Abby's moving out here in a few months as well. I haven't seen her in years. After the party, we met up with Show for dinner at a Korean noodle restaurant called Za Zang. Very tasty, but I had snacked quite a bit at the party and could only eat half of my food. On our way back to Show's apartment, we were driving my Nikki's place. Who do we see standing in front of her building? Nikki. She was trying to hail a cab to go meet other friends, so we picked her up and dropped her off since it was close to Show's. San Francisco is small enough where you run into people you know. We watched another movie at Show's called Lars and the Real Girl. It was an Indie film and much better than Jet Li's movie.

Today was Bay to Breakers. I feel like it's been a few years since we have participated. In past years, I have always walked the 7.5 mile race. This time, we started in the middle near the beginning of Golden Gate Park. We walked to the end with Show and the Schneiders. Bay to Breakers is always great for people watching. We saw about a dozen naked men (this is not uncommon in any SF parade/event!) walking/running the race and plenty of people in costumes. My favorite quote from this year's race "Does running late count as exercise?" In my book, it does!

Edwin painted the bedroom this weekend. It had been a long process. Longer than even the guest bedroom which included wallpaper removal. Why? Well, the master bedroom had several large cracks which needed to be filled and he also painted the ceiling and trim which we have not done in any other room in the house. Painting the trim also required sanding the trim to rough up the surface so that the paint would stay. He then also painted primer in the room. The entryway which is small and painted red and one of the dining room walls which is painted blue were the only primed surfaces in the house. We did not use primer in any other rooms because they didn't need it. All of this adds up to a lot of extra time. We're almost done. All we need is for the walls to be painted Bali Blue. Then we can finally move back into our bedroom. We kind of gave ourselves a deadline because Jeannette and Jon are staying with us on Thursday before we all leave for Yosemite for Memorial Day weekend. This week is going to fly by.

While Edwin painted, I attended a surprise birthday/baby shower for Bhavana in Fremont. It was fun to hang out with all the girls. My contribution to the house this weekend, in addition to cleaning, was installing a new toilet seat. It's surprising how something so simple can make such a difference. The old seat was made of a particle board material, so it was getting warped from moisture. The seat also seemed to have mind of its own because it would often come slamming down on unwitting male guests who would probably prefer to keep their private parts from its snapping jaws. Now, we have a seat that comes with an anti-slamming mechanism. All's quiet in the Lager household. Ahhhhhh.....

Happy Mothers Day!

Here's a little video we put together for Mothers Day.

Derby Days and Days Gone By

It seems like a long time since I last posted. Last week was a really busy week at work and I was working at home a few nights to complete a deliverable I had due. Now that is over and I can return to my normal schedule. Jeannette also came to visit and so we were busy hanging out with her. We visited her new house a few times this weekend and attended my first Derby party. Who knew the Kentucky Derby was this weekend? I knew Cinco de Mayo was coming up, but who really follows the Kentucky Derby unless you're in Kentucky?

We also helped celebrate Kai's first birthday. It was so cute to see him so excited about the balloons and toys. Like Maika, I think that he did realize that it was his day. That kid is too cute. Pictures to be posted later.

While we have completed our remodel, we are still doing a few things around the house. We have started preparing our bedroom to paint it. It is the last room to be painted and rivals the guest bedroom in difficulty which had the wallpaper. Our bedroom doesn't have wallpaper, but it does have quite a few cracks that need repair. It is also more a pain because we had to move out all of the furniture, so our house is again a mess. We have decided with this room that going forward, we will be paying someone else to paint. We know it's not a question of ability or even money, it's the cost of our time and energy. There are some people out there who enjoy this stuff. It's not that we don't enjoy it, it's just that it takes us so long to figure out how to do something that we have never done before that we get frustrated.

I also ran into an old friend from NYC this past weekend. She was someone that I lost touch with and it was a little awkward. I don't know why we stopped being friends, but neither of us made the comment that we should keep in touch. I was in shock that she recognized me after 8 years because I don't know that I would have recognized her. I was also shocked that she approached me because we didn't end on the best of terms. We didn't have a fight, but she stopped talking to me one day. We had the equivalent of a friend break-up and she left me. I'm not sure how this might be different from running into an old boyfriend who dumped you (since that never happened to me before), but it made me think about all the good times we had. It made me wonder why she even acknowledged me when she saw me this weekend. Jeannette thought it was her way of apologizing, but I'm not so sure. If she wanted to renew our friendship, wouldn't she have offered to keep in touch? From my brief conversation with her, it sounded like she was in town on a project at Safeway and that she was in town quite often. She also mentioned hanging out 2 weeks ago with my cousin Amy who I introduced to her. Any thoughts from you all on why she might have approached me after all this time?

My 2 favorite things- Babies and Food

We had a great and beautiful weekend. On Friday, we tried a new Cuban restaurant in Alameda called Havana. It was very tasty and our favorite dishes were the paella, the mango gazpacho, (sorry Jamie!) and skirt steak. It was nice to catch up with the Banerjees who had just returned from a 2 week vacation in Hawaii.

On Saturday, we visited the Tachikis who just had baby boy Tyler. Corinne was a real trooper who went through 50 hours of labor. I was amazed by how alert he was. I guess it was probably one of his first parties since the Banerjees and Show were also there besides us.
We also had some friends from Santa Cruz (Dana & Chris) over for dinner. Somehow these things always get bigger and we ended up with 10 people over. Since they go surfing with Edwin, we decided to invite Tom and Debbie and Marty and Joanna. And since they also know Show and the Banerjees, it became a dinner party. Edwin cooked up a storm with 3 different pasta dishes and when it was over, we were cleaning for days. No joke- we have never used so many pots, pans, dishes, silverware, and utensils in one day. Here are some pics.



We also took a leisurely bike ride in Alameda. It was a great day to take a ride. Here is a map of the pedestrian bridge we crossed into Bay Farm.

Happy House Hunting

Congratulations to Ellen and Mustafa who just bought a house in DC. Congrats also to Jeannette and Jon who also just bought a house in the Bay Area. You hear about how housing sales are slumping, but people still need to buy houses. Hopefully, this means that the Banerjees and Schneiders will soon be homeowners too.

Now that we have finished the kitchen remodel. A lot of people keep asking us, "So what's next?" I would like to know "Is it ever done?" Haven't we done enough? I guess I do keep a mental list of stuff I want to do to the house, but do all homeowners do that? I can completely understand why people would call a house the money pit. There's no limit to the amount of money you could spend on a house. When we were in the apartment, I remember wishing that we could do stuff, but now I think that there's so much stuff to do!

Box Steps

Weekends are too short. You have the best of intentions to get all these things done and it's tough when you can only get a few of the things on your list. In case you didn't realize this about me, I'm a list person. Most of the time, I write down all the things I want to do. Some people might think that I write them down because I might forget them if I don't write it down. That's part of the reason, but the real reason is that my mind will be constantly thinking about it if I don't. Most guys have wives that nag them to do stuff. I think that most wives must have an internal nagging mechanism in their brains. Husbands, if you only knew... we only nag you about half the time that we nag ourselves.

So this weekend, we really wanted to unpack the remaining boxes that we pulled out of the garage last week. I would say that we are about half way done thanks to Edwin. I just couldn't do it this weekend. I feel like I've been the one to go through most of the boxes- it's probably not true, but that's how I felt. Most of the boxes are out of the kitchen and dining room now, but there are still 5 or 6 in the guest room. Given that we want to paint our bedroom next, we'll need to get those boxes out so that we can live there while we paint. The one thing that I wish that we could find that we still have not found are the placemats. We didn't use them that much in the apartment, but it would be nice to use them now that we have a dining room.

I did get to hang out with Michelle and Mike on Saturday for dinner. Though Mike had to go down 5 flights of stairs in his crutches to get to the car, he was a real trooper. Mike just had knee surgery and is recovering. The reason he had to go down the stairs is that the electricity went out on their entire block because of all the wind.

We also had the Schneiders over for a BBQ. Here are some pictures:


Having people really forces us to clean the house, especially when we know babies are coming over. Gearing up for the week, it's nice to have the house without boxes to trip over. I wonder if that's how they invented the box step- it was just a couple trying to avoid bumping into the boxes in their home as they unpacked and without stepping on each other's toes.

High Priced Travel and Low Cost Shopping

Last Friday, I had a girls night clothing exchange with some friends. It's always a good time and I was glad to be able to get rid of some more stuff. My goal at these things is to always go home with less than what I brought and I think that I achieved that! Even in Lei's way pregnant state, she's still able to organize and plan. It's always fun to meet new people too. Edwin, on the other hand, got some much needed alone time on the couch.

On Saturday, we had brunch with the Banerjees before they left for their vacation to Hawaii. It made me think that we need to plan a vacation. We've been talking about trying to go to Italy in August. We were invited to a wedding there. We love Italy. With all the craziness happening in the airline industry and the poor exchange rate, it is really making me think that it might not be a good idea. Not to mention that most of Europe, including many Italians, will also be on vacation in August. Edwin is going to Nicaragua in July for a bachelor party/surfing trip. I'll be going to NYC at the same time.

We're also planning on going to DC at the end of July for Ellen and Mustafa's wedding. That's a lot of travel. I've been looking for tickets online and I can't seem to find anything for under $400. Are the prices high because of gas prices, speculation that there will be increased demand due to competitive airlines going bankrupt, or just plain greed?

We also hung out with the Schneiders this weekend. We had a great dinner at a new Mongolian restaurant in San Mateo called Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot. It had this really tasty broth. Most hot pot places give you either chicken broth or just water. This one had a lot of spices like burdock root, lotus seeds, and some other stuff I don't know. We'll definitely be going back.

On Sunday, we took everything out of the garage to clean it and to bring in the rest of the boxes that have not been unpacked since we moved in. I was working almost continuously from 11AM-2AM and I'm still nowhere near done. Hopefully, we'll be able to hang the old kitchen cabinets in the garage this weekend. We're still trying to unpack, sort, and organize everything. We want to have a garage sale next month so that we can get rid of more stuff. It's really funny to me how everyone always wants to join a garage sale, but no one really wants to plan for it. Maybe we should invite more people over this weekend so that we'll motivate to clean.

Free Tibet! No Torch(ure)!

So the Olympic torch was in SF this week. It was supposed to run down the Embarcadero according to this map. However, because there were so many protesters against China, they re-routed the path at the last minute along Van Ness. It was kind of absurd. I heard that someone in Paris grabbed the torch from the runner. I just don't feel like people should use the Olympics as this platform. Countries have been doing it for a long time, but I just feel like it's supposed to be about sportsmanship and the athletes. This is the time that we are supposed to lay down the arms and forget about the things that countries disagree on.

Here's a hilarious newclip from CBS about how some of these protesters for "Free Tibet" don't even know where Tibet is:

Anyway, here are some pictures I took with my coworker Renee. Note the police squad ready for a battle. I'm surprised they didn't have shields. People in SF love to protest. Free Tibet. Free Burma. Free Turkistan. What would people here do without the protests?

Olympic Torch 2008

Buy George- I Think We've Got It!

This past weekend, Jeannette came to visit and look for houses. We were so excited to help her look for a house. They'll be moving here in May and their baby boy will be due in June. I can't imagine being able to find a house in a weekend. I guess it's not that uncommon. Laura and Alex did it last year too. I think that maybe if we were looking a house in another city we would be able to do it too, but it does seem quite stressful.

She arrived on Friday night and we picked her up from the airport and had dinner in San Mateo. She told us that she had already looked at some houses online and had a favorite. On Saturday, I had a baby shower to attend, but saw the first house with her in SF. This is the second weekend in a row that I attended a baby shower and with Jeannette being pregnant, I feel like I've been surrounded by pregnant people the past month. I really wanted to buy Corinne the hooter hider off her registry just so that I could say that I bought one. I guess it's used for breast feeding, but I just thought the name was so funny. I was telling another guy friend about it and he said that he wanted to buy a "hooter finder" instead of a hooter hider. Apparently, it is made by "bebe au lait." It sounds French. I've seen other women just use a blanket.

After the baby shower, I went home and cleaned the house a bit. We're still not done unpacking, but the house is finally at a stage where we aren't tripping over boxes and covered in dust. We still haven't organized everything either and our bedroom still needs to be painted, but the rest of the house is in decent shape. After we cleaned a little, we met up with Jeannette and her friend and had dinner in Oakland.

Today, we went to the Alameda antique fair again. They only have them once a month and this is the third time we have gone. We still haven't bought anything yet, but I guess it's only a matter of time. The thing about these things is that they are huge. We still have not been able to go through the whole thing.

After the fair, we went house hunting again with Jeannette and her realtor. Everyone knows how crazy the SF housing market is. It's a lot of money, but even a lot of money doesn't buy you everything you want. We saw 6 houses with her today and we all agreed on which one was the best (according to what they needed) and luckily it wasn't the most expensive. They're making an offer, but we don't think that they will be the only ones.

Seeing these houses, it also reminded me how SF is not the most kid-friendly place on earth. There were several houses that we saw that had beautifully landscaped backyards for entertaining, but no grass for kids to play in. More than that, it would be dangerous for kids because of all the rocks, cement, or steep hills. Though I miss the ability to walk to great restaurants, that's one thing I don't really miss about SF. We have a small backyard, but it's a backyard that could be kid-friendly. I say "could be" because we need to fix a few things like the overhang next to the garage and fix the gate a little, but it has the potential. We now live in suburbia, but we love it.

We're also just so thrilled to have more family around. We definitely enjoy having my uncle and cousin here. Since we're not able to convince Laura and Alex to join us in the insanity and move into a much smaller house for a lot more money, we're glad that we will have Jeannette and Jon around. Matilde was telling me how it was just so much easier to have family around with kids- especially ones with kids. Everyone cross your fingers and pray that they get the house that they want. Even if it doesn't work out with this house, I just know that they will find something that suits them. Everything happens for a reason. It would just be more convenient for them if this house worked out.

I was exhausted after looking at houses this afternoon. By the end, I could not remember what we had looked at and had to take a nap. The only thing that I do remember is that many of the houses we saw had the same stove that we have. I really did not realize how popular our stove is. After running some errands, we met up with the Banerjees for some Zachary's pizza and went home to relax. One week before taxes are due. Guess I need to get around and send those in... :)

Surprises

So we've had a few surprises lately. No, not that kind. Still not pregnant. I'm not that unoriginal that I would announce a pregancy 2 years in a row on April Fools Day. Though wouldn't that have been cool if it were true? As I was saying, we've had quite a few surprises lately. Some good and some not so good.

We got a surprise visit from Laura, Alex, Hannah, Timothy, Grace, and CiCi last night. They were flying back from Taiwan and there was a delay which caused them to have to spend the night in SF. It was great to see them all even if it was only for a few hours. That was the good surprise. The bad surprise I got yesterday was that I got a parking ticket. I drove in to work because I thought that I was going to pick them up at the airport around noon and I parked it at a meter. It cost $.25 for 6 minutes or $2.50 per hour. The car was there for about 6 hours. I didn't end up picking them up from the airport and I got a $40 ticket because I ran out of change. I know I spent at least $7 feeding the meter. I also got another nasty surprise when I filled up my gas tank. With gas selling at $3.90 per gallon, it was the first time that my fill-up topped $50. Ouch. I remember in college filling up my Escort for $10. It wasn't that long ago! I even remember when gas was under $1 per gallon. The good surprise still outweighs the bad ones.

Last weekend was nice and relaxing. On Friday, I stayed in to unpack the more kitchen stuff while Edwin had a guys night out. On Saturday, I went to Corinne's baby shower which had a beautiful brunch while Edwin cleaned the house. We also had a Pablo and Monica over for dinner. On Sunday, I had dim sum with Show, Greg, Carey, Matilde, and Sujay. Show then helped me to make some cookies. We made chocolate chip cookies and rochers. It made me so happy that I am no longer burning things in the oven. I don't know what was wrong with the old stove, but I burned a lot of food using it. I knew it wasn't me!

Then, we got to catch up with old Cleveland acquaintances. Michelle and Mike had us over at their new apartment- which is HUGE! They invited us to dinner because Michelle discovered that Byron from CCCC (the church that I grew up in Cleveland) is now going to her church. We got to meet his wife Liza and found out that they moved out to the Bay Area in September. It made me feel so old because when I left Cleveland for college, I think that he was still in junior high. He's now a lawyer. I was closer to his sister Abby who I found out is also moving out to the Bay Area in a few months. See- more surprises.

According to my work personality, I don't really like surprises. I'm in Strategy and Analytics which means that I like process and structure. I don't like changes and things that I don't anticipate. In my personal life, I think I like them a little more. Another happy surprise is this weekend. Jeannette is coming out to SF to look for a house. Can't wait to hang out with her again. I'm also going to another baby shower this weekend. (I feel like there are lot of babies lately.) I got another email this morning announcing Ryan and Limanna's new baby. This is after I spent over $100 last weekend at BabiesR Us. What???