Friday, December 21, 2007

It's a Boy!

Well, it's official. We are definitely having a boy. When we got to that part of the ultrasound I didn't even need the technician to say it. I was the first to say "It looks like it's a boy". It sure did to everyone else too.

I had to go to the bathroom two times at gas stations on the way home (what a pain in the butt) because for some reason they still have us drink water before an ultrasound. I've heard some people say that with some machines you don't need to do that anymore.

In January we are officially done with Kaiser and I say good riddance. I won't even get into the last few times we were there, but this time we had a grumpy counter person in the OBGYN who let me know I was at the wrong place. She promptly sent me to Radiology which also turned out to be the wrong place. Luckily the guy in Radiology was able to send me to the right place, just 15 minutes late.

Once there they took me inside for about 20 minutes without letting Jake go in with me. I asked if he could please come inside with me and they said no without giving us a reason. It kind of ruined the experience a little bit. I told her not to say if it's a boy or girl until Jake was in the room and she agreed. She was kind of cold and impersonable and I didn't really like her. When Jake finally was allowed inside the room she started showing us the baby and when I asked if it was a boy or girl she said "we aren't on that part yet" and continued showing the head, face, chest, heart, kidneys, arms, legs ... I kind of think that the rest could have waited since I'd asked the question. Maybe I'm being picky, but couldn't she have rolled over there for a minute?

Anyway, later on Jake told me some poor lady had to pee so bad she used the restroom before they called her in. When they found out what she did, they told her she had to wait for an hour now before they could see her. She assured them that her bladder would fill up quite quickly but they made her wait anyway. I'm glad they didn't make me wait because I'd used the restroom 10 minutes before I went in for my ultrasound because of the mix up in where I was supposed to be for my appointment (they have a sign upstairs that says "Please have your urine sample available BEFORE checking in"). I agreed with the lady they made wait for her ultrasound. After all, if I had to stop at the restroom before leaving Kaiser and twice on my 30 minute drive home, I was filling up my bladder every 10 minutes.

Anyway, I hope my next doctor is better than Kaiser has been. So that's the news. Now we have two more important decisions to make - what's the name and will he be circumcised? We'll keep you posted.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Hockey Game

Last night we went to a hockey game with Jake's boss who had free tickets. I'd never been to a professional hockey game before as far as I can remember. It was actually pretty fun - a lot better than the baseball games we've gone to in the past.

I've heard that the guys at work won't give Jake tickets anymore to the Angels games because the three or so times they did in the past, the Angels lost. I'm not sure if that's a joke or not, but the Ducks lost last night and I'm worried we might not be invited back to another one. :)

I would have taken more pictures, but my phone died on me right after this one. Oh well.

Friday, December 07, 2007

Happy Cry

Alan sent this to me and now I have a small headache and puffy eyes from trying unsuccessfully not to cry while watching the video.

http://cjcphoto.com/can/

Monday, December 03, 2007

Seven's New Bed


It's been getting really cold outside and I was feeling sorry for Seven who didn't have anyplace warm to go. She hasn't been using her house lately and I have a feeling it's become too cold. It doesn't even have carpeting around the entire inside.

She been hanging out on our back foot mat, which at least gives some extra comfort over the cement, but I still felt like she needed more so I bought her a small fleece blanket at the thrift store for $2. Originally I was going to put it inside her house to make it warmer, but it didn't quite work, so I laid it out on the back mat to give her some extra warmth and she seemed to like it better, but I still wanted something better. I wanted her to have some warmth on her sides as well. Plus I wasn't thinking about it and bought it in cream which has quickly become disgustingly dirty.

So yesterday we stopped at Walgreens and I saw a fleece cat bed - two for $10. I bought them and put one out when we got home last night. She got right in it, curled up, and was still in the same place when I got up this morning. I'm quite excited that I got something so perfect for such a good price. And I feel much less guilty about her being in the cold. :)

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Sarah Budd and Brad Pitt

Two nights ago I dreamed that Brad Pitt and Sarah Budd were together/dating. We were all sitting in our old house in Norwalk. So bizarre. I think I had just seen Brad Pitt on the cover of a magazine at the grocery store a couple of hours before I went to bed. I had also just been looking at Sarah's blog that day. It's so strange how our brains work, huh?

Sorry David Budd, I have no idea what I was thinking, but it sure was funny once I woke up and really thought about it.

16 Weeks


I tried to take a picture of myself to post for Diane and this is the best I could get. I'll have to see if Jake is willing to take a picture for me next time. :)

Micah in Jake's Shoes

Last week when Micah was here he thought it would be fun to try on Jake's shoes. I thought these pictures were really funny.




Tuesday, November 20, 2007

New Pillow


I have been very uncomfortable lately trying to go to bed. I always sleep on my stomach and I even joke about having the "sleeping position". Not that I don't turn over at night, but in order to fall asleep, I usually have to be on my stomach. Sleeping on my side as all of the sites suggest has not been easy. Lately I would use about three to four pillows (before I only needed one) and I would try stuffing them around me - between my legs, under my side, behind my back etc. It would take me about 10 minutes to get comfortable and Jake was not happy about my movements keeping him awake. And of course when I got up to use the bathroom I could never find the same position again. So this weekend we went to Babies R Us to buy a Baby Shower present and found this sleeping pillow. Not only has it been wonderful the last few nights, but I can also zip it up and use it for the baby eventually. Of course that's only if I'm willing to give it up at that point. I really like this pillow. I just hope that it continues to be comfortable as I get bigger.

Preview Day



We had another tour of the greenhouse for preview day so I thought I'd post another couple of pictures of our Caimen.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Great Pregnancy Website

Melissa and Wendy told me about this fantastic site (babycenter.com). I can put in my due date and it will tell me what's going on with the growth of the baby every week. I've pasted below the message I got this week. How cool is that?

By the way, I just started to wear some of the maternity clothes Wendy brought down for me this weekend, which is a relief since the my pants were starting to get uncomfortable. I think I might finally be starting to show a little bit, so I'll have to start taking some pictures. Specifically, Diane asked me to post some. I'll try not to let you down Diane. :)



Your pregnancy: 14 weeks


How your baby's growing:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

See what's going on in your uterus this week.

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.

How your life's changing:

Welcome to your second trimester! Your energy is likely returning, your breasts may be feeling less tender, and your queasiness may have completely abated by now. If not, hang on — chances are good it will soon be behind you (although an unlucky few will still feel nauseated months from now).

The top of your uterus is a bit above your pubic bone, which may be enough to push your tummy out a tad. Starting to show can be quite a thrill, giving you and your partner visible evidence of the baby you've been waiting for. Take some time to plan, daydream, and enjoy this amazing time. It's normal to worry a bit now and then, but try to focus on taking care of yourself and your baby, and having faith that you're well equipped for what's ahead.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Halloween 2007

Halloween was fun. I didn't get any pictures of the actually trick or treating, but I got some of us before and after we went out.

Caiden was having a good time swinging his glow stick. I'm glad he had a helmet on most of time (although not in the picture) because he could have really hurt himself. He even hit himself in the eye a few times. It looked painful, but he just kept right on swinging/thrashing it about as hard as he could.

Mom and Jim were ready to serve hot apple cider and candy. I wish I'd gotten a picture of them in their chairs on the front driveway holding a bowl of candy. :)
Melissa and David out kicking it on the front driveway before the official trick or treating began. Isn't Caiden's costume cool?

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Back at WLAC One Day a Week

West Los Angeles College called yesterday and said they have one evening a week (3 hours) available until the end of January. This will be good because I can leave a little bit earlier than I did when I was working two days a week. This will help me to not be stressed about time while driving over there. Plus I'll have more time to do what I want to and I won't pay as much for gas as I was when driving two days a week. I'll be able to keep up on student requirements and won't feel lost by being away for so long. And the extra money doesn't hurt either. :)

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Spinning Woman

This website is really cool. The woman who is spinning never actually changes, but it looks like she does. You can see her going both clockwise and counter-clockwise if you look at her in a certain way. So far I've only seen one person who was not able to see her spinning both ways. Let me know what you see.

http://www.switched.com/2007/10/15/the-trippiest-optical-illusions-on-the-net/

Also, sometimes it helps to look away and then look back again, or maybe try to not look directly at her to see if you can get her to change directions.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Alex's Bike Riding Injury

This weekend Jake, Alex, and I decided it was time to step up the bike riding, so instead of going to the park, we rode to the riverbed and rode on that for awhile. Alex was doing really well and was going up and down the parts that go under the street. He was even able to get up the far side without stopping almost every time. We rode down the riverbed quite a ways and decided to turn around to come back home. Everything was going really well and we were having a good time.

Then... disaster struck. While going down a particularly steep hill, Alex lost control of his bike and fell HARD. I was quite impressed with his skinned hand, elbow, hip, and knee. He didn't move for quite a while, was screaming/crying. It looked like it HURT.

So we then spent the next two and half hours in the emergency room to get his arm x-rayed. Of course, part way through our wait he was using both hands to play his game boy, but there was no way we could chance sending him home with a broken arm, so I suppose it was necessary.

So, anyway, poor Alex was probably hurt more badly with us this weekend than he's ever experienced in his 12 years of life. And I'm wondering if we'll ever be able to get him back on a bike again. It's too bad considering it took us so long to build up his courage to ride in the first place. Oh well.

But I assume he's doing fine, and of course his arm wasn't broken. He got banged up pretty good, but he'll hopefully be recovered pretty well by next weekend. Good thing he was wearing a helmet too.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Laid Off

Well, they finally did it. West Los Angeles College has not been giving hours to part time counselors. The new important person in charge at the school has decided that she doesn't want any part time counselors working. I'm not sure if this will be forever or if we might get a few hours during the busy times, but any way you look at it, it sucks for me. What's especially unfortunate is that I think she went about this badly. Ideally, she should still have a few part time people working for a few hours a week so that we retain some of our knowledge. Instead, if we are able to get some hours in a few months, we're all going to be straining to remember certain things. Of course, there might also be changes during that time that we know nothing about. How frustrating.

I suppose I understand that they're trying to save money, but for me, I'm losing money by not working. I guess that I should try to use this time wisely and enjoy the fact that I'm not driving to West LA two times a week. I think I'm going to save about $100 in gas by not making the drive.

So there is my sad story. I delayed blogging about it for a few weeks because I was hoping that they might have us come back, but so far no luck. :(

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Bike Riding with Dad and Susan

On Sunday we finally had the opportunity to show Dad and Susan the Fullerton Loop bike ride. They had asked a few times about seeing where it is since they actually live in Fullerton and might like to ride it every once in awhile.

We had a really good time, and to be honest, I was very impressed with how well they did. We actually finished in a decent amount of time and although they were tired, they stuck with it the whole way. So good job to them. Now we'll just have to see if they liked it enough to do it again.

We also went over to their place for dinner last night. Afterward me, Dad, Randy, and Dan all played Euchre. I forget how much fun that game is (even if I did lose :). I hope we have a chance to do that again soon.

My First Appt and Serious Nausea

Until yesterday, I wasn't really entirely convinced that I was actually pregnant. OK, I suppose I'm exaggerating, but it didn't seem quite real. But then they did the ultrasound which I have posted below and confirmed that it's true. I really do have a blob growing in me. They even let us listen to the heartbeat. It could hardly believe that only about 5 weeks after conception it would sound so strong. It was at 160 beats per minute.



To confirm matters even more, I was closer today than ever before to actually throwing up. I hung around in the restroom for about 5 minutes trying to decide if it was going to happen, but luckily I think I'm getting over it and am currently eating as I type to try to get my stomach settled.

One last thing, my due date is May 13th, although the second one based on size is May 17th. They say if it's not more than a week off, they stick with the original one. So let's see what actually happens. :)

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The Fair



I really need to get some pictures from Susan. All I had were a couple pictures on my phone, and obviously they didn't come out very well.

I took the second picture because Jake's name is on the Rabbit Hut. You can't really see it well in the picture, but Susan's shirt says "I Love My Hubby". She got a few comments on her shirt from people at the fair who thought it was funny.

Some highlights of the day were the animals, a squishy thing that splats on the the ground and slowly pulls itself back into it's original shape, and spending time with everyone: Dad, Susan, Caiden, Vanessa, John, Steven, and Matthew.

It rained pretty hard toward the middle of the day, so we stayed inside quite a bit, but the booths were fun to see and I was much more entertained then I thought I would be. So that was my day - good times!

Monday, September 17, 2007

Oh My Goodness, I'm Pregnant

So here is the official "I'm pregnant" announcement, just in case anyone who reads doesn't know yet. I'm a little freaked out, but happy. I'm probably only about 4 weeks along and I've got my first official doctor's visit on October 2nd. I'll keep everyone posted.

Friday, September 14, 2007

I thought this was a cute story

It's dove at first sight
Monkey and pigeon
All together now: Ahhhh

It's a tale straight out of Disney – an abandoned baby monkey, close to death, is revived by the love of a bird.

The 12-week-old macaque was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Goangdong Province, China, after being abandoned by his mother.

Taken to an animal hospital, he was weaned back to physical health but still showed little appetite for life.

It was not until a fellow patient, a white pigeon, took him under her wing and showed him love and affection that he perked up.

Now the two are inseparable, say staff.

They are not the first odd couple. In March, we told how a tiger cub in China was being raised by a sow along with her piglets because his mother didn't know how to feed him.

And in 2005 Mi-Lu the baby deer became best friends with lurcher Geoffrey at the Knowsley Animal Park, in Merseyside, after being rejected by her mother.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Our New Fence - Not Such a Great Idea?

I'm so upset.

Jake and I had a great idea - build a tall wood fence on the side of the back house to make the whole house surrounded by the same type of fence. It would also block out the uglyness of the rest of the street.

We spent over $400 building this fence and it's beautiful.

But then the problems began last week. I guess the neighbors don't like that they can't see over the fence anymore and can't see what's going on in the neighborhood. So they have begun to congregate on the street at the end of their driveway. They talk somewhat loudly, drink beer, and look like gang members the way they are dressed. To be honest, most of them probably are.

I really don't think the new tenants are going to appreciate this, and I feel guilty like it's our fault that they are going to have to deal with it. I don't need this stress right now! And I have absolutely no control over the situation.

This sucks!

Friday, September 07, 2007

It turns out that we

It turns out that we are now moving tommorow. what a pain in the rear moving is. wish us luck.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Mohawk





Micah was stylin' over the weekend when I gave him a new hairdo. Isn't he cute?

Saturday, August 25, 2007

We're Moving!

So here's the news...

I still have not had time to fix the problems with the house we are trying to sell - the problem being that the second units turn out to be illegal. I'm working on getting the paperwork done, but it just hasn't happened. I've started looking through everything we need to do, and it seems like a lot! And it might cost more that expected also. We might end up just selling as is if it's going to be too much trouble. I don't really blog about it because it stresses me out and I don't like thinking about it.

On another happier note, we are finally going to move back to Orange County. Here's the story.... We finally decided that it was taking too long to get the second unit ordinance completed, so we put the second unit up for rent and got someone who was going to move in. We were going to then move to the front house, but one of our friends sold their place and asked to move into the front house. This left us homeless and happy because now we get to move to Orange County. We found a very decent apartment in Anaheim about 2 miles from Jake's work which he is very excited about since his commute will decrease from one and half hours to about 5-10 minutes. Good for him. My commute will likely go from 40 minutes to about 30 minutes depending on the traffic, so I'm happy as well. We'll probably save about $300 just on gas. That's not even considering the wear and tear to our vehicles - and our service maintenance is expensive! Anyway, we are moving in on the 15th of September. Woohoo!

On an ickier note, the person who was going to move in to the back unit backed out so we've got it back up for rent. I've got the house listed again and my phone's been ringing non-stop today. So I don't think we'll have a problem getting someone else by the 15th. But this time we're not going to take the house off the market until we get their deposit so that we know they are serious.

Jake and I have been working like crazy to get our stuff out of the front house and the garage. We rented a storage unit for the month to help us not look too cluttered in the back hourse. It wouldn't be a problem except that we have to show the house to people who want to rent, and we don't want the place to look too small.

Tomorrow's project is to build a fence between the neighbor's house and ours. Currently there is only a low brick wall that is easy to see over. I think it will be much more cozy if there is more privacy for the people who rent next.

We've had an extremely full day today and got a lot accomplished. My only complaint is that we've been so busy working that we haven't had an opportunity to go for a bike ride in about three weeks. I think I'm starting to get flabby.

So there it is.... the countdown begins. 21 days to go. And if we had someone who wants to rent before that, we're putting the rest of our stuff in storage and we're moving early! I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Long line

This is the line at the ralphs grocery store. they need to get their act together. By the way, you can't tell very well in the photo, but the woman in yellow is in the line and there are two people behind her. Crazy.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Our Cruise

Our cruise was absolutely awesome. i am so disappointed that it's over.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Firefighter hat

We went out to claim jumper tonight. it was fun to get to see the family. a fire truck stopped by while we were waiting for our table and gave firefighter hats to caiden and micah.

It Works

The last two comments were a test of a text message and a picture sent using my cell phone. I haven't quite worked out every kink, but it's looking good. I think it's very cool that I can send a message from anywhere with cell phone reception.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Sushi

We went out to sushi

I just found out that

I just found out that i can blog from my phone. too bad it takes so long to type everything in!

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

It's Been Too Long

I really, really suck. I know! I've just been soooooo busy!

But I thought of a few things to say that wouldn't take very long, unlike posting pictures of our vacation which I'm still hoping to get around to eventually.

But the first item to mention is that Diane and Lisa have left for Virginia. Lisa got into a University for a Physician's Assistant program and she's going to be gone for three years. Lisa and Diane both quit Disney and have moved away. It feels very strange to have all our good friends slowly leaving us one by one. We don't have many people left here and I'm seriously lacking in girl friends (not that I have time for it anyway). We've been jokingly talking about begining interviews for new friends - well, maybe halfway joking. Thank goodness Emilio didn't leave when Mike came into the picture. And Alan better not leave us if he gets a boyfriend! But basically, my point is that we will miss them very much and wish them luck.

Secondly, Jake and I fixed his car window this weekend which I was quite proud of. Audi told us it would cost $500 to fix his window that wasn't rolling up. The part we needed was only $135, so Jake and I decided that if we couldn't do it, we'd bring the car in with the door in pieces and let them finish the job. Now, it's hard for me to admit, but Jake definitely did more than me - a lot more - OK fine, I mostly just stood around and watched the proceedings, but Jake is an engineer and he just gets how things go together better than me. I hate that I'm not mechanically inclined. It's embarrassing. Anyway, we were able to get it done in about 3 hours going very slow to make sure we didn't screw anything up, and it saved us about $365. Hooray for us, and I thought it was kind of fun.

I'll try to post when I have something to say and time to say it, but I'm not making any promises. My life is ridiculous.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Vacation

I'll be on vacation from June 29th - July 16th. We're going to Singapore and then Hawaii. Just wanted to let everyone know why I won't be posting for a few weeks.

Bye!

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Cute Pic


Jake got a cute picture of us at his picnic.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Possum



We have a cute little possum that likes to come eat the cat food. I finally got a good picture of it.

Of course Jake was quick to remind me that soon it will be a big, stinky, hissing possum, but for now, it's fun to see it.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Micah

Unfortunately, these were the only pictures that I took while Wendy was here this time. It looks like I'll be stealing pictures from Wendy, so put good ones on your site Wendy.

I even skipped my weekend bike ride to hang out with Wendy and Micah this weekend. Isn't Micah totally cute?




Strange Plate


Is it just me, or does this plate seem strange?

Thursday, June 14, 2007

I broke 140

For years now I've wanted to lose a bit of weight. Wendy and I both realize that 133 is probably ideal for us (although we'd like to be a few pounds under that).

But for the last couple of years I've been above 140. Lately I'd been holding pretty steady at 144 after reading "You on a Diet", which was down from a high of 149 before that.

But finally I decided that even eating more healthy wasn't going to necessarily get me to my goal. I'd been at 144 for months even though I was eating well and exercising for about 45 minutes 3-4 days a week.

So I went back on Weight Watchers. This was in addition to continuing to eat more healthy, which I learned from "You on a Diet" and exercising. One additional thing I did, which some people might not agree with, is that I've been taking two metabolife pills every day (even though the bottle says to take six), one at 10 am and another at about 4pm. The reason I'm doing this is because last time I was on weight watchers I was tired all the time and it was horrible. But
by taking these I have more energy and hunger control.

So my good news is that I'm below 140, in fact I'm at 138.5. Now I just have to keep going till I reach my goal and find a way to stay there. I just bought a new pair of running shoes which motivated me to run twice this week.

We're going on vacation from June 29th to July 16th. I really hope that I can maintain during that time. Hopefully I've learned enough about eating healthy that it won't be a problem. So wish me continued success!

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Non Conforming Second Unit?

I've been so negligent of my blog! Sorry but I've been extremely busy.

So here's the recent scoop on the house we are selling. It's really bad news.

It turns out that our second house on the property is nonconforming and doesn't meet zoning laws. Even though we checked with the assessor's office and the inspector's office before buying the property, it turns out that we have this problem and no one knew it until we dug up some old records on file with the assessor.

We called prepaid legal to see if we can do anything, but no one can legally be help responsible. We could only hold the seller responsible for not telling us if we could prove that they knew, and I don't think we could do that. And now that WE know, we have to tell everyone who wants to buy or we could get into trouble.

We found out after we got the offer on our house, and everything was fine up until that point. But once we found out about the second house being a nonconforming unit, we had to tell our potential buyer, and they eventually decided that they did not want the property because of this problem.

Suck! We were so close to being done with the whole thing. So now we have to start again. I'm hoping to get the house re-listed tonight (I let it expire) and start taking more calls. But there's no doubt that this is probably going to lower the value of the property. What a mess. :(

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

My Chain Broke



Last weekend Jake, Alan, and I went bike riding and my chain on my bike broke. It was kind of my fault because I pedaled while shifting on a steep hill. But who would have thought that would happen? None of us had ever seen it.

We couldn't get the chain fixed, so Jake basically pulled me all the way back to the car. We stuck to the streets after that, but it still gave Jake a good work out. I felt kind of silly coasting beside him, but it was kind of fun, almost like a game. :)

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Glue Troubles

This weekend we were cleaning the garage and transfering some of the things we have in cardboard boxes into plastic containers. While going through the boxes we found that a few had been dripped on by a type of glue that had been stored above the boxes. The pictures I've included give a small taste of what everything looked like. The main box that was affected had our dishes in it. Thank goodness the glue came off after being washed in warm water. The tuperware we just threw away.

Below is the plate that was on the bottom of the box. In this picture I've almost got the cardboard box off.


In the picture below, I've finally got the box off. I then brought it into the house where some warm water helped me get the rest of the mess off the plate.


In this picture is some of the stuff that couldn't be saved.


This is where the boxes had been stored. You can still see some of the glue on the ground with bits of cardboard still attached.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Emilio's Bike Broke

On Sunday we went on a bike ride and saw a really big bob cat. It was really cool. :)

What wasn't so cool is that Emilio's whole pedal fell off. I think that Jake called it the crank shaft. This is not just the pedal, but the whole arm also. It happened when we had gone quite a ways and had no way to make a repair.

Now think about it, how do you make the bike move without a pedal on one side? Luckily, Jake fits on Emilio's bike and he has shoes that lock in. So he locked in and did a push/pull type of thing all the way back to the car, and went just as fast as we usually do. It was quite impressive. So now we've got the get Emilio's new bike fixed. Poor Emilio was not very happy about the whole thing. And after having to wait three weeks to ride his new bike! What a let down. :(

But we had fun anyway, and next week we'll have to go on a longer ride.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Flooded Garage

This morning I went to the garage to move my stuff into the dryer and saw that the floor was flooded. The drain on the washer wasn't in the correct spot. :(

The only thing that was really damaged is our Cal King Bed that we had stored away. We had two sheets of plastic on it and it still got wet. I'm not sure if we are going to be able to salvage it. Looks like $1000 down the drain.

Jake pointed out that maybe we just weren't meant to have that particular bed. It's the same one that Seven peed on when she accidentally got locked in the house.

So we had a fun morning of trying to clean out the garage. Ya right.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Burned Truck


This lovely truck was parked at the end of our street for about a week before it was finally taken away.

Seven's Accomplishments


Seven has started killing lots of mice lately.

Poor Little Baby Bunny

Today as I was driving into work I saw a baby bunny sitting in the street not moving as cars drove by, so I parked the car and walked back to it. It actually seemed to be somewhat OK, so I put it in the grass and it didn't really move much. I took it to the grass where all the bunnies seem to live and it didn't really move and kind of fell over at some point. I thought maybe it's leg wasn't doing very well so I packed him up and took him to my office thinking about how a could find a box and give him water and food.

On the way to my office he started to gasp for air. I set down my stuff and ran for the outdoors, but just as I was getting outside he seemed to have a bit of a seizure and then didn't move again. :( I put him in the trash and that was it.

Poor little bunny. I wish I could have done more.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Offer on our House

We actually got an offer on our house yesterday and sent back a counter offer today. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Wendy's Visit and Grandma's Get-Together

I feel very guilty for going so long without mentioning Wendy's visit. I think she stole all of the good pictures anyway. And from my camera! We had a really good time. I wish she could visit more often. I'll have to see if she left me with anything original to post.

Grandma's get-together was fun. I hadn't seen most of my family in years, so it was fun and interesting to catch up on what everyone is doing. We were at my mom and Jim's house so all the kids had a blast in the pool. They kept asking when they could next come back. I only vaguely remember having that much energy when I was younger.

WLAC Incident

Last week, there was a strange incident at West Los Angeles Community College. A student signed in to talk to a counselor and when I called her name she let me know that she didn't need any counseling but was trying to get away from a guy who had been following her since she arrived on campus. She had completed everything that she needed to do and wanted to go home, but he was still following her, talking to her and touching her. She was scared that he was going to do something bad to her and even started crying. Poor thing!

I ended up taking her out of the back of the building and walked her to her car. On the way there we saw the guy and had to detour to stay away from him. I finished walking her to her car and waited until she'd driven away. I then kept a very close eye out to make sure he didn't come back to me mad that I'd gotten her away from him.

When I got back to the office I called the police to let them know but they said they couldn't do anything since nothing had really happened.

What's interesting is that the next day I got an e-mail at Cal Poly that was sent to the entire campus saying that if we see anybody suspicious or who doesn't belong or is doing anything odd, let them know immediately. I think this came about because of the Virginia shootings. But what a difference between WLAC and Cal Poly. Kind of interesting.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Yikes

This morning I was in auto mode and almost ran into the neighbors car. I'm going to blame it on the pouring rain since I should not have been so oblivious. It's been two days and the car pictured below is still there. I reversed down the driveway, looked to the left and YIKES, the side of my car was about an inch from the other car's bumper. Like Melissa said in her comment, I really do need to go talk to them.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

My iPod is Broken

Lately I've been exercising a lot more. I've probably been exercising an hour about four days a week. So far I haven't really noticed a change in my weight, but I suppose I feel a bit more healthy. I don't know how long this is going to last. It takes a really long time to get ready, go, and then take a shower and change afterwards. I'm also going through a lot more clothes and doing a lot more laudry than I used to. I'm hoping I will continue, but I guess I'll see. So far it's been about three weeks.

Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to need a new music player. My ipod isn't really working anymore. It will start to work, and then not work suddenly, and then work, and then not work... you get the picture. Anyway, I can't figure out what I want to do. I really need some form of player, because to me exercise sucks if I don't have a book on tape or music to keep me entertained.

I spoke to someone who knows about these things and he said that I might want to get an ipod mini I think their called? He said that they don't have hard drives and are made for more athletic people because they won't break as easily. The biggest I've seen is 8GB at just over $200. But the problem is that I don't really want to get an ipod. I'd like to get something that doesn't require you to put music into their format. But I don't know of any other really good MP3 players. Anyone have any good ideas? I'd better start doing some research.

Neighbors Blocking Driveway


The neighbors have gotten really bad about blocking our driveway. It's happened too often lately. Last night I got home and was able to squeeze in and this morning I was able to squeeze out, but still, come on. Are they really that oblivious? Do they really not understand neighbor etiquette? It's really not that hard.... Thou shalt not block your neighbor's driveway!

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Bike Riding

Last week West Los Angeles College was on spring break so I went on a bike ride on that black top trail in the foothills. This time I went up to that really steep part at the end and it wasn't as bad as I remembered. It turns out that there is a helicopter pad at the top of the hill which was pretty cool. I've never had the opportunity to see one up close before - although really it was just black top.

After the ride I was driving back down the hill and had an opportunity to do a good deed. It's a really windy downhills road for about 15 miles and I passed a van with a person inside holding a sign that said "out of gas". I think I'd seen the same van at 4:30pm when I went up the hill and it was now about 7:00pm so I decided to see if I could help. I stopped by the gas station at the bottom of the hill, filled up one of their containers and brought it back for them. They were very grateful for the help and called me an angel. :)

It was a good bike riding day.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Jake's B-Day

Tonight we are going to see an Angel's baseball game. It's Jake's birthday and that's what he wanted to do tonight. We are going out with Alan and Emilio. We are currently sitting in Alan's apartment having some drinks. It is 7:52 and the game started about an hour ago, but we are waiting for Jake to get off the phone. People have been calling him nonstop to wish him a happy birthday. We are HUNGRY and are missing the game - not that I should be complaining since I don't really like baseball anyway. So, we continue to wait.

Monday, April 02, 2007

The Weekend

Last Thursday I stayed home because I had a sore throat. Since Friday was a holiday, I had a straight four days off this weekend. That was kind of nice. The only negative is that I didn't see my calendar for the weekend since my Thursday off was unexpected and I forgot about Melissa's sister's baby shower. I felt really bad. I remembered sometime on Saturday afternoon and called Melissa to apologize and she didn't call back. I'm hoping that she's not mad. Hint, hint Melissa. Sorry I forgot. :(

Anyway, besides going to the Ritz on Saturday night and bike riding on Sunday, Alex and I also went on a hike when I picked him up from work on Friday. We went to a place that we went to a few times when we were kids. It turns out that it's only about one exit away from our place in Pasadena. Things have changed a little bit on the hike, but it was still a good little bit of exercise.




Thursday, March 22, 2007

My Day Off

On Tuesday I took a day off from work to get some stuff done.

First, I went to have my passport taken care of since there is a possibility that we might be going to Singapore this summer. It ended up costing about $200! Thank goodness I only need to do that every 10 years. Jake and I want to go to Hawaii and Canada as well this summer, but it sounds expensive to go running around the world for three weeks, so I'm not positive we'll be able to afford all three places. I do know that I will be going to Hawaii for at least a few days for a conference. And for those of you who might be thinking about our last trip to Hawaii, yes, that also was for a conference. And yes, I have also gone to Florida and Canada on conferences. Now everyone is going to think my job is easy with vacation/conferences galore. I guess it's not a bad deal when I think about it.

The second thing I did yesterday was go to the assessor to get a floor plan for our property. The icky inspector who I had mentioned in a previous blog has struck again. By the way, his name is Richard - very appropriate if you think of the nickname. Anyway, he made a comment in our records which reads "Bootlegged house behind main house built 2005 - no permits". Now, the thing is, our property is and has always been a duplex. It's on all the records everywhere (inspectors office and assessor). It's even in their own office. So now I have to go back to Richard's office with the plans for the second house that date back to the 1950s and try to get this taken care of. I might just have to kill somebody.

The third thing I did was go on a bike ride. I was rather proud of myself that I went out by myself and went. It took some motivation. Mom and Wendy will probably remember that black top trail in the foothills that we used to visit with the stream by the trail. It was just as nice as I remembered, and although not challenging (which is good since I was by myself and wouldn't want to be hurt in the wilderness with no one around and a cell phone out of service range), it was still good exercise and felt good.

Lastly, we went to see the movie 300 in an IMAX theater. It was good, and I'm glad that we went. For some reason the goriness didn't bother me very much and it wasn't scary either, but it had a neat look to it.

So that was my day off. We don't have students this week since we are in between quarters, so I feel like I've been on vacation. It feels good.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Just Random Stuff

I don't have much to say, except that I've been pretty busy lately. We've had members of Jake's family staying over the last two weekends, which is fun, but takes up a lot of time.

We also had an open house last weekend. I think the house is finally at a good price. We were above what we should have been at before. Too bad we didn't try to sell a few months earlier. Oh well.

I haven't done a whole lot with my new job yet. I'm still doing a lot of the old stuff, but things are slowly sliding my way that deal with the new position. It's actually felt like a pretty good transition.

We haven't been mountain biking in about three weeks which is quite depressing, but between jobs and family, it's hard to find the time. :(

Mostly I've been reading like crazy - I'm in one of my phases right now and cleaning off my book shelves. I've always just thrown a book on the shelf when it was done, so I'm trying to read through them all. Once I'm done reading I mark it either as a "Keep" or a "Donate". So far it's working very well, and I feel like I'm making good progress getting rid of some that I wouldn't really want to read again. Pretty interesting to actually feel like I'm accomplishing something while reading, since usually I feel a bit guilty since I could be doing something else.

Not much else to report, and I'd better go since I've got a student I need to help.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

San Jose - February 2007

I can't believe how few pictures I got last weekend. These are the only ones that I could find that were good enough to post. I'm seriously lagging in my picture taking. I think I've come to depend too much on Emilio doing the picture taking for me. I wonder if he got any good shots?