The Adventures of Cheryl & Greg

D-Day

2010-08-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

My C-section was scheduled for 7:30 am on March 24. We arrive at the hospital at 5:00 am to register and get prepped. I'm excited about meeting my baby in a few hours! I'm also a little bit anxious about what to expect during the procedure, as I've never had a major surgery before. I'm just hoping that everything goes well.

Before I know it, it's time to wheel me into the OR, which is much smaller than I expected. They move me onto the surgical table and give me a spinal block. It wasn't painful, just weird. Immediately, my toes and calves start to tingle and go numb. The nurses have to help me lift my legs and get positioned on the table. As I lay on the table more of my lower extremities start to go numb, and eventually I'm numb up to my chest.

Before the procedure, the anesthesiologist told me that I wouldn't feel myself breathing, but that I would definitely still be breathing on my own. Mentally, I know that I'm still breathing, but it's a strange feeling. I keep telling myself that I'm breathing, but that didn't help much. I start to feel anxious and nauseated.

Good thing Greg was there! I grip his finger so tight that I think I might've cut his circulation off, and I ask the anesthesiologist what I should do if I throw up. Do I turn my head? Swallow it?   And what would come up? I hadn't eaten anything for about 12 hours. Well, whatever came up the anesthesiologist suctioned out of my mouth. Ugh.

Before I know it, I can feel pressure at the top of my belly. The doctor is helping the baby out. My doctor says, "You made the right decision, Cheryl. There's no way he would've fit through your birth canal. He's beautiful!" Greg says, he heard some of the nurses say, "He's got big hands and feet!" and "Look at all his hair!"

The nurses whisk the baby away, and Greg goes with them. Meanwhile, my doctor is sewing me back up. The anxiety subsides...must've been the drugs the anesthesiologist gave me after they delivered the baby. I hear crying in the distance. Is that my baby? I wonder what and who he looks like.

Greg wheels back in with our baby. "Hi, baby. I'm your mommy." I can't believe that I'm finally meeting my baby boy. He's definitely healthy! And he's got a healthy set of lungs. Hmm...I can't figure out who he looks like. I think he's got daddy's lips. Who's nose is that?! Open your eyes, I want to see your eyes. Guess I'll have to wait for that. Time to give you back to the nurses. I'll see you soon!

So, what day do you want to have your baby?

2010-03-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

So, we went back to the OB today. Based on today's ultrasound, Baby Tai's estimated weight is 9lbs 3oz and his abdomen is still larger than his head. My OB said that even though he's over 9 lbs, technically I could still try labor and deliver vaginally. Her main concern is the potential complications if his shoulders don't fitting through my pelvis during delivery. Apparently his abdomen measurement is an estimate for his shoulders as well. After some discussion, we opted for a C-section as the best option for baby and mom.

The next question from my OB, "So, what day do you want to have your baby?" Uh...hmm...I never thought about it. I figured he'd pick the date when he was ready to come into this world. Guess we're going to do that now. So, we picked tomorrow, March 24 in the morning. Exciting!

Ahh...Maternity Leave

2010-03-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my last day of work! I'm officially on maternity leave. Woohoo! No more driving all the way up to Redwood City and back. Now, I can:

Take naps during the day, if I want to
Spend time with Tachi and take him for walks during the day before Musubi arrives (and he doesn't get as much attention as pre-baby)
Hang out in my PJs all day (cuz these days, that's the most comfortable outfit for me)
Meet up with friends for a leisurely lunch
Get a pedicure, even though I can't see my feet
Work on Musubi's birth announcements
Go swimming during the day

Several people have told me to enjoy this "Me" time because once Musubi arrives, "Me" time will be a rare thing.

We're DEFINITELY not having a small baby

2010-03-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

We're going to the OB every week now. At my last visit, we had an ultrasound to see how things are going. Here's what we learned:

His head is down. Good news!
He has a beer gut. My doctor's not worried about his head getting out. She's worried about his belly getting out. His abdomen is measuring bigger than his head right now. His abdomen is measuring about 39 weeks (I'm in my 36th week). His head and femur are measuring about 37 weeks.
He's going to be a big baby. His current weight is estimated to be about 7.5 lbs, which puts him in the 80th percentile for weight. In the last month, babies gain an average of a half pound per week. With 4 weeks left to go, he could be a 9+ lb baby!

So, I'm kinda freakin' out about how big he is/could be. Greg is amused that he's on the big side and says that I've done a good job feeding him. Uh huh....he doesn't have to push Baby Boy Tai out into this world!

We'll have another ultrasound in a few weeks to see how things are progressing and determine how Baby Boy Tai will arrive in this world. This seems to depend on a couple of things: 1) the size of his belly relative to his head and 2) his estimated weight. As i understand it, these are the possible outcomes:

If his belly is still measuring bigger than his head, I'll most likely have a C-section because there's a risk that he could get stuck part way through deliver.
If his weight is more than 9 lbs, I'll most likely have a C-section because he'll be too big.
If his weight is arobund 8 or 8.5 lbs, I'm going to be induced earlier than his due date (March 31).

Sounds like he is definitely going to be born in March though. My OB doesn't want me to go past 40 weeks because he's only going to get bigger!

We're in the home stretch!

2010-03-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

We're officially in month 9! Only a few more weeks before we finally get to meet Baby Boy Tai. I can't wait! Sometimes a month seems like a long time. And sometimes a month doesn't seem that long at all. What I've heard is that this last month is the most uncomfortable of them all. I'm beginning to understand why.

I'm tired because I can't really get a good night's sleep. It's hard to get comfortable. Either my hips start to ache after a few hours of sleeping on one side and I have to switch sides, which isn't that easy these days. Or I have acid reflux and have to sleep upright, propped up on as many pillows as I can find. Or I have to get up to go pee every couple of hours. I guess these sleepless nights are good practice for Baby Boy Tai finally arrives.

I get winded walking/waddling short distances or climbing a flight of stairs. I'm sure it's because Baby Boy Tai and my uterus are pushing up on my internal organs, including my lungs and rib cage. We're running out of room in there! Sometimes when he kicks me in the ribs, it really hurts. But that's not as bad as when he punches me in the bladder.

I can't eat very much in one sitting. There's just not enough room for my stomach, which has migrated up to my sternum. And did I mention the acid reflux and heartburn? Yeah...that's fun too.

But all of this is will be worth it, when I finally get to meet my baby boy.

"You're not going to have a small baby."

2010-02-18T13:34:00.000-08:00

At my last doctor's appointment, my OB told me that she didn't think I was going have a small baby. What does that mean?! I didn't ask her when she said it...probably because I was in shock. Does that mean I'm going to have an average size baby?! Or am I going to have an abnormally large baby, like that 19lb baby in Indonesia, where I'm going to need a c-section?! And why does she think that? Every time she measures my belly, she says my numbers look good. They're not crazy off the charts.

Greg says I'm obsessing about this too much. He would be too if he was the one who was going to labor and push a bowling ball through a 10cm opening. Good thing I have another doctor appointment next week so I can ask my OB what she meant.

It's a Shower of Pooh!

2010-02-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

A couple weekends ago, my friends threw me an Winnie-the-Pooh themed baby shower. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone. We ate lots of food, played baby shower games and people decorated onesies or bibs for Baby Tai.

Ed and Char made an amazing Winnie-the-Pooh cake! Leeya and Aimee also made an adorable diaper cake.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, our nursery theme is Classic Winnie-the-Pooh. I realized that my friends are all incredibly talented. I feel so lucky to have such awesome friends and family. The only bummer is that we didn't take a group picture or more people pics from the shower. Oh well. More pictures, if you're interested.

Greg's Baby Things

2009-11-18T20:38:00.000-08:00

Greg's folks came down to visit this past Saturday. They brought a box of Greg's baby stuff, which I thought was really neat. So what kind of stuff was it? Well...

Greg's baby shoes (so cute!)
The mobile he used (New Zoo Revue)
A blanket that Greg's grandma knit for him
Greg's favorite stuffed animal (it's a duck or chicken)
The baby gown he came home in (at least, I think he came home in it)
His baby book (turns out Greg was 8+lbs)
A plate with his name on it (his brothers also had a plate with their names on it)
Mickey Mouse spoon and Donald Duck fork
And a ton of cards (birthday, Easter, Christmas, etc.) he got over the years

I think it's really neat that his parents saved all his childhood things and gave it to him now that we're expecting Baby Boy Tai.

Half-way there!

2009-11-11T22:42:00.000-08:00

Today, I'm officially half-way through the pregnancy! Woohoo!

We went to the doctor's yesterday for our monthly check up. Heard the baby's heartbeat again, which is really cool. Everything's looking okay. Knock wood that it continues that way. So far, I've gained 20 lbs. With another 20 weeks to go, I'm not sure I can keep my weight gain to 10 lbs. My doctor doesn't want me to gain more than 30 lbs total. Oh well, I'll do my best.

An Exciting New Chapter

2009-11-06T21:04:00.000-08:00

We've got some exciting news to share. We're expecting a baby at the end of March! A boy! We're thrilled and looking forward the adventures of parenthood. You can get Baby Boy Tai's perspective by visiting his blog. I'll be blogging about the pregnancy from my prespective (and occasionally, Greg's).

I'm officially 19 weeks and 2 days along. I'm definitely showing too! The first trimester was a combination of happiness, worried-ness, tired-ness and feeling nausated. Luckily, I didn't experience morning sickness, although I came close a couple of times. I'm happy that we're past the first trimester. My energy level and appetite have come back. For exercise, I'm playing volleyball and running. Just kidding! I'm swimming and walking. :)

Busy Weekend

2009-07-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

I think weekends should *always* be 3 days. By the time Sunday evening rolls around, I'm beat and need a day to just do nothing. That's what Mondays should be for. Some would argue that people actually do nothing on Mondays, even when they're at work.

On Saturday, Greg played in the AACO Sports Day volleyball tournament with some friends. When he got home, the first words out of his mouth were, "I'm too old for this stuff." I don't think it was the volleyball as much as it was the beer and sangria that he drank between games.

While he was having fun in the sun, I was volunteering at a Pound Puppy Rescue adoption event in the morning. There were lots of puppies; I'd guess about 30 puppies. I didn't have a foster puppy, but I helped out with the sign-in sheets and making sure everyone got interviewed. The majority of the people came to see the mountain bike litter, 8 lab mix puppies; 4 yellow and 4 black. They are C-U-T-E! If I was fostering this litter, I might have to keep one of the yellow lab pups so Tachi could have a little brother or sister as a playmate.

In the afternoon, I took Tachi to the Fort Funston with Ann, Newton and their dogs, Buttercup and Muffin. Tachi LOVES Fort Funston. We love it too because he always comes back really tired and messy. (Okay, we don't really like the messy part, but it's worth it).

On Sunday afternoon, we went to the Mountain View Obon Festival. A friend of mine was working the corn dog and french fry booth. I'd never been to the Obon festival, even though in college, I went to lots of parties/dances that happened in the evening after the festival. Greg told me he used to go the Obon festival at the Buddhist Church in Sacramento, where he spent most of his time at the game booths. We ate corn dogs and shaved ice (the line was super long for shaved ice), played Bingo (didn't win anything...boo), checked out the exhibits and watched a Taiko performance. We didn't stay for the Bon Odori dance, which seems to be the highlight of the festival. Maybe next year, we'll check out the San Jose Obon Festival, which is supposed to be bigger than the Mountain View festival.

Apricots, apricots and more apricots

2009-07-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

It turns out the tree in our front yard is an apricot tree. It's a very productive tree too! Over the past 2 weeks, I think we picked ovr 40 lbs of apricots. The crazy thing is that we didn't really do anything special to the tree.

At first I was really excited about being able to pick and eat as many apricots as I pleased. Greg didn't share my enthusiasm, which was fine. Just meant more apricots for me. I soon realized that we have more apricots than I could possibly eat.

So, I started giving them away to friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. I even shared with the squirrels in our neighborhood. (We'd find discarded, half eaten apricots on the ground around the trees in front of our house. And sometimes we'd even see a squirrel dart up our tree and have a picnic in the tree.)

We still had a ton of apricots! What was I going to do with all these apricots? A friend suggested that I make jam. And that's exactly what I did today. I made 14-8oz. jars of apricot jam.

It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. Sugar, lemon juice, sliced/diced fruit, and pectin...lots of boiling water to sanitize the jars, lids and bands...a little help from Good Eat's Alton Brown...an online recipe...and voila....apricot jam! I felt very "Martha Stewart" as I was making jam in our kitchen. I'm quite impressed with myself and with the jam, even though I haven't tried it yet!

California Academy of Sciences

2009-07-11T15:19:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, we went to the California Academy of Sciences with our friends and their 4 year old son. We've been wanting to check it out for a while, so we were pretty excited.

We got tickets for the planetarium show in the morning and the 3D bugs movie in the afternoon. Greg enjoyed a nice nap at the planetarium, which was surprising. Guess he's not that into stars and planets. I really liked the rainforest sphere with all the animals and butterflies. One of the giant butterflies with blue wings landed on my camera lense! And then it quickly flew away. Boo.

The aquarium was a pretty neat too. I think I like the Monterey Bay Aquarium more. Although it's probably not a fair comparsion because the Cal Academy of Sciences is more than an aquarium. We really enjoyed out time there and plan to go back. It's a great place to take kids...even big kids like Greg! Next time we plan to try the pho a the cafe because our friends raved about how good it was, but they didn't have any noodles the day we were there.

You can check out pictures here.

Vegetables!

2009-06-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago, we planted two types of tomatoes, crooked-neck squash, eggplant, jalapeno peppers and yellow watermelon in your side yard. We've watched them grow, flower and product fruit. This afternoon, I harvested our first vegetables! We have crooked-neck squash, eggplant and tomatoes.

The tomatoes and squash are growing like crazy. We'll have a tons of those. (Anyone want any?) We'll probably get a few more eggplants. Not sure how many jalapeno peppers we'll get. The peppers are flowering, and you can see stuff growing. Our watermelon's not doing too well, and I'm not sure we'll actually get any fruit.

Now I have to figure out what to make with these veggies!

Being Grateful

2009-04-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if it's human nature or just my nature, but why does it seem like people tend to focus on the negative and the things that we don't have? Maybe it's easier to do that. Or maybe it's because we take the things we do have for granted. Or maybe it's just the American culture of "keeping up with the Jones'. Or maybe it's all of the above.

Lately things at work haven't been too great. When my coworkers or I start to complain about, I've been reminding myself (and them) to put things into perspective and be grateful for the things that I do have.

I am employed, which is huge in the current economic climate. I know quite a few people who have been affected by the economic downturn and have lost their jobs. Whenever I talk to them, I'm thankful that I'm not among the ranks of the unemployed.
Unlike some of my friends, I haven't had to take a pay cut or take forced time off without pay or a reduction in benefits.
I have quite a bit of flexibility in my job, which enables me to work from home a few days a week. Not sure if that will continue to be the case after we all move into one building. But for now, it's great!
The new company is very dog friendly and quite a few people bring their dogs to work. I brought Tachi to the office a couple weeks ago on a Friday when I didn't have many meetings. He did okay, but whenever I left, he'd get anxious and do his half-bark. It was cool bringing him to work, but I'd prefer to work from home to enjoy spending time with Tachi.
The new company stocks our kitchen with tons of free food, drinks and snacks. I'm talking about bread, mini-bagels, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, fresh fruit, english muffins, lunch meat, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, animal crackers, trail mix, mixed nuts, chips and soda. The kitchen gets re-stocked every Tuesday. The funny thing is that it's prettys slim pickings by the time Wednesday afternoon rolls around (the fruit is completely gone by Tuesday evening). I think people are doing their weekly grocery shopping at the company kitchen.

So, when I'm having a rough day or feeling sorry for myself, I start repeating the above list of things to be grateful for and amazingly everything seems just a little bit better.

Ch-ch-changes

2009-02-26T22:07:00.000-08:00

I am being sold. Well, actually the group I work for at Motorola is being sold. It's kind of a strange feeling being sold. This whole acquisition experience makes me wonder what it would be like to be a woman living in a country where arranged marriages are the norm and the size of your dowry is what really matters.

I have very mixed feelings about this acquisition. On the one hand, it will be nice to get away from big company bureaucracy and process (or lack thereof). Hopefully, we'll be more nimble and responsive. On the other hand, as a smaller, private company I'm a bit concerned about what resources we will and won't have. Either way, I'm going to keep an open mind about what might happen going forward, focus on what I can do, not worry about things I have no control over and just be happy that I am employed.

Catching up on blogging

2009-02-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

Wow! I had no idea it's been so long since I posted a blog. We've been so busy with the house, that I haven't much time to write. It's been so long that I wonder if anyone's still reading this blog. =) Let's see...

We finished remodeling our new house in early January and moved in on MLK Jr. weekend. I don't think I want to move for quite some time. We have wonderful friends who helped us move everything. Thanks everyone! We couldn't have done it without you. It took longer to pack everything than to actually move...haha! I suppose that's the way it usually goes. When the last load of "stuff" was unloaded our garage was overflowing. I don't think we could've closed the garage door! Plus the box with our toothbrushes and toiletries were behind a bunch of boxes in the corner of the garage. Anyhoo, it all worked out.

We've unpacked most of the boxes and have found a home for most of our stuff. Even though we've made a lot of progress, there's still a few items that need to find homes or need to be installed (e.g. towel hangers, dining area light, and window coverings) or need to be painted (e.g. master bathroom door and master closet doors). Greg is busy rolling out insulation in the attic as I type. Hopefully, we'll be all settled in by early March.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-27T17:38:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We celebrated Christmas with our families. Christmas Eve we drove up to Sacramento to Auntie Doris's house for dinner with Greg's extended family. It was good to see everyone and to meet Seth, Steph and Scott's baby boy. Santa took time out of his busy evening to stop by and hand out a few gifts. I (Cheryl) got to sit on Santa's lap as did Jeanette, Tina, Greg's mom, Auntie Bridget and the kids. I guess Greg and his brothers have already "paid their dues" with sitting on Santa's lap as they grew up.

After filling up on yummy food and homemade blueberry pie (yum!), we headed to Auntie Bridget's house to open gifts. We got lots of Home Depot gift cards, which will come in handy to buy paint for the house! We also got a new dog bed for Tachi, a blender, and a dutch oven. Tachi gave me a lovely fleece-lined, fisherman's knit beanie. Apparently he got a job, as a guard dog, to earn money to buy me the beanie. =) Speaking of Tachi, he got tons of new toys.

My family came over for dinner on Christmas Day. We had hot pot (aka shabu shabu), which is really pretty easy to pull together. Greg had picked up most of the stuff, but I wasn't sure we had enough food. So, I went out to pick up a couple extra packs of sliced meat, veggies, fish balls and tofu. It turns out we would've been fine with what Greg got. Guess we'll have to have hot pot again sometime soon. Anyone want to come over?

Home Remodeling

2008-12-02T17:29:00.001-08:00

Since we closed on the new house, we've been really busy. We had the house tented for termites last week. It looked like a giant fruit roll up ate our house.

The tent came off on Wed and on Friday, we started remodeling the place. Our plan is to remodel the kitchen and bathrooms, put in a new roof, add a skylight, put in new floors, remove wallpaper and paint the interior, add insulation to the attic, hang sheet rock and epoxy the garage.

There's a lot of stuff going on at the house. By Saturday, the old kitchen and bathrooms were completely demolished. On Sunday, we went to house to remove wallpaper, the 12x12 mirror tiles lining the wall in the entryway and remove old cabinets and drywall in the garage. Here's a couple of before and after pics.

Kitchen Before

Kitchen Now

We're officially home owners!

2008-11-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

We closed on our house today! Yay! We'll get the keys from our Realtor tomorrow morning. But we probably won't be moving in to the house until after the holidays.

We're having a lot of work done to the house before we move in. On Monday the termite tents go up. They'll be done fumigating the house on Wednesday. On Friday we start demo of of the kitchen. There's also a new roof, skylight, new bathrooms, floors and paint to come. Hopefully, we can post before, during and after pics as we make progress.

Love Shack

2008-11-09T18:04:00.000-08:00

We're (okay, I'm) behind on posts. We've been really busy, and I haven't had time to post. So, this is a catch-up post on what we've been up to.

Ritchie and Margaret's Wedding
We attended Ritchie and Margaret's wedding on Oct 25. They had a traditional Filipino Catholic wedding at the Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park. The church is just up the street from where Eugene and Ritchie's old apartment. I have fond memories of that apartment. We (the Tribe) used to hang out there before and after walking to the British Bankers Club (BBC), a local pub.

As we drove into the parking lot, there was a stretch Hummer limo parked next to the church. I'm pretty sure the wedding party rode in that nifty ride. Nice touch, Ritchie & Margaret. The ceremony was the longest one that Greg's ever attended and his first Catholic mass. I was really surprised that he'd never attended a Filipino Catholic wedding before since most of his high school friends were Filipino. I guess he didn't really keep in touch his high school friends. Most people probably don't, which is why it's unusual that the most of my best friends, I've known since high school.

During the ceremony, Greg kept asking me what or why they did certain things. For example, he wanted to know how everyone knew what to respond or when to say the Our Father or why they genuflect before walking into the pew. The two most memorable moments of the ceremony:

When Margaret and Ritchie were saying their vows, we could barely hear what they were saying. Most of the time, the officiant doesn't really say anything. But the priest said, "God cannot hear your responses."
As they were lighting the unity candle, Margaret accidentally blew it out as she was blowing her candle out. The expression on her face looked like she was thinking, "Oh shit...I didn't just do that." They both quickly re-lit their candles and the unity candle.

The reception was at the Cypress Hotel in Cupertino. We had a great time celebrating with friends and dancing the night away. Congrats Margaret and Ritchie!

Trick or Treat
Our friend Ed's favorite holiday is Halloween. He and his wife, Char, go all out. They turn their front yard to a spooky graveyard. This year Ed built a mausoleum on their porch and out to part of the walkway up to house. He even added a coffin to the graveyard. It looks really great and definitely spooky. If I were a kid, I'd be afraid to go to his house.

To get ready for Halloween, we carved pumpkins at Char and Ed's house. Unfortunately, they didn't last long enough to make it to Halloween. Luckily Ed took pictures. Can you guess which pumpkin is mine and which is Greg's?

On Halloween night, Ed, Greg and some other friends got dressed in costumes to scare the kids (and parents) that came by the house. I think the neighborhood kids were onto them because they just hung around taunting the boys and taking turns getting into the coffin. I think they expect Ed and Char to pull out all the stops. Plus, they saw Ed building the mausoleum and coffin. At first, it was kinda funny, but then it got annoying. Highlights of the evening:

Apparently the boys were so scary, they made a little girl throw up. None of us actually saw her throw up, but her older brother (we think he was 6 or 7), came up Char and said, "You guys have to be not so scary because my sister walked by earlier and threw up."
A little boy was dressed in the same zombie costume as Greg. When they stood next to each other, it was like me and mini-me.

Other than that it was a pretty uneventful night. It seemed like there were fewer kids than last year. Maybe it was the weather.

Love Shack
We're in escrow for a single-family home! Yay! It's very exciting. We close in 2 weeks. It's a 3bdrm/2bath, ranch style home in Sunnyvale. We really like the neighborhood: wide, tree-lined streets, well-kept yards/homes and near a park. It's also not on a main road, so there's not a lot of traffic. The house is 59 years old and everything still looks original too. We'll have a lot of work to do on the house after we close.

AVP San Francisco

2008-09-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

Greg and I went to the AVP San Francisco this past weekend. It's not suprising that we ran into quite a few of our volleyball friends: Mark, Mee, Emi (Mark & Mee's 9 month old daughter), Henry, Marvin, Susanna, Ang, and Ryan. Mark was actually volunteering for the tournament, which is a great way to get in to the tournament for free and get some cool free schwag!

It was a little strange to be watching beach volleyball with the city skyline and Bay Bridge in the background, especially since there's normally no beach! They must truck a bunch of sand in for the tournament. I wonder what they do with the sand when the tournament is done. Do they dump it into the Bay? It's also a bit odd watching beach volleyball bundled up because it's overcast and windy outside. While it was overcast in the morning, the sun broke through and it turned out to be a pretty nice day...until the wind picked up.

We watched a lot of matches, including all 4 US Olympic teams. Kerry Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, and Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal. I hate to say it, but the Walsh and May-Trenor match was a bit disappointing to watch compared to the other matches that day.

I know Phil Dalhausser is tall, but when you see him in person it's ridiculous how tall he is. At 6'9" tall, he's almost a foot and a half taller than me. His height makes him a monster at the net. I managed to get this shot of him blocking a ball. His freakin' arm pits are above the net! When I jump, my finger tips barely get above net...and that's on a women's net! I'm glad that I don't have to play against someone like him in any of my volleyball leagues. =)

If you want to see more photos, click here.

Brandon & Tina's Wedding

2008-09-07T22:41:00.000-07:00

We attended Brandon and Tina's wedding today. Brandon is Greg's cousin. They got married at Grand Island Mansion & Spa in Walnut Grove. We had to board two ferries to cross rivers in the Sacramento delta to get there. That was unexpected and when the GPS said, "board the ferry" we all paused and made Jeff replay it to make sure we heard it correctly. I mean, for all knew it could've been "toward the ferry." But sure enough, the GPS said, "board the ferry." Jeanette was freaking out. But I digress.

Brandon and Tina had an intimate garden ceremony complete with a harpist, a runner decorated with tossed flowers and a rustic, wrought-iron gazebo. Luckily the ceremony was in the morning, so it wasn't too hot for the briday party and their guests. Brandon and Tina's ceremony definitely showcased their personalities. I thought it was really cute when Tina did the "happy dance" after the officiant pronounced them husband and wife and just before she and Brandon kissed.

After group photos, we celebrated the happy occasion with a Sunday brunch reception in a private room inside the mansion. We think Uncle Bruce's speech stole the show. Nice job, Uncle Bruce! If you'd like to view photos, click here.

Greg's Pudgy

2008-08-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

So I came home today and after the typical putzing around, I was in the kitchen making a grilled cheese sandwich. Cheryl came up behind me and hugged me. While hugging me, she felt my chest and stomach and said, "I think you should start going to the gym again."

Now I'm crying.

Chihuly @ the De Young Museum

2008-08-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

We checked out the Chihuly at the De Young Museum exhibit over the weekend. Chihuly is an artist works with glass. His work is on display in the lobby ceiling of the Bellagio on Las Vegas. I saw his Chihuly in the Park: A Garden of Glass exhibit at the the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago several years back.

This current exhibit was really cool. It was pretty crowded, and the exhibit was smaller than we expected. It had many similar pieces to the one i saw in Chicago, but they were displayed differently. In Chicago, the pieces were displayed within a natural setting, which provided a unique contrast to the pieces. The one at the de Young wasn't set against a natural setting, which made the pieces more dramatic. There were also some new pieces that I haven't seen before, like the baskets. If you'd like to see our photos of the exhibit, click here.

After the visiting the exhibit, we walked around the park and grabbed a late lunch at Park Chow before heading back home. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Audrey and Alan's Wedding

2008-08-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we attended Audrey and Alan's wedding. Audrey played on our Monday co-ed volleyball team, Crazy Monkeys. The ceremony was a traditional church ceremony with singing, a reading and a homily. Audrey looked amazing! Alan didn't look to bad either. =) Quite a few of our volleyball friends were there as well. It's strange seeing our volleyball friends dressed up. I almost didn't recognize a few of them because I'm so used to seeing them in t-shirts and shorts.

Audrey is a huge Mickey Mouse fan. In fact, there was a Mickey Mouse theme to her wedding. She had the Mickey Mouse head silhouette on their invitations, programs, favor boxes and menus. The favors were Mickey Mouse shaped soap. Their toasting glasses had small. frosted Mickey Mouse head silhouettes. Even the cake was decorated with Mickey Mouse!

I'm not sure if you can see it in the photo. In addition to the beads shaped like Mickey Mouse, there are Mickey Mouse sillhouettes embossed on the cake.

Here's a close-up of the top tier of the cake:

I loved all the Mickey Mouse touches because it wasn't overdone and was very much Audrey. I don't think Alan is as much of a Mickey fan, but I'm sure he's okay with Audrey's love for all things Mickey Mouse. If you want to see more photos, click here.

Our First Anniversary

2008-08-11T23:47:00.000-07:00

It's our one year anniversary! Neither one of us can believe that it's already been a year. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were busy planning the wedding and our New Zealand honeymoon.

So, what did we do to celebrate this milestone? We played volleyball! =) The league we play in together had playoffs tonight. And since I'm the captain of the team, we couldn't really skip out of playoffs. But we did celebrate on Saturday by going to dinner at Manresa. That was definitely a dining experience. Unless you're filthy rich, I'd say Manresa is a special occasion place.

We ordered the 8 course tasting menu with wine pairings. The food was excellent, unlike anything either of us has tasted. My co-worker, Sid, asked me what type of food they served. And I really couldn't describe it. The chef creates dishes with unique flavors, combining things I would never have thought to put together. The food really can't be categorized into one type of cuisine like Italian, Greek or French. The service was also excellent and completely met our expectations for a restaurant of Manresa's caliber.

Mocktails/Cocktails and Appetizers

2008-07-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

Every few months or so, a group of our foodie friends get together for a meal. It used to be dinner, but 2 of them had kids, so they've become lunches. These meals usually have a theme and everyone makes something to bring. When we first started doing these events, my cooking skills were pretty basic. Boil water? Check. Operate microwave? Check. Use an oven? Check. Despite my novice cooking skills, my foodie friends were very welcoming and usually let me bring simple things like wine, beer, soda and dessert (that I'd usually buy from a bakery...heehee).

Our most recent gathering was at Rob and Linda's place in San Francisco, and the theme: Mocktails/Cocktails and Appetizers. Rob and Linda made homemade salsa and guacamole plus a summer salad from The French Laundry. Rob also made greyhounds and a special peach/mint cocktail. Sylvia and Ken made seared ahi tuna and guacamole ahi poke salad. Ken gets special props for beautifully plating the seared ahi tuna. Viv and Eric made skirt steak sandwiches with a chimichurri sauce and two flavors of homemade sorbet, grapefruit and apricot/muscat. And we brought...(drum roll)....pigs in a blanket with mustard. Yeah, our contribution wasn't quite on the same level as everyone elses. That's why we're hosting the next gathering. The theme is Trailer Trash, but after my marketing spin it's now Comfort Food.

If you want to see more photos click here.

Greg's Fourth Annual Tahoe Camping Trip

2008-07-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we went camping at Emerald Bay in Lake Tahoe. Greg planned the first camping trip when we first started dating. It's become an annual event that we hope will continue for a long time...even when all of us have kids.

We arrived at our campsite on Friday afternoon and promptly set up our tent, Tachi's tent, camping chairs and coolers of food/drinks. Once the campsite was set up, we enjoyed the beautiful afternoon by hangin' out with Char, Ed and Tachi. We even took a short hike to a nearby vista point before getting dinner ready. Dinner on Friday: chicken and beef fajitas. Yummy! The rest of our friends started arriving just in time to chow down. Of course, no camping trip would be complete without a camp fire and s'mores!

On Saturday, Nelson took a group of folks and doggies on a hike. We had 6 dogs at our campsite: Tachi, Buddy, Buttercup, Muffin, Spike and Maddy. Tachi went hiking with Nelson. We heard that Tachi found all the shady spots on the hike and stopped to rest at each one.

Another group went fishing. We gave them instructions to bring what they catch back to camp so we could make it for dinner. Between the three of them, the caught one fish and decided to let it go. What's up with that?! Good thing we weren't counting on them to catch dinner for us. We'd have starved to death. =P

Greg and I went mountain biking with Ed and Christi. Ed planned the mountain biking trip, and I don't think we should allow him to plan any more mountain biking trips! It was advertised as an easy to moderate trail, but that is totally false advertising. It was all single track and VERY technical. I had to get off my bike every 20 ft because I don't know how to ride my bike UP a 2 ft rock. It felt like I was hiking with my bike and not really riding. Christi and I sent the boys ahead and said we'd catch up with them when they turned around. =) We eventually met up with the boys and headed back to the car. This whole experience was a nice reminder of why I mountain biking is not fun and gives me anxiety because it brings back memories of that time I fell and had to get 14 stitches in my knee.

When we got back to camp, a bunch of us took the dogs down to the beach for a swim. I dragged Tachi into the water. He didn't like it very much, especially when the water got above mid-leg on him. But that didn't stop me. I took him out a little deeper and encouraged him by pointing out that Buddy, who hates water, was out further than he was. Tachi wasn't buying it. He tried to climb up onto a large rock to escape the water, but wasn't successful. Any chance he could, he'd desperately try to swim back to shore. We eventually swam back to shore and dried off in the sun.

For dinner, Greg prepared salmon with fresh dill, tri-tip and steamed veggie packets. Ed started the campfire and made baked potatoes in the fire. Everything was really tasty. I was stuffed. After dinner, we all sat around the campfire, drinking beer, making s'mores and chit-chatting. It was the perfect way to end the day!

Volleyball, volleyball, and more volleyball

2008-07-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

The other day I was talking to a friend and realized that we play 5 nights of volleyball. I play on Sunday and Thursday evenings. Greg plays on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. And we play together on Monday nights. If you count playing outdoors on Saturdays with friends, that makes 6 days out of 7 days that we play. That's a lot of volleyball.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy playing volleyball. But maybe 5 nights is too much? It prevents us from doing anything else. When I shared my thoughts with Greg, he replied, "There's no such thing as too much volleyball. What's wrong with playing 5 nights a week?" I guess he doesn't think we play too much volleyball. =P

This past weekend, we played in Christi's annual Queen's Volleyball Tourney. It's a fun, very social volleyball tournament where guys can play as girls *if* they wear a bikini top. The first year Greg played in the tourney, he played as a girl and wore my bikini top. He even got a tan line because he didn't wear a T-shirt underneath the bikini! He hasn't been a girl ever since then. But I wonder if he missed playing as girl this year because he put a bikini top on, supposedly to show Eddie the proper way to wear one. See, here he is modeling in a bikini top:

Sexy, huh? And here is his playing in the finals:

Unfortunately, he and his partner didn't win. But we both had a lot of fun hanging out in the park, eating, socializing and playing volleyball.

Liberty

2008-06-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

For the past week, we've been doggie-sitting Liberty while Jeff and Jeanette were vacationing in Maui. It's been fun having another dog in the house. I'm not sure Tachi would agree with us, as he's gotten quite used to being the king of our little castle. But it's good for him to learn to share his toys, water bowl and our attention. Having Liberty live with us for a week has given us a chance to get to know her better. Some observations (in no particular order):

She doesn't simply walk; she sashays. Liberty shakes her boo-tay when she walks.
She has no concept of personal space and likes to climb up on your legs when you're sitting on the couch. She'll walk right up to you and start panting in your face.
She's an attention whore. Whenever we play with or pet Tachi, she'll come over and push Tachi out of the way or climb on top of him to try to get to you. When you push her off, she just tries again. She probably thinks it's a game. She'll also climb up on the bed in the morning to see if you're awake. If you try to push off the bed, she'll just climb back up. But if you roll over and ignore her, she'll go away...eventually
She leaves pools of water on the floor when she drinks from the water bowl. I'm not talking about dribbling water here and there. I'm talking about leaving a trail of puddles around the water bowl, down the hallway and finally dripping some onto your foot in the living room.
She got used to being crated when we weren't home. I'm sure it helped that we threw her favorite treats into the back of the crate to lure her in and that we'd feed her in her crate too. She barked and whined a few times as we'd leave the house, but by the time we got home it was quiet...no barking or whining.

Having Liberty for a week has also helped me appreciate how well trained Tachi is. It's so much easier when your dog actually responds to you say, "Sit." "Off." "Down." or "Drop." We've enjoyed having her with us. She's back home now with Jeff and Jeanette, but I have a feeling Liberty might be staying with us again sometime in the future.

Doggie Update

2008-06-16T13:49:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update on momma dog, Mikasa and her pup, Molten. Molten was adopted to a family in Alameda who had an 80 lb black lab. He has been renamed Quincy. Our friends at Pound Puppy Rescue, think he might be a Lab and Newfoundland mix. Good think his adopted family has experience with big, energetic dogs!

Mikasa has been adopted by Greg's brother and sister-in-law. I guess they didn't realize how much they wanted her until she was gone! =) They've renamed her Liberty. Jeff and Jeanette came down last week to pick her up. She met Tachi, her doggie cousin, and they got along fine. Well, if you consider Tachi ignoring her every time she tried to get him to play with her getting along, then it was fine. Liberty's going to be staying with us next week, so they'll have plenty of time to get to know each other.

Thanks to Grace for helping find homes for both Quincy and Liberty!

A Very Active Weekend

2008-06-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

We had a really active weekend. It's been a long time since we've been this active. And boy, could I tell. My butt still hurts from this weekend!

On Saturday, we paddled in Paddle for Life, a charity dragon boat race at Jack London Square. Most of the teams seemed to be corporate sponsored teams. Our team, Doggie Paddlers, was a rag-tag team of friends and friends of friends. We had a few folks who had paddled before, but most were newbies. As part of the race, the organizers arrange three practices so people can learn proper form, timing, race starts and commands. While our team did get three practices, I don't think our entire team was at a single practice. You can blame it on volleyball. =P

We won our first race (the American Bridal Community Cup), came in dead last in our second race and took second in our last race (we missed first place by half a second!). But we got lots of compliments on our team t-shirt, which Edric designed. It was a good fun for a good cause. Thanks for organizing the team, Judy! Can't wait to do it again next year. Woof! Woof!

BTW, Greg and I met at a dragon boat race. It wasn't this exact race, but a different race that's held in the early fall/late summer at Lake Merced in San Francisco. Greg was paddling on Christi's corporate team, and I was paddling on my friend Doug's team, Dragon Warriors. Christi needed some extra people for their championship race because a lot of people on her team had to leave early. So, I volunteered to paddle in their boat. I must've wooed Greg with my impressive paddling abilities! =)

On Sunday, we woke up early again to ride in the Tour de Cure, a charity bike ride benefiting the American Diabetes Association. I rode with Team Cisco/WebEx. Greg just rode along with me (e.g. he didn't register for the race). Why didn't he want to ride with Team Cisco? He "couldn't justify paying money to ride a route that he's ridden for free many times." But it's for a good cause? Blink...blink.

Anyhoo, we rode 75K or ~45miles. The ride started at the HP campus in Palo Alto, around Woodside and Portola Valley, out to Canada Road and back to the HP campus. Now, even though we've ridden this route several times before, I haven't been on my bike in about 4-5 months. So, my butt, legs and lungs were not ready for this ride. It didn't help that my left leg and butt cheek were sore from paddling the day before. Greg, on the other hand, was fine. Sigh...it's just not fair.

It's definitely been one of the more active weekends we've had in quite a while. We'd both like to have more weekends like this...without the getting up early part. =)

How Much is That Puppy in the Window?

2008-06-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks a ago, Greg's parents found a black lab and her pup wandering the streets. They didn't have collars and weren't chipped. So, Mom Tai called Greg because we have a couple of friends who rescue and foster puppies.

This past weekend, we drove up to Greg's parents house to pick up momma and her pup. Momma is a really sweet dog. She rolled over right away when Greg greeted her. She likes to jump up when she's excited, but was a quick to learn that's not okay to jump on people. She wasn't food motivated, but loves attention and seems eager to please. Momma walked well on leash and did really well on the car ride back to Grace's place.

The pup is huge and really cute! He's got the biggest paws and if those are any indication, he's gonna be a big dog. I know he's part lab, but his poppa was probably a BIG dog. Looking at his paws made me realize how dainty Tachi's paws are. (Sorry, Greg.) He's got tons of puppy energy and is a bit mouthy. When I was playing with him, he bit me (accidentally). Of course, I screamed, "Ouch!" when he bit me. After I corrected him, I checked my thigh and the little bugger broke skin! He didn't bite me that hard, but his puppy teeth are pretty sharp.

The pup had never met a leash before we took him for a walk around the block. It was hilarious watching/listening to him walk on a leash. He started out trying to eat the leash, which is bad. And then he did the "I'm just gonna park my bottom right here and make you drag me." After that he did the "Fine. I'm gonna run ahead of you and then yelp at the top of my lungs when I reach the end of the leash and get tugged backwards."

Both momma and pup are being fostered now - in separate foster homes. I hope they find good homes and a families that will love them. Check out their adoption pages: Momma (Mikasa) and Pup (Molten).

An Unexpected Guest

2008-05-18T14:58:00.001-07:00

As we were standing in the dining nook drinking water, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Something long and flat just scurried across the kitchen counter, underneath the knife block. Hmm...that's not right. I take another look. And sure enough, I see a lizard head sticking out of from underneath one side of the knife block and it's tail sticking out the other. How did that get into our kitchen?!

"Um, Greg, I think there's a lizard on the counter."

"Huh? Where?"

"Over there. Underneath the knife block. See, there's the head."

"Oh. I see."

As Greg tried to move the knife block, it scurried under the toaster oven.

Greg calmly says, "Wow, that's a big one."

It had to be *at least* 8 inches from head to tail. Riiiight...I'm trying to stay calm and am wondering how the heck it got into our kitchen.

Greg starts looking for a container to trap it in, so we can let if go outside. As he's searching he says, "Hmm...we need a bigger container. It's pretty big."

Uh...okay. I'm going to get my camera, stay calm and let him trap this thing so we can let it go in the front yard and hope that it doesn't come back. Here's a not-so-good picture:

New Floors

2008-05-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

We spent most of the weekend laying Pergo in the dining nook, hallway and entry way. Actually installing Pergo is pretty easy. It's kinda like a game of Tetris. The hard part is getting rid of the existing floor and prepping/leveling the floor. Luckily Greg did the hard part. =)

I actually wanted to help get rid of the ceramic tile in the entryway. But I left to run an errand and when I came back, it was gone! Boy, that was fast. Apparently, Greg covered the tile with an old bed sheet (to prevent the ceramic shards from flying everywhere) and then went to town on the floor with a sledgehammer. Then he just shoveled up all the broken pieces into a trash can.

During all this remodeling, Tachi has been wandering around downstairs trying to figure out what the heck we're doing to his home. He's got less space to roam because the family room and dining room have been invaded by Pergo planks, a dining table, chair and bookcases. Plus there's all sorts of strange noises (loud banging and sawing) coming from the dining nook, hallway, entryway and outside. I'm not sure how much he's going to like the new floor. It's definitely not as comfy or cushy as carpet, but it is cooler.

Gombei

2008-05-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

Gombei is one of my favorite Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area. Until recently, there were 2 locations: Menlo Park and San Jose Japantown. Everytime we've gone to the one in Japantown, it's been packed. The menu is different than most other Japanese places. Of course, they have the typical teriyaki chicken/beef, katsu and udon. What makes Gombei unique is the daily specials that resemble home-style cooking. Oh, they also don't server sushi or sashimi, unless it's part of one of the daily specials.

About a month or two ago, we noticed a Gombei sign in one of the shopping centers near our home. Could it be they were going to open up another location walking distance from us?! When we went to Gombei in Japantown, we asked if they were opening another location in Santa Clara. The response, "Maybe." Hmmm...sounded promising. Occasionally, we'd stop by and peer into the window and look for a sign that said when the place would be open. Well, it finally opened last week, and we went to check it our for dinner tonight!

You could tell that they were still working out some of the kinks, but the food was good! It's different than the other Gombei locations. The Santa Clara location actually serves sushi. They kept the sushi boat conveyor belt from the previous restaurant. The sushi boat counter takes up the majority of the restaurant. There were only a few tables in the front even though there was definitely room for more tables. Not sure if they plan to add tables in the future or keep it focused on the sushi bar. They also didn't have a daily specials board, which was somewhat disappointing. Maybe they'll add the daily specials after they work out some of the opening kinks. Or maybe this Gombei will be focused on sushi, which I wouldn't mind either.

Our Kitchen Remodel - Part 3

2008-05-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a week since my last post. I'd say our kitchen is 95% complete. On Tuesday evening, Greg finished pulling out the linoleum floor. We discovered that there were 3 layers of linoleum! He cut the Pergo on Wednesday and installed it in our kitchen on Thursday. Just in time for the delivery of our new appliances! On Thursday evening our kitchen looked like this:

You can see the empty spots where the appliances would be installed. And yes, I have an amazingly handy husband! =)

On Friday, Sears delivered our new range and dishwasher. I was expecting an experience similar to the phone or cable company where they tell you the service window is a 4 or 5 hour block of time, but the service guy doesn't show up until after the alloted window of time. I was pleasantly surprised at how efficient the Sears delivery process was. At 7:15 am, I received a phone call informing me that our delivery window was between 12:00 pm and 2:00 pm. The delivery guys showed up about 45 minutes early, were very professional, quick and thorough. Our contractor came back in the evening to seal the counter tops and check that the garbage disposal was working properly. So, on Friday evening our kitchen was basically done and it looked like this:

We spent part of Friday night and Saturday putting stuff back into the cabinets and arranging our new kitchen. We made our first meal on our new stove on Sunday morning: bacon and french toast for Greg and scrambled egg whites and toast for me. =)

Our kitchen looks pretty done, doesn't it? So, how come it's only 95% done and not 100% done? Because Greg has to finish trimming the Pergo and install base boards. Even after that's done, we won't be done. Our kitchen remodel crept into the dining nook, hallway and entry way. Greg painted the dining nook the same color as the kitchen on Sunday and started to replace the carpet in the dining nook and hallway with Pergo. He ripped out most of the carpet in the nook this evening, so it looks like this:

We haven't decided what to do about the tile in our entry way. We definitely have enough Pergo to replace the tile, but we're not sure about the durability of Pergo vs. tile. If you have any experience with Pergo v. tile, let us know!

Our Kitchen Remodel - Part 2

2008-05-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

On Friday, our contractors continued to install cabinets. By the time Greg and I got home all the cabinets were installed, except for a few doors and the handles.

They came back Saturday afternoon to install the granite counter tops. I think they spent the day cutting the granite, and then showed up to install it. When they left, they told us not to touch anything. Sadly, I didn't take any photos of this stage, but it basically looked the same as Friday, but with the sink installed and granite glued to the cabinets and being held in place with clamps.

The funny thing is that when I walked into the kitchen to look at the granite, it looked different than I remembered it. The granite we picked was a swirly tan, beige and what we thought was green. But the green looked more grey than green. It's not like the granite clashed with the cabinets or was awful looking. I just wasn't what we thought we ordered.

So, on Sunday we went back to the granite and cabinet store to look at it again. We even brought our camera with us. And we discovered that the granite clamped to our cabinets was the one we ordered. It just looked different (more green-ish) in the showroom lighting. We also realized that some of the granite slabs have more grey than beige/tan while others have more beige/tan than grey. The piece of granite we have has more grey than the one hanging in the showroom. We left the store feeling better about the counter top.

Today, our contractor came back to finish up the kitchen. The clamps were removed from the granite. The backsplash and faucet were installed. The microwave and garbage disposal were re-installed. The ceiling and walls were re-textured and painted. Greg has started to remove the linoleum floor so we can install the Pergo in the kitchen before our appliances are delivered. This evening our kitchen looks like this:

Our Kitchen Remodel has Begun!

2008-05-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! This morning we started our kitchen remodel project! Originally we were scheduled to start the remodel in mid-April, but our contractor had to push our date out a couple of weeks. And today, the long awaited date has arrived!

So, what exactly are we doing? Well...we're installing new cabinets, granite countertops, stainless steel sink with one giant bowl, recessed lighting, a new stainless range and dishwasher. Oh, I almost forget the paint too. Phew, that's a lot! I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together. I figure it's good practice for the next re-modeling project we might need to do.

Last night we finished emptying our cabinets and moving the contents of our kitchen into the family room. We also ate our last meal "prepared" in the old kitchen. We microwaved leftovers and frozen Lean Cuisine dinners. And we'll probably be eating out for until we're the remodeling is complete. It's kinda hard to make dinner when you don't have a stove or a sink.

Our contractors are working quickly and have made good progress. Yesterday evening our kitchen looked like this:
They arrived this morning at 9:00am and started to prep the work area. They laid down plastic and heavy brown packaging paper on the floor, covered shelves with plastic, and started removing appliances and demolishing our kitchen. By noon, they had completed demolition and there was nothing left in our kitchen except for our refrigerator and the floor.
We're going to replace the linoleum floor with Pergo after the remodeling is complete...hopefully, with the help of some of our friends. If you'd like to volunteer, let us know! =) By the 6pm this evening, they had installed the recessed lights and about half of the new cabinets. You can't really see the recessed lights in this picture, but you get the idea.
We're surprised at how quickly it's progressing. Can't wait to see the progress they make tomorrow!

Is It Time for a New Car?

2008-04-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

I'm amazed at the price of gas these days. It's crazy. The last time I filled up my Explorer, it cost $70! And that was at Costco, when gas prices were still under $4.00/gallon! Ugh. $70 is a pair of shoes. $70 is 41 cups of Peets coffee (plus change). $70 is a new pair of jeans (as long as you're not buying designer jeans). $70 is a weeks worth of groceries (sometimes). $70 is about 15 frozen yogurts. $70 is a whole lot of doggie treats and toys.

It seriously made me pause and wonder if it was time to get a more fuel efficient car. Who knows how long gas prices will stay at this inflated level. If it costs me $70 each week to fill up my tank, that's $3,640/year or $303/month. That's a car payment!

Granted my daily commute is something like 10 miles, round trip. But we do drive the Explorer to other places. After I told Greg how much it cost to fill up my tank, he replied, "We're not driving your car anywhere." The funny thing is that we've actually started to not drive my car. And it's not only when we're going someplace together. I've taken the Scion (aka Milk Truck) instead of the Explorer when I'm going someplace, like JACL volleyball or the store, by myself.

I wonder if the benefits of getting a new, more fuel efficient car would be worth it. I probably wouldn't need to fill up as much as I do now. When I did fill up, it wouldn't be as expensive as it is now. I wouldn't be so reluctant to drive my car more than 10 miles each day. Of course the extra driving might off-set the lower frequency of filling up. And it's probably better for the environment too.

We're Going to Disneyland!

2008-04-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

Actually, we went to Disneyland last week. We were attending a Greg's cousin Brian's wedding in Pasadena this past weekend and drove down a few days early to spend a day and half at Disneyland and California Adventure with Greg's brother, Jeff, and sister-in-law, Jeanette.

The last time Greg and I were at Disneyland were our respective high school Grad Nights. That was a looooong time ago...slightly longer for me than him, but who's counting. Jeff and Jeanette, on the other hand, are Disneyland regulars. They go *at least* once a year. And they don't have kids! Of all the people we could experience Disneyland with, Jeff and Jeanette are by far the best people. They have Disneyland down to a science...fast passes, what to ride and when, hidden Mickey's, where to eat, parades, where to shop, firework shows and more. It was like having our own personal Disneyland tour guides.

We both agree that Disneyland has changed since Grad Night. A lot of things are the same (Main Street, Mad Hatter Tea Party, Dumbo, Haunted Mansion, Matterhorn). They've incorporated a lot of the movies, Disney and non-Disney, into the park. The submarine ride has become the Nemo Submarine ride. There's a Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster ride, a Roger Rabbit ride and an Indiana Jones ride. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow has been incorporated into the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. And what happened to the Sleeping Beauty castle (I found out that it's not the Cinderella castle like I always thought it was)!? I remember it being grey (v. pink) and much bigger than it was on this trip. Space Mountain was also completely re-done. Greg says it's better than before. It's faster, smoother and darker so you can't anticipate where the roller coaster is going to go next. I think this was the first time I rode Space Mountain, so I'll take Greg's word for it.

Of course, California Adventures and Downtown Disney were completely new for us. California Adventures is a much smaller park than I thought it would be. Apparently they built it where the parking lot used to be. There were some cool rides at that park and several parts of the park do look like places in California. My favorite part of California Adventures was Disney Animation, an interactive experience that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the art and magic of animation. They had a special Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs animation exhibit when we went. Downtown Disney has a lively vibe with lots of shops and restaurants. It reminded me of Universal City Walk.

By the way, Brian and Christie's wedding was classically beautiful and quite grand. They had an outdoor ceremony at the posh Langham Hotel (formerly a Ritz Carlton), rose petals covered the center aisle, trellis decorated with flowers, string quartet playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Pachelbel's Canon in D, cocktail reception on the patio overlooking the pool, ornate ballroom with fancy chandeliers, and beautiful dramatic center pieces. Christie was a beautiful bride. She and her dad did a charming father-daughter dance to Moon River. Her dad is a good dancer! Brian's brother and cousins, including Greg, succeeded in getting him drunk. It was a lovely affair.

The Scavengers Have Arrived

2008-04-06T22:51:00.000-07:00

Every year the city of Santa Clara has a city-wide clean up campaign. What does that entail? Basically, it means that residents can throw away anything they don't want by taking it to the curb. It literally is anything: couches, bookshelves, mattresses, vacuum cleaners, books, appliances, patio furniture, clothes, old calendars even toilets. Not only does the neighborhood look like a dump for a few weeks, but the scavengers come out as well.

I'm not talking about people who poke around because they're curious about what other people are throwing out. The scavengers I'm talking about are the ones who really go to town on the things people throw out. They drive around in vans or trucks, pick through boxes, and even bring tools in case they need to disassemble things. It's a little unnerving when strange people are rummaging through piles of junk outside your home at all hours of the day. Some of these people were pretty creepy looking. Personally, I wouldn't take any of the stuff that's been thrown out, mostly because I don't know where it's been and it just seems gross. But I suppose for some folks, that really doesn't matter. The clean-up campaign definitely confirms the saying, "One person's trash is another person's treasure."

Sign 'O' the Times

2008-04-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

This past week in Vegas has confirmed that I'm *definitely* in a different phase of life. There was a time in my life when business trips were something I looked forward to: staying in swanky hotels, eating fabulous meals at fancy restaurants and of course, the non-stop partying. And what better city to do those things than Vegas, right? But it was a struggle this time.

The hotel is definitely swanky and I'm glad I had the opportunity to stay at the Wynn, but I missed my bed and for some reason found it difficult to get a good night sleep. And no, it's not because I was out partying till all hours of the night. I mean it's not like the room or bed was uncomfortable, because it was fine. They even had turn down service every night where they literally fold the bed sheets down, lay down a towel/rug next to the bed, close the curtains, turn down the lights so the room has a soft glow, turn the TV to pretty floral images and classical music, and leave Belgian chocolates on the night stand. Maybe I missed snuggling with Greg as I fall asleep or tucking Tachi into bed before getting into bed.

What about the fabulous meals at fancy restaurants? There are tons of high-end restaurants in Vegas from Nobu to Mesa Grill to Lawry's. But we didn't go to any of them. My company provided breakfast and dinner for all attendees from my company. And we were *highly encouraged* to partake in those dinners. Um, yeah. Since my co-workers and I chose to eat elsewhere, we opted for less extravagant restaurants at the hotel. The food was good, but we refrained from splurging. That's fine with me since I'm still trying to lose the 15 lbs I gained on our honeymoon.

And the partying? We went to a party at Rain one night. It seemed like a cool club, but it was just strange being there with everyone dressed in business casual attire, checking email on their mobile devices and talking shop. It felt a bit like "Man Jose" because the male to female ratio was 4 to 1. But then what do you expect when you're at a party that's sponsored by a bunch of telecommunications companies on a Tuesday night? The party ended by 10 pm, and my co-workers suggested checking out the Ghostbar or Playboy Club, but changed their minds when they saw most of the folks from the Rain party were making their way same places.

I really had to dig deep to rally and grab a drink with my co-workers. They wasted no time getting the bar tab started and giving me grief when I'd order a diet coke. "There's Jack in that coke, right?" "Oh, come on...you're falling behind." "You're going to have to catch up." I think I ordered a diet coke as my first drink because I honestly couldn't think of a drink to order. It's been a long time since I've ordered a mixed drink. I would've ordered a glass of wine, but if I drink too much wine I get sleepy and a headache. I did learn about (and try) two vodkas that I had not heard of before: Hanger One and Effen. Pretty good stuff. I think I consumed more alcohol this past week than I have all year. And I managed to be in bed before midnight every night! Ah, how times have changed.

Greetings from Vegas

2008-03-31T12:24:00.001-07:00

I'm in Vegas for most of this week for CTIA Wireless, an industry tradeshow. This is a view from my room at the Wynn hotel. My room overlooks the Wynn golf course (the waterfall) and the pool, which isn't in this picture.

I've stayed here once before, also for work. This place is the definition of posh. The bathrooms here are larger than the bedrooms in most homes. It's funny how they force you to walk through the casino to get to the guest elevators, but I'm sure the placement of the walkways in all casinos is strategically designed to maximize the gambling opportunities. :)

The Napa Valley Trail Half Marathon

2008-03-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

So, today was the half marathon that I signed up to run with Grace and Ann. I've supposedly been training for this run. I say supposedly because I wasn't nearly as disciplined as when I was training for the San Diego Rock-n-Roll marathon. I've been really behind on my training plan, and the longest distance I managed to run before this race was 6 miles. Let me tell you that running any race with little to no training is a bad idea. So, I decided that I should probably run/walk this one. Grace and Ann really didn't seem to mind either. =)

Unlike some of the other runs I've done before, this one was really low key. No corrals, timing chips or fancy finish line. It was also a well organized and supported event. We finished in about 3 hours and 30 minutes, which isn't bad considering we walked a good percentage of the course. The course was very scenic and peaceful with a few stream crossings. It was a bit tough in parts where there was pretty steep downhill and the ground was muddy. You could see where a few folks has slipped from the imprint on left on the ground. There were also some pretty steep uphill sections as well. I don't think I would've been able to run up those hills even if I had trained for this race. Even though it was a chilly start and slightly damp and muddy out, it was a fun event.

Before the race Grace asked me if I preferred trail races to regular races (e.g. pavement). I told her I'd have to let her know after this race because I've never really run a trail event before. While I thought trail running would be easier on my joints, the downhill sections really weren't that forgiving for my knees. Plus with the rocks and tree roots, it's pretty easy to turn an ankle or slip and fall. From a better-for-your-joints perspective, I think it's probably a wash. I think I prefer regular races because there's a different energy. There's always random people along the race route cheering you on. And that's pretty cool! I know there've been many times when I thought I couldn't do it, but then you'd hear someone in the randomly shout, "Good job! Keep it up!" And all of sudden, you get a burst of energy.

Aside from the run, the weekend was great! Not only did the boys meet us at the end of the race, they also prepared a delicious lunch for us girls back at our rental house! =) After relaxing for a bit, we went shopping at the Napa Outlets and then had dinner in downtown Napa. On Sunday, the boys slept in and the girls made breakfast for everyone. Kinda cute, huh? After packing up and locking up the house, we went wine tasting for a few hours before heading off to Oracle Arena. Greg, John and I met up with Dardy to catch the Warriors v. Mavericks game. All-in-all, it was a relaxing and fun-filled weekend!

Spring Fever

2008-03-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was probably the most active weekend we've had in a long time. The weather was fantastic, and we took full advantage of it. It felt really good to be outside, moving rather than being sedentary on the couch.

On Saturday, we went for a road ride from our house in Santa Clara to the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. We had lunch at Max's Cafe and met up with our friends volunteering a doggie adoption event at a posh doggie boutique, Bowlicious. We rode ~30 miles, round trip. It may sound far, but that's a typical distance and route I used to ride on a regular basis (when I was more active). I honestly can't remember the last time I was on my bike. And I could *definitely* tell it had been a long time. When we started the ride, my seat felt too high. I know it hadn't been adjusted and my legs haven't gotten any shorter. My legs felt like lead on our return ride, and my bottom was sore from sitting on my bike saddle. After the ride, my legs, arms, shoulders and abs were sore. It's really sad if you think about how hard it is to get into shape, but how easy it is to get out of shape.

On Sunday, we met up with some of our friends at the park to play grass volleyball. It's the first time this year that we've gone out to play grass volleyball. Quite a few people came out to enjoy the warm afternoon and hang out. It was a lot of fun! We're looking forward to more active weekends, especially since Spring is here and the weather is getting better.

WooHoo, We're Homeless!

2008-03-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, technically, we're not homeless. We just sold our Sunnyvale townhouse! For those of you who don't know, the Sunnyvale townhouse was my (Cheryl's) old place. We were pleasantly surprised at how quickly it sold, especially given the current state of the credit and real estate markets. It was on the market for less than a week *and* we got our asking price plus a bit more. It was all very exciting!

Our realtor, Royce Cablayan, was phenomenal! He was great to work with, very patient with all our questions and provided helpful suggestions on the improvements we should and shouldn't make to the place. I would definitely recommend him to anyone looking to buy or sell a place.

A couple of people have asked me if I'm sad about selling my place. Honestly, I'm not. I don't have any emotional attachments to it. It's probably because I haven't been living there for a while now. If I was still living in the place when we sold it, then I'd probably feel a bit sad. But I said my goodbyes about 5 months ago when I moved into Greg's townhouse in Santa Clara. I still have to correct myself when I talk about our home. Even though Greg's done so much to make sure that it feels like my home too and I consider our current residence my home, I often refer to it as Greg's place instead of our place or my place. It probably bothers me more than Greg that I do that. Hopefully, now that we've sold the Sunnyvale place, it'll be easier.

Other people have asked what we're going to do with the proceeds from the sale. Well, I've spent some of it on a new laptop (no, it's not a MacBook) that will hopefully arrive sometime next week. And we're going to use another chunk of it to upgrade our kitchen with new cabinets, counter, sink, lighting and appliances. (Which reminds me, has anyone recently purchased a dishwasher or range? If so, I'd appreciate any recommendations or thoughts you have on these appliances.) The rest of it has to go into a VERY safe short-term financial intsrument because it's our down payment for a single family home. We want to give Tachi a backyard to run around in. We haven't started looking and will probably wait until the government raises the conforming loan limit before we start to look. In the meantime, we can look forward to our remodeled kitchen.

Red Egg and Ginger Party

2008-03-11T21:32:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I (Greg was at a bachelor party) went to red egg and ginger party for my friend's new baby girl. I had a great time seeing my friend, her husband and their adorable baby girl. It was really nice to catch up with her extended family and our mutual friends too. Her daughter slept through most of the event, which is amazing considering the noise and all the little kids peeking into her stroller or poking at her to get her to wake up.

Speaking of little kids, I was amazed at how many kids were there. It seemed like everywhere I turned there was a either an infant, toddler or kid who was about 7 or younger. Where did all these kids come from?! I guess we're getting to that stage of life...

The Library

2008-02-27T15:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, I took a field trip to the Santa Clara library. Why? Well, several weeks ago my co-workers and I were talking about Barak Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope. Both of them had read the book and were supporting Obama in the Democratic primary. In fact, one of them said that the book reminded him of all the reasons why he loved living in this country and being American. He is an immigrant from India. I was intrigued and made some offhand comment about having to stop at the book store to pick it up. To which, my other co-worker remarked, "Buy it? Why don't you just borrow it from the library."

The library? I couldn't remember the last time I had stepped foot in a library. It was probably college. That got me thinking about why I hadn't visited a library in such a long time. When I was kid, I used to go to the library every Saturday morning. It was one of the many things I looked forward to. And my brother and I participated in the summer reading programs sponsored by our local library. Of course, it helped that there were prizes and Choose Your Own Adventure books counted as part of the program.

In junior high and high school, the library represented a sort of social freedom. Studying at the library was a way to hang out with friends and boys outside the ever watchful eyes of our parents. In fact, I know some of my friends would tell their parent's they were going to the library, but really they were at some boy's house. Really in between all the goofing off and white lies, we did manage to do some homework and research for papers/projects.

In college, the library was part socializing, part research for papers, and part actually studying (generally around mid-terms and finals). Sometimes studying at the library was even a pseudo-date. But now that I'm not in school, I didn't need to study or write papers anymore. And my friends and I socialize at different venues now: Starbucks, apartments/houses, volleyball.

So, how was the library? The Santa Clara library is a rather new, contemporary building with many modern amenities. There's lots of great natural light and spaces to read / work. They have computers with internet access available for use, free of charge. The tables have power plugs hidden underneath the table tops so you can plug your laptop in. There's even a cafe in the library! Although I think you have to consume your food/beverages at the tables around the cafe and not in other parts of the library. I'll have to double check that the next time I go. In addition to books, you can borrow DVDs, CDs, videos, and audio books.

I got a library card and started to look for a book to borrow. Borrowing a book instead of buying it actually makes a lot of sense (unless it's Harry Potter). I rarely read a book more than once. And when I'm finished with it, it just sits on my self collecting dust. But as I was looking up books that I had wanted to read, I realized what I disliked about the library. They didn't have any of them available. They were all checked out! Hmpf.

Driving in Cricles

2008-02-25T18:19:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went to Tahoe with some friends. When I was younger, I used to go to Tahoe frequently (read: every weekend) with friends. I'm not sure what happened, but I haven't been to Tahoe much in the past couple of seasons. Maybe it's because the snow hasn't been that great. Maybe it's because I'm getting old and lazy. Maybe it's because many of my friends have moved away and the ones who are here don't go up much either. Maybe it's because boarding just isn't the same as it used to be for me. Maybe it's a little bit of all of those things. Either way, I was looking forward to a relaxing, get away weekend.

We left Friday morning and had an uneventful drive into Tahoe. After settling in, we built a fort and snow people to greet the rest of our group. Saturday, we boarded at Sierra-at-Tahoe, even though we were closer to Heavenly. I think most folks in our group prefer Sierra because it's less expensive and is more boarder-friendly. The conditions were good in the morning: fresh powder, no lines, decent weather (not blue skies, but also not snowing or too windy). As the day progressed, we could tell that the storm was moving in. By lunch time, it was snowing and pretty gusty at the top of the mountain. But we went out for more boarding because the snow was so good. After a yummy dinner prepared by Grace, we just hung out and played Rock Band. Thanks for bringing it up, Ed and Char!

Sunday morning was a lazy morning. Slept in, made breakfast and had a snowball fight. That was good fun! Then it was time to pack it up and head home. This is when our weekend turned into a miserable, never-ending comedy of errors.

First a map of Lake Tahoe to help orient you.

We were staying in S. Lake Tahoe (bottom of the map), just off the road that takes you from S. Lake Tahoe Blvd to Heavenly (Ski Run for those of you familiar with the Tahoe Area).

1:00 PM - We departed the cabin. We inched our way forward on Pioneer Trail and noted all the cars turning around. Hmm...this is not a good sign. Thanks to the magic of GPS, we were able to take back roads to Meyers, near the junction of Hwy 50 and 89. (We're still at the bottom of the map). Cal Trans has closed Hwy 50 and 89 for avalanche work at the summit. Hwy 88 was closed due to avalanche danger. So, we couldn't take the 89 to 88 past Kirkwood. We just sat and wait...and wait...and wait. If any of you have taken a road trip with my husband, you *know* that this is cruel and unusual punishment for him (and anyone else in the car with him). He *cannot* sit still and gets incredibly antsy. Thankfully, we had a deck of cards and started playing card games.

3:30 PM - We've been sitting for 2.5 hours. Some of us have to potty. We made an executive decision to turn around and drive around the lake to the North Shore/Truckee to take Hwy 80 home. Of course, we checked road conditions before we made this decision. Hwy 80 as open. Why is this a big deal? Because in the winter, you have to go the long way around the lake. Hwy 89 is closed at Emerald Bay due to avalanche danger. For those of you not familiar with the long way, look at the map. We drove back towards our cabin on Hwy 50, crossed the Nevada/California State line, up Hwy 50 to Hwy 28 to Hwy 267 to Hwy 80.

6:00 PM - We're now at the top left of the map, near Truckee. The road conditions are not stellar. It's snowing, borderline blizzarding. The visibilty is poor. But traffic is moving! As we approach 80 westbound, there aren't many cars on the highway. Maybe everyone's already headed home? It looks like we made a good decision...until we see brake lights and then 80 becomes a parking lot at Donner Pass Road. Hwy 80 is *closed* at Donner Summit due to blizzard-like conditions and zero visibility. We also find out that Hwy 50 is now open. OMG! Are you have to be kidding me?! It's kinda comical...in a sick twisted way. What should we do? We decided to get dinner and see if the road opens up after we're done.

7:00 PM - We manage to maneuver around all the parked cars and flip a u-turn on the highway. Yes, we flipped a u-turn. After driving around for 20 minutes, we found an Italian place in Truckee. We had a nice meal, watched some TV (the Oscars and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader), hung out for a bit and then decided to give it another shot.

9:00 PM - Hwy 80 is *still* closed. In fact, they blocked all the westbound on-ramps. What to do? Let's get gas at the gas station. There are heaps of cars, trucks and SUVs parked on the side of the road, just waiting. Should we drive back to S. Lake Tahoe and take Hwy 50 home? There's no guarantee that 50 will remain open and still be open by the time we get there. Not to mention the fact that our trek to Hwy 80 would've been a futile effort. Or do we wait it out for them to open 80? The last time we didn't wait, 50 opened up. Of course, there is no estimated time of re-opening. It's a catch-22. We're damned if we do. We're damned if we don't. We decide to wait it out, since the last time we didn't we got screwed.

Greg is now convinced that Cal Trans is in cahoots with the Truckee businesses. It's all just a ploy to keep people in the area...force us to spend money on food, gas and lodging. "Cal Trans sucks @$$," says Greg.

It's amazing how cold a car can get when it's cold outside. Luckily, Ed and Char had blankets to keep us warm. Note to self: pack blankets whenever we roadtrip. We talk for a little bit, and then everyone in the car dozes off.

12:00 AM - We wake up and decide to give it yet another shot. The storm seems to have passed. It's not snowing outside anymore, and the wind seems to have died down. It's *still* closed! The guy in the truck says 80 probably won't be open until the morning. Hmm...we could just stay overnight, call in sick and board in fresh powder. Except we both have doggies we need to get back to. We've got nothing to lose now. So, (this is just classic) we drive *back* to S. Lake Tahoe to take Hwy 50 home. On the plus side, there's no traffic on the roads.

2:00 AM - Life is cruel. 13 hours after we left, we're back where we started. We basically drove to Truckee for dinner and a nap and then back to S. Lake Tahoe. Hahaha! On a positive note, everyone in the car is taking this in stride. No one's blaming anyone. Tempers are *not* flaring. Greg was probably the most frustrated person in the car because he's not good at feeling helpless. But he was still laughing at the situation and making jokes.

2:30 AM - Hwy 50 is...open! Hooray! We pass chain control and are on our way home. According to Char and Greg, driving 50 that late at night was surreal. You're literally staring into the blackness and you see nothing. Every now and then they'd see an animal along the side of the road. They saw a coyote, a mountain lion (they think) and Sasquatch (not). Ed and I were passed out in the back seat. So we'll take their word for it.

7:30 AM - After being on the road for 19.5 hours, we are *finally* home! I think the entire drive home is a lesson in patience. If we had just had the patience to wait it out on Hwy 50, we probably would've been home much sooner. Needless to say, we "worked" from home today and managed to take a nice long nap in the afternoon.

Call us crazy, but we're plotting another trip back to Tahoe to erase the sour memory of our insane drive home. =)

Chinese New Year Run

2008-02-18T18:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we ran the Chinese New Year 5k/10K Run in San Francisco. Our friend, Juliana, organized a group of folks to run or walk the 5K. We got up really early to get up to the city by 7:00 AM. The upside of getting there early: no traffic and *FREE* street parking. I've never found free street parking in San Francisco, especially around SF Chinatown.

The run was pretty low-key. There were actually a lot more people than we expected. Apparently, this is the 30th annual run. The funniest thing about the run were the handful of Chinese grandmas who would cross the streets that the runners were on. They just shuffled right in front of everyone with no fear of being run over or bumped into. I wonder if something happens to Asian women who get past a certain age that gives them this fearlessness (or stupidity according to Greg).

We had heard that they gave each runner warm pork buns (the baked kind) after the finish line. So, that was pretty good motivation to run faster and get to the finish line. You can imagine how disappointed Greg was when we crossed the finish line and made our way up to Portsmouth Square to find that there were no pork buns. Only water, bananas, oranges and yogurt in tubes. Good thing we were planning to grab breakfast after everyone finished! Our yummy breakfast at Squat & Gobble more than made up for the lack of pork buns.

Kooza

2008-02-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

Friday night we went to Kooza, the newest Cirque du Soleil show, in downtown San Jose. Greg is a big fan of the Cirque shows and tries to them when they're touring in San Jose. I'm not as big a fan, but think that the shows *can be* pretty interesting. I really enjoyed O, but felt that Corteo and Quidam were not as entertaining.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Kooza. As we were driving to the show, I looked at Greg and said, "If I fall asleep during the show, will you be upset?" Greg made a face and said, "Yes." Hmm...I made a mental note: be sure to caffinate before any Cirque shows. I wasn't sure I'd have time to get a Diet Coke or even if they'd let me bring it into the tent. I was seriously hoping Kooza would be entertaining for me.

And it was! I really enjoyed the clowns and the comic relief between the acrobatics. My favorite acrobatic acts were the Wheel of Death and Balancing on Chairs. The other acrobatic acts were good too, but these two really stood out for me. I think it's because I hadn't seen acts like this before.

Happy Non-Valentine Day!

2008-02-15T15:13:00.000-08:00

While I was in Chicago, my co-worker asked me what Greg and I would be doing for our first Valentine Day as a married couple. I looked at her with this blank stare and said, "Valentine Day? Uhhh...we don't really celebrate it."

We actually discussed this when we were dating. Is it unromantic to not celebrate Valentine Day? We don't think so. We think Valentine Day is a commerical holiday that's over-hyped. Everyday should be Valentine Day. Why do you need a special day to tell/show someone that you love him/her? Shouldn't you do that *everyday* you're with that person?

So what did we do for Valentine Day? Since we had a bye for volleyball, Greg and a friend, made dinner for a few of our mutual friends. And they did a FANTASTIC job. The menu:

Deviled eggs and baked caprese salad for appetizers
Spinach salad
Tomatoes and peppers stuffed with wild mushrooms and goat cheese
Cioppino
Home made s'mores for dessert

Several folks brought wine or desserts too. After dinner, we sat around chatting and then played Rock Band. It was a really good evening with really good food and friends. I think Greg may have set the bar rather high for the next time he decides to host or co-host a dinner party!

How many agents does it take to change your flight?

2008-02-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

It's snowing. Not hard, but enough that it could be problematic. It looks pretty from my hotel room, but I know it's going to be cold outside. I'm glad that I brought my scarf, beanie and gloves. And I don't even want to think about what the bad weather's going to do to my flight home. Having flown in and out of O'Hare in bad weather before I know it's not a question of if it will be delayed, but by how much will it be delayed.

The air is really dry out here too. I can feel my the static electricity in my hair. And when you get under the sheets and/or move under the sheets, you get shocked by the static electricity. The craziest thing is that this morning, when I rolled over to turn off the alarm clock, I saw little green flashes whenever I felt the static shock. I've never seen static electricity before! It was actually kinda cool.

I was scheduled to fly from Chicago to San Jose via a connection in Denver. My first flight was scheduled to depart at 4:47 PM. My co-workers were on a direct flight to San Francisco that was scheduled to depart at 5:00 PM. The entire day we kept checking our devices for an email message from United about flight delays. Nothing. It wasn't until we were at the self service check-in kiosk that we received an email saying our flights were delayed.

My co-workers' flight was delayed until 7:00 PM, but they were able to get onto the 3:00 PM flight that was delayed until 5:00 PM. My flight was delayed until 6:30 PM, which meant I would've missed my connection in Denver. I had to see an agent at the ticket counter. Ugh. The agent switches my Denver connection to a later time, and I'm on my way through security. Since I've got time to kill, I stop at Starbucks for some tea.

At the gate, I find my co-workers who're waiting for their flight at a nearby gate. I get another email update saying my flight is now delayed until 7:30 PM. Are you serious? I'm going to miss the later connection in Denver. Experience tells me that my flight is probably going to be delayed even more than this. I do *not* want to spend the night in Denver (or Chicago for that matter) or get home around midnight or later.

One of my co-workers tells me that she'll give me a ride from SFO to my home, if I get on their flight. That was really nice of her because she lives in Menlo Park, which is about 20 minutes from our home. And she has a 3 year old daughter that probably misses her mommy. I told her that if I could get on the flight, it would be great if she could give me a ride from SFO to her house. Greg can pick me up there.

I walk to the counter, where *several* gate agents are standing around.

"Can I help you?" says Agent1

"Yes. My final destination is San Jose, but I have to connect through Denver. My Chicago to Denver flight is now delayed until 7:30 PM, which means I'm going to miss my connection. Is it possible to get onto this flight to San Francisco instead?"

"You have to talk to the agent over there by the jetway door."

"Okay."

I'm wondering why this agent can't help me, but I give her the benefit of the doubt and walk over the Agent2. Agent2 sees me and is trying to ignore me while he talks to another agent.

"Excuse me. They sent me over here to talk to you."

"Yes. How can I help you?"

I repeat my situation to Agent2.

"Hmm...well, I don't think I can do anything because you have a connection.

"Why not?"

"Well, your luggage is checked through to San Jose."

"I didn't check any bags."

"Well, I'd have to open your ticket up, which means you'd lose your seats on your existing flights. And we're not sure there's room on this flight. It'd be best if you wait until we start calling standbys."

"Okay, can you add my name to the standby list?"

"You just need to wait over there by the counter."

"Really? Don't you generally take the names of passengers for the standby list?"

"Just wait over there by the counter, ma'am." he says in a very dismissive tone and goes back to his conversation with the other agent.

I walk *back* over to the counter, and speak to a different agent, Agent3.

"Can I help you ma'am?"

"I hope so." I say and proceed to repeat my situation for the third time.

"Hmm...I'm not sure we can do that because you have a connection. I think you have to go to the customer service desk."

I walked by the customer service desk on my way to the gate and there as a loooong line. I *know* they can re-ticket me at the counter, but for some reason none of the gate agents I've spoken with so far seem to know this. Are they all in training or something?

"Really? There's nothing you can do?"

"I'm pretty sure because you have a connection, you need to go to the customer service desk. But let me double check with him." he says as he points to yet another agent holding a phone up to his ear with his shoulder while he types on the keyboard.

Agent3 proceeds to tell Agent4 my situation.

Agent4 confidently says, "You can just re-ticket her here." I'm doing the happy dance in my head and thanking God that this agent is here.

Agent3 looks perplexed and says, "You can?"

"Yes, like this."

He starts typing on the keyboard; stops and looks at me. Oh no...is he going to tell me there're no more seats available? Please no.

"There's only middle seats left. Is that okay?"

"That's fine. I just want to get on the flight."

"Okay. Here you go." he says as he hands me my new boarding pass.

Hallelujah! I'm good to go! Now all I needed was for the flight to take off! After a gate change, boarding (which seemed to take longer than usual) and de-icing the plane, we finally take off around 6:30 PM. Our estimated time of arrival: 8:06 PM Pacific (10:06 Central).

As Greg and I are driving back home, I found out that my original Chicago flight was delayed until 8:45 PM and that my Denver flight was delayed until 10:05 PM! If I had stayed on my original flight, I would've just taken off from Denver instead of being in the car headed home. Thank goodness I got on that flight. I'm so happy to be home.

All by Myself...

2008-02-11T19:11:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting in my hotel room watching TV, but there's really nothing good on right now. I'm actually quite bored, but there's nothing to do out here in Schaumberg. And if there was, it's too freakin cold to go out. I think the high today was 10 degrees. I could drive to downtown Chicago, which is about an hours drive. But I have no one to hang out with downtown, and the idea of bar hopping by myself is really not appealing.

While I am traveling with co-workers, they're not interested in going downtown. I had to talk them into to going out to dinner. And they didn't even want to go to a nice dinner. They filled up on the finger food during the social and networking time after our meeting. It's a real bummer because there are some really good restaurants in Chicago...Mortons, Charlie Trotters, Gibsons Steak House, Chicago Chop House, and Hugo's Frog Bar. Granted they're mostly steak houses, and I don't usually steak...but I'd make an exception for these places. The last time I was in Chicago for business, I ate at Hugo's Frog Bar by myself. And it was a GOOD meal. Instead we ate at the Cheesecake Factory in the mall by the Motorola campus.

If my brother and sister-in-law still lived in Chicago, I would drive downtown and hang out with them. But they don't live here anymore. So, I'm stuck...in my hotel room...bored...all by my lonesome...

Brr...It's COLD in Chicago

2008-02-10T23:49:00.000-08:00

I'm in Chicago for work tonight. Well, not exactly Chicago. I'm in a suburb of Chicago, Schaumberg. What's in Schaumberg? Besides Motorola's headquarters, not much else. It's definitely not at all like Downtown Chicago. =( At least I'm only here for a few days and go back home on Tuesday night.

It's also incredibly cold. As we were beginning our descent into Chicago, the pilot announces that it's really cold in Chicago. "It's about 2 or 3 degrees below zero. And the wind is about 10-15 miles, so it'll be about 10 degree *below* zero." I could tell it was going to be cold because I could see the breath of the ground crew outside and my own breath as I walked down the jet way to the terminal. Joy. I'm going to to freeze and turn into a Cheryl-scle.

Sorry Ice Cream, I'm on My Way to Pinkberry

2008-02-10T22:53:00.000-08:00

Greg and I have heard a great deal about Pinkberry yogurt from our friends who live or have lived in LA. And then we saw a TV commerical for an American Express card that featured Pinkberry. What's the big deal? It's just frozen yogurt right? Our friends quickly corrected us. Pinkberry is not like other frozen yogurt. It's slightly tart and tastes like yogurt you buy at the grocery store (Dannon or Yoplait), but frozen.

Hmmm...sounds different, but we still didn't quite get it. It has to be something you try. We found a couple of yogurt shops in the Bay Area that served this type of yogurt. It was pretty good, and I'd eat it again.

I was advised that Pinkberry was better and I still really needed to try it. Why was it better? They had more toppings. Their yogurt was thicker/richer/creamier. Interesting. Only one problem. Their California stores are only located in the LA area. So, we had to wait for the next opportunity we were in LA.

That opportunity happened this past weekend when we visited my brother, sister-in-law and our friend and her new baby. I made a point of telling my brother that we had to go to Pinkberry:

Ed: What do you want to do when you're here?
Me: Go to Pinkberry. Other than that, doesn't matter. We can just play it by ear. But we have to go to Pinkberry.
Ed: (chuckling) Okay, why do you want to go to Pinkberry so badly?
Me: We've heard a lot about it from our friends, and we want to try it.

So we went twice. Once on Saturday and once on Sunday. The store has a very modern feel. The clear green chairs reminded me of yogurt spoons. They had three flavors: plain, green tea and coffee. You get to pick different toppings. Choose from an array of fresh fruit -- mangos, strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or bananas -- or mochi, captain crunch, oreos, chocolate chips, etc. Dardy highly recommended the plain yogurt with mochi and captain crunch topping. My brother highly recommended the plain yogurt with fruit toppings.

On Saturday, we ordered a plain yogurt with mango, blueberries and strawberries and shared it. The yogurt was thicker. We really liked the fresh fruit toppings. There was just the right amount of fruit so you got fruit with each bite of yogurt. As we sat eating our yogurt, I noticed that a rather long line had formed out the door.

On Sunday, Greg ordered a plain yogurt with mochi and captain crunch. I ordered a plain yogurt with mangos, blueberries and kiwi. I liked the mochi topping, but wasn't too hot on the captain crunch. If we went back another time, I'd order plain with mochi, blueberries and strawberries.

Turns out there's a Pinkberry theme song, The Pinkberry Remix by Lady Tigra. I heard it when I went to their website. It's kinda catchy, and where I got the title of this post...PIN-KBE-RRY...Pinkberry.

Happy Year of the Rat!

2008-02-07T14:23:00.000-08:00

For Chinese New Year, my extended family usually gathers for a meal on Chinese New Year's Eve where we eat traditional Chinese New Year foods. What are traditional Chinese New Year foods and why do we eat them? Uh...well, I'm not entirely sure. But there's generally always fish, dumplings, rice cake (nian gao), and other stuff. I do know that we're not supposed to finish everything because the leftovers are symbolic of having plenty for the new year. At least, that's what I've been told.

So last night I drove up to the East Bay for Chinese New Year dinner. Rather than eating home cooking, we ended up at a restaurant. My aunt, who is a very good cook and usually cooks everything for Chinese New Year dinner, is in Shanghai for the new year. We had fish, dumplings and other stuff, but no rice cake. That was kinda disappointing, but probably better for me from a caloric standpoint. It was nice to see everyone, but the food was not nearly as tasty as what my aunt prepares.

The other really cool thing about Chinese New Year is the red envelopes you get! For those of you not familiar with this tradition, after you pay your respects (bai nian) to your elders, they give you a red envelope filled with money. But since I'm married now, I'm not supposed to get red envelopes anymore. (boo) Instead, I'm supposed to give them out to the single people who are younger than me (read: my cousins). Did I have red envelopes prepared? Nope. Why not? Well, two of my cousins were not home for Chinese New Year, and I wasn't sure if the other one would be at dinner. Thankfully, no one called me (or my other married cousins) on it. What was surprising was that I (and my other married cousins) received red envelopes from my grandma, uncle and mom! Cha-ching! Maybe they forgot we were all married...probably not. Maybe my family doesn't follow the "No red envelopes after you're married" tradition. Or maybe they'll stop giving them to me after I have a baby and give it to the baby instead.

You might be wondering why I'm using the first person singular, I, instead of the first person plural, we, for this post. Well, it's because Greg did not join me last night. He had volleyball. Someone asked me if it bothered me that Greg didn't attend this family function since this is a big holiday for my family and he's my husband. It doesn't really bother me that he didn't go. I think he doesn't really enjoy these gatherings because my extended family either prefers to or can only converse in Mandarin. Really, how much fun can it be if you can't understand most of the conversation and/or very few people talk to you? While I can't really speak Mandarin very well, I can understand most of the conversation and contribute with Chinglish. If I had a choice between volleyball (or some other activity you enjoy) or going out to dinner with people I couldn't really talk to or understand, I would prefer to play volleyball. Wouldn't you?

Thank God for a Quick Metabolism

2008-02-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

7:00 pm - arrive at BJ's Brewery

Beer
Long Island (love Dardy)
Scooby Snack (love Ann)
3 Wise Men (love Eddie)
151 (love Eddie)
Tequila (love Eddie)
Chocolate Cake (love Jen)
Irish Car Bomb (love...I dunno)
Buttery Nipple (love Ann - thanks for taking this one Dardy)

??:?? pm Dardy takes Greg to visit the bathroom

??:?? pm Ed takes Greg to visit the bathroom

Greg spends the rest of the night at home in the bathroom

I love my friends dearly.

Pictures of the chaos can be found at http://www.wilcopix.com/wilco/greg%20birthday

2/2/08: no hangover! woo hoo!

The Scientific Method

2008-01-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

Observation: General reduction in number invitations to socialize extended from single people to married people.

Hypothesis: Single people prefer to socialize with other single people.

Experimental Design: Analyze number of social invitations extended pre and post marriage.

Analyze Data: Sorry...not enough time...to be continued...maybe.

Observations about Orlando

2008-01-24T21:17:00.000-08:00

There're a lot of chain restaurants - many I've never heard of and some I would never want to eat at. I think every chain known to man is in this area: Waffle House, Golden Corral, Cracker Barrel, Friendly's, Sonic, TGIFriday's, Tony Roma's, Hooters, IHOP, Denny's, Bennigans, Boston Market, McDonald's, and more.
There're actually some pretty good restaurants in Orlando as well. On Monday night, some of my co-workers and I had really yummy South Indian food. I know, I don't usually eat Indian food. But we had some vegetarians in our group and the Thai place we wanted to go to was closed for the MLK holiday. I thought it was a bit peculiar...maybe they were just closed on Mondays.
There're a lot of retired, elderly people working as van/bus drivers or hotel/conference support staff. My shuttle driver from the airport to the hotel was a retired gentleman who moved here from the northeastern US. He was fiesty and would say stuff like, "Come on, now. Let's get a move on." at traffic lights or other cars/drivers. I guess retirement hasn't mellowed him out.
There are a ton of hotels in the Orlando area. I think there were like 4 Hilton hotels in the area so when I'd get into a cab to get back to my first hotel, I had to be really specific on the name. And many of the hotels are over-done and border on tacky. They kinda remind me of the hotels on the Vegas strip, which are over-done...but in a slightly different way.
The water out of the tap tastes and smells a bit funny. No, I'm not drinking the water, but you can taste it when you brush your teeth.
The hotel rooms smell funny. In both hotels, I was in a non-smoking room, but they smelled like smoke or Febreeze covering up the smoke smell.

Looking Forward to Going Home

2008-01-23T20:37:00.000-08:00

Tonight's my last night in Orlando, and I'm really looking forward to going home tomorrow. When I told people that I was going to Orlando for work, most of the reactions were, "How fun!" or "You get to go to such cool places for work!" There was a time when I really felt that way and looked forward to traveling for work. In fact, it seemed glamorous to be a "road warrior." It was a lot of fun to travel to new cities, stay in swanky hotels, eat at really nice restaurants, earn massive mileage or hotel points and party it up all on the company dime. Who wouldn't enjoy that life?

But lately work travel isn't as fun as it used to be. Maybe it's because I'm getting old and set in my ways. Maybe it's because getting through airports with all the security requirements is such a time-consuming, pain-in-the-a$. Maybe it's because I tend to travel to the same places, which makes it less interesting. (I've been to Orlando at least 10-12 times in my career.) Maybe it's because trying to find healthy and tasty food options while you're on the road is such a challenge. Maybe it's because I'm sitting in my hotel room alone watching TV instead of hangin' out with my hubby and our dog and/or our friends. I'm sure it's a little bit of all these things.

(sigh) I'm looking forward to going home tomorrow.

Cheryl's First Mobile Blog Post

2008-01-22T13:33:00.001-08:00

I was messing around with my Moto Q9 at lunch today and discovered the mobile blogging capabilities for our site. Interesting...I decided to give it a try.

I've got a bit of a break until my next session. So I just took a picture of the fountain in the lobby on my device and am now sending it to our blog. Let's see if this is going to work...

Observation...

2008-01-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

When Cheryl's gone, I have to turn up the thermostat a few degrees to be comfortably warm at night.

A Room with a View

2008-01-20T20:02:00.000-08:00

So, I'm in Orlando for a conference this week. Everything went well with my trip until I arrived at the hotel.

I stepped up to the counter to check-in, gave the woman helping me my ID, credit card and last name. She types something on her keyboard and then informs me that my reservation was moved to another hotel. Excuse me? Can you repeat that? When I ask her why my reservation was moved, she tells me that the hotel was expecting me to check in yesterday and since I didn't arrive yesterday, they released my room. Uh...what? How could that have happened?! She informs me that the conference organizers have a hotel service next to registration, and I should check in with them to see if they can locate another property for me to stay at.

Fan-freakin-tastic! I've been up since 5:30 AM (California time) and have spent my entire Sunday traveling here for work. I'm tired, slightly hungry and a bit cranky about being here away from my wonderful husband, our adorable dog and comfy home.

So, I walk around the corner to registration and find the hotel service desk. There's an elderly woman sitting behind the counter on the phone and another gentleman in line ahead of me. I find out that he's in a similar position. Bernice, the woman behind the table, informed me that according to their records, I was supposed to have arrived yesterday and when I didn't show up, they released the room. All the conference hotels are completely booked, as are the nearest hotels. This is not making me feel better. I start having visions of me sleeping in some arm chair or couch in the lobby. While I'm getting more annoyed and frustrated that I have to deal with this, I'm trying to be polite. It's not her fault that my reservation got messed up.

She tells me the conference hotel has rooms available starting on Tuesday, but I'd have to call the 800 number to make a reservation. I should still be able to get the conference rate. That's great. I step away from the table and call the hotel. They do in fact, have rooms for Tuesday and Wednesday night. Great, can I get the conference rate? Hmm...the reservation agent doesn't seem to think so, but she'll check with her manager. Well, I was told that I could still get the conference rate. She puts me on hold and comes back with good news. I can, in fact, get the conference rate.

I'm feeling cautiously optimistic now. I've got part of my conundrum resolved. Now I just need to find a place to stay for tonight and tomorrow night. She makes some more phone calls while I ponder the idea of sharing a room with one of my co-workers for a few days. She's found a room, but it's off Disney property (read: I'll have to cab it to the conference hotel and back). It's a Hilton, so it's gotta be decent and have internet access. How far is it? She tells me that the hotel told her it was 2 miles from the Disney property. Umm...okay, that can't be too bad, can it? Maybe I can walk it?

So, I have a room for tonight and Monday night. It's nice. I have room with a view of the pool and there's free WiFi on the entire property. But it's not 2 miles away. It's more like 8 miles away or a 15-20 minute cab ride. It's also just a bit more inconvenient because I can't just "run" to my room to do some work, drop some stuff off or change. But it's definitely better than sleeping on a couch in the hotel lobby. And now that I'm here, it's actually kinda nice to be away from all the Disney-ness and in a normal room/hotel.

Body Worlds 2

2008-01-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

We spent the afternoon at the Body Worlds 2 exhibit at the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose with some of our friends. I know some of our friends decided not to come with us because of the gross out factor. But we were intrigued. Apparently so were a lot of other people. The exhibit was packed with people - adults and kids.

The exhibit was really interesting. We spent quite a bit of time looking at the hip and knee joints. They had one that was healthy and one that had been replaced. I was especially interested in the hip joint display because my mom had one of her hips replaced a few years ago. And I got a glimpse into what my brother, the orthopedic surgeon, does. Kinda cool!

I was a bit surprised by the number of kids at the exhibit. I figured parents might think that this exhibit is too scary, graphic or intense for their kids. But most of the kids seemed really fascinated with some of the displays - mostly the ones of the human bodies in different poses. I think the fact that we were looking at real human bodies was lost on most of the kids. The kids at the exhibit did make some pretty funny comments though.

Inside one of the display cases was a sliced cross-section of the thigh. As we walked past this item, we overheard a young girl say to her dad, "Dad, it looks like ham!" We started to chuckle because it did look like a slice of prosciutto. And shortly after Greg said, "Too bad they don't allow food and drinks in the exhibit. It'd be pretty funny to walk around the exhibit eating beef jerky," we overheard another kid say, "Dad, I think I know why it looks like beef jerky." Nice to know that my husband and a 5 year old have similar thoughts!

Live Radio over the Internet!

2008-01-11T18:28:00.000-08:00

I discovered live radio over the internet at work today! I was so excited about this discovery that I told one of my co-workers. He looked at me like, "Duh, where've you been?!?" Okay, I realize that this capability has probably been around for several years, but today's the first day I actually used it.

Really, why'd it take me so long? I vaguely remember trying to listen to live radio via the Internet several years ago, but I don't think the technology was in place to make that experience very good. Either the radio station website didn't even have the live stream available or if they did, it was incredibly bad with delays and drops. It must've been such a highly disappointing experience that I never bothered to try it again.

I think I also never tried to find live radio on the Internet because I had alternative sources of music at work. There's my trusty iPod, which is what I generally listen to when I'm working. For a while, I even tried Yahoo Music LAUNCHcast. I stopped because I hit my limit on free music, and the program wouldn't let me listen unless I subscribed to the service. So, I went back to my iPod, which is what I've been listening to since today.

I was so excited about my discovery today that I told Greg about it when I got home. And he looked at me like I had just crawled out from under a rock and said, "Where have you been? Live radio over the internet has been around for a while." Fine, I'm going to go crawl back into my rock now...

I'll Try Anything Once...

2008-01-08T15:59:00.000-08:00

So I'll try anything once...skydiving, pig eye balls, rocky mountain oysters, stinky tofu...

So what's the deal with blogging. Everyone's doing it. I have to admit that it was sort of cool keeping everyone up to date with what we were going in New Zealand. Now that I'm back in the states...who wants to read about my daily boringness.

Okay...I've tried it. Not for me. Well...how about this. I'll post something here if I break something or do something really cool. I've done neither today...although about a week ago I broke one roller blade. How? I did a hockey stop at Rollin Ice and that split the hard plastic boot, causing the bottom half with the wheels to go sliding across the rink. Nice. And I didn't even get to play. Boo.

Another thing...if people don't comment, it feels like no one's reading. COMMENT DAMN IT!

The Dark Side

2008-01-07T13:34:00.001-08:00

We have some friends who are always inviting us to "come to the dark side." What's the dark side? The dark side is when you live a more sedentary and sloth-like life. And it typically happens to many of our friends after they get married. Instead of going out and doing something active, you end up sitting in front of the TV with your wife/hubby watching the latest reality TV show, maybe snacking on ice cream, chips or something else along those lines.

We've been pretty good at resisting the dark side until this past holiday season. All of our volleyball leagues were on hiatus. The weather was gloomy, cold and wet. Throw in all the holiday eating and drinking. Whammo! We are on the verge of joining the dark side. I admit it's really nice being lethargic, sleeping in, taking naps, and basically doing nothing. I can see how the dark side can be oh so tempting.

But instead of succumbing to the forces of evil, we will wield our light sabers and fight! We will join the rebel alliance and fight the power of the dark side. Our volleyball leagues start this week. In fact, one of mine started last night. It's a new league that I haven't played in for quite some time. As I was walking out the door, I felt like it was the first day of school at a new school. I was excited, but also a bit anxious about what to expect. When I got to the gym, I realized that I new quite a few people in the league and it was like playing with old friends. It felt really good to be playing again (even though I was really rusty).

I also signed up to run the Napa Valley Trail Half-Marathon at the end of March with some friends. I started training today and had to run 3 miles. That was harder than I expected it to be. I'm not sure my knees, ankles and back can handle the training, but I'm gonna give it my best shot. I definitely need to find the phone number for that sports massage therapist who fixed me when I was training for the San Diego Rock n Roll marathon.

Stormy Weather

2008-01-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

Ugh, the weather is horrible. It makes me just want to curl up in bed, drink hot tea and read a book or watch a movie. Even though my commute to work is less than 5 miles, I seriously thought about working from home today. But for some reason, I decided to brave the wind and rain and head into the office. The drive was okay. The worst thing I experienced were the pools of water by the side of the road.

So, I made it safely to work and managed to do some real work for a few hours. At about 11:10 AM, the fire alarm goes off. Seriously? A fire? In this weather? You have to be kidding, me. Luckily, I decided to grab my car keys. So a couple of my co-workers and I sat in my car until it was okay to go back in the building. We debated going to get dim sum for lunch or going to Starbucks for coffee. But I just wanted to grab the rest of my stuff, go home for lunch, work from home and go to the gym later in the afternoon.

None of the above happened. Instead, I ate lunch at my desk and stayed in the office for the rest of the afternoon. Thank goodness it's Friday.

Hello 2008!

2008-01-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

If there was a theme for 2007, it was the year of weddings. Not only did we get married, but we also attended (and participated) in the weddings of several of our good friends. And our wedding-related activities still aren't quite over yet. We met with out photographer few days ago to look at the layout of our wedding album. And we still need to put together our guest book.

We also consolidated two households into one. That was no easy task! We had 2 sets of couches, 2 beds, 2 George Foreman grills, 2 rice cookers, and more. After giving some stuff away, selling some of it at a garage sale and storing the rest of it at our parents houses, we managed to combine our stuff into one townhouse.

What will 2008 bring? We know of at least three more weddings and one baby due any day now! Other than that, we'll just have to wait and see what the new year brings. Hopefully, it will be good health and loads of happiness for everyone!

The Dog Just Wanted Attention

2007-12-28T23:07:00.000-08:00

Tachi is doing much better and probably won't need the surgery. It's amazing how quickly he improved...makes us wonder if he was just faking it. We'll never really know what was wrong, if whatever was in his paw worked its way out or if it was the antibiotics. The mysteries of vetrinaray science (and $250). I suppose all that matters is that he's getting better and starting to rough house with Buddy. =)

Walking with Dinosaurs

2007-12-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

We just got back from Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience. It's a cool show about dinosaurs that showcases life-sized animatronic dinosaurs. It's about as close as we'll get to seeing real dinosaurs. The dinos were very detailed, and their movement was really fluid - not robotic at all. Even their eyes moved! And they roared! In fact, the ushers were handing out ear plugs because some of the dinos are really quite loud. Our favorites: brachiosaurus and utahraptors.

There were lots of kids in the audience, including one little boy in front of us who proclaimed, "I want to be a dinosaur!" at intermission. It's a family-friendly show, although I wonder if some of the younger kids might have nightmares about the big, scary dinos. As we were walking back to the car, Greg turns to me and says, "See, I'd say something like 'Be careful. I hear that the dinosaurs sometimes escape at night when everyone's sleeping.' to our kid." I replied, "That's mean! You're not allowed to talk to our kids after things like this." When I shared Greg's comments with our friends, one of them just shook her head at Greg. I'm sure she was thinking, "Poor Cheryl."

Our Dog is Broken

2007-12-26T13:27:00.000-08:00

This morning started with the sound of Tachi heaving at 5:00 AM. The heaving sound quickly turned into a barfing sound. Ugh...it must be all those "treats" that people were feeding him. As we were cleaning up the mess and getting Tachi some water, we noticed that he was limping.

Greg put him on his back and started to check his feet. When he touched the outside pad of his front left paw, Tachi yelped and started to squirm. He had a cut on that pad about a week ago. We had put some Neosporin on the cut, and it looked healed over. It didn't look inflamed or red. But Tachi wouldn't put any pressure on his left paw. When he sat, his front left paw would be lifted off the ground. When he stood, it was the same thing.

Since everything looked okay on the outside, we took him to vet to have his paw checked out. The vet started to check his paw out, but Tachi was too squirmy. He had to be muzzled and restrained by both the vet tech and Greg. I guess I'd be squirmy too if someone was poking me where it hurt. The vet didn't see or feel anything wrong during the exam and recommended an x-ray because it could be fracture in his paw.

After waiting for 15 minutes, we were called back into the exam room to look at the x-ray. As we were looking at his x-ray, the vet commented that Tachi was a handful during the x-ray. Oh boy. I wonder if he's going to hate going to vet now. We looked at the x-ray, and there was no fracture. But there was a mysterious, small density at the base of his outside pad. The vet speculated that it could be an infection was developing where the cut had been, which is what was causing the pain. Or it could be a piece of gravel or something embedded in that pad. We had two options:

Wait it out and see if whatever was causing the pain would work itself out. He'd give us some antibiotics in case it was an infection.
Schedule a surgery to remove the mysterious density. Because they didn't know what they were looking for, it would be difficult to find it and could actually do more damage to his pad than good.

We chose option 1 and would touch bases with the vet on Friday for a progress report. If it wasn't better, then we'd have to bring him on Friday for the surgery. Ugh...I really hope we don't have to bring him back on Friday.

On our way home, I told Greg that this must be like being a parent with a kid who was climbing a tree, fell and broke his/her arm. The big difference is that a kid would be able to articulate what's wrong or what happened. Whereas a dog, really can't do that.

Tachi's been mopey all day and very tentative with is front left paw. Instead of following us around the house or playing with Buddy, he's just resting on his dog bed. I hope he feels better soon. =(

The Stockings were Hung by the Chimney with Care

2007-12-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

We added Christmas stockings to our holiday decor. They're the traditional red ones with the white cuff. We wrote our names on the cuff with glitter glue so Santa would know who's stocking was who's. I don't want him to accidentally put Greg's lump of coal in my stocking. (I'm just kidding, honey. I know you're an angel.)

We even got a stocking for Tachi. It's also red and white, but it's shaped like a dog paw with white patches for the pads of his feet. It's really cute! I have a feeling Tachi's stocking is going to be stuffed with lots of new doggie toys and maybe a few treats too.

Our First Christmas Tree

2007-12-21T11:28:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we went shopping for our first Christmas tree. The big question was real or fake?

Growing up, my family always had a fake tree that we'd assemble and then decorate with those glass ball ornaments, tinsel, a few ornaments (like two) that my brother and I made as school projects, lights and a star at the top. Hmmm...I bet my parents still have that baked angel (I think) ornament stored in the Christmas box, collecting dust in the garage. Maybe I should go rescue it. But I digress. It wasn't until I was in high school that we started getting a real tree for Christmas. I loved getting the tree every year. It became a tradition for our family to go pick out a tree at the local tree lot the day after Thanksgiving and decorate it. We'd leave that tree up until the day after my brother's birthday. Mind you, my brother's birthday is January 15. I didn't really mind because the tree made our house feel festive, and I loved the smell of a real tree.

Greg's family was the opposite of mine. They had a real tree when they were kids and then switched a fake tree as they got older. I think his parents tree is really nice. They have unique ornaments to mark special events that happened during the year. I really like that and plan to do the same thing for our tree. In fact, we bought a puau shell angel ornament from New Zealand for our yet-to-be-purchased tree!

Now that we're married and have our own home, should we get a real tree or a fake tree? I can see the pros and cons of both options. A real tree smells great and looks great, but it's not really environmentally friendly, is more maintenance and can be quite pricey. And since we don't have much space in our living/family room, it'd be hard to find a small-ish real tree that didn't look like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. With a fake tree, it just doesn't smell like Christmas. But it is more environmentally friendly, easier to maintain, cheaper, and we could probably find one that will fit well in our living/family room.

So, after looking at a couple of real trees and fake trees, we bought a fake pre-lit tree. It's 4.5 ft tall and fits perfectly in our front bay window! It sits on top of an end table. There's no space to put gifts under the tree because the tree takes up most of the space on the table. We don't have a tree topper for it yet. It looks slightly sparse because we don't have a ton of ornaments, but we'll add an ornament every year. I'm really excited about our tree because it's our tree, and we'll create our own traditions for decorating it.

Back to Reality

2007-12-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

We've been back for a little over a week and a half. The post-travel glow is slowly wearing off as our normal, day-to-day routine is now back in full swing. We're definitely happy to be back home with our family, friends and of course, Tachi, our dog. If we ever need a break from the routine, we can look at our pictures from New Zealand.

And so can you! We've finally finished sorting our New Zealand pictures and posting them online. We didn't process them, even though Cheryl really wanted to. Maybe she'll get around to processing some of them during the holidays. WARNING: There are a lot of pictures, and it's only a fraction of the pictures we actually took.

Parting Thoughts

2007-12-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

We leave New Zealand today and will spend most of our time on planes and at the airport. We're flying from Queenstown to Auckland and will have a 4.5 hour layover in in Auckland before we depart for San Francisco. Thank goodness for the Air New Zealand lounge, wireless internet and duty-free shopping.

Quite a few people we've met have asked us what our favorite part of New Zealand is. And it's really hard to say because each place we visited was unique in its own way. But here's our list of our top 3 favorites.

Cheryl
1. Hiking Franz Josef glacier
2. Relaxing and wine tasting in Hawkes Bay
3. Blackwater rafting in Waitomo

Greg
1. Blackwater rafting in Waitomo
2. Kiwi Experience in Rotorua
3. Hiking Franz Josef glacier

Top Kiwi Sayings (in no particular order)
1. Cheers, mate: Not a toast, but seemed to be how folks generally said thanks.
2. How ya going?: Umm..by car? Nope, we soon discovered that this phrase basically means How are you? Or what's up?
3. Good on ya: Nope, not saying that the shirt looks good on you, but they're saying is good job or good for you.
4. Flash: Not the flash on your camera. Flash means fancy. Flash yoghurt, flash camera, flash car, flash house, flash restaurant.
5. Give it a go: Try it.
6. Oi, seal: This one is Greg's contribution.
7. Ki Ora: Maori word for hello, goodbye, thank you

We think the south island is much more scenic than the north. The Maori influence is much stronger on the north island. Agriculture/farming is still a big part of the culture and landscape. The pace of life is much slower in New Zealand. And the kiwi people are really friendly and helpful folks.

Relaxing in Queenstown

2007-12-06T18:06:00.000-08:00

We did the 2 hour drive back to Queenstown this morning. It was another beautiful day, and Cheryl managed to stay awake for the entire drive back to Queenstown. We were a bit early to check into our last home, so we decided to check out Arrowtown, a small town about 20 minutes outside Queenstown.

Arrowtown was a booming gold mining town during the New Zealand gold rush in the mid-1800s. The town has maintained it's old western town feel with many original buildings. They held the Michael Hill NZ Open (golf tournament) in Arrowtown just a few days ago. Similar to the California gold rush, the NZ gold rush brought many Chinese from Quandong province to the area to mine for gold. We visited a restored Chinese settlement in Arrowtown and discovered that the Chinese gold miners in NZ experienced similar prejudice and discrimination that the Chinese in California experienced. However, it seemed less violent than the experiences of the Chinese in California.

From here we headed back to Queenstown to check into The Dairy, a private luxury hotel. It's was a very nice bed and breakfast, with a comfy lounge, library and honor bar. It's called The Dairy because part of the B&B used to be a corner store, which was known as a dairy. We lounged around, drinking tea and chatting with the folks who worked there. Then we headed into town to check out the shops and enjoyed a relaxing dinner at Amisfield Winery.

Exploring Fiordland by Sea and by Car

2007-12-05T01:59:00.000-08:00

So we’ve spent the last two days living aboard the Fiordland Navigator while we explored Doubtful Sound.

It started with an hour cruise across Lake Manipouri, followed by a 45 minute bus ride across Wilmot Pass. Both were scenic enough to keep us interested…although Greg fell asleep on the bus.

Finally, we arrived at the cruise ship and we were off. We were shown to our room and settled in. Back on deck, we were immediately amazed by the steep canyon walls, numerous waterfalls, and the podocarp forest that our nature guide mentioned about 50 million times. Although the walls of the fiords are solid granite, they’re completely covered with plants and their roots can’t penetrate the granite. The roots spread out and grip the rock. Podocarp forest – got it? There are also big “scars” where trees have literally lost their grip and fallen off of the walls. This causes a land slide and basically takes out a bunch of plants under the initial tree.

One of the things we quickly learned about a cruise is that you just get fed until you are fat and in food induced coma. The food was decent and we had another bottle of wine while we chatted with a Swiss German couple. We met a lot of Swiss Germans and folks from the UK in New Zealand.

Once we were done eating (and drinking) we put on some warmer clothes and hung out on the top deck, just laying there, watching the clouds go by and listening. Other than the hum of the generators on the boats, the only things we heard were the waves and birds. Suddenly, we heard a shrill cry that I swear was a kiwi. We heard it multiple times. The only reason this is such a highlight is because our guide at Rainbow Springs who’s lived in New Zealand forever has only heard them once.

Oh, btw, the wind was howling all day. Good thing we weren’t in kayaks.

The next morning, we were served breakfast and explored more of the Doubtful Sound. We stopped in Hall Arm, where our nature guide explained that we’d be doing an exercise. Not a physical exercise, but a mental one: Listening to the Silence. The captain shut off the boats engine, and we just floated in Hall Arm listening to the waterfalls, birds and wind for about 5 minutes. Essentially, we were communing with nature. When I looked over at Greg, I could tell he was thinking, “How much longer is he going to make us do this stupid exercise?” I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from laughing outloud. I guess Greg’ll never be into meditation.

It was roughly noon when we got back to Te Anau. We checked into our hotel, grabbed a sandwich at Subway (we had to see if it was the same as in the US – pretty much was), and headed out on the 120 km drive towards the Milford Sound.

This was some of the most remarkable scenery that we’ve seen in New Zealand. Once we got into the foothills, we were treated to huge, snow topped cliffs, numerous waterfalls, and the rainforest. The pictures don’t do it justice…but it’s the best that we can do.

At one of our many stops, we came across two kea birds hopping about the pull out and posing for some close up pictures before they flew away. Kea’s are the world’s only non-tropical parrot, and as we found out, they like cars. We saw a description of them at Rainbow Springs that said they like to tear apart rubber (i.e. boots, windshield wipers, etc.). While waiting to go through a one-way tunnel, a kea hopped up on our hood. The light turned green and it hopped off again as we started to drive away. On the way back, we stopped at another pull out and another kea visited our car…starting on the side mirror and then onto the roof. It hopped onto the other side mirror and when I cracked the window open, it tried to gnaw on the glass and window seal. Of course, I took pictures of it while Cheryl told me not to taunt it. We had two more of these big green birds perch on our car at another pull out. It’s amazing how unafraid of humans they are!

As we wind down, we’re thinking about home. We miss our dog and are looking forward to kicking the Yamamoto’s butts in Guitar Hero. See everyone soon.

Ups and Downs

2007-12-03T02:24:00.000-08:00

This morning, we had to leave the lap of luxury at the Heritage, Queenstown for the Top 10 Holiday Park in Te Anau (read: a KOA with ensuite units, dorms, and camp grounds). It’s actually not bad…kinda like camping in luxury. The plan: get settled in Te Anau for a night and prepare for a two day kayaking / camping trip in Doubtful Sound.

Before we hit the road, we had a few more things to check out in Queenstown. First, we took the Skyline Gondola (i.e. ski lift) to the top of a peak overlooking the area. From here, you get a great view of Queenstown, the Remarkables (a set of three mountains that also made an appearance in LOTR), and Lake Wakatipu.

Second, we made a stop at Queenstown’s oldest home, Williams Cottage. It was built in 1864 and remains very close to its original condition. The cottage and its garden are now the home of a neat boutique selling contemporary, made in NZ stuff. The displays provided an interesting contrast to the 1930s wallpaper (which was peeling). We grabbed something to eat and coffee before heading out to Te Anau. A few hours later, we pulled into our latest home. As we settled in, Greg went to call the kayaking company to ask about secured parking while we’re on the kayaking trip. About 10 minutes later, he comes back and throws our itinerary onto the ground, pouts, waves his arms around and jumps up and down like he’s having a fit. I’m thinking, “Uh oh, they screwed up our reservation or they don’t have overnight parking.”

Greg: “It’s canceled.”
Me: “Huh? What’s canceled? The kayaking trip?”
Greg: “Yes, the kayaking trip. The whole thing.”
Me: “Uh, how come?”
Greg: “They said tomorrow looked like it would be a great day, but the day after was going to be too windy to safely kayak.”
Greg looks really disappointed and sad.
Me: “Oh. Well, it’s probably better that we don’t attempt the trip then. Remember how sucky it was to paddle in the wind at Abel Tasman? It’s okay, we can’t control the weather. Maybe we can do an overnight cruise instead.”

So, we walk into town to investigate overnight cruises at the Information Center. Luckily there was a room left on the Doubtful Sound overnight cruise that leaves tomorrow at 12:30 PM. While a cruise is not the same as kayaking/camping, at least we’ll still be able to experience Doubtful Sound. The woman at the bookings counter said that there’ve been heaps of penguin sightings lately and a good probability that we’ll encounter wildlife. She also said that the food is really fabulous, and we wouldn’t need/want to eat for 2-days after the cruise.

Greg: “This’ll be a good test. I’ll see if I can handle a longer cruise on a bigger ship. Or I’ll discover that I’ll be completely bored out of my mind.”

What do 500 Horsepower, Wine and Ice have in Common?

2007-12-02T03:58:00.000-08:00

Nothing that we can think of. But we experienced each of these today in Queenstown.

500 Horsepower? Those would be the engines of the jet boat we road on the Shotover River. If you think driving a boat in 4 inches of water, through narrow canyons and doing 360 degree spins is a bad idea, then you’re wrong. We did the Shotover Jet this morning, and it was a blast. Every time we thought we’d hit a rock, our jet boat driver would crank the wheel and we’d miss it by inches. There was family on holiday from the UK, and the youngest daughter asked, “What’s he (the driver) trying to do us?” After the Shotover Jet ride, Greg has some new ideas on how a boat should be driven.

Now that we had our adrenaline fix, it was time to get our alcohol fix. So, we headed off to a couple of wineries in the Queenstown area for some wine tasting. Our first stop was Amisfield Winery. They had some really good wine and the winery was nice as well. Pinot Noir is what this region specializes in, but many of the wineries also produce Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Pinot Gris.

We must’ve needed another adrenaline fix (either that or lunch) because we stopped at the AJ Hackett bungy jump at Kawarau Bridge. This is the place where bungy-jumping originated. We watched several folks bungy jump (some required coaxing), but didn’t jump ourselves. We already jumped out of an airplane at 15,000 feet and didn’t think bungy jumping could top that. From here, we headed to a couple more wineries: Chard Farm, Peregrine and Gibbston Valley. Chard Farm is up this windy, gravel one lane road with a cliff that drops into a gorge on one side. But the winery was very charming, and we really enjoyed chatting the folks at the winery. Peregrine had a modern, stark feel, but you could see their cellar with the barrels of wine aging. Gibbston Valley felt the most touristy of all the wineries we visited. They had an extensive store, a wine cave tour and a cheesery.

After soaking up the sun and sobering up a bit, we headed back to Queenstown to get ready for dinner. And what a dinner it was! We had a nine-course degustation with wine parings at Wai, which is right by the lake. The food was fabulous, and the portions were just right. The wine pairings were also generous pours, so we were pretty happy after dinner.

We visited the Minus 5 Bar for a drink. The Minus 5 Bar is a bar where everything is made of ice, including the bar, cups, chairs and tons of ice sculptures. Each visitor is only allowed to be in the bar for 30 minutes. They give you parkas and UGGs and gloves. It was definitely different from any bar either of us have been to before.

Franz Josef to Queenstown

2007-12-01T23:24:00.000-08:00

We’re on the way to Queenstown today. It’s about 4 hours from Franz Josef township to Queenstown, but we decided to take a small detour to Jackson Bay. Both Robyn and Sally from the Arorere recommended it. Jackson Bay is basically at the end of the road and was once a special settlement that the NZ government tried to establish. However, it was very unsuccessful due to crop-rotting amounts of rain and difficulty building a port. Today, there’re only a couple of families that live Jackson Bay. If you wanted to survive in the early days (and even today), you had to be quite resourceful. It felt very remote and isolated, but it had amazing views of the Southern Alps.

Heading back toward civilization, we were on our way across the Southern Alps via the Haast Pass. The drive was beautiful with turquoise rivers, water falls and steep mountains. We stopped at the Blue Pools, which was a 30 min hike from the road. The Blue Pools is where two rivers met, where you were supposed to see huge rainbow and brown trout. We didn’t see any trout because it was the wrong time of the year. We did see some French guy splashing around in the cold water though. It was amazing how blue the water was. It’s almost unnatural, like someone put turquoise tiles in the rivers and lakes of NZ. The water is just very clear here.

Got Ice?

2007-11-30T01:32:00.000-08:00

So the morning started off bright and early with cereal, yoghurt, and toast. Best of all, parting the curtains, we saw clear, bright, blue skies! The low front that was supposed to bring rain swept past in the night and we were left with an awesome day! Considering it rains 2 out of 3 days here, we were very happy.

After breakfast, we walked over to the Frans Josef Glacier Guides where we proceeded to get our Gortex pants, jackets, wool socks, hiking boots, crampons, beanie and gloves. The bus ride to the car park (for you Californians who don’t know what a car park is…read parking lot) was about 10 minutes and we were off. The first 45 minutes was a hike across rocks and dirt to the base of the glacier.

Once we were instructed on how to wear crampons and how to walk safely with them, we were off. Our guide, Tai, led us up the glacier. This thing moves roughly 1 meter each day, which is considered a very fast moving glacier. As we climbed, Tai used his pick-axe to fine tune the steps that these guys cut into the ice each day.

We walked onward and upward, crossing crevasses, glacial lakes, and lots and lots of ice. The first big obstacle was a crevasse that our guides had worked on for two days. Essentially, the guides sat on top of the crevasse and hacked away at the surrounding ice to plug up the lower part and create a bridge. Below the bridge, there was roughly 20 feet of nothing. We had to remove our packs, well Greg did since he was carrying everything, in order to slither sideways through this thing. Pretty cool. After a quick lunch break of sandwiches, we continued further up the glacier.

Eventually, we hit an optional section where we were climbing up a vertical ice face. It wasn’t that long, but it proved to be challenging enough. Another quick slither through a crevasse and we made a big loop back to the starting point for this section. After spending roughly 6 hours on the ice, we began our descent down the glacier and back to the car park.

Back in town, we were starving and craving beer. Even the health conscious Cheryl wanted a cheeseburger, fries and an ice cold beer. It must have been an intense day. Unfortunately, we found out that the entire Franz Josef township had a power outage. Damn it! So, we walked back to the grocery store, which had a generator, and picked up a rotisserie chicken and a six pack of Monteiths summer ale (it is summer here you know). Yum! Within an hour, 5 of the 6 beers were gone (you can guess who drank most of them) and the chicken was a pile of bones.

Pancakes Anyone?

2007-11-29T22:00:00.000-08:00

Today was another travel day. We departed Abel Tasman and headed south for Franz Josef Glacier via the West Coast. We’d heard a great deal about the rugged beauty of the West Coast, and it lived up to its reputation. The terrain on the South Island is less pastoral and more dramatic: green valleys surrounded by lush mountain ranges, blue-green rivers carving out gorges, and beautiful coastline.

To break up the long drive, we stopped at Buller Gorge and walked across the New Zealand’s longest swing bridge (110m). There was a limit of 15 people at any time on the bridge. The bridge was surprisingly more bouncy than we expected, and we had deal with passing an elderly couple going the other way in 12 inches of space. After crossing the swing bridge, we took a short hike to the White Creek Faultline, epicenter of the 1929 earthquake. To get back across the gorge, we rode a tandem flying fox (zip-line). Fun!

Our next stop on the way to Franz Josef was the Pancake Rocks and blowholes at Punikaiki. It was really interesting. Pancake Rocks is a sedimentary rock formation that looks like a bunch of pancakes stacked on top of each other. Neither of us has seen rock formations like this. Even scientists aren’t sure how they formed that way. And the coastline was breathtaking too! It reminded us of Big Sur.

Kayaking Abel Tasman – Day 2

2007-11-28T01:29:00.000-08:00

It was another beautiful, sunny day with no wind when we woke up. Sally made tea and toast, while Robyn made fruit salad and got the milk, cereal and yoghurt. (It’s not a typo, they spell it with an “h” here.) Rested and full, we were ready for day 2.

We met up with our guide and the rest of our group on the beach around 9am. To kill some time, we went for a walk down the beach. As we were walking, we found a starfish in the surf! It’s not like any of the other starfish that I’ve seen before. We think it’s a reef starfish.

Time to get back on the water, which was much calmer. We paddled around Boundary Bay, Frenchman Bay, Pinnacle Island, Sandfly Bay and stopped for lunch at Bark Bay. One of the bays we paddled past had a house on beach that sold for $14M (NZD). The owner had a helipad built so he could just helicopter there, rather than paddle. How nice.

The goal for today was to reach the marine reserve to paddle among the sea lions that lived there. After lunch, we crossed Tonga Roadstead to get to Tonga Island, where the sea lions live. We saw lots of sea lions and 1-year old sea lion pups sunning themselves on the rocks, swimming in the water and hanging upside down in the water with their butts and rear flippers sticking out. There was one sea lion that chased away another sea lion that tried to approach his rock. They swam right under our kayak! And boy are we glad they didn’t tip us over. After the marine reserve, we headed to Onetehuti Beach and caught a water taxi back to Marahau.

Kayaking Abel Tasman – Day 1

2007-11-27T01:02:00.000-08:00

We spent the last 2 days kayaking Abel Tasman National Park with a guided group. The park is located on the northwest end of the South Island. It’s New Zealand’s smallest national park, but the most visited. There’re some great hikes in the park, but it also has many bays, coves and secluded golden sand beaches, which make it perfect for kayaking.

We started our trip at Sandy Beach in Marahau. Apparently the tides change a great deal here, about 5m on a full moon. We witnessed this change first hand since the tide was out when we arrived at Sandy Beach. We could see tractors with boat trailers attached to back driving the boats out to water deep enough so they could be launched. By the time we were done with safety briefing and loading the kayaks, the tide was in…right at the spot we were going to launch. Phew! We were worried we’d have to walk the kayaks out 500 ft just to get it into the water.

After paddling past Adele Island, we stopped for lunch at Watering Cove. There were several other kayak groups there as well. The water was a beautiful blue-green and very clear. It was also cold, too cold for us to swim in, even though our guide, Brad, was insisting that it wasn’t cold.

After lunch, we paddled the “Mad Mile.” The water was really choppy, and we were paddling into the wind. It felt like we were paddling, but not going anywhere. We stopped at Te Puketea Bay to rest and escape some of the wind for a bit. Then it was back out into the wind and waves. When we got to Torrent Bay, we rafted up (lined up all 4 kayaks parallel to each other with everyone holding on to the adjacent kayak) and broke out a sail. It was finally time to use the wind in our favor! We sailed into our final stop for the day, The Anchorage.

We stayed on a catamaran, Arorere (flying cloud), that evening. Robyn, the woman who owns and sails it, built it with her ex-husband. Very cool! It was a beautiful boat! We drank wine, ate and chatted with Robyn and Sally as the evening turned to night. Robyn and Sally were wonderful hosts and we enjoyed getting to know them. Robyn is a neat woman – a female pirate! Our cabin was in one end of one of the hulls. “The gentle rocking of the sea, rocked me to sleep,” says Greg. Me too! We really enjoyed our stay on Arorere and would highly recommend it to anyone else who’s planning to kayak Abel Tasman.

On the Road Again

2007-11-26T22:00:00.000-08:00

This morning we started our journey to the South Island. We were on the road by 7:15 AM and had a 4 hour drive South to Wellington. The drive was easy; mostly 2-lane highway with rolling hills and more sheep and cows. Once in Wellington, we returned our rental car and caught an interisland ferry to cross Cooks Strait. The ferry ride was 3.5 hours and also uneventful. Upon arrival in Picton, we picked up a new rental car, a Holden Commodore and started our 2.5 hour drive to Abel Tasman National Park. We finally arrived at our destination at about 9:40 PM.

Bzzzzz’d

2007-11-25T09:40:00.000-08:00

We spent the day tasting wine a several different wineries Chris and Kerrie recommended: Clearview, Craggy Range, Sileni, and Ngatarawa. They were all great! With the exception of Craggy Range, they all had a low-key feel to them. And everyone was very knowledgeable and friendly. Greg and I just faked our knowledge of wine and kept drinking whatever they poured in our glasses. By the end of the day, I (Cheryl) was pretty buzzed. Greg was a good designated driver and stopped before we got to the last winery.

We started a Clearview, which had a rustic feel and was right next to the ocean. From there we headed over to Craggy Range. The grounds were really impressive and beautiful. It reminded us of some of the wineries in Napa. The tasting room felt a bit more formal as well. We had lunch at the restaurant, and the food was yummy. After lunch, we went to the top of Te Mata, which provided excellent 360 degree views of the region. We were able to see all the way to Mt Ruanganui, a snow-covered volcano near Lake Tuapo. Our next stop was Seleni Winery, which had a modern look to it with interesting sculptures in the garden area. By this point in the day, I was having trouble remembering which wine was which, and was debating if we should head back to our B&B before dinner. But the guy at Seleni recommended one other winery that we really should check out. Okay, hold a gun to my head. So, our last winery for the day was Ngatarawa, which used to be race horse stable.

To cap of a relaxing day of wine tasting, we had dinner at the historic Mission Estate Winery. Mission is the first winery in New Zealand and was founded by some missionaries who were sent to New Zealand. The setting was really nice; the wine was excellent; the service was top-notch; the food was tasty.

Fat Dogs, Arsenic, and Art Deco

2007-11-24T22:55:00.000-08:00

Today was another travel day…roughly 4 hours worth. We started our day back at the Fat Dog Café for breakfast where I (Greg) had spag, toast, and hashbrowns. What’s spag? Spaghetti…interesting. A lot like spaghetti-o’s.

After breakfast, we left the stinkiest city in the world (Rotorua) behind and headed south-east towards Wai-O-Tapu, the self proclaimed “thermal wonderland.” We arrived in time to witness the “Lady Knox” geyser spew off at 10:15 am. Pretty reliable? Sure…if you "help" Mother Nature by pouring 300 grams of “a biodegradable soap” down the neck of the geyser to set it off. It did spout water around 60 feet into the air, but the fact that it was induced by soap made it seem somewhat fake.

We then proceeded to do the 3 km walk through the park where we saw hot springs, sulfur deposits, steaming vents, collapsed volcanic craters and boiling mud. Everywhere you looked, there was something boiling or steaming. In Cheryl’s words, “this is probably what hell looks like.” One of the last things we saw was called the champagne pools. Of course, it’s another boiling hot spring, but the water is crystal clear. When you can see through all of the steam, the rim of rock at the edge is bright orange. Why? Apparently it’s caused by minerals: gold, silver, mercury, sulphur, arsenic, thallium, and antimony. Now…think about this. Of those, aren’t half of them poisonous? Isn’t this thing steaming? Haven’t we been breathing this stuff?! Great…time to go. I need the few brain cells I have left.

Back on the road, we stopped by the Prawn Park, where you can fish for prawns and play killer prawn golf. You might be asking yourself, what’s killer prawn golf? Basically, you tee off and if you can hit the golf ball into a target, you win cash! The problem – not even Tiger Woods could do this! The targets are at 50 100, and 200 meters and they’re the size of a life preserver. We couldn’t bring ourselves to spend $24 per person to get into the place, so we left.

We made a quick stop at Huka Falls, the Niagra Falls of of New Zealand. That was pretty impressive. The water was crystal clear, and Cheryl saw a fish trying to jump up the water fall. Honestly she did...or maybe it was the arsenic we inhaled at Wai-O-Tapu.

Once into Tuapo, we took a slight detour because of a bike race. Damn…wish we had our road bikes. Turns out the ride/race is a ride around Lake Tuapo. As we drove through Tuapo, we both commented that we'd need to come back and spend some time in this part of New Zealand. The lake was beautiful, and we're sure there was some good fun to be had here.

Two more hours on the road and we finally arrived in Hawke’s Bay where we checked into the Room@53 B&B. Awesome place! If you ever have the chance to visit this part of New Zealand and need a place to stay…go here. Chris and Kerrie are fantastic hosts. It’s like staying with friends.

After settling in, we headed into Napier, the Art Deco capital of New Zealand. It was a neat town with lots of buildings designed/built in the Art Deco style. Apparently the city was devastated by an earthquake in 1931, and the rebuilding efforts in the following years captured that era. In fact, the city has a huge Art Deco festival that happens once a year and the whole city gets dressed up in the styles of the 1930s and parties. It must be really interesting to be here for that event.

Human Hamsters

2007-11-23T22:00:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I (Greg) had a hamster. Her name was Helen “The Hamster.” She ran around the house in a little plastic ball. Today, we got to experience what it must have been like to be Helen in her hamster ball. Some crazy Kiwi was trying to find a way to cross hot sand and invented a human size hamster ball called the Zorb. It’s basically a giant inflatable ball inside another inflatable ball with a tunnel for you to crawl into the “safety” of the inner ball.

On a calm day, you could opt for the standard Zorb where you’d be strapped into the inside of the ball. Today, there was a slight breeze, so the only Zorbing to be done was the Hydro-Zorb. If the breeze caught the Zorb, you could potentially end up being blown off course and end up in the thermal pools of Lake Rotorua (that’s hot enough to boil mud!). Unlike the normal Zorb, with the Hyrdo-Zorb you’re not strapped in and inner ball is filled with water. Think giant slip-n-slide.

Once we were dressed in our Zorbing outfits (board shorts and rash guard with swimsuits underneath), we hopped in a van for a quick ride up a hill. At the top of the hill, you can decide which track you want to take, straight down the hill or the zig-zag track. We both opted for the zig-zag track. We hop inside the Zorb. The Zorb guy pump in some warm water and zips it up. He gives the Zorb a couple of taps. You take a couple of steps forward and gravity takes over from there. Sliding and sloshing around, you eventually make your way down the course. Once you come to rest, the Zorb “gives birth” to you. It’s water breaks and you come sliding out…wet.

Kiwi’s are a strange people.

BTW, we were able to post pictures on some of our previous blogs. So check them out!

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

2007-11-23T21:45:00.000-08:00

“E-I-E-I-O. And on this farm he had some…sheep! E-I-E-I-O. With a baa-baah here and baa-baa there. Here a baa; there a baaa; everywhere a baaa-baaa.” After lunch, we decided to visit the Agrodome and learn more about all the sheep we’d seen in New Zealand. The Agrodome puts on a daily shows about sheep and sheep farming. They had at least a dozen or more different types of sheep “on display.” Who knew there were so many types of sheep? In addition to learning about what the different types of sheep were used for, we watched a sheep sheering demonstration.

"And on this farm he had some…dogs! E-I-E-I-O. With a woof-woof here and woof-woof there. Here a woof; there a woof; everywhere a woof-woof.” To help herd the thousands of sheep grazing all over the hillsides, farmers use dogs. Actually, two types of dogs. One is similar to a border collie tha herds animals from behind, using only eye-contact. S/he doesn’t bark at all. The other dog they employ is some type of shepherd dog. S/he helps get the sheep moving by running along the backs of sheep and barking.

“And on this farm he had some…cows! E-I-E-I-O. With a moo-moo here and moo-moo there. Here a moo; there a moooo; everywhere a moo-mooo.” In addition to sheep farming, New Zealand also has a very large dairy industry, which means they have lots of cows. After the sheep, we were treated to a dairy cow milking demonstration. They invited volunteers to come on stage to milk a cow. So, I nudged Greg to go, but he had no interest In milking a cow. “I didn’t want to violate the cow’s private parts,” says Greg.

Mama Tang’s Gonna Be Mad!

2007-11-23T19:42:00.000-08:00

So one of the things that Cheryl and I were told by Mama Tang when we left was to be careful. Those words of advice were thrown out the door today…at 15,000 feet.

The day started off early with a 7:00 am breakfast of eggs, toast, and fruit cooked by Chef Greg in the kitchen area of the hostel. Then we were off. 15 minutes down the road and we arrived at the Rotorua airfield. Cheryl’s photographer put it best by saying, “this is probably the only time you’ll take-off in a plane and not land in the same plane.” Yup…sky diving. For this jump, we needed to wear oxygen masks during the ride up because the air gets pretty thin above 12,000 feet. Cheryl looked fine at the beginning, but as the plane climbed higher and higher, she started to look more and more nervous. She was the first one out of the plane. Finally, once at altitude, the door slid open, the camera man / videographer slipped out the door and Cheryl inched her way towards the door. Feet hanging off, one good lean and she was off…plummeting towards the earth at ~110 mph for 65 seconds.

Greg was the last one out of the plane, which was a single prop plane that only held 3 tandem jumpers (plus the camera man). Once the chutes opened, he was able to spot the other two jumpers and zero’d in on Cheryl because of her bright, turquoise shoes! He could tell that Matt (her “guide”) was having fun, spinning her around, diving, and swooping. “It was fun, until I started to get dizzy and nauseous and had to close my eyes,” said Cheryl. Greg, on the other hand, has a new opinion about French Canadians – boring. His guide was build like Lurch from the Adam’s family and was about as talkative. Free fall, open chute, land safely. The views were amazing as we looked down on Lake Rotorua, the stinkiest lake on the planet, and even saw a snow covered Mount Doom out in the distance.

Back on solid ground, we packed up and headed back for some food at the Fat Dog Café. More later…but I’d like to leave you with this quote written on the café wall: “The bulldog is a funny dog. Both ends look the same. This end is his bottom and that end is his brain. Hold on. NO, I’ve got it wrong, or have I just forgotten? That end is his head and that end is the bottom.”

Kia Ora!

2007-11-22T22:40:00.000-08:00

We spent our Thanksgiving dinner taking in some Maori culture – a concert and hangi. Upon arriving at the Marae, the Maori village, the host tribe sends out a challenge of peace. Several warriors greeted us with intimidating gestures, including bulging eyes and tongues sticking out, and displays of weapons before placing a peace offering on the ground for our designated chief. Only after we accepted the peace offering were we allowed into the Marae.

Once inside the Marae, we were treated to a performance of native songs, dances and haka. Of course, our chief had to perform the “hongi” (pressing of the noses) to seal the friendship between the different cultures. After the cultural performance we partook in a traditional Maori dinner prepared in the hangi, an earthen oven similar to the imu used for Hawaiian luaus. We had lamb, chicken, fish, stuffing, kumara, carrots, steamed pudding and pavlova.

We came to the conclusion that the Maori people are basically aggressive Hawaiians. Rather than the open arms of the luau, they intimidate you before opening their arms. Interesting considering that the kiwi’s are some of the friendliest people that we’ve met while traveling…although Greg hasn’t been to many places other than China and Vietnam and we all know how much he likes those people.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Save the Kiwis (the Bird, Not the Fruit)

2007-11-22T22:34:00.001-08:00

This morning we visited the Mamaku Blueberry Winery on the outskirts of Rotorua. You might be thinking the morning is a bit early for wine tasting, and you’d probably be right. But we heard the café served tasty breakfasts. And they do! After a hearty breakfast of blueberry pancakes, blueberry crepes and tea for two, we sampled blueberry and gooseberry chutney, jam and chili sauce and tasted some blueberry wine and liqueur. They grow the blueberries and gooseberries at the winery and make everything there too. Yummy!

Now that our bellies were full of blueberries, we visited Rainbow Springs Nature Park and Kiwi Encounter. Normally, Greg refuses to visit anyplace that resembles a zoo. But Rainbow Springs isn’t your typical zoo. It has a number of natural springs that lead to the Lake Rotorua. The springs are filled with the largest rainbow trout we’ve ever seen, easily over 15lbs and over 25 inches long. And no they don’t give out fishing poles as you walk in. They also have several aviaries featuring native birds like the tui.

The highlight of the nature park is the kiwi conservation project. Because the kiwi bird is endangered, the nature park works with local park rangers to bring kiwi eggs from the wild to the safety of the park. In the wild, the eggs / baby kiwis have a 5% survival rate. The kiwis hatched at the park have an 80% survival rate. When the kiwi birds are old enough to fend for themselves, they’re released back where the eggs were found. We learned that kiwi eggs are very large. They’re about 20% of the kiwi’s body weight and laying the egg is equivalent to giving birth to a 35lb baby. Yikes! We think kiwis are cute in a funny-looking kinda way.

Did Everyone in Rotorua Just Fart at the Same Time?

2007-11-22T22:28:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Rotorua yesterday afternoon, and boy does it stink. Rotorua is New Zealand’s most dynamic thermal area with hot springs, bubbling mud and geysers. It also has the ubiquitous odor of rotten-eggs, caused by sulfur. The closer to the water, the smellier it gets.

Despite the sulfur smell, we checked out the Polynesian Spa. The spa offers thermally-heated baths right by the lake. They have several spa areas (e.g. family spa, adult only spa, lake view spa, private spas), and we opted for the lake view spa. The lake view spa had 4 spas of different temperatures, ranging from 36°C to 42°C (roughly 100°F to 110°F). We managed to get into the 40°C pool. It was like sitting in a giant hot tub, only the water is heated naturally and it smelled like everyone at the spa farted at the same time, constantly.

Black Water Rafting

2007-11-21T18:54:00.000-08:00

The adventure part of our trip started today! We booked a five-hour black water rafting trip, called the Black Abyss. What’s black water rafting? Basically you float in an inner tube down an underground river through Ruakuri Cave. What’s so adventurous about that? For starters, we repelled 30m (90ft) through a small, dark hole to get underground. Once underground, we zip-lined in the dark into a cave full of glowworms (very cool!). After a short break and snack of hot tea and cave cookies, we jumped off of a 20 foot ledge into the ice-cold river to begin our float down a long, glowworm-covered passage. Floating and looking up at the glowworms was like stargazing. Mother Nature is really impressive. After the tranquility of the glowworms, it was time for more adventure -- walking / crawling / swimming through the cave, sliding down a slide (face first), and climbing up a few waterfalls to get back above ground. We had a great time and came out with only a few minor scrapes. Our guides, Hop and Shannon, were awesome!

Glow, Little Glowworm, Glow

2007-11-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Waitomo this afternoon and checked out the Glowworm Cave and the Arauni Cave. The glowworms are unlike any insect we've ever seen before. After walking through some pretty amazing caves of stalactites and stalagmites, we boarded a boat and floated down an underground river. Above us were thousands of tiny, green lights that looked like stars in the night sky. Those little lights were the glowworms! It was an amazing site. Unfortunately photography was not allowed in this cave. You’ll just have to use your imagination. =)

The next cave we explored was the Aranui Cave. This cave didn’t have any water running through it. So there were no glowworms. But there were lots of colorful stalactites hanging from the cathedral-like ceiling. If you use your imagination, you can see a village of little people, a bunch of carrots and one parsnip in the picture. Can you see them?

Spoiled by California?

2007-11-19T21:33:00.000-08:00

This morning we took a half day cruise around the Bay of Islands. While the Bay of Islands was beautiful, we didn't think it was a "must-see" like the guidebook said. Maybe it's because we're spoiled by the California coastline, which we see on a regular basis.

One of highlights of the cruise was cruising through the Hole in the Rock at Percy Island. The other was finding several pods of bottlenose dolphins playing in the bay. Getting up-close and watching the dolphins frolic was definitely more interesting than passing through the Hole in the Rock. There were probably a dozen or more dolphins in the bay, including a couple of baby dolphins. Our captain thought one of the babies was only a few hours old. We weren’t able to get into the water and swim with the dolphins because there were baby dolphins in the pod. Otherwise, we could’ve slipped on a wet suit and flippers and swam with the dolphins.

Once back to port, we gassed up the car and headed out for the Waipoua Kauri Forest. If you think gas is expensive in California, try $6.80/gallon here! Granted it is 91 octane…but still…$6.80/gal?! (BTW, they also have 98 octane for $0.40/gal more).

We decided to visit the kauri forest because neither one of us knew what a kauri tree looked like. And kauri trees seemed like a big deal in Maori culture. We soon discovered what’s so special about the kauri tree. They’re BIG! I’m talking redwood trees big. They’re not as tall as redwood trees, but they’re definitely wider than redwood trees. Tane Mahuta (lord of the forest), is 51.5m high (a little over 150 ft) with a circumference of 13.8m wide (about 50 ft). It’s estimated to be Tane Mahuta sprang from seed around 2000 years ago. We were impressed by these giant kauri trees and wondered if they were the inspiration for the tree people in the Lord of the Rings.