./janella.com

We just wanted to say Merry Chirstmas to everyone!!! Hope you have a great Christmas day!!!

When I post this blog entry, I will be in a Starbucks in Aiea, Hawaii.  Farrah and I arrived in Oahu last night, earlier than we thought, since the tradewinds were kind.

Farrah is still under the weather.  She wasn’t feeling well last Friday night when we went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  Saturday morning she had full blown flu symptoms.  I couldn’t go to YEP (Yahoo!’s Year End Party) without her, so I chose not to go that night.  Of course, I subsequently got sick on Monday, by my symptoms mimic a cold and not the flu.

We rested most of the week since we were flying off on Wednesday to Hawaii.  Fina was kind enough to take us to SFO.  We left the house around 3:00 PM with our flight scheduled for 6:00 PM.  We hung out at “Just Desserts” talking about what still needs to be done.

We were almost going to go to the gate when we were surprised by Lotte!!!  She had come to see us off.  It was a very nice surprise seeing Lotte, who is responsible for introducing Farrah and I.  We really wish should have come to Hawaii for the wedding.

The flight to Hawaii was pretty quick.  We arrived forty minutes ahead of schedule!  There was slight turbulence here and there, interrupting “Cinderella Man” , the in-flight movie.  The weather was nice and cool when we arrived, a change from cold rainy climate currently plaguing the Bay Area.

We got the Auntie Horton’s house pretty quick. We unpacked, ate a quick dinner which included homemade chicken soup, and took our medicine before crashing for the night.

Morning time was rough for me, but Farrah was up light a bolt of lighting.  We took off to Starbucks in search for a WiFi connection.  The first one at Pearlridge was not working.  It had me a little frustrated because I was able to connect in SFO easily.  I could see the signal but wasn’t getting a login screen or full Internet connection.  We went to the new Border’s  about a block away in Uptown Pearlridge,  I found a connection (this connection) very easily.  This place is new and gets very very sunny in the morning (no shades), so I’ll probably only go there early in the morning or later in the day.

Ah, email and Internet access is so hard to do without.

Well, that catches us up to the present.  What have we done so far?  Well, we got our marriage license from downtown.  The process was quick and easy.  Farrah and I took a couple of photos, but when the clerk tried to use the camera to take our picture together it didn’t  work out.  Oh well, it’s ok.  Not much else is planned today.  There are several meeting we have tomorrow, and a few small things we need to do today.  The big day is only ten days away.  TEN DAYS!!!

Ah well, more later.

Thanksgiving was the usual affair at my sister’s house.  This year was a little different with it being the first year without Bill.  It reminded me of the first holiday season without my father.  But life goes on.  We drank a toast to Bill, had a good meal and good conversation about anything and everything.

I was so stuffed that I almost couldn’t do dessert!  But I did manage to partake in the chocolate cake and pumpkin pie (yes, both for dessert).  You can see the photos from Thanksgiving in the //photos section.  All photos are not visible.  To access all photos please log into your //Flickr account, and be on my Friends and Family list.  I didn’t take too many photos, but just enough to capture the day.

The following day, Black Friday, I dropped off Farrah at Valley Fair.  I did not dare enter the mall on that day.  I did however go into Fry’s in San Jose.  I managed to find street parking close by, only having to deal with the slight drizzle that filled the day.  I didn’t buy anything, but managed to kill an hour before heading home.

Saturday we found ourselves up in the City with hundreds of other people.  Union Square was packed!!!  I wanted to take pictures of people around me, but I forgot the memory card for my camera.  I took it out of the camera to download photos from Thanksgiving dinner and forgot to place it back in the camera.  Doh!

Before starting off on our - or actually Farrah’s - shopping quest, we ate a nice lunch at the Nordstrom’s Bistro.  After getting the all needed fuel to make the rounds, we headed to Forever 21 - which is one of my favorite stores (he says sarcastically).  Next was //H & M which is new to the City.

I initially stepped into H & M with Farrah, after we waited in a 50-person line outside the store.  Crowd control was necessary for the store - I guess - so as to not create a fire hazard.  I stepped out of the store after ten minutes of waiting. I wandered around Union Square, passing by //Macy’s which had an SPCA display in one of their windows.  The display had live cats and dogs playing around cartoonish cutouts.  This created a small crowd along the windows.  Damn, I wish I had my camera to take photos!

I made my way back to H & M where I stood outside waiting for Farrah to come out.  I found it very amusing to look and listen to the crowds of people walking by H & M commenting on the store and the people waiting in line.  I heard repeated remarks like: “What store is this?” “Oh, this is like the East Coast one.” “What’s the line for?” and my favorite - “I’m not standing in line just to go into a store.”

The day ended with a few more stores to stop by (Old Navy, the Apple Store) then we headed home.  All in all I don’t think I bought much.  I was just disappointed in forgetting my memory card to capture any moments of the day.

Well, I’ve been updating a few things on the website.  The biggest update is the use of a //Flickr plug-in called //FAlbum To see it in action click on the Photos link above.  Cool, huh?

This just adds another reason to love Flickr, which allows the use of their API’s to interact with the data stored on their website.  I don’t fully understand API’s, but hey someone does and made this plug-in.  Now it looks like I have the photo albums on my website.  You can still access the photos on Flickr as well.

So, this is another reason to sign up for a Flickr account if you wish to see more albums on //Janella.com Of course you need to be someone I know.  After all, the photos that I have private on my Flickr account are those of family and friends.  Nothing too embarrassing, but things I don’t wish to share with the general public.  As always if I have a photo posted in the public space (of yourself) that you wish for me to take down, please write to me and let me know.

Ok, here’s my end of month rant for October.  The only times I do rants is when I haven’t written much or I have so much to write about.  So here goes.

I was in Hillsboro, Oregon for about a week and a half, helping to train those who will be doing my job in the future.  Nice place, nice people.  Overall it was a good trip.  I was there for the first three days with two co workers, Rich and Bert.  We went to a couple of places to eat during those days.

On the recommend list:

• Reo's Ribs - A good rib joint run by Snoop Dogg's Uncle.  Get the combo plate (pork and beef ribs).
• Syun Izakaya - A Japanese restaurant where the Unagi is tender. Service was fare, only because they get really busy at lunch time.
• //Huber's - I had the Five spice pork tenderloin which went well with a pint of Guinness

I came back for the weekend, then went back to join Rich for more training and food.  Other places we hit were:

• //Imbrie Hall - I liked the stuffed burger I had.  I think Rich liked the Jambalaya. They actually had to ask him if he had it before, because it is very spicy.
• Hale's Restaurant - Total diner type place.  Reasonable price for reasonable food. But yeah, a total diner place.  It even has a waitress that says, "Be with you in a minute, hun."
• //Russell Street Bar-B-Que - The last place we ate in Oregon before Rich and I took our flights out of PDX.  Very good ribs and meats cooked differently than at Reo's Ribs.  They also had a nice Iced Cinnamon Coffee (similar to a Hobee's Iced Tea), and Rich also got a Fried Chocolate Pies.  Good food worth going back for.

For photos from Oregon, see my Flickr album for //Oregon - Hillsboro and Portland

In-between my trips to Oregon we celebrated Susana’s birthday at the house.  We celebrated with a bar-b-que dinner - ribs, kabobs - and of course cake!  Susana’s got a digital camera for her birthday, so Farrah and I gave her a larger memory card to hold all the photos she’ll be taking.  Now all she needs is a computer to download all the photos!

For photos from Susana’s birthday, see my Flickr album for //Susana’s Birthday Celebration

When I finally came back from Oregon the bridal/wedding shower was the next day.  A lot of people worked very had cooking food, putting up decorations, cleaning up, and doing everything and anything to make the shower go off without a hitch.  We appreciate all the help people gave.  We also were happy to see so many people at the party!  Thank you for all the gifts!

For photos from the bridal shower, please see //Wedding shower and //Farrah’s Bridal Shower - Photos by Susana

Both albums are on my Flickr account. Please note: not all photos are visible to the public.  If you would like to see all the photos, please sign up for a Flickr account.  It’s really easy.

Simply click on the ‘Sign up now’ button on the home page for //Flickr After signing up, add me as a Friend or Family member and I’ll add you as one to my list as well.  You may have to introduce yourself if I cannot recognize your username.  Also Flickr just recently added the ability to get prints of online photos developed.  But you need to be on my Friends and Family list to see the option above the photos.  Photos can be mailed to you or you can pick it up at your local Target store.  Cool, huh?

I am working on a way to better share photos.  Flickr is a great service and I like most of the features, so for now photos will be primarily shared through that service.