./janella.com

The day started off slow.  I took Farrah to work a little after 7:30 AM, later than I was planning.  I went back home, took a shower, then headed off to Cupertino to hang out at //Panera.

First thing to go wrong: absolutely no parking.  I circled five times around the small lot before giving up.  I then headed over to //Starbucks off of El Camino Real and Mathilda.  There I was met with no seating.  I’m batting 0-2.

I then headed over to the Starbucks on Mathilda and Evelyn. Parking and seating!  Looks like my luck was changing.  Oh, but then I logged onto the T-Mobile network.  I was wondering why I was paying more than expected for the WiFi connection I have been using through Starbucks.  It seems I misunderstood the terms.  So it has been costing me about $20 more than expected, the way I’ve been using their WiFI.  I’m feeling like an idiot at this point.

I stay there for an hour and head on out.  I got into my truck and started to back up.  The truck seemed a little sluggish, as if I was dragging something.  The steering was fine, so I proceeded forward thinking it was the wet road.  Oh, did I mention it was raining pretty hard today?  Anyway, I continue on, but now I’m a little concerned as I’m half way through the parking lot.  I pull over into a space and check the truck.  I make my way around the rear of the truck toward the passenger side then…BAM…flat tire!  The rain seems to be coming down harder at this point.

For the next hour, I struggle taking off the old tire, crawling on the ground to place the jack strategically.  I then lay on the ground to retrieve the spare tire from the undercarriage.  I get down on my hands and knees to get things right. Oh, did I mention it was raining?  Oh yeah I did.  But did I mention the wind?  Or the many people who walked by just looking?  They did have time to make comments, such as “Oh, this is a bad time for that to happen."  When is the f-ing good time for this to happen!?!?!?

Anyway, I’m tightening the last bolt of the spare I had just put on, when a guy in the next car walks up with a T tire wrench.  “Want to use this, sir?”, he asks.  Uh, a little late don’t you think?  It felt like he was trying to cover his butt with the karma police, but at least he made the gesture right?

Well, I’m back home, showered and in bed on the computer.  I don’t think I’m going to venture out until I pick up Farrah this afternoon.

Today may not be my day.

The holiday weekend found Farrah and I not doing much out of the ordinary.  On Saturday, we decided to drive up to Tiburon for a quick look around town.  We then went to Salsulito for lunch at the Winship restaurant.  The weather in the North Bay was very cold and wet, compared to the partly sunny - yet still cold - South Bay.

I’d never been to //Sausalito before but Farrah had been with Yen.  It’s a nice quite town, reminding me of downtown Campbell but closer to the ocean.  We first ate lunch because we (1) were hungry, and (2) wanted to get out of the cold and wet weather.  The //Winship restaurant was the second place we saw that looked like a decent place to eat.

The restaurant had a sea theme, with a faux ship in the middle of the place and turtle shell like lighting fixtures.  The menu both had seafood as well as burgers and other sandwiches.  We had to try the ‘Crispy Fried Calamari" as we make it a point to try fried calamari if restaurant serves it.  I was crispy, but lacked any special flavor.

I had the BBQ pork sandwich which was listed as an open face sandwich, but it didn’t come as such.  They had a variety of onions on it, both chopped, diced and sliced, which I thought was strange.  The sandwich tasted fine, though the BBQ sauce was neither tangy or sweet as if not to offend the taste buds.  Farrah had the Waldorf Chicken Salad Sandwich which she enjoyed.

After lunch, we walked around downtown.  We stopped by a candy store called Munchies, which offered a variety of salt water taffy.  The owner of the place was very friendly, offering customers the option of trying anything in the store.  We proceeded to load up a small bucket with a variety of flavors, choosing not to try anything beforehand.  We then headed to the local Starbucks for some coffee and conversation.

The Starbucks there has a nice view of one of the major intersections in town.  Farrah and I sat in tall barstool like chairs facing the window looking outside.  We watched the rain come down on people passing by, some coming in for a cup of coffee, others trying to make it to other stores on the strip.  We tried to come up with places to go to next, but decided to head back home as the weather appeared to be getting worse, and Farrah’s migraine, which started before lunchtime, was also becoming more discomforting.

Later that evening we went to Farrah’s parents’ house for dinner.  We had chicken, steak (ummm…steak) and leftover sushi rice Farrah had made the night before.  Afterward, we called it a day and headed home to watch some TV.

On Sunday, we decided to stay in and catch up on TV and movies.  We watched Elizabethtown (review forthcoming) and Farrah watched her other TV shows that I have a passing knowledge of (such as McCleod’s Daughters and Footballers Wive$)

Today we had lunch at the Boardwalk in Mountain View.  Farrah said the place was similar to St. John’s in Sunnyvale, a dark pub-like atmosphere where burgers, cheesesteaks, sausages, and beers are served.  I had the Louisiana Hot Sausage which was very very good.  The spiciness of the links didn’t registered until well after you started chewing on it.  Very nice.  We also had a basket of spicy curly fries which makes for a nice side order.  Farrah had the “Lo C” meal which consisted of two hamburger patties, cheese, salad and dressing.  She’s had this dish the few times she’s been there.  Afterward, we headed to the mall for a couple of hours of window shopping.

I’ve injured my left eye again.  It seems the scratch I endured //last October did not fully heal.  I had felt some discomfort earlier this week, which resulted in a nice two-day headache.  On Wednesday I thought the pain had passed, but Thursday night I was in discomfort slash complaining mode.  By Friday morning my left eye had swollen.

I made an appointed to be seen that morning. I had an appointment with an Ophthalmologist.  This first Ophthalmologist confirmed there was a new scratch, but needed to refer me to someone of more experience on treatment.  The treatment was to patch my left eye, but first she needed to scrap a layer of skin away from the eye.  Doing this would hopefully yield even healing on the eye.  She numbed my eye during the procedure, but after the medication wore off, my eye felt beat up.  I needed to take Tylenol for the next two days.

Farrah took me to see the Ophthalmologist on Sunday morning for a follow-up. Good news!  She said the eye healed a 100%, meaning the layer she scraped away has grown back to cover they eye.  But treatment needs to continue in order to ensure the layer stays intact.  So it looks like I’ll be using certain eye drops and lubricants for the next several months so this does not happen again.  And believe me,  I don’t want it to happen again.

I’m sitting outside Express in //Bay Street shops in Emeryville.  Farrah is in one of the many shops, and I just got out of the Apple store.  I’m sitting on a bench, and it is a pretty chilly late afternoon (around 5:30 PM).  I’m not sure if I will be able to post this entry to the website from here.  I’m getting a weak WiFi signal from the Apple store, but I don’t think I’ll be out here long.  The day has been pretty much uneventful, though I the week holds promise.

Last week was pretty rough, and seemingly long.  An uncle in Hawaii passed away.  His death, almost any death, still reminds me of my father.  I’m not sure why, even after all these years, but it still does.  My uncle, someone as a kid I would call my rich uncle, had become ill in September.  From what I understand he was up and around in the beginning of last year, showing no signs of disability, save his age.  He was tending his garden still, going out when need be.  But I suppose time catches up with everyone.  He was 93 when he died.

I saw Uncle Teofilo after our wedding.  I visited his home with my mom,  where I saw my aunt and cousins.  Uncle was bedridden, talking incoherently as we walked into his room.  It took about 15 minutes to recognize my mom, 20 minutes to recognize me.  When he did recognize me, it was as if a light switch had been turned on.  He wished Farrah and I a happy honeymoon, as if we were in the middle of a conversation.  His words brought tears to my eyes.  After those words, I had to leave.  I didn’t want to see him fade away.  It’s something about seeing someone who you remember being so strong, now not being able to care for themselves.  It hits hard.  From what I understand, my uncle was pretty stubborn when he was lucid, wanting to move around and go when the urge took him over.

My mom went to the funeral, and stayed with relatives for a few days.  I just contemplated life, thinking of what was, what is, and what will be.  Yes, I’m getting a little reflective in my downtime.  I need to find a job and keep busy.

So this week is almost over and a new one is about to begin.  Let’s hope this week is a little better.

I pull out of the house this morning around 7:00am.  I get to the corner of Ahwahnee and Fair Oaks, the first major intersection I hit as I head into work.  I stop at the red light and watch a guy in a black side-dented Chevy truck make a U-turn to go to south-bound 101, even though no u-turn is allow.  The guy in the black Chevy truck proceeds to go around in circle, burning rubber in the intersection, as people wait to cross.  He does this for about 4 or 5 circles, enough for the smoke and smell of burnt rubber to fill the air.  Then he takes off, satisfied that he has made a spectacle of himself.

It’s nice to start the day with a nice dose of idiocy.  I wonder what is going to happen the rest of the day.

Farrah and I went to San Francisco this morning, going to [Paper Source] to look at paper products (of course).  While there we had breakfast at the local [Noah’s Bagels] on Fillmore.  I’m not a big bagel person,  but I had the Egg Mit with Turkey Sausage.  Not too bad.

After spending time at Paper Source, we headed down the street to Japantown to look at the [Nihonmachi Street Fair].  We arrived just in time to catch the taiko drum performance by the [San Francisco Taiko Dojo Rising Stars].  A quick walk around, then after some malasadas and a chicken rice bowl lunch, we headed back home.

Very nice day.

I haven’t written anything of too much substance this month.  So let’s see what I can pull out of my butt right here.

First off, I added two new albums to the [Flickr] page.  The first is a long over due album from Skylar’s birthday celebration in May.  The photos were taken with the Sony T-1, before I got my Nikon:

I’ll need to go down and take some more photos of the kids, as well as Scott and Stefanie.  The other album added was during a Yahoo! Music on the Green.  The artist who was performing was [Brandi Carlile]  She did a fine job.  I’m not particularly happy with the photos I took of the event, wishing I was more aggressive, but that is something I need to work on.

This weekend not much happened.  Today Farrah and I tried the new [Lori’s Diner] in Cupertino.    We had a late lunch.  The service was a little slow.  Farrah ordered the Chicken Fried Steak (good) and I had the Southern Fried Chicken (good as well).  Our waitress did notice that our orders were taking a bit long, as the dreaded ‘large party ahead of you’ was getting all the service.  So she gave us dessert for free!  We enjoyed a nice hot fudge sundae for a nice summer’s day.

I also managed to finish season one of 24, watching it because Bert and Evan couldn’t stop talking about it!?!?!?  Overall, season one was a satisfying season.  The characters and storyline does make me want to continue onto the next series, so season two of 24 is in my Netflix queue.

What else?  Well, a site update when sour when I tried to upgrade the Gallery application used for the site photos page.  I’m still recovering from that because I didn’t have a ‘latest backup’ of the web site.  This should teach me to back up every week!  So those photos will be inaccessible for a while.

I guess that is it for now.  I’m going to head to bed.

I was feeling nostalgic yesterday afternoon.  It most likely started because I was listening to R.E.M.’s (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville, a song we played quite often when I was stationed in Iceland.

The year I spent in Iceland started very rough.  When I arrived in March, the snow had yet to begun to melt.  I remember falling down a couple of times in my dress blues, not getting used to all the ice and snow.  It was difficult to fit in with my roommate on main base as well.  Then my uncle died, without my mom or sisters telling me.

I was always afraid that my father would pass away when I was in the service - in some far off place without being able to spend some time with him.  When my uncle died - my dad’s brother - it hit me very hard.  I had just seen him the week before I left.  He had suffered a massive stroke.  He could not communicate and was being fed through a tube it his stomach.  It was difficult to see this once vital man in this condition.  And then I would picture my father in such a state, without me there to help him or be with him.

What hurt more of course was my mom not telling me he passed away.  She didn’t want me to worry, didn’t want me to come back to California for the funeral as I just left there.  She didn’t think the military would give me leave, but they would have.  I got drunk that night.  I got very drunk.

So there is that memory to deal with when I think of Iceland, but there many fond memories as well.  I won’t get into them, but I wanted to see if there was any information about Rockville, the little radar station I was at, on the Internet.  You know what there is!

I found [Ken Walsh’s] pages on pbase, specifically his page on [Rockville, Iceland].  And I also found [this page on Homestead.com] which shows Rockville as a drug rehab facility now.

Things have changed.

Today’s blog entry was typed in the Yosemite Lodge, room 4109  Aspen building in Yosemite, California.  It’s around 10:40 pm right now.

Today is my birthday.  It has been a wonderful day.  I don’t have access to the Internet here, at least not in the room, so I am typing this blog entry into Microsoft Word and will place it on the site later.  And later is now, since you are reading these words at this moment.

We arrived in Yosemite late yesterday.  We left Sunnyvale around 11:45 am, but not before Farrah and my mom sing happy birthday to me.  Farrah bought me a huge chocolate chip cookie from Mrs. Fields, candles and frosting included!  After blowing out the candles, going to Huong Lan and Starbucks, we heading off to Yosemite.

Coming in on the 120 route (West entrance) we were treated to a lot of snow and a view of valleys and waterfalls we haven’t seen before.  The trek into Yosemite was through some high altitude and winding roads.  Very high hitting 4000 feet and very winding on par with some of the hairy stuff on Highway 1.  We were trying to take the South West Entrance (which is Highway 140), but mistakenly thought 120 was the route we were thinking about.  Oh well, it worked out great.  We saw a lot of great snow and even saw two wolves on the way in!  They were on the road way, causing people to stop and stare.  Luckily no one was stupid enough to get out of their car or at least I think they weren’t.

We checked in late afternoon, getting a very nice room on the second floor.  The room has two full beds, a bathroom, balcony, and surprisingly a television.  Granted the television only receives 5-6 channels, but we weren’t expecting one at all.  We have been watching mostly the National Geographic Channel which is on a religious kick this weekend, it being Easter weekend and all.  The show we’ve been watching is called “Quest for Truth”.  We watched episodes “Quest for Noah’s Flood”, “King Soloman’s Tablet”, and the ever popular “Quest for Hogzilla”

Well, getting to today’s events. The morning started off slow for me.  Farrah woke me up saying happy birthday and trying to get me up.  She pried my eyes open by mentioning presents.    Present I got to open on my birthday were:

• Mike and Ikes

• Hersey's Miniatures (nuts and regular)

• [Superman/Batman Hardcover] - covering the Supergirl saga

• Alton Brown's "[I'm Just Here for the Food]"

• [The Batman Handbook]

When I post the photos you will be able to see that I still looked a little groggy.  Farrah let me sleep a couple more hours.

We had breakfast at the local Yosemite Lodge cafeteria, where the food is so so and the price is a little high.  Convenience has its cost.  We then took a trip to the Yosemite Village, where we scored some very good parking in the lot.  At Yosemite Village we went to the Ansel Adams Museum which we never visited.  After looking around the Village more, we decided to head back up Highway 120.  We noticed several places to stop off and take photos, but didn’t take the opportunity on our drive in.

We stopped by a river bank and took some photos (see the feet photo), and then made our way up further for a valley type shot.  We were amazed at the amount of people here this weekend as it wasn’t this crowded the last three years we came.  At least from what we remember the park is usually sparse this time of year.  Oh well, just have to deal, right?

After our Highway 120 trip, we headed back to Yosemite Village to get lunch at Degnan’s Deli.  A couple of weird things happened: (1) a dog we ran into twice at Yosemite Village earlier, we ran into on Highway 120 as he was heading out of Yosemite!; and (2) after circling the parking lot once at Yosemite Village, we ending up with the exact same parking spot we had only two hours ago!

Degnan’s Deli was a good choice as the food was good.  It was also a bad choice as the line and wait was very long.  It took about an hour to get our sandwiches.  Having a late lunch pushed our dinner plans back considerably, as we were going to have dinner in the Mountain Room Restaurant.

The Mountain Room Restaurant is here at Yosemite Lodge, walking distance from our room.  The restaurant is somewhat pricey because (1) their food is good, and (2) the view is good and well, during the daytime.  We had a great late birthday dinner.  Farrah had the Pork Roast ever so tender, and I had the Lamb Shank ever so tender as well.  Each bite almost didn’t require thought to chew or even the ability to chew itself.  The food just melted in your mouth.  We had to save room for dessert as well: bread pudding for Farrah, and two scoops of chocolate ice cream for me.  Man, how many times have I used the work “chocolate” in this entry?

Well, it is almost 11:15 pm right now, as I’m finishing up these last thoughts.  Farrah is sleeping soundly.  The room is nice and toasty, and the view from the window into the dark night is wonderfully lit by the full moon. Tomorrow we plan to see a water fall or two, hopefully around sunrise.  As for today, and actually this month as my birthday was celebrated with Rex’s on March 12th, it has been a great birthday this year.

I love you all and thank you for making my birthday this year memorable.

congratulations to scott and stefanie on their new baby boy!  seth emilio salvotti was born on august 18, 2004 @ 12:33.  we’ll need to meet seth and skylar soon.

today is a day of graduations: yen is graduating from sjsu and john for sfsu. and here i am stuck working at home, not able to attend either ceremony. hopefully i’ll be able to attend the after parties.

congratulations yen!

congratulations john!

last night i went to a rosary for my cousin who passed way last thursday, may 6, 2004. i didn’t know anthony that well. he was always big quiet person, even as a kid. i remember him being very quiet at family parties when i was younger. even when we got older he always seemed quiet, but a happy person when you talked to him. i can say i’ve never seen him sad or even in a bad mood.

about three or four years ago he started having difficulties with his heart. i don’t know all the details. suffice it to say he had difficult times, but from all accounts dealt with them without complaint and smiled to those who had concern for his well being. i guess the last several weeks something came about again. this time he couldn’t overcome the difficulties plaguing his heart.

the rosary and reading last night was a nice tribute to anthony. i found it very hard to hold back the tears especially when my uncle spoke about his son. he spoke about God putting his family through these ‘trials’ and how they would endure. it’s tough when someone passes away, especially someone so young.

i wonder if i should write about such things here on janella.com, but then right now it is my only writing outlet. please excuse any of these writings if they seem to be out of place. i’m just trying to make sense of times like these.