So it’s been one year today that farrah and I have been married. As you can tell from the photo it was a little windy that day in Hawaii. But the wind is only one element that made the day memorable. I’m not really going to reminisce about that day. You can read about it here if you would like.
After work today, I’m going to spend a quiet evening with my wife.
Happy birthday to my beautiful wife, farrah Today is your big 3-Oh! But babe, you don’t look a day over 25 to me :)
farrah and I went to see Imogen Heap at the Warfield this past Sunday, December 3rd. We hadn’t been to a concert in quite sometime. I think the last concert we saw was Esthero at the Filmore back in July.
We got a late start to the Warfield, not really having a desire to see the only listed opening act who, Kid Beyond. I had never heard of him, but then again I have never heard of some of the opening acts I had seen at the Warfield before. I never heard of Cheryl Crow when she opened for Crowded House. I never heard of Jewel when she opened for Liz Phair. And I never heard of Tricky when he opened for PJ Harvey. I’m not saying Kid Beyond is in the same league as these opening acts, but he was very entertaining.
We caught the tail end of Levi Weaver’s performance. He had the crowd going on and made me interested in hearing how his studio work would be.
Kid Beyond in Toronto
Imogen Heap came briefly on stage to introduce Kid Beyond. The dude beat boxes and so much more. He did a little Nine Inch Nails, some Portishead, and some of his own stuff. You can catch some clips, such as this, on YouTube. All the performers used a machine that Imogen Heap called a parrot. I’m not sure if that is the correct reference, but basically the performer records a vocal or sound that they layer upon until they have the affect they are trying to achieve. Anyway, it was a very good performance.
Imogen then came out twenty minutes later. She started by walking through the general admission crowd on the floor. farrah and I were located in very good seats, first row lodge, so we could see her milling about there in the dark, singing the vocals to her first song. I had never seen Imogen Heap perform, or never seen a video by her, so I was quite surprised to by her stage presence and performance.
She put on a strong performance considering she had a nasty cold she caught from Levi Weaver. From her stage look and keyboard talent, all I could think of was that she may be the lost love child of Cyndi Lauper and Thomas Dolby. You can see photos of her on Flickr here. I didn’t realize she is the girl in the red coat you see on Flickr’s home page from time to time.
She danced around stage with reckless abandon and played her keyboards and other instruments with (mostly) perfect precision. Her parrot failed her on one of her songs, but her cold never slowed her down. She talks and responds to the crowd in her cute voice. Very cool interaction.
Hopefully she’ll come around again in a couple of years after working on her next album.
This morning we had to put Tigger to sleep. He was 19 years old.
He hadn’t eaten on his own the last six days. We brought him in on Friday and found out his white cell count was up, his body temperature was down, and his hydration level low. They gave him fluids and antibiotics.
Later that evening Tigger’s breathing pattern had changed. It seemed he was struggling with each breath. We kept an eye on him through the night, trying to keep him warm, but there was no change in his condition.
So this morning we brought him back to the clinic, knowing full well the choice we had to make. After more consultation with the vet, and an xray to guide us in our choice, we made the decision that he shouldn’t suffer any longer. I called my sister Tessie, who had Tigger originally, and told her the news. She agreed as well it was time to let him go.
I will always remember Tigger as the most affectionate cat I ever knew. I’m am happy that I had the opportunity to be his owner for about 13 of his 19 years of life. His meowing and playful clawing will be missed.
The weekend started with a slight dilema. On Friday night I was surfing //bayarea.com looking for things to do on Saturday. I stumbled upon a blog notice saying that Ms. Lauryn Hill was playing the //Catalyst on Saturday!
For those who don’t know, the Catalyst is a nice small place in downtown Santa Cruz. I’ve seen several concerts there, including Maria McKee, the Lemonheads, and Pearl Jam. The combination of a good performers and a small venue is always exciting. The problem: we needed to get up early for the AIDS Walk in San Francisco.
Farrah and I went back and forth on the problem, but ended up not going to see Lauryn Hill. It looks like it may have been a good decision according to a //review of the concert. But it would have been nice to see a good performer in a small venue.
The AIDS Walk was a trek for someone who doesn’t walk long distances, like me! The day started early with the bus taking off at 8:15 am sharp from Mountain View. It was cloudy when we hit Golden Gate Park, but the sun broke out by the time we started the walk at 10:45 am.
It took a while to get out of the starting gate, but once we hit the 1/4 mile mark the crowd started to thin a little. The walk lasted two and a half hours, with Farrah and I stopping at 2 of the 3 rest areas. Two things I learned from the walk: (1) I’m out of shape, and (2) there’s Bison in Golden Gate Park!
By the way, it’s not too late to donate on behalf of Farrah or I. To do so:
I’m sure I was told this when I was in the military, most likely when I was overseas. I was told to vary my routine. I was told to take different routes to work. I was told that if I frequently went into town that I was to vary the travel method and time going into town. The speaker emphasized that we were creatures of habit and that this could be dangerous. Clearly I’ve forgotten this lesson.
Right now, my habitual side is kicking in. Someone is sitting in the seat I reserve (for myself) at //Panera. I’ve never seen the dude here all the mornings I’ve been here. He’s got papers sprawled out all over the table, showing he will be here for the long haul. Doesn’t he know that’s my table?
He’s going to throw off my whole morning. Yeah, if anything goes wrong today I’m going to blame him.
I haven’t been busy, but busy enough I suppose. I’m still unemployed at the moment, with optimistic hopes on one of two positions I interviewed for this past month. Right now it’s a bit of a waiting game, so have a good thought for me.
Hail Hail
It hailed here in Sunnyvale today, around 4:30 PM-ish. It lasted a good minute or two.. Here is a photo of the results:
This almost makes me want to head up to Lake Tahoe to see the snow. But I hear chains are required and it takes about two hours just to reach the summit from the base. Now that would be a pretty long drive.
Good Eats and Other Finds
Have you ever visited //Yelp.com?
Yelp is the fun and easy way to find, review and talk about what’s great - and not so great - in your neighborhood and beyond. You already know that asking friends is the best way to find restaurants, dentists, hairstylists, and anything local. Now, Yelp makes it fast and easy to make and receive real reviews from real people. From San Francisco to New York City, and Madison to Mesquite, Yelp is everywhere!
Yelp doesn’t just review places to eat, but reviews on things to do and places to visit. You have to love a site that offers various views on the //Golden Gate Bridge.)
The site is similar to //Judy’s Book and //Yahoo!’s Local pages, but appears to be more active for the Bay Area than the former site, and not as spartan looking as the latter. You can see //my Yelp page here. I’ve written a few reviews on places I’ve been to in Hawaii and Oregon, providing some photos of food I’ve tasted. I hope to write a little more.
I love being able to share my viewpoint on a place, but I think I lack the appropriate words to convey the joy of going to a particular place to eat. I do use the site as a resource, looking for other places to try. But sites like Yelp - remember how active Friendster once was - might slowly die if people do not continue to contribute reviews. Yelp appears to be very active from the postings on their front page, so I’m optimistic it can survive. So consider joining Yelp, if you want to share some thoughts with others.
Wedding Photo
Farrah and I got our wedding photos! I’m slowly posting them to view, so they will soon be up on //my Flickr and //my Smugmug pages. I’ll send out an email when they are all posted.
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 wanted to jot down a few things to remember this month, besides the wedding. Most of these events happened in Hawaii, so I guess it still involves the wedding in some way.
Remember…
