October 30, 2005
Batbaby
We had wanted to take Timber's nephew Dionicio to the pumpkin patch in Morgan Hill today, but things didn't work out the way we planned. Instead, we dressed him up in the costume we got him (Batman), and took lots of pictures of him. I'm sure we can use them for blackmail in 20 years or so. I had wanted to dress him up like a bumblebee or a fairy or something completely ridiculous because we could get away with it but my ideas were vetoed. Oh well...
Pigs
We came home late on Friday night and decided to drive around our condo complex to look for the pigs that had been terrorizing our complex. Sure enough we came across three of them tearing up the grass and making a mess. Timber wanted to throw rocks at them to chase them off but I cautioned her against it. This is California after all and we would probably get in trouble for harassing the animals. So we drove on to find more pigs and did not harass those three big (200 lb) pigs.
October 28, 2005
Pumpkin Patch Overload
After work today I took the Vespa down to Morgan Hill to check out two pumpkin patches that they have down there. One (Uesugi Farms) was really good while the other one (with the flying witch) was not. Sometime this weekend we are going to take Timber's nephew there and see if he will develop an allergy to pumpkins. I've posted the photos from the pumpkin patches here.
4AM Conference Calls Suck
I'm sure it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. 4AM conference calls suck, especially when I have to get up at 3:15 AM to prepare for the call. That is one way to make a week seem like a month. Hopefully next week I won't have to do this.
October 24, 2005
Vespa Granturismo
We have a new addition to the family.
US Open In Santa Cruz
We went to the US Open Jiu Jitsu tournament on Saturday. It seemed a little quieter than in past years, but there were still a few good matches to watch. After we finished watching the matches we ran down to Shogun Sushi for some mango macadamia and some other stuff in it sushi. It was good due to the interesting combinations of texture and taste. I haven't run into any other sushi places that have had this particular roll or do any extensive work with macadamia nuts.
October 19, 2005
Pumpkin Festival Photos
I posted the photos from the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival here. Overall it was a fun day.
Conan Rocks
I hadn't been able to watch the Conan O'Brien show in a while and I'm now remembering why it rocks. Here's a quote from Mr. T -> "People wonder why I call myself Mr. T. One dude asked, 'does the T stand for tough?' I said no. Another dude asked if the T stands for my last name, Tureaud. No it does not. The 'T' in Mr. T stands for tuna. T loves tuna." And the thing that made it possible to watch the Conan O'Brien show, work, sucks.
October 16, 2005
Pumpkin Festival
We went to the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival this weekend. We got there early on Saturday and were able to avoid most of the traffic getting there. It was pretty much the same as in past years. It had lots of foods with pumpkin in them, a huge pumpkin, lots of people, and lots of booths with people selling stuff. We did run into some traffic on the way out of town, but for the most part it was a pleasant day in Half Moon Bay.
Nanooks Beat #1 Ranked Team
As I was saying before about never doubting the grit of the Nanooks they pulled out a win and a tie AT Minnesota this weekend. Rock on! You can read more about it at the UAF Hockey Blog.
October 13, 2005
Nanooks On TV This Weekend
My boys play Minnesota this weekend (hockey for you knuckle draggers out there) and both games are going to be on TV. Woohoo! I haven't watched a Nanook hockey game since I went to school there. Minnesota may be ranked #1, but I think my boys can pull an upset to start the season. Never doubt the grit of kids that go to school in the harsh winters of Fairbanks.
While I'm On This Subject
I recently heard about the California Budget Project and how they did a study on how much $$ it takes to raise a family in CA. I recommend checking it out if you already live in California or if you are thinking about moving here. To summarize the report, California has a high cost of living and on average people in the Bay Area spend between 25 and 40 % of their income on housing. You will not be able to support yourself, let alone your family, on anything close to minimum wage here.
October 08, 2005
San Jose Is The Nation's Richest City
According to this article, San Jose has the highest median household income ($71,765) in the United States. That is not all that surprising. What I do find surprising is that it is followed by Anchorage, Alaska ($61,565). The article also lists the poorest cities. I was surprised to see Miami ($24,031) probably because I have never been there. But New Orleans is on the list of poorest as are some of the other places that you might expect (Detriot, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Baltimore, etc...). An interesting dynamic is that Stockton, CA is #20 on the poorest list at $37,322 yet it isn't that far from San Jose and San Francisco. Some people actually work in the Bay Area and live in Stockton, and Stockton real estate is probably more expensive than Anchorage. Got to love micro-economies.
October 06, 2005
Bad Idea Dubya
According to this article, dubya has said "at least 10 attempted attacks by al-Qaeda had been foiled since 9/11, three of them in the US." Personally I think it is a bad idea to reveal how many attempted attacks have been foiled. I suppose one could get one level worse by detailing how we found out about the terrorist attacks and how we stopped them, but revealing the number is bad enough. But I can understand from a public relations perspective you would want to cite success, but it comes at a cost.
Great Week For Sports, Bad Week For Sleep
This has been a great week for sports due to MLB playoffs and hockey season starting, but it has not been good for my sleep schedule. I'm trying to record all of the baseball games with maximum resolution but that eats up hard drive space pretty quickly, and as a result I have to watch between 2 and 3 baseball games a day to keep from running out of space. I wonder if my collegues have noticed that I've left work a little earlier than normal this week? At any rate I'm still doing some work while I watch the playoffs. Baseball is a good sport to watch while you work because of all the stoppages. My picks for making it to the World Series are the White Sox and the Cardinals simply based on their pitching. The Astros have a chance, but I don't think they can beat the Cardinals 4 out of 7 times.
October 03, 2005
I Want To Be Illiterate Too
It was not THAT much of a stretch for us to figure it out, but Fantasia Barrino revealed here that she is illiterate. She dropped out of school in the 9th grade and went on to have a baby when she was 17. On the plus side she showed that if you work hard and have talent nothing can hold you back. On the negative side our educational system is really messed up if people that can't read make it all the way to the 9th grade. I would love it if someone could track down her old teachers and ask them to explain themselves. Geraldo Rivera, where are you?
October 01, 2005
Johnny Damon Pitches, Redsox Lose
The picture says it all, although chewy is a lefty which makes him valuable in the rotation. Too bad the Sox lost the division title to "the empire". But they can all go to hell because the A's and Giants missed the postseason.
Finished The Hobbit
I finished reading "The Hobbit" last night and I have to say that it was a very good book. The flow of the language, the twists and turns, and the underlying message make it a classic. It may even surpass The Lord Of The Rings. It has been a while since I read LOTR, so maybe I should revisit it soon. I think my next book will be Fast Food Nation. I'll see if I can pick it up from the Library today.