Coincidence? I Think Not.

Well if you follow baseball, you know that the San Francisco Giants made it to the World Series. Just not on the night that Snake was there. But that is okay, at least they are in it and for a few more weeks we can be tortured by the spectacle that is San Francisco Giants Baseball.

That is it's "rep" - torture. Because the Giants never do things the easy way. It seems like every game was won by one or two runs; I hardly remember any blow outs. The game is always decided in the last inning or sometimes the last out. Some people find that exciting, I find it nerve wracking. I get as nervous as I did when one of our kids was playing sports. I find myself pleading ("just let them do well", "just one hit"), pacing, watching the game between the fingers that are clamped over my eyes. It is not easy.

So when in Game 6 the Giants fell behind the Phillies in the first inning, in addition to just feeling horrible for Jonathan Sanchez (I always think about their mothers and how tough it must be for them), I knew I had to to something. So I invoked the spirits of "Giants Past":

That's right, I called out the Big Guns - the bobbleheads of JT Snow, Randy Winn and Benito Santiago. I put them around the TV and prayed that they do their magic, their mojo, their voodoo that they do so well. And what happened? The Giants tied up the game. Hmmmm. Then when the Phillies came back and tied it up, I decided we needed something else. Another icon. But what? Then it came to me. Actually, it fell out of the cabinet in the garage when I was putting something away.

The replica Giants baseball! And what happened, the Giants won. Coincidence? Puhhhhleeeeease! So tonight the Giants play in Game 1 of the World Series. And we will all be here watching - me, Chizz, Benito, JT, Snake and Randy. But don't worry if things get tough for the Giants, I've got the rally rag Snake found on the ground at Game 5 waiting in the bullpen. I'm just sayin'. . . . . .

Go Giants!!

Best.Dad.Ever.

We have 1/2 of a 1/6th share of two season tickets to the San Francisco Giants. For years, our brother-in-law Uncle D has shared some season tickets with a group of friends, 2 bleacher seats in section 140. A while back, Uncle D considered giving up his share. He had become a new father and moved out of the city, my sister (his wife) was traveling on business more. It was getting harder and harder to get to games. Chizz came up with the idea that instead of giving up the seats, why didn't he share them with him? Hence the 1/2 share of 1/6th. It actually works pretty well, we get to go to 8 - 10 games a year, mostly in the summer. We all get to go to a few games a year.

This year the Giants have made it to the playoffs!!! Yahoo! So Uncle D & Chizz went to a little "draft" party with the other partners to decide how to split up the post season tickets. I am not exactly sure how it worked but I think what they did was pick numbers and based on your draw, you got to choose your ticket. Chizz and Uncle D each got a ticket to a playoff game and a World Series game. They even got the same playoff game, and they can go together. Well, until Snake expressed some interest in going. So what did Chizz do? He gave up his ticket to his son. What a guy!! So Snake gets to go to Game 5 tonight, not Chizz. So Snake gets to see arguably the best 2 pitchers in baseball today, Lincecum and Halliday, battle it out, not Chizz. So Snake gets to see, possibly, the Giants sew it up tonight, not Chizz. And all that is because Snake is already winner in the Dad lottery.

Absolutely.


Go Giants.

Facebook

Chizz and I don't have facebooks for several reasons. For Chizz, it is because he has a hard time figuring out how to make sure his work life and his personal life don't intersect. He has a "phoney baloney job" gentlemen and they probably wouldn't understand things like rolling shopping carts off dorm buildings (allegedly), setting palapas on fire (accidentally - allegedly) and hitting Japanese employees of the Korean embassy with errant golf balls (truthfully). It's just best left unsaid.

Me? The reason I don't have one is that I don't want the embarrassment of my kids rejecting my friend request. Also, I think my kids have reached the age where, much to my dismay, they deserve a bit of privacy. C'mon think about it, as a young adult would you have wanted your mom knowing everything you did every moment of the day or, more importantly, every moment of every evening? Noooooooo! But in this digital age, we have the capability to do just that. Our kids have to learn what to put on line and when. If they don't it can have disastrous results - loss of potential jobs, loss of friends, damage to your reputation. I encourage my kids to think carefully about what they put online and save a few exceptions, I think they have been pretty good.

That is why I support applications such as this one. It helps kids make the appropriate choices online.

Hey! Wait a minute. . . . .

Turkeys in My Own Back Yard

No, not the ones in the California Senate who can't pass a budget in time for the second year in a row. (By the by, c'mon guys and gals!!) Real turkeys. Wild ones. I was sitting talking with Snake in the family room (probably one of our deep philosophical discussion on the current problems of the day or football) when I noticed a turkey on our back lawn. Then another, then another. Wild turkeys are not totally unheard of in our area, but they are usually found in the parks or more remote areas. So I took a photo of the 5 or so that made it to our lawn.

When I was outside, I could hear quite a bit of noise. Who knew turkeys were so loud? I went the front and there were probably 30 turkeys total in the front of our house. I have to admit, these turkeys are pretty ugly. Definitely not meal material. The strange thing is that the turkeys have now made an appearance two weeks in a row - both times on a Thursday. Is this some kind of strange deep set existentialist "anti-turkey" pre-Thanksgiving message? Are the turkeys of the world (or the turkeys of Northern California) trying to tell me something? We will see how long this trend continues. And if one of these turkeys shows up with Michael Moore or some kind of a protest sign, we may be having Vegetarian Thanksgiving this November!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

When I was in high school (many, many moons ago), I lived on Okinawa. Our father was in the US Air Force and we were stationed there for a bit over three years. It was different living on a military base on a small foreign island about 6o miles long and about 2 miles wide at it widest point. As children, some of the differences were especially annoying. One particular example that comes to mind was television. We received our television from Armed Forces Radio and Television. At that time, it was the only English language station in the area and it was only on about 10 hours a day, mostly when we were at school. So we didn't get to see much tv when we were there and what we did see was a bit dated.

Another unusual thing to deal were typhoons. A typhoon is a tropical storm or cyclone in the northeastern section of the Pacific Ocean. When we had a typhoon warning, depending on the level or severity of the storm we would have several courses of action. If it was a low level storm, we would just be warned about heavy rains and winds. But as the severity level of the storm increased, the restrictions became more limiting. At a certain level, they really encouraged all personnel to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary. So to make staying indoors more palatable, whenever a typhoon rating got above a certain level, they would keep television on for 24 hours. In addition, they stockpiled better programming to show only when there was a typhoon. For example, they might have Sound of Music or something similar playing. Kids always looked forward to typhoons just as kids in Maine would look forward to a snow day.

One year we were very excited because there was a typhoon rating and the Wizard of Oz was going to be on. All 5 of us were looking forward to it. Mom had made a HUGE bowl of popcorn and we were just settling down to watch. All of the sudden, Auntie K, who was about 4 at the time, announced that she had stuck a popcorn kernel in her nose. No amount of blowing could dislodge it. So Mom announced she would have to take her to the emergency room AND (cue dramatic music here) we would all have to go with her. I think my dad was working at the time and mom felt she couldn't leave the 4 of us alone during a typhoon. So we all had to go to the clinic with them and miss Wizard of Oz. Oh, the unfairness of it all. We never let Auntie K. forget that and it still comes up occasionally in family discussions. (Remember that time more than 30 years ago, when we couldn't watch Wizard of Oz because of your and your popcorn kernel?) Truthfully - it still stings.

Scan forward 35 years. Yesterday, Snake picked up Zabba from preschool. It is very convenient having children with driver's licenses now. When he came home, he mentioned to me that the teacher said Zabba may or may not have a perler bead stuck up her nose!!! Apparently a friend told the teacher she had done this but since 4 year olds are not particularly good with detail, the teachers were a bit skeptical and they couldn't see one. So I had Zabba blow really hard and then lie down on the bed. Sure enough, there was a perler bead up there. I felt I could get it with my tweezers but on my first attempt, I pinched Zabba and she was pretty reluctant to have me stick anything else up her nose. So we had to go to the pediatrician's office. They took it in stride; apparently retrieving foreign objects from noses or ears is a weekly occurrence and they have all kinds of instruments for this purpose. It took all of a minute.

Auntie L, Auntie M & Auntie S will be glad to know that I let everyone at the doctor's office from nurses to doctors to medical assistants (the janitor didn't seem very interested) know the popcorn kernel story and how this proclivity is genetic. Revenge is a dish apparently best served ice cold!!!!! (Cue evil laughter here.)

California Busy Work

Did you catch Face the Nation Sunday Morning? There was a segment with David Boies, the attorney for the plaintiff and Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council. I couldn't remember exactly where I had heard about the Family Research Council but I did a bit of research and remembered. I will let you do your own research but let's just say, their organization was in the news recently when one of their founding members (whom they have since distanced themselves from in a BIG way) was caught apparently practicing what he most clearly does not preach.

As I was listening to these two men debate the recent Prop 8 ruling in California, it occurred to me that we are spending so much time doing this in our state when we have such HUGE problems in so many areas. Especially when I know that eventually we will get there, there being equality for ALL people, regardless of their gender, race, sexual orientation. We will get there. I was just hoping for sooner rather than later. I don't really want to get into the merits of each side, although. . . . Okay, just one small point. When Boies was pointing out that it is one to thing to pontificate on the television talk show circuit about "surveys", and "research" and "studies" done on the negative and harmful effect of gay marriage on children but when you get into a court of law, you need to prove that there are such studies and surveys and research done by accredited institutions. And there were none. None. Tony Perkins countered with that because this was a "new" area there had not been enough time to do credible studies or research on this issue. But he had loads of statistics that indicate the harm caused to children by being raised in single family homes or homes that were broken by divorce. Wait a minute!!! Is he quoting statistics of the harm done to children by the effects of heterosexual relationships that have splintered to prove his point that gay marriage would be harmful to children? What??? Actually he was. His point being the the breakdown of marriage started with the "no-fault" divorce laws. Wow!! Well, why don't we work on that? Instead of denying rights to a particular group who have never had the right to marry before, why don't we work on the making it more difficult for the people who get married to get divorced or make it more difficult to get married in the first place. Hmmmm. Wonder what kind of effect that would have on children? Wonder what effect that would have on prominent conservatives who have divorced, some - many, many times? What do you think Newt Gingrich? John McCain? Do you think it should be more difficult to get divorced, Rush Limbaugh, Mr. "I am on my 4th wife"? Boies also pointed out that there are studies on the effect of gay marriage on children. The studies are just not in the United States (understandably since most states preclude them) but from many countries in Europe where gay marriage has been allowed. And guess what they show? Nothing. Really. That there is really no difference to a child if a marriage breaks two gay parents or two heterosexual parents. It is hard either way. No surprise.

But I digress again, as usual. My main point was to be that the citizens of California need to really, really look around. Is this the biggest crisis facing our state? Really? Because I have found a few other things that I think we need to look at. In no particular order:


1. California is either 23rd or 44th in the nation in per pupil spending. The Census Bureau recently released ranking based on the 2007/2008 school year which found that California is 23rd in the nation. For some reason it takes over 2 years for the government to evaluate the data they receive. The NEA, which is the largest public school union in the US, found for the same time period California ranked 26th. However, the NEA just recently released its data for 2008/2009 year (apparently doesn't take them 2 years to process) which found that California plummeted to 44th place. Since historically the NEA and Census Bureau rankings have usually tracked within a few places of each other, we can expect that even in the Census Bureau ranking, California will be somewhere near 4oth place. If you have kids in public schools, you know that this is true. Parents are spending more and more out of their own pockets for school supplies, books, transportation. Costs that used to be part of the school's budgets are now routinely being passed on to the parents.

2. California is #2 on the states with the highest cost of living. (Hawaii is #1).

3. California is #3 on both highest cost of housing and highest cost of food.

4. California is #1 on highest teachers salaries. I know some people will say that is the reason that we rank so low in per pupil spending but I am not so sure. Don't we have to pay our teachers enough to eat, pay rent and pay the gas bill (see items 2 & 3)? I think it is too simplistic to say there is one root cause for all of this but at the same time, I suspect the teachers' union has done more harm then good in recent years. I know at one of the districts in our area, the teachers union and the district have come to an impasse over the district's request that the teachers pay a portion of their health care costs. Currently teachers don't pay for their health benefits at all. It doesn't seem to much to ask in this economy. I don't know anyone who doesn't pay something for their health care.

5. California has the 3rd highest unemployment rate at 12.3%. We are behind Michigan (#2, 13.2%) and Nevada (#1, 14.2%)

6. California ranks 4th in the nation in the number of foreclosures. 1 out of every 194 homes in our state is somewhere in the process of foreclosure. Wow!!

7. 21% of California residents have no health insurance, the 4th highest rate in the country.

8. We are ranked 37th out of 51 in high school graduation percentage. Only 68% of our students graduate. Arkansas, West Virginia, Michigan, Kentucky all outrank us. Kick our butt.
Shame.


So let me ask you Californians, is preventing gay marriage really more important than any of the things on this list?

People Smarter than Me Said It

So I have spent the better part of a day trying to come up with something profound, wise or witty about the ruling in California yesterday overturning Proposition 8. I think my position on the issue is clear. In reality, hasn't it all been said? So in that vein, I went looking for quotes that spoke to the issue or issues brought up in the debate. Some surprising quotes from some surprising sources.

Majority Rules:

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Thomas Jefferson

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).
Ayn Rand

The truth does not require a majority to prevail, ladies and gentlemen. The truth is its own power. The truth will out. Never forget that.
Rush Limbaugh

Does Equality really mean Equality for Everyone?

An equal application of law to every condition of man is fundamental. Thomas Jefferson

A people who extend civil liberties only to preferred groups start down the path either to dictatorship of the right or the left. Justice William O. Douglas

Gay Partners already get "similar" benefits through employment so it is not necessary to get married.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights. Bishop Desmond Tutu

Name Calling & the Smear Campaign

Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people. Oscar Wilde

Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true. Homer Simpson

If we love our country, we should also love our countrymen. Ronald Reagan.

D'oh!!!!!!

Again?????

Yesterday morning, I went out to the backyard to water some of the flower pots, it was promising to be a hot one. Something caught my eye in the pool area. This:




Another duck mom and babies. This time 8. I am not a duck expert but I am fairly certain this is not the same mom as 6 weeks prior. Last week Chizz & I were having a drink out in the backyard when a female duck landed in our pool. She was there for a little while when she went up into the bushes (where we think the ducks having been making their nests) and disappeared. Then this week, viola!!

I think it is kind of cool that no matter what we think we know, mother nature throws a wrench in things every now and then. This year there has been a lot of discussion in our neck of the woods about what a strange weather year it has been. For the most part we have had a cooler than usual summer weather. In fact the National Weather Service says it is the coolest summer in our area in 40 years. Wow! We just returned from the East Coast last week where they are going through a bit of a heat wave lately, and let me tell you - it was plenty hot. 85 degrees at night for dinner. It just goes to show that you can't control everything. Somethings just happen.

I am thinking the duck maternity ward is closed now. The mom hung around overnight, after tucking her brood under her wings for the night. She left sometime this morning after 9 or so. It was cool having them around but I am thinking we are done. Maybe. . . . .

Why I Love Our Friends. . . .

We had an absolutely wonderful 4th of July weekend with some of our friends at Lake Tahoe. As our lives seem to get busier with volleyball matches, school, college searches, jobs, it is harder and harder to connect on a regular basis or as often as we would like. This weekend the stars aligned. And perhaps because we can't do it regularly enough, we seem to appreciate and enjoy the times we do spend together much more. The group is comfortable enough together to spend entire evenings together or to split up in various combos. Want to hike? Sure, at least 2 or 3 others in the group will join you. How about a trip to the beach? Off go 4. Shopping? 3 girls and 2 credit cards (otherwise known as Moms) will do that. Various combinations of kids, parents, some related, some not. It is comfortable and fun.

About 2 weeks ago, I mentioned I was making a cork wreath from wine corks I had collected over the past few months. It is pretty big and I miscalculated the number of corks I needed. So far at least 300 corks have gone into it and I had just about run out. So I just mentioned to a few people I needed more corks. This is what my cork jar looked like before last weekend (on Thursday):

This is what it looked like today, after I included the corks from the weekend and some brought by our friends:

And that is what I love about our friends. No, not that they drink a lot of wine (although that might be one of the reasons). You can count on them. Whether it is to bring you corks to finish a a project or to take your kids to the beach when you might not want to go or to provide a bed when you are on your way to the airport or to give you a hand to hold when you literally need one to go forward or to listen to your work problems or to go on a hike with when no one else in your family will or to give you aloe when you are sunburned or to share a favorite new wine store or cook a fabulous dinner while you sit around and enjoy nature. Thanks guys! XOXOXO

When You Lie Down With Dogs, You Wake Up With Fleas ***

There has been quite a bit of discussion in our house about the penalties imposed on USC by the NCAA this week. In full disclosure, we are a PAC-10 family. More specifically, we are a UCLA-CAL-Stanford family. We are VERY Ucla, with 3 of my sisters having graduated from Ucla, a brother-in-law with a UCLA post graduate degree, a nephew graduating from UCLA this week, and Kiki currently attending. So we have quite a bit to say about USC on any given day, but we run at the mouth with commentary this week.

USC is one of those institutions that elicits strong emotions from people. You either LOVE them or HATE them; there doesn't seem to be any middle ground. Sort of like cilantro. Over the years, I must admit, we have been on the hating side. Probably not all deserved but they always seem to give us great ammunition. It's easy to hate them. They always win, they always have celebrities roaming the sidelines, they always get their games televised. All those things are pretty superficial but there were other things as well. Their sort of "take-no-prisoners" attitude rubs people the wrong way. There was the blow up last year between UCLA and USC when Pete Carroll decided to run up the score in retaliation for UCLA (probably ill advisedly) using its time outs to try and get the ball back late in the 4th quarter in a 21-7 game. This was after Coach Carroll cried foul when Stanford ran up the score against USC just TWO WEEKS PRIOR!! Stanford might have been retaliating for USC running up the score the year prior. It seems as far as USC believes, what is sauce for the goose shouldn't be sauce for the gander. And that is why people don't like them. It is one thing to run up a score to get a higher BCS ranking but then you can't complain when others do it to you. It is part of the game -on both sides.

I don't believe that USC didn't know about the Bush/Mayo/unnamed female tennis player infractions. OJ Mayo, a kid with a very humble background, had a 43 inch screen tv in his dorm room. No one saw that? Please. Reggie Bush, college student with middle class working parents, drives a blinged out SUV. C'mon. USC has to have the biggest pair of blinders to not see these things and not wonder how, why. If they didn't know, they should have. You can't choose to ignore things and then claim innocence. In law, very often the standard is not what you knew or when you knew it but should you have known it. In the very least, USC wasn't keeping a close enough eye on its players to know that they were possibly endangering the program with infractions. Why? Because USC is caught up in its' own hype. Take this quote from USC's athletic director yesterday:

USC athletic director Mike Garrett, speaking at a previously scheduled USC Coaches' Tour at the Airport Marriott in Burlingame, Calif., had this to say to boosters: "As I read the decision by the NCAA, all I could get out of all of this was ... I read between the lines, and there was nothing but a lot of envy, and they wish they all were Trojans."

Really? This is a jealousy thing? Really? It seems like a childish response to me. I think he would have been better off with the old "I'm rubber and you're glue" rebuttal. Always works. Of course, this is spoken by a man who probably is in danger of losing his job very soon, so you have to take what he says with a grain of salt. But it is this very attitude that the NCAA indicates in its' decision that:

"The general campus environment surrounding the violations troubled the committee"

Ya' think? From the day they first discovered they could throw a ball farther or run faster than their other classmates, gifted athletes have been conditioned to know the rules don't apply to them. It starts out with missing a class or two to travel to a game and culminates in scholarships to schools that they most likely couldn't attend by way of their high school grade point average. It is up to the adults in their lives to act like adults and tell them no. Unfortunately that does not happen often. And we are where we are. College football and basketball programs are mere training camps for pros. Players start off with a few free cars and "no-rent" housing for their parents and then graduate to the pros where they get slaps on their hands for smacking around their wives or girlfriends or carrying concealed weapons in night clubs. Why are we surprised?

I am not buying USC claims of ignorance. Pete Carroll left USC as soon as he could, got out while the getting was good. All this happened on his watch. By the time he left, USC knew what was coming down. It was why they voluntarily imposed some of their own penalties on their basketball team before the NCAA finished their investigation. So what did USC do when it came down to hiring a new coach? I would think a University that wanted to rehabilitate their image might choose a coach whose integrity was beyond reproach. Someone the kids could look up to, a role model. No - they hired Lane Kiffin. Kiffin was the University of Tennessee coach for one short year. Of course he had a six year contract with Tennessee which he had just formalized three months before taking the USC job. USC came calling and Kiffin broke his contract. Committment. In his short tenure with Tennessee he and his staff amassed 6 "minor" recruiting violations. In addition on his way out the door, one of his staff was accussed of calling the Tennessee recruits and trying to convince them to come to USC. Classy.

USC hired a coach that would fit into their win at any cost culture. And sometimes when you play with fire, you get burned.

***Apologies to my canine loving friends.

Something New

I am trying out a new look. I am not if this a permanent look. I am not sure if I won't try other looks. I am a rebel that way. Buckle your seat belts.

Better Late Than Never

We have a pool in our backyard; a cement pond as the Beverly Hillbillies used to say. For many of the almost 14 years we have lived here, we have had ducks that visit the pool on their way to and from where ever ducks go to and from. Sometimes in the Spring, the mom will have a few babies. We have had babies almost every spring, not all but probably 10 out of the 14 years. I suspect it has not been the same ducks over the years as the life span for this particular type of duck is 5 - 10 years. (Wow, think of that. That is a huge spread, 50%. If we did that in people years, it would be something like 38-77. Can you imagine, you die somewhere between the ages of 38 - 77? Not narrowed down any further. I guess that is what you can expect when you spend most of your days avoiding dogs, coyotes or hawks. Keeps you on your toes.) Anyway, it is most likely not the same ducks. But they still come.

This year in mid-May, we noticed a male and female hanging out a lot at the pool but it is much, much later than normal. Usually by Easter, they have come and gone. One year on Easter Sunday, we had a mallard fight in a backyard. That was the year of the duck menage a trois. 2 males and 1 female showed up at the pool a few days before, seemingly at peace with the "arrangement". However, it all came to a head on Easter Sunday when one of the males attacked the other and after that, only one male duck. That is the year Uncle D fondly refers to as "the year we almost had duck for Easter dinner."

So when the ducks came so late this year, we figured that they had missed the mating season but out of habit went to the same spot and they would move on. We saw them quite a bit last weekend while working in the backyard, swimming in the pool, hanging out in the ivy. Old habits die hard, we figured. This morning I was in the yard working on a bench I am re-staining, and I happened to glance in the pool. To my surprise:




Mom has 9 new babies. It took quite a bit of time for me to count the babies, she moved them around quite a lot not sure if I was going to do more than count or take photos. They are very, very, very new. I suspect this morning sometime. The fuzz is still there and a few of the ducks seem a little unsure of swimming. I couldn't capture it on film but a few times a few of the ducklings would hop on Mom's back trying to take a break. Mom was having none of it, quacking at them what I was sure was "You are never going to learn to swim if you ride on my back all the time". Words to live by. So I called Zabba and Auntie K over to have a look before school and they were quite the hit.

What's not to love?



After a while, she took them up on the ledge to the hot tub to rest up. Swimming a few hours after birth is just a bit taxing.



They are still out there, about 3 1/2 hours after discovery. I am sure Mom will move them in a bit but for now I am enjoying peeking in at them every now and then. Just when you think you have it all figured out, Mother Nature throws a curve ball. It is a marvelous thing to watch. Enjoy your weekend!

26

So this week Chizz and I celebrated our 26th anniversary. It's a strange feeling. How did it get to be so long? In one way it seems like I have ALWAYS known Chizz, he has always been there. But in other ways, it just doesn't seem like it has been 26 years. A lifetime. I have known and been married to him more than half of my life, and he to me more than half of his. But wasn't it just a few years ago we bought our first house? No, twenty years. Wasn't it just months ago that we had our first child? No, 18 years. I never understood when older folks than me used to say "It goes by in a blink of an eye". Until recently.

Now we are almost on the threshold of a new stage of our life. I think of life as a series of thresholds. Visually I like the idea of stepping through a threshold from one stage of your life, crossing over the threshold to the next stage of your life. We arethisclose to being empty nesters. Snake has one more year of school and off to college. He has already explained to us that it is most likely out of state, most likely not on this coast, most likely extremely far away. He is ready to start his next stage. Crossing literally from the threshold of our home, to the threshold of a college dorm or apartment or fraternity. Blink of an eye.

So where does that leave us? Truthfully, I am looking forward to the next part. Who knows what that will be or where? I look forward to joining Chizz on some of his business trips. I can entertain myself in New York or Chicago or Amsterdam while he is off doing work things. It will seem strange not consulting schedules other than our own to make plans or go places. All our lives it seems we have had to check work schedules, school schedules, baseball schedules, swim team schedules before making decisions. Not any more. Not that I didn't enjoy that phase of our life; I did, we did. Blink of an eye. But our life isn't over, and I am looking forward to crossing that next threshold. Just hope this part doesn't go by that fast.

In a Nutshell

This cartoon succinctly describes our recent home life here at WTF.






Is someone spying on us?

Something Stinks in Camarillo!

We are still back east finishing up the great "You ruined my spring break" college tour. Last night I went online to check our bank account and make sure our tax checks cleared. They did. Quickly, of course. I also noticed three debit charges to our account from Ralphs, Vons and Hugo Boss in Camarillo, Ca. They were from Chizz's debit card. Now if you know Chizz, you know that he doesn't really grocery shop, unless you count beer, and if you looked at his wardrobe, you know he doesn't shop at Hugo Boss. And since I knew he was sitting about 2 feet away from me, I knew he wasn't in Camarillo.

We called our Bank immediately. Well immediately after about 10 minutes trying to find a line that a human would answer, not a recording. Hmmmm. Another rant for another day! The Bank employees indicated that they could tell that someone had actually swiped a card for these purchases. The persons that did this probably have the ability to clone a the card once they have a number. If you believe the time stamps on the debits, they took all the money in one day within about an hour or so. Fast work So the Bank had to block Chizz's card. Not fun while you are on a trip but since I am here, I can use my card. It is just lucky he isn't on a business trip somewhere, as it is going to take about 2 or 3 business days to get a new card to him.

So we have to wait for a few days for them to correct this. I have no doubt they will, I have loads of proof Chizz was in Philadelphia, not Camarillo. Eventually we will get our $700 back, I will make sure. So if you see a well dressed, well fed man in Camarillo calling himself "Chizz Whineberg", call the authorities. After of course, you say to him "Sir, I know Chizz Whineberg , Chizz Whineberg is a friend of mine and you are no Chizz Whineberg". Thank you.

Done

With our taxes, that is. It is the first time I have had to do them in years. Now before you go and report me to the Treasury Department, there is a reason. As part of Chizz's overseas assignment, they provided someone to do our taxes for us. Expat taxes are fairly complicated, foreign income, 2 bank accounts, taxes in your home country, credit for taxes in the new country etc. It is all pretty much above my head. So for the past few years including a few after we got back, they did our taxes for us. This year we were on our own, which meant I was on my own.

Usually our taxes are fairly straight forward but this year we had a little issue with one of our investments (don't I sound like Warren Buffet?). And even though the monetary amount of this investment was pretty small, making sure I did it correctly on my taxes took 2 days of research and calls to both the IRS and Franchise Tax Board. And even then, I am not so sure. But I did it and time will tell, if the IRS and Franchise Tax Board agree that I did it correctly or if I didn't, whether they really care.

Usually I am a last minute filer even if we aregetting money back. Now not usually a-driving-up-to-the-post-office-at-midnight-on-April-15 kind of late but in a normal situation, I probably wouldn't have sat down until this weekend to do our taxes. But on Saturday we are leaving to go college touring with Snake to Washington DC and Philadelphia. Snake doesn't leave for college for another year and a half, but we are trying to get some ideas of schools he would like. Since right now he is convinced that college for him will be out of our state, and somewhere near a big city but not in Florida or anywhere else in the South, we are trying out some big cities and colleges to see if anything looks interesting.

So off we go. It is probably a good idea to do this early. Before you know it, Snake will be off to college and I will have to start my federal prison term if the IRS and Franchise Tax Board don't agree with my assessment of our tax situation. See, now I sound like Bernie Madoff.

Mom Down, Repeat, MOM DOWN

Kiki came home for Spring Break this past week. It was great seeing her. Although it has only been 2 months since I have seen her, it seems like she has grown up so much. She also bought TB (The Boyfriend). He is very sweet and a little quiet, although I recognize spending a few days at your girlfriend's house might be a tad intimidating! TB is from Louisiana but just to show how truly small the world really is, he has relatives that live in our small town. Weird huh? He and Kiki live in the same dorm at UCLA. She spent the few days here showing him all the highlights of our town, which all seemed to revolve around food. The best burrito place, the best yogurt place, the best cupcake place and her favorite sandwhich place that she went to every Wednesday while she was in high school. Sadly, those are pretty much the highlights of our town. They also took a little day trip into SF and spent some time with some of Kiki's friends that are also on break this week.

So I took them to the airport yesterday, and it was a little sad, although she will be back in just 5 days for Easter! Before you ask, she has to go back, classes start Monday. Or, actually for Kiki, on Tuesday as she has managed the elusive "No Classes on Mondays or Fridays" schedule this quarter. It's true, it does exist. Not just a myth.

The airport wasn't too crowded, it was still early in the afternoon. I saw a few kids obviously going back to school, you could tell by the sad looks on the parents faces. I got out of the car and was waiting for Kiki to get out of the driver's side passenger door, and a woman in a station wagon hit me. Me, not my car. I was so stunned. I was standing by the door, sort of behind Kiki's open door and this car just merged over and hit me. I think the passenger side mirror hit my arm, it knocked me off balance and I fell to the street. Before I knew what happened, she ran over both of my feet! It all happened in a matter of seconds. I am not sure if she knew she hit me, although the sound of me hitting her car was rather loud. A sheriff hurried over. I asked him if he saw her hit me and he confirmed he did. I was a little stunned and felt more embarrassed than anything else. I was worried that she might be drunk so I asked him to talk with her. Apparently she wasn't drunk and I told him I didn't think I was interested in filing a report. In retrospect, I probably should have. I think I am fine, I have a nasty bump on my forearm (where I think the mirror hit me), an abrasion on my left foot, a bruised toe on my right foot, a scrap on my right ankle and I am slightly sore in most of those places. But I will survive. I remember thinking at the time, why didn't she stop? Couldn't she hear me? But I think probably it was better she didn't stop, a 2 ton station wagon on my feet probably wouldn't have done me any good!

So all in all, TB had a more eventful airport ride then hanging around our house for the week. Oh wait, I forgot about going to the best gas station in town. Never mind.

You Haven't Lived . . .

until you've heard your 4 year old niece sing the Beyonce classic "Single Ladies". Just sayin'.


"Uh Uh Uh Oh, if you like it then you should've have put a ring on it, if you like it then you should've put a ring on it, Uh Uh Uh Oh Oh Oh Oh."

This Is So Not What St. Patrick Had in Mind

When Chizz and I were first married and kidless, we really looked forward to St. Patrick's Day. The city in which we worked did it up in a big way, parades, dinners, beer specials etc. It seemed like one big party. Perhaps because it was. A bar very close to where we worked arranged to have the entire street it was on blocked off and set up outdoor bars. People would start coming to the outside bar sometime after lunch. Quite truthfully, many people would just "forget" to come back to work. Even more truthfully, sometimes those people included Chizz & me. It was a fun time, a bit reckless I am sure but all in all a good time. Those were the days.

Fast forward 25+ years and this is what I did today before I put my corned beef on. Snake left some very explicit instructions by email. And with a little editing to protect his (and quite frankly my) identity, here is his email:


RE: Operation Iron Snake

Red Mongoose, you have been chosen for a most deadly mission, if you are caught or killed, we will disavow any knowledge of your actions.

1. go here about 5 minutes before 10: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C00446BC8A851B7?artistid=735341&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=200

2. @10 SHARP: I am unsure what the screen will look like during this stage, as it is a presale, but I expect there to be a little box that says Fan Club Presale or something like that, and enter this code exactly: 12345 (I changed this code because I don't want to incur the wrath of the Iron Maiden fan club by giving out the special fan club code) .

3. Select general admission, General admission, nothing else. DO NOT,I REPEAT DO NOT SELECT BEST AVAILABLE, every second counts. As of right now, we are only buying one ticket.

4. Enter the security code

5. Now we have two possibilities.
A: There's a tickets cannot be found thing, we're too late. :( In this instance, start over and try and get another GA seat. If you get the same message, choose best available. 100s are the ones we're looking for, but I'll take 200s if I have to. If those are gone, somethings up email me.

B: Awesome, we got tickets. Now, I know you're excited, but we still have a few more steps. The ticketing system is paperless, so there shouldn't be a shipping option. If there is a shipping option, just select the cheapest one.

6. Log in or create an account. You should at least have an account from last time. Use the two cards that I gave you. Mind the timer on the page, that's how long until you lose the tickets. If you don't see a timer, don't dwell on it.

7. Fill out the number and the pin of the two cards. I'm going to write down the numbers and pins and bring them to school if this doesn't work out.

8. Finalize the order.

9. Email me, regardless of outcome.

10. Run down the street screaming "HOOOOORRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY"

11. Call the school, tell them that Snake can leave school due to a family event.

12. We party. Until June 20th.


Snake


PS: All steps are mandatory. for reals.

P.S.S: Sorry for talking to you like you're three

P.S.S.S: Do P.S.S.Ss exist?

P.S.S.S.S: I guess they have to now...


Okay this is Wendy again. You think with all of those instructions, it would have all gone swimmingly. You'd think. Well, not exactly. I got all the way up to step 5, picking the general admission ticket which he points out about 4 times, it needs to be general admission. I purchased the general admission ticket and was very pleased with myself. Actually I used Snake's gift cards and the ticket wasn't too expensive. I texted him "Transaction complete, one general admission lawn seat is purchased". Then I called Chizz to crow about my success, when I received this text from Snake:

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!"

Then it dawned on me. If you know Snake you know that the reason he likes the general admission seats is that in clubs these tickets usually are standing tickets and it allows to you to finagle your way to the front of the crowd and be up close and personal to the band. And if you have seen Iron Maiden, you know you want to be up close and personal to them. But this particular venue is outdoors and the general admission seats are actually on the lawn, which is in the back of the venue and there is virtually no chance you can wiggle up to the front. They keep a tight rein on those seats. So Snake apparently didn't remember that part or if he did, thought for some unknown reason, I would remember that he wouldn't want a general admission lawn seat. So I had to hustle back on the site and buy another ticket. We are still unclear as to whether he actually has a seat or if he will be standing because the ticket doesn't really indicate a seat (which is good). Of course we were successful and now we have two tickets to the Iron Maiden concert.

So if you happen to be at the Sleep Train Pavillion on Sunday June 20, come find me in the back lawn. I will be the well over 40 year old Mom in the fold out chair (because sitting on the lawn will probably hurt my back), with my earplugs in and doing the Sudoku. What???? You thought I would waste the ticket? Nooooooooo!!

Practicing

So while Snake was gone on his trip, Chizz and I decided we should take advantage of the opportunity and go on a trip. But where to go? As these things usually work out, the timing of the trip was not necessarily good for Chizz's work so it was hard to make concrete plans. And because of the costs of Snake's trip, tuition deposits and college fees, the timing of the trip was not very good for our wallets as well. So where to go that we could be flexible with our comings and goings, would be inexpensive and the weather wouldn't require snow shovelling in any shape or form. Ta Da!! In laws to the rescue (how many times does that happen? In my case, quite a bit). My FIL & MIL (Father-in-Law and Mother-in-Law in internet lingo - see I am cool!) have a condo in Carmel. My MIL had it before she married my FIL. Her whole family is from that area and she has roots there since forever! She has always been very generous in letting us use it and since they wouldn't be there at the time, she kindly allowed us to camp there.

The location fit the bill on many levels, the major two being it was cheap and we could drive there - which we love to do. Chizz and I have always enjoyed driving vacations. We try and find small roads to get us where we need to go. We try to avoid freeways and highways as much as possible. It is all about the journey not the time or speed in which you get there. We enjoy looking at the scenery, the houses or little towns you find that are off the beaten path. No time frames, no agendas. Of course, the people under 20 in our house absolutely hate these kind of vacations. Actually, hate is too strong of a word. Usually, they are indifferent. As long as they can plug in and tune out, they seem to be okay. Although there are many vacations that we don't allow them to plug in, we want them to take in the scenery, actually notice their surroundings. That it is when it becomes a little unbearable for us. When they voice their boredom, "When are we going to get there", "I'm hungry", "Can I please listen to my Ipod", "I'm hungry", "I can listen AND watch the stupid scenery", "I'm hungry". So we jumped at the chance to do a driving trip without the commentary from the back seat.

The weather didn't exactly cooperate. It was off and on raining pretty much the entire time. But we managed to have a good time in Carmel. We drove along the backroads and saw some pretty impressive scenery. This is one of my favorite times of year in California, it is so green. We only have a few short weeks of rain each year and it turns the hills into an amazing array of green. In about 2 months time, these will turn into the "golden hills of California" but it is nice to enjoy the greenery while it lasts. Just around the bend from here, we found acres and acres of grape vines. Well, when in Rome. . . .


So these posts don't get too lengthy, I am going to break this up a bit. More tomorrow or, in the vernacular of the teenage people in my household, "whenever".

Did We Have a Great Time on Our Wine Tasting Trip?

You 'betcha! (Details, some, to follow.)

With Apologies to my Spanish Speaking Friends

Feliz cumpleanos, Serpiente!! Espero que se divierten en el Peru. Tome muchas fotografias!! Amor, tu mama!!

Boy Communication vs. Girl Communication

When Kiki left for college, I wasn't worried that I wouldn't hear from her. She is my communicative child. All throughout high school, Kiki always kept in touch. Whether it was a call at break time or lunch to remind me to do something or a furtive text from class to let me know a great grade on a paper or test score. She has always kept in touch. It has been the same way since she has gone to college. She routinely calls me when walking to class to let me know what is going on in her life or to catch up on hometown gossip. She still texts to let me know a great grade or to see if I remembered to make a tuition or housing payment. I am pretty much in constant contact with her.

I always said that it would be different when Snake goes to college. His communication genes come from Chizz's side of the family tree. While as Kiki texts or calls me almost on a daily basis, I know that my contact will be quite different with Snake. I will most like drop him off at college in September and I won't hear from him again until the day before Thanksgiving when he checks in to find out his travel arrangements to come home for the holiday.

So why am I surprised at his lack of communication on his trip to Peru? Perhaps I thought the international nature of his trip would prompt some desire on his part to keep in touch or he would just be homesick. So far the communication has been minimal to say the least. He has been gone a week. I have heard from him directly twice, maybe three times. I say maybe because I am not certain about one time. It is not that I expect to him to be in daily contact with us but since there have been some developments in that part of the world, I have been wishing there was a bit more contact.

Or maybe it is because the quality of his communications have been less than satisfactory. The communications so far have been brief. His first email was about 4 lines. One line to tell me he was having difficulty texting on his phone. But not to worry as he can get internet on his Ipod through the hotel. He asked me to respond to let him know that I got his message and oh, by the way, he was doing great in Peru. I responded back with about 6 paragraphs, describing completely what he needed to do to send a text internationally, advising him of our travel plans in detail, what was going on here, reminding him to take photos, asking what he had done so far, advising him that I had followed the 5 paragraphs of instructions he left me on getting concert tickets for a concert that went on sale last week and that I was successful in getting a difficult ticket, inquiring about the weather and wishing him a great time on his trip. He responded with 4 lines (again) thanking me for getting the ticket, indicating that it wasn't a dialing problem with the texting - he just wasn't getting service, wishing me a great time on our trip and that he was, indeed, having fun so far but he was getting very little sleep. I sent him back a 4 paragraph email, detailing the results of my 45 minute communique with ATT about his difficulties in texting internationally and what he needed to do now, reminding him of the exorbitant costs of telephone calls and the prohibitive costs of data downloads or internet d downloads from his phone and reminding him not to do any of that under ANY circumstances, reminding him to try and get a good nights sleep when he can and to take photos. His 2 line response the next day was to advise me that Iron Maiden was set to make a big concert tour announcement on Thursday and I needed to stand by in case he needed to get tickets for whatever concert they were about to announce. And he was doing great in Peru.

That last communication was about 6 hours before the 8.8 earthquake in Chile, the country right next door to Peru. So I waited, and waited, and waited. Thinking any moment he would email or text me to let me know that although he had felt the earthquake, things were status quo in Peru. Nothing. And more Nothing. So I send him an email, asking him if he had heard about the earthquake and perhaps it might be nice to let his poor old mom & dad know that he was "doing great in Peru". Nothing.

Until this morning, when I got a text from an unfamiliar cell phone number in our local area code. It said "Snake is doing well and sends his love." Hmmmmmm. The second part so doesn't sound like Snake, but in a way the message is all Snake. It is all about him reading my email after the earthquake, and thinking he has to communicate with me but forgot to charge his phone and doesn't have internet service to communicate. Soooooo he talks his friend at 925xxxxxxx into sending me a quick text to let me know he is fine, the "sending his love" is the editorializing of another 16 year old boy. You just need to read between the lines (or the words if there are hardly any lines).

Gosh, I can't wait for college. I just hope I hear from him before graduation.

Metal Mom

I am fairly certain I was the oldest person waiting this morning for the Ticketmaster clock to strike 10:00 a.m. for a particular show. That was the magic hour for the Mastodon concert tickets to go on pre-sale. Since Snake was a bit uncertain as to what his internet capabilities would be in Peru, he buttered me up for several days so that I might do exactly what I did. Waiting for the clock to tick down so I could snag a high coveted General Admission, Floor, Standing Room ticket??? What? He doesn't even want to sit down and enjoy the melodic sounds of "Aqua Dementia" or "Blood and Thunder" waft over him? Nooooooooooo! It is way more fun to be on the floor and thrash around and be involved in the music. Snake loves getting as close to the bands as he can. That way he can snag a drum stick or set list when the band throws them into the crowd.

My mom used to do something similar for us when we were growing up. She would call up radio stations while we were at school and try to win tickets or free albums for us for whatever group was coming to town next - Loverboy, Heart, Debbie Gibson. The worst was when she won, she would have to go on the air with the DJ and say something like "96.1 plays the coolest music" or scream like she was 15 years old. But she would do it. All for the free stuff.

So Snake will see Mastodon in the Spring. Perhaps while he is at the concert, I will sit back and listen to my favorite Mastodon song "Cut you with a Linoleum Knife", their thinly disguised rant against people who talk during movies. Just trying to make the world better, one song at a time.

Faux Empty Nest

So Snake left this week to go to Peru on a school trip. His school is on the trimester system, where the school year is divided into 3 sections as opposed to 4 quarters/2 semesters as most schools seem to be. The problem is that the school year doesn't divide evenly into 3; there are a few leftover weeks. So Snake's school devised what they call "mini term". Mini term is two weeks of 2 classes per day that are sort of fun but have some educational component to them. The teachers get to teach classes in areas they might have a particular interest in or passion. For example, last year Snake took Archery and "Snap, Crackle, Pop - Your Brain on Drugs", a science course on what physically happens to your body when you take drugs. There was a history/cooking class that followed the Spice Trade in Asia and why that was both historically and culinarily important. There was a course on hiking the many trails in our area, a photography course, usually a few sports oriented courses etc. In addition, usually a trip or two that kids can sign up for (for an additional fee, of course)that have a community service component to them. Last year for example, the kids went to Louisiana and worked with Habitat for Humanity and helped rebuild an area still devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

This year the trip is to Peru. They had an overwhelming response but could only take so many students. The administration wanted to leave it open for a wide variety of students, so each student had to fill out a questionnaire and write a short essay about why they would be a perfect student to take on this trip. Snake pointed out that in addition to speaking Spanish fairly well, he was a well-seasoned traveller thanks to our short overseas assignment. He included anecdote about being held at immigration when he was travelling between London and US by himself. (Apparently, being an adult as far as flying alone on the airlines is not the same as going through immigration as an adult. A minor, under 16, must have someone waiting for them on the other side before they can be released.) Snake wrote about the incident as an example as to why you have to be flexible when you travel. Things happen and you have to learn how to roll with the punches, especially when you travel. He thinks, and I believe he is correct, that the essay was a good portion of why he was chosen.

There has only been one potential disappointment. Several weeks before the scheduled departure, there was a horrible mudslide/flood at Machu Picchu, the pre-Colombian Inca city. The roads and more importantly, the railroad tracks have been flooded and are inoperable. The Peruvian officials have no idea how long it is going to take to clear the site, although they are motivated as this is the number tourist attraction in Peru. So for now, they don't think they are going to be able to go, which is a shame. However, the chaperones are keeping an open mind and if by some miracle it opens while the group is there, they will try and get there.

The rest of the trip will include both hotel stays and stays with local families. The students will take language classes as well as classes in salsa, cooking and ceramics. They will work with younger children in preschools helping them learn a little English. They will also get to sight see and try a few Peruvian delicacies. I think it will be a fantastic experience.

Oh, and just in case you are worried about what Chizz and I doing while our nest is empty. Don't. We are going south, baby. To Carmel. Where we plan on not helping any children in pre-school, hanging out at restaruants, doing some, ok ALOT, wine tasting, taking some driving tours, going to a movie or two.

I think it will be a fantastic experience.

Lions and Tigers and Snakes, Oh My!!

The weather has been wacky crazy this week. It has rained in biblical proportions, the result of 5 or so storms stacked one right after another. We have had rain, hail, a bit of snow on some of the higher elevations. Today I was working in the back room and I heard the emergency broadcasting system alert go off. Chizz was watching TV and they interrupted. On a very rare occasion we will get interruptions for an Amber alert or sometimes in storms such as these we get a flash flood warning. Not today. Today's emergency was a tornado alert!! Holy Wizard of Oz, Batman! Right here in our county. Apparently a funnel cloud was spotted in a town not far from here. It was exciting. Of course, the warning lasted all of about five minutes. It was over fairly quickly after the instructions to "shelter in place, go to the lowest elevation in your house" and "do not take shelter under a freeway overpass". Since we didn't have any freeway overpasses in our house, we were pretty lucky. We were still contemplating where the lowest elevation in our house was (we think the sunken living room, we weren't sure) when the warning was over. So we escaped the tornado.

Almost. Shortly after the warning, I went into Snake's room. Actually, the tornado didn't miss us after all. That would be the only explanation:

Backyard Tourists

Lately, Chizz and I have been visiting places close by that we have always meant to go to but somehow have never gotten the chance. When we took Kiki to the airport recently, we drove by this huge flea market/swap meet that is very close to the going to the airport freeway. I said aloud "we should go there sometime and just see what it is like". Sometime was this past weekend.

Actually, we went to the flea market next door. Who knew this area would have more than one flea market to visit? Parking in the area is pretty difficult, apparently this is a very popular flea market. There are actually two sections, one is a more formal pay $1 flea market and the other area is the people who just kind of set up a little area to sell their items. I am not sure what the odds are that this is true, but I got the feeling quite a bit of this stuff was stuff that had "fallen off the truck" or just out and out stolen. There were stalls after stalls of used work tools, drills, hammers, sanders, all used. Loads of used bicycles. We saw tables of laptops, one after another. Used but still pretty nice looking. Televisions, stereo systems, speakers. The "paid" area of the flea market had mostly new stuff but still, how are these people selling table loads of 409 cleaner, or toilet paper, or socks. You have to wonder how they actually got the items they are selling but you don't have to wonder for too long. We could have even gotten a stun gun from a table with a sign that declared they had several for sale, along with some whips and stuff. I wanted to take photos of both sides but I had a feeling that people would not take kindly to having their photos taken. So because I didn't have my running shoes on, I chose not to take the photos.

After we left the flea market, we decided to go to another area we had been too before but it had been many years before, Jack London Square. On Sundays there is small farmers market going on. We got there kind of late so not much there and it was a pretty cold day. Not too cold for Asian string players.

I think this man is a regular.




One of the things we liked best in London, wait one of the things Chizz liked best in



London, was finding a new pub to try out. Very often the pubs were historic, frequented by this prince or that famous author. Very often the pub looked like it hadn't changed an iota since it was founded. So we were excited to see this on our arrival at Jack London Square. It is a cute little small bar or pub. It appears to have quite a few names: J.M. Heinold's Saloon, First and Last Chance, or Jack London's Rendezvous. The inside is adorable, about 3 tables and five or six stools at the bar. The floor has a definite tilt, you can see it in the photo of the bar, the whole bar is tilted downward. The bar does have an interesting history as well. It opened in 1883 and was built from the timbers of an old whaling ship. In the 1920s a ferry between Alameda and Oakland ran from a nearby pier and Heinold's was literally the last chance, commuters could get a beverage before getting on the boat. Over the years, the bar enjoyed a mild success. It was the teenage hangout for a young Jack London, who used to study at the tables. He confided with the owner that he really wanted to enroll in the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Heinold lent him the money and although London didn't make it past his first year, London must have felt some gratitude as he used Mr. Heinold's name and the name for the First and Last Chance Saloon in his novel, John Barleycorn.

In the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the pilings of the pier that bar was situated on, sunk into the mud under the pier, causing the floor to slant. Over the years they have tried to shore up the floor to straighten it out, without much success. So eventually they stopped trying. The clock in the bar stopped that morning and they have never wound it back up so you can still it at 5:18. It is hard to tell from this photo, but the walls just have all kinds of stuff on them. Chizz was interested in a display case that contain lots of Germany army pins with swastikas. There are pieces of currencies from all over the world tacked up on the wall. The bar and rail are original to the bar. Can't you just imagine Jack London sitting there, having a drink making notes for his next book?

There is lots of history in our own backyards. Chizz and I speak often of how lucky we are to live in an area that folks all over the world come to visit on their vacations. Sometimes we all take for granted those things right in our own neighborhood that are available to explore. I doubt too many tourists have the Oakland Flea Market on their list or even Jack London Square but these are places I have always wanted to visit, but never seemed to find the time. This weekend we found the time. I challenge you to visit something in your figurative backyard, something you have always meant to check out. In this economy, it pays to be a Backyard Tourist. The airfare is cheap.

Holiday Aftermath

Well, holidays are officially over (well, not if you ask Target because they have already moved on to Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day and the Superbowl!). The WTF household had pretty nice holiday overall.

For the first time in a long time, I felt as if I actually got to enjoy the holidays a bit more this year. Many times it just all goes by in a red and green blur. Perhaps it is because the kids are older, or we are older but it seems as if we were all a bit more relaxed this holiday. I just didn't feel the pressure to create the perfect Christmas "damn it" and perhaps because there was no pressure, it all seemed to work out beautifully. I even sent out a Christmas card or two. We enjoyed our "old" traditions and perhaps started a new one or two. Maybe when your kids are older, you don't work so hard to create memories because part of the holiday is spent reliving the old ones.

It was nice having Kiki back from college. Mercifully, there were no power struggles over car use and I don't remember any arguments either. She has grown up and so have we. She and I were discussing her New Year's Eve plans which included a group of kids going into the City and spending the night there at a friend's apartment. I was more than a little leery about it and I expressed my concerns about it really being an unsupervised party, likely with alcohol and no adults. Kiki paused for a minute, looked at me and said "Mom, what do you think college is?" . . . . . Alrighty. Actually she is right. We have to get used to her fielding these situations on her own. Now of course, that doesn't mean she still doesn't get the occasional lecture about safety etc and that as an 18 year old, alcohol use is against the law. But I can't be with her every time she has one of this situations pop up. So I have to just take comfort in the fact that I have given her 4,357,286 of these lectures and hopefully when the time is right, she will hear my voice in her ear giving the lecture again as if it were on shuffle on her Ipod.

Snake spent the holiday recharging his battery, which included sleeping until noonish, spending time on the computer, endless hours of football on tv and a few concerts. He went back to school today and I think it has been hard for him to get into the groove. He just called and told me he forgot what the schedule he was on today (his school has a block schedule which has a different schedule each day). So he inadvertantly skipped second period today because he thought it was a day he had a free period. He is on his way to the office to 'fess up and take whatever consequences are assigned.

So now I am left with dismantling Christmas. That always seems to take longer than it did to put it up. I have two mini deadlines, one is to make the house seem livable by tomorrow when Auntie L comes to visit. The next is one is two days later when the recycler comes for the tree. Right now, the cyclone that is my living room says I might not make either deadline. Yikes.

According to Target, I only have 32 more shopping days until the next big holiday, the Superbowl. Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!