Bender, you're such a comedian with your sleeping positions!

Weeeee... I'm flying in my sleep!!!

Gas prices back down to normal!

That's right, $1.85/gal today at our local Costco... guess that means that people will start dusting off those 10mpg Hummers (unless they got repo'd!). Would've been nice 4 months ago during the RV trip :/

Prop 8 craziness

I continue to be baffled how in a country where church and state are supposed to be separate, a proposition like 8 in CA could not only be on the ballot, but win. Religious fanatics need to get a grip on reality and stop trying to push their views onto others, whatever they are. Never do you see a sane anarchist stand on a soapbox in times square screaming "there is no god".

Rain?!?!

Bruce, on Monday morning: "It's cloudy..."
Me: "It happens...should be sunny again by lunch or so".

Well, the clouds never did go away this week, and, today, we have RAIN! I say it with such confusion/excitement because this is the first time in the 2+ months that we've been here (and also all the times when I've come to visit) that this has happened.

It's a light drizzle now, so nothing fantastic, but it was still odd to walk outside and see anything but blue skies :)

A nice relaxing weekend

Thanks to Bruce for being the first visitor at our new apartment. Past weekends have been filled with various settling in or wedding-related activities, so his presense here made it a "vacation" for all of us. A few worry-free, non-hectic days of lounging by the pool and walking around SF are always welcome...let this be an inspiration and an invitation to all others!

Finally won a game!

As some of you know, I joined an APA league when we moved out here so I have something to do at least one night per week. Yesterday was finally my first win!

Cool, calm, relaxed is key...that, and getting in more practice than just 5 minutes prior to a match.

Good food in the bay area?

Kathy and I have made it a quest to find the best places to eat in San Jose. 2007 Readers Choice award for Best Breakfast went to Stacks in Campbell...our thoughts -- nothing special. We prefer Mil's Diner in Milpitas or Just Breakfast a few miles down the road from us. One of the best Chinese food places in San Jose according to Yelp was not good at all, our tastebuds said.

Yesterday, however, we seem to have hit a place whose reviews were not far from the truth. Cafe Artemis (www.cafeartemis.com) is, without question, the best mediterranean food either of us have ever tried. No, we were not starving when we got there, so can't even take away points for that possibile flavor enhancer. The meats (we got a sampler plate) were all cooked perfectly, and seasoned just right. This is one for the books, we both agreed.

Still on the hunt for the following (a non-exclusive list):
Breakfast (currently a choice of Mil's & Just Breakfast for most items, other than Huevos Rancheros at City Diner)

Mexican (so far a place in San Francisco seems to top the charts...looking for a local place still.)

Chinese

Steak

Pizza -- Extreme Pizza, a SF chain, definitely has some great tweaks, but a good plain cheese slice still eludes us. Costco is always OK for some quick & decent food (pizza, chicken roll, hot dog) too.

Italian (Currently, Campo di Bocce in Los Gatos holds the crown)

Burgers (Counter in Santana Row is good, but see our past problems there :). Juicy Burger is decent.)

Quick post...

So, in answer to several people's questions, the 'new apartment' that Bender was referring to is Kathy's corporate apartment. I drove up on thursday evening and we went home on Friday.

Also, some of you may be interested to know that we're coming to NY on October 2nd, and going back on the 6th.

Some people!!

woof!

I went to a new apartment thursday. Lots of new smells, strange people, the works. I barked a few times at night. I barked a few times on the balcony when I was left alone. But most of the time, I looked like I do in the photo. Turns out someone must not like me, as we got an e-mail with a complaint and a threat from the management office. Maybe next time they can come and talk to me first before complaining?

Pics are up

We started uploading our trip pics...right now, only the ones from Yellowstone are there (I think we have a few more to go through).

http://katoucha.fotki.com/2008/yellowstone

Peanut butter. Banana? NO! Peanut butter! OK, Banana.

Dinner @ Counter in Santana Row
.5/.5 Fries/Onion rings....................................$5
Burgers.......................................................$17
Chocolate-Peanut butter milkshake.......................$5
Getting a chocolate-banana milkshake
&& asking for a chocolate-peanut butter
milkshake again...........................................-$5 and higher tip amount
Getting a chocolate-banana milkshake brought again...PATHETIC.
"You got your shake, right?" -- "NO"... "OK, we'll bring one right out..."

----We never did get our god damn chocolate peanut butter milkshake
Tip.........................................................$0

Me sick :(

i got sick yesterday. i pooped all over the place. daddy had to use a big loud dog (sounded like 'wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo') to clean it up. sorry daddy. i lick you.

i will be fine but today you took me to get checked up just in case...i lost a little weight but its ok i will eat lots and gain it again. sorry for being so crazy in the waiting room -- theres lots of odd smells and i have to smell them all. and those small doggies with lots of fur that have a weird bark that goes 'meoowww' are scary.

i dont wanna go back there. there was a big dog that looked like daddy (i cant bark like him)there and he poked my tummy and put a beeping stick in my butt! i dont like him :(

I can't get anything wedding related done...AARG!!!

So, I had a whole list of wedding-related tasks to accomplish this weekend, the first and foremost of which was selecting our invitations.

I've looked and looked, and there aren't many places in our new area that are open on weekends. WTF???

We made an appointment with someone for noon today, and waited for a good 20 minutes for them, and no one showed. Several hours later we get a message that says he's still there. We got the message too late because when we called the guy wasn't at the store anymore. Apparently we went to the back door and there was a front door. But when we called none of the phones were answered. We rescheduled for next weekend.

I am seriously going to kill someone with this wedding drama!! WE CAN'T GET ANYTHING FRIGGIN DONE!!!

GRRRR!!!!! @#$%^*&$#!@#$!@#$%#$%&*(*^$#%*^$">&$#!@#$!@#$%#$%&*(*^$#%*^$#!*&

Scorcher!

Wow, today was a hot one. One of the hotter days this summer, they say. ~105 around lunch time, 97 at 5pm, and now it's just around 77 (feels warmer).
It's a good thing that the first day in CA we realized that a sun shade for the car is an absolute necessity...getting into the car and being able to touch the steering wheel without getting burned feels good for a change. Next step -- window tints...supposedly the internal car temp goes down by as much as 20'.

Dinner with Cisco new hires to finish off the day, and Bender and I are off to sleep.

OK, OK, I made one too!

Seeing my sister start a blog made me, for some reason, feel the urge to do the same. We'll try and keep it updated once in a while with San Jose events & occurences.

Unfortunately, no pictures from the trip yet, as we can't find the power cord from the laptop that has Photoshop installed (no, can't post raw unedited/untouched images ;)) and the PC has not been set up yet either.