The canals of Venice

We went to Venice this weekend. I'm not sure if people what Venice has other than the beach walk, Muscle Beach, etc. There are actual canals in Venice... about 6 blocks of them. Sidewalks run along them, making it a great place to walk when the sun is shining.

The houses along the canals are quite cool, an amazing neighborhood. Everyone was has a little dock for their rowboat. A couple places were for sale in the neighborhood, places 1 block from the canal start around $1.7 million. I think we will have to save more aggressively to move in.

We got a book of walks in LA recently. We referred to it to find out way around Venice. We had been there before, but getting a little more guidance on walking around the trendy shops on Abbot Kinney Blvd and other areas was helpful. Afterward we went up to Santa Monica... between there and the boardwalk in Venice, I think we have seen enough street performers to keep us satisfied for some time.

A cautionary tale about coffee

About a month ago I hit the handle on our coffee pot carafe, sending it into the air and having glass explode all over the kitchen. The cost of a replacement carafe & a new coffee maker was roughly the same... so off we went looking for coffee makers. And this brings us to our tale.

moral of the story: don't scrimp when you have a hint that it might not be a good idea. I had a suspicion that I should buy a good name coffeemaker... but we were near a sears... and looked around at other places... and all we found were over-priced things. So we brought home this Kenmore coffee maker.


BIG mistake. Piece of junk coffee maker. Even turning the thing on was bad (you needed to push the "On" button twice. What machine makes you do this??? It's like they decided to fly in the face of the conventions of manufacturing or something).

Anyway, the thing was trash, we knew we had made a huge mistake. We were in Macy's the other day and they had a "morning sale" going on, prices only good until 12 noon. Coffee makers were on sale, and we got ourselves this fancy Cuisinart for 1/2 off, such a deal!. Macy's is amazing, they have about 12 sales a week. If you pay full price for anything there, you know you are getting screwed.

Sunset at Idyllwild

Sunset at Idyllwild
Originally uploaded by Minnaert.

We went to Idyllwild (a mountain town east of LA, near Palm Springs) with our friends Nate & Ryan over the presidents day weekend.

we did a little hiking, a little lounging & relaxing. The sunsets there were pretty amazing.

Valentine theater

For Valentines Day we went out to dinner & then a play.

We saw Dickie & Babe at the Blank Theater. It's about Leopold & Loeb, who were young, affluent killers in Chicago in the 1920s. Their trial was one of the first "trials of the century." Maybe not the most romantic choice.


The play was quite good, it was in a little theater on Santa Monica Boulevard, close by in Hollywood. That stretch is known as "Theater Row" and has a bunch of small, independent theaters.

Last year for Valentines Day we went to a play also, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?" in downtown LA. This also was anything but a romantic play; the majority of the play having a long married couple say incredibly cruel things to one another. I'm not sure what we will get up to next year, but the pattern appears to be set.

Phone headsets

We got bluetooth headsets for our phones recently. California has a law, effective in 2008, that you cannot talk on a cell phone while driving. You need some sort of hands-free device or capability in order to use your phone. So we bit the bullet and got some headsets.

Those things always cause me to double-take when I see someone talking on them. They are either looking like they are crazy and talking to people which are not there, or it looks like they are speaking to the ceiling.

Hopefully we won't have some sort of misunderstanding like this when we start talking on them.

The CSA has begun

Oranges & Lemons in bowl
Originally uploaded by Minnaert.

We just started getting fruits and vegetables, every other week, from the local Community Support Agriculture (CSA). We did this before in San Jose and found the prices to be competitive with organic produce (everything from the CSA is organic & grown on the same farm). So far it has been good, we pick up the veggies in Glendale. You never completely know what is going to be in the box, so it makes you eat things you would never imagine getting. We got Daikon radishes the other week, they were good in a stir fry, but i honestly had not idea what they were initially.


Tierra Miguel Farm CSA

A Tour of Hollywood

We did an architectural driving tour around Hollywood the other weekend. It was very interesting, since Hollywood and Los Angeles both have lots of notable buildings and interesting backstories. It was a couple hours well spent.

We drove all over the place, the guide book was really good about winding you in & around. We decided our next house should be in the Hollywoodland area of town (the Hollywood sign was originally an advertisement for the "Hollywoodland" development). Very cool area, winding canyon, great architecture, average home price probably $2 million or so.

The photo was taken from one of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses in LA, the Hollyhock House. From here you can see (marked with yellow arrows, left to right) the Hollywood sign, Griffith Observatory & another Frank Lloyd Wright house; the Ennis Brown House.

The Ennis Brown house has been going through a major restoration, and will probably reopen to the public this year, but it is amazing. A huge house that looks like some sort of Mayan temple, on a hill with a near 360 degree view of LA. Stunning.

Puzzled in Palm Springs

Gary's parents are now on their annual pilgrimage to the sun, spending the winter in Palm Springs again. Gary's aunts Marlene and Rosemary visited them last week, and were happy to be out of the cold in South Dakota, Palm Springs being roughly 60 degrees warmer. I visited for the day. the drive being only 2 hours & to get out of the big rain storms in LA over the weekend.

We gave out puzzles as gifts to a few people for the holidays. Here is everyone working on the puzzle Gary's parents received. It was getting down to the end, Marlene & Rosemary were confident they would finish before they left town.

Doo Dah

We were a part of the Doo Dah Parade in Pasadena over the weekend. It is a spoof of the Rose Parade, and known as "Pasadena's Other Parade". It's pretty funny, actually just kid of a collection of crazy people out in the middle of the street for an afternoon. Good fun though.

We were a part of our friend John's "Off Ramp" float, his radio show on the NPR station down here, KPCC.

Christmas in Santa Cruz

We spent christmas in santa cruz.
the weather was great, although a bit cold there. we had great meals and a fun time overall. The drive back was pretty windy, but we made it without any trouble.

sarah received a giraffe shaped tent, which she was very excited about.

gary received a squid shaped whisk, which he was very excited about.

we will need to have more animal shaped things in 2008, they seem to be lots of fun.

-gary

There is more than one cat

I have posted previously about the "garage kitty" (here and here) who kind of lives in our garage. A while ago one of our neighbors let us know some people call her "Tiger" also.

But there are now more than one kitty in the garage. The little cat in the picture below showed up a few weeks ago. All the cats sleep on the blankets people put on their car hoods, as you can see. She is pretty small, we have started calling her "kitten kitty", not an overly creative name, but it works for us. There is also an orange cat who comes and goes, but he is pretty skittish, I have trouble getting a photo of him.


fyi - this is the 100th post we have made on the blog... i don't know if i thought this would last as long as it has. This is similar to a milestone for syndicating a tv show.

-gary

the tree is up!

we got our Christmas tree put up over the weekend. here it is in all its glory. Fancy new LED lights also, we can leave them on all day and use less electricity than normal.

Videos from Sydney

I took some little video clips with my digital camera while i was in Sydney. Here are a couple to choose from.

We went to a little show which had a didgeridoo player. Kind of amazing, they use circular breathing to play pretty much as long as they want.


Lorikeets (parrots) making crazy sounds at night. We came out of a restaurant after dinner and heard this, deafening.


Tabitha and Gabriel know a few songs, with the choreography! Here they are performing on the train as we returned to Wahroonga from Sydney. I am looking forward to showing this to Gabriel's friends in future years.

Sydney

Gary just returned from visiting his sister, Linda + family in Sydney, Australia.

The trip was lots of fun and a great vacation. I posted a bunch of photos to flickr here. Sydney is an amazing city, full of everything (except peanut M & M's and other american brands). Strange things are very expensive, like books. It also doesn't help that the US dollar exchange rate is at a historic low.

The Opera House and Harbour Bridge. This picture is taken from the Botanical Gardens. The harbour cruises also have amazing views of the city.

Here are Gabe + Tabitha, ready for school in their uniforms & holding the Spider Man puzzle we gave them. 3D puzzles... kinda cool.

I also took a couple video clips, but i gotta edit upload them before I post.

laundry with bins!

laundry with bins.JPG
Originally uploaded by Minnaert.

We got some new bins & boxes for the laundry area. I guess we are done with all of the messing around in that area now.

we have more storage capacity now that we know what to do with.
- Gary

Alan's 80th

We celebrated Alan's 80th birthday last weekend at the "Castle" in Ben Lomond. We had a great time, and lots of friends & relatives came to celebrate.

A couple photos from the weekend are below, i put more on flickr.

Sarah, Alan and Kii just before the cake cutting.

The Ben Lomond "Huntley Castle". This place started out as a dream house/castle project by a Scottish immigrant in the 1920s. Its changed ownership several times, with successive owners adding and modifying. Its a little like the Winchester Mystery House, but it fit in very well for the weekend.

Laundry area redone

Here was our big home renovation project we undertook a few weeks ago. I finally got the shelves all installed, so i figured it was time to post it.

Here is what our laundry area started as. Recall that the cabinets above the washer & dryer had fallen a few months ago.

Here we tore everything down to the studs. Everything in the area was half crazy. There were weird bump-outs in the walls, there was missing drywall, all sorts of craziness. Also when the new a/c got installed, they needed to cut a new hole in the ceiling for the air return. The previous owners had redone some stuff and actually covered the air return.

Here we are drying the joint compound after we mud & taped the drywall.

And the finished product. We got all the drywall complete & repainted. New shelves from the Container Store all installed. I don't know if there is a career out there for home renovations out there, but i think we improved a few things with the area. Some mistakes were made along the way, but it is improved in many ways.

vegas

Gary was in Las Vegas for a conference last week. Sarah joined up for the weekend. We caught the Blue Man Group + Penn & Teller shows. I bet on the Rockies to win the World Series. Stoopid Red Sox.

The fountains in front of the Bellagio always draw a crowd.


During the conference, Gary + some co-workers went to the Pinball Hall of Fame. Just what everyone wants to see in Vegas. Here is Gary's coworker Paul playing "Pinball Circus", a very rare game many consider to be the "Holy Grail of pinball games."

Kitty update

You may wonder what has been happening with the famous garage kitty lately.

The garage kitty is just fine, she still enjoys sleeping on the cars in the garage and alternatively ignoring everyone and begging for attention.

When we tried to leave the other day she was napping on the roof of Sarah's car. We eventually talked her into taking a break from her hectic schedule.

construction & ladders

We've been doing a bit of work lately in our laundry room area. When we finally get all done I will post a series on it, before and after shots and everything.

But when we were getting paint from the hardware store down the road the other day, the truck parked next to us had a ladder rack, with ladders on top. I knew people decorated their toolboxes, but I did not know people decorated their ladders. Enjoy.

Rain? in L.A.?

What is this? Rain? In Los Angeles?

L.A. is having the driest year on record, only about 3-4 inches of rain in the past 12 months. Last weekend it rained here, and I have photographic evidence of this. There was panic in the streets.


An interesting story: We were driving to get some lunch the other weekend, and while we were stopped at a light in West Hollywood this disheveled guy was in the crosswalk. Sarah commented, "I think that guy is drunk. Its kinda early to be drinking." Just she finished making this statement, another man walked right in front of the car, barefoot, and eating a leaf. Both of us then said, "Well that guy may be drunk, but he's not as bad off as the guy eating the leaf!"

Only in Hollywood.

- Gary

Got out of the heat in Washington

We went up to visit Gary's parents in Olympia, Washington over the Labor Day weekend. We avoided the 100+ heat in LA, and had surprisingly great weather in Washington. Sarah was stunned to actually see Mt. Rainier, which she had only heard rumors of previously.

We visited the new Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park. The photos are all of us inside the big Richard Serra sculpture.

First Anniversary

One year down!
We celebrated our one year anniversary this week. We went to dinner at The Little Door, a french restaurant not too far from us. For our wedding Gary's parents gave us a big (magnum?) bottle of wne, which everyone signed at the reception. The idea is to open it on your first anniversary, which we did.

Burgers in Glendale

Gary works in the "IBM Mobility Office" in Glendale about once a week. The mobility office is really just a floor of cubicles in one of the main office buildings in downtown Glendale. It's primarily meant for sales teams, since they all work from the road or home.

Working there this week the building owner had a summer burger day for all the tenants. $3 burger, chips & a drink from the traveling In & Out Burger truck. Good stuff.

Alan ready for the rain

Alan poncho
Originally uploaded by Minnaert.

When we visited Alan (Sarah's dad) the other weekend, he had mentioned he was going to get a rainjacket. When we visited Yosemite a couple years ago, we got ponchos for our hike to Bridal Veil Falls. Since it does not actually rain in Los Angeles, we had no need for the ponchos and we brought them to Alan.

He graciously modeled one for the camera.

What is this a picture of?

So what is this a picture of? A rock? A pebble? A precious stone? Nope. It's a piece of Gary's top right rear molar. I felt something on my tooth, and when i picked at it, this piece came off in my hand.

Thankfully it wasn't down to the nerve, so there was no shooting pain, but I need to go get a new crown this week at the dentist. More gold in my mouth, pretty soon my body will be worth a lot.

puppies

Last night we went to our friend John & Julian's place to see their new puppies and meet for dinner. Their dog Kara had 5 puppies about 6 weeks ago. The puppies are adorable and also a little noisy. Sarah would not let me take any home. Julian said I could come back for my "puppy fix" any time.

So we set out to their place, in the Mount Washington area, about 10 miles from us. We set out at 6:30, and arrived at 8:30. A parking lot for miles for all routes. grrr. LA traffic at its best.


John with one of the puppies.

brunch special

A restaurant down the street from us has a pretty good brunch special... but WHAT day is that?

Gabe in Heat

gabe in heat.JPG
Originally uploaded by Minnaert.

Two weeks ago the Vesneskis (Gary's sister's family) were back in the Bay Area visiting from Sydney. They were staying in Pleasant Hill, near where they used to live in Concord, CA. We visited them, and walked around Lafayete Reservoir. Gabe got a bit overheated on the walk, and took a break, in the middle of the trail.

Gigante & the Giants

Gary has been in San Jose for the past 1.5 weeks. Went to the San Jose Giants game. The Giants are the single A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Great stadium and game experience. Always lots of fun. I went with Arno & his boys Dillon & Graham. The Giants have a new mascot, Gigante, the orange gorilla... a kid favorite.

Life is clearer in HD

It took me forever to finally bite the bullet and to get a new HD tv.

So we got a 32" LCD TV, new DVD player and we upgraded our Dish Network stuff to HD and a Tivo-style DVR. We also got a single Yamaha surround sound speaker thing. Pretty neat, no wires running across the room. Our old stuff was a 19" tv, and old VCR, DVD player and a CD player stereo.

There were just so many options and variables. There are no definitive answers in the home stereo and home theater market. And the only thing the sales people at the electronics stores want to sell are the most overpriced stuff, like $100 cables. We got all our stuff online... such a deal.

In the end, the tv looks great, and the mess of components is cleaned up... somewhat.

Before	After

The Chicken & the Hammer

We make chicken Scaloppine every so often. Very easy to make, not greasy, and you can add whatever sauce or seasoning your heart desires.

Sarah's favorite part though really is not the meal, but the preparation. Using the kitchen hammer is a special prize. Notice the southpaw swing.

Fancy cruiser riding for the holiday

We took the cruiser bikes out for a ride on the 4th. We rode down to Beverly Hills and back. We tried to get out before it was too hot, it reached 100+ in many parts of the LA area for the holiday.

Sarah is displaying her fancy riding skills. Don't try this at home, and also don't try to take photos of others on their bikes with your camera phone... kinda dangerous.


Later we went down to Torrance and saw all the Genta family (Sarah's grampy & everyone else). We had a good 4th of July style BBQ. The fun is driving home though in the evening. The freeway is lined with people shooting off elaborate and illegal fireworks in their backyard. An impressive display.

-Gary

go dodgers

we went to the Dodgers vs Padres game at Dodger Stadium last night. We had seats way down the right field line. The game went into extra innings, and the Dodgers should have won long before, but the Padres strung a few doubles together and stole that one.

We actually had a bit of fun at the game, lots of Padres fans all around us.
They say "Think Blue"at Dodger games, but the sunset was a great pink color.

Sarah made a friend for the game. Isaac sat next to us and was a lot of fun throughout. He was a big Dodger fan, but his little league team was the Padres, so he was somewhat torn for who to cheer for.

In the bottom of the 9th, all the Dodger fans cheering at the top of their lungs, the little girl next to us was fast asleep.

Hollywood Farmers Market + protest

We went to the Hollywood Farmers market on sunday. It's the best market around, and we try to go most weekends. There are some really good tomatoes, figs and white nectarines we get regularly.

There are a few regular performers; the reggae musician who gets kids to help out with the bongos, the jazz band with the bass player who rarely wears shoes, the blind flamenco guitarist and the asian-american cover song guy who I swear no one can make heads not tales of.

In a nutshell, the Hollywood Farmers market is a good morning, with lots of characters and a celebrity here and there. Well on this sunday there was also an immigration rally. We watched for a few minutes, but they seemed to just be getting all wound up and not going to ever get marching. It almost seemed like there were more police than protesters when we rode our cruiser bikes there. Also most of the roads in Hollywood were closed. It was sort of a mess.


-Gary

24 hours of adrenalin

We went up to Monterey and Laguna Seca for the annual mountain bike race; the 24 Hours of Adrenalin. Gary has done this for 4 years in a row now, competing on a team of 5 for the last 2 seasons. The first couple years being on 8 person teams. Our team is sponsored by Bad Boys Bail Bonds, and having a biking jersey from a bail bonds company is an added treat.

It is always a lot of fun, especially the last couple years. We get to see old friends and get in some good riding. Sarah has become the seasoned pro volunteering at the scoring table over the years. The course is usually both great and an absolute nightmare. This year was no exception, the course was expanded with more climbing and rutted downhill sections selected by some sort of sadist.

Gary and Lori getting ready for our lap of the course at night. We got the big headlights on and area ready for our 75 to 90 minute ride. It was dark 1/4 into this lap.



And really, what sort of mountain bike race would it be if the mountain biker kids didn't get to chase a clown? Not a sort of race I would want to go to, that's for sure! The bike race has a kids event each year; the 24 minutes of adrenalin. It's always lots of fun seeing the kids race around the campground. This year was no disappointment.

San Diego & wild animals

We went to San Diego over Memorial Day weekend. We met up with Gary's cousin Kelly, cousin Chris, Chris's wife Marci, their daughter Emma and twins Liam & Spencer. We met up at the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park. The kids had a great time, and the adults were pretty impressed with the park also.

Chris (holding Spencer) and Kelly (holding Liam).




Giraffes at the Wild Animal Park. If you want to spend lots of money, you can take a truck ride through the fenced off areas of the park and hand-feed the giraffes.




Fireworks are Petco Park. Gary, Sarah and Chris caught the game. Great stadium and we had pretty good seats as well.




I posted additional photos on Flickr