Sunday, July 31, 2005


The view from the park to the top of oakland city hall. Sometimes its hard not to feel a little small in the big city Posted by Picasa

This is the little park/ampitheater where I usually eat lunch. on this day there happened to be a presentation for children going on. Posted by Picasa

This is the view from the cube next to mine. (I'll need a solid promotion to get here) The music on Wednesdays comes from a band playing under the blue tent. There are restaurants and shops along each side. I still haven't managed to eat everywhere yet. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Breaking the Streak

Today I'm not going to work. Why should you care? Well O.K. maybe you don't, but its important to me becuause I have worked for exactly 60 consecutive days. Why did I chose 60? I didn't acutaully, Today is W's aunt's birthday and since W's parents happen to be in town, its kind of a big deal. I haven't been feeling well the last couple of days, so I definitely don't mind the opportunity to rest. I only had to work from 4-10 on saturday, so that means two consecutive days to sleep in and relax. And it even gives me a little time to blog, something I feel bad about neglecting. So what's been going on with me? Well, I am still plugging away at both jobs working as many as 70 hours per week. That means I don't sleep much during the week and often live from caffiene dose to caffiene dose. My new favorite thing is a Venti Cafe mocha from starbucks, or from the little coffee shop thats right below the building I work in. I'm also drinking a little more mountain dew than I'd like to admit out loud. I think the Big Retail Outlet (BRO) is getting ready to make a move to promote me which would mean that It might start to be worth going there. Things at the Manufacturer of Household Products (MOHP) are also going well, So I'm still hoping they'll decide the can't live without me soon. I'v really learned to love downtown oakland. There is live music every wednesday from noon to one. On fridays a drumline plays to earn money for its trips. They make an amazing sound you can hear throughout the city echoing off the tall buildings. Then there's the Friday Farmers market, This week someone had Live crawfish that I managed to walk past, but the guy in the next cube just couldn't resist. Last week I got referred to the coolest little korean place (in oakland's china town) that has really great sandwiches for $2. It had really fresh ingredients and made me really mad that I'd spent $8 at Quizno's the day before. I've also spent way too much time/money at Ikea lately but W's parents are raving about how well they are sleeping on what we affectionately call Mr. Hemnes. (expect picture later, He's already out of season on Ikea.com.)

Thursday, July 07, 2005

A bad week for public transportation

First the threat of a BART strike, and now bombs on trains. Yikes! If you're worried about me, you can at least be assured I am already long out of the train station by rush hour, one of the few advantages to my early early schedule. I hadn't even heard about the goings on in London until I was already at work, so it saved me having to think about it the whole train ride. I was having a really bad morning anyway. I couldn't find my wallet to save my butt this morning. It had a bart ticket and my bus pass in it. At the last second I found a ticket with 1.40 on it, and 3.00 in quarters. That was enough to get me a bus ride, a one way ticket to work and a coke, but i desperately could have used another shot of caffeiene in the afternoon when I was falling asleep at my computer. Fortunately W had the day off, so she could come get me from work. We went straight to Ikea to eat and look at a new bed for the spare bedroom. We found a great day bed that we like, but have to raise a little capital before buying it. Its off to bed for me I'm behind on sleep for the week so i'm falling asleep again at 10:00

Monday, July 04, 2005

She looks familiar

Things are going full throttle around here as usual. For a couple of days last week W was dog sitting for a couple of friends. First there was Rocky, a little tiny dust mop of a dog that is notorius for escaping from things. W came to pick me up from work and we ran a few errands. W had tried to lock him in the kitchen, but as I came around the corner to our condo I thought, Whose annoying yapping dog is that I hear? Only to look up and see him staring out of our bedroom window barking at some neighbors who were working on their car. W and I laughed about that for a long time. We then dropped him off at his home and met Luerne and family at the Fort Mason Center to see BATS (Bay area theater sports) a group that does improv comedy as a competition. We had some doubts going in, but were often found laughing histerically. After a little bit of lost wandering through the city, we made it to one of our favorites, Tommaso's. The H's loved it almost as much as we did, with the tiramisu living up to all of our hype. Saturday it was off to work, and then we spent some time at W's friend Kelli's house in Burlingame watching her dog Kona. That meant we had access to Kelli's grill, so we grilled up some steaks and some Tandoori chicken and have really been enjoying it at lunches for the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately the refrigerator door got left open for 24 hours meaning we had a lot of stuff that had to go when we got home yesterday. What did I do for the fourth of July you ask? I worked. The BRO was open and paying time and a half, so I went, and still earned less per hour than I make at the MOHP. So its back to the grind again this week, I'm putting in for an hour cut at the BRO since the MOHP says I'm on for 6 months, and I'll have enough work to do that i need to stay for 8 hours a day. If you're the praying type please pray for a resolution to the BART labor dispute. If they go on strike on Wednesday I am in so much trouble.