I went on my usual walk again this morning and started noticing the corpses of this annual holiday lying lifeless beside the road. Why is it necessary for so much of the world to annually cut down trees, torture them by bringing them inside, and then throw them out? It's really insane (and very weird too.)
My honeypot and I will have to think of some other equally weird, but less harmful tradition, for future years. I'm quite confident that we won't ever be having a formerly live tree in our house. And the survival rate of using live trees isn't very good because they come out of hibernation whilst in a warm house during the winter holiday.
Do you have any ideas of a tradition to start for this holiday? Let me know.
Happy New Year!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
Projects and Grand Theft Auto
Have you seen this game? It's been out a while and it got quite a bit of attention when it did come out. My honeypot was playing it for a long time tonight. It's so bizarre.
There was one time when we couldn't tell if there was really a couple screaming at each other outside or it was part of the game. (Yes, these things happen more than you would think around our neighborhood.) Truthfully, I think certain cultures are just louder than others. But beyond that, we do have our moments here in the neighborhood.
We've had this extremely long wonderful vacation! I love it. It's been so mellow and amazingly relaxing.
It's given me time to do a bunch of projects; like buying a bed frame, setting it up, and swapping our yoga room with our bedroom. I also wrote a script to automate some of the organization of my digital images. It's pretty cool. I also cleaned out part of our basement. It's still a little chaotic down there but I made some room and progress.
My honeypot built some juggle club holders for the wall and a skateboard holder.
There was one time when we couldn't tell if there was really a couple screaming at each other outside or it was part of the game. (Yes, these things happen more than you would think around our neighborhood.) Truthfully, I think certain cultures are just louder than others. But beyond that, we do have our moments here in the neighborhood.
We've had this extremely long wonderful vacation! I love it. It's been so mellow and amazingly relaxing.
It's given me time to do a bunch of projects; like buying a bed frame, setting it up, and swapping our yoga room with our bedroom. I also wrote a script to automate some of the organization of my digital images. It's pretty cool. I also cleaned out part of our basement. It's still a little chaotic down there but I made some room and progress.
My honeypot built some juggle club holders for the wall and a skateboard holder.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Not Much
Wow. Yar, I'm really sorry you had such a horrible experience. I hope you come over tonight and drink away your frustration. Thuy too. And anybody else that might know who we are.
On another note my honeypot recently got a new camera. A fancy pants camera. I'm including a couple of my favorite pictures here. The first one was actually taken with his cell phone, but it's still pretty special.
On another note my honeypot recently got a new camera. A fancy pants camera. I'm including a couple of my favorite pictures here. The first one was actually taken with his cell phone, but it's still pretty special.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
On a Happier Note...
Dear Valued US Airways Customer:
Thank you for your patience during our processing of your claim. We appreciate this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your baggage mishandling.
Please accept our sincere apology for any inconvenience and frustration caused by this incident. We assure you that this is not the impression we wish to convey, or the level of service we strive to provide. Information regarding our baggage service is valuable and will be used as a tool for continuous service improvements.
Reimbursement for the full claimed amount will be mailed under a separate cover. Please allow 10-14 business days for receipt of this check.
We hope you will consider this incident the exception and not the rule. We encourage you to try us again, and look forward to welcoming you back on board another US Airways flight.
Sincerely,
US Airways Central Baggage Resolution
Way to go, US Airways!
Thank you for your patience during our processing of your claim. We appreciate this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your baggage mishandling.
Please accept our sincere apology for any inconvenience and frustration caused by this incident. We assure you that this is not the impression we wish to convey, or the level of service we strive to provide. Information regarding our baggage service is valuable and will be used as a tool for continuous service improvements.
Reimbursement for the full claimed amount will be mailed under a separate cover. Please allow 10-14 business days for receipt of this check.
We hope you will consider this incident the exception and not the rule. We encourage you to try us again, and look forward to welcoming you back on board another US Airways flight.
Sincerely,
US Airways Central Baggage Resolution
Way to go, US Airways!
My Struggle to See Again
Last Thursday, a friend from work invited me to a Sharks game. I haven't been to a hockey game since I was maybe 13 years old, and the ticket was free so I figured why not. We were g0ing to take the CalTrain to SJ, since it takes only half an hour on the express train. Driving takes your entire life. Just as I got out of the car, I decided to bring my glasses with me. He made it sound like our seats were pretty far up, and I didn't want to be sitting there for a couple of hours and not be able to see what was going on.
Turns out, I didn't really need them, which is a good thing, since somewhere between my car and the arena, I dropped my glasses. Great. I can see ok without my glasses, which is why I almost never wear them. The DMV disagrees, unfortunately. I have one good eye and one bad eye, so it doesn't actually affect my ability to see things like cars and people, but it is kind of distracting. So I figure I'll just go get some glasses and whatever, and I'll be done with it.
Turns out glasses cost a lot of money if you don't happen to have a vision plan, which I currently do not. I don't know if I covered this in a previous post, but last year my HR department fucked me, and I have to wait until the New Year before I get to use my fucking insurance. I had my vision checked out for $60 at a place that's close to my work. It's a brand new, but the place is kind of ridiculous. They had their grand opening, but they barely have a staff, and they're still missing a bunch of their equipment. There's just the optometrist and a receptionist. After I got my prescription, I waited a couple of days to see if my glasses would turn up. I wasn't anxious to spend anything on glasses before my insurance kicks in.
I gave up today and went into the shop. I figured that I'd go with contacts, since they don't have to fucking send away for them and make me wait for 7-10 days. The lady sits me down and gives me a contact, and gives me a real brief explanation on how to put them in, and then she disappears into a room to help another customer. So I try to stick this thing into my eye. As expected, this isn't a particularly easy task. I'm not fond of sticking shit in my own eye, and as soon as the thing touches anything my eye shuts. I'm trying to keep my lids spread with my fingers, but there isn't a whole lot to grip onto. The fact that my eyes are tearing the whole time doesn't make it any easier. Eventually, I drop the contact onto the floor, ending the experiment. The thing's contaminated by now, so I can't keep attempting to put it in my eye. I sit there for another five minutes or so while I run through the possibilities of what to do next. I run out of ideas and walk out.
Thinking Lens Crafters (glasses in about an hour!), I head over to the mall. Nothing enhances a bad mood like hanging out at the mall. I go to three glasses shops in the mall, and none of them even approach an hour turn around time. Can I please pay $300 fucking dollars so I can wait 5 days for a pair of glasses? Pearle Vision was my favorite. They were going to charge about $300 for the lenses alone, and about $250 for the frames alone, but they would give me a deal if I got lenses AND frames. 40% off. Or I could get buy one get one free. So no matter what you're purchasing, you either get 40% off or 50% off. I wonder if anyone thinks they're getting a deal. I'm probably just going to have to wait until next year to get a pair of glasses. The whole experience filled me with a dangerous blend of both murderous rage and crippling depression. I just want to be able to fucking see, why should it be so difficult?
Turns out, I didn't really need them, which is a good thing, since somewhere between my car and the arena, I dropped my glasses. Great. I can see ok without my glasses, which is why I almost never wear them. The DMV disagrees, unfortunately. I have one good eye and one bad eye, so it doesn't actually affect my ability to see things like cars and people, but it is kind of distracting. So I figure I'll just go get some glasses and whatever, and I'll be done with it.
Turns out glasses cost a lot of money if you don't happen to have a vision plan, which I currently do not. I don't know if I covered this in a previous post, but last year my HR department fucked me, and I have to wait until the New Year before I get to use my fucking insurance. I had my vision checked out for $60 at a place that's close to my work. It's a brand new, but the place is kind of ridiculous. They had their grand opening, but they barely have a staff, and they're still missing a bunch of their equipment. There's just the optometrist and a receptionist. After I got my prescription, I waited a couple of days to see if my glasses would turn up. I wasn't anxious to spend anything on glasses before my insurance kicks in.
I gave up today and went into the shop. I figured that I'd go with contacts, since they don't have to fucking send away for them and make me wait for 7-10 days. The lady sits me down and gives me a contact, and gives me a real brief explanation on how to put them in, and then she disappears into a room to help another customer. So I try to stick this thing into my eye. As expected, this isn't a particularly easy task. I'm not fond of sticking shit in my own eye, and as soon as the thing touches anything my eye shuts. I'm trying to keep my lids spread with my fingers, but there isn't a whole lot to grip onto. The fact that my eyes are tearing the whole time doesn't make it any easier. Eventually, I drop the contact onto the floor, ending the experiment. The thing's contaminated by now, so I can't keep attempting to put it in my eye. I sit there for another five minutes or so while I run through the possibilities of what to do next. I run out of ideas and walk out.
Thinking Lens Crafters (glasses in about an hour!), I head over to the mall. Nothing enhances a bad mood like hanging out at the mall. I go to three glasses shops in the mall, and none of them even approach an hour turn around time. Can I please pay $300 fucking dollars so I can wait 5 days for a pair of glasses? Pearle Vision was my favorite. They were going to charge about $300 for the lenses alone, and about $250 for the frames alone, but they would give me a deal if I got lenses AND frames. 40% off. Or I could get buy one get one free. So no matter what you're purchasing, you either get 40% off or 50% off. I wonder if anyone thinks they're getting a deal. I'm probably just going to have to wait until next year to get a pair of glasses. The whole experience filled me with a dangerous blend of both murderous rage and crippling depression. I just want to be able to fucking see, why should it be so difficult?
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Eternity and Mission Successful
My Dad is here! He arrived a day late due to the crazy weather that's hitting the east coast. There's been some schedule changes as a result and it's all working out with time off work and such.In other news, I've been working on getting my wedding ring finished. (Either the cool one my honeypot was working on or just by buying one.) The cool one that my honeypot made mostly works, but sometimes doesn't. For those who don't know about it here's a description: Basically imagine a Tibetan prayer ring. You know the kind - they have a part in the middle that you can spin. Usually that spin part just rubs on the other part of the ring, but my super star engineer thought it would be much better if it had bearings. And not just any bearings, but sapphire ones. They're these tiny balls. They're pretty cool.
I while ago I spoke with one of his friends who has the skills to get the project successfully done (as my honeypot is worn out from working on it). He seemed pretty reluctant to get involved - even though I was offering to pay him like a normal customer. His reluctance is understandable given his relationship to my honeypot, but he sure would beat some random person found through craigslist. I pretty much gave up after trolling craigslist trying to find somebody to hire. I just want a wedding band that I can actually wear. Is that too much to ask for? I didn't think so.
While we were out walking around Burlingame I ran across this ring in a consignment shop and I like it a lot. The only problem is that it was just a little bit too large. So the purveyor walked over to a jewelry shop with me and I talked to them about fixing it. They did it right then and there by putting these two little beads in it. They also cleaned it and it looks so much better than when I bought it.
It's a really nice ring. That's not to say that I wouldn't love for the original project to be completed. Because really, how cool is a wedding band that moves freely that has bearings? Pretty freakin sweet! But I'm content with my completion of my "wedding band project."
For those who are interested: the new ring is an antique eternity band with blue sapphires made out of 14k white gold mixed with platinum. It's similar to this, but lose the diamonds and the metal is a different color.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Houston and Dad
This past weekend my honeypot and I went to Houston to visit some of his high school friends. They have a 14 month old boy who was really cute and mellow. We were lucky enough to be there long enough for him to be confortable around us. It was nice.
The best part of Houston, besides the super cheap house prices and the warm weather, was that where they lived there were bike paths everywhere. Where they live was clearly at one time a development - as demonstrated by the windy roads and lack of grid streets. I guess it still is a development. However, it was great there. They clearly did not clear cut the land before building because there were lost of nice trees.
The other cool thing about them is that he's a pilot and so he works for blocks of time and then is home for larger blocks of time. She's a stay at home Mom. So they get these larger blocks of time when they don't have to do anything. It's pretty cool. Yeah, I'm jealous. It sure would be nice to not be limited to my weekends - the same time I have to do all my errands that have to be completed during "regular business hours." They deserve to have such a great setup.
In other news, my Dad is coming to visit! He'll be here Thurs night through really early Monday morning. We have plans to go Kart race on Friday at the fun one. And we might go to Maverick's during the weekend. If anybody else has a good idea for something fun to do while he's here, I'm all ears.
The best part of Houston, besides the super cheap house prices and the warm weather, was that where they lived there were bike paths everywhere. Where they live was clearly at one time a development - as demonstrated by the windy roads and lack of grid streets. I guess it still is a development. However, it was great there. They clearly did not clear cut the land before building because there were lost of nice trees.
The other cool thing about them is that he's a pilot and so he works for blocks of time and then is home for larger blocks of time. She's a stay at home Mom. So they get these larger blocks of time when they don't have to do anything. It's pretty cool. Yeah, I'm jealous. It sure would be nice to not be limited to my weekends - the same time I have to do all my errands that have to be completed during "regular business hours." They deserve to have such a great setup.
In other news, my Dad is coming to visit! He'll be here Thurs night through really early Monday morning. We have plans to go Kart race on Friday at the fun one. And we might go to Maverick's during the weekend. If anybody else has a good idea for something fun to do while he's here, I'm all ears.
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