May 2005 Archives
Rant #1: If I'm going to have to pay for the hotel's Disneyland shuttle ($3 a day) they could at least not have a "lunch break" in the middle of the day. I had to take a cab back to the hotel so I could get to the airport. They will be receiving a nasty letter shortly.
Rant #2: Southwest boarding group C sucks. I ended up in the middle seat between two big guys. Reminds me why I don't like to fly them.
Disneyland pictures tomorrow.
If I was a lot richer this is where I'd want to live. It's darn close to perfect. Click the link below to see some pictures from around town. They were taken with the Canon EOS-20D.
This weekend has pretty much been "hang out with family and the dog time", though Sunday night my friend Ashley and I saw Star Wars Ep. 3. And we liked it! Way better than the first two.
Tomorrow (well, today now) is Disneyland!
Things are growing nicely... click the link to see a few pics!
It's about 90 degrees here in Brentwood today and all the summer fruit is there for the picking. Today my folks came back with me and we hit two farms: Maggiore Ranch for cherries, and Wolfe Ranch (one of my favorites around here) for peaches. We didn't just buy a pre-packaged box of fruit -- we picked 'em ourselves! Sounds dumb but it's actually quite fun.
Click the link for some photos that I took with the Fuji FinePix F10.
San Francisco really rolled out the red carpet for my birthday last night, having a fireworks show in my honor! Okay, so it was really a promotion for a radio station, but I can pretend, right?
My folks and I went to the PlumpJack Cafe for dinner and that was good. After that we had a bit of time to kill so we went down to the Marina Green for some sunset shots. Following that we went over to the Embarcadero to watch the Kaboom fireworks show.
Click the link for some nice pictures, all of which were taken with the Nikon D70s.
This Saturday marks my 29th birthday. The last year has had it's share of ups and downs, with more downs than ups unfortunately. I have been to hell and back again -- or at least that's what it felt like. But through all this I believe that I've emerged as a better person.
I spent most of the year focusing on my health. Last March I started having heart palpitations which scared the life out of me, despite reassurance from countless doctors and numerous tests. While they came and went during 2004, they got worse toward the holidays, and along with that, so did my anxiety. Shortly after the new year my mind and body were overloaded with anxiety -- I got pretty close to snapping -- and I needed to get help. Thanks to the love and support of family and close friends plus some caring, helpful people at Kaiser (read: therapists) I'm pleased to say that I'm doing A LOT better. I spend less time worrying about my health and more time worrying about the things that you're supposed to worry about in life.
Through all this I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned about my hopes and fears. I've learned about why I do the things I do (though I'm still working on this one a bit). I've learned about what I expect from others, and who my friends really are. I've learned that no matter what, family will always be there for you. I'm so blessed to have loving, supportive parents, grandparents, and a sister to look out for me. I don't want to think about where I'd be without them.
For the most part I'm pretty happy with where I am in life. Later this year my business will be 8 years old. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would have something that more than 2.2 million people a month find useful. My business gives me great rewards -- financial and otherwise. I bought a house at age 26 and I'm planning on doing it again this fall. I have meaningful relationships with my friends and family.
Of course there are many areas in my life that I'm not happy about, and I'm working on those. One thing that was really driven home this year is that nobody's perfect -- and that includes me. I'm committed to improving myself and my relationships with others. If there was such a thing as a birthday resolution, that would be it. Here's hoping for more ups than downs in my 29th year.
Mac OS X 10.4.1 is out -- use Software Update to get it. Release notes here. In case you missed it, I wrote up a little review of it a few weeks ago.
Today I took an early look at some neighborhoods I'll be considering in about 3 months time. Today was Oakland day... yes, Oakland. Surprisingly there are many nice parts of Oakland (along with many crappy parts) and that's where I went today. I'm thinking that this may be where I'll end up because you get a lot more house for your money than in SF. Back in February I looked at a house in SF that cost $759,000 that needed work -- plus the neighborhood wasn't so hot. In these parts of Oakland you just get a lot more for your hard-earned dollar.
For those unfamiliar with Bay Area housing prices, get ready for a shock when you follow the link. Based on the money I will have made off the sale of my current house plus additional savings I think I should be able to swing something in this price range. We'll find out soon enough.
Like I did with my new home construction I'll be documenting everything here on my site!
For now though, click the link and see what I checked out today. Photos were taken with the great Fuji FinePix F10.
Bethel Island is a dumpy old fishing town of 2100 people that sits right on the San Joaquin River. It's located about 15-20 minutes from Brentwood. This is normally not a place you'd visit except to pick up beer, bait and tackle, and your boat. However, a recent review in the Contra Costa Times tipped me off to a great place to eat -- Rib Factory. My mom was out here this afternoon and evening so what better to have on a hot day than BBQ? It took forever to get there due to some poor navigation choices on my part, but it was worth the drive. The place sits right on the Delta and the food was great. We had some onion rings to start and we both had baby back ribs. My sides were fries (yes, more fried food) and mac & cheese. They even had a live blues band who, while sounding great, were located right next to our table, making it kind of hard to talk. Anyhow, if you ever get lost in this neck of the woods (or as added incentive to visit me, haha), Rib Factory is worth a visit! It's only open on weekends though!
Back when I was having a really bad day earlier this week I remembered that old saying: when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. So I bought myself the long-desired Apple 23" HD Cinema Display. And it's here, it's huge, and it's awesome! Yes, I have a bit too much disposable income... but buying it made me feel so much better for a few hours!
Oh, and "thanks mom" for the education discount!
Update: Argh, it doesn't work with my KVM!
I was all over the place today which was great since I needed to get my mind off of recent events. Today's activities included:
- Morning work in Rockridge with the laptop
- Dad came over around 1pm
- Lunch at Vietnamese restaurant. Pho in Brentwood -- who knew?
- Drove some balls at the Brentwood Golf Club. Everything I hit still goes to the right. I'm taking lessons next month.
- Trip to the first farmers market of the season. Got some cherries! We'll see how they are, it's still kinda early. Update: They were very good! Not super sweet, but still good!
- Trip to Home Depot for more plants for the yard. A bird of paradise, gerbera daisies, and a new bell pepper plant were purchased.
Did I mention the 85 degree weather?
Back in March I asked the question "is it possible to be too nice?". While I still don't know the answer to that question, I can tell you is that being "too nice" makes it a lot easier to get hurt. I learned this the hard way today, and it hurt more than I could have possibly imagined.
Throughout my life I've always noticed a correlation between the weather and my mood. The gloomy, cloudy, and rainy weather this weekend could not be more appropriate. I feel terrible for hurting someone that I care about.
During and after a much needed walk I took the lovely pictures you'll see by clicking the link below.
1) Today I paid $60 to gas up my car. That's no joke. $2.95 x 20 gallons. I was low on fuel so I wasn't going to shop around. At Costco tonight it was $2.64. I think it may be time for a Prius.
2) I bought an awesome new orchid tonight at Costco. I love that place. And have I mentioned how good their rotisserie chickens are?
3) The other day I redeemed 96,000 American Express Membership Rewards points so my sister and her husband could go to a wedding in DC in August for free. Yes, this is me being "too nice" again (I wonder if I should buy this book?). I didn't do it to get anything in return -- they're both starving students. Rather, I did it because a) I could and b) it was the "right thing to do".
4) I'm finding that I'm expecting too much from others lately. And when I don't get what I'm expecting, I get disappointed and frustrated. I'm not sure where this comes from exactly. Maybe from the relative isolation I've been living in for the last 18 months (less than six to go!). Or maybe I'm just a little selfish.
A new study by HP finds that excessive day-to-day use of technology -- whether it's sending e-mails or using mobile phones -- can be more distracting and harmful to the IQ than smoking marijuana.
If anyone's guilty of spending too much time e-mailing and IM'ing, it's me. I don't feel any dumber though! Perhaps it's time to start smoking pot?
In the last 24 hours I got both my PowerMac G5 and Powerbook G4 up and running on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. Click the link below for my review and some tips on upgrading.
I'll probably update this page as I spend more time with Tiger, and I'll post on the blog when I do so.
