San Francisco Apartment

Several of you have expressed interest in seeing some pictures of our new apartment. Here is a little preview.

Coming through the front door you enter the living room, featuring the "wall of friendly faces" where we get to see some of you every day. This space also doubles as our primary dining area, as you can see from the small table and two chairs. We're learning that furniture items need to serve multiple purposes in a small space, and in this case the dining chairs magically turn into living room furniture by rotating them 90 degrees.



Here is our new futon! It also serves two purposes: living room sofa and guest bed. We've also used mirrors throughout the apartment to make it feel bigger, which seems to be working so far.



Meet Ramon, the adjustable height desk that I built with my dad last summer. It makes my shoulders happy because I can stand up while working on the computer, but then I can sit down when I get tired. It's a one-of-a-kind desk with a completely original design. He currently lives in the living/dining room, off to the side.



This is our master bedroom, showing off our beautiful wedding quilt from Nancy.



The ceilings are only about 7 feet high, which makes the room very cozy. But it also means that we'll have to disassemble this wardrobe when we eventually move, since we can't tip it forward without running into the ceiling!



Our awesome awesome awesome kitchen. Love it.



And we use the white board to keep track of where we parked the car...and when we have to move it.



I haven't taken any pictures of the second bedroom yet, but basically we turned it into a home office for Mike. It's at the far end of the house past the kitchen, and has its own bathroom and walk-in closet, where we store most of our "other stuff". We have definitely noticed the lack of basement (our previous storage location for "other stuff"), but hopefully it will help us cut down on non-essential possessions.

Please schedule a visit if you want an in-person tour. We welcome visitors on any and all weekends!

New Job

As you can see, Theo started his new job this week.



He spent most of the week going to orientation sessions and various training classes. So far he has good things to say about the work environment and the corporate style, although he doesn't actually know how to do anything useful yet. Aside from trying to absorb as much information as possible, he enjoyed eating at the yummy cafes and riding the colorful bikes from one end of the campus to the other. The shuttle bus is also very handy since he doesn't have a driver's license and his paws don't actually reach the pedals. Besides, he can use the hour-long commute time to work on his laptop or comb his mane. Sometimes he also takes a nap. It's a good life for a lion.

Bike Excursion

Taking advantage of the Monday holiday, we rode our bikes to Golden Gate Park this afternoon, which is a beautiful (and very large) park in the city, containing various museums and special gardens. See a map here.

Step #1 - Find a bike route that doesn't involve riding up/down really steep hills. Not a simple task. We actually ended up buying a bike map that has every block of every street color-coded based on the incline!

Step #2 - Buy new bike locks that are more sturdy that our Boise ones.

Step #3 - Enjoy the beautiful sunny day, with a leisurely ride through the park which was crowded with walkers, joggers, bikers, and people will roller skates and hula hoops.



We kept riding through the park until we reached the west edge of the San Francisco peninsula, and crossed the Great Highway to reach a wide boardwalk and a long sandy beach. We think that's the Pacific Ocean in the distance, but it declined to show itself so we're currently in negotiations with the fog to obtain future viewing privileges. We'll keep you posted. All I have to say right now is that the San Francisco coast is FREEZING!



After taking this picture we met up with my Aunt Molly to explore the botanical gardens in the fog. Hopefully we will get to see the Conservatory of Flowers next time too. Who knew it would be closed on Mondays???

Total round trip: 15 miles

You know you're in San Francisco when...

1. The sofa can't make it through the door of the apartment.



2. Patio tables are built at an angle. On purpose.



3. You finally understand the genius of Smart cars.



4. Respect is earned through feats of parallel parking.



5. People love their dogs. In our neighborhood (Noe Valley) in particular. And yes, I have actually seen this in use.



6. The easiest way to air out the house in January is to open a window...because it's 60 degrees outside.

I have posted a bunch of pictures from our neighborhood on Picasa. Click on the picture below to see the whole album.

Am I Awake Yet?

After a long hiatus from blogging, I want to share with you my latest experiment.

For as long as I can remember I have hated alarm clocks. This is probably because I tend to wake up feeling groggy and exhausted when my alarm rings, even after a full night's sleep. During college I faithfully jumped out of bed the instant my alarm started, as a self preservation habit. But in the intervening years I have become increasingly acquainted with the snooze button. Unfortunately, snoozing only goes so far. Unless I go back to sleep for multiple hours, I usually still feel pretty lousy when I finally get out of bed.

My latest experiment to combat this groggy morning problem is a new alarm clock, worn on the wrist, which tracks sleep cycles during the night and wakes you at an optimal time to avoid grogginess. It's called the SLEEPTRACKER.

According to their web site, the internal software uses an accelerometer to detect "brief periods of movement that are associated with almost awake moments or very light stages of sleep." Most people are unable to activate their muscles during deep (stages 3, 4) and REM sleep, so it seems the basic idea is to detect the type/quantity of movements that are associated with the lightest sleep stages in order to wake the wearer at the best point within a given time window.

Last night was my first trial run. The vibrating alarm seemed pretty subtle, and apparently it took about 3 minutes to actually wake me. But it did finally wake me up around 6:20am and when I came to I felt very alert, after sleeping about 7.5 hours.

Unfortunately, unlike most toys, I only get to experiment with this once a day. So it will be a while before I have definite data about its effectiveness. But I have high hopes so far!

Who is this?

After a lovely wedding and honeymoon, we have finally started back into normal life. So I'm back on the blogging trail.

Observations from the recent/ongoing experience of changing my name...

1. Our marriage license doesn't say what my new name is. Nonetheless, it somehow gives me the right to change my name, so I have to tell each different agency what I want my new name to be. It appears that I could give different names to everyone! Very strange.

2. To my surprise, the people at the local social security office were very gracious and efficient. So here's a little plug for under-appreciated government workers.

3. Monday is not the best day to go to the DMV.

4. When I asked the lady at the DMV to remove my "corrective lenses" restriction, she gave me a quick eye test but didn't bother to check whether I was actually wearing contacts or not. Seemed shady to me.

5. Considering that approximately half the population of this country will change their name within their lifetime, the requirements are surprisingly inconsistent. Some credit card companies will change your name over the phone. Others want you to mail in a form and attach a copy of the marriage license. Amazon lets you change it to whatever you want, but United Airlines wants to see the request in writing with a copy of the marriage license. For some reason my gut says this is more to protect their non-transferable frequent flier miles than to protect my right to board an airplane...

6. I sure hope I don't need a social security card in the next few weeks, because it is scheduled to arrive in the mail at some point in the future. Same for the new car titles and various other things. It's weird to give up all these important documents and not get them back right away. Apparently that's how the passport process works too. Yikes.

7. My two employers have different processes for name changes. One wanted a new W-2 and the other just let me enter it on a web site. But neither one wanted to see any proof. Astonishing.

8. We have way too many accounts everywhere.

New Experiences

There have been some notable "firsts" for me this week.

1. I went mountain biking for the first time.

A new friend invited me to go mountain biking with a group of coworkers on Tuesday night, so I borrowed Mike's bike (which has shocks and good brakes) for the adventure. We started at the Military Reserve and drove up Shaw Mountain Rd until several miles past the point where it turned into a bumpy dirt road. Then we hopped on our bikes and started up the road. After a while we reached the trailhead and continued uphill. It was a fun but challenging ride, with a fun group that gave me many helpful tips along the way (such as: look out ahead, not down at the scary rocks under your tires). We reached the top of our ride after about 1.5 hours, then quickly descended over bumpy trails that tested my brakes and nerves. It was a thrill!

And thankfully I returned without any loss of skin or limbs, so our wedding photographer will be happy about that.

2. I learned about Mormon Crickets.

Yikes! These are the scariest insects I've ever encountered in real life. As we were riding up the trails I started seeing huge bugs with long legs that looked like they could easily jump up and hit me in the face. Not a pleasant prospect when you are struggling to keep the tires moving on a steep dirt path. I'm glad they weren't feeling too energetic that night, or I might have slid down the hill in a panic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_cricket

I'm not sure how I managed to grow up in Boise and never see these mammoth bugs, but I'm glad I didn't meet them as a child or I might have been forever afraid to go outside.

3. I spackled!

Living in apartments for most of my adult life, there was always someone to do it after I moved out...

New Blog

Mike and I are starting a "family" blog. Being two inquisitive people, we decided to focus on our various wonderings about life and the world around us. We're calling it Curiosity of the Moment.

Wedding Plans

With less than 7 weeks remaining until the wedding, we have nearly wrapped up all the big things. It's exciting to see the event coming together and feel like the logistics are mostly under control. I can't wait for my parents to return from their China adventures! And I'm so eager to see friends/family who are coming out for the wedding from Seattle, Florida, Ohio, California, Rhode Island, and Ontario. Hopefully Boise will show its best hot, dry, delightful side for you!

In addition to preparing for the "big day", we are also preparing for the "big life", figuring out how to combine two households into one and making it feel like our home. This weekend we'll try to finish the second round of painting. Hooray for color!


This weekend we took a little break from our labors to play some fiddle/guitar tunes together, while watching a thunderstorm outside. I love the red music room. So cozy. :)

Comfort Words

Recently I have been observing the way people tend to reuse certain words or phrases, in extraneous ways, as a part of their normal conversation. Some favorites..."you know", "well", "actually", "basically", "just", "umm", and "like I said". Your high school speech teacher probably threatened you against the use of these "filler" phrases. But I like to think of them as comfort words. When you don't know what to say, but something needs to be said, they give you a nice segue into anything, or emphasize any sort of point you're hoping to make.

When I was first employed as an intern at HP, during my senior year of high school, I noticed many of my coworkers beginning their sentences with "so...". In general they were not making any sort of concluding statement, but merely changing the subject, answering a question, or remarking on something that happened last week. Although this method of starting sentences initially struck me as grammatically odd, I also implicitly connected it with the speech of a "real engineer". Somehow I overlooked the fact that my dad, who is a real engineer, does not speak this way. Gradually I started adopting this speaking style as well, and I thought I was pretty cool. Like a grown up engineer.

It turns out this may have been a bad idea. As cool as it sounded at the time, I later realized that comfort words are notoriously hard to abandon. They serve as an excuse to think while you're talking instead of thinking before opening your mouth. They also distract listeners from your real point by their repetitive nature. It's like hypnotism. Suddenly people start unconsciously waiting for the next "basically" to pop out, completely ignorant of whatever essential idea you were about to articulate.

So... My challenge for the week... Let's get out of our comfort zones and try some new words!

Something Itchy This Way Comes

Last night at dinner Grandma commented that she sees more and more of my dad in me, specifically the fun-loving side. And I think she's right. My perfectionist nature has been tempered, in the past 5-10 years, by the realization that people don't love me because of certificates and trophies. And the parallel understanding that I can't meet everyone's expectations, even when I want to, has helped me develop a more relaxed approach to life, ready for laughter and fun (and silliness). It's a much happier, and more sustainable, existence.

On a lighter note, I also seem to be developing some of my dad's allergic reactions. Sitting on my balcony this morning, my eyes were getting puffy and I couldn't stop sneezing. Finally I had to come inside to find some tissues. Then I saw the piles of mail on the counter and the unwashed dishes in the kitchen, and thus ended my morning reverie.

I love you Dad!

Photo Fun

Here are a few pictures from our engagement photo session with Tamara last week.



We were thinking about running through the fountain but then Mike decided he didn't want to lose another cell phone...



My cheek muscles were pretty tired by the end of the night so I think I need to work on my smile endurance before the wedding. Mike suggested that I could practice smiling all day at work, but I'm afraid they might turn me into a manager.



Thanks Tamara!

Happy Days

Today I embarked on a new experiment in commuting, involving a bike and some creative scheduling. The results are promising thus far. The weather was lovely this evening, and I continue to enjoy the greenbelt despite the many tree trunks that threaten to jostle my tires into the river. I do have some scratches and grease marks from an incident with toe clips and some asphalt. However, as a skier friend likes to remind me: if you aren't falling you aren't learning!

In other news, it turns out that I enjoy Jane Austen after all. Apparently age 9 was too young to appreciate her wit and her description of truly agonizing social situations. My friend Lindsay gave me a copy of Pride and Prejudice on her last trip to Boise, after learning with dismay that I had never really read any of Jane Austen's books (having pronounced them "too slow and boring" in my youth.) About a third of the way into the book, I am thoroughly engaged with the characters and very pleased by her amusingly witty dialogue and excellent word choices. Alas, yet another author whose works I should not have attempted to read before learning about the abundant drama caused by boys.

I realize that my blogging presence has been somewhat lacking of late. Fortunately I have also learned about the consuming happiness caused by boys.

Snow Kiting

After a lengthy blogging hiatus, I would like to bring you a brief message about my latest athletic aspirations. Here is the trailer for a film that I saw at the Banff Mountain Film Festival last year about snow kiting. Apparently the Camas Prairie in south central Idaho has ideal conditions for this wind-powered snow sport. I'm really hoping to take some lessons this year. Check out the trailer for last year's BMFF snow kiting video.

http://snowkitefilm.com/art.asp?id=52

Doesn't that make you want to fly through the air into some fresh powder? *sigh* I can't wait for winter!

Maybe There Could Be a Free Lunch

Sometimes Mike and I carpool to work. Friday was one of those days.

Over the past year I have learned that Mike likes coffee. I have also learned that it's a good idea for the coffee to be obtained within a few hours after the hateful duties of the alarm clock have been performed. The coffee shop of choice for non-bus days is a little drive-thru on the way to HP. Most of the baristas know his coffee order and can typically take the mug, fill it up, hand it back, and snatch the dollar in about 30 seconds. It's a streamlined operation.

On this particular morning we pulled up behind a green Suburban, and as we waited it quickly became clear that this was not a simple order. I was still working my way through the various stages of waking up at this point, so I don't really remember how long we sat there or precisely what happened in the meantime, but eventually the Suburban drove off and we pulled up to the window. The barista looked down at Mike's empty mug, held up a $10 bill with a slightly quizzical look on her face and said, "This is for you today...so get something fancy". The best we could figure afterward is that the anonymous suburban driver had left it for us.

We're still not sure exactly what happened or why, but it was one of those happy mysteries that comes along every so often and reminds me that not everyone is completely self-centered and sometimes people do nice things just because they want to. So I got a complimentary chai latte to start the day, along with a smile and a bounce in my step. It also encouraged me to "pay it forward", so I'm keeping my eyes open for opportunities.

Home and Away

Mike and I spent the last weekend of April in Seattle visiting college buddies of mine and attending a Mariners baseball game (my first time at Safeco Field). After wandering around Kirkland on the beautiful Saturday afternoon, we made about 300 potstickers for dinner. Too bad Molly isn't eating solid food yet, because we could have used some help eating them all. I have missed you guys! I enjoyed the boba smoothies and playing with sharks at Microsoft.

More Pics from Lewiston and Seattle
This past weekend I flew down to Lake Tahoe with one of my musician friends to stay with another friend at her condo on the north side of the lake. On the way to the airport I found out that there had been some recent earthquakes in the area and there were warnings for more to come. But thankfully we didn't feel any rumblings, except for a particularly intense subwoofer during one of our hikes! We took full advantage of the beautiful spring weather to do some bike riding, hiking, and eating on the deck with the blue jays (it turns out they like cheddar cheese).

More Pics from Lake Tahoe
Just before leaving town on Thursday, I found out that the owners of the condo I am renting have decided not to keep it as a rental any more. By the time I returned on Sunday night there was already a lock box on the door and my cell phone number posted on the MLS listing. After struggling through the initial surprise and disappointment (I love the location and had great plans for the summer months), I'm now trying to figure out what to do when it eventually sells. While jogging around the north end tonight I took a few detours to check out "for rent" and "for sale" signs in the area. My current neighbors are very friendly and enjoy giving me advice on life; one of the ladies tried very hard this evening to convince me that buying one or more homes is the best thing I could do with my money. I'm still not sure whther I want to own real estate yet, but I suppose I should consider it sooner or later.

Taking the Baton

We have a new conductor! The Boise Philharmonic announced last week that Robert Franz has been hired as the new music director for the orchestra, starting with the 2008-2009 season. He spent a week working with the orchestra in preparation for the January concert and demonstrated a great mixture of musical precision, personal rapport, and contagious excitement. Here's a sneak peek into his story.

The Philharmonic is holding a press conference on Thursday to present the new music director in person and to announce the concert programs for next year. At first I was excited at the idea of attending, but then Mike reminded me that I'd probably have to dress up and suddenly it seemed a bit less fascinating. There is a lot to be said for jeans and hoodies. And socks...I love my job. :)

Looking Around

After taking a long hiatus from non-required reading, I picked up a book last month about the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It was fascinating to read a first hand account from the perspective of a young girl who lived through it, and I found myself gaining more interest in Asian history. It also helps to have family members living in China and to be planning a trip there myself. Mark, I can't wait to finally see you! How strange that our first meeting in 9 months will be on another continent.

After devouring Red Scarf Girl in less than I week, I started into a book about the Vietnam war that begins by describing the history and culture of the country and the events that triggered the long and bloody war. It's called America and Vietnam: The Elephant and the Tiger, by Albert Marrin, and so far it's a painful and captivating read. My experience seems to be corroborating the idea that history becomes more interesting with age. In the past it all seemed very far away and irrelevant, but I'm coming to understand that history is full of real people with complex motives that lead to tangled stories with fascinating and unexpected turns. I guess since most people don't really seem to understand what happened in Vietnam (or why it happened), it also feels like someone is letting me in on a secret. And who doesn't love a secret.

Also about a month ago I decided that I wanted to be more informed about national and world events. In an attempt to discourage my personality from getting in the way, I set a goal of reading one article per day. It seemed like a very reasonable goal, and now it allows me to feel like an overachiever if I manage to read more than one. Sadly enough, the primary result of this venture is that I now have a more complete mental list of the places in the world where people are killing each other. Oh, and I know who the president of Zimbabwe...was...is...might be?

For as long as I can remember I have been drawn to stories about WWII, particularly from the perspective of people who had to choose between doing what was safe and doing what was right. However most of my focus has been on the German/European side of the world, with only a cursory knowledge of the war in the Pacific. Recently I watched some movies with Mike about WWII (Das Boot and Letters from Iwo Jima) that depicted the lives of ordinary men who became soldiers and lost their lives in defense of their country, on opposite sides of the globe. These pictures of real war conditions reveal a startling tendency to view people as numbers, especially by leaders making the most important decisions for the fate of their soldiers. Do they think twice and find no other options? In some cases the leaders of countries and armies seem to view the situation with the idea that thousands will inevitably die and the most important thing is to protect the cause or resist the invader. Never mind the fact that each soldier has a family that will be scarred forever when he doesn't come home. From watching these films I'm also amazed and stunned by the horrific physical pain that human beings are capable of inflicting on each other. It's weird how people can so completely lose sight of the humanity and individual significance of others when blinded by a cause that seems more important. And probably some causes are more important, but are they really so prevalent as world history would lead us to believe?

A Little Pause

Tonight I was supposed to come straight home after work and practice for our concert this weekend. It's my one night off from rehearsals and my only chance to work on any sections that aren't going as smoothly as they should.

However as I started my 2 mile walk home from downtown, I was not at all in the right frame of mind to concentrate on finger drills. Instead I found a new building to explore, stopped by Goody's for some chocolates, played on the swings in the park, and climbed the camel's back on my way home. The sky was beautiful tonight. After following the progression of colors during my walk, I reached my door just as the moon finally wrestled the baton away from the sun. Sometimes I long for a slower pace of life with fewer commitments and expectations.

My latest favorite pastime is exploring cool buildings downtown after hours. I like to see how high I can go and what kind of interesting things I can find. Today I found a mail chute that goes from the upper floors all the way down to the mail drop box on the first floor (don't put anything fragile in those envelopes!) And it's right next to Congressman Levi Sali's office. There's also a fancy men's clothing store just on the other side of the elevator, which seemed very random indeed. I love the way old buildings get turned into a mixture of retail stores, restaurants, apartments, private office space and who knows what else.

Mark has encouraged me to start blogging again, which encourages me that people actually read my blog. So stay tuned for a slightly more steady stream of randomness and seriousness to follow. :)

Christmas in Mexico

For the first time in 26 years I did not wake up at home with my siblings on Christmas morning.

After deciding to postpone my trip to China until the spring, my remaining options for family togetherness became few and small. Our office closes for the entire week of Christmas, and the prospect of waking up at home alone, without any of my siblings, was more than I could bear. Fortunately Mike also had to take the week off and excitedly collaborated in some vacation scheming. We ended up spending a week in Puerto Vallarta, taking pictures of palm trees and listening to mariachi bands, with periodic snack breaks for mangoes and fresh tortillas.

Our peaceful days and interesting adventures helped tremendously to offset the sadness of missing my dear family on a holiday that we have always celebrated together with hugs, warm flannel, teddy bear bread, and a camel walker.

Some highlights:

• Sitting on the rocks by the crashing waves at sunset
• Bartered in Spanish with the street vendors and shop owners
• Fresh orange juice on the beach from a guy named Arturo
  
• Riding the buses with all the locals
• Playing catch on the beach in shorts and t-shirts
• Eating delicious fruit, drinking limonada, finding authentic and tasty restaurants
• Making coffee for my boyfriend
  
• Being serenaded in Spanish on the beach on Christmas Eve
• Receiving Christmas greetings via text message from my dad in China

Les deseo Feliz Navidad y prospero año nuevo.

More pictures to follow...