what's the haps?

Edible Arrangements

2010-05-05T20:08:00.001-07:00

I've seen these in ads both in print and on TV, but never seen or received one in person until now. Nice fruit arrangement from friends of ours congratulating us on the birth of our baby!

Bragging Rights

2010-05-03T14:27:00.001-07:00

So it's begun. I've become one of those moms who likes to brag about her kid. But, really, I thought this to be particularly noteworthy.

In general, it's absolutely amazing what our little one has been able to accomplish in his first 10 days in our lives - I won't bore you with the details.

I've been nursing the little one, and have nicknamed him the Bottomless Pit (BP) since that's basically what he was during the pregnancy as well as after birth. BP couldn't get enough to eat - he acted like we were constantly starving him! Anyways, up to now, we've let him take a bottle 4 times in the 10 days since his birth - mostly to get his dad in on the fun of feeding him. Last bottle we gave him, Martin noticed milk was leaking out of the bottle - which obviously shouldn't be happening. Upon further investigation, we figured out that BP had figured out if he did something to the bottle nipple, it would allow air to enter and allow him to suck down the bottle contents faster. We know this because there was a beer chugging contest ( beer in baby bottles) at one of our baby showers and that's the method the winner used to dust the competition.

Anyways, our clever little BP figured this out all by himself in such little time. This bodes well for his drinking career - we are such proud parents! :-)

Happiness

2010-04-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

Happiness is a healthy baby.

Our little bundle of joy a couple of hours after birth . . .

Passing The Time

2010-04-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

You know you're 9 months pregnant when . . .

you call your husband and he picks up on the first ring
you have to find the bathroom in the store before you start shopping
you drop something on the floor and you stare at it thinking Do I really need that??

Baby Watch Continues

2010-04-19T17:30:00.000-07:00

Still on baby watch. Things are moving in the right direction - some dilation and effacement, but ultimately, I guess it comes down to the fact the baby will deliver when the baby is ready to come out. In the meantime, I'm getting hit hard with the need for naps . . .

April 15th

2010-04-15T02:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Tax Day!

Masters Thoughts

2010-04-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

What an amazing Masters tournament this year. I'm really glad that Mickleson won - I think everyone had forgotten just how much he and his family have gone through this past year (especially with the mega-hype surrounding the return of Tiger - blah, blah, blah). I only watched Saturday and Sunday, but Phil was so aggressive out there, yet playing his game - made it look so easy (especially eagles!).

Anthony Kim made a huge run today - a little short, but it's good to see the talent he has on display.

Lee Westwood - third top 3 major finish in a row - hopefully his time will come.

Amazing Race

2010-04-11T20:59:00.001-07:00

Anyone see this evening's Amazing Race? Race location was Singapore. Interestingly enough, we've only been gone 2.5 years, but many of the race locations were brand new (at least to us). Megazip, Marina Barrage, and the Flyer - I guess these are all examples of how Singapore is constantly trying to "reinvent" itself.

To Facebook or Not To Facebook

2010-04-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

I've stayed off of Facebook, even though it seems like the whole world is on it. Seems like something that one can easily be sucked into . . .

Anyways, you figure it's only a matter of time before South Park had some commentary on Facebook . . . love the tribute to TRON . . .

Click here for the episode . . .

Cost of College

2010-04-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

I was reading an article the other day in the WSJ regarding how middle and upper middle class families are getting hit in the current economic environment. And that the ones most affected are the kids. Specifically, the article was about how economic changes (loss of a job) impacts the college aspirations and choices of the children.

One family profiled talked about a family with three children - one a sophomore in college, one a freshman in college, and a 15 year old. The two in college were going to Johns Hopkins, where both the husband and wife matriculated from. The husband, who was the one being interviewed in the article, had lost his managing director job at GE Capital. The cost of Johns Hopkins is about $50K per student per year and he had $250K saved for his kids' college expenses. So the article was talking about how he could at best afford only two more years of college for his current two kids and that the 15 year old was going to get the short end of the stick.

So let's forget about options such as transferring to a less costly school. According to the article, he really loved going to Johns Hopkins and really wanted his kids to go there so they could get that experience as well. But did he really think that $250K was going to cover the cost of three kids going to a school that cost $50K apiece per year? They bought a $1.5M house a few years back - shouldn't they have prioritized the house after college expenses? Now there house is only worth about $800K and his kids don't want to transfer, etc., etc. To me, the article was more about how folks don't seem to understand the concept of a budget and what they can actually afford.

But I guess that's why so many households in the U.S. are suffering so mightily during this economic downturn and with the freezing of free credit . . .

LOA Update

2010-04-06T12:28:00.000-07:00

So I'm in the second week of my LOA (leave of absence). I'm a little perplexed because people ask me if I'm bored and yet I am SO busy! Doctor's appointments, car seat inspections, accumulating baby stuff, birth plan decisions, etc., etc, etc. And then just the daily stuff around the house! Of course, part of it has to do with the fact that it takes me longer to do things now than, say, 6 months ago. And, of course, I'm hampered by my need to take daily naps . . . they weren't kidding when they talk about the third trimester being a time when things get so uncomfortable that you really don't want to be pregnant any longer. Get this kid out!!

Sweet!

2010-04-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

Hehe, one of my MBA classmates just took the VP of Marketing position at one of my favorite wineries up in Napa. I know where I'm going to be stopping by next time we're up there!

Much Ado About Nothing . . .

2010-04-01T06:41:00.001-07:00

Did I mention all these dire forecasts about rain? In preparation, I turned off the sprinklers and brought all the outdoor cushions inside (when I could have been taking a nap). No rain yesterday. No rain last night. Currently, weather.com shows the rain leaving the area by 8am. It's 6:42am right now and although the skies are overcast, the streets are still dry. Funny, when I went outside last night, it smelled of rain and winter. It's definitely much cooler than it's been in a while . . .

The current 10 day forecast shows sunshine with temperatures warming close to 80 mid week next week. Time to turn on the sprinklers and take the outdoor cushions back outside . . .

Rain

2010-03-31T06:36:00.000-07:00

It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow. I'm looking out the window and the skies are already gloomy.

Scanning Continues

2010-03-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

I think I mentioned before that one of the home projects I'm working on is scanning all our photos so we have them digitally. Given that we don't have a high-speed feed scanner (I'm just using our all-in-one printer/fax/scanner at home), this is sort of slow going. I'm currently scanning photos from a trip to Europe I took in 1990 - the photos I'm now scanning are from the Venice portion of the trip.

A little (just a little bit) to my chagrin, I've noticed a LOT of photos of me partying. Not that there's anything wrong with that . . .

That was a fun trip. Went white water rafting in Austria, sailed the Greek islands, got lost in the Louvre (my friend and I were trying to power through the Cosmo 45 minute tour of the Louvre, but got lost and spent over 3 hours in there), celebrated a birthday in Amsterdam (yikes!), cruised down the Rhine River, suffered through food poisoning while at Delphi (not fun), saw the original London production of Miss Saigon, and in general had a spectacular time.

Anyways, I'm trying to knock through these photos album by album, shoebox by shoebox.

Russia Eliminates Two Time Zones

2010-03-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

This just in . . .

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's president thought the country had too much time on its hands, so on Sunday he eliminated two of its 11 time zones.
The changes mean that Chukotka -- Russia's eastern extreme, just across the Bering Strait from Alaska -- is now nine hours ahead of Russia's westernmost area, the Kaliningrad exclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland. Formerly, there was 10 hours' difference.
As well as eliminating the time zone that previously covered the Chukotka and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky regions in the Pacific Far East, President Dmitry Medvedev ordered that Samara and Udmurtia, two regions in central Russia, should be on the same time as Moscow.
The changes went into effect before dawn Sunday when most of Russia switched to daylight savings time. People in the eliminated time zones didn't move their clocks an hour ahead.

That's ultimate power - when you can make time zones just vanish . . . :-)

Food Revolution Random Thought

2010-03-27T13:03:00.001-07:00

Anybody see Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last night? He's on a mission to change the eating habits of the U.S. starting with Huntington, WV, cited in a government study as being a location with the highest number of obese people in the country.

It's an interesting show as I had no idea what was being served in school lunches nowadays. Absolutely appalling what kids are eating. Absolutely makes sense that Michelle Obama has taken on childhood obesity as her focus issue.

But this post is less about the content of the show but more of a tangential thought as a result of the show. I'm reading a lot of criticism of the U.S.D.A. recommended meal plan for children (although I did read that the U.S.D.A. is in the process of revamping the meal plan for the first time in 15 years). That led to the following thought: Why is the Department of Agriculture determining what should be served to U.S. schoolchildren from a nutritional standpoint? Shouldn't it be someone else - like the Surgeon General? To me, the Department of Agriculture should focus on the development of food (summation of its mission statement). It seems strange that those that focus on the development of food would also be recommending what children eat - it seems to me a possible conflict of interest. Couldn't the Dept of Ag be incentivized, for instance, to encourage the consumption of wheat products for economic reasons, hence the requirement that each child have TWO bread products as part of his/her lunch?

Just a random thought . . .

Just To Be Clear . . .

2010-03-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

Captured in a Singapore taxi . . .

No durians, please . . .

Never did end up acquiring a taste for them during our stay there . . .

U.S. Census 2010

2010-03-25T06:16:00.001-07:00

It's that time again - time to be counted!

Here's a pretty good article in The NYT about one small town's quest for the correct census population and some of the ramifications of having an incorrect count. Click here for the article.

According to the article, 20% of the population have mailed back their census forms. We've received the paperwork, but are holding off on mailing it back. It asks for the household count as of April 1 and my husband wants me to hold off submitting anything until we're sure we don't get an early arrival . . .

Baby Names

2010-03-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

Probably the most common question I get now is this - "Have you decided on a name for the baby?"

The answer is no, we haven't. But not for lack of trying.

Anyways, ran across this today . . .

Baby name expert Pamela Redmond Satran recently compiled a list of what she's calling the top 50 "elite baby names." . . .

These aren't the Emily and Jacobs that soared at the top of last year's social security list. No these are up-and-coming names that are "as classy as a sterling teaspoon, as cool as vintage Balenciaga, as hard to locate as a wood-framed cottage in Manhattan--yet just as desirable," Satran writes.

These are the names you choose if you summer in the Hamptons and send your kid to a preschool on Bank Street.
Girls:
CHARLOTTE
SERAPHINA
OLIVIA
ELIZABETH
LUCY
ISLA
VIOLET
SOPHIA
ALICE
MAISIE
AVA
SCARLETT
LAURA
CAROLINE
GRACE
CLAIRE
LILY
AMELIA
IMOGEN
HARPER
ELLA
MATILDA
STELLA
JANE
EMMA

Boys
HENRY
FINN
OLIVER
JAMES
ASHER
JACK
JASPER
MAX
KAI
ATTICUS
LIAM
JUDE
FELIX
OWEN
QUINN
NOAH
MICHAEL
MILO
SAWYER
PHINEAS
WILLIAM
HARPER
LEO
AUDEN
SILAS

Click here to read more.

March Madness Continued

2010-03-23T20:42:00.001-07:00

This time of year always makes me nostalgic for the good ol' days . . .

Yeah baby!

March Madness

2010-03-23T11:15:00.001-07:00

Talk about madness - what a strange and amazing tournament this year. On the downside, my brackets are pretty much wiped out. On the upside, there has been a lot of great games in the first two rounds and hopefully that will continue into the Sweet 16 and Elite 8.

Here is what I had chosen for the Sweet 16 - and the resulting actuals:

Kansas (nope - Northern Iowa)
Maryland (nope - Michigan State)
Georgetown (nope - Tennessee)
Ohio State (yay - got one in the Midwest bracket right!)
Syracuse (yup)
Butler (yup)
Minnesota (nope - Xavier)
Kansas State (yup)
Kentucky (yup)
Wisconsin (nope - Cornell???)
Marquette (nope - Washington (go Pac 10))
West Virginia (yup)
Duke (yup)
Purdue (yup)
Baylor (yup)
Villanova (nope - St. Mary's)

That's a hit rate of 56% - completely dismal. I probably could have done better if I had closed my eyes and threw darts. The only consolation is that the majority of the country is in relatively the same position I'm in . . .

I had Kansas and Duke in the finals, with Kansas winning - we know from above that's definitely going to happen.

If we continue to have some stellar games through the finals, then I won't mind having my bracket turned topsy turvy.

Schoolhouse Rock - How a Bill Becomes a Law

2010-03-22T14:25:00.001-07:00

Everything I know I learned from Schoolhouse Rock

The healthcare reform bill isn't a law YET, but it sure didn't follow this process . . .

Be An Engineer (Top Paid Majors - Class of 2010)

2010-03-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

This just in from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). . .

BETHLEHEM, PA—Which college majors command the highest starting salaries?

Engineering majors dominate the list of top-paid bachelor’s degrees, according to a new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

NACE’s Winter 2010 Salary Survey shows that engineering disciplines account for eight of the 10 most highly paid degrees.

The only non-engineering related degrees in the top 10 were computer science and information sciences and systems. (See Figure 1.)

Petroleum engineering earned the highest starting salary reported at the bachelor’s degree level—$86,220—more than one-and-one-half times the average starting salary reported for bachelor’s degree graduates as a whole ($48,351).

“While a variety of factors play a role in determining salaries, new graduates with degrees in the technical fields tend to benefit from their relatively low supply. There is more competition for their skills, driving up their salary offers,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.

For example, petroleum engineering degrees account for less than 1 percent of all bachelor’s degrees conferred.

“Not every case is that extreme, but, in general, candidates with technical degrees have an advantage in the job market,” says Mackes.

NACE will provide a second look at salaries for the Class of 2010 in April with the release of the Spring 2010 Salary Survey.

Figure 1: Top-Paid Bachelor's Degrees

Major

Average Salary Offer

Petroleum Engineering $86,220

Chemical Engineering $65,142

Mining & Mineral Engineering (incl. geological) $64,552

Computer Science $61,205

Computer Engineering $60,879

Electrical/Electronics & Communications Engineering $59,074

Mechanical Engineering $58,392

Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering $57,734

Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering $57,231

Information Sciences & Systems $54,038

Source: Winter 2010 Salary Survey, National Association of Colleges and Employers. Data represent offers to bachelor’s degree candidates where 10 or more offers were reported.

Orange County Sues Toyota

2010-03-12T13:34:00.001-08:00

Isn't there something better to do with taxpayers' money? From today's WSJ

By KATE LINEBAUGH
DETROIT—Orange County prosecutors Friday say they will file a civil lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corp. over safety concerns with their vehicles.

The prosecutor's office said it will seek to stop Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc., the company's American sales and marketing arm, "from continuing to endanger the public through the sale of defective vehicles and deceptive business practices."

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas plans a press conference later in the day.

Toyota has recalled more than eight million vehicles world-wide for issues related to unintended acceleration. Company executives have been grilled at congressional hearings in Washington on the issues that have called into question the company's reputation as a safety leader.

Diaper Cake

2010-03-11T22:24:00.001-08:00

Our work colleagues threw us a baby shower a couple of weeks ago. One of my colleagues made a diaper cake for us. I've seen diaper cakes on TV and in photos, but never in person. It's absolutely adorable and so practical. I love the duckies theme . . .

The cake itself was so well put together - unlike the photo (someone dropped it on the way to the car, which is why it looks a little discombobulated)>

Worst Fries in America

2010-03-05T21:51:00.000-08:00

I will admit, there are times when I'm a sucker for a good French fry. Which is why it's interesting to check out the list of the worst fries in America - need to know who to stay away from. Click here for more . . .

Addictive?

2010-03-04T21:48:00.000-08:00

Fast Company came out with their list of the 10 most addictive sounds in the world. Do you agree? Click here for the list.

The Eagles at the Hollywood Bowl

2010-03-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

How cool would it be to experience an Eagles concert at the Hollywood Bowl (one of my very favorite venues). Unfortunately for me, the concerts are near my upcoming due date.

Click here for more details regarding the concert.

Jury Duty Continued

2010-03-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

So I decided to just go for a deferral rather than be excused from jury duty. I went online and was able to defer for a full year. I guess I'll get a summons next year then . . .

Hybrid Porsche

2010-03-02T21:21:00.001-08:00

How about a car that hits 198 mph and gets 78 mpg? What a gorgeous car (still concept). Click here.

Olympics Hangover

2010-03-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

Going through Olympics hangover now. What a great hockey game on Sunday - too bad the good guys couldn't pull it out in OT.

Nine Ducks played in the Olympics of which seven medaled. The two that didn't medal were Hiller (who had an amazing tournament) and Sbisa - both of whom play for Switzerland who lost in the quarters. Bronze medalists were Selanne and Koivu of Finland. Silver medalists were Ryan and Whitney of the U.S. Gold medalists were Neidermayer, Getzlaf, and Perry for Canada.

Smog Check Day

2010-02-27T14:08:00.001-08:00

Today is official smog check day. Ok, that's only in my world. Both our cars need smog checks as a condition of our registration renewal, so I figured I might as well get it taken care of in one day, especially given the fact my husband won't let me help with any of the bathroom remodeling he's engaged in. So I'm sitting at Pep Boys right now waiting for the second car's smog check to start.

I don't think I've done a smog check since 2000 while I was still living in SF. We both got new cars in 2004 and then our cars were in storage (and non-operational) for the 2.5 years we lived overseas. Now we've been back in the US over two years and I guess it's time for a smog check.

The TV in the waiting area is showing the Olympics - specifically the parallel giant slalom (snowboarding). Visibility is like pea soup.

Major Nor'easter

2010-02-24T13:39:00.001-08:00

30 inches of snow expected in interior New England between now and Friday? That's a mighty big storm!

We're expecting rain here in socal, but nothing too debilitating . . .

Nice Work If You Can Get It

2010-02-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

Talk about perks, here's an email that went out to Credit Suisse employees in NYC . . .

From: Corporate Communications
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 9:21 AM
To:
Subject: Olympics 2010: Watch the US vs. Switzerland Hockey Game Today

CREDIT SUISSE

REGIONAL MEMORANDUM
To: All New York Staff

Olympics 2010
Watch the US vs. Switzerland Hockey Game Today

We know that many employees have an interest in today’s hockey game between the US and Switzerland, and have decided to broadcast the game in the West End of the OMA Auditorium starting at 3:00 P.M. (EST). The following guidelines apply:

The West End of the Auditorium seats 225 and admittance will be on a first-come, first-served basis. For health and safety reasons, no standing will be permitted.

NBC isn't even showing the game live on the West Coast . . .

Sting To Reinterpret Songbook

2010-02-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

This looks to be a concert you don't want to miss . . . June 15 at the Hollywood Bowl!

Click here. Tickets go on sale in March - should sell out quickly!

Jury Duty

2010-02-22T18:50:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't you know it? I received a summons for jury duty in the mail today. I'm scheduled to call in/serve during my 37th or 38th week of pregnancy.

According to the documentation, dismissal for medical reasons needs to be a permanent disability. I guess I'll try for a deferral instead. I'm confident if I show up, they'll release me, but my concern is if I go into labor early, then I'll probably end up with a warrant for my arrest because I skipped out on jury duty!

I checked my calendar - I served last in January 2009.

Taxes

2010-02-18T20:15:00.000-08:00

I'm doing our taxes. According to TurboTax:

Payments made in settlement of persecution during the Ottoman Turkish Empire can be excluded from California income

WTF?

LOA Approved

2010-02-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I got my upcoming maternity leave approved today. Based on the current schedule, I won't be back into the office until approximately mid-August (I go out at the end of March). It seems like a long time to be out, but as I thought about it, it's not like I'm going on vacation or anything like that. It's going to be a lot of hard work and sleepless days/nights/weeks.

Weather

2010-02-15T12:25:00.000-08:00

Last month, it was unseasonably cold here. Now, it's a little unseasonable warm. It's 75 degrees out today and absolutely beautiful. Going to kick back and watch some Winter Olympics (taped delayed of course even though we're in the same time zone as Vancouver . . . but that's a whole rant in itself). . .

Year of the Tiger

2010-02-14T06:44:00.001-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's also President's Day weekend and it's one of the rare years we actually get President's Day off. Regardless - 3 day weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day too! :-)

Not Alone

2010-02-11T10:41:00.000-08:00

There are three other pregnant women here at the lab - all four of us are here for the 3 hour test. They all look equally as bored as I feel. One at least has a little girl to keep her company.

Ten more minutes until my two hour draw . . .

Glucose Test

2010-02-11T10:26:00.001-08:00

So I failed a test last week. Actually, I prefer to think of it as my score was marginally high. I took a one hour glucose test last week and came in with a score slightly higher than the limit. High glucose scores could indicate gestational diabetes, a condition that would need to be managed and monitored for the duration of the pregnancy.

So based on my one hour test results, I am now doing a follow up 3 hour test glucose test. Although, for me, it's more like a 4 hour test. Got to the testing facility at 8 am. There were issues with my paperwork (in other words, my doctor's office didn't issue any). So that took 30 minutes to resolve. Then, when the paperwork came through, it was indicating a one hour (rather than 3 hour) test. So by the time that was sorted out and I had the delight of downing the glucose solution, it was 8:54am. They did take a baseline blood sample in the midst of all this, so at least I felt that I wasn't twiddling my thumbs the entire time. So I've finished my baseline and first hour draw and am waiting for my second and third draws of blood.

It's 10:20am and I haven't eaten since 7pm the night before as I'm supposed to be fasting for this test. I woke up around 4:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep - so now I'm hungry and tired. And bored. I brought two books with me. The first is entitled Field Notes From A Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. It's about global warming and I've already plowed through 93 pages. The other book is The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. Because I'm tired and hungry, I'm having problems focusing and as a result, I've stopped reading.

There are no magazines in this lab and the chairs aren't conducive to taking a quick catnap. So I'm just trying to find mindless things to do to keep me busy until my next blood test.

I guess I can organize my inbox via my crackberry. . .

Caffeine Frustration

2010-02-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

From my husband:

At work, all the Coke Zeros are gone first, then the Diet Cokes, then the Diet Pepsi. Nobody touches the regular Coke classic and Pepsi. Yet corporate services doesn't get the vendors to stock more coke zeros.

Babysitting

2010-02-02T16:38:00.000-08:00

A weekend or so ago, we baby-sat my happy little niece (4.5 months). I called it her "vacation" since she slept in and pretty much got to do whatever she wanted while at her aunt and uncle's house.

She's absolutely adorable - can't wait until the next babysitting request/assignment!

Recovery?

2010-02-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

Was driving up and down the 5 freeway Saturday moring. Traffic was absolutely jammed at the Sand Canyon exit in both directions. Turns out that Saturday morning was the grand opening for the new model homes in the Woodbury and Woodbury East developments in Irvine.

Saw an article the next day (yesterday) - apparently demand was way greater than what the Irvine Co. had anticipated. All the Phase I's with the exception of 1 property were sold before the model homes even opened up at 10am on Saturday. There were over 2,000 people just that morning alone. These folks had to be seriously interested - not only was traffic stopped on the 5, but from what I can tell from driving by, Sand Canyon was pretty much a a parking lot. So you had to be pretty motivated if you wanted to get to the model homes that particular morning.

Saw an article today in the WSJ - hte California economy is stabilizing on the coast, but the inland areas are still struggling mightily. If Saturday morning was any indication, the housing marketing looks ready to pick up at a minimu.

Gorgeous!

2010-01-28T14:46:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful day today. Wish I had a camera!

Expiration Update

2010-01-26T19:49:00.001-08:00

OK, so I decided to order a year's worth of Entertainment Weekly for 1,300 miles. That should give my account the activity it needs to stay active. Additionally, I'm going to sign up for the AAdvantage Dining Program. This program lets you use your current credit cards to pay at restaurants, but you earn AAdvantage miles at the same time. So this way, I can keep accruing without really doing anything more than eating a meal I would have eaten anyways. Works for me.

Expiration

2010-01-26T19:39:00.001-08:00

I have 59K miles expiring tomorrow in my American Airlines AAdvantage program account. I can extend the viability of these miles for 18 months if I trigger some type of transaction in my account, but I can't figure out what I can do to get immediate results. The only thing that comes to mind is to redeem points for a ticket, but I currently have no place to go (in my current condition). I heard something about 1-800-FLOWERS, but I'm trying to figure out - can I get miles if I send flowers to someone?

Ugh - pressure is on!

Storm #3 Update

2010-01-20T21:12:00.000-08:00

So storm #3 wasn't nearly as bad as the meteorologists were predicting. A friend of mine forwarded an email her husband received at work from his building management company (he works near us) stating that the expectations were for winds just as strong if not stronger as we experienced the day before (tornado) and to stay away from windows and if another tornado hits, to head to the stairwells for protection. But the winds didn't seem like they came anywhere close - a much milder storm than was predicted.

Rain is supposed to start again tonight - I'm not sure now if that's the official start of storm #4 or what. But regardless, all the forecasts say to expect heavy rain through Friday.

Apple Store

2010-01-19T21:24:00.000-08:00

I called Apple this morning regarding my keyboard issues. They asked me to bring the keyboard into the Genius Bar in the Apple Store.

I've never really spent much time in the Apple Store, but I did this evening as I was waiting for the "geniuses" take a look at my keyboard. The environment is more like a cafe than a retail shop. Everyone seems to just be hanging out - both Apple Store employees and customers (at least I think they're customers). A little irritating since I had a 7:15pm appointment and really wanted to just get in and out and I'm watching the "geniuses" chat with their cases. I couldn't tell if they were actually diagnosing problems or just hanging out.

I never made it to any of the "geniuses." The "check-in" people took care of me - I told them my issue and verified it for them by plugging the keyboard into one of the machines in the store. Then they brought me a new one keyboard and exchanged it for the old one (still under warranty) and I was done. Easy as that.

Still, a strange environment for those use to the hustle-bustle world.

Storm #2 Update

2010-01-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

After the tornado-type weather got through, everything got very still and dry. So all is well until the Storm #3 comes into town.

Apparently, there was a tornado that hit Huntington Beach, just a few miles away. In addition, there were 4 confirmed water spouts. Winds were whipping as high as 80 mph.

Storm #3 (scheduled for tomorrow) is supposed to be even stronger than Storms 1 or 2.

Click here for the LA Times article on the storm.

Tornado Warning

2010-01-19T13:03:00.001-08:00

Weather Service has just issued a tornado warning for this area for the next hour. Also expected is up to 0.5" hail stones.

I knew I should have worked from home today!

Trees and Cars

2010-01-19T12:59:00.001-08:00

The wind has bee so strong that it's starting to uproot and topple some of the young trees in our parking lot. As a result, some cars could be damaged. One such tree toppling has occurred right along the cars on Executive Row. We've called the executives to let them know that at a minimum one of them has a tree lying on his/her car. So now we're waiting to see how many of them brave the storm to go and move their cars.

Storm #2

2010-01-19T12:48:00.000-08:00

Well, it's definitely storming. Winds seem as strong as yesterday and the rain has been pretty constant for the last hour when the storm hit.

If I were on a boat, I would be saying "Batten down the hatches!". If I were still in college, I would definitely be taking a rain day. This is a sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate sort of day.

When It Rains, It Pours

2010-01-19T08:42:00.000-08:00

So on top of all the miserable weather, we are getting hit with a spate of issues that need to be addressed within the home.

My Mac has been on the fritz. I think I have it isolated to a keyboard problem - will bring it in to the Apple store tonight to get them to verify my diagnosis.
Smoke detectors are beeping. We thought that maybe it was the battery for one of them. Replaced the battery and that didn't solve the problem (yes, we checked to see whether there was a fire). Disconnected the thing and it still was beeping (although I think it's the capacitor depleting it's charge). Then find out another one is beeping (not sure which, as we have like 20 of them). Current theory is that they need to be cleaned out due to dust (we're remodeling). If that doesn't work, I guess we're replacing them.
If it is remodeling dust that's causing the smoke detectors to go off, that means we'll have to replace the HVAC air filters too.
Figured out one of our shower mechanisms doesn't work. It was working when we bought the house, but we had multiple renters while we were living in Singapore, so who knows what happened in the meantime.
Our DIRECTV settop box is on the fritz again -- can't tell if it's a chip issue, firmware issue, or hard drive issue.
A plethora of little things - repairing hinges, replacing drawer pulls, etc.

Ahh, the joys of home ownership. I am disappointed that I have a hardware failure on my Mac, but hopefully it's covered by warranty.

STORMWATCH 2010 Continues

2010-01-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

Well, the 2nd storm hasn't hit yet. Expecting to create havoc starting around noon today. This storm shouldn't be as strong as the 1st, but from what the meteorologists are saying, the 3rd and 4th storms are going to be doozies, so this one is sort of a lull.

It was 42 degrees outside this morning. A little chilly!

Blue Skies

2010-01-18T16:30:00.001-08:00

The first storm has passed. Skies are blue. Sun is out. Everything looks beautiful outside.

Next storm is expected to hit either tonight or tomorrow. Thunderstorms expected.

Rain

2010-01-18T13:03:00.001-08:00

It's rainin' somethin' fierce out there.

Storm #1 of 4 has been rolling through. Crazy rain and wind. Current forecast has rain through Friday as these four systems hit us. Then two days of sun and the next storm hitting a week from now.

We need the rain, no doubt about that. Concerns are high among the areas hit by fires during the summer - hopefully containment measures that are in place are working and any mudslide impact will be minimal. Fingers crossed.

Avatar 3D

2010-01-15T19:22:00.001-08:00

Heading in to see Avatar in 3D. $15.50 per ticket. Ouch! And we have to wear dorky glasses!

Benefits

2010-01-12T23:20:00.000-08:00

When I started with my first job out of undergrad, the HR department spent a lot of time trying to explain my health benefits. I, being a young adult with very few medical problems, chose the cheapest option at the time (an HMO option) and didn't pay much more attention than that. I would imagine that's the same for most young adults just starting out in the working world (with the exception of those with pre-existing conditions).

As I got older, I started to appreciate the nuances of different benefit programs as I got more exposed working at various companies.

As I mentioned before, we are expecting a little one in April. The maternity benefits at the company I work for are as follows:

6 or 8 weeks off from the date of delivery (depending on the type of delivery). This is mandated by the government and is paid via disability at 70% of salary.
Up to 12 weeks off per the California Family Leave Act. Only up to 6 weeks of this time is paid, and the pay is capped at an fixed amount that is lower than my salary.

Any additional time burns through any accrued vacation or sick time I may have. The amount taken by each individual varies based on job, family, and financial considerations. I know of two women who both gave birth within the last few months. Both came back after 6 weeks - mostly driven by work responsibilities. If they could have taken more time off, they would of.

I was speaking with one of our external auditors yesterday. Coincidentally, she is due a day or two after me. Her firm obviously follows federal and state laws in terms of maternity leave. However, her firm increases the benefit such that she is eligible for up to 6 months off after birth - paid. Wow, was I flabbergasted when I heard that. I asked her if she was taking the full 6 months off and she said that was her plan. I asked if it was too late for me to be hired by her firm. ;-)

McGwire

2010-01-12T21:18:00.001-08:00

Did you hear Mark McGwire's "confession" regarding steroid use? Whatever - tell me something I didn't know.

What gets me is how he seems to think the steroids had no impact on his performance. Yes, it takes hand-eye coordination to hit the ball, but he's not going to hit it out of the ballpark as much or as often if he wasn't getting artificial help bulking up and recovering.

Such a waste of media airspace . . .

31 Places to Go - 2010

2010-01-08T21:32:00.001-08:00

The New York Times just came out with their list of 31 places to go in 2010. Here's the list (with my personal comments, if any):

Sri Lanka (had two 4 hour layovers there on the way to and from the Maldives. Does that count?)
Patagonia Wine Country
Seoul (a lot of fun even if you don't like kimchi)
Mysore (went to an amazing one day yoga/massage retreat there)
Copenhagen
Koh Kood (in Thailand - would love to visit)
Damascus
Cesme
Antartica (book your trip fast because this could be the last year the continent is open to mass tourism - seriously, read the article!)
Leipzig
Los Angeles (I love LA!)
Shanghai (who wouldn't want to visit Shanghai? I love visiting Shanghai!)
Mumbai
Minorca
Costa Rica
Marrakesh
Las Vegas (Woo hoo!)
Bahia
Instanbul
Shenzhen (Why????)
Macedonia
South Africa
Breckenridge
Montenegro
Vancouver Island (gorgeous!)
Columbia
Kitzbuehel
Norway
Gargano
Kuala Lumpur (loved this town)
Nepal (the one place on our list I was really sorry we weren't able to get to before we left Asia)

Hmmm, I've been to 9 of the 31 if you count Sri Lanka. That's a 29% hit rate. Looks like we've got some travelling to aim for this year! :-)

Click here for the article.

Progress

2010-01-06T20:47:00.001-08:00

My photo scanning project is going much faster now that I've figured out I can scan more than one photo at a time. The first ~500 photos I scanned in individually - one by one. But no longer!

To pass the time, I pull up some TV show online (catching up on Brothers and Sisters, for instance) to keep me company while I scan . . .

Breaking Up In A Digital Fishbowl

2010-01-06T20:43:00.000-08:00

All I can say is that I sure am happy I'm not dating in this day and age . . .

Click here for the NYT article . . .

Self Inflicted Penalties?

2010-01-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or do things smell rotten in the state of Denmark? Well, in this case, I mean the land of USC. With the recent announcement by USC athletic officials of the forfeits and loss of scholarship and ban from this year's Pac 10 and NCAA tournaments, I can't help but wonder if this is all about OJ Mayo and infractions by the basketball team, or if there is a more deep rooted problem that will manifest itself around the football program (and Joe McKnight and Reggie Bush). Is this USC's way of throwing themselves on the sword in an effort to spare sanctions against the vaunted football program? This whole Reggie Bush investigation sure is taking a long time . . .

Yes, all this USC griping is a way to avoid thinking about just how bad the UCLA basketball team is . . . although we are going to the UCLA-USC basketball game in a couple of weeks!

So Much To Do . . .

2010-01-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

Happy new year!

So much to do and what seems like so little time. I'm full of energy for projects lately. Problem is, I have a lot of projects going, but haven't really finished any. Sort of like an episode of "Home Improvement." Well, without the power tools aspect, I guess.

One thing that's been sitting in the back of my mind is to organize all our photos. I mean ALL. We have so many printed photos from years past and they take up space and are in albums that are either put away or that we don't look at anymore. I want to archive all of this. So as I started looking into it, I thought it might be best to just send all these photos out to a service and have the service scan everything for me. But as I looked into it some more, I realized 1) I wasn't always happy with the resolution the scans would be done at and 2) I needed to organize the photos in some fashion prior to sending them out for scanning, so if I had to spend time organizing, I might as well just scan them myself. Ideally, I would just send the albums out and have the service remove the photos and scan them and send everything back to me, but since I've got to remove everything anyways . . . Also, services will just scan in bulk - no folders creation, etc. So as I'm scanning, I can organize into photos at the same time and kill two birds with one stone. But projects like these require infrastructure investment. I'm thinking I'm going to need to add an additional terabyte or two to the home media server to accommodate all these photos - no point in scanning everything if there's no room to store it. Once things are scanned, I'll probably also burn back-up DVDs as well to have in case of file corruption on the server.

In addition, we've embarked on a remodel of our master bath. We've been talking about this since the day we moved in. Now with the baby coming, it's time to do something as we both know that once the baby is here, the odds of getting a major overhaul to the bathroom will be slim to nil. The bathroom itself is pretty much builder standard features - no upgrades at all. White ceramic 4x4 tile counters, shower, and bath and linoleum floors. The previous owners upgraded the mirrors, but that's about it. Martin is close to completing all the demo work. Once that's done, the fun starts with the rebuilding. This project is going much slower than our other projects as I've been practically banned from the jobsite, at least for the demo phase. But I'm hoping to get reinstated soon. :-)

EagleBank Bowl

2009-12-29T16:52:00.000-08:00

I figured out this afternoon that I can't access ESPN360 here at work to sneak peeks at the progress of the Bruins during this afternoon's EagleBank Bowl game against Temple.

Temple was up at halftime (21-10), but apparently UCLA turned it around to win the game. Not to sound like a pessimist, but I wasn't quite expecting that the Bruins would be able to pull it out. Absolutely thrilled, though, that they did! Woo-hoo!!

Final score: UCLA 30, Temple 21.

Work Week

2009-12-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a day! I was off last week, but am working this week. Martin's taking this week off.

Started the day with an 8am conference call and it hasn't stopped since. I thought this week would be slow given that it's during the holidays, but it's not looking like it at this point!

Bobcat Sighting

2009-12-28T17:47:00.001-08:00

Took a walk this morning. Saw a bobcat.

Click here for an OC Register blurb discussing other bobcat sightings in the area recently.

Happy Holidays

2009-12-27T14:20:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone has been having a great holiday season. We just arrived home after a week up in Lake Tahoe where we celebrated Christmas with my family. We rented a house for the week and everyone (8 adults, 1 infant) piled in. Here are some photos of the house . . .

Overall, the house was great. It was only about a mile away from the casinos and 1.5 miles away from the Heavenly Gondola. Four bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms with washer/dryer, hot tub, indoor garage, TVs in every room, good-sized kitchen, etc., etc.

Here is a shot from the top of Heavenly . . . .

And here's a shot of us with Lake Tahoe in the background . . .

For those of you with the discerning eye, you will see the top of my protruding belly. I haven't blogged about this previously because so much else has been going on and frankly, there's not much else to say once it's down on paper, but we are expecting a baby! Hence, no skiing or drinking for me on this Tahoe trip . . . my role was relegated to bus driver, babysitter, and assistant cook.

Bali

2009-12-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

Sigh . . . I would love to go back to Bali . . .

Click here for the article I saw this morning that's brought on this wave of nostalgia . . .

I need to explore and see if there is any good Indonesian food here in southern California . . .

Turducken

2009-12-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again . . . talk of the turducken.

To be honest, I'm sort of fascinated with finding out how this thing tastes. Saw in the paper today that a slice equates to 900 calories. That's per slice!

East Coast Bias

2009-12-17T09:21:00.001-08:00

Funny commentary in today's New York Times (of all places!) regarding East Coast Bias. The tipping point was Manhattan's fascination with the newly opened Costco . . .

Click here for the text.

Christmas Lights

2009-12-16T12:44:00.001-08:00

We've been a little remiss because it's taken so long (until this past weekend) to get our outdoor Christmas lights up. We go the no frills route - lights, with no music, no animation.

A colleague of mine takes his lights seriously - it's not just lights, but a show. His lights are synchronized to music that is broadcast on a certain radio station as you drive by his house. It's a fantastic spectacle . . . here's just one of the songs he's synchronized to . . .

Brrrrrrrr

2009-12-08T19:00:00.001-08:00

The temperature sensor read 46 degrees F as I left work right now. We live in southern California, right?

So happy about heated seats in my car . . .

Tied Up! 3-3

2009-12-01T21:34:00.001-08:00

Ducks just tied it up. 13 minutes left in the third period.

Anaheim 2 - LA 3 (End of the 2nd)

2009-12-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

Things were looking pretty poorly for the Ducks, down 3-1, until Anaheim scored on a power play with 2 minutes left in the 2nd period.

Ducks Score!

2009-12-01T20:05:00.001-08:00

Ok, only down one. Corey Perry just scored. 5 minutes left in the first period.

Ducks down 0-2

2009-12-01T20:01:00.001-08:00

We're at the Ducks-Kings game. Ducks are down by two with 8 minutes left in the first period. Could be a long night . . .

Beat 'SC Week

2009-11-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

They got the Bruin bear . . .

Smart Car!

2009-11-25T15:09:00.001-08:00

You know, I was thinking that Smart cars would never be found in a Costco parking lot - you couldn't fit anything you bought into it . . .

UCLA Wins!

2009-11-20T21:27:00.001-08:00

Two completely different teams the first 17 minutes and the remaining 23 minutes. Except for the free throw shooting.

Memo to Coach Howland: please have your team practice making free throws - relentlessly.

Final score 75-64. Bruins win!

We're heading to Diddy Riese! :-)

12:27 in the 2nd half update

2009-11-20T20:57:00.001-08:00

UCLA 52
CS Bakersfield 42

Security just asked these three cute little girls who were jumping up and down to distract the Roadrunner free throw shooters to sit down. Killjoy!

Bruin Bear Update

2009-11-20T20:40:00.001-08:00

By the way, the bear is already boxed up in antipication of Beat 'SC week.

Halftime

2009-11-20T20:25:00.001-08:00

Wow - tied up! 35-35

UCLA vs. Cal St Bakersfield @ Pauley

2009-11-20T20:03:00.000-08:00

16-26, Roadrunners up. They can make free throws. We can't. They make the open shots. We don't. They want the rebounds more. . . .

Now down by 11 with 8:30 left in the 1st.

Bowling

2009-11-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

The economy's been tough all the way around, but at least our company is moving forward with some holiday cheer.

I guess this year's theme is bowling. We've been invited to two (possibly three) work related holiday parties and they are all bowling related. I know that one will have pretty good raffle prizes - not sure about the other ones.

There is another work related party that we're probably going to that is more of a nice/formal dinner - but I'm not sure if we're going to have to contribute some out of pocket.

Old Cell Phones

2009-11-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

It's not clear to me why we have so many old Sony Ericsson cell phones lying around the house. I think what happened was that we both had Sony Ericsson phones prior to our move to Singapore. Then when we arrived in Singapore, the company issued us new Sony Ericsson phones (company standard). Then we were issued RAZRs. Then we both ended up getting Blackberries. And now we have extra phones all over the house.

The problem I'm running into is SIM card related. Some of these old phones require the SIM card to be inserted to access the menu. Others don't. I've cleared the memories of the ones that don't and sent them in via the Post Office for recycling. The ones that do - I don't know what to do with. I don't know if we cleared the memories prior. My current SIM card doesn't work in them, which leads me to believe these are Singapore phones. I want to get reduce clutter and get rid of the phones, but should I send these in as is or should I make more of an effort to figure this problem out. I feel like I've already spent a lot of time on this - I've scoured the internet looking for ways to get around this SIM card requirement. I've also called Sony Ericsson, but I always seem to call when customer service is closed. I guess I can try one more time - better safe than sorry.

76 Classic Tournament Tickets

2009-11-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

Just received an offer to buy tickets to the upcoming 76 Classic college basketball tournament. $60 gets you first come, first served seating at the Anaheim Convention Center to watch 8 college basketball games over 3 days. The eight teams . . .

Butler
Clemson
Long Beach St.
Minnesota
Portland
Texas A&M
UCLA
West Virginia

Since we are alums of two of the schools above, I'm considering on checking this out . . . it's over Thanksgiving weekend, so I need to make sure this doesn't interfere with eating and shopping time . . .

Job Description

2009-11-19T20:17:00.001-08:00

Anyone know what the EU President is actually empowered to do?

University of California

2009-11-18T20:12:00.001-08:00

I got an email from the UCLA Foundation today. I'm sure it's about all the good uses the money the school has been collecting from donations and investing in has been put to.

But given the current state of the most visible sports programs (football and basketball - argh!) and given the UC Regents vote today to increase tuition for undergrads 32% by next fall, I find myself thinking more and more about how the university is generating and using its money. Case in point, last month, there was talk about increasing tuition for those studying engineering and business because the faculty associated with those areas cost more. But who brings in all the grant money to the universities? Is it the English department or the Engineering department? Luckily, the decision didn't go through, but I have to wonder what has happened such that tuition has gone from $1500/year back in the stone ages when I attended to now probably nearly $12K/year by next fall. Not a bad price for a top tier education (compared with private schools at almost $30K/year), but what has fundamentally changed in the economic model? And when will it stop?

There really is no point in this rambling post . . .

Public Storage

2009-11-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

I was filing loose papers and came across a Public Storage pamphlet, card, and quote. I was trying to remember where this came from as I don't remember visiting a Public Storage location in over 10 years. The the lightbulb came on.

When we were moving to Singapore, we needed to put our cars into storage. The group within my company that was taking control of our relocation had told us that our cars would be stored in a facility where the cars would be hoisted and drained of fluids and the tires removed. When we wanted to get the ball rolling, they actually came back to us with a Public Storage facility where we were supposed to drive our cars into the space and then lock the door for the years we were gone. Needless to say, I was not happy with the turn of events.

Suffice it to say that our cars did end up at an auto storage facility where they ran the cars every week to get the fluids going and moved the cars weekly as not to flatten the tires. Definitely not a Public Storage facility (nothing against Public Storage, but it's not an ideal situation to leave your car long term and expect it to be in working condition when you return).

Drowning in Paper

2009-11-17T19:45:00.001-08:00

I'm drowning in paper. My filing system is based mainly on visual reminders - i.e., stacking. This is bad. I have some things that are filed well and I can find what I need with minimal effort. But the rest is a mess.

I need to organize. I need to purge. I need to shred. That's my current project - for both home and the office.

It's going to be a long season . . .

2009-11-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

College basketball season started last night. The Bruins are 1) rebuilding and 2) beset witth injury and illness. And last night they lost to Cal St Fullerton in double overtime. UCLA did not look good at all on the court.

We're going to the game against Cal St Bakersfield this Friday - I'm hoping thet work out some of the kinks over the next couple of days, but I do believe this is going to be a long winter . . .

Junior

2009-11-04T15:57:00.000-08:00

I saw a small, dark object on the driveway as we were pulling up a couple of weeks ago (it was dark). Then I heard a popping noise as we went over the small, dark object. I didn't think much of it at the time - assumed it was something one of the neighborhood kids accidently left in our driveway.

Next morning, we found out that what we ran over was a baby rattlesnake.

That's two in less than two months . . .

Warm Thanksgiving Apple Cake

2009-11-03T12:26:00.001-08:00

I was on the cooking.com website when I ran into a recipe for warm Thanksgiving apple cake. The recipe title was enough for me to take a little detour to check out the recipe.

First line of the recipe: 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter softened

That's as far as I got. Not going to go near this one . . .

:)

Glee

2009-10-31T21:39:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween! Anyone catch the singing of the national anthem at tonight's World Series game (3)? Cast of Glee. I haven't seen the show, but they certainly blew it away . . .

Yay!

2009-10-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

Did I mention I won my fantasy baseball league this year?? Yay!!!!

FlashFoward

2009-10-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

Anyone have an opinion of FlashForward yet? We're watching it and enjoying it so far . . . just wondering if it's going to turn into a convoluted a story as Lost such that if you miss an episode, you literally are lost . . .

Major	Average Salary Offer
Petroleum Engineering	$86,220
Chemical Engineering	$65,142
Mining & Mineral Engineering (incl. geological)	$64,552
Computer Science	$61,205
Computer Engineering	$60,879
Electrical/Electronics & Communications Engineering	$59,074
Mechanical Engineering	$58,392
Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering	$57,734
Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering	$57,231
Information Sciences & Systems	$54,038
Source: Winter 2010 Salary Survey, National Association of Colleges and Employers. Data represent offers to bachelor’s degree candidates where 10 or more offers were reported.