We turned what might have been a lazy Sunday into a very industrious one, getting The Aerie all decked out for Christmastime. We had the Christmas music playing from the office while we decked the halls and trimmed the trees (our big Christmas tree and our little Monterey pine out back). Speaking of trees, we even added some Christmas cheer to the palm trees outside of our home.
This week's warm weather and clear-sky Santa Ana was ushered out today in a big way with rain showers (and even hail!) and a cold wind from the north.
The change in weather was a good demarcation point to change from Thanksgiving into Christmas, which we're getting an early start on this year. Of course, the first course of action is to get the tree.
Now Penny has never had a tree in the house, and I'm not sure she entirely knows what to think about it. Wait until we put the lights and decorations on tomorrow!
After a couple of days of feeling out of sorts, it seems that Penny’s puppy pharmaceutical treatment has helped out immensely and that there was a very energetic and eager pointer ready for a big mountain hike this morning.
We took a great long hike down and then up to the top of the mountain The Aerie rests on. There were great views out to the ocean and even down to Point Loma.
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
So, my sister is coming from Maryland to visit for Thanksgiving. We did a lot of prep work this weekend to prepare, but I'm always looking for omens as to how the week might go.
Well -- both Penny and my car are sick. Penny had to take a de-wormer (ick) and my car needs new brake-pads (ka-ching).
At least Penny gets to sleep and I get to drive around in a 1-series loaner. Now how'd they know I was eyeing up one of those....
Hope everyone has a great week!
Since there's a big round number coming up in not much more than a month I've been thinking about what has happened in my life in a DECADE. It turns out quite a lot.
- Married in October, 1999.
- Marriage ended in November, 2004.
- Divorced in May, 2007.
- Friend E murdered in August, 2000.
- Friend S died tragically this month.
- Mom got Leukemia, had a stem-cell transplant, lived.
- Dad got cancer, did a lot of chemo, had surgery, died.
- Got hired thrice.
- Laid off thrice.
- Started 2 businesses.
- Went back to school & got my BA.
- Visited: Texas, Oklahoma, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, UK, Mexico, Canada, Virginia...
- Had flings. Dated. For the first time since high school.
- Met and became good friends with my rockstar crush, David Gedge.
- Lots of friends had babies. I chose not to.
- Quit drinking for nearly a year.
- Started therapy.
- Went on anti-depressants for 2 years.
- ... and then weaned myself off.
- Wrote most of a memoir.
- Started blogging.
- Grandma Faye died.
- Grandpa Frank developed alzheimer's.
- Nearly got out of debt, but then got in further.
- Bought a digital SLR camera.
- Started doing yoga.
- Discovered the benefits of "friends with benefits"...
- ...and the non-benefits.
- Got a Meyer's Parrot, Beatrice.
- Fritz the iguana died.
- Paid for my elderly cat to be injected with radioactive iodine.
- Lived through my early-mid thirties.
- Lived alone for only the 2nd time ever.
- Started a record label (make that 3 businesses)
- Discovered the joys of cocaine.
- And then stopped.
- Went from having a job to having a sort-of career.
- Sang karaoke. Never imagined I would like that, but I do.
So, anyone that spends time here probably knows that we like a good cocktail from time to time here at The Aerie. But as hard as it is to believe, a good stiff drink isn’t always the right accompaniment for every occasion. Sometimes you just have to have a good glass of wine.
Wine (as opposed to booze) is something that I’ve come to a little later in life. When I was younger, I was intimidated by the somewhat snooty air that went along with the growing “wine culture” in America. I mean, could I really taste “ripe berries” and “burnt oak” and “hints of melon” in the chianti being served at my local Italian joint? Hardly.
And then I moved to California.
Wine is of course a huge industry here and for good reason – there are a lot of really good California wines. And so, when I moved here, I started trying some and learned how to say “Pinot Noir” correctly so that I felt better about myself. And two things happened, a) I began to know what I liked and b) I began not to care what other people (read: wine snobs) thought.
So, about the time we moved into The Aerie, the Beloved and I started taking more of an interest in wine – traveling to Sonoma County several times over the last couple of years. There, we were able start finding some places that we liked and buying their wines, and over time, we built up a good little stash.
Which bring me to today’s timewaster: CellarTracker. This is a free (though they ask for a donation) website where you can input the wines you have (and even the wines you want to have…) so that you know exactly what you’ve got, how it’s rated (both by the CellarTracker community and in major publications) and in cases of wines that need to be “laid-down”, when you should drink it.
I have to say that the website is very easy to use, has a great searching algorithm (so that you don’t have to enter in everything precisely, it will find the wine for you from its database…) and if you’re a data-nerd like me, you can sort and sub-sort your wines in all sorts of interesting ways.
As it turns out, we have ~75 bottles of wine and I was able to get them all entered in maybe an hour and half. Pretty cool.
There are also fields for you to enter private and/or public tasting notes (which I think would be useful for wines you have in restaurants and would like to jot something down before the next time you go to the store…) – though I give everyone free rein to come smack me if I write one with language like “overtones of ripe plums with hints of chocolate and coffee…”
Bottoms up!
Please enjoy.
I was going to write a novel this month, like everyone else. (I hope someone still reads novels)... Actually I thought I'd finish the one I started last year, which combines a historical lesbian murder mystery with ex-pat magical realism. In Paris. Yeah.
But then 2 weeks ago my former boss called. I stopped working for him in Feb 2008, and he has since hired and fired several replacements, but right now the position is vacant to keep costs down. He needed help writing a proposal for a Microsoft project due in 2 days (how I don't miss those flaming hoops). So I agreed to crank it out for some freelance dollars. And I did, and even went with him to pitch it. All went well, but we didn't win due to the technical complexity... we could have pulled it off, but I am glad not to be working on it. It had a stupid schedule, and I think I already mentioned how I don't miss those flaming hoops.
Meanwhile, he got the opportunity to bid on 23 interactive applications for a museum. I got a copy of the RFP a week ago and agreed to work on this proposal as well... that means basically scoping out each (highly complex) application, budgeting, and a lot of half-sales, half-technical writing... by the 24th.
So all I'm doing, all day and all night, and even on my birthday Monday...is writing proposals. So maybe I'll write a novel some other month.
I'm really not one that spends a lot of time playing video/computer games (Facebook Scrabble and Word-twist, notwithstanding), but in the past couple of weeks, I have spent some time with a complete productivity abyss called "Conquest".
If you're like me, you spent a good chunk of your pre-teen and early teen years playing RISK on a board with some friends and rarely if ever actually finishing the game in an afternoon. RISK was a game that was always better in theory (good balance of chance and strategy) than in practice.
Well, imagine my delight when I came across the Conquest app for the iPhone and iPod Touch (I have a Touch). Conquest is essentially a RISK emulator in which the computer controls the other players. One thing I like is that it's pretty customizable -you can vary the number of players and their skill level, as well as control/vary the value of cannon-horse-soldier cards.
In addition, the app includes about 10 different "worlds" to play on, so that you aren't always trying to capture Australia and then move out from there. The play is quick and intuitive, providing both an interesting strategy game and a dose of fond nostalgia.
Great for the airport or if you've got 20-30 minutes to kill -- finally it doesn't take all afternoon!
There’s a point in a football game when you sense that it’s over. And after staking the home-team Chargers to a 14-point lead, the Eagles were looking to get back in the game after a very good drive that had them 1st and goal from the 1 yard line. Yep – 3 feet away. Naturally, Andy Reid outsmarted himself and the Chargers D by calling play action passes and fade routes – eschewing the run as always --- and after three plays, the Eagles found themselves --- you guessed it, 3 feet from the endzone. David Akers kicks a field goal and a good 80 yard drive feels like a failure.
If this tune sounds familiar, it is. Much like in their loss to Dallas at home the week before, the Eagles squandered opportunity after opportunity by being unable to convert short yardage situations. Overall, the game was one that had to please fans of wide open offenses – each team scored five times, and after the first quarter both defenses seemed to be hanging on by a thread. With their Red Zone woes, the Eagles scored 2 TDs and 3 FGs (all the field goals being the dreaded you-can’t-score-a-TD 25 yd or less variety). The Chargers (who were outgained 462-331) were more efficient with their chances getting 4 TDs and 1 FG.
So, once again, another chance slips by and the Eagles sit a game behind the Cowboys (who were humbled in Green Bay and missed THEIR chance to take a hold on the NFC East) and tied with the reeling Giants had a bye. Clearly, this is a division that might be won by default.
On the upside, the loss was made a little more bearable by making some pretzels that The Beloved and I shared in the second half. Not surprisingly, after a few of these guys, there was little need for dinner.
