Monster Tomato Plants July 6, 2006
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Our tomato plants have definitely sprung up. They’re a long way from where they were on June 2. We even have some tomatoes on there. They’re not ripe yet, but I think we’ll have a few in a couple weeks. I can hardly wait. This will be the first crop we’ve ever grown on the side of the house.
I’m not sure if you can see it, but we do have some herbs that are starting to sprout in the pot in the front. On the left hand side, we have some parsley and the rest of them are cilantro.
Today, I had some more of Talli’s great cooking. There was a berry and banana smoothie, some ginger cookies and for dinner, a great tofu dish. Her cooking has come a long way. Don’t tell her though, it might go to her head.
Mom’s Birthday Party July 3, 2006
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Yesterday, Talli and I went to my parents’ house for my mom’s birthday party. Her birthday was actually on Friday, but the party was yesterday. It was a fun party. I got to talk with my parents, brother, cousins, uncles and my dad’s cousin Thea and her daughter Danielle. There were a lot of great conversations, which made for a great night.
On the food side, I had a piece of steak, a piece of chicken and several pieces of linguica. There was also salad, bread and potatoes. It was a great meal. I passed on the dessert because I preferred to have seconds rather than saving room for the dessert.
Today, Talli and I recorded the Millionaire or Bust podcast for this week. I still have to finish post production on it and prep the show notes to post on the website, but that should all be done soon. Look for the next episode to be up on Friday as usual. Everyone tell your friends. We need more listeners.
Wine, Tea & a Birthday July 1, 2006
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Today is the day for another wine review. We opened a bottle of the Organic Wine Works 2004 Mendocino County Pinot Noir. I really enjoyed it. It went fairly well with the curry dish we had, although I would have preferred it with a meat dish.
The tea ceremony that we had earlier today was truly the highlight. Talli spared no effort in preparing it and it included two nice teas that we purchased in Beijing. One was rosebuds and the other was a black tea. They were mixed together for a nice flavor.
Yesterday was my mom’s birthday. Happy birthday mom! Although I wished her a happy birthday by phone, I hadn’t posted here. This fixes that. Tomorrow, we’ll go over to my parents’ house for her party. I can hardly wait. We love you mom.
Ferreira Duque de Braganca 20 Year Tawny Porto June 30, 2006
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The highlight of the day was the food at dinner. Talli made an excellent curry dish and an excellent tofu dish. After dinner we had some biscuits with organic fruit spread. There was also tea and some delicious 20 year old tawny porto. Ah the port! It was excellent. We opened it yesterday and here is my review.
It is a very smooth 20 year tawny with a beautiful bouqet. It had a nice slightly woody flavor with that not overstated berry taste. The taste is complex, but not overly so and has a nice long finish with no after taste. I just need a course in porto wine tasting to truly do this wine justice. It is truly better than I could describe, even after two days of drinking it. I’ll just have to sample it some more. 
My research was curtailed a bit by a spotty internet connection for an hour or so, but everything is moving forward nicely. Hopefully the research will result in a good outcome. Enjoy your nights everyone, live life and be happy. I’ll do the same.
Wine of the Day June 28, 2006
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Talli and I opened a bottle of Organic Wine Works’ a’ Notre Terre’ Red Table Wine. It’s a very nice red wine. It went very well with our dinner even though Talli prepared us a spicy tofu dish. It was nice to have a slightly higher quality of wine tonight. Luckily, we drink slow, so it’ll last a couple more days.
Today was a research day for me on the internet. Talli and I are still kicking ideas around. Today was an especially good brainstorming session. I’m trying to kick in an ability to be a futurist. I believe that if I can figure out where the world will be in 5-10 years, then I’ll be well placed when it gets here.
We also had some nice biscuits today with tea. Talli is constantly trying to add to her repertoire. I think they’ll be even better tomorrow with a fruit spread filling instead of a chocolate topping. We’ll see…
I’ll let you all get to bed. I have to get back to work.
So Many Plums! June 26, 2006
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Here’s another one of our fruit trees. It’s our Santa Rosa Plum tree. As you can see, it’s overladen with fruit just like our loquat tree was. The fruit are great though. I’m trying to pick them late enough that they are very ripe, but early enough that no branches break. Some of the lower branches are bending precipitously. Some of the other branches are holding up better since I tied them up. I should probably tie up the lower branches as well, but I didn’t have good luck with doing that, so I’m forgoing it and hoping for the best.
Tomorrow will be dedicated to podcast production, so it will be a busy day. I decided to move it to Tuesday because our Monday workouts always take a while and it makes it harder for me to get everything done in one day, which is my goal. I’m off to have evening tea with Talli, so I’ll talk to you all tomorrow.
Birthday @ Cattleman’s June 25, 2006
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Yesterday was a nice meal at Cattleman’s with my Uncle Hans for his birthday. Actually there were twenty people present, so it wasn’t exactly an intimate get together, but it was pretty nice. I got to see my Dad’s cousin Thea, who I hadn’t seen in a while along with her husband Dennis and daughter Danielle. A couple of My Uncle’s friends were also there.
On a presonal note, I got to have a 14oz sirloin steak which was pretty good, but the edges of it were way too salty for me. The center was nice though. I’m speaking from experience of course. When working I had an opportunity to eat at lots of high quality steak places. My favorites are still in Seattle. There is supposed to be a great one in Dublin I believe. It’s named Vic’s, but I’ve never gone there before. One day, I’ll give that one a try.
Once again, thank you Uncle Hans for a great dinner and I hope you had a great birthday!
Talli’s Masterpiece June 21, 2006
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Here’s Talli with her masterpiece, “Organic, Butter Free, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies”! She achieved her status as a Master of Organic, Healthy Baking with this creation. All Hail Master Talli! Long live the Master of Organic, Healthy Baking!
Talli’s cookies were really that good. I actually ate too many since I liked them so much. Next time I’ll try to hold back to make them last longer. It’s hard though because they taste so good. 
Today was a hot one here with our thermometer registering about 90 degrees at 2:00. We toughed it out though and the temperature is subsiding although I’m still waiting for a good cool evening breeze off the bay to help us out.
Despite the heat, I had better get back to business. Good night everyone!
Clinic Closing/Business Planning Dinner @ Jardiniere June 14, 2006
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Last night, I wasn’t able to post a blog because Talli and I were at Jardiniere in San Francisco for an 8:00 pm reservation. It was our official clinic closing dinner. It was also a business meeting where we discussed plans for the future of our business. (Our new business that is.) You didn’t think we’d just rush to get employed by someone else, did you? America is built by entrepeneurs, not employees after all. It doesn’t matter what the employees think or say.
The dinner was excellent as it always is at Jardiniere. I had some excellent beef short ribs. The wine was nice and the Quinta do Noval1986 Colheita Port was tremendous.
Discussions of the business were fruitful and helped to focus us a little bit more. Today, I’ll be continuing on the podcast portion of that plan. The rest of the plan is still not public information and, as such, I’m not at liberty to discuss it. So, to all inquiries I’ll have to politely prefer no comment.
My First & Second Life June 11, 2006
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Today was dedicated to fun. Talli and I woke up early to go to the farmers market in Irvington, as we always do. We got some great organic strawberries and mushrooms along with our usual vegetables. We also got some anchovies that were caught in the Monterey Bay four hours before. We got 2.5 lbs for $2. Not too shabby.
The rest of the day, I relaxed. I spent some time reading and drinking tea after breakfast, which we had after we went shopping. Then I decided that I was going to find out about the online game that I’ve heard so much about, Second Life. Let me start off by saying that the game reminds me of a SciFi series by Tad Williams called Otherland. It’s about a virtual reality world that people create that becomes alive in the sense that people can live exclusively in it and what happens to them there affects them in real life.
I think this game is interesting because people are spending real money to buy and sell things in the game. There is actually an exchange for their online currency. The rate is currently pegged at $5 US to I believe it is $288 Linden (Company’s name).[DvS - 6/13/06 the actual exchange is L$331 to US$1.]
The game is interesting because I think you could use it to model houses or other products that you were selling to show to prospective buyers. That would be a great tool for new companies or ones with too little capital for showrooms around the country. They could have a virtual showroom there and, since it is free, any of their customers could go online and check out their products.
Granted, any of these possibilities are too far off to be viable for most businesses or customers at this point. I believe in being ahead of the curve and seeing where we’re going. It’s more interesting to predict or, maybe I should say, anticipate the future. At least for me it is. So, off to the future I head. I’ll see you when you all get there…
