My 30th Birthday Party August 7, 2006
Posted by David in Family/Friends, Personal.add a comment
Other people make such a big deal out of turning 30. To me, it’s just not that big a deal. True I’m still 29, at least until Wednesday, but I find it hard to believe that I’ll feel differrently then.
Hopefully, Jeff is reading this because today is his birthday. Happy 30th birthday, Jeff! I sent Jeff an ecard, but since I’m not sure where he is exactly, I wasn’t able to give him a call.
So, as a strange coincidence, my birthday party coincided with the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, August 6 and my birthday coincides with the bombing of Nagasaki, August 9. Strange coincidences I know, but sometimes that’s how these things work out. I’m sure it’s happened this way on at least one other birthday as well.
The birthday party was a success for the most part. You can’t please everyone all of the time, but almost everyone had a good time the whole time. Those other people, well…I’m sorry, but such is life. Besides, it was my birthday party. 
Fish Release #? August 2, 2006
Posted by David in Garden/Pond, Nature.add a comment
Ok, I’m not sure which fish release this was, but that’s not the important thing. So, what if I’m too lazy to do a quick search on my own blog? If you guys want to know…do a search for fish release. It won’t take very long. I need to finish this post. You can catch up after you figure it out.
Yesterday, we released three new shubunkin into the pond that we captured in the wilds of the PetSmart aquariums. We decided to go with the small ones for several reasons. One, they won’t stress the new system. Two, they’ll have ample space for years. Three, we’re cheap. Hey after what happened the last time, we want to keep the investment a little lower. Less to possibly lose.
We have two more shubunkin in our aquarium that are 2-3 times larger than the new ones. We’ll be releasing them into the pond later this week. Around that time, we’ll buy one more little goldfish to keep the one left in the aquarium company. So, we’ll have two goldfish in the aquarium and five shubunkin in the pond for my birthday party.
This time we’ll keep the load on the pond very small. I think 5-7 goldfish is a very light load for an 800 gallon pond. We’ll stick to that. They’ll grow and I’d rather have less fish because it means less maintenance and less chances for fish diseases.
Today I spent a good deal of time catching up on some yard work that I fell behind on during the recent heatwave. The yard grew really fast during that time, so I had a lot of weeding, clipping and tomato plant maintenance to do.
David over and out.
Dinner? Please? August 1, 2006
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Hunter seems to have a way of communicating his desire for dinner. He grabs his red ball, throws it at his dinner bowl and stares at you. If you seem oblivious, he runs up to you, runs back to his bowl and does it again. Then he looks at you and waits. It’s as if he’s saying, “Why won’t you feed a poor starving little puppy? Aren’t I cute? Don’t I deserve dinner?”
If it’s too early, I make him tough it out. Im not giving him dinner at 3:30. That’s just crazy. If it’s after 5:00 though, I’ll feed him. He’s adjusted very well to having us home more. Now he has someone to listen to him when he’s whining during the day. Of course, he doesn’t get to bark as much, but he gets a lot more attention.
So aside from the fact that Hunter is happier, everything else seems to be going well also. Talli and I are preparing for possibly 20+ family members coming over this Sunday for my birthday party. You guessed it, that means a lot of cleaning and a lot of cooking. Well, that’s how it goes in my family. If it’s your birthday, you have to do all the work… Luckily, I have Talli to help me. She does a lot of the work because she loves me. And she doesn’t want people over without the house looking perfect. It’s always clean, but she wants it to shine!
American Apparel Grand Opening in Second Life July 29, 2006
Posted by David in Business, Technology.add a comment
On the eLIfe side of things, I decided to attend the American Apparel store Grand Opening in Second Life. It was featured in
Business Week and various other periodicals, so I figured it was worth a look. The grand opening was last night at 7:00 PDT.
I have to say that the grand opening seemed to be a success. It was a beautiful virtual build that really captured the feel of a brick and mortar store. It was built by a Second Life resident that goes by the name of Aimee Weber. I really thought it was a nice vision of the way that virtual worlds might start to bridge the gap between them and the internet. As of yet, you can only by virtual clothes there and not actual clothes, but if you did purchase something there, you would get a coupon for 10% in the real world.
While I was there, I did manage to win a gift certificate to their internet store to by some real clothing, so that was a nice bonus. Now, I just have to see if they have anything that I would wear. I’m sure I’ll buy something though. It’s free, right?
Pond Set Up July 29, 2006
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Well, I finally set the pond up again. I’d been too busy to set it up after the disaster that happened a few weeks ago where all the fish perished. I just hadn’t wanted to spend the last few hours of time working on cleaning the crates and the plants and prepping them for the pond. Yesterday, I finally buckled down and did it though. It’s great to have that done. Now, I just have to treat the water that I added yesterday and add fish. As for when we’ll add the fish, I’m not sure. Sometime during the next few days, depending on how Talli and I feel and our schedule. I’m looking forward to having the fish again. It’s nice to eat lunch by the pond while the fish swim by…
Think Nose Picking is a Problem? July 25, 2006
Posted by David in Environment, Nature.add a comment
How about nose licking? Yes, Hunter being a dog and having no fingers opts for licking his nose. I don’t think I’ll be able to get him to stop. So, I’ll just keep him away from my face after that type of display.
Well, it’s still very hot here today, but it looks like it’s about 5 degrees cooler than yesterday. The house is about 8-10 degrees cooler than the other day as well. That I can attribute to the slight cooling off we had last night. By 2:00 am, it was already down to 70 degrees outside. That allowed us to start the day off on a cooler note.
Today Talli and I hit the gym. We decided to do it during the hottest part of the day. At least then we were getting some exercise while we were sweating. We’ll probably be at my parents’ gym tomorrow, since Club Sport is having a 15th anniversary celebration and guests are free. At least, we’ll be going if their A/C is working. It was broken yesterday according to my dad.
Well, I’d better get back to work. It’s a good thing I work from home or I wouldn’t be able to take breaks like this. Of course, I would also have A/C. Those are the tradeoffs.
Crazy Heat – Global Warming? July 24, 2006
Posted by David in Environment, Nature.add a comment
The last few days the weather around here has been insane. It’s been in the upper 90s or even just over 100 for almost a week now. I can hardly stand it. I couldn’t even motivate myself to blog.
The high temperatures weren’t the biggest problem though. The big problem is that the nightly cool down that we’re used to here by the San Francisco Bay, just never came. So, late at night, the house would still be in the high eighties or nineties. I’m not talking about at 10:00 either. I’m talking about at 3 or 4 in the morning.
So, yesterday I motivated myself to get up on the roof in the early morning and cover the skylights in the kitchen as you can see in the picture. This made the kitchen slightly more bearable for most of the day and the house maybe a degree or two cooler overall. I have to say it was well worth it. Tonight seems to be the coolest night yet, so I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that we start to get a drop in temperatures. The weather report keeps promising one, but they are continuosly wrong…
My Haircut: It Was Time July 21, 2006
Posted by David in Personal, Podcasts.add a comment
Yes, it was finally time to get my haircut today. Earlier this week I trimmed my beard and this morning I got the hair trimmed. I’d feel cooler if it wasn’t actually hotter here today than yesterday. According to my thermometer outside, it reached about 94 degrees today. It was oppressively hot. It still is in most rooms of the house.
We have all the windows open and even had the doors open for a while, but it hasn’t made a large difference. At least it isn’t getting any warmer right now.
Now for the weekend plans. I plan to relax this weekend and do things I enjoy like read and probably go on the internet. On Sunday, we’ll be going to my Oma’s (Dutch for grandmother) house for my Uncle Michael’s birthday party. That should be fun. I wonder what my uncle will be cooking up for us…
Well, I’d better go. My computer is laboring in this heat. There is a reason that computer rooms tend to have AC. Unfortunately, we do not. It’s healthier for us this way, but not for our computers. Until next time, take care of yourselves. Oh, and listen to our podcasts Millionaire or Bust and Being Healthy with Talli. Talli and I posted the new shows early this morning.
Hair Issues July 17, 2006
Posted by David in Editorial, Personal.add a comment
Well, my beard and my hair had gotten a little larger than I would like. This picture shows it yesterday. I’m, planning to get a haircut a little later this week, probably on Saturday. Today, though, I trimmed the beard on the side of my face a little shorter. I left the front long for now though. I don’t want to go into shock from losing too much hair too quickly after all.
Maybe I’ll trim some more later this week. I haven’t decided yet. I started reading the novel Snow Crash that I mentioned the other day. So far, I have to say it’s a great book. It’s been about 36 hours since I started reading it and I’m around 2/3 of the way through it. I can’t imagine that I won’t finish it tomorrow. I’ll give you all my review after I’ve finished it.
Unfortunately, I still have some work to get too, so I’ve got to go. Last update. It is so freakin hot over here. I don’t know if I could go to sleep now if I wanted too.
Pond Cleaning Completed July 16, 2006
Posted by David in Garden/Pond.add a comment
I know that everyone has been wondering what has kept me too busy to post. Don’t worry, I’ve just spent two days cleaning out our pond after the death of all our fish. When I was almost done, I found out where the missing fish was. He was dead, hidden in a corner fold of the liner.
So, that’s done. Now I’m just going to wait for the pond to finish drying. That will be done by the end of today. I have all the plants in water filled tubs. The only thing left to do is finish scrubbing the milk crates I used to hold the plants.
So, I’ll get around to that later this week. I have a lot of things I need to get finished first. It will be better for the pond if I wait, since it will give time for whatever bacteria might be left to die off. We’ll be starting fresh. Nothing like a clean start!
