William Turns 1

William's Birthday

So Saturday was my nephew William's first birthday party.

He clearly enjoyed himself.

Sacramento Trip Recap Part III: Homeward Bound

So after the successful Pibb acquisition, we headed for home. Our departure time was about 6 PM, and based on how long it took us to get to SAC, and factoring in a now fully loaded trailer, I was not looking forward to the drive.

The drive home was even more uneventful than the drive up, with the exception that from about Valencia south, it was a battle to stay awake. This is because I had been awake since 3:45 AM and it was now after midnight. However, there was one aspect of the drive home that merits mentioning.

I have made the SAC to SAN (and vise versa) drive at least 6 times now, and each time I am extremely curious about a particular facility located off the 5 freeway on the Crows Landing exit. The exit is in the middle of nowhere, and can be placed in context by looking at this map.

Guarded by 40 foot fencing tipped with barbed wire, the multi-story facility is set a few miles off the freeway and is clearly visible in the distance. It is large, and has smoke stacks on top with white smoke coming out at times. I tried to take a picture, but the camera phone did not do it justice. I may post it anyway at a later date.

I need to know what this facility is. It looks like it could be a prison, but conspicuously absent are the hilarious "XXX Prison 2 Miles, Do Not Pick Up hitchhikers" signs. But what other kind of facility needs 40 foot razor wire fencing to protect it?

I am hereby offering a bounty for anyone who can provide me with evidence of what this facility is. Your prizes are: one can of Pibb, or $5. Your choice. I have tried google, I have searched high and low, and no leads. I need answers people.

Anyway, we got home around 2:30 AM, with a final tally of more than 1100 miles traveled in one 22 hour period. This surpasses my previous one-day driving distance record, set in 1997 when Jason and I drove from San Diego to El Paso TX in one shot, which was a mere 700+ miles.

I'm sure more stories and memories from the trip will emerge after I have more time to think about it, and I'll post addendums here when I remember. All in all, it was a fun time and I am greatly appreciative to Adam for his help, I could not have done it without him.

Now I just need to find someone to buy this spa...

Sacramento Trip Recap Part II (Pibb Run)

Adam with the Pibbs

So lets just say that the Rancho Cordova Food Source is now out of Mr. Pibb.

On the way out of town, we hit the Food Source for some Mr. Pibb in cans. Those who know me at all know of my deep-rooted affection for this tastiest of all soda concoctions, which to my great chagrin is unavailable in cans in San Diego. In fact, I have only been able to find it in Sacramento.

Now, if I was honest about the role having Pibb in cans played in my decision to relocate to SAC a year ago, all of you would immediately disclaim any knowledge of my existence and would likely never visit this blog again. So instead, I'll say this: there are only three things I now miss having re-located back to SoCal after my year in exile in SAC;

1) the few close friends I made while there,

2) CBS television shows being on an hour earlier than everywhere else on the West Coast (fewer TiVo conflicts, for example I could TiVo both ER and Without a Trace), and finally

3) having Pibb in cans.

So needless to say, I needed to stock up on Pibbs in cans, because this would be my last chance to get them. Also, there was a bit of serendipity to our last-minute Pibb-stop on the way out of town. You see, on my first trip to SAC for my interview with PJI, I stopped at that very same Food Source after my interview on the way back to the airport and bought 2 twelve packs of Pibb to bring home with me, just in case I didn't get the job and did not go back to SAC.

Well, I did get the job, and for the entire year-in-exile, had all the Pibb I wanted. So Saturday, as I left SAC for the last time (EVER), it was somehow fitting that I grab some Pibbs to go.

Final note on the Pibbs--Adam has promised to post a running count of his remaining Pibbs in the comment section of this entry as he drinks them. I will not be doing this because I will be hoarding my Pibbs indefinately, but this way I'll know when he gets low so I can hide mine.

Sacramento Trip Recap Part I

Clearly the real-time running diary was a bust. I have a myriad of excuses, from "it was hard to post while driving" to "I couldn't get a data signal on my PDA phone, so I couldn't email posts from the road."

However, the trip was essentially a success, and as promised, here is a basic recap:

We left at around 5 AM on Saturday morning, and made it to SAC a little before 2 PM. It was a fairly uneventful drive up, with the exception of the aforementioned tragic Spongebob sighting and Adam projectile sneezing an M&M miraculously on to his own cell phone rather than my car's upholstery. I may post a pic of this later, but this is a family Blog, and its not a pretty picture.

In any event, we made it to Sacramento, wrangled with the leviathan that is the freaking jacuzzi, and after about an hour and a half of hassle, were strapped down and ready to go.

At that point, it was decision time. It was about 4 PM, and we still were uncertain whether we were going to try to cannonball run back home Saturday afternoon, or stay the night in SAC at the home of one of my dearest friends and former PJI co-workers, Kathi.

Before officially deciding our fate, we met Kathi and her daughter Kimberly at Chili's for an early dinner. We had a wonderful time catching up; Kathi is getting married this June, and it was neat to hear how the plans are coming. I am honored to be an usher in the wedding, and will be posting pictures and recaps from the festivities after it happens. Suffice to say, however, you will want to tune in to this site on June 27th for a review of the the interesting pre-wedding entertainment she and her fiancee Roger have planned, involving a mix CD and "Behind the Music-style" interviews. Awesome.

Anyway, Adam and I decided that we had the energy to pull off the round-trip-in-a-day scenario, and elected to make a run for home Saturday afternoon. However, a final stop was in order...

6:06 AM, IRVINE

So we're off, not much to report, other than the discovery of the coolest radio station ever: 93.5 FM KDAY, where they play "hip hop hits of today and back in the day." I can't say enough about this, and considering the vast wasteland that is SD radio, we need a little KDAY down south ASAP.

Otherwise not much going on, got a bit of a late...wait, there has been a development. We have a Spongebob down, a Spongebob is down. Right here on the 5, in the carpool lane, an 8 foot Spongebob has been abandoned, probaby by someone who stole him from a Burger King.

A rescue mission was briefly contemplated, but ultimately we decided against it. Poor Spongebob...

Hitting the Road

So my brother and I are makng a quick trip up to SAC this weekend to pick up the last vestige of my and Rach's life in NoCal; our spa. Perhaps our worst purchase decision in a marriage marked by several major purchases (mostly good, some bad), the spa has been in "storage" in a friend's backyard up there since we moved. The $6k monstrosity is beautiful, worked flawlessly, and now is totally worthless to us since we live in a condo. Nonetheless, we are determined to recoup at least some of our investment one way or another, so Adam and I are off to retrieve it.

My goal for the weekend is to provide a running diary of our adventures...we'll see whether it works or not. We leave at 4 AM Saturday, and I am working on figuring out how to post both pictures and text from the road. If a real-time running diary does not work, a summary should be posted sometime Monday.

EDIT: Posting from the road should not be a problem, but you'll have to wait for pics until I come back and am able to upload.

William!

So this is little William, my nephew, who is will be a year old this May. The picture was taken at the model yacht basin near Mission Bay, while Adam was racing his model boats.

I took the picture with my new phone/pda/camera, and it actually came out pretty well.

Entry Two: Lets Give This Another Try

So I attempted to start this blog last August, and then the world intervened. Right after my very first post, I decided to leave my job in Sacramento. Then I got an offer to come back home to SD that was too good to pass up.

Then the holidays struck, followed immediately by a move. Then the settling in process, and the post-move hangover, then the job acclimation period, then...you have the idea.

So I am trying again. Since blogging is the really "in" thing to do (at least for about another month or two) I am compelled by my inner-ego to contribute my thoughts, ramblings, recaps, and perspectives on pretty much anythings that strikes me.

Ideally, I would love to get feedback, participation, exchange of ideas, and intelligent debate about the intellectual nuggets I deem worthy of discussing here. But that will require 1) that someone actually read this, and 2) that the same someone be interested/stimulated enough to inspire them to participate in the discussion. We'll see.

In any event, stay tuned.