The Adventures of Moose & Squirrel

My Cat is Cheating on Me

2007-11-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

I know. .I know.. I haven't written to the blog in a MONTH and THIS is the post that brings me back? But I had to write about it because I find it utterly hilarious.

I live in a 15-unit condo building, and have no private outdoor space. Therefore, my cats have no yard to patrol. No deck to sun themselves on. Basically no freedom (although they are quite spoiled!) Their "outdoors" is the hallway outside of my unit. They sit in front of my condo door and meow until I let them roam the hallway, sitting on the neighbors doormats until they come home and give them love.

About a week ago, Stinkey came home reeking of patchouli. I knew he had been in the neighbors house. I knew he was looking for love outside the home. Then today, he came home smelling like... (can you guess??).. marijuana!! And he's acting as if nothing happened. He apparently doesn't know that his whole head, and a little bit under his chin, is sporting some pretty strong evidence. He has a wonderful home. Plenty of food. Treats. Toys. Affection. Space to roam. And yet he whores around the hallway looking for love and drugs. I'm just waiting for the day when he comes home with a crack pipe and a "I love Unit 302" tattoo.

Maybe it's time for tough love. Tsk tsk tsk.

Happy Birthday to Moose!

2007-10-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday you poor poor man who HAS TO be in Mexico on his birthday touring tequilla distilleries
Happy Birthday to YOOOUUUUUU.

xoxoxo

Moose & Squirrel are Alive & Kicking

2007-09-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

OH MY! Where has the time gone!? I'll try to go back and fill in the details later, but here's a little synopsis of how my August and September hours were passed:

6 weeks of intensive Real Estate training by Zephyr. In addition to working full time, I spent every day, Monday through.. well... Monday, packing my brain full of real estate laws, best practices, horror stories, tips & tricks and very important lessons from the fantastic brokers @ Zephyr. This training included more than 30 action packed training classes that covered such things as: contracts, open houses and floor calls, agency relationships, disclosures, the MLS, writing and presenting offers, financial planning, technology for real estate, forms, condo and TIC issues, listing presentations, property inspection , farming (moo!), marketing properties, marketing ourselves, negotiating, home warranties, taxes, escrow, title (I can finally explain the value of that title insurance!), time management, financing, rent control, probate, disclosures, competitive market analyses, disclosures, managing a customer base, disclosures. Did I mention disclosures?

Other happenings:

A field trip to Probate Court to observe & learn
A seminar on property co-ownership by non-married individuals
A seminar on TIC ownership by one of SF's leading TIC specialists
Toured over 300 properties in San Francisco. Single family homes, condos, TICs, multi-unit buildings. I aways jot down notes for each property with my nerdy little clipboard, and endure endless "comments" from other agents about how they've never seen anyone with a clipboard before. Really? It's that unusual?
Hosted 6 Open Houses on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Toured the new high-rise developments in SOMA to learn about the neighborhood development and new luxury condos.
Bought my first smartphone and bluetooth headset. (For a technology person, I am somehow a late adopter when it comes to gadgets! I was forced to abandon my old philosophy of leaving work at the office for a more appropriate one of working all day, every day, from the car, from the nail salon, from the.. well.. that wasn't a flush you heard, that was the...errr.. garbage disposal. Anyway, I'm now wired 24/7.)
Set up my laptop so that I can write and submit offers from anywhere in the world as long as I have an Internet connection. Made A.T. promise that I would have high speed Internet and a fax before agreeing to go away for Thanksgiving. (WHAT is happening to me!!?)
Finally sent out my announcement emails (If you didn't get one, please let me know and I'll send you one!)
Worked on my business plan. Almost done!
And the best part.. working with my awesome clients (and writing offers!). It's amazing, the wide variety of personalities, tastes, and levels tolerance for things like noise, people, remodeling, height, numbers.. you name it, every one's got an opinion about it. Everyone is indeed a unique and special individual and I love getting to know them. Some are forthcoming, some are not. Some trust you automatically and others instinctively distrust you. Some are organized and prepared, and some leave that part to me. :) Overall, it's a wonderful experience to get out and meet all kinds of people that I wasn't exposed to before when I was confined to the cube and interacted primarily with other techies and businesspeople. Nurses, police men, musicians, entrepreneurs, dog groomers, event planners, caterers. All kinds of fascinating people.

Strangely that doesn't seem to convey everything that I've been doing. I wish that there was a less graphic way to say "running around like a chicken with my head cut off". But really, that's it. Y'all know how anal I am about keeping my little to do list up to date. I have been enduring endless stress over not feeling like I'm doing enough, while actually moving at 160 mph. It's crazy. So much to learn. Always so much to learn. Even after 10 years in the business, there will be a lot to learn. But the good news is that I LOVE IT. Never a second thought. Never a doubt. This is what I am meant to do.

For fun?

Hosted our annual Roof Deck Party
Welcomed AT's dad to SF for his annual visit
Our annual pilgrimage to central PA (Yeee-hawww! Ask A.T. how he liked being TAKEN for a ride on the 4-wheeler (ATV) by my 5-year old nephew.)
Passed one divine Saturday tasting wine and dining at the French Laundry with our favorite L.A. friends Mitch, Cynthia and Heather (and two friends).
Barely went to the gym or exercised
Barely slept
Hung out with Tania, my spectacular Little Sister
Didn't cook a single meal at home. (Okay, cooked 2 meals in 2 months!)
Enjoyed Lisa and Kris Bagchi's visit to SF
Went to Melicob's fabulous Pig Roast and Western Bday Party
Enjoyed a night of cocktails with Tod Stenger, visiting from Denver.
Ate a delicious meal with Shelley "Boots" Sanner from DC, who I have not seen in YEARS. Found out at the end of dinner that the guy at the next table had been carefully listening to every single word of our very private conversation, when he asked if he could comment on our discussion. (!!!!)
Joined the Commonwealth Club and attended several very interesting lectures.
Kevin & Kristen's lovely SF wedding (Kevin is my next-door neighbor)
Dinner with Nicole and Adam from Los Angeles (visiting SF with their fun friends Orion and Jamie)
Keeping Stefan out of trouble during his visit from Boston to SF (okay, we failed at that mission)
Laughing with Gabriel "I'm not fat, I'm fluffy" Iglesias with the BGI girls @ Cobbs Comedy club.
Multiple crazy, fun NEFF happy hours
Adam's going away party :-(
Attended the NOPA neighborhood meeting with Andrea. She wanted to see Gavin Newsom and I wanted to find out what's going on in that neighborhood so that I can keep my clients updated. I felt like a complete impostor at this very neighborhoody meeting, but alas, we sat in the second row and both stared at Gavin like crazed little schoolgirls. He is mesmerizing. Truly mesmerizing. Although after we left, Andrea said that every time I pulled out my notepad to write something down, Gavin looked down at me with a quizzical look. You know the look because all of you have done it. You think I'm writing something about you, when really I'm writing exciting reminders to myself like "pay for health insurance" or "drop off skirt for alterations". Sheesh. I guess no-one is immune to the self-consciousness that my handy dandy notepad evokes!

Okay, I've wasted enough time on personal things. Time to go back to work. It's 9:00pm. Where has the day gone!? Oy!

Squirel is Legal. Please buy a Tree

2007-08-07T23:19:00.000-07:00

Where do I even start? My mind is racing. Every day. Every night. I can’t sleep. I keep thinking of things to do. I can’t turn my brain off. I can’t even keep my to do list up to date. And y’all know how obsessed I am with a neat and orderly to-do list. I have pieces of paper with notes scribbled on them all around the house, car, and office. In fact, I’m not entirely sure why I’m spending time blogging. Perhaps it’s my escape. Or fear that I will get really really behind and never be able to catch up.

The good news:
1. My license came in on Friday. I’m official! I can now sell real estate. And she’s off!!!

2. I got my first Open House gig. This Sunday I will be hosting an Open House for a very successful listing agent, Rick Osmon. It’s a beautiful house on 24th & Dolores. $1,025,000 beautiful.

3. Zephyr new agent training started: I’m ready to go NOW, but every day from now till mid September, we’ll have 2-4 hours of training sessions every day, covering every subject area possible. And it’s a fantastic training plan. Training + Mentor = very prepared Sherri.

4. My business cards will be here on Friday: just in time for our BBQ and my open house. No more scribbling my name and number on the generic Zephyr card! Yay!

Today was another mad dash around the city to see how many properties I could view. I narrowed it down form 600+ properties to 40ish. I cut out the $15,000,000 home due to time constraints and the relative probability that I wouldn’t come across a $15,000,000 house buyer in the next month or two. You know, it’s not hard to find a Real Estate Agent on Tuesdays. Stand on any corner and look out for a Volvo or Mercedes.

Tuesday are a frenzied rush. I departed the house this morning prepared for the tour. I had my excel spreadsheet of houses I wanted to visit, ordered by the most efficient path through town (taking into consideration the 1.5 hour window that each property was open), with notes for Zephyr agent listings, houses offering snacks or lunch, and the importance of seeing each home (after all, I know I won’t actually make it to 40 houses in 5 hours). I also had my handy dandy clipboard. I appear to be the only agent in town who walks into an open house with a clipboard. I always take notes on each property. How else can you remember the details of each one? Last week, I was waiting for an agent to open the gate to her open house, and she asked what I wanted. She thought (because of the clipboard) that I was there taking a survey or trying to get signatures for a petition. !!! Is it really that odd to want to take some notes? Am I anal retentive or is everyone else under-prepared? (don’t answer that). I also packed my baggy of popcorn, a toothpick (for the pesky popcorn), a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, fresh cantaloupe, a Coke, water and some nuts. And some wet-naps to wash the cooties off of my hands before snacking. Yes, have to pack a lunch. There’s no time to stop anywhere for food, and if you leave it to the food that some agents put out, you might not find anything you like. I do, however, have at least one “brownie bite” every Tuesday. That’s the preferred dessert of SF agents, apparently. I still have to figure out where to go to the ladies room during tour day. Do I waste time by stopping at a restaurant, pretending to be a customer, and using the facilities? Is it uncouth to use the loo at an open house?

I have a newfound love for my car. The PT Cruiser is a real estate touring machine. I have renamed her “The R.E. Cruiser”. She zips through this city faster than any automatic-transmission Volvo. Her turning radius is stellar, and helps me snag a coveted parking spot across the street in seconds. She can park legally in those smaller spots between driveways that most other cars can’t fit into. I get a left leg workout from pushing the clutch all day. And most importantly, she’s a comfortable ride for the passengers. No, most importantly is that I don’t look like every other real estate agent out there! Although, I do have a little bit of Volvo XC90 envy, and today I found myself driving behind one at least 9 times.

A few questions that I pondered today while touring:

1. Why on earth would you remodel your kitchen and put in beautiful granite countertops with an OVERmount sink? The benefit of granite is that you can use the nice undermount sink so that you can push your crumbs directly into the sink without having to steer them off of the counter, into your hand (and on the floor) before depositing them in the sink.

2. If your listing is kind of moldy smelling, why not open a window or two?

3. Why don’t all parking police log onto the MLS to see where the open houses are every Tuesday and Sunday, then hang out by the properties and make their whole week’s parking ticket quota in one day? Please don’t tell any parking police officers about this idea, as I found myself double parking (gasp!) today when there weren’t any spots in a decent radius. But the thought did cross my mind.

That’s it for today, folks. I am frantically trying to get my website up & out (a very basic version.. the better one will follow in a month or two), do my training, prepare for our big BBQ on Saturday, prepare for my Open house, and become the real estate guru that I aspire to be (this category has about 257 items in it).

(subliminal message. Send me home buyers and sellers)

Calling all Dream Interpreters

2007-07-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

I often have very vivid dreams. They usually combine different areas of my life in some weird way. Perhaps an old college roommate is my boss at a company that I worked for 5 years ago and the office looks like AT's old apartment. You know.. a hodgepodge of memories, usually triggered by something that happened that day or whatever happens to be on my mind.

Well, a few nights ago, I dreamed that I was getting some stuff out of my car (a PT Cruiser). Oprah Winfrey walked by and swiped a beach towel. I was going to chase after her, but decided to let her have it. Then Ross the Intern from the Tonight Show came by and did the same. I also let him keep his towel. Suddenly, both of them were back, trying to steal my car. I woke up in the middle of the night yelling "HELP! HELP ME!!" and nearly scaring poor A.T. to death.

WTF? What on EARTH could this mean? Anyone? Any ideas at all? I just can't get my head around the significance of Ross the Intern and Oprah. ????????

Rookie Broker Touring

2007-07-24T21:29:00.001-07:00

Today Tara (my mentor) and I went out for the Rookie Broker Tour. This means that we would be seeing houses from 9am-4pm, all day, nonstop, all neighborhoods, all price points. We saw condos, TICs and houses from Seacliff to Excelsior. I asked to drive so that I would become more familiar with the roads/routes. I also wanted to make sure that my aggressive, stick-shift wielding, yell-at-pedestrians-who-aren't-looking-for-cars, curse-at-drivers-on-their-cell-phones-making-bad-moves style driving could be successfully toned down to a professional level. After all, I do not want to 1.) scare anyone or 2.) make anyone nauseous. (I wonder where I got that road rage from..hmm.. someone from Boston perhaps?) I think that Tara was so excited to be chauffeured around town that she didn't notice the driving! In any case, I seemed to pass the test. We had a lovely day, meeting agents, seeing great and not-so-great units, exploring the neighborhoods, talking about the market. Tara is getting ready to list a house, and she had 4 other agents come over to look at it and come up with the ideal listing price. I love the fact that Zephyr agents are so willing to help other agents! The best part of today.. no gym. Walking up steps all day is quite a workout in and of itself!

Do these pants make my butt look big?

2007-07-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

(Rhetorical question. I know they make my butt look droopy!)

These pant were the result of a leap of faith. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose.

A friend of mine had heard about this great tailor that comes to the US (from Thailand) once a year to take your measurements and custom clothing orders. He takes the information back to Thailand, has the suits made there, and mails them to you. They are a fraction of the cost of having them made in the U.S., but still expensive.

As a person embarking upon a new career, and someone who has been working in the super causal technology arena for the past 15 years, I thought this might be a good investment. A business suit perfectly fitted to my body. I can't even imagine! I can't buy a single pair of pants off the rack without having to alter them. Too short. To tight in the booty. Too big in the waist. A shopping *nightmare*.

I was aware of the risk, and quite worried about what would happen if it did NOT fit. How would they fix it? How would they know how *much* too big or small it is? I decided to have faith in the system that others swore by, and run with it. (In retrospect, these were all men who recommended him. Perhaps men's bodies are much easier to fit!?)

After a little over a month of anxious anticipation, the suit arrived! I rushed home to try on my new wardrobe gem. Uh oh. Not so good. Fantastic workmanship. Solid construction. But horrible fit. Shoulders too tight, arms too short, waist too big, butt too big, to name a few. I sent it back with a description of the problem and lots of pictures. (Thanks to photographer AT). I'm giving them once chance to fix it. I hope this works!!!

Zephyr: Shameless Self Promotion

2007-07-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

Whew! How is it that I haven't even received my real estate license yet, and I go to bed every night stressed out about the huge to-do list that I can barely chisel away at each day? I'll tell you how. There is so much to learn and do! A never-ending supply of research that I feel the need to complete before I get my license! At that point, I'll have to switch into prospecting full gear!

Today was fun. I had my photo shoot this morning. It's a little weird to be fussing over a photo so much, but the darn thing is going to be plastered on every piece of marketing literature I put out there. Business cards, property sheets, websites. I need to find a picture that says I'm warm, open, intelligent, and a savvy business woman. How can a picture say all of that? Below are the 6 "finalist" photos. Yes, I know the one on the top middle looks like I'm drunk and falling over. I wasn't. Well, not during the photo shoot. The picture looked normal before the bottom was cropped off. You see, I was leaning over to pet a cute dog while she was taking the pictures. Kidding! Very likely, but not true in this case.

I also met with the Zephyr marketing manager today to discuss my marketing plan. How exciting! After much deliberation, and several purchases on GoDaddy.com, I finally decided on my new real estate website. This site name will be on my business cards as well as the For Sale signs for my listings, and my Open House signs. Nobody will ever remember how to spell Sherri Shaffer, so I wanted something without my name. Something catchy. Something people would remember without having to write it down. I am going with www.dwellingselling.com! It should be up and running in a week or two, so stay tuned. Do you like it? Accurate description of my career? Yes. Silly? Heck yeah. Memorable? Absolutely!

Tonight I'm going to curl up with the list of Tuesday open houses and a glass of wine. :)

OomaSitting

2007-07-22T22:14:00.001-07:00

Oh, I love the fuzzy dog. I have been looking forward to my weekend of dog-sitting with Ooma for months. Melissa says that this may break me of my adoration for dogs. We’ll see about that! It’s pretty strong.

I started by visiting Ooma, the adorable fuzzy Labradoodle, after work. As I was driving to see her, I found myself speeding. I felt like I was driving to a first date! I couldn't wait to arrive and give her a good scratch. I returned later to spend the night, insistent on being productive and reading some important Tenancy in Common documentation while simultaneously petting her. She promptly put an end to any such thoughts and demanded my full attention.

She decided to wake me up several times to bark and growl, letting me know that the neighbors just arrived home from a night out. How sweet. (ahem). We shared the bed for a good night of sleep.. her with three quarters of it, and me with my measly quarter.

The next day we arose early for our field trip. We picked up my Little Sister, Tania, and headed to Fort Funston for some frolicking in the sun. When I was first matched with Tania almost 5 years ago, she was deathly afraid of dogs. I’m so proud of the progress she has made, as she was Ooma’s primary caretaker during the outing. Except for that whole poop-disposal thing. That’s where she drew the line and I had to stand in. Otherwise, she was the entertainer, ball-thrower, fresh-water-pourer, and leash-walker. Fort Funston is my Happy Place. So many fluffy dogs. Ahhh. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

Next, we took the beautiful but dirty dog to get a bath! Pet Food Express lets you wash your own dog on the cheap, so we stopped at the cash register to purchase a token “for two people who have never washed a dog in their lives.” The super friendly guy at the counter sent another employee with us for an orientation. There were several other gorgeous dogs there getting primped.

Tania led Ooma up to the bathing are (unaware of what was going to happen). We linked her collar to the wall, just in case. After careful consideration, we chose the mango shampoo and Tania went to work scrubbing down the very calm and composed puppy! After Tania’s careful and thorough scrubbing, we moved her to the drying station, only to find out that she was NOT going to allow us to blow dry her. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s mostly poodle and didn’t want us to give her a poodle-fro or if she didn’t like the noise. But she said No. No no no no no. So we went back to the counter and asked for a few more towels and did it the old fashioned way.

(going in for the wash)

(scrub a dub dub with mango shampoo)

(soaked canine)

(hand drying)

(clean pooch!)

Oomers and I spent the evening and following day together playing various games, like: ring-around-the-scooter, just-you-try-to-get-me-to-come-inside, I-bet-you-can’t-catch-me-sucker, bark-at-the-neighbors, bark-at-sherri-while-she-is-watching-a-movie, steal-sherri’s-pen and my favorite, refuse-to-pee-because-I-know-it-means-we-will-go-back-inside-right-away.

Overall, a very fun experience. Even if she woke me up and scared me half to death with her middle of the night barky fits, she knew how to cock her head to one side and give me those adorable puppy dog eyes that make me melt and forget how bad she can be!

Zephyr: Week One(half)

2007-07-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I call it a half-week because my new career is.. well.. it's NOT a M-F, 9-5 kind of job.

I started on Tuesday. Tuesday is broker's tour day. That means that all of the new houses on the market all across the city (and those who want extra attention) are held open so that real estate agents from every agency in the city can see them. The tour is organized in such a way that each neighborhood has their houses open during a particular time slot, so you work your way around the city in an orderly fashion. There are hundreds and hundreds of properties open, so it's important to have a good game plan. It's even more important to find a few open houses that are serving food! (What a fantastic way to get the other agents to show up!).

If you have current buyers, this is your opportunity to check out houses they might be interested in before you drag them to the house on Sunday. Better to not waste their time if they require space for a baby grand piano, and the property just doesn't have it! Also, if you have a seller, it's a great time to see what else is for sale in the neighborhood, how nice they look, and how much they are selling their unit for. Since I don't have any customers yet (because the Department of Real Estate is still processing my license application!), I'm using my Tuesdays to explore properties that I think my first customers might want, and also to get an idea of what is on the market. Basically, Tuesdays are spent wearing comfortable shoes and driving around town doing research. No need to hit the gym on Tuesdays. :-)

Wednesday morning is the Zephyr sales meeting. We have breakfast, talk about the market, learn a new tip, have interesting discussions, hear about what people sold that week, and have other agents present their new listings. Then we do another tour of all of the new Zephyr-Agent listings. Vroom vroom around the city again.

Thursday and Friday would normally be spent preparing for the weekend. I spent them preparing my marketing plan, finding a catchy domain name for my website, and reading up on TIC laws and financing. I also set up lots of meeting for next week. My photo shoot for my business card mug shot. My meeting with the marketing guru. And my get-logged-in-to-all-Zephyr-systems meeting. I also determined a neighborhood-research plan. I am familiar with most neighborhoods in the city, after being here for 9 years (!) but there are some that need more investigation. Every Friday I will explore a new area. I also printed out a list of all parking fines from the City of San Francisco. Since I will be driving and parking all day, along with hundreds of other agents, chances are I won't get rock star parking every time. This way, I'll be able to make an educated decision about which type of ticket I get. Hmm. Street cleaning is less than parking by a red curb. But if I don't see the street cleaner coming up the street, I can make it in/out without a ticket (they are easy to spot). I'll take street cleaning violation risk, please!

On Fridays we get a thick print-out of all of the houses/condos that will be on the following Tuesday's brokers tour. Just to give you an idea of the size. There are approximately 600 properties open next week. Obviously, you need to put some effort into mapping your route!

Saturdays and Sundays are open houses for the public. This is when prospective buyers can look at properties. If I had a buyer customer, I would be driving them around to look at houses that they might be interested in. This week, I spent Saturday with Tania and Ooma, and making a plan for Sunday. I think I will focus on districts 5 & 6 tomorrow. District 6, Central North, is Lower Pacific Heights, Alamo Square, NoPa, Hayes Valley, Western Addition. District 5, Central, is Mission Dolores, Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Twin Peaks, Haight Ashbury, etc. I'm going to be looking at Condo/TIC/Lofts up to $700k.

Mondays are typically filled with faxing offers, making counter offers, tying up loose ends from the weekend.

And once you have something in contract, every day consists of following up with the customer, title company, inspectors, and everyone involved to make sure the deal goes through smoothly!

I a few months, I'll pretty much know every street, every alley, every dead-end road, every hill's elevation. So if you need any directions, call me up. What? You need to know where Uranus is? I can help you with that. I saw a house on Uranus last week. Baaah! Okay, sorry. I couldn't help myself. I do love the scatological humor! And I really did see a house on Uranus, too. It was very nice. I would live on Uranus. Baah. I just can't stop!

So far, I'm loving it. Sure, I have no customers or pay. But I love it! The only problem is going to be making sure that I still get to see Tania on weekends, since I now work 7 days a week!

So, who wants to buy or sell a house with me? ;-)

Hire me, please.

2007-07-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

The interviewing was fun, but exhausting. My first meeting was with Zephyr's Upper Market office. I have to say that the sales manager there just blew me away. She was energetic, direct, on-point, efficient with her use of the interview time, motivating, and just plain cool. I knew from that moment that I wanted to join her at Zephyr. But of course, I had to interview elsewhere to make sure I was making the right decision.

My other interviews were essentially wasted time. After Zephyr, all other agencies felt corporate, dry, stereotypical, disconnected, traditional. Boring. Some of the people were great, by my overall feel for the other offices was.. well.. the best way that I can describe it is that Zephyr felt like the dot com boom (energy, enthusiasm, self-motivation) and the others felt like the insurance business (zzzzzz). I could be wrong, but I like to follow my gut feeling in matters like these.

The Zephyr sales Manager (whom I will call "D") invited me to join the city-wide Zephyr sales meeting the following day. We had breakfast at 8:30am, followed by the high-energy sales meeting. Then the entire clan of agents caravaned around the city to take a peek at all of the new Zephyr listings that were put on the market that week. I *loved* the cohesiveness of the group. D made sure that I met several new agents so that I could ask them about their first 6 months. She also found someone for me to caravan around the city with. This fabulous agent had a very slow start her first year, but rebounded with a great second year. She was a fantastic resource to let me know what it's like to work there, as well as work for D. Her insight was invaluable! (Plus, she was cool!). I left the sales meeting with: 1.) 100% certainty that this is where I wanted to be and 2.) two really bad blisters on my toes. I made a rookie mistake. Never, EVER wear cute heels on Open House days. There are many stairs to be tackled on these days. Comfort is key. It's certainly not a desk job! (yay!)

Thursday, I went back into Zephyr for a tour of the office where I would be working. D showed me where I WOULD (not “could”) be sitting (sharing an office with a Top Producer, who could be my mentor). I like her style.. Assume The Sale! I participated in the office's weekly meeting. I was concerned about the fact that the next new-agent training wouldn't start till September, but D came prepared with a list of things I could do for my first 8 weeks. Combined with my own personal list, I wouldn't be lacking in the work department! I cannot start representing buyers/sellers until my license is issued by the state (I'm just waiting for them to get through the paperwork now), but I sure will be ready when it is issued. I was once again impressed, but not surprised, by D's preparedness, and uncanny ability to answer my questions before I have voiced them. Yes, this is the place for me. A fun staff. A beautiful office near my home. A lot of interaction with other agents. A fantastic, straight-shooting sales manager. Yes. I'll take it. When can I start?

I decided to cut the interview process with other agencies short. I had seen enough. Whenever I was in the Zephyr offices my gut screamed "Yes!". So I took it. I start next Tuesday!! D will be out of town, but I have plenty to keep me busy. Looking at houses. Studying contracts. Preparing my marketing plan. Oh yes. Plenty!

I am SO excited I feel like I am going to burst!

Zephyr's Web Site

University of Pennsylvania in SF

2007-07-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

This week AT's college friends took over San Francisco for Major League Baseball's All-Star Game week. We got to see Susan (from AZ), Noam (from NYC), and their friends Marcy and Amish (sp?) who also happened to go to U Penn.

We took them to a very nice restaurant for dinner. Our favorite Indian restaurant, Pakwan. Where the food is divine, vegetarians and carnivores alike can be appeased, and 6 people can have a feast for $58.

Then we went to Cantina, a fantastic new bar in SF that serves up some of the very best fresh-fruit cocktails. As a cocktail snob, AT has given this place the seal of approval, so you know it must be good!

Later in the week, Noam managed to get some tickets to the Homerun Derby for AT and I. It was a gorgeous sunny day at Pac Bell Park..

Perfect for eating some ball park sausage..

One day I'll get on a kayak and watch the ball game from the cove..

Boston

2007-07-05T00:55:00.001-07:00

What a whirlwind of activity! As usual, our extra-long weekend in Boston was filled with family, friends and food. Here are some of the highlights..

Lunch at Legal Seafood with Ophelia (AT’s mom). AT used to be a manager at Legal Seafood, so we like to stop in and have some of his favorite foods when we’re back east. This meal featured: fish chowdah, lobster bisque (for me), a clam roll (with clam bellies), bluefish pate, and grape nut pudding. No, they don’t actually have grape nut pudding on the menu anymore, but after AT expressed his disappointment at it’s removal from the menu, the waiter let us in on a little secret.. they have a special stash of it in the kitchen for occasions like this where someone comes looking for it!

Dinner and drinks with Stefan, Sophie, Andrea, Cave, Scott O’Donnell and others at Eastern Standard. It was GREAT to see Scotty O (who used to live in San Francisco) after several years. He’s in Real Estate, so I picked his brain and got some good advice about entering the field. After the group broke up (most of them had to go to work the next day!), AT and I went to Silver Tone (his favorite Boston bar.. his “Cheers”). His favorite bartender, Cedric, moved to Florida (boo), but Michael was! After mixing us delicious cocktails, Michael informed us that Cedric was, in fact, back and Boston and managing a new bar called BeeHive. Obviously, we had to get just “one more” cocktail at BeeHive. After a warm welcome from Cedric & others (AT is unforgettable), we sat at the end of the bar and chatted with a fantastically energetic guy named Newman. Newman is the white version of Jonathan Speed. And we love Speedo. So we hung out with Newman for one MORE cocktail, but then we had to leave so that we could get to New York Pizza before it closed. YUM YUM YUM. We love that NY style pizza.. the real stuff. Not that stuff they serve in SF and CALL New York pizza. Nothing like a great late-night slice of delicious pizza.

AT’s family reunion. Technically, it was Ted & Ruth’s 50th wedding anniversary. But really, the event served to reunite many of the Howe clan. Sadly, many of the West Coast contingent didn’t make it, as all of the flights from the Bay Area were canceled on Thursday and Friday. Thank goodness we left on Wednesday! But it was fun to meet all of the great people that I had heard so much about. The food was tasty, the speeches incredibly moving. I was inspired by all of the tributes to Ted and Ruth. They are two phenomenal people who have made a big impact on everyone from their children to complete strangers. I can only hope that my life will be as meaningful and fulfilling as theirs (I know, for that I’ll need some kids. Hopefully one day!)

Fabulously delicious ice cream from Toscanini’s. For AT? Burnt Vienna Fingers. For me? Ginger Slap Molasses.

Reading my Real Estate Practice book whenever I could sneak it in. (No rest for the unemployed!)

A tasty dinner with Stacey at 647 Tremont. Stacey is here in the States, getting ready for her upcoming wedding to Nelson. (Congratulations!!) Since I won’t get to see Stacey in London on my business trips anymore (boo), it was great to see her Stateside! After dinner, we went back to the BeeHive to see Cedric again, but the bar was packed packed packed. We could have edged our way in, but we all knew that we’re just too old for that stuff! Being packed in like sardines? Having to push your way to the bar to get a cocktail? No thank you! We went next door for a nice, civilized glass of wine.

Watching the huge wild turkey in Stefan’s back yard.

I saw a residential building with the name “Bacon Chambers” prominently displayed above the door. I want to live there. It’s right down the street from “Redneck’s BBQ”

Visiting Cave and Fleur. Cave is AT’s friend from childhood. Fleur is my favorite dog in the world. She’s a beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog, and I can’t get enough of her!

Brunch with David and Tawnya (who I met on a Habitat for Humanity trip to Uganda in 1999) and Heather (who I met in San Francisco years ago). We had a lovely meal at their home, and got to meet their two sons. I have been bad at keeping in touch and haven’t seen any of these three in YEARS, so it was fantastic to finally catch up on those lost years!

Lunch with AT, Ophelia, Arnold and myself. Ophelia whipped up a very SCRUMPTIOUS meal, aptly titled “Ophelia’s Casserole”. It was a delicious meal of ground beef, vegetables, tomatoes, chili powder, and baked with a cornbread topper. YUM. I * must * have this recipe!

Stealing Swedish Fish out of Stefan’s kitchen cabinet. We found his bulk package of the fish on the first day. Jackpot!

Being two of the 11 people on our very-delayed flight home. Receiving first class meals, and our own private rows in the airplane. Getting home a day before our luggage.

Oh, and there’s more. But it’s late and I can’t remember it now.

It was a fantastic getaway. Now, back to reality!

I PASSED!

2007-06-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

Hooray! I passed the California Real Estate licensing exam!
That means, I just need to file the necessary paperwork, and I'll get my license.
Step 1 = accomplished!

The UpSide of Redundancy...

2007-06-27T00:13:00.000-07:00

.. is having to use all of your flexible spending money quickly.
I bought FOUR new pairs of glasses! (That makes 17).
Mwaaaa haa haa haa haa!

Exam Day with the State of California

2007-06-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

I spent this past weekend, this beautiful sunny weekend, cooped up in the Kaplan learning center, taking a 2-day intensive Real Estate licensing exam preparation class. I have studied my text book, my exam prep book, my Kaplan test prep materials, my flash cards, my sample paper tests from 3 sources, my practice CD, my real estate dictionaries. I've read and re-read it and re-re-read it. Repeated it out loud. Studied in the lazy-boy, on the sofa, at the kitchen table, at the desk, on the floor, in bed. I've gotten out of bed by 7:30 every day, and stayed up late reading. My brain is full. It's also a bit mushy and melted from the heat that this frantic burst of activity has generated! And I'm ready. I'm SO ready for this exam.

This morning I went to the State Building in Oakland to take the exam. I wasn't nervous at all. After 30(!!) minutes of instruction, and 90 minutes of filling in the dots, I left the building, relieved! It's over! No more cramming! Hooray!

Time to go to Boston for a few days, relax, and celebrate!

Ok Ms. Lower Back, are you happy now?

2007-06-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Lower back,

I have given up the sedentary lifestyle for you. I pledge to never go back to the cubicle lifestyle unless absolutely necessary to survive. I pledge to get you more exercise on a regular basis. To stretch you. To strengthen you. Oh, and while I’m at it, I’ll get you a few shots of cortisone to make you feel better.

Talk about a turbulent week! Losing my job. Chronic un-diagnosable back pain. Sheesh. Time to get more aggressive. I had 3 cortisone shots into my lumbar spine to try to get rid of that annoying pain. I was informed that they should kick in from 2-14 days after the procedure. I spent the first day waiting. Second day waiting. Third day = relief! Fourth day = pain. Fifth day = relief. Oh, for goodness sake, get me off of this roller coaster! Sixth day = relief. Hooray! The cortisone seems to have worked. THANK YOU modern medicine!

Lower back, are you happy now? I’ve given you everything you have asked for!

And another one bites the dust...

2007-06-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

It's happening again.
I have had nightmares of this scenario.
I'm losing another great friend to the East Coast.
This time, it's G.
G-Money.
G-Love.
The G man.

I met Girish eight years ago. He was one of my first friends in San Francisco. We met at the Union Street fair, where he and my roommate, Ann-Marie recognized each other across a crowded outdoor beer-area. They had met briefly in Chicago when Girish came into Ann Marie's store to purchase some skin care products for his sister. What are the odds that they would meet again.. AND recognize each other?

Throughout the years, Girish has been a SOLID friend. During the dot com boom, when I was stressing myself out with 80-100 hour work weeks, G would pry me away from my desk for dinners. The moment I hopped into his car, all of my stress faded away. He made me laugh and forget about everything that was going on. Girish was (and still is) an oasis.

And that's just the beginning. G is always happy. Always supportive. Always uplifting. Always helpful. Always fun. Always game for trying something new. Always put a smile on my face. Always the kind of person that everyone wants to be around.

And it SUCKS that he's leaving. Booooo.

Philadelphia, I hope you know how lucky you are.

(I'll miss you, G!)

(bye Charlie!)

Successful Blind Girl Date!

2007-06-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

That's right. I had a very successful blind-girl-friend-date this week!

Many of my good girlfriends have moved away over the past few years. While I know it's too much to ask to find another Lisa (Bagchi), I'm always on the lookout for fun, outgoing, confident, intelligent women to hang out with. I even have A.T. on new-girlfriend-patrol (and he found me Carolyn at tennis!).

While in L.A. recently, our new friends Heather and Becky told me that they know a fun and sane girl in San Francisco. Despite some oh-so-scary attempts at finding female friends in the past, I decided to give it a shot. I called her up and set up a date.

It was a Thursday, so we started out at Diageo happy hour (of course!). We had a few cocktails with A.T., then went to Bar Bambino for a delicious dinner. I had a fantastic time, and can't wait to hang out again. Lisa is very fun, open, caring, down-to-earth, silly, smart, daring, honest, and beautiful. Someone who likes athletic daytime stuff like hiking as well as those nighttime outings to drink, dance and mingle. I think I found a new partner-in-crime!

But I'll have to wait a few weeks to see her again, as I will be studying my booty off for the Real Estate licensing exam, and she is taking a group of students to Kenya.

The Deep End

2007-06-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

To answer everyone’s questions, no I’m not going to take some time off and travel the world. If I were going back into the same career? Sure, I’d go for a spin around the world. But as I’m moving into a commission-based job, I better get moving, and fast!

To get your Real Estate Salesperson license in California, you need to take 1 course (Real Estate Principles), sit for your state exam, then you get your conditional license, which is good for 18 months. Once you take 2 additional courses, your license becomes a full, 4-year license. As a Salesperson, you must work for a Real Estate Broker.

To get your Real Estate Broker’s license, you must take 8 courses, then pass the state licensing exam.

I purchased all of the courses necessary to get my Broker’s license, but since I would like to start working ASAP, I will get my Salesperson’s license first, then finish up the additional courses over the next few months and sit for the Brokers exam.

Dannnng, that’s a lot of reading! But fortunately, I love being in school. Strange, I know..but true. The next few weeks, I am going to eat, breathe, and sleep Real Estate. My goal is to take and pass my state licensing exam before AT and I leave for Boston on June 27th. Can it be done?

Farewell Cubicleland!

2007-06-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

It’s the end of an era. No more popping up over my cubicle walls like a prairie dog to talk to my coworkers. No more sitting in a chair all day. No more staring at a computer screen till my eyes hurt. No more carpal tunnel.

On Monday, June 11th, I went to a meeting that I had set up with my boss’s boss to discuss my frustrations about my current project (mainly, the difficulty in performing my role in San Francisco while the rest of the team was based in London). I was greeted by her (via phone), her boss, and a representative from HR. (Uh oh!). I was informed that my position was being moved to London (which makes perfect sense). However, this change would make my position here in San Francisco “redundant”. Wow! I did not see that one coming!

I spent a few days feeling a bit disconcerted, but strangely enough.. liberated. After the initial shock wore off, I realized that this really was going to be a great opportunity for me, and just the kick in the pants that I needed. I was long overdue for a career change. My lower back had been requesting a job that does not require so much sitting / inactivity, and had been voicing it’s unhappiness lately.. a LOT. Yes indeed, it is time for a change.

Oddly enough, for the past year or so I have been brainstorming/daydreaming about potential new careers. Ideally, I would work for a non-profit, but sadly, non-profit work won’t pay the mortgage! Some of the new-career-finalists were: event planning, life coaching, teaching, opening some type of dog service (grooming/walking/boarding), opening a big-bra store and single-handedly eliminating every saggy/bisected/misshapen/flattened/misplaced breast in America and beyond, and…. the ultimate winner.. REAL ESTATE. Seeing as I am interested in a career that gets me out of the office, allows me to be social, and constantly exposes me to new people.. this seems to fit the bill. Add to that my fascination with properties, and I think I found a winner.

Yes, I know it's a competitive field. Yes, I know it's not the best market. Yes, I know I'll be working on commission (yikes!). But this time I'm following my instinct for a career that I will enjoy, not my wallet. Period.

So there you have it. Out with the old. In with the new. Wish me luck on my new endeavor!

p.s. thanks to all of my fantastic friends who were so supportive during this weird and sometimes quite stressful phase!

p.p.s. thanks to all of m former colleagues who were outraged and angry on my behalf, when I couldn’t be. That was really sweet. Despite the suckiness of the “redundancy”, it’s a blessing in disguise. Hopefully you won't get "Shaffered" too.. unless you want to be!!! : -)

Press Your Luck

2007-06-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

A guy walks into a doctor’s office and says, “Doctor, it hurts when I do this..” The doctor says, “So don’t do that!”

If only I could be such a smart patient. But I decided to drive to Los Angeles with A.T. instead. Who can pass up a road trip? Besides, if it hurts when I sit, that big fat corporate ride of his has a nearly full recline on the passengers side. I can lay down for a while (not out of character for me on a long road trip.) A.T. had to be in L.A. for work (a golf tournament) on Monday anyway, so why not accompany him on the drive and spend a few days exploring down south?

After a quick and relatively traffic-free commute to L.A., with the obligatory get-out-and-stretch stops and a tasty layover at In-N-Out burger, we rolled into Casa de Mitch in time for the festivities. Mitch has a fantastic setup. He sits on his cute little front deck every Friday after work, watches the cars go by, sipping cocktails or beer, and welcoming all his friends and neighbors as they eventually join him in his Friday merriment. Mitch’s full bar and keg full of home brewed beer await his smiling guests. There is no plan for the evening. No one calls ahead to confirm that they are coming. People just show up. At some point, the group orders dinner. His latest entertainment option? His Nintendo Wii.

Now, I am not a video game person at all. Not since Atari have I been addicted to a video game. Frogger. Donkey Kong. You know, Old School. However, I decided to try my hand at Wii bowling, tennis, and baseball. So much fun!! I’m very glad that lazy kids and adults all around the world will be getting some exercise with their gaming! To say that A.T. was taking his game seriously is an understatement. I video taped his first few matches because the grunting noises coming out of his mouth made me giggle like a schoolgirl. Email me for a copy. Hah!

But I digress. We had a lovely night at Mitch’s place in Santa Monica, filled with friends, good conversation, and entertainment. Heather brought fresh strawberries from the farmer’s market, and A.T. delighted the guests with several variations of a fruity strawberry drink that left all of the girls drooling for more. He also taught the ladies how to make the cocktails themselves, so that they can muddle their way to popularity at their next event.

I am envious of Mitch’s role as the Social King of Santa Monica. He has surrounded himself with a phenomenal group of friends. Mitch was talking with a young lady once. When he told her where he lived, she asked “Do you live near those people who party every weekend?” to which he replied, “I *AM* those people”. Apparently there was no further contact from said woman. Ouch! Nicole and Adam, neighbors, had felt the merriment emanating from Mitch’s house several times and wanted in. They came by one day and offered up a whole cheesecake (from The Cheesecake Factory!). They said that they had somewhere to be that night, so they couldn’t stay, but they definitely wanted to join the fun at a later time. Mitch wasn’t sure if the cheesecake was poisoned or not, but the crowd finished off the cake without any trouble. Shortly thereafter, Nicole and Adam became a regular part of the crowd, and very proud of bribing their way into the festivities.

Saturday I woke up with a very very achy back. Drats. Must have been that long car ride. Or that really uncomfortable sofa bed. (Mitch says his dad thought it was VERY comfortable. But if it was so comfortable, why did his dad give it to Mitch!? Hmmmm? Very suspicious!). A.T. and I went for a very lovely breakfast, followed by a walk along the ocean (looking for dogs to pet and movie stars to leer at), and a cruise down the Santa Monica Pier for a ride on the ferris-wheel-like ride. After that? Another dog-stalking walk home, a nap, and a trip to Pinkberry. A.T. has been told that if you are in L.A. you MUST try this frozen yogurt, so we set off without a map to find the closest one. (Reminder: we are map people). As soon as I told A.T. that he was absolutely going the wrong way and that we needed to backtrack, the Pinkberry appeared. (magic!!). Pinkberry is a frozen yogurt of the sour (surprise!) variety. They have regular & green tea, and lots of tasty toppings. I chose the regular yogurt with Fruity Pebbles and Captain Crunch. A.T., who as a child was not allowed sugared cereals as a child, chose the kiwi, mochi and mango. Very tasty indeed.

Saturday night, we met up with Cynthia (Mitch’s lovely lady), Becky, Heather and Alex for (surprise!) cocktails at a bar that supposedly boasts one of L.A.’s finest bartenders. That’s quite a claim to make to A.T., who reads cocktail blogs for a living! So we went there for a sip before heading out to the Culver City Art Walk. The bartender was OKAY, but after seeing Chris MacMillan in New Orleans, we were spoiled. I didn’t particularly care for any of the bartenders-choice drinks that he brewed up for our group. To be honest, AT can do a better job! But this showmanship was very good. He set a lot of things on fire. He mixed everything in a pitcher full of ice instead of shaking it. Lots of razzle dazzle. And we all had a great time. Did I say we stopped in for one drink? Six or seven rounds later, we were running down the street, trying to catch a bus to the restaurant so that we weren’t late for dinner! (Public transit in L.A.???) Fortunately the restaurant also had an attached art gallery, so technically we did do the Art Walk and did not abandon it entirely. We had a delicious meal, stopped in for a horrible margarita at the Mexican restaurant next door, went back to the first bar for our “free” round of drinks, but I was so tired that I fell asleep at the bar (how gauche!). We tried to call a cab, but 45 minutes later (or so it seemed when I was sit-sleeping), AT was sober and he drove us home. Did you know that it’s darn near impossible to get a cab in Los Angeles? Sheesh.

On Sunday we had a very delicious brunch at Nicole and Adam’s house. Then we went on a mission to uncover the truth about El Pollo Campero. Back in January, when AT & I were flying home from San Salvador, we noticed an odd phenomenon. We saw 27 boxes of El Pollo Campero (El Salvadorian version of KFC) enter the airplane. Not a single person ate any chicken before, during or after the flight. When going through customs, we though surely they would confiscate this food. Customs didn’t bat an eye, nor did they inspect any of the chicken boxes. Hmm. Odd. We finally asked what was up with the chicken and were told that people bring it home to their families. Wow! That must be some GOOOOOD frickin chicken! Sometime a few months later, A.T. found out that there are, in fact, some El Pollo Camperos in Los Angeles. We set out to find one and uncover the mystery of this poultry to tasty that customs turns a blind eye to it crossing the border. The verdict? Pretty delicious! A light and very crispy coating with yummy spices, very tender and juicy on the inside. Served up with fried plantains and beans. We weren’t disappointed. The restaurant was BOOMING. At first we were intimidated by this chicken-crazed crowd, and didn’t know where the “line” started, but the 20-person-deep queue moved very quickly. With the exception of the pair behind us, we were the only non-Central-Americans in the place, which lends to its authenticity. But I do wonder… does it taste the same here as it does in El Salvador???

After the chicken-hunt, we went to visit Mitch’s parents in their FABULOUS beachside home. Mitch let me drive his snazzy electric car. (Did you know that you could squeal the wheels when taking off in an electric car?) Their front porch overlooks the bike path, about one block north of Venice beach. Mitch’s dad introduced a very excited A.T. to the concept of the pickled brussell sprout martini.

Back to Mitch’s house for another social gathering. A crowd assembled yet again to grill some food, mingle, and watch old-school Family Feud (with Richard Dawson in his snazzy polyester suits), Press Your Luck (big bucks! no whammies!), and Entourage. Sadly, I had to depart to go to the airport. What a fabulous little weekend getaway. I never did see anyone famous. Perhaps next time. I just want to see how tiny they really are in real life, compared to a normal person!

p.s. that back pain? It wasn’t from the ride down. It was from the Wii sports!!!!

Sherri's Graduation

2007-05-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

Good news! Sherri has graduated from Daily-Nasty-Back-Pain-School and has now entered into Daily-Annoying-Pinchey-Feeling-University. I'll take it! It kind of feels like someone is pinching the inside of my left butt cheek all day. I'm trying to think of it as a good thing. I imagine that A.T. is following me around all day squeezing my tushy because it's so cute. (I know, it's a stretch, but suspend disbelief for a moment.. I am). I'm back to work in the office (Hooray!), and am able to sit all day without writhing in pain. (Double Hooray!) Now, if we could just get this nuisance pain to turn around and go home like Delta and Dawn, the two wayward whales that (until today) were stuck in the SF bay...

Memorial Day 2007

2007-05-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day 2005: Camping on Angel Island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay.
Memorial Day 2006: Renting a house with friends along the Russian River.
Memorial Day 2007: Painting AT's baseboards.

Ha! Okay, it's not THAT dull. But we did paint most of his baseboards. :)
What else did we do?

Friday afternoon, we stumbled across a new restaurant just a block away, called Bar Bambino. We went back for dinner that night and had an AMAZING meal. This is an adorable little (and I do mean little) wine bar/restaurant on 16th & Mission that just opened 3 weeks ago. They have their own salumi chef guy (who carves meats & cheeses), an extensive and tasty tapas-style Italian menu (with plenty of veggie options, so we'll be taking Stefan there when he comes to visit!), and a great wine selection. We were happy with everything we got, and can't wait to o back to try even more tasty morsels. YUM!

On Saturday Sherri got acupuncture while AT played tennis. Then we went out with Rob & Heather to try another new restaurant in our neighborhood, Weird Fish. It was weird. And it was fish. But I don't think we will be going here again. Lots of fried stuff. Nothing special. Oh well, it was fun exploring a new place. Man, oh man, we need to re-implement the Mission food moratorium and get out to other parts of the city for nourishment!

On Sunday we spent the morning watching the Carnivale parade. The Mission, our neighborhood (or barrio, if you are so inclined), is a predominantly Latin-American neighborhood. Carnivale is the annual parade and festival that celebrates the heritage of our residents. In the parade, you will find a float from nearly every Latin American country (no matter how large or small the population in the Mission), dancers in traditional costumes from each country, kids from local schools playing in their band or singing and dancing in costumes, (some choreographed, some quite freestyle), and other fun things like the SF Garbage Men (for real) doing a synchronized garbage can drill. It's a very family-focused event, with a lot of liveliness, energy and fun. And food. How could I forget the food?! For the Festival part of the event, they blocked off 8 long blocks of Harrison street and filled it with food vendors offering cuisines from around the world, multiple stages with live music, people selling arts, crafts and other wares, games for the kids, and.. of course.. Diageo booze (Cuervo and Crown Royale were sponsors). And you know what festival food means, right? MEAT ON A STICK! Yum. A personal favorite.

We ate:

pupusas (El Salvadorean soft corn shell stuffed with beans & cheese)
Jamacian fried chicken
funnel cake (to soothe Sherri's PA dutch roots. fried dough! mmm!)
lumpia (Filipino fried meat rolls)
Filipino BBQ chicken (on a stick)
pancit (Filipino noodles)

Here are some photos from the morning:

Adorable girls dressed in blue:

Traditional Bolivian costumes:

Traditional.. uh.. errr.. uhhhh. I have no idea.

FOOD!

A.T. says, "This is the ONLY time you're going to see a Starbucks in the Mission" (referring to the mobile cart they brought in for the festival.)

Sunday afternoon, Sherri went on a SF City Tour of the Victorian Houses with Allison. (Happy Birthday Allison!). We had a fantastic time. Not because the tour was good, but because the tour guide was so freaking funny (in an incompetent kind of way). Despite it all, we did end up learning the difference between an Italianate Flat, Italianate 5-side/slanted bay, San Francisco Stick, Queen Anne tower, Queen Anne Row house, and an Edwardian house. And, of course, we now have a trained eye that can quickly call out the many "misguided improvements" that have mangled original Victorian architecture.

Sunday evening Sherri talked A.T. into a fine dining experience at Red Lobster. (I wasn't supposed to tell anyone). I thought it would be fun to do a little Central-PA-Role-Play and go out for a big meal at the Lobster. Plus, A.T. had a gift certificate to burn. We put it towards our tasty and bottomless basket of CHEESY BREAD. Yum. AT, as a former manager at Legal Seafood, had a hard time walking in the door, but the food was actually okay and we got to try the Parrot Bay coconut shrimp. (AT's company makes Parrot Bay rum). So technically, we can say that this was a work-research trip for A.T.. That might make him feel better. Tee hee.

Later Sunday evening, we were joined by Rob and Heather for an excursion to a tiki bar in Alameda. This was the third time that A.T. and I left the city this weekend (a record!). But this was a fabulous little find, and was absolutely worth the trip. Forbidden Island is the name. They have phenomenal drinks. Lots of foofy girly drinks for Sherri, and a rum selection that made at drool. Rob and Heather thoroughly enjoyed the adobo beef rolls and the delicious coconut shrimp! This place is so fun, we will definitely cross the Bay Bridge to visit again, and soon!

Monday morning we went sink and bathroom fixture shopping (AT's favorite pastime. Kidding!), then we painted the baseboards throughout most of his house. After our old, creaky, achy backs couldn't take it anymore, we called it a day (the bedroom and office can WAIT!), and dined on delicious Mediterranean food, and watched a really stupid movie.

It's official. I'm addicted.

2007-05-26T10:20:00.001-07:00

So I was in my car yesterday, and I was listening to a song on the radio. Yes, radio. Not a CD. The radio. At one point, I couldn't quite understand the lyrics, so I (absent mindedly) reached down to the radio to rewind the song and listen again. Rewind live radio. Hello? You can't rewind live radio like you can rewind live TV with your beloved TIVO. This is a sign that I need to stop watching so much TV with TIVO. Sheesh. Thank goodness the TV season ended last week!

From the Jaws of Short Term Disability...

2007-05-24T20:50:00.001-07:00

Holy crap. A HR representative from my company let me know that if an employee misses more than 5 consecutive days of work due to an illness, they go on Short Term Disability. Say what? Oh no. No no no no no. I can't do Short Term Disability. That just makes me sound pathetic and weak. No can do. Sure, it pays 100%, so no financial loss. But emotionally that would really schtink. So I'm going to do whatever the heck I have to do to NOT go on STD. I've been working partial days at home while desparately searching for a way to make the sitting-pain stop.

I certainly hope that with seven trained professionals working to solve the case of the achy breaky back, someone is sure to crack the case! Here’s who I’m currently seeing for this issue:

Primary Care Physician
Chiropractor
Orthopaedist
Neurosurgeon
Acupuncturist
Personal Trainer
Massage Therapist

If you can think of any other type of healer that I should be seeing, by all means let me know!

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

Anti-inflammatory drugs (not working)
Chiropractic manipulations (apparently not working!)
Wishful thinking
Stretching sessions (should be good, but often feel bad afterwards)
Getting out of the house on weekends to avoid cabin fever
Walking/elliptical (backwards) to keep joints moving (feels good, but not fixing anything)
Looking at old marathon/triathlon pictures with a healthy dose of melancholy
MRI (results show it’s not another ruptured disk.. hooray!.. however, it might be worse that there is no visible problem to treat).
Core strengthening (always a good thing)
Swimming
Asking my cats to walk on my back
Deep tissue massage (coming up tomorrow. Jeff Cope at The Mindful Body has a way of making back pain go away. Let’s hope he hasn’t lost his touch!) Acupuncture (first session yesterday, next session Saturday. Feeling a little better today!)
Having pity parties
Sitting on a swiss ball, an air disk on my seat, a kneeling chair, and kneeling on the floor (none of which really worked for more than 15 minutes).
Eating macaroni and cheese every day
Asked BGI to Pimp My Desk with a hydraulic lift so that I could stand or sit and work

Status: still hurts when I sit for prolonged periods of time. The good news: I did get 2 hours of work in, sitting at my desk this morning. The bad news: my back was all jacked up after that. I’m hoping to make it into the office every day next week, if only for a few hours. Oddly enough, I really miss the hustle & bustle of the office!

Here’s my new Zero-Gravity chair. Fancy, huh? Okay, so it looks like a reclining lawn chair. It’s kind of comfy, but I don’t think I’m going to keep it. I really want a LA-Z-BOY, darn it. I think I’m going to go get one and use my lower back pain to rationalize it. When else will I have such a great justification? It sure beats all of this laying-on-the-living-room-floor that I’ve been doing!

Bay to Breakers 2007

2007-05-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

Today was the annual Bay to Breakers race, a 7.46 mile trek from the bay to the ocean. Every year, tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people come out in costume to participate in this event. Some typical costumes: a rolling tiki bar (with bartenders and kegs inside), the Mona Lisa, jailbirds, super heroes, doctors (proctologist with funny names), cartoon characters, naked people, a group of Elvis impersonators, a school of Salmon that swim "upstream" from the end of the race to the beginning, the bacon delivery guy, and thousands of other brilliant, witty, and creative costumes. Of course it's San Francisco, so many of the costumes are plays on words, like the Deli Lama (a monk with lunch meat all over him). It's an affair that should not be missed. Even if you don't want to make the trek, grab a lawn chair or someones front steps and park yourself there for a few hours to watch the madness. People watching doesn't get any better than this.. (pics from past years..)

This year, instead of participating in this festive event, I was here:

Okay, not in that machine specifically, but in an MRI machine just like it! (Seriously, that room has such a magnetic force, it would have swallowed my camera whole!) If you haven't had the pleasure of having one, they lay you down on a tray and slide you into a narrow tunnel (the diameter is roughly the size of my shoulders), you lay still for 20 minutes, you hear loud buzzing sounds, they pull you out, inject you with some magnetic solution, stick you back in and zap you for another 10 minutes. It's not so bad if you have ear plugs and are not claustrophobic. Hopefully this machine will give me the answers to the lingering back pain question. Come ON big bad machine. Do your stuff.

Wine Country, Diageo Style

2007-05-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

Today we took a lovely trip up to Sonoma and Napa for the semi-annual Cline winery extravaganza. This summer picnic is full of good food, entertainment, and best of all WINE. And you don't need to sit down to taste wine, so this was a fantastic getaway for Sherri! (Okay, you have to sit down to get there, but I managed to find about 8 different slouchy positions on the ride up/back that would transfer the pain to different regions, thus giving each sacro-iliac joint a temporary break.)

Every year, AT furnishes Sherri with the number of bottles that AT is allowed to purchase at Cline. That way, he won't go overboard after tasting too many wines that he just MUST purchase. Last year, he got sneaky and ordered a magnum of Cashmere wine and said that even though it's double the size of a normal bottle, it's technically just one bottle. :) In this picture, A.T. is trying to justify why he's walking away from Cline with another case of wine. If you haven't seen AT's house lately, he needs wine like he needs a hole in the head. He claims it's not for him. Uh huh.

After relaxing at Cline, and finding out that "Barnyard aroma" is actually legitimate terminology for wine connoisseurs and not just a bet that a Sommelier made at Gary Danko to see who could sell a bottle of wine with the most unusual description, we headed north to the Diageo winery region for my first trip to Sterling and Provenance.

First up was Sterling. What a beautiful winery! From the ski-lift-style tram that takes you up to the hill, to the self-guided (for ordinary people) tour, to the tasting room where the wine is brought to you (and you do not have to fight with all of the other visitors for a spot at the bar), it was fantastic. Tourguide A.T. gave us the spiel on how the wine is made, as he is now our resident wine expert after attending the official Diageo Wine Training courses. (If you can call something where you drink wine a "course".) One woman tried to sneak into our guided "tour", but Adam had to let her know that it wasn't an official tour.

AT's unofficial tour of Sterling. Notice Adam listening closely and preparing his next probing question. Obviously a man in the journalism business!

Adam, Andrea and Andrea's Mom at Sterling:

Sherri and A.T. at Sterling:

Andrea and Elissa at Sterling:

After Diageo we made a quick stop at Provenance to taste the best of the best wines there with warp speed, then off to dinner at the Rutherford Grill, and back home to the city. Boy, was it fun to visit wineries with an employee. We got the special treatment, special wines to taste, and great information.

And Adam, we will never make fun of your gas guzzling, environmentally unfriendly, too-big-for-the-city Lincoln Navigator again, and you are ALWAYS welcome to be our group's designated driver! You rock!

Sherri's New Best Friends

2007-05-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

Decision point: Do I keep the blog happy and positive, or do I keep it real? Since the purpose of my blog is to let friends/family know what I’ve been up to, and to help me keep track of the passing of time.. I guess I’ll go with the keepin’ it real method.

Please meet my two new best friends, Tivo and my Soduku book.

Previously only casual acquaintances, over the past two weeks I have come to rely heavily on them while I have been laid up at home with an achy breaky back. That’s right. That pesky bugger of a back up to it’s old shenanigans again, and screaming for attention. Right before we left for Jazzfest, I had a 4-day episode where I couldn’t sit for more than 10-minutes at a time without standing up all crooked and in pain. After a few.. ahem.. intense.. chiropractic treatments, I was fixed up enough to get on the plane. Jazzfest week was stiff & achy, but bearable, as I wasn’t sitting down very much at all! Post-Jazzfest, I made it one day at work before I couldn’t take it, and have been at home, NOT sitting, ever since. I tried chiropractic, stretching, drugs, exercise, etc. Nothing works this time. Basically, I'm camped out on the floor in the living room, doing as much as I can without sitting or straining the back, and that isn't very much. I fall asleep and dream of my to-do list getting longer and longer as I remain idle. Booooo. I’m going kind of stir crazy. I try to get out as much as I can to get in some movement, but the back quickly tires of my escape tactics and sends me home. Tomorrow I see a new Neurologist, and hopefully I’ll get that new MRI quickly (grrr. HMO red tape). Send me all kinds of positive energy, please. One back surgery was enough for me. And if you have any spare, healthy discs, send those too!

Run Chi-Wa-Wa Run!

2007-05-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I found myself pondering the question, “What does one wear to the Chihuahua races?” I thought perhaps a big floppy hat. A linen suit?

Andrea and Adam, my favorite dog owners and key to legitimacy for dog events, invited me to join them for the regional Chihuahua races. As much as it pained me, I had to say “maybe”, as I wasn’t sure if the old lower back was going to hold up. I don’t recall ever saying anything other than YES to an event that revolves around cute furry creatures. But after being cooped up in the house for a few days with back pain, and having a need to stand up and stretch out a bit, I gratefully accepted their offer. Besides, I didn’t want to miss Jack’s debut as a champion racing dog. I had already missed his debut as a loungewear model in the PoochOnline catalog!

Once again, I was in dog heaven. Not quite so much as the Bark & Whine ball a few months ago (I do love the big dogs!), but definitely heaven. Cute little dogs everywhere. I’m pretty sure that 95% of those dogs were only partially Chihuahua, which resulted in a whole slew of unique looking dogs. The Chihuas ranged in size from 1/6 to 1 /3 the size of either one of my cats.

Adam and Jack:

This little doggie, "Mochi", had two "Body Guards".. a German Shepherd and a Standard Poodle.
We mingled with the other dog owners. Once again, after I was doting on their dog for quite some time, I was given the suspicious eye and was asked, “Do YOU have a dog!?” Thank goodness Jack was nearby! I stated (perhaps somewhat inaccurately) that “mine” was over there, and pointed to Jack. Hopefully Andrea and Adam are not bothered by me claiming their doggie as my own to remove the appearance of being a doggie stalker.

Jack was in the 10th round of 24. Each round included 10 dogs. The dogs line up at the starting line, held by one owner (or handler). Another owner/handler waits at the finish line and tries to lure the dog with treats and other methods of bribery. “On your Bark…. Get set… Go!”. The dogs scatter. Some do not leave the gate. Others run off to the sidelines. A few run in circles wagging their tails, working the crowd. Some run to their owners. One ran right out of it’s costume. One dog refused to come off of the course, and had to be chased in circles by his owner and a few race workers, lured (unsuccessfully) by treats.

We started several rounds by guessing, based on the dog and owners’ appearances, who would win each round. We just knew the dog in the pirate gear would win (and he did). And we knew the guy in the coach outfit (complete with terrycloth headband) was serious. His dog was first in her race. (We also suspect he took her back to the locker room for a massage and some cortisone before the semi-final round).

Andrea, Adam and their friend Shaun discussed the “release strategy” for Jack. Don’t push him on the behind when the gate is opened, or he will turn around.

It’s the 10th round. Andrea and Jack await (impatiently) at the starting gate. Sherri stands on the sidelines waiting to videotape the race. The pressure is on. On your Bark. Get Set. Go! Sherri watches all of the dogs through the camera lens, but can’t find Jack. Uh. Jack? She turns off the camera. Suddenly Jack emerges from the gate and makes a beeline for Adam at the finish line. He is perhaps the only dog that ran a straight, direct line to the finish. He arrives just a second too late! He comes in third place. If only he had made it out of the gate, he would have qualified. Oh well, Jack is still a model, still a superstar in our minds, and still cute as a button.

Andrea and Jack at the Start Line:

Pre-Race Dog Shots:

(Questionable lineage on this one..)

New Orleans Food Fes... errr... JAZZ Festival

2007-05-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

My idea of a great vacation is going anywhere that I haven’t already been. I love to explore and discover. I love being surprised. I love adventure. I love trying to get by in a foreign language. There is, however, one exception to that rule, and that exception is the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. I inherited this annual pilgrimage to New Orleans from AT, an 8-year veteran. If I want to see him the first week in May (on any given year), it has to be in New Orleans.

This year was my third Jazzfest. During the trip, I felt a little out of sorts as I kept checking my daily to-do list, realizing that there was nothing I * had * to do on that day. Nothing I had to see (I have been there 3 times before). Nothing I had to buy. Nothing. I felt like something was missing, but I gradually got used to, and..I must admit.. I even appreciated it.

Sherri vacation = active + requires constant thought/planning --> return home exhausted
Scary vacation = inactive & requires no thought/planning --> return home frustrated
Jazzfest = active + requires little thought/planning --> return home relaxed

To pay homage to the now-defunct list (just for Jazzfest, mind you, I’m still rockin’ the to-do list at home!) I am going to I’m going to describe the entire trip through the use of lists.

Who was our crew at the Crescent City Guest House?

Stefan (Boston)
Lisa (Boston)
Andrea (Boston)
Ophelia (AT’s mom, Boston)
Nancy (AT’s aunt, Novato, CA)
AT (San Francisco)
Sherri (San Francisco)
Plaut (honorary guest. Tee hee)

How many ways can you get crawfish at the Jazz Festival?

Crawfish beignets
Fried softshell crawfish po-boy
Fried crawfish tails
Crawfish sausage po-boy
Boiled crawfish
Crawfish etouffee
Cajun crawfish rice
Crawfish puff
Fried eggplant with crawfish sauce
Crawfish sack
Crawfish pie
Crawfish enchilada
Crawfish sushi rolls
Crawfish spinach and zucchini bisque
Crawfish remoulade
Crawfish struedel
Crawfish Monica
Crawfish bisque
Crawfish bread

What did we eat at the Jazz Festival? (# indicates multiple servings)

Spinach and artichoke casserole#
Crawfish pie #
Tajades (tortilla chips, pickled cabbage, marinated pork)
White chocolate bread pudding #
Crawfish Monica #
Praline bread pudding
Fried fish Ferdinand #
Cochon de Lait po-boy
Fried eggplant with crawfish sauce #
Fried chicken
Key Lime Pie
Grape Snow Cone
Crawfish struedel #
Sausage po-boy
Crawfish bread
Raspberry Iced Tea #
Strawberry Lemonade
Popcorn
Mango freeze
Crabcake
Banana bread pudding
Meat pie
Fried pork chop sandwich

Drinks mixed for us by Chris McMillan, venerable Louisiana mixologist at The Ritz-Carlton Library Bar:

Ramos Gin Fizz for AT
French 75 for Andrea
Pimms Cup for Stefan
Jane Doe for Sherri
Mint Julep for Ted (complete with history of the drink in verse as well as hand-chipped ices)
Blueberry Hill for TodMojo Rising for Plaut

(Some of the drinks might be attributed to the wrong drinkers. I was mesmerized by 1.) Chris’s knowledge of the history of cocktails and entertaining demeanor and 2.) Lisa passed out on the sofa after telling us she didn’t feel a thing from that Monsoon. )

Non-Jazzfest meals:

Dinner at Ophelia’s friend Steven’s place, just around the corner.
Fine Dining at Emeril’s Delmonico. Beet salad, BBQ shrimp on grits, sweet and sour calamari (delightful!), pickled watermelon with crawfish salad…. to START.
Beignets at Café du Monde
Table for 9 at Marigny Brasserie (decision: healthy steamed vegetables or pasta in lobster cream sauce?)
Burger, Fries and a cocktail at Checkpoint Charlie at 3am.
Sukho Thai, where Stefan’s food was THAI SPICY, and spicier than anyone else’s food.
Dinner at Angelis after giving up at Coops
Muriels on Jackson Square. Did someone say bread pudding?
Huge burgers and baked potatoes at Port of Call (drool drool slobber slobber)
In-N-Out Burger in Mill Valley, CA. Hey, we weren’t HOME from vacation yet, so we were still free to eat like little piggies without guilt!

Highlights & Lowlights of the festival:

Torrential downpour + high winds.
Wading through the flooded fairgrounds in search of food (nothing will keep us from Fish Ferdinand and white chocolate bread pudding)
Remembering to cover the bike seats with plastic bags
Crawfish Monica closed from power outage in the storm (gasp!)
AT running out to find his mom and forgetting his rain poncho.
Jazzfest shuttle on strike!
Mitch’s waterproofed phone and non-water-proofed self
Mud squishing through my toes (fun!)
Mitch’s 6-beer holster, 1-beer necklace and 2 hands.
Crawfish Monica re-opens (joy!)
Dancing with AT
Accidentally getting the wrong bread pudding for Nancy and Ophelia and having to suffer through eating the extra praline bread pudding. Suffer, I tell ya. Suffer.
Mating bugs using my arms, legs, shirt, hat, chair, under my toes, and food as a place to get it on.
Heatwave! So hot that Sherri can’t hear the music anymore. Has to go home early to cool down. I’m mmmmeeellltttttiiiinnnnngggg.
People of all ages dancing with highly decorated parasols to the Dixieland band.
Guiding Lisa through her first Jazzfest food run (you just CAN’T send the vegetarian of the group to give guidance on such an issue!)
Running into Mitch & the Gang and Plaut & Company
Learning about Saint Arnold. Patron Saint of Artichokes? Of course not. AT’s namesake could only be the Patron Saint of Hops! (St. Arnold Brewing Company)
Fantastic selection of music from all genres.
People watching at it’s finest!
Riding a bike in a skirt (no, NOT AT, silly!)

What we did at night:

Two nights at Rock-N-Bowl: one night focused on beverage consumption, music, and messing with Lisa (telling her to tell the drunk lady she loves the Mucky Duck, and the tall guy Happy New Year); the other busy with bowling, hula lessons, and closing the place down.
Shopped for Lisa’s pink feather boa.
Civilized cocktails with Mitch & Company at the Bombay Club. Complete serenity just steps from Bourbon street.
Pat O’Briens for Hurricaines
Sherri won a Hula-Hoop contest with the owner of Mid-City Lanes/Rock-N-Bowl
Cocktails at the Swizzle Stick Lounge
You had to know that Sherri would go to Harrah’s for some gambling! Once with AT and once with Aunt Nancy. Very happy. The Wheel of Fortune giveth. (almost as much as the Wheel of Fortune tooketh away last month in Nassau!)
Walked for miles and miles in search of the next tasty cocktail.
Went to the Carousel bar (twice). The carousel (indoors) actually rotates around the bar very slowly. Try not to be too tipsy when you sit down!
Sherri stayed in one night. AT said he went to see a “Can Opener”. No no no, he said “Piano Player”. However, apparently a can opener would have been more entertaining.
Listened to the local weather station speak of a tornado watch and thunderstorms.

What we did during daylight, outside of the fest:

Window shopping on Royal street in the Quarter
Admired art and trash
Wondered who would come out of each room at the B&B every morning
Got chased out of a gallery when AT and Stefan tried to take pictures
Woke up without an alarm clock (heaven!)
Found a Blue Dog painting that Sherri loves, and it’s only $45,000
Played “HEY, I’ve been LOOKING for a (insert cheesy item here)”. See below for the winning items in this game.
Took a bicycle tour through Gentilly to see how much has changed since last year’s ride when it was 100% abandoned. This year, we witnessed some FEMA trailers and home rebuilding, but not a very large percentage. And this wasn’t even the worst neighborhood, the lower 9th Ward was even worse. So much remains to be done. SO MUCH.
Visited the new and very beautiful Court House. Through the metal detector and baggage screen, long wait for printer paper, get a photo ID, lock up phones and cameras. No court in session. Visited the LA supreme court and a district courtroom.
Drank Turbo Dog on tap
Took naps

Quotes:

“Look at that dorky kid having a great time.” -Ophelia
“I LOVE this!!” -Lisa
“Jazzfest express to the left. Taxis and RTA busses to the right one block at Stallings Playground”
“No shade canopies”
“This drink doesn’t have any alcohol. I don’t feel a thing” -Lisa
“Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz” -Lisa, 1 hour later
“Mmmmm. I smell fried!” -Stefan and Sherri
“I know I’m in New Orleans when I hear live music at 1 o’clock in the afternoon and I’m walking down the street with a beer.” -AT
“Turbo Dog on Tap!” –AT and Stefan
“I’m sure we can find a place around here somewhere to get you a beer.” -AT to Plaut
“There’s nothing hotter than a woman in a bike helmet.” -Plaut
“Crap, I just lost $50. Now I have to go over to the dollar Wheel of Fortunes to get it back” -Sherri
“Uh oh. We lost mom again” -AT

Contest: Find the most unique, tacky, ugly, and useless object for sale in New Orleans.

Contenders:

Giant fish lure (18” long) with a big smiley face, to hang from ceiling
Miniature gong held up by a cow horn
Alligator dressed as a bride
Ceramic cat standing up and playing the harp
Ceramic dogs (matching)

The Week of Reconnecting

2007-05-01T18:44:00.001-07:00

Wow, this week has been fantastic for catching up with people I haven't seen in a while! Tonight we had the pleasure of having dinner with Gabi Nichols. Sue, Gabi and I used to work together in Washington, DC way back in '98. After Sue took her on the grand tour of San Francisco and Napa...sampling every store and cute little boutique in sight.. they joined us for a tasty Peruvian meal at Limon in the Mission. Shhhhh! Don't tell Gabi's husband, Jason..we're secretly hatching a plan to get them out to San Francisco. Permanently!

All the way from San Diego.. it's....

2007-05-01T18:17:00.000-07:00

Ken Clapp! Ken joined us for a very refined and civilized dinner at Indian Oven this week, along with a few of his friends from L.A..

I used to work with Ken back in the day, when you could eat a free dinner every night (at a launch party) and offices typically came equipped with pool tables, air hockey tables, large screen TVs with PlayStations, and sofas (to sleep for a few hours at 2am between software builds). When we all got the boot (dot com crash!) in 2001, a group of 9 friends decided we should take our severance checks and wander around Peru for a while. Ken and I bonded during our 5-day (showerless) hike to Macchupicchu, during our endless giggle fests (I can't believe I actually PULLED his finger) in all of the major Peruvian cities, while we constantly one-upped each other with dares! (see photo below), and while I took care of him while he was very sick (okay, I also took some funny pics while he was incapacitated, but I prefer to remember myself as the angel of mercy!).

I hadn't seen Ken since 2005 in New Orleans, when he was living there and AT and I were visiting for Jazzfest, so it was fantastic to catch up and reminisce!

Shaun and Walter's Visit

2007-04-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Shaun and Walter came to visit! Shaun is my very good friend from High School who now lives in Iowa. Actually, he’s the only friend from high school that I keep in touch with. Thank goodness Shaun comes to visit me every once in a while, as I have been a very bad friend and have not gone to see him and Walter in Des Moines! Bad Sherri!!

Deal or No Deal

2007-04-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally did it. I have been watching Deal or No Deal all season. Addicted. Feeling like I’m at a table gambling myself. Feeling the highs, the lows, the risk, the chance. Did I mention addicted? I want to be on that show so badly. A few months ago, I decided to submit my application… but while filming my 5 minute video, I came to the conclusion that I looked and sounded like a dork, and that I would be much better in person. One day, when I was casually stalking the NBC Casting page, I noticed that DOND is doing a casting tour around the country, and that they were holding an open casting call about 30 miles east of San Diego just FOUR days later. That was the closest stop to San Francisco.

So I got on a plane and flew to San Diego, picked up a lawn chair at WalMart, slept a few hours at a hotel in Alpine, CA, got up at 3:30 am, and was waiting in line by 4am, with an estimated 900 people in line in front of me. Somehow I envisioned a nice sunny line, where I could relax and read my book while waiting for the interviews at 10am. I somehow overlooked the fact that there is no sun at 4am, so I sat shivering in the dark for a few hours, Luckily, there were thousands of people all around me in the tent, and I had a fantastic time chatting with everyone while we were waiting, and later shuffling along (moo!).

Casting began at 10am. By 11:10 I was up. They wrangled 10 of us at a time into each of the tents. Inside the tent there was an NBC casting person. Each one of us had 20 seconds to tell him what makes us unique and why we want to be on the show. 20 seconds!!! I was so excited, my mouth hurt from the permagrin on my face! I was in the tent with a super cool truck driver who is studying to be a nurse, a lady who is famous for her chicken dance, and a young woman who loves to waterski naked and breast feed. She breast feeds as often as she can, she loves it so much. Did I mention that she doesn’t have any children? Three of us had the opportunity to do another 20 seconds (which I was TOTALLY unprepared for!). We won’t know until the day when (and IF) they call us for another round of interviews. Worse case scenario, I passed a very spontaneous, exciting and adventurous 24 hours with 8,000 other people who each came ready to present their very best selves. Wish me luck!

Exploring the Windy City

2007-04-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

Continuing our quest to determine which cities we could possibly live in, one day in the future, we headed off to Chicago for a long weekend of fun. We were hosted by the lovely Kathy R., in the West Loop, and began our adventures there. Our action packed weekend included wandering through 10+ neighborhoods, popping into Open Houses to see what you can get for your money (a LOT!), eating tasty Chicago dogs, dining with Kathy and Darren at Carnivale (yum!)..

..seeing Keb Mo at the House of Blues (fantastic show, but he didn’t sing House in California despite Kathy and Sherri’s pleas!), catching up with Joey (who was in town from SF to find an apartment), cocktails with Sherri’s friend Chris (from the good old dot coom boom days in SF)...

brunch with Laura (from Habitat for Humanity El Salvador) and her fiancée, buying my very first pair of Fluevog shoes, and .. this one deserves its own paragraph..

DINNER AT MOTO with AT's friend Greta and her boyfriend Keith. AMAZING.

If you have never been to Moto, it is worth every penny for this one-of-a-kind dining experience. Moto describes itself as such: a “futurist influenced, degustation focused restaurant dedicated to the avant-garde cuisine of Homaro Cantu. At moto dining is an interactive, multi-sensory experience unlike any other.” .. “With his philosophy of pushing the limits of known taste, texture, and technique, Chef Cantu provides our guests with a truly unique and exquisite dining experience.” Please allow me to break that down for you. Whatever you think you are eating, it’s not going to be that. It’s going to be a different texture, flavor, temperature than you are used to. The 10 course menu includes liquid nitrogen, the 15+ course menu also uses a laser. The menu is delivered with your name on it “moto welcomes A.T. Howe”, you select which menu you would like, then you eat the menu.

It’s a very tasty parmesan cracker. Yum! Each course blew my mind. We had fish over popcorn sauce (it just TASTED like buttered popcorn) with pomegranate noodles and a minty sauce. We had quail over macaroni and cheese (the macaroni was cooked, dehydrated, and reconstituted with a smoked gouda sauce, so it was almost crunchy, a completely unexpected texture and delicious flavor!), we had a delicious sort of salmon tartare (to say simply salmon tartare is NOT doing it justice, I know) with sesame crackers that were scooped out of a bowl of liquid nitrogen and onto your bowl (if you ate it quickly, you could blow smoke out of your mouth). Each course was truly an experience, and while completely stuffed at the end, I didn’t want the experience to end. The grand finale looked like a bowl of nachos. I’m going to make you go there yourself to find out what they were REALLY made of.

Overall analysis of Chicago: two thumbs up. It’s brrr cold in the winter and hot & humid in the summer, but we loved it anyway. I would definitely need a winter and a summer wardrobe, and should probably start growing some thicker skin. But it seems like Chicago would be a fantastic adventure, with lots of food, nightlife (A.T. loves him some Blues!), people, and places to explore. Maybe one day..

London in the Spring

2007-03-23T14:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so maybe "Spring" doesn't quite describe it, seeing as I got stuck in a snowstorm in central London on the day that I arrived, wearing nothing but a (water-sucking) sweater. :)

But I DO love London! I'm back again this week for another work trip. Every night when I'm wandering around London, taking in the sights and searching for another tasty place to eat dinner, I convince myself that I must, absolutely MUST find a way to live here, at least for a year. I dream about all of the weekend trips I could take on Ryan Air to explore Europe. Then reality sinks in when I think about how far my salary would go in London. Boo.

This time I get to see Stacey and Nelson again. Stacey is AT's friend from Boston (who also happens to be a Habitat for Humanity-Global Village team leader!) She now lives in London with her fiance, Nelson. I joke with AT and tell him that I have decided to steal her as a friend, since I get to see her more than he does. Hee hee. Whenever I'm in London, I try to have dinner with Stacey and Nelson. They always pick a great new restaurant for me to try. During my last trip we had a veritable Turkish feast, tasty Indian food, fireworks and Borat. This time I had less time to hang out but they took me to a fantastic and trendy Thai restaurant.

Cruising with Disney

2007-03-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

While AT has to travel a lot for his job (boo!), I’ll admit that sometimes his job does have some pretty nice benefits. To be specific.. a Disney Cruise!! We were invited by AT’s customer (at Disney) to join him and his family on a 3-day cruse from Florida to the Bahamas so that AT and his colleagues could observe how drinks are sold on the ship and on Disney’s own personal island, Castaway Cay, and so that they could have a few working sessions together. Well, far be it from me to say no. If AT “needs” me to go with him on a cruise, I’ll support him 100%. Hah! We were also joined by AT’s boss, two of the marketing company execs, and all of their families.

I have to admit that when agreeing to go on this cruise, I knew that I would disembark the ship either 1.) vowing never to have children or 2.) deciding to have children. It was definitely risky to spend three days holed up on a ship with a thousand children!

We took a connecting redeye to Orlando, drove to Port Canaveral, and boarded our very first cruise ship. I had never been on a cruise ship before, and had absolutely no idea what to expect. My first impression of Disney (as an adult) came as we were boarding the ship. The registration process was a breeze, as we had received ample clearly-written documentation before we even arrived. There were also more than enough Disney employees scattered throughout the registration area, guiding people to the proper lines and ensuring that everyone had the proper forms filled out.

As we boarded the ship, we were startled when we heard our names announced over the loudspeaker, and were welcomed by two rows of Disney employees who applauding us. What a warm welcome! I felt so.. so.. so special!

We immediately went to our rooms. AT had some work to attend to, and I had a serious need for a catnap (after not sleeping on the redeye). The rooms were much nicer than expected. We had a queen size bed, a sofa and desk, TV, refrigerator, and two bathrooms (one with a toilet/sink and one with a shower/sink). Of course, the bathrooms were pretty small, but very nicely equipped and with fantastic toiletries! We had a room with a very large porthole that let a lot of light into the room.

Instead of napping, we took a quick tour of the boat, then welcomed AT’s boss and her family to the boat. When I tried to get in a nuch-needed nap before dinner, I was very (unpleasantly) surprised by the constant stream of announcements over the loudspeaker about the upcoming emergency evacuation drill. Yes, I know that it’s very important to practice the safety procedures before leaving the port, but I was sleep deprived and cranky. Nonetheless, we donned our sexy orange life vests and headed for our emergency group location. (Very organized, by the way. In the case of an actual emergency, I would know exactly what to do).

The ship was amazing. There was a huge theater for live performances, a movie theater, many bars/clubs, many play areas, a full-service salon/spa, a health club, basketball courts, two kids pools (one with a huge slide, and the other with a full size movie screen that played kiddie movies all day), one adults pool, an adults only coffee shop, two souvenir shops, a photo studio, and many more things that I can’t remember right now. And just to be sure that you knew what your options were, every day you received a personalized schedule that told you where you would be eating, and listed the day’s activities (organized by age group, activity level, location, and time)

Each day we were assigned to a different location for breakfast and dinner. Each restaurant had a different theme, and was fun in its own unique way. One night, we had dinner at the adults-only Italian restaurant, which, I have to say, rivaled some of the best San Francisco restaurants. It was phenomenal. And it was so nice to eat a fantastic meal without thinking about price (food was all-inclusive). The food was actually quite tasty in all of the restaurants (but we had to ask them to cook the meat medium rare, otherwise it came out pretty cooked). The menu selections were large and diverse. Our servers (who we would have throughout the entire cruise) were extremely attentive and friendly (read: working those tips). The ship also had places where you could get food throughout the day. There was definitely no shortage of food! When I left the cruise ship, I felt like I had swallowed a beach ball.

Every time we entered a restaurant, there were crew members at the door handing out antibacterial wipes. Hah! Makes a lot of sense.. must keep the ship healthy. But seeing the antibacterial wipe station at the entrance to every restaurant still made me laugh.

In the evenings, we met up with the group to try out different bars / clubs on the boat to review their liquor offerings. I’m a lightweight when it comes to drinking, especially when surrounded by (literal) professionals. I tried to hang in there as best I could! In addition to having venues focusing on the kids, there were plenty of venues and activities for adults too. (Bingo, karaoke, liquor tastings, music, sports bar, etc).

At night we cruised from port to port. The first morning we woke up to see the ship pulling into the Bahamas. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. While they had offered us a large selection of excursions for the day, I decided that I wanted to gamble! So we went to the casino on Paradise Island where the casino chewed up my wallet and spit it out. We went back to Nassau, watched a bit of the Anna Nicole Smith paternity case drama at the Courthouse, and then went to the old casino on Nassau in search of better luck. After an hour of neutral luck, it was time to head back to the boat. I had been in Nassau before, so I didn’t feel the need to do a tour of the island or visit any of the many fine jewelry shops. In hindsight, I probably should have stayed on the boat and had an all-day spa experience. Oh well! You live and you learn.

The second day, we woke up at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island in the Bahamas. Again, they offered many daytime excursions for people to go on, but we decided to do a more low-key, non-planned day. We started out at Serenity Bay, the adults-only part of the island. We went into the cool water, but quickly grew bored when there were no waves to lift us up. I tried to lay on the beach and relax for a while with a book and a cocktail. I succeeded with the cocktail, but not the relaxing part. (I’m not very good at being still on vacation.) I had a 15 minute laughing fit when the sunscreen that I gave AT turned his face blue and he looked like a Smurf. We went for a really nice bike ride around the island, had lunch, went snorkeling, and checked out the rest of the island. It was a very relaxing day after all!

I have to give Disney two thumbs up for the fantastic experience we had on the cruise. They have better customer service than I have ever experienced. They have thought of everything that a family might need, put it into place, and clearly communicated how you can get it. They have thought of things that people didn’t even realize they needed. The staff was ALWAYS courteous, attentive, and gave personalized service. I didn’t want to leave the ship!

If you have children, a Disney Cruise is a must. I didn’t cover everything children-related in this post, because it was not my primary focus on the cruise. But they have created a unique experience for both the children and the parents. I didn’t see any children throwing tantrums or being upset (because their every want/desire was being fulfilled). Every minute of every day, there is something to keep your children’s attention. And if you like, you can check them into the kids play area (on the boat or on the island) in the morning and go pamper yourself in the spa or relax by the pool. They give your child a wrist band and give you a pager in case they need to contact you. The only problem is.. it’s always hard to get the kids OUT of the play area. They never want to leave!

Thanks Diageo and Disney!

p.s. I left the ship thinking “Hey, maybe I should have a few of these..”

p.p.s. Did I mention we got stuck in the Charlotte airport on the way home (and AT had a 7am flight the next morning, and Sherri had an afternoon flight to London the next morning). Gack!

Melicob's Kitchen

2007-03-05T12:37:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that I love home improvement projects. Especially painting. Whenever someone tells me they need to paint their house, I offer to help. But no one ever takes me up on it. Hmm. Maybe they think I was just being polite, because, after all, what kind of crazy person would sign up to spend their weekend doing manual labor on someone else's house for free? Uh... ME!

Finally, someone took me up on my offer! Hooray! Melissa and Jacob recently purchased a very large house in San Franciso that needs some TLC, but has enormous potential. This weekend, Melissa and I set our sights on fixing up the kitchen. (No, I didn’t offer to help just because they have an adorable fluffy Labradoodle, but I’ll admit that it didn’t HURT.)

Details of the undertaking can be found on Melissa & Jacob’s Blog..
Thanks Melissa! It was fun. What’s next?

I Died and Went to Dog Heaven

2007-03-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

Every other year, the San Francisco Symphony hosts it’s annual Black & White fundraising ball. They block off several city blocks around City Hall and throw a huge indoor/outdoor gala, where everyone dresses to the nines in their finest black and/or white attire. The music is fantastic, the food phenomenal, and the atmosphere amazing.

I used to think that was the best fundraising event in San Francisco.. until I learned of the Bark & Whine ball. The Bark & Whine is the San Francisco SPCA’s annual fundraiser. It is also a formal event, with great music and food, and FABULOUS beverages (did I mention that AT’s company was a sponsor?)... but the Bark & Whine is all about the DOGS. As a dog lover… okay.. as a dog STALKER (I can’t pass a dog on the street without stopping to pet it.. and sometimes I go to the dog park just to pet other people’s dogs), this night was a dream come true. I can’t imagine a better way to spend the night eating good food, having great cocktails, and hanging out at a venue chock full of dogs. All kinds of dogs.. dog breeds I knew.. dogs I couldn’t identify.. big dogs.. tiny dogs.. St. Bernards, Egyptian Pharaoh Hounds, Rottweilers, Chihuahuas.. dogs in costume.. dogs without costumes..and the best part was that they were all super friendly, and it was a free-for-all. You could just walk around petting everyone’s dogs at will. No need to ask, no need to worry if you are interrupting them. Heaven, I tell you.. heaven.

AT was supposed to join me, but had to go out of town for business. In his place were Andea and Adam, our good friends who happen to own two adorable Chihuahuas, Anna and Jack. Not only were Andrea & Adam a lot of fun, but they also lent credibility to my appearance at the show. Otherwise I might have looked a little odd showing up at a dog party without a dog!

Andrea with Anna:

Jack:
There seemed to be two main types of owners at the ball.. those who purchased expensive purebreds, and those who rescued their animals from bad situations. Andrea & Adam became heroes to many people at the ball when they told the story of Jack and Anna. Both dogs had been very badly abused before Andrea & Adam got them, but are now happy and thriving.

Also at the event.. a red carpet for the dogs to make their appearance, a buffet of delicious food, a silent auction to benefit the SPCA, a dance floor where people danced with their dogs, reserved tables, non-reserved tables, dog walkers to take the doggies outside when necessary, and a delicious chocolate fountain with fruit, other assorted dipping things, and RICE KRISPY TREATS. Yum!

I rank this evening an A++ and cannot WAIT till it comes around again next year. A huge thank you to Georgie @ Diageo for making it all happen. :)

"Downhill" Mountaing Biking in El Salvador

2007-02-15T20:12:00.000-08:00

After a long, supposedly relaxing week in Honduras, we headed back to El Salvador. We had a very quick flight from San Salvador to Roatan (just over an hour by plane). However, to get back to San Salvador on a week day (Friday) we had to take three flights and spend most of the day in airports. Our first flight was a little bit scary. We thought that planes were supposed to be aerodynamic. Does this square plane look aerodynamic to you? It also did not have any air conditioning or ventilation. AT reminded me that it’s “always an adventure” with me. :-)

I had such a great time in El Salvador with Habitat for Humanity, I wanted to take AT there so that he could see the country as well. We spent two nights in San Salvador, experiencing the city life, and one all-day adventure in the mountains with my favorite touring company, Akwaterra. Julio, the owner, picked us up in the morning from our swanky hotel (we thought we would splurge and stay in the 5-star, $99/night hotel). He drove us up to his wife’s family’s coffee plantation high in the mountains. During the 2+ hour drive, he was an inexhaustible source of information about El Salvador. (AT came prepared to fill the time with lots of questions about the economy, the people, the government, and the culture.) We got to Akwaterra’s “home base” and adjusted our mountain bikes for the ride ahead. Even though I had booked us for a relaxing “downhill mountain bike ride” that ANYONE, regardless of their physical condition, could do, Julio asked us if we cared to do an intermediate ride. AT said yes, because we “could use a good workout”. Now, I had experienced the pleasure of an “easy hike” just a week prior.. the one where we had to have a car come and pick some of our team up because the hike was so treacherous! But I went along with it because AT really wanted the intermediate ride.

Let’s just say that there are no photos about this adventure because it didn’t go very well. The downhill parts were scary because the “roads” were narrow, uneven, and covered with dirt as fine as sand. It was hard to stop or slow down without fishtailing or skidding. My hands were sore from clenching the brakes to avoid plunging down the mountain to my death. The uphill parts were very taxing, as we were at a high altitude, and in the very hot sun. (at least, that’s the excuse we agreed upon). But seriously, we are two people who are used to regular cardiovascular activity, and this ride kicked our butts! We were too proud to turn around before the halfway point. However, after growling at Julio for trying to kill us (and for telling us that a group of 60-year-old French women had no problem conquering this very trail a few weeks prior), we gratefully took the ride in the truck that was waiting for us before the last big hill. Later, we would look back on this moment and remember it fondly. At the time, not so happy.

Back at the (literal) ranch, they cooked us the best darn BLT I ever had in my entire life. Seriously. It was THAT good. Then we headed over to Apaneca to fly through the air on the new Zip Line (canopy). It was my first time and AT’s second time undertaking such an adventure. At first I was nervous, as the platforms are high and very small. But after my first line, all fear was gone. It was SO MUCH FUN! Now THIS is my kind of adventure.

After the zip line, we went to gastronomical festival at Juayua. It was close to closing time, so we didn’t get to sample too many exotic foods, but we did find a few tasty treats and a nice cold beer. We hung out there for a while, joined by Julio’s wife Gabi, their daughter and their two very big dogs, then headed back to San Salvador. Eliel, one of Julio's tour guides that I had met the weekend before, drove us back to the city, and we practiced our Spanish the whole way home.

Overall, a very fun weekend in El Salvador!

Swimming with the Fishes: Roatan, Honduras

2007-02-15T19:52:00.000-08:00

It all started several years ago, when AT & I took an exciting vacation to a beautiful Caribbean island that looks a lot like Cuba (but, of course, it couldn’t have actually BEEN Cuba because citizens of the USA are not allowed to go there, and we are law abiding citizens). ;-) On the way to this island, we had a stopover in Cancun, Mexico. We had a little free time, so we went to the beach. AT love love loves jumping waves in the ocean. Loves it. In the past, he had convinced me to go running like a complete fool into 61-degree water in both Massachusetts and California , just to jump some waves. (no wetsuits, of course). In Mexico, the water was much warmer, but the waves were intense. I had recently learned to swim, so I was cautious. The waves were coming one right after another, and much faster than I could handle. So I high-tailed it out of the ocean, opting for the safety of the sandy beach. AT followed me out of the water, because it’s just not as fun frolicking in the water alone. I insisted that it was unsafe, AT insisted that it was FUN. (we later realized that those big red flags by the beach meant that the beach was closed because of the danger). So AT didn’t get his day in the waves.

Fast forward a few days to the Cuba-like island. We spend a day at the beach on the south side of the island. The water is pristine and beautiful. AT spots a surf shop on the beach and wants to go for a dive. But alas, I am not certified and he didn’t want to leave me behind. Not only am I not certified, but I am afraid of going under water for periods of time, and I am deathly afraid of all of the creepy crawlies in the ocean (I have vague memories of being at the beach in Ocean City, MD as a child.. being pinched by a crab and having my sister and cousins throw little jellyfish at me.) I felt bad, because he didn’t get his waves or his diving, and all we could do was take a little snorkeling trip. About 15 minutes into the snorkel, I spotted little jellyfish all around me, and I was back on the boat faster than you can say “barracuda”. Needless to say, I felt very bad that I was always the party-poop when it came to frolicking in the water, and I vowed at that moment that I would get Scuba certified so that he could enjoy the water with me by his side (enjoying it too).

Due to scheduling conflicts and cost, I decided to get my certification close to home, in the frigid waters of Monterey, California. To call it torture would be putting it lightly. I had serious issues with the mask-removal task. I kept sucking water into my nose, and forgetting to breathe. I was skittish when I saw a crab, or a flounder (sneaky, camouflaged things!). And that 6.5 mm wetsuit covering me from head to toe was a bit stifling. When I passed the final test, I was elated. AT assured me that swimming in warm water, with beautiful things to see and without a heavy wetsuit would be extremely pleasurable. He also carried my heavy weights and fins up from the beach after each dive, had my tanks refilled, helped me get in and out of my wetsuit, and motivated me to get back in the water after each dive. If he hadn't been there for encouragement, I am 100% certain that I never would have completed my certification. (Thanks, AT!) You can see in the photo below how happy I am.

I planned this year’s Habitat for Humanity trip in El Salvador because 1.) they needed team leaders in that region and 2.) it’s proximity to some of the best diving in the world. AT met up with me at the airport on the last day of my Habitat trip, and we flew to Honduras to break in my new Scuba certification card.

We stayed at an all-inclusive resort on Roatan Island called Anthony’s Key Resort. AKR consists of little private bungalows scattered on the main island and on their own private Key (mini-island). You could travel quickly from the mainland to the bungalows on the Key on a little boat shuttle that ran 24 hours a day. It was a beautiful place, with fantastic customer service. We had some lunch, walked around the resort to get a feel for the place, signed ourselves up for a dive boat, got our equipment, tried to calm my nerves (fear of the unknown), took some naps, and went to bed early in preparation for the big day ahead.

The resort has a resident parrot named Paco. I wanted to pet him, but he kept giving me the stink eye every time I went near him. AT insisted that he was friendly and that I just needed to reach out and pet him. After all, he let AT pet him. In fact, he followed AT around, and sat under his chair until AT gave him some attention. We later learned that Paco is actually a girl, and that Paco loves men and does not like women. Apparently my goal of bonding with the parrot was not going to be realized on that trip. I settled for a quick pet on the head while AT was distracting her. :)

The following morning, I boarded my very first dive boat. Our dive master, Alonso, was quite an entertaining character! He was extremely laid back, friendly, good with beginners, had a contagious smile, and wore button-down dress shirts under his wetsuit. He gave me a quick test under water to test my buoyancy and to make sure I didn’t buy that dive certification card on the black market. I passed. Phew!

Our first dive was pretty amazing. Armed with my super thin wetsuit to protect the creepy crawlies from touching/stinging me, I jumped into the water. Admittedly, I spent most of this dive adjusting my goggles (probably more of a nervous activity than an actual need), trying to see through the fog in my goggles, and adjusting my buoyancy. I’m pretty much a superstar when it comes to NOT dragging along the bottom of the ocean. That comes naturally to someone who is afraid of touching ocean things. But I didn’t have enough weight on me, so I had a hard time sinking. Despite all of this, I had to admit that AT was right. Diving in warm tropical waters was pretty amazing. The sheer volume of animal and plant life there was astounding. I couldn’t keep track of all of the beautiful things that I saw. I enjoyed the second dive of the day even more, after adjusting my weights and goggles. Even so, I typically swam a few feet above AT, the adventurer, who likes to get up close and personal with the marine life. With the second dive came a bit of confidence that I wasn’t going to be separated from the group and swallowed up by the ocean, I wasn’t going to have my mask kicked off my head, or be bitten by a shark. Nor was I going to be eaten alive by jellyfish, as Alonso assured me that the jellies are not bad on day dives, only during night dives (if you turn on your light, jellies will all come after the light). Did we do a night dive? Uhh.. No. We also didn’t do the shark dive. I’m just not ready.
That night, AKR held a slide show presentation where you could go to learn about the marine life that you could expect to see. I frantically jotted down notes on everything I saw, as I was eager to document of everything I saw in my dive log.

Also on that night was the wedding of Tom and Laurie, a couple that was on our dive boat. Tom went diving with us that day while Laurie prepared for the wedding. They had a beautiful ceremony on the restaurant’s deck, overlooking the ocean at sunset. We helped them celebrate their nuptials before hitting the sack, completely exhausted.

Tom and Laurie from Naperville, IL:

Also on our boat was a lovely German couple who were obviously very experienced divers. Having a small group of people was great. Laurie and I were the only new divers, so we had plenty of space and Alonso could easily keep track of us. Until the day when Sharon and Rick joined the boat. Sharon had a habit of swimming directly over someone and kicking them in the head, as well as dragging along the bottom of the ocean. If we could have voted someone off of the boat, we surely would have done so.

The next several days all blurred together. We got up, ate breakfast, napped, did a dive, napped, ate lunch, napped, did a dive, napped, ate dinner, napped, and went to bed. With the exception of the day that the ocean felt like a washing machine, the diving was fabulous. We did reef dives, wreck dives, drift dives, wall dives, swam through caves. We went over 110 feet deep. We saw: turtles, sea horses, puffer fish, barracudas, blue tangs, yellowtail snappers, fiary basslets, all kinds of parrotfish (stoplight, blue), banded butterflies, black durgons, queen angelfish, tiger groupers, squirrelfish, trunkfish, creole wrasses, yellowtail damselfish, foureye butterflyfish, queen angelfish, spotted trunkfish, shark suckers, French angelfish, many other fish, and yes, JELLYFISH. (and yes, I’m still deathly afraid. Fortunately I saw them on the way to the boat). I was kind of hoping that a shark sucker would attach itself to me and go for a ride, but alas, they all preferred to ride on the groupers and snappers.

One day we did a Dolphin Dive. AKR owns 15 or so dolphins that they keep at the resort. (Don’t worry, they are VERY well taken care of!). We met the dolphins in the enclosure where they live, along the beach. Then we all got on a boat (just the people, mind you) and went out into the ocean, not far off of the coast. We all sunk down to the bottom of the ocean, about 60 feet, on a sand flat. The dolphin handler met us in a small boat, with the dolphins following him. We sat silently on the bottom of the ocean floor, waiting.. waiting.. waiting.. Suddenly we hear a squeal and we get the equivalent of a drive-by from the dolphins. They came back and continued to buzz through our group, stopping periodically to nibble at our arms (that we are holding out to get their attention). It was phenomenal. They are incredibly graceful creatures with personality!

I’m very thankful that I have my first dive trip under my belt. I will no longer be afraid of the ocean. It’s a vast, beautiful, and serene place. I do still harbor a bit of a marine-creepy-crawlie phobia, but I’m willing to face it. I also learned something very important about myself during this trip. I can never, ever book a relaxing vacation by the beach again. While the diving was fantastic, I went a bit stir crazy. Can you say “cabin fever”? With only one restaurant option (two food options every meal), and not much else to do when we are not diving other than reading and napping, I thought I would lose my mind. I’m much more of an active vacationer. I like to decide where to go, what to do, plan things, fit things into a nice neat schedule that ensures variety and discovering something new every day. This vacation had entirely too much down time for this adventurer. Perhaps our next dive trip will be more of a surf & turf adventure where we can dive on some days, and explore the land on other days. Or perhaps one day I will learn to slow down? Not likely!

Habitat for Humanity: El Salvador

2007-01-31T15:00:00.000-08:00

The first two weeks of this year consisted primarily of frantic scrambling to get all of the last minute details together for my Habitat for Humanity trip to El Salvador. This year, I took a team of 16 people to San Salvador to build houses for two very deserving families. (This is my 7th adventure with Habitat. I participated in trips to Uganda, India, and Nicaragua, and led trips to Botswana, Thailand and Portugal).

I have been planning this trip for many months, but the Habitat office in San Salvador was closed for the holidays from December 15th – January 7th. Gack. Just when I need them most! This trip definitely started out a little rocky. On the eve before our departure, I realized that I had received incorrect emergency contact information for the local affiliate (in case anyone’s flight is delayed, or their families need to get in touch with them), and I received a call from a participant who couldn’t find her passport on the day of the trip. With the assistance of AT (both helping me find a way to execute the necessary phone calls as well as making me take a time out to breathe), I notified as many people as I could of Plan B, held my breath, hoped for the best, and jumped on the plane.

There’s nothing like the feeling of getting on a plane before a big trip. It doesn’t matter what you forgot, because there’s not a darn thing you can do about it. It was 9 hours where my biggest concern was whether or not I messed up the Soduku in the in-flight magazine. I met up with three team members during my connection in LA, and met the rest in San Salvador. The team was comprised of people from all across the country. Some were traveling outside the U.S. for the very first time, while others were veteran travelers. Some had construction experience, and others had never had the pleasure of working a trowel. It was a very diverse team indeed!I love the part where I get to meet everyone. Some people look exactly like their photos, and some could have walked right past me without drawing any attention. Thank goodness most of them wore the bright blue Habitat for Humanity shirt they received when they joined the team!

This year, I was fortunate enough to have one of my very best friends in the world, Jessica Buhl, join me. Jess and I started this whole Habitat adventure together when we impulsively signed up for a trip to Uganda (then India the next year) many years ago. It was fabulous to have her with me again. Also, Sharon Shoemaker had so much in Portugal on our team last year (even when her luggage didn't make it!) that she decided to give it another go. I warned her that Portugal was very cushy in comparison to El Salvador, and that we wouldn't have white tablecloths and wine at dinner every night, but she came anyway, and despite her own personal scorpion and a very very sick day, she was a shining star on the team.

We were transported by our own private mini-bus to the place we would call home for the next two weeks… a Catholic retreat center in Ayagualo. I was relieved when we arrived, because as a team leader, you never really know what the accommodations will be like or how the team members will react to them. We stayed in two one-story dormitory-style buildings that each had twelve PRIVATE rooms with PRIVATE bathrooms. This was the first time we ever had private rooms on a Habitat trip, and having our own bathrooms was pure luxury! Of course, not all of us had hot water, and those who did.. didn’t have it all the time. I recall taking several hot/cold/hot/cold/cold/cold/hot/cold/cold showers. The team was very happy with the accommodations (yay!), but the scorpion (!!!!) in Laura’s room probably wasn’t too happy about getting booted out of the room. Did I mention that I’m extremely afraid of spiders and bugs? Some fearless leader I was! I had to have 5 people come in to kill spiders in my room on that first day. Then I set up the impenetrable mosquito net (so that I could sleep in peace) and sprayed down my entire door frame with bug juice so that none of those little critters would dare to get in. Here is Jess in her room, on her snazzy Bart Simpson sheets..

Every day, we ate breakfast and dinner in the center’s cafeteria. Some days we were there alone, and other days we were accompanied by various other groups who were staying at the center. The adorable little nuns cooked us delicious meals every day. Most breakfasts were different style of eggs, rice, beans and cheese. Dinners typically included meat, beans, rice, and cheese. They were all very tasty! One day we had the opportunity to make our own pupusas in the kitchen. That night we dined on our very own tasty but malformed creations.

The building that housed the cafeteria..Team meals..

Robert and Claudia making pupusas..

During the evenings after work, we all rushed home to try to catch some hot water. Then we had some free time to lounge around before dinner. After we ate, we all assembled in the common area between the two buildings for a team meeting and some sort of entertainment. Several team members came equipped with games for us to all play, some of which made us laugh so hard we nearly peed our pants. (We could never admit to ACTUALLY peeing our pants, now, could we?). This was the time of day when we could relax, reflect upon our day, compare war stories with the other team, and get to know the other team members better.

We were divided into two teams, as there were two work sites. The construction style would be very similar for the two houses. We were tasked with digging the foundations, which consists of using a pick axe to dig a trench around the house (and a plus-sign through the middle of the house). The trench was to be roughly 18” wide and 2-3 feet deep. We were given pick axes (in various states of sturdy-ness), few shovels and buckets. It was very physically demanding work, but the team was up for the challenge. We rotated people in/out of the job so that no one burned out. We were also tasked with carrying huge piles of sand from the road to the work site, carrying bricks to the work site (and placing them strategically in the “rooms” that would soon take form, sifting sand to remove the leaves and rocks, filling in the joints between the cement blocks with mortar, filling in the rebar-holding holes in the cement blocks with a rocky form of cement, mixing up batches of mortar and block-filling cement on the ground with a shovel, and other various tasks.

Digging the trenches..

Sifting Sand..

Tough gang of masons..

Filling Joints:

One work site had the extra challenge of removing an extremely large tree trunk with a massive network of roots. They took the challenge personally, and on the second day, had completely decimated this trunk, even with a complete lack of appropriate trunk-removing tools. The other work site was challenged by a steep hill that fell between the work site and the place where the trucks dropped off all of the sand and blocks. Both teams tracked their respective challenges without complaining or backing down. I was very impressed! By the end of our stay, we had dug the foundations and laid 8 rows of blocks above the ground. We watched as the rooms took form, and we could see where the doors and windows would be. The families told us what they were going to put into each room, and thanked us for coming and helping to fulfill their dreams.

We spent 7 days at the work sites, not only flexing our muscles and learning new construction skills, but also getting to know the families for whom we were building. The homeowners’ families made us snacks in the morning and afternoon, and made us feel truly welcome in their homes. We played with their children, looked through family photo albums, had Grandma teach us how to catch a baby chicken, and talked to them about their lives, the challenges they face, the things they enjoy, and what it’s like to live in El Salvador.

We also spent two days of R&R up in the mountains of El Salvador. We worked with a fantastic tour company called Akwaterra. They took us on a tour of the towns along La Ruta de las Flores. We got to see hand made furniture, weavers making cloth, a gastronomical festival (that’s gastronomical.. you know.. a food fair.. not gastro-intestinal, as some team members thought I said!), have some delicious food, and pick up souvenirs for our friends and families. The second day we did a very beautiful but steep and sometimes treacherous hike through a coffee plantation high up in the mountains. The views were absolutely breathtaking. And strangely enough, it seemed like the car rides to and from the mountains were equally entertaining.

All in all, it was another fantastic experience. I had a very fun, flexible, and hard working team, and super friendly, loving, and accommodating families.

It's the people that make it all worth while. :)

Jesus & children (homeowner at Site 1)..

Rosalina & children (sister of the homeowner at Site 2)

Welcome!

2007-01-01T21:21:00.000-08:00

Hello, and welcometo A.T. and Sherri's blog! After becoming somewhat addicted to Melissa and Jacob's blog http://www.melicob.typepad.com/, I (Sherri) realized that this would be a fantastic way to keep everyone up to date on what is going on in our lives, and to have some type of record about how we spent each year, because my memory certainly isn't getting any sharper! If you know me, you are familiar with my little notepad. Most of you had assumed that I was writing little notes about YOU, but in reality, I was just adding items to my to do list. The notebook is to keep track of the future. This blog is to keep track of my past. And with pictures!

Cheers!