Where Am i?

I thought I'd try out the Google Lattitude tool to update our location. I've added this to the bottom right sidebar of this page as well.




 

RV Repairs

Monday: (12/19) I got up early and drove the RV down to San Jose. Traffic wasn't bad at 7am. I arrived at Leale's by 0720, disconnected the Jeep and relaxed until they opened. After checking the motorhome in I met Dawn at here apartment and we had breakfast burritos at La Victoria downtown and enjoyed their wonderful orange sauce on them. The orange sauce is a hot sauce that has nothing to do with oranges but is a mild hot sauce. Dawn and I thrifted our way back up to Palo Alto. Our neighbor had a crew working on landscaping his yard. That's nice. It will look much better when he's finished with the landscaping. But, there was a down side. They are reworking the soil and a major part of that is manure so the air was rather heavy after they started. No dining outside today. I made a doctors appointment for a checkup tomorrow and worked in the office the rest of the day. Lou made grilled tuna and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Dinner was steak with spaghetti squash and broccoli. Courtney brought over her DVD of Ratatouille which we watched in the evening.

Tuesday: (12/20) Lou made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I headed off early to my doctors appointment. After the appointment I tried to goof off but Lou called to remind me we had an appointment for lunch so no fun. We went with our neighbor Meile and her daughters Ping and Anan and with Ernie to lunch at the Sunny Chinese Buffet in Sunnyvale. Quite a crowd there today. Must be Christmas lunch day. Lou Dawn and I went out to the Baylands Park and took a walk by the bay after lunch. No need for much dinner after our lunch so just some leftover munching for dinner. Lou managed to complete all the laundry today as well.

Wednesday: (12/21) Leftover biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I did a little yard work this morning by cleaning the leaves off the green house and shop roofs. Super nacho chips for lunch. Lou was busy sewing this afternoon. I took a long walk out to the Town and Country Shopping Center in the late afternoon. I haven't looked it over good since it was remodeled a couple of years ago. Garlic Parmesan cheese chicken with wild rice and corn on the cob. I also finished getting the map features on this blog working more like I'd like.

Thursday: (12/22)  Chicken and corn salsa burritos for breakfast. I pruned the apricot tree and fixed a broken sprinkler. Lou was sewing. Leftovers for lunch. Lou and Ernie went out grocery shopping for the Christmas dinner. BBQ ribs, with baked potatoes and green beans for dinner.

Friday: (12/23) Another cold night and morning. Dawn made strawberry waffles and sausage for breakfast. I called Leale's about the RV status. The idea was to see if it would be ready today since Leale's will be closed until January 2nd after today and I needed to know if I'd be going down to San Jose. The word from Leale's was that they'd have the RV for about another week since there was lots to be worked on, more than I wanted to have to do but nothing really unexpected. Lou and Dawn headed down to San Jose but dropped me off In Los Altos when we got gas. They were meeting Dawn's friend Andrea. I enjoyed a walk-about Mountain View.

I stopped for lunch at Los Altos Taqueria, which oddly isn't in Los Altos but in the middle of Mountain View. I enjoyed a chili relleno lunch which was very good, thus explaining the crowd there. I managed to use the entire afternoon and had a nice long walk. 

Saturday: (12/24) PBJ waffles with sausage for breakfast.

We drove over to Bol park for a walk to see the donkey's. I continued the walk back home and Lou and Dawn headed back to the car. Lou's knee still doesn't like longer walks. In the afternoon I decided to walk down to Walgreen's (.5mi) but they didn't have what I needed so I had a delema. Walk back home with nothing or walk on to CVS (another 1mi) to get what I needed. I walked on. when I returned, Lou wonder why it took so long to visit Walgreeen's. Shepard's pie for dinner. 

Sunday: (12/25) Merry Christmas! Darn, no snow, but it is nice and cold. Lou made a nice bacon eggs and potato breakfast. Ernie fixed a nice dinner. I was busy setting up Dawn's new label printer and Dawn tried out some writers software tools. Our neighbors Melie, Ping and Anan joined Courtney, Dawn, Lou and I for dinner. Cranberry roaast beef, cranberry and pistachio rice, spinach salad with oranges and craisins, brocolli, pineapple, and then there were the orderves. We watched the Santa Claus Movie after dinner. 

Chorizo Week

Monday: (12/12) Lou made chorizo omelets for breakfast. We found some nice lean fresh chorizo at Sprout's Market the other day. I spent the morning in the office. Lou and Dawn visited the Stanford Mall. I had some of Dawn's leftover soup for lunch. Actually I spent the afternoon in the office as well trying to clean out some of the junk.  Lou was busy with the laundry. Steak with Thai noodles, avocado and carrot salad for dinner.

Tuesday: (12/13) Cereal for breakfast. Chorizo burritos for lunch. Ernie and I installed the new TV antenna (pointed to San Francisco) and modified the old antenna (which was then pointed toward Sacramento). We now get 89 stations, only three worth watching. Working on the roof  isn't as easy as it used to be. The old antenna was modified by cutting off the longer low VHF elements since there are no low VHF channels anymore. The antenna is now half it's former size. Mushroom and cheese ravioli in a sauce with bell peppers and onions for dinner. Nice sunny day today.


Wednesday: (12/14) Breakfast with my old coworkers at work. They have an annual Christmas pancake breakfast. I spent the morning learning of all they have been doing the past year or two. It's amazing how much things have changed in the past 7.5 years since I retired. I then stopped by Leale's RV to arrange to have the motor home serviced. Then shopped my way home. On the way I stopped at Mr Chau's for lunch. Chow mein and BBQ ribs. Dinner was leftover ravioli and cauliflower. The weather was quite nice today.

Thursday: (12/15) We headed toward Gilroy about 10am. Ernie treated us to breakfast at the Black bear Diner after which we explored the outlet malls 150 shops and other Gilroy stores. We had a snack in the afternoon of some egg rolls at King Egg Rolls. We finally returned home about 7:30 and enjoyed some of Dawn's blue cheese potato soup that she started in the crock pot before we left.

Friday: (12/16) Whole wheat pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Dawn and I walked to the library. She had some books on order that came in. Peanut butter apples for lunch. Grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Nothing much accomplished today. Quite nice.

Saturday: (12/17) Lou made mushroom and cheese omelets for breakfast. After breakfast we visited a couple of estate sales. The first had nothing and we're not sure why they even advertised the sale. The second occupied Lou and Dawn for about 40 minutes. Dawn picked up a bunch of books. Homemade chorizo Hawaiian pizza for lunch. Lou and I made a second outing to the OSH hardware store for a few things and to see if their tool sale had anything we needed. It didn't. And dinner was chorizo meatloaf with baked potatoes and a green salad. I'm note sure why we didn't have chorizo in our omelet for breakfast?

Sunday: (12/18) Pancakes ala Dawn with sausage for breakfast. I cleaned out the RV and prepared it to roll tomorrow morning. I'll be taking it in for service tomorrow. Ravioli for lunch. I worked at the computer much of the afternoon. Ernie baked a bunch of our mom's recipe oatmeal cookies with mini M&M's and craisins. Leftover chorizo pizza for dinner.

A New TV Antenna

Monday: (12/05) Latkas with apple sauce and sausage for breakfast. I spent the morning on the phone, in the office and at the computer. Lou actually did useful things like cleanup and shopping. After my spaghetti lunch I started on installing a new TV antenna. That didn't get too far before I realized I needed materials so the job was put on hold. I may have to change the title now.  I really didn't mind since it is kind of cold outside. We all went to Lou's favorite restaurant the New Tung Kee Chinese restaurant. We shared some Pad Thai dishes and some egg rolls for dinner.

Tuesday: (12/06) Oatmeal for breakfast. I spent the morning cleaning my closet some more. It's been years since that was done. Only things that still fit remain. I started several other tasks but completed none. The new modem arrived about 6pm. Since I have to do a change to the wires outside it wont be activated until tomorrow morning. Spaghetti for lunch. Lou and Dawn went out shopping in the afternoon. We tried out the new Papa John's pizza joint that opened up a few blocks from home for dinner. Pretty good. Lou baked another cranberry pear pie and some tarts this evening.

Wednesday: (12/07) My first task was to activate the new DSL line. It actually went quite easily. It turns out then new DSL line is on a second pair of wires so both DSL lines are now active. I'm not sure when ATT will deactivate the old line but it was nice that they were able to leave the old one active since the modem was late in arriving. Most of the rest of the day was spent working on the computer. Latkas with eggs, and sausage for breakfast. Summer sausage with cheese and crackers for lunch. I cooked sauerkraut potatoes and a pork roast for dinner.

Thursday: (12/08) Dawn and I were in San Jose today. Breakfast burritos at La Victoria for breakfast. Dawn had an appointment and I had work to do at the San Jose house. I cleaned the gutters, no small task. Three downspouts were clogged up. Always fun working on the roof. Lunch as a Carl's Jr burger.  I also made a trip to Lowe's for some water softener salt. They had a very good sale on the salt so I got 18 bags. That should keep the softener going for a while. My back was acting up before I got the salt and was insistant that I relax after stowing away the salt. I relaxed a while before Dawn returned and we headed home. Dinner was leftover sauerkraut, potatoes and pork with some BBQ rids as well.

Friday: (12/09) Baked pork bun and an egg tart from Hong Kong bakery for breakfast. My back was still out of order so I relaxed at home today. Lou and Dawn were busy weeding the garden and other yard puttering. Summer sausage, cheese and crackers for lunch. Fish, corn on the cob and rice for dinner.

Saturday: (12/10) Pork buns for breakfast. Lou, Dawn and I went to Mountain View Community Theater to see The Christmas Carol. We then stopped by Sprout's Market in Sunnyvale. Lou and Dawn left me there and headed off to Stanford to catch a Christmas music show at the Old Church on campus.  I looked around and shopped my way toward home. I stopped and got some socks at my old shoe store. The wool socks last almost forever but just almost so I needed to replace some. Lunch at the Wok's On Chinese restaurant in Sunnyvale. I could have caught the bus but ended up just walking the five miles home. Dawn's bean soup for dinner.

Sunday: (12/11) The cleanup and de-clutter projects continued in the morning. We spent the afternoon shopping. Cereal for breakfast. Costco's best for lunch. The usual hot dog for Dawn, Polish dog for Lou and chicken bake for me. Lou fixed Swedish meat balls with baked potatoes and artichokes for dinner.

 

Stanford Theater Movies

Saturday: (12/03) Waffles and sausage for breakfast. Lou and Dawn were busy visiting a rummage sale, thrift stores and garage sales in the morning. I had ramen noodles and summer sausage for my lunch. Lou and Dawn had soup. In the afternoon Lou and Dawn went to a cookie party. I tinkered with the computer most of the day. In the evening I made some spaghetti for dinner.

Sunday: (12/04) We all went to breakfast at the Crepevine in Palo Alto. I had a chorizo burrito, Lou and Dawn shared a Tuscan omelet. After breakfast we walked around downtown Palo Alto. It's been a while since we've done that. Then we visited the California Street Farmers Market. About 3:20 we returned downtown and watched a double feature film at the Sanford Theater. The first movie was African Queen with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The second film was Desk Set with Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn. Both were good films. The second movie was followed with a concert on the pipe organ. After the movie we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory and picked up a piece of Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple cheesecake to go. When we got home we had spaghetti for dinner then shared the cheesecake.

A Problem Tree And The Kaucher Mitchell Event

Friday: (12/02) Waffles and sausage for breakfast. My planned morning fell apart early when I got a phone call from our tenant in San Jose saying that a limb had fallen from the street tree there and damaged a car. I packed up my tools and we all headed down to San Jose. We had planned on being there this evening anyway for a performance at San Jose State University. There is a parking permit program by the house there due to it's proximity to the university. We were up in Alaska when the new permits became due so we didn't have a permit yet so Lou dropped me off and went to get the permit.


The tree dropped several very large limbs and damaged the car such that it couldn't be driven and was trucked off. It doesn't look so bad but the driver door couldn't be opened.


The debris covered a lot of the street. On the right above is the culprit.

Of course getting the permit turned in to a problem and Lou had to go up three tiers of supervisors to get someone that could give her a permit. Numerous problems  with the process all easily overcome by someone who can make a decision. Part of the problem was because we didn't dash down in August to get a permit and part of the problem is because Dawn doesn't drive but still needs a permit placard for her guests. Of course Lou prevailed.


In the evening we attended The Kaucher Mitchell Event For Excellence In Oral Interpretation And Storytelling which due to time constraints is usually known as the Kaucher Mitchell Event.  We walked over to the theater from Dawn's apartment. Above left is a night view of San Jose State University Tower. This was the 115th edition of the event. Dawn was one of the finalists a few years back. I didn't take any pictures of the Kaucher Mitchell Event but did get the picture above right before it started while they were practicing and getting their own pictures. Jason Kapoor, in the white coat above, just happened to win the oral interpretation part of the event. He also won the last event. His performance this year was an interpretation of Sonnet 155/Hamlet from Bo Burnham/William Shakespeare. Very funny. All the performances were excellent, as usual. Always a good show and (un)fortunately not well publicized so the house wasn't full to see it.

While we were out, Ernie greeted a technician from ATT who tested our line for the DSL Internet speed increase. It reportedly tested well and is ready. I was a bit surprised because our appointment was for Monday not Friday and was for 11-1 not 4:30. Usually these kind of services are late, this one wasn't at the correct time but was days early.

For lunch we stopped by  the La Victoria Restaurant next to the university for burritos. Dinner as a stop at the Subway sandwich shop.

Heavy Winds

Thursday: (12/01) I spent some time working on the old car but didn't get it fixed. Still wont start easily. Dawn and I also did some shopping and other tasks in Los Altos and Redwood City. Ernie and I had to fix the storage tent in the back yard. The heavy winds ripped it up a little requiring some added grommets. Lou made home fried potatoes with eggs and bacon for breakfast. Dawn and I shared a torta at la Victoria Mexican Restaurant in Redwood City for lunch. Leftover pot roast for dinner.