The Road Ahead
Lost in the Redwoods

wow wow

Hi,

We saw the great Youssou N’Dour here in Santa Cruz at the Rio theater last Wed.  We have never seen a show at the Rio before, and in truth the venue is not that great but tickets were cheap and the performance was so uplifting and fun.  I really enjoyed it. N’Dour, for those who are not familiar with his work, is a musician from Senegal and is amazing, definitely recommend checking him out.

Yesterday, we moved a stove into our storage space.  It was generously donated to us by one of P’s colleagues who are updating their kitchen.  We had this perfect plan where we would get our house (which is coming with no appliances) and they would need to get rid of their stove around the same time, however, the timing was off on our end and we had to get a small storage space to put it in.  It’s an antique retro stove, very heavy.  The small truck I rented from Penske did not come with a ramp and when we saw that it took four large construction workers to load it into the truck, we were a little (very) nervous that the two of us would not be able to get it out.   However, once at the storage space, P (and two very nice gray haired men) pushed it out of the truck, it slid down the dolly and landed perfectly without killing anyone or being damaged. Pure luck.  Also, after doing some research on how Rachel Ray has created a super surge in these antique stoves, we (I) are now considering refurbishing it and either keep it or turn a profit.  They are selling for between $4,000-$6,000.  I’m trying to find out how much this will cost of course, but hopefully one day it will look like this.  http://www.vintagestoves.com/stove/05dec4385/

Our last weekend was good, really busy.  I’m not sure why it was so busy but it was.  It started off bad because P had a departmental pot-luck dinner and I decided to make this easy recipe with beans and corn tortillas and we rushed to finish it and  in the end it just all turned out bad, so bad that he had to bring a bottle of wine instead and now we’re left with all these beans in the fridge.  Saturday we worked and I had a holiday party for one of the groups I volunteer for.  Sunday, we had a quick brunch in Los Gatos and went to open houses.  Several were for homes that were $2-3 million, the last one was in SC for only $750,000 and it wasn’t really nice, so we’re still looking/waiting. 

Yesterday, we retrieved P’s laptop from Bestbuy, looks like it’s fixed.  On the way home from San Jose we drove through a 50s style christmas light show in a large park that came complete with holographic 3-d glasses that made all the lights look like either snowflakes or snowmen, they had their own music channel playing all the classics.  It was fun and silly.

This is P’s last week of classes…woohoo!

A happy birthday to my sister! 

Also, late happy 30th to Julie!

- N.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated with our west coast family by having dinner at our place.  It was the first Thanksgiving meal P and I made together (awww…) and it came out perfect.  The meal included pepper brioche rolls, roasted pumpkins stuffed with a wild rice/grain meat stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, roasted veggies, onion tart, a fennel salad with dill dressing, for dessert, apple pie and pear tart made by P (so good). Lots of leftovers.

Additional free time was spent sleeping and/or relaxing.  Movies watched included the classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles (thumbs down), the Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (thumbs up), White Christmas (thumbs up from me, thumbs down from P), Battle Star Galactica Season 1 (thumbs up). 

My Dad goes over the hill today, happy 50th Dad!

- N.

Down with Geek Squad

Hi, 

We had a terrible encounter with geeks last night and it wasn’t pretty.

Long story short - broken lap-top, warranty with geek squad, drop it off with back up disk still in lap-top, back-up disk has very important information on it, need it back asap.

I spent all day yesterday trying to reach someone at Best Buy or to get them to call me back with information and they of course did not call me back.  After a very long day, we decided to drive back to San Jose to rescue the disk.  We approach the geek counter and are told that they shipped the computer out already and they are not permitted to contact the place they shipped it.  In fact, they explained that not only are they not able to contact the place they do not even know where it is.  They just put a UPS sticker on the box and off it goes to one day be returned to us, who knows when.  They don’t have an address, number or anything he explained.  Apparently, the geek squad’s MOA is to tell the public that how their computers get fixed is a mystery (or magic?), even to the squad.  I gave the fake geek a half smile and marched immediately over to the manager.

My tip of the day - don’t sign up for the plan, avoid the squad.   

- N.

Fea Betty

Hi!

I meet the young person I will potentially be “mentoring” tomorrow and am a little nervous.  She is 12 years old and her profile said she didn’t want to have anyone too old, someone around 18.  So, clearly I’m going to be ancient to her, hopefully the meeting will go well.

Other news, forgot to post that I saw a bob cat on the UCSC campus.  It was hunting ground squirrels and not as big as I thought it would be.  Still waiting to see a cougar…from a safe distance.

We are still trying to decide what to make for t.day, so many pies so little time.  Also, my cholesterol tests came back high so I don’t want to tempt myself too much.  When I found out my test was high I felt like a walking kashi commercial.  Hoping that a little more exercise and a little less baked goods will help.  I can’t knock the feeling that I’m too young for this, even though I know that a lot of young people have high cholesterol because of genetic reasons. 

P only has three more weeks of teaching left this quarter (counting down).

Still waiting on “the” house.  Looked at appliances this weekend in San Jose and wow, appliances are expensive. We are having a used and very cool retro stove given to us that will have to sit in storage until the transaction takes place.  So, our only immediate need will be a fridge and then we will work on other things like washer/dryer, dish washer over time.  Our realtor said she doubts we will close before new years at this pace, which I am told is normal for foreclosed properties.

Weekend was good, P had to work Friday night so I got take-out and caught up on ugly betty, oh the drama!

It’s the three month mark since I was last on the east coast, normally around this time I really start to miss friends and family.  Wish I could fly out and see you all for Thanksgiving, however, funds are tight when trying to save for our bungalow.

Also, missing my 10 year high school reunion this month. A shout out to the class of 97 city of champions - holla! 

 - N.

Monarchs

Hi,

Yesterday, after living here over a year, we finally saw the monarchs everyone has been talking about.  There is a monarch migration reserve a couple miles from our house at Natural Bridges beach.  The monarchs come there in about October and leave in Feb. or Jan., not sure when.  However, when we went late last year, there was not a monarch to be found.  That was not the case yesterday.  The reserve is in a small eucalyptus grove (the grove is small, the trees are huge) and it was full of butterflies.  They filled the air and lined the branches together all bunched up.  Very beautiful.  Here’s a link to what monarchs look like in case you don’t remember. http://www.adobeongreen.com/284Monarchs.jpg

This weekend was a good one.  Friday night P and I caught up over veggie burgers at the only Irish pub in town (that I know of).  Saturday we went to the west side farmers market, grabbed a coffee and went through the paper to find open houses.  It was a cold rainy day and we spent most of it going from house to house.  We found two very nice ones, however, in the end we decided we still think the one near the university is the one for us.  However, we’re still playing the waiting game.  I did some research and found out that when buying a house from an REO in Califonia, it can take much longer than it normally would because the flow of information has to travel through a number of people in the bank.  We’ll see what happens but I’m hoping we’ll be able to move while P is on break from teaching. Maybe I should write Santa and let him know that all I want for Christmas is this house (after we get positive inspection reports of course).

Saturday night, we had the privilege of going to a wonderful dinner party.  We were kind of sleepy and cold that night, however, once we arrived they had a big fire going, sat us in front of it with some delicious wine and cheese.  We met some really great people, the conversations were really interesting. 

Sunday we went to SF to meet up with some new friends and P’s brother and his girlfriend at this hole in the wall indian restaurant.  We all agreed the food was not that great but it was it was nice to hang out with everyone.  After eating, we walked around and ended up spending the afternoon in Union Square having coffee and pastries outside.  They were putting up the Christmas tree.  After leaving SF, we stopped in Palo Alto to have dinner with P’s sister and her husband (who is an amazing cook).  Dinner was great, went home and worked the rest of the night.

Monday was spent working unfortunately for both of us, except for the monarch tour which was mentioned above.   

Other news…my bike is broken.  I took it to get fixed and the people there were like no way man because the cost of fixing it far exceeds what the bike is worth.  I beat on the bike pretty hard in Boston and then the move kind of did it in it seems.  So, I’m on the hunt for  a new cheap bike.

Hobbes is good although I had to call the vet yesterday due some odd behavior.  Often when he jumps lately he is missing his target and hitting walls or barely making it and he hangs onto the ledge with his front paws trying to make it up.  Yes, it’s true that he is not the most graceful cat but this was excessive even for him.  They said it could be that he’s getting older (he just turned 9) or he may have some kind of ear infection throwing off his balance.  We will be watching him the next couple weeks to see if it gets worse.

Work is good, P has four weeks left in his quarter and I think that makes him very happy since he’s working like 50-60 hours a week.  Work is good for me.  Also, I finished my CASA training, got sworn in by the judge on Friday and will be getting my first case this Thursday.  I’m looking forward to it. 

As for the holidays, we’re not sure what we’re doing for Thanksgiving, yet. However, we unfortunately will not be making it out to the east coast this season.  With the purchase of the house, funds are extremely tight. However, feel free to drop on by.  Today was sunny and high 70s and I went to the beach when I took a lunch break. 

Hope you are all doing well!

- N.

First Earthquake.

Hey,

We had 5.1 earthquake in our area tonight.  I was in CASA training and Pranav was at home with Hobbes.  I know it’s not a good thing to have earthquakes, but I found it exciting. Nothing broke, everything seemed fine outside.

House update - it seems that the 708 property is in now in the third state of foreclosure.  Meanwhile, we are starting to look around.  This is kind of exciting because we never really looked around with an agent yet.  However, also kind of sad because so far, nothing has really caught our eye as something we would enjoy.  We will keep looking, maybe again this weekend.

We had a small dinner party on Saturday night…and I must say, it went well.  The food was all cooked by Pranav and so good. Also, the treat was creme brulee and we each got to torch our own at the table.  (torch was a wonderful gift from Maura ages ago…thank you maura).

Congratulations to Aly on her new job!!!

Also, check out the latest at the daily spam with Julie pham!
http://ejblog.ourstage.com/2007/10/18/the-daily-spam-w-julie-pham-simple-bonds/

- N.

So close but not close enough.

hi!

The good news is (drum roll please) we’re pre-approved! This my friends was a very complicated ordeal. However, we now have our certificate and are good to go. 

I have lots of other things to say that have nothing to do with a house but life is moving too fast to keep up with it lately.  The stress peaked on friday with chest pains and blurry vision, starting to feel a little better and hoping for a breather soon.

 - N.

mop mop mop

Hey, 

I’m stressed about this housing buying process!

Therefore, doing what any sane stressed woman would do…I turn to Oprah.

Oprah says that I should express and not repress my anger.  Oprah says I should figure out what my anger means and then have a dance break (dance break?) and enter into joy immediately and get in and out of my anger as fast as I can.

mmm….

Still pretty angry.  Not sure I enjoyed my angry dance break but did remember how much I wanted to go to burning man one day and dance like this.

Oprah says to avoid white foods to curb anger.  Peter M. is already on this diet, I should consult him for advice.

Oprah eats flax seeds every day but that I don’t have to stop with the coffee.  Flax seeds and coffee..yum.

Oprah says look yourself in the mirror and say, I have enough, I do enough, I am enough.  (a little stuart smalley don’t you think?)

It seems the key, Oprah says, is balance.

Hopefully, while we navigate the insane fields of bureaucracy here I will remember to take a break, dance a little, put down my white food, sip my flax see coffee and tell myself good things to restore balance. 

I need a little balance right now.  We feel really alone in this process and every day we get five different answers from five different people, nothing gets done and so many things that were told to us to get us to come here seem to be just plainly not true.  Meanwhile, we’re trying to handle all this during the day, during time when we’re supposed to be working.

I was told by a friend that often the stress leading up to things like weddings or buying houses seems in the moment so terrible but looking back, those memories often hold only (mainly) the positive things that happened. I think looking back on our wedding a month ago, that stands true.  I hope that the house turns out to be the same way.

I also hope that after everything calms down, we can this summer write something out so that new faculty will at least have a handout on the rules, so information is consistent and available. Also, maybe starting a wiki for people to ask questions from people who have gone through the process before. 

Or, we can add our own chapter to this:

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/29/18450552.php

We will keep pushing ahead.  We went to the house to look at it again last night.  It’s still a fantastic place and the small fig tree in the front had lots of fruit on it.  The renters are gone, the owner was cleaning up and packing his stuff.  He was like, make yourself at home in your new home. 

Crossing our fingers! Think lots of positive thoughts for us and we’ll keep you posted.

Also, a shout out to Oprah for helping me find balance.

- N.

pros and cons

Hey!

Pro:  It’s really raining here for the first time in around say…9 months and I don’t have to water my plants or wash my car. 

Con:  It’s raining here. It was awesome that it was raining for say the first three days and now that it has been a week, enough! I miss the CA sun already. PLUS, drivers here act like they are driving in a blizzard when it rains, so slow.

Pro:  I’ve been accepted into CASA and Big Brothers/Big Sisters and will soon be very involved in two young people’s lives.

Con:  None yet, will keep you posted.  CASA training is twice a week, very awesome people in the training.  I am looking forward to advocating in the court!

Pro:  Still have an offer open on this dream house mentioned in previous post.

Con:  Every day is full of insane amounts of stress over the house.  We’re on an emotional roller-coaster, one day crying over it, next day planning what we would like to plant in the back yard.  Buying a house is an all consuming project. I really hope this works out and soon.  Thank you to all of you who have spent hours on the phone (sometimes daily) to help us make this happen.

Pro:  I’ve started to do some contract work for an attorney in Santa Cruz.

Con: It’s only contract work and the office is a freezer.  Hence, I dress like I am going on a hike in the snow and it is 70 degrees outside.

Pro:  Have had wonderful weekends so far this month full of visits with new/old friends, free concert in SF (woohoo Steve Earle and Gillian Welch at the Hardly Strictly Blue Grass Festival).

Con: Laundry is behind.

Pro:  Saw glass blowing demonstration last weekend, very beautiful.

Con:  Both P and I spent afternoon dizzy and sick after being in glass blowing studio.  Crazy fumes.

Pro:  I made some delicious veggie chili and corn bread today.

Con: Hobbes licked the cornbread.

Pro:  I saw job I was interested, e-mailed my resume and got an excited response from agency.

Con: Turns out the job opening is not in their closer office but the one far away. BLURG!

- N.

Random info.

Hey….

The leaves are starting to fly here in Santa Cruz and life settled down for a couple weeks post marriage.  Lots of people have been asking how married life is and it’s honestly no different than before we were married, we were very happy and still are.  I wrote a long post previously on marriage last week but saved it instead of posting it.  I think it got a little too preachy on the controversies of marriage, maybe I’ll re-vamp and post it another day.

School has started, P is teaching two classes this quarter meaning he is lecturing five days a week.  I am working from home telecommuting for a firm in Boston and I picked up some temp. work downtown santa cruz working with a civil litigation attorney.  I work from home t/th and don’t have to commute at all m/w/f so that’s been great.  I’m still pretty bummed that there are no legal aid agencies in the area but I am sure I will eventually adjust…or start my own. 

We’re looking at a house seriously and that’s exciting.  It’s a great deal and I hope it goes through.  Right now, I am doing research on things like tube and knob electrical work, termites, attic insulation and tempered glass.  It’s an older place, built in 1930, stucco walls on the outside and has a sort of cottage feel.  Three bedrooms, d.room, nice kitchen, smallish yard that needs a lot of care, and the garage was sound proofed and insulated for the current owner who is a drummer.  So, if we ever wanted to start a garage band and not anger the neighbors, this place is perfect.  The house is close to UCSC, P could bike. It’s going slow which is not a bad thing because we have no idea what we’re doing.  However, staying positive, this house may be ours soon and we would be very happy if it was.

What else….I’ve been jealous of people with dreadlocks.  I think it would be fun to have them, not have to wash my hair, wear big hats.  Could be a phase or maybe next time you see a picture of me you will be in for a surprise. 

I have signed up to volunteer for CASA, court appointed special advocate.  Lots of training but I love CASA, think it will be a great experience.  CASAs are advocates for foster care children and write reports for the judge who makes decisions regarding the child.  I start training two nights a week next week.  

I am interested in finding out about the n/s korea peace pledge signed today.  Rumsfeld is coming to our neck of the woods (kind of) and spending a year as a hoover fellow at Stanford.  He was greeted by protesters, big surprise. 

A shout out to E.R. back is Boston who is newly engaged to his lovely companion from the wizard of oz, congratulations and we miss you guys. I love giving shout outs.  I knew when I chose lawyer over DJ, I made a mistake.

- N.