Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Cats! Fish! Marriage!

After much contemplation we have decided that our cat is good at all the things bad about felines, and bad at all the things good. She wins in the "I'm ignoring you" and "Do what I say" and sucks at such things as grace and being able to control her claws. You would figure after 14 years with claws she would have figured them out.

A fellow on my soccer team was kind enough to bring back some Ahi from his fishing tour and share it with the team. When he said he was going to bring some fish I wasn't expecting the sheer size and amount of Ahi steaks he was going to provide. I grabbed a large frozen fillet from him after the game and figured Kat would make something lovely out of it.
Which reminds me, Kat has been watching an awful lot of the Food Network lately. It's the default channel now when the television is turned on. I can see the appeal of the shows like Iron Chef, the chefs have to be quick thinkers and have a vast knowledge of how to prepare things. Sadly there are the standard reality shows that make you shake your head in despair. Cupcake Wars being one of them. I watched five minutes of it and couldn't stand it any more.

So there was no surprise after I came back from the game, showered, had a bite to eat and sat down on the couch, that Kat was watching the food network. It wasn't until someone on the show pulled out a large steak that I remembered I had fish sitting in my bag, in the garage, in with my soccer stuff. Happily it was still mostly frozen and the next day Kat made it in to some *very* good pistachio encrusted seared Ahi. Yum!

My project is moving forward. Now that it has stopped being theoretical and we've started doing coding a lot of people have stepped up to demand that it integrate with their systems. Those would be systems we hadn't been told about when we did the initial requirements definition. I'm also getting people trying to put new capabilities in to our system that don't fit, such as them wanting our system to automatically create documentation for them. That's got nothing to with what our system is supposed to do so I'm saying a lot of "That is a great idea! No, we won't do it.". Well, I'm more politically correct than that.

My friend Todd and I got our asses out of bed Friday morning to head down to the beach again. I had read the waves were going to be small (1 - 3 feet) so I brought the surfboard in hopes of using it. By the time I arrived Todd was standing on the shore in shorts and a T-shirt, shivering. He announced that it was far too cold to go in, plus it had rained the last couple of days and the bacteria count would be up, plus there was nobody else in the water, and wasn't that strange?
My standard battle between Ocean=Good, Cold Water=Bad turned in to a rout and we didn't go in. Kind of sad how quickly I gave up.

One of my co-workers is going back to India over the X-mas break to get married. I believe it is the standard arranged marriage, since it isn't like he has spent a lot of time in India to meet women. He also isn't very excited about it, it is his duty and he's going to do it. We were talking about it before a meeting and I guess it'll be a large wedding, since they invariably are in India (if you can afford it). The father of the bride is paying.

I joked that the only reason to have a large wedding is for the money, and did they give money in India for weddings? With feedback from the other three Indian ex-pats in the room I found out that not only do you give money at the wedding, you give it to a person whose job is to collect it and keep track of who gave how much. Turns out you track that because if you're invited to their wedding in the future you are expected to give an equal amount to them.

I bet some smart coder in India has already found a way to write an app that plugs in to the social network applications to keep track of these things. They could also integrate with online payments and act as wedding-payment brokers with easy to print out lists and online reminders ... they could even 'hold' the money before the wedding and make interest off it or provide micro-loans if you haven't the funds to give a lot, but expect to invite them to your upcoming wedding and bet they'll give you more than you gave them. Hmm, I'd better take out patent on that.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Evil Cat Strikes Again


Phillip was the first to notice that our fridge was not as cold as usual. In fact, it was getting downright balmy. This was driven home when, a few days later, he got a nice big mouthful of sour milk with his morning cereal. He was kind enough to warn me not to risk the cream in my coffee as he left for work. I felt loved.

So, I dug up our warranty and discovered, naturally, that it had expired almost exactly a year ago. After calling Sears and rolling my eyes at the minimum $250 visit (the fridge only cost $600 when we moved in), I called a local company and booked a visit. When all was said and done, it turned out that the condenser / fan had failed because it was clogged with our dear cat's Evil Tumbleweeds of Death. Add this to the recent spate of vet bills and medications and the Ice Princess has cost us over $2000. We've considered a "catch and release" scenario at the zoo.... I wonder if anyone would notice the new addition to "Cat Canyon"?

Another thing about the fridge that has always been a bit of an issue is the fact that the water dispenser is located inside and pouring a glass of water involves standing there with the door open. That, and it drips on the butter. Who designed this?! When Nikki and Mario were visiting, they resorted to buying bottled water because they found San Diego's highly chlorinated water - even that which came from the filtered fridge dispenser, both unpleasant to taste and hard on the stomach. I have noticed a funky smell as well. Altogether, this led to the purchase of a Big Ass Brita (aka "UltraMax!"). It does a very good job of making the water taste softer and saves energy since we just keep it on the counter - I prefer room temperature water anyway. Appliance adventures, whee!

Amidst the hassle of cleaning all of the bad food out of the fridge, we were readying for the event of the season. Our good friends Kristina and Kevin, who have been together for about eight years, got married in September. We enjoyed ourselves very much - particularly impressed by the Star Wars theme song played by a Scottish piper. The location was great; the rooftop terrace of an otherwise quaint B&B called "Cardiff by the Sea Lodge" was the perfect setting for the intimate ceremony. Cardiff by the Sea (the town) is located only thirty-five minutes north of San Diego and is a typical little SoCal spot with an enviable stretch of coastline. From the terrace of the B&B, we had a spectacular view of the Pacific, and after the sun set, there was a cozy little nook with an outdoor fire-pit. We ended the night at a luxe restaurant down the road with an outdoor patio literally steps from the crashing waves. Very nice.

Back at home a few days later, I had my Eureka moment. Yes, I've graduated my Massage Therapy program, but it really sank in the moment I sent off my certification packet. Phillip came home to a very giddy and happy wife. We ate out, and my grad prezzie is awesome: a new MacBook Pro! I promised not to spill coffee on this one. Now I will be sitting on pins and needles, sprucing up my resume for job-hunting, while starting the study process for the National Exam Certification. If California certification was a sprint, the National Exam is a marathon. I'll keep you posted.

Phillip's moment for drama came a few days after that.  Of course it involved soccer. This time he returned sporting a very obvious goose-egg on the side of his noggin, just above his ear, and the promise of a black eye. Both injuries were due to the same guy! ("At least it was a guy this time!" he interjects with ruffled feathers...) First, they were just being clumsy and ran into each other head-first while trying to track the flying ball, and secondly, the guy was wearing a ring and was flailing his arms so that Phillip got a sudden back-hand to the face. Nice cut, but happily, no serious damage. He's healing quickly! ("Just in time for the next game." he adds dryly...) I don't get the appeal. I really don't.

This weekend has been semi-busy. I spent a good part of Friday cleaning and organizing the house for my graduation party, which at that point, was starting to feel like an obligation. Phillip had to work late, which was a bummer, but thankfully, ordering in a boatload of Indian food and reminding myself to just relax made it all better and we ended up having a great time. I love the sound of happy, chatting people filling the house, and the bonus was that we achieved a small, but important revenge on Scuttle, who spent the whole time hiding on the balcony.

- K.M.