Friday Night In Valencia

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For The Work Place Romance

A Little Known Fact: SF Jeff Repairs Vacuum Cleaners

Last night at dinner the following conversation ensues:

Jeff: You know, I probably shouldn't admit this but....
Kim: Do Tell!!!!!

Jeff: I repair vacuum cleaners

Kevin: You what?

Jeff: I find vacuum cleaners and I repair them

Alex: Where do you find them?

Jeff: On the streets of San Francisco

Kim: And you repair them.....

Jeff: Yes, and then I put them back on the street with a sign that says "Works Great, Really Sucks"

Kim: Your kidding

Jeff: Well what am I going to do with a dozen vacuum cleaners

Alex: But you wouldn't have a dozen if you hadn't found them on the street

Kevin: And repaired them

Jeff: Once repaired, Somebody picks them up, somebody always picks them up

Kim: You do realize there is no way this isn't going on the blog?

Jeff: They are found objects, I mean, I don't look for them they just cross my path

Kim: You've repaired a dozen?

Jeff: Most of them just need belts or cleaned out

Alex: Do you repair anything else?

Jeff: Sometimes for example last week I bought an LCD TV and a Crock Pot at a tag sale

Kevin: What's a tag sale?

Jeff: A garage sale but

Alex: In San Francisco there are no garages so....

Jeff: It's just on the sidewalk, the LCD TV just had a broken power supply, I bought one for $30 bucks on ebay and fixed it but usually I stick to vacuum cleaners

Kim: Wow

Alex: I have never seen a vacuum cleaner left on the street

Jeff: Well I live near a college and in June they're everywhere

Recent Videos Of My Girls

Off To College

Today, James left for college. Luckily he isn't going far and he has already received visitors in his new dorm room as David, Sydney and Brooke paid him a visit earlier today. James I love you for everything you are!!!!!!

Hope to see you and check out your new place sometime over the next couple of days.

Point Magu Air Show

We went to the Point Magu Airshow today, a good time was had by all. Everytime a plane would fly overhead I expected Brooke to cry but instead she started laughing. LOL! Here are the pics of the kids, will have some good pics of the planes soon. In case you were wondering those would be off David's camera :)

My Life As A Hotel Front Desk Clerk (1)

You may or may not know that from 1993-1996 I worked as a Front Desk Associate for the Residence Inn by Marriott (Note I didn't say Marriott Residence Inn because that's not what it is called-always a pet peeve of mine). Tonight at dinner I was telling Kevin a couple of stories of this life because on Saturday, he decided to extend his hotel trip at a hotel that was sold out for the evening. My life as a hotel front desk clerk comes flooding back and I blurted out "Oh, man there is nothing worse than having to "walk" a guest.

"Walking a guest".....you are oversold so you book them a room at a hotel that is not oversold and when they arrive you tell them to go to the other hotel. Basically it's we value your business but you can't stay here tonight. There really is nothing worse than coming in for a 3-11 shift and having the morning shift tell you that you were oversold and thus will likely have to walk someone. Next you determine who you will walk. It will likely be someone that fits the following criteria:

*Short stay, one or two nights
*Not one of your corporate accounts (If you are a vacationing person, look out)
*Not a regular
*A man is easier to walk than a woman, so likely a man

There are two strategies: (1) Choose a couple of possibles and attempt to walk the first of them that arrives, that way if they pitch a fit you can walk the other one (2) Wait it out and hope that the last person to check in is after your 11:00 and then the next shift will have to do it.

I employed both strategies. Tonight when I was checking in at the Embassy Suites the front desk clerk was telling the other clerk that they were oversold. She then told me that I was fine and I told her that I used to work the front desk and there was nothing worse than-she interrupted and said-walking someone! Yep, walking a guest is miserable, I told her that I hope the guest arrives after 11:00PM. I also told her that after I worked at the front desk I went to work for a hospital laboratory and the only thing worse than walking a guest is calling someone back because we drew the wrong tube of blood.

Baby Brooke Is 22 Weeks

My baby girl is 22 weeks. It's amazing how different develpmentally Sydney and Brooke are. Sydney was full army crawling at 20 weeks and had spectacular head control, Brooke went up on her knees for the first time this week and is still pretty wobbley. Brooke is right on according to the books, Sydney was always two-three months ahead until it was walk and talk time. (If Sydney is anything like me she will be rubbing her advanced EVERYTHING into Brooke in 10 years. I am pulling for Brooke to talk & walk earlier so she has a comeback).

Baby Brooke could be a Cannon.....easily and either way she would be the absolute apple of my eye. I am so in love with this girl, the way her face lights up when I see her makes me feel like a million bucks. I love you baby girl and I am so lucky to be your mom!

One Down (Almost) Ya'll Done Good!!!!!!!

ILY22

Lacy Park And The Amazing Abba Quilt

Last weekend Laura transported the most amazing quilt to me. The quilt was made for Brooke by Andrea and it beautiful. It is so unique, what an eye to combine these fabrics-they are gorgeous. The details are amazing and there are twenty-two lady bugs sewn into the top. So special!!!! Andrea, this is so awesome, it is the most precious gift she has received and we all appreciate you sooooo very much! THANK YOU!!!!!

Tonight, when I got home from the Central Coast we picked up our Abba quilt and we all went to Lacy park for the evening. Brooke loved laying on her quilt, Sydney played at the park, ran through the grass and got pretty tired out. A great time was had by all and I am glad to be home with my family!!!!

Kim And The Cable Guy

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Buzz Lightyear Gets Warmth

A few weeks ago I walked into the bathroom to see Bare Minerals (Warmth) makeup all over Buzz Lightyear's face. I love my two year old!!!!!!!!!

Conference Room Rules (I'm In)

Gadget Census 2010

This morning on my way out of the hotel I saw on the front of USA Today the results of the Gadget Census (Who Knew?). I picked up the paper and threw it in the hotel room so that I could blog it later.

I just finished reading it and I found some really interesting information.

First off my favorite "winner" (HA HA HA) is Phoenix since it is full of old technology owners (VCR's, CRT's and Tube TV's)

Most owners of Emerging Technologies: New York (Most IPAD's-52% more than anywhere else, Netbooks, Blue Ray Players)

Winner of Green Technologies: San Francisco (Most recycling of devices and energy efficient devices)

Highest population of Media Streamers: San Francisco (Apparently they stream everything in San Francisco, maybe Jeff R can advise)

Most TV Fanatics: Atlanta (There are more TV's in the bathrooms and garages in Atlanta then anywhere else)

Most HDTV's: Maryland. (There are 13% more HDTV's in Maryland)

Highest percentage of E-Readers: Massachusetts (All those Ivy League schools have lots of readers)

Point and Shoot Cameras: Michigan (Michigan has 8% more than most but Maryland closely follows)

Not A Bad Drive At Sunset

Beach Bathroom Standards

Let's face it when it comes to beach bathrooms the standards are poor are at best. There is no expectation that it will be clean, the ground is almost always wet, the signage is terrible, there are no mirrors and the toilet paper holders....well, lets get into that a bit more.

Look at the toilet paper holders. Awful. For one, do toilet paper themes only target bathrooms at the beach? You rarely see locks on the toilet paper at non-beach bathrooms. What a pain in the neck it must be to change the toilet paper. I am wondering if the labor cost is what drives them to place the toilet paper on rectangle pieces of metal? On the rectangle metal you can only take one or two squares at a time. It is a pain trying to get off more since it's not on the little circle bar. By making it hard to get and places three of these on each of the metal bars I suspect the toilet paper must last awhile. I wonder how often the toilet paper changer comes? I don't know about you but I think we as citizens should be demanding more from our beach bathrooms starting with the toilet paper locks, then adding some mirrors. Would a hook on the back of the stall door kill them? If you are in a one piece and happen to be wearing a t-shirt the lack of hook is really a pain. (especially since the floor is likely wet)

I'm suggesting a beach bathroom task force to solve this problem. I'll apply for the job, will travel to various beaches, review their bathrooms and make recommendations. If anyone is interested in accompayning me, I'm looking for some assistants.

Brooke's First Day At The Beach

Flashback Friday (47)

We used to just worry about what food needed to be ordered. See you next week!

I Could Pretend It Was A Blogger Glitch

But it wasn't......it was EHR! Yesterday it was Larry and Jeff's birthday and I didnt post anything. I did Sametime Jeff but I didnt even text Larry until today. I have never been busier in my work life as I am right now, it's crazy and I missed it. SO SORRY! Larry, I owe you Smitty's in two weeks!

As Found In Our Garbage Disposal

Our garbage disposal has been sounding weird for weeks. Today, David discovered coins and rocks (amongst other items) in our garbage disposal. I wonder what two year old did that? Has Elizabeth been over?

We Called Them Pill Bugs

Growing up these little bugs were called "Pill Bugs", flash forward 30 something years and they are now known as "Roly Polys". Joshua and Elizabeth have been checking out Roly Polys for sometime but a few months ago Joshua got Sydney involved in the hunt.

Sydney loves finding Roly Polys but but she refuses to pick any of them up. Her cousin Elizabeth is not so timid, through Elizabeth's experimentation we have found out that dead Roly Poly's turn white.

Mom's Droid Notification

James showed me moms notification screen on her Droid last week. Wow, it was something else.

12 unread text messages

37 unread Facebook messages

1 pending Facebook friend request

25 2010 World Cup notifications (Whatever)

17 applications requiring updates

19999 unread emails (After I took this picture there were 20,002)

8 unlisted You Mails (Voicemails)

So if she doesn't respond to your emails, voicemails or Facebooks just know that you are probably not alone.

Happy Birthday, Ash!

Friday night we took the girls to the park and Brooke went into the swing for the first time. The following conversation ensued:

Sydney: Mom, look at Brooke in the swing

Kim: This is her first time in the swing

Sydney: I tell Grandma about Brooke's swing

Kim: Are you going to tell anybody else?

Sydney: Ash, I tell Ash

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

Batman Uses The Streak!

On Batman's utility belt you find "The Streak" not the IPad.

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Brooke Meets Nathan

Brooke and Nathan are four months and one day apart (Darn that Brooke for not arriving on the 22). Today they met for the first time and Brooke was enamoured with him.

Sydney too had been waiting to meet Nathan but once we got there she did her own thing until the end when she gave him a kiss. Tonight at dinner we had the following conversation:

Sydney: We go see Nathan!
Kim: Did you like Nathan?
Sydney: Yes, and Kevin
Kim: What about Rachel?
Sydney: What about Rachel

LOL, we know she loves her Aunt Rachel but this was too funny.

Coming The Summer of 2012

As many of you know my favorite kids shopping store (by far) is Gymboree. I should probably be buying stock in the company since I am there more often than I should be. It doesn't help that there is a Gymboree right across the street from my office in Pasadena. So Gymboree has this deal a few times a year where you buy clothes during a set period of time and you earn "Gymbucks" which allow you to come back and buy more clothes (yeah, nice) but get 50% of your purchase. For each $50.00 spent, you earn $25.00 Gymbucks and then when you come back for each $50.00 you spend you get $25.00 off. I usually have um lots of Gymbucks to redeem.










During the redemption period I typically buy clothes the kids will wear in future seasons. Right now, the summer wardrobe is on sale so I placed an online order for a bunch of summer clothes for summer 2012. Hopefully, the sizes will be about right. Size 5 for Sydney and Size 3 for Brooke. I also want to thank Gymboree for helping me plan my 2012 vacation, these outfits just scream "I'm going to Hawaii".

Droid Does

Do I really have 155 applications installed on my Droid? How many do you think I use on a regular basis?

ABC's with Emily
Adobe Reader
Advanced Task Killer
Air Hockey
Andro Blogger
Animals
Apps Organizer
Aquarium Live
ASTRO
Bank of America
Barcode Scanner
Best Buy
Bible
Bible Verses
Blogaway
Blogger Droid
Bubble
Bubbles
Bump
Calculator
Calendar
Call History
Camcorder
Camera
Camera Magic
Car Panel
ChompSMS
City ID
Clock
CNN Mobile
Coin Flip
Color Flashlight
ColorNote
Compass
Coupons
Craigslist
Desk Clock
Dex Knows
Dictionary.com
Dolphin Browser
Dope Wars
Drudge Easy
E-Online
Earth
Earthquake Real Time
Earthquake In USA
Ebay
Engadget
Facebook
Facebook Touch
Fake Call Me
Find Starbucks
First Aid
Flashlight
FM Radio
Footprints
Fortune Cookie
Fox News
Friend Stream
Gallery
Gmail
Goggles
Google Buzz
Google Sky Map
Handcent
Hangman Classic
HarrassMe
HRS Hotels
Internet
Just Pictures
Key Ring
Kindle
Location Aware
Mabilo Ringtones
Mabilo Wallpapers
Mail
Maps
Market
Messages
Millionaire 2000
Movies
Music
My Coupons
My Days
My Verizon
My Backup Pro
National Park Tours
Nerd News
NFL Mobile
Our Groceries
Packing List
Pandora
Paper Toss
Password Master
PDF Viewer
Peep
People
Percent Calculator
Phone
Photobucket
PhotoFunia
Photos
PicSay
Places Dictionary
Pocket IKEA
Popn Bubbles
Quick Office
Real Blackjack
Ride Hopper Full
SameColors
Scoreboard
ScoreCenter
Search People
Settings
Setup
Shake Awake
Shoot Me
Shopper
Shop Savvy
SlyDial
Smart Shortcuts
So Cal 2 Go
Spirit Level Plus
Stocks
Stopwatch
Swype
Talk
Teeter
Text Answering
The Whip
Think Geek Deals
TIKL
TMZ
Toss It
Touch 4 Kids
Touchdown
Trip It
Turtle Photoframe
TV.com
Urban Dictionary
Urbanspoon
USA Today
Useless Facts
Voice
Voice Dialer
Voice Mail
Voice Recorder
Voice Search
Wapedia
Weather
Where
Where's My Droid
White Noise
Yelp
You Tube

I Always Try To Do The Right Thing