Thanksgiving Appropriate?

Do Mom and Dad really think they can pull off an Uncle Dave?

Thanksgiving Highlights

There was alot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! First the entire family was together and it was great to hang out with everyone. Second, Brooke and Nathan celebrated their first Thanksgiving and Brooke had her first bites of mashed potatoes. Third, Mom made a really delicious meal. Fourth, Spending a day with family is a great reminder of how fortunate we are to live in this great country and be surrounded by the friends and family we hold close.

Not So Much

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Black Friday or Inconsistent Flash?

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As Found In Sydney's Bed

And no, she is not allowed to drink soda

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BTW: I Also Hate XMAS

TY and YW Offend Me

I am all about shortcuts. Send me an FFD and I know we need to talk further, send me an RO, and I laugh, send me a BTW and I know that you are going to give me additional information via "By the way" but don't thank me by saying "TY". Are you so ungrateful that you can't spell out the words thank you? In the following example tell me if you think LM is coming across as really thankful?

LM to KT: I need to take next week off to go to Hawaii
KT: If everything is covered go ahead
LM: TY (What she is really thinking: You better have said yes, I work my tail off for you)

Now, I hold the same disdain for YW. In the following example do you think MW was really happy to have helped the KT?

KT: I can't get PPM straight can you give me a refresher?
MW: Yes
KT: Thank You
MW: YW (What he is really thinking: How many times do I have to tell her the same thing?)

So if you tell me thank you, tell me thank you. If you want to say your welcome, say your welcome. TY and YW don't work for me.

BTW: TY is the equivalent of HT (Happy Thanksgiving) I better not see that today!!!!!!

The Starbucks Little Book of Secrets

A few months ago I was waiting for a sandwich at Starbucks and on the little counter where they put the sandwiches there was a little book that was opened to the "How to make an Iced Chai Tea Latte" page and I snapped a photo of it. Now, anybody that orders Chai knows how it is made, there is no secret, 6 pumps of Chai for a Venti, milk and ice, so I was going to post the picture and state "This is the best drink ever, you should order it", no harm.

After I took the picture I saw the barista wanted to say something to me but he didn't, rather he went and conferred with barista number 2 (Note: This is not my normal Starbucks, it's the Starbucks on Hill in Pasadena). After a few minutes of them in conference they decided that barista 1 would come talk to me. So he came over and said "I saw you take that picture and that was not for you to see (Uh....then don't leave it out) I just want you to know that Starbucks will sue you if you post that on the Internet. I laughed and then asked him if they would also get in trouble for leaving it out on the counter, he did not laugh, he then said "I'm just warning you".

So I decided not to post the actual picture since I would hate to be sued by a place that I give my business to, everyday. Instead I decided to give you an exact replica of the picture:

Brooke Was 9 Months on Sunday

I referred to Sydney in weeks throughout the first year of her life, but with Brooke, once she hit 2 months we only spoke in months. A minute ago I went back and calculated to see how many weeks she is now, 39 weeks. I can't believe that a year ago I was 7 months pregnant and about to go on bedrest. This baby has grown so fast, is so darn cute, so expressive and very very happy! I don't remember Sydney looking at objects with nearly as much wonder as Brooke does. She is such a joy, I want to savor ever minute with her.

Movie Time For The Sick Girls

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Online Safety Test

When taking work online tests you can usually elimiate the wrong answers pretty quickly but a recent test left me quite amused. Check out the following questions and potential answers:

(1) The most important thing to do in a fire is: (a) know the fire escape routes and safely evacuate the building (b) stay at your desk and finish your phone call

(2) Kim needs to be bring a chemical into the office. Before bringing it she must (a) Have the chemical first reviewed by enviornmental health services (b) hide it under her desk so no one will know he's brought in a potentially hazerdous chemical

(3) Laura left a meeting and is headed down stairs to another meeting with her notebook and computer in hand when her cell phone rings. What should she do? (a) ignore the call and continue holding the handrail until reaching the bottom of the stairs (b) stop right there, on the stairs, blocking others and proceed with the call.

All Decorated For Christmas

We are all decorated however I can't find the stocking I bought last year for Katherine (cough cough) I mean Brooke....so Cannon's stocking is being hung it's place.....maybe I should change her name to Cannon, darn that I already got her a passport. Check out our 2010 decorating addition, the new advent calendar.

'Lovely Knits" On Etsy

Courtney's business was my first introduction to Etsy but a few months ago I explored further and I ended up finding the cutest little homemade hats at the "Lovely Knits" store. The hat was adorable, the service was great and she expedited the shipping to make our Alaska trip!

Here is a picture of Brooke modeling the first of our Etsy purchases.

It Rained Today

The rain "in the Southland" was the top news story on all of the news channels tonight. As part of "Storm Track" Eyewitness News had a great interview with Chad Phillips who received air time because he "Hates Driving in the Rain" but my favorite part of the story was when she said "Even a police officer became a victim of the rain".

Not My Idea Of Comfort

Doug and I had lunch at "Cham" the Korean place near the office. The food was just okay but the chairs were absolutely the most uncomfortable chairs I have ever sat in. We won't be visiting again.

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Accurate Fortunes

One was mine, one was Sydney's

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The Church Coffee Bar

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Iffy For 16 Plus

Criminal Minds is rated "iffy" for 16 plus. In my opinion it should be rated "iffy" for other circumstances as well, examples I can think of include:

*Rated "iffy" for anyone home alone
*Rated "iffy" for anyone communicating their whereabouts through social media
*Rated "iffy" for anyone who has ever let the cable guy in
*Rated "iffy" for anyone planning a camping trip
*Rated "iffy" for anyone who.has a conflict with someone at work
*Rated "iffy" for anyone having marital problems
*Rated "iffy" for anyone who knows someone with a remote property or a motorhome

Food Trucks In LA

In March I wrote about the great Grilled Cheese Truck and have been back twice since for the best grilled cheese on this planet. I have been wanting to try some of the other "great" food trucks so I started following several of them on Twitter.

Last week, I was really doing a great job with watching what I was eating but unfortunately one night I checked out Twitter (After Dinner was finished) and saw that the great French Fry truck "FrySmith" was in Altadena so we decided to blow it and go over there. It resulted in two orders: (1) Chili Cheese Fries (2) Rajas Fries. The Chili Cheese Fries were David's and they were not that great. (Tops has way better chili cheese fries). I had the Rajas fries with roasted pablanos, onions and shwarma marinated steak with jack cheese. The steak was great but in order to not consume very many carbs I only had a few of the fries.

This weekend we also tried the Border Truck. The Carne Asada tacos were good the rest were not so great. I likely won't revisit either of these trucks but if I happened upon the fry truck I would probably get the Rajas fries again.

Happy Thanksgiving From The Pasadena Office

I Have An Affinity For Aged Cheddar

I have recently developed an affinity for aged cheddar cheese. It is the best cheese ever, I purchased my first block of somewhat pricey aged cheddar cheese a month ago when I made "English Cheddar Burgers". (Basically a traditional burger with Aged Cheddar, a little Worcheshire and served on an English muffin)

The English Cheddar Burgers were just okay but the Cheddar was awesome! Today I had a piece of Black Diamond Grand Reserve Cheddar Cheese (aged two years) for lunch. It was so sharp and so creamy that I had to blog on it.

The next type I am going to order is from Schurman's Wisconsin Cheeses. I think I will go for the aged ten years one.....

My Baby Is Looking Less Baby

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Flashback Friday (52)

November 2007

Mayo Sandwiches And Vomit

Anyone who has spoken to me in recent months probably knows that I had a great time on my Alaska Cruise and am looking forward to many more vacations aboard ship. All of these thoughts are on pause after the cruise disaster that just happened with a fire aboard a Carnival ship headed to Mexico from San Diego. If you don't know, a fire broke out which damaged the ships engines and caused it to lose all power. The results included toilets not working, no hot food, cabins completely dark and the ship just being tossed around by the waves. If this werent bad enough here are some quotes from passengers:

"At one point, the ship ran out of food, they started making mayo sandwiches."

"some of the floors were saturated with feces and urine after the toilets backed up. It was really nasty,"

"'It smells like a lot of people are throwing up. I can smell that a lot and they have a lot of bags hanging in the corridors - vomit bags"

Read more:

Article 1 Article 2

I Stongly Agree With Nancy Pelosi

OK, OK, I know this is a shocker but I have found common ground with Nancy Pelosi.

Yesterday, a proposal was put forward that would ELIMINATE tax deductions for our mortgage interest. This would financially kill our family. Nancy Pelosi said it was "simply unacceptable". I agree! Other items in the proposal included:

• Changed the retirement age for Sydney and Brooke to 69
• Included one trillion in tax increases over the next 10 years

Read more here

Sydney With Her 1 Pump Chai

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Baked Alaska

On the last day of the Alaska Cruise they served "Baked Alaska". Frankly, I think the name is kind of dumb, I had no idea what it was but have since consulted Wikipedia for my answers:

*It's a desert made with ice cream with sponge cake on the sides and meringue on top. It's baked long enough for the meringue to cook but not long enough for the heat to penetrate the ice cream
*In 1876 it was given it's name in celebration of the recently acquired American territory
*The actually first people do create this dish was the French who called it "Omelette A La Norviegene"

P.S. I thought it was just ok ;)

Success In Stockton!!!!

Congratulations to everyone for the hard work and the sweet smell of success! Awesome job, by all!!!! Special thanks to you, Jeff Ronner (you know, because I lied to you ;) )

A New Friendship Is Born

Brooke and Nathan hung out today and it was so cute watching them communicate with each other. Some squeals from Brooke, a little babbling from both of them and smiles that went all the way around.

Not My Idea Of Joy

First off in my opinion I think this is like the worst of all fast food sandwiches. It tastes terrible and it definitely does bring me joy.

I do like that while I was taking the picture the homeless man was alerted by the other homeless man and turned around just in time to make the picture.

Waiting for Starbucks in Sac Intl

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A Long Day

12:00AM: Go to bed in Sacramento
6:00AM: Wake up at Homewood Suites
7:00AM: Leave with Kevin and Mike for three hour drive to Redding
9:45AM: Arrive early, celebrate Giants win (for Alex) and tell Dodger stories
10:15AM: Hold first meeting
11:00AM: Attend meeting
11:45AM: Continue first meeting
12:15PM: Attend another meeting
1:10PM: Leave Redding for Sacramento
1:35PM: Stop at Sonic and Starbucks
2:00PM: Hold conference call
4:00PM: Arrive in Sacramento
4:30PM: Wait for Mike while he votes
4:35PM: Leave for Stockton
6:00PM: Have dinner with Jeff, Aaron and Mike
8:00PM: Realize I reserved the hotel 15 miles away
8:15PM: Realize the GPS gave wrong direction
8:35PM: Arrive at hotel
8:55PM: Start email
11:10PM: End email
11:15PM: Write Blog
11:20PM: (Anticipated Bedtime)

My New Wallet (The Big Skinny)

I have a new wallet!!! Sheila (Jason's mom) knows that I (1) Don't carry a purse and (2) Appreciate a small wallet. Well on Halloween she brought me the Big Skinny. Yesterday, I transferred the essentials to it and am so far loving it! (1) It fits perfectly in the bra (2) Holds the necessary items and nothing extra. Loving it! Thanks, Sheila!!!!

A Toddlers Corn On The Cob

Happy Halloween (For The Goodwill Fans)

Cinderella Or Sleeping Beauty

The dress has been worn six times.Twice for testing, twice for pictures, once at Matt/Kim's and tonight. It is destroyed, I made the comment earlier that it looks more like Cinderella after the ball than Sleeping Beauty. She liked it, that's what counts.

The Better Beverage

Starbucks has a new rule that says the Baristas can only make one drink at a time. They want the Baristas to focus on one drink at a time in order to deliver a "better beverage". After seeing this in action for greater than a week I can tell you two things:

(1) My drink does not taste any different than it has for the last ten years
(2) I am waiting significantly longer to enjoy it than I did two weeks ago. Last weekend I waited 15 minutes for my drink at the Starbucks on Sierra Madre and Huntington.

Hopefully this is one of those management decisions that will just be reversed.