Weekend Activities

* Company picnic at Liberty Station. Got there early to grab some geocaches, then enjoyed some great food and games. Liberty Station is a very nice neighborhood, it has so much within a quick walk. We enjoyed the small museum at the NTC Command Center.
* Saw "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - was decent, but quite different from the book.
* Dog hike at San Elijo Lagoon - too hot even for the lizards
* Quick trip to Cardiff Beach - nice way to beat the heat
* Harp and flute concert at La Costa Valley - wine and Subway subs!
* Installed a new reverse osmosis system - finally found one that fits our new sink cabinet, a Whirlpool model that has a smaller storage tank. The install went well consider I had to rebuild the drain system from the p-trap up.

Life's Little Celebrations

My sister-in-law, who is a fabulous photographer, is having an open house for her new studio.

First Lego League

Jaya and Bengt started on their First Lego League team this weekend. We got the standard parts and the competition mat but won't get the challenge for a couple weeks. They are very excited but will it will be very challenging to build and program the robot to complete the tasks. I am allowed to provide guidance but not solutions.

Weekend Activities

* Got a touch of the cold which left me quite congested.
* Dog walks at Manchester Reserve and San Elijo Lagoon (twice).

Weekend Activities

* PIPE (Post Indian Princess Event) meeting/BBQ. We got assigned a March event at Palomar Mountain SP (if it is still open).
* Small amount of biking.

Weekend Activities

* Spent half of Saturday biking.
* Attended our third consecutive Dogs Days of Summer festival in Cardiff. Sophie hates it more each year.
* Went to the Ruben Fleet Science Center with the kids. We checked out all the exhibits before taking in the IMAX Wild California film. I got sick watching the movie; no more IMAX for me :(
* Took Sophie to the Lagoon to chase lizards and rabbits to make up for Dog Days.

Socialist in Training

I recently partook in the government's Cash for Clunkers program. I was able to turn my nearly useless and extremely clunky 1991 BMW 750iL into $4500 of my kids future tax dollars. The car was falling apart and got terrible gas mileage. My new Kia Spectra is exactly the opposite.
Now that I have a taste of getting government handouts for no work, I can't wait for health care or the next deficit busting program.

Weekend Activities

* Very nice party at a friends.
* Finished the toe kicks and baseboards in the kitchen.
* Cruised through a 20 mile bike ride.
* Walked dog at Pipe Hike and lagoon nature center.

Weekend Activities

* Hikes with the dog.
* Staying out of the heat.

Kitchen

We are currently working on a kitchen remodel. We chose an IKEA model and to save money, we did most of the work ourselves. Our neighbor, a contractor, did the demolition on the old cabinetry and some of the minor plumbing. It took some long weekends, but we have most of it done.
The old kitchen had an Ell cabinet and countertop that we didn't like since it obstructed the entire space. We designed a galley-style kitchen with cabinets on either side of the walls. Notice the sink, which is a single-compartment farmhouse style. It is one of the things we really love about the new design. Some parts had to be custom made to fit the space. There is a small bookcase over the stove that Jyoti made since IKEA didn't sell a 6" cabinet. The other major custom piece is a desk for Jyoti's work area. It is made out of the same butcherblock countertop but lowered between two base cabinets.
Here are some pictures:

Weekend Activities

* Lots of walks with Sophie: San Elijo Lagoon, Swamis, Cottonwood Creek Park, Pipe Hike.
* Worked on the kitchen, again.
* Vacuumed the backyard. We have a gravel backyard and I have to use a landscape vacuum to pick all the leaves and pine needles.
* Did some biking, but the heat was brutal.

Reading List

A slew of books read:
* "Havana Nocturne" - featured on episode of Fresh Air, this book sounded interesting. I found myself much more enthralled with the story of the revolution than with the mob scene. The mob side of the story was quite predictable, pretty much like the "Godfather" whereas I did not know much about Fidel Castro and his revolution. Good research and writing on both fronts.
* "Mortal Syntax" - a nice book on grammar. I could do with less of the pithy stories.
* "Provence A-Z" - a guidebook to Provence by the King of Provence, Peter Mayle.
* "Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel" - less a guide than simply motivation to start vagabonding.
* "A Good Year" - watched the movie (starring Russell Crowe) first, then read the book. I liked them both, although they are quite different.

Weekend Activities

* Rode a couple of nice bike rides.
* Hiked the nature trail at Elfin Forest.
* Celebrated the soft opening of the new location of Gaffney's Wine Bar with some wonderful tastings. My favorite was a delicious cab franc.

Weekend Activities

* After several years and hundreds (if not thousands) of attempts, Sophie finally succeeded in catching her elusive prey, a lizard. This trophy was caught in the San Elijo Lagoon, on the nature center hike.

* Checked out the Del Dios Gorge hike, northward from the trailhead. This is trail #12.

Weekend Activities

* Attended the last Adventure Princess event with Jaya. In a twist of fate, it was at the same venue where we had our first event, Fiesta Island. I will miss the good times, but I made many friends that I will have for life.

SOHO Lecture

I attended tonight's SOHO's Third Thursday Author Series lecture on Consolidated Aircraft/Convair. Both authors were at the Adobe Chapel to present their work, "Consolidated Aircraft Corporation". I am interested in Convair both from an aviation enthusiast standpoint and the from the fact I work on one of their former factories. The authors, from the Air and Space Museum library, were true experts in their field and very passionate about the subject. The audience was as well, most of them being former employees or children of employees.

Weekend Activities

* Worked non-stop on the kitchen and some real progress on the finishing touches.
* Went to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - it was cute, much like the first. Air and Space Magazine had an article on how "real" the movie was. However they were speaking only of the set that was built to mimic the real museum. Because if you see the performance the Wright Flyer puts on, you would think the plane was powered by a Pratt & Whitney F135, not a 12 horsepower 4 banger.

Weekend Activities

* My parents came down to celebrate Bengt's and Jyoti's birthdays. They brought cake and pie. We watched Jaya's soccer game in what is considered inclement weather.
* Checked out the new farmer's market at Flora Vista Elementary. It was a bit light on the fresh produce and had a lot of prepared and packaged foods. We bought some delicious hummus and baked pita chips.

Sophie

Sophie with her stuffed animal.

Book Return

A while back, we visited the UCSD Library. They seems to have some staffing cutbacks and aren't able to put the books back.