Category: Weblog

SYFPH

Yes, I know I haven’t updated. I’ve been busy.


Backyard Spa

This weekend I sanded down the spa and then painted it with the nasty pool paint. When I get some time, I’ll update about geocaching & E3. Until then, go somewhere else.

Two things

1 -> A few minutes ago the doorbell rang. I answered the door and a young woman was outside with a clipboard. I knew she was selling something. She began her rap, “Hi, I’m with the blah blah blah and we are learnign marketing blah blah blah…” I interrupted and asked, “What are you selling?” She said “Don’t freak out when I show you the card, k?” She showed me the card. It was a subscription form for the Pasadena Star News.

I said “We already get that newspaper every morning.” This created a brief eye in the verbal windstorm. She reached into her clipboard and pulled out another card. “How about this newspaper?”, she said with a smuh look on her face. It was a subscription form for the LA Times. I said “We already get that newspaper every morning, too.” “You get both?”, she questioned. “Yep”, I replied. Disbelieving me, she said, “Show me.” I said “OK.” and turned toward the side where the trash is and where the used newspapers go.

Seeing that I was not kidding, she gave up. “That’s OK. I believe you.” As she walked away, as I was shutting the door she said, “Go to church, Jesus loves love.” I’m not sure why she said that. I don’t think she recognized the Mezuzah on the door.

2 -> I’m overwhelmed. All of the sudden I am overwhelmed by the complexness of life. It happens to me every once in a while where they day to day things build up to the point in which I feel paralyzed. I don’t know what set it off today, but at about 7:30 the combination of the emergency Walmart trip, the missing tree in the backyard, the laundry, the full dishwasher, and children crying over linens seemed to toss my normally calm view 90 degrees out of kilter.

I feel like one of those toy dipping birds. You know, the kind where the water is added to the bird one drop at a time while the bird stands upright. Finally at the addition of one final drop, the bird can no longer resist the urge to tipover and spill out all the water. Once the water is spilled out, the bird returns upright to catch more water.

Somehow the last little drop of water for added to my mix and I feel as if I’m tipping.

Found

I hadn’t mentioned it before, but on the last geocache trip, my mother lost her wedding ring.

Ever since her new arthritis drugs have been working, her ring has been loose on her finger. It seems that while my dad and I were looking for the cache, my mom dropped her ring while playing with the girls.

She realized the ring was missing when we got back into the car at the trailhead. We searched everywhere nad my dad walked back to the site where we had been looking to no avail.

The next day, I talked to my mom and I could tell she was quite upset. I found out that I could rent a metal detector for $10 in Pasadena. $10 bucks? It’s worth a try. I picked up the detector, listened to the brief instructions, and headed home.

I changed out of work clothes and into some hiking clothes, grabbed Zoe, and drove to the park. Zoe and I hiked in to the spot where Mom had been sitting. Along the way, the metal detector had been going off and I thought the chances of finding the ring were low.

At the spot, I started hunting while Zoe played. I dug up a few metal things like part of a soy sauce packet and a bottle cap. The detector went off over a large rock, next to the boulder Mom had been sitting on. I crouched down and started scraping and looking. It was tough to get my fingers between the rock and boulder. I decided to pull up the rock. As I did, I saw a flash of gold roll into the hole created when I lifted the rock.

It was a gold ring. It was THE gold ring. Success.

We then proceed to look for the elusive Geocache. Still no luck. That box is hidden well.

Sore

I woke up this morning sore. It must be the combination of scrubbing the backyard spa, going to the Fun Fair and climbing the rock wall, and the unsuccessful geocache hunt.

Sunburn and a sore ankle are making this a slow morning.

Time to have some tea.

BTW, here is the story of Geocache attemept 4 for your perusal.
Beware the dead skunk.

Dead Skunk

More Vanilla Coke

Success.


Me with Vanilla Coke

I stopped by the Pavilions today on the way to work and found Vanilla Coke. It was kind of like a commercial. I walked up to the soda aisle and the Coke Guy was there, unloading soda onto the shelves.

Me: Hi, you got that new Vanilla Coke?
Coke Guy: We don’t have the two liter bottles yet.
Me: Do you have any Vanilla Coke?
Coke Guy: Yes, but no two liter bottles of it.
Me: I don’t really care about two liter bottles, anything will do.
Coke Guy: Oh, well the one liter bottles are up front in the cooler next to the register.
Me: Cool, thanks.

He then walks me over to the cooler. The Store Manager appears.

Store Manager: Can I help you find something?
Me: I’m just going to get some of this Vanilla Coke here.

I reach toward the cooler.

Store Manager: Vanilla Coke?
Me: Yah, you know, the new Coke flavor?
Store Manager: New flavor?

At this point the Coke Guy and Store Manager begin discussing Vanilla Coke and I sneak off to the cash register. They are still talking when I leave.


One Liter Vanilla Coke (not two liter)

How does it taste? Good.

I get Vanilla Coke at Soda Jerks in Pasadena whenever we go there, so the flavor is familiar to me. The slight vanilla aftertaste is the key.

Recently, I’ve been drinking Diet Coke, so a real sugar coke tastes quite sweet to me. I nursed the bottle all day long. I couldn’t have stomached the entire bottle in one sitting.

In other news, I’m pondering another geocache tomorrow.

Geocaching

Yesterday evening I went Geocaching with the girls. It was a beautiful day and my eyes were tired of looking at computer screens. I had printed out the info to a cache near home in San Marino at Lacy Park. The difficulty level was low and looked like a simple start to our geocaching career.


I punched in the coordinates of the cache and got in the car to head off. I’m using a Magellan GPS Companion that snaps onto Michele’s Palm V.


After futzing a round a bit with the GPS, I realized it would point me int he direction of the cache. My mistake was in not bringing a compass with me. Here we are around 400 feet from the cache.


The Cache!

We got within 20 feet of the cache when Zoe had to hit the potty. Did you know that the women’s restroom in Lacy park is 436 feet from the cache? In any case, after a bit of wandering around we finally found the small, black cache in ivy.


The girls were quite excited about our ‘treasure hunt’ and were happy to grab a lobster bookmark and Play-Do squeezer and leave a bottle opener and Mickey Mouse doll.

Things I need to remember in the future:
1) Bring a compass
2) Make the girls pee before we go.
3) Keep the exchange gifts small.
4) Take a picture of the GPS at the exact cache location showing the position. The ‘money shot’ if you will.
5) Mkae sure everyone is wearing socks and good shoes.

We had a great time, and will be doing more…