Lots on my Mind

So today I am moving offices, same job, new space, and seeing my empty desk with only my computer sitting on it has caused me to reflect on several things. First of all, what a week. My friend Jeanne was here visiting until Monday and left us with a lot to think about as she decides what to do and where to live next. The office move has been hectic and will continue on through next week. Family is in town for the weekend and I am taking a test on Monday. It will be my first one and I keep telling myself it is ok to fail, I probably will stress myself out and forget everything, but at the same time I keep saying to myself, "you can do this" and I know I can, but will I?

On a larger note, I have two friends involved in the Invisible Children/Displacement Camps/Child Soldier issues in Uganda. This weekend there is an event to make people more aware of what is happening. It is yet another part of our world that leaves me feeling small and helpless. It is another cause I should be involved in, but cannot seem to find time for. Mother Teresa was a very wise woman and said several things we should all pay more attention to, but one thing in particular struck me, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." So if you too feel pressured to be more involved, but can't seem to pick the right cause or at least use that as your excuse, we no longer have an excuse. We don't have to be 'the great movement', we just have to do our small part with all of our heart and we can make a difference.

Here is the event I mentioned and there is more information, just look, it is easy to find.

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceMe/
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/theMission/Bracelet_Campaign
http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/wvususfo.nsf/stable/globalissues_uganda

Doxie Derby 2007

For those of you wondering what a Doxie Derby is, here is a short video. If you want to see more, just go to youtube and type it into the search area.

Picnic Day

Many of you know how much I was looking forward to this day and what happened? It looked just like a day in Oregon! Infact here are some of my friends, the ducks who were quite at home in the puddles and the Beaver Marching band (or at least part of it). Then here is the Study Abroad Group, whom we have gotten to know through Rosana. Jordan is driving the truck and Rosana is in the last picture waving at me. We were near the beginning of the parade and as you can tell, they are already soaked. We rode our bikes down to campus later in the afternoon to watch the Doxie Derby, which was AWESOME and I can't wait for next year. It poured on our ride back home, but it was worth it.

Don't wish for more exciting things

So this morning I was thinking it was a pretty boring week with the exception of our PRD (home made Tivo) not wanting to upgrade and so I was forced to watch TV live without fast forwarding through commercials or pausing, scary I know, when I get to work and find a surprise. My window is broken! So I've now spent the last 45 minutes vacuuming and picking up glass pieces. Not exactly the type of excitement I was looking for.
Beautiful building next door isn't it? I didn't notice it until I sat down and felt cold air and thought, "It isn't the heater, we had that replaced in December, where is that coming from?" Luckily, no rock or bullet was to be found and nothing is missing.

Happy Easter

This last week we had a great time celebrating Passover with 23 grad students at a Seder dinner. The maztah ball soup was the best. I tried the homemade gefilte fish and we'll just leave it at that. It was fun and educational at the same time and I hope to be invited again next year.
It was a little strange not to be with our immediate families for Easter Sunday, but it was great to be with Bob's grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins. We had yummy food followed by an Easter egg hunt and ended the day with kickball and dessert. I had my camera with me, but there was so much going on that I didn't take any pictures.
On Saturday we had our second pick-up game of soccer. I am no where near as sore as I was last weekend, but I now have bruises on top of bruises. I guess it is time to find the shin guards! This next weekend is Picnic Day and I will definitely have pictures for that post. I am really looking forward to the wiener dog races. We've had great weather and I hope it stays for next weekend. This month holds lots of exciting things for us including a visit from Jeanne, a trip to Napa, and gasp -- I am going to schedule an exam this month!!

Home again!

Here are some adorable pictures of the little ones we love to visit. Thanks friends and family for making it such a great weekend. See you in May for Cinco de Mayo.

Springtime in Davis

This would be a good time to have smellivision. The wisteria out our front door is amazing. Happy Spring!

Vegas Baby!

So this past weekend Sheila, Katie, Bob and I joined my parents at a convention in Vegas. The trip started with a visit to a marvel of engineering - Hoover Dam. That night we went to Second City (almost as good as the show in Chicago and a great price, I highly recommend it) and then had a very late dinner that included anything from salad to onion rings to cheesecake. Saturday was spent mostly enjoying the unseasonably warm weather with occasional dips in the pool, and then trying to convince my sister to wear my hot pink pants out that night. With the exception of the flight home, it was a great weekend. Thanks Mom and Dad!
Happy St. Patrick's Day

Very Fortunate

I went home this weekend to be with my family and I want everyone to know that I am very thankful Bob chose a school on the west coast. It was so nice to spend time with my family (which also includes Bob's family). I guess it was just what I needed because I came back to Davis feeling very happy. For those of you I missed, don't worry, I'll be back soon with more than 3 days notice like I gave the family this time.

Our Friends are Getting Married!

Our dear friends Rosana and Jordan are getting married and threw a kick-ass party last weekend so we could all celebrate with them. Here are some of the great moments with the couple dancing, the couple singing, wonderful food, and Bob with Alden and Chad. Congratulations Jordan and Rosana!

I'm Trying!

This is a 3-d image of one of the projects I am working on in Woodland. There are live-work units on just over 2 acres of land. I am trying my best to not add to the sprawl of Northern California. The 3 story homes with offices on the ground floor will also feature "green" products that are healthier for their owners as well as the environment.

I wish...

We live in an oasis of acceptance, knowledge, and peace here in University town, USA. But I can't ignore what happens outside of Davis and I can't pretend all is fine in the world and in our country, but sometimes I just don't know what to do about it. I do know the words of Sandi Thom resonate with me sometimes. (she is British)

I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In '77 and '69 revolution was in the air
I was born to lead
In a world that doesn't care

Here is the rest:
When the head of state didn't play guitar
Not everybody drove a car
when music really mattered
and when radio was king
when accountants didn't have control
and media couldn't buy your sole
when computers will still scary
and we didn't know everything
Chorus
when pop stars still remained a myth
And ignorance could still be bliss
God save the queen she turned a whiter shade of pale
when my mom and dad were in their teens
and anarchy was still a dream
and the only way to stay in touch was a letter in the mail
Chorus
When record shops were still on top
and vinyl was all that they stocked
when the super info highway was still drifting out in space
kids were wearing hand me downs
and playing games meant kick arounds
football players had long hair and dirt across their face
Chorus

Last week the book club finished reading "Field Notes from a Catastrophe". Hopefully one of the revolutions of our time is environmental.

12,000 SF Castle

Is this really necessary? Does Mom need her own house when she visits, do your kids need a lake and a pool? How about a man made creek or two towers?

The pictures don't do it justice. There are 2, 3-car garages, an art/fitness studio, and a heated pavilion on the lake, in addition to what I mentioned above. This house sits just minutes south of Davis on 8 acres and I have to give it credit for this, supplies its own energy.

Wedding Photos

I realize it takes me a little while to download photos and up load them here and I apologize. I also want to sit and think about the time with friends and just how great it was before trying to sum it up into a slide show with captions. In this case, I don't think I can do it. It was so great to be there with people I not only consider Bob's friends, but my friends. Bryan and Aron spent more time with us than a couple getting married that weekend probably should have and it was so wonderful to meet Heather. It was very hard to leave at the end of it all wondering when we would get to be together again.


Never ending Bridge or something like that at the Guthrie and the trip to get up to it.

Wedding pics of course.

Palm Desert

A couple of weekends ago, my mom, sister, and I met in Palm Springs for the weekend. None of us had been there before so our weekend included a lot of driving around trying to locate places to eat shop or pamper ourselves. I've decided that Palm Springs is where the happening place used to be and Palm Desert is where things are happening now. It was a mostly sunny weekend, normal for the desert, but very cold and windy since it was following the freeze California had (you know the one that destroyed most of the citrus crops.) On Sunday we took a drive to the Joshua Tree National Park and the pictures that follow this short text included a couple from that day. There is one of my mom standing in front of the valley and one of Joshua Tree s (looks like a cactus with small palms) with desert rocks behind them. The other photos are of a wind farm and a sunset. If you haven't been to this area, it is unique. The mountains just shoot right up out of nowhere.

Just a couple of buildings I saw in LA! The Library, The Biltmore, and the Courthouse.

On MLK Jr. Day I sit alone in a very empty office in the middle of a sleepy farm town. No one is emailing me, no one is online, and the phone has not rang once. Normally this would be an opportunity to accomplish numerous tasks, but since I am new to this job and still pretty new to this city, it is just a time to sit and wish I had the day off like everyone else. I can hear kids running by the office every now and then and the church bells ringing to remind me another hour has slowly ticked away. I should appreciate the calmness before the storm. Tomorrow I am flying to LA with my new boss to take part in a design charrete - no pressure there.
The last few days have been very cold. Cold for Oregon standards and very cold for California, but at least it is sunny. It is supposed to slowly return to normal but our trip this weekend to Palm Springs may not be in the 70's like we had hoped for.
Currently I have KINK 102 from Portland playing over my computer as if I was right there in Salem working again. I don't think I'll be able to do it too often without being homesick. We've been pretty busy ever since we got back from our Christmas vacation and so I haven't thought a lot about it, although I keep waiting for the HS bug to bite. Rosana and I have started going to the gym. Bob has two classes that go on into the evening so it has helped to have something to look forward to after work. We even took a belly dancing class last week. We were hilarious. I have a new found respect for hula dancers as well as belly dancers; it is hard work.

Christmas Time

Here are a few pictures to sum up our time at home. So from baked breakfast goods to matching sweaters to my friends' kids to snowshoeing here it is. We had a great time, but there is never enough time to see everyone and do everything. I just hope we get better at it. I'll try to post more soon.

Trip to the Capitol

When my sister was here to visit, we took a short drive to Old Town Sacramento and then walked to the capitol building. It has been recently restored and is beautiful.

There are many differences between California and Oregon and soon I can tell that this will become a place where I post titles such as, "What were they thinking when they designed this freeway" to "You call this a recycling program", but until then, I'll keep posting pretty photos.

Woodland Office

I promise I'll post Christmas photos soon, but in the meantime, here is our car with its spiffy rack to transport us and our stuff along I-5. The car is parked in front of my office in Woodland. If we had a ladder we'd be picking those oranges.