Our New Office

Remember when all we could talk about was snorkeling in Aruba? Well, Jason finally got our snorkeling pictures developed so I thought I would talk about it again. I figured no one wanted to sift through the 230-some pictures of us to find them so here are the highlights:

Here we are underwater looking sexy.

Here are the parrot fish that I thought were going to eat me.

Here’s Jason trying to get away from me. He’s always trying to get away from me.

Here’s a starfish. I like the star fish the best because I know they won’t get me.

These little guys (seargent majors) were a common sight.

We learned that Lake Tahoe (just the lake not the surrounding towns) is bigger than the island of Aruba. Crazy, huh.

September 11 – 14, 2008. More work, very little to report. Here’s one story, however, that might entertain you.

We’ve been working a lot at Syd’s Bagelry & Espresso, and evidently the secret about Syd’s is out. Saturday morning was IN-SANE. People lined up out the door. A handful of empty tables. People standing everywhere, waiting impatiently for coffee and bagels.

First, I watch as they run out of espresso beans. No more lattes, cappuccinos, etc. When people find out, they usually pause a moment and then say, “OK, I’ll just take a coffee then.” The upset people just sulk away. The nice ones say “Wow, must be busy today?”

The harried clerks and barristas force a smile and keep hustling.

Next, I watch as they start to run out of bagels flavor-by-flavor.

Customer: “Can I get Asiago?”
Clerk: “No, sorry but we ran out of Asiago. How about Onion?”
Customer: “Uh, what about plain?”
Clerk: “We ran out of those too. I’ve got Onion.”
Customer: “You ran out of plain? OK that’s fine I guess.”

Next, they run out of creamer. Then half-and-half. Then the skim milk is gone. When one of the customers (a rude and crude man from New Jersey or New York) finds out that Syd’s is completely out of creamer, half and half, and all sorts of milk (whole, 2%, skim) – each of which he asks for by name, mind you – he exclaims “I can’t drink my coffee without milk – do you want me to go to the store or something?”

He then walks around the store talking to anyone who will listen and complaining about “dey don’t know what der doin’ round here – dey don’t even have any milk?!” [my attempt at writing an NJ/NYC accent]

Finally, Syd’s runs out of coffee. That’s it. They give up. The clerks close and lock the front door. They ask us to leave. As we’re walking out, we see people mulling about out front, wondering what the hell is going on – “Why is Syd’s closed at 10:30 in the morning?“

What’s going on indeed? How do you underestimate demand so much? How do you sleep knowing you missed out on a ton of business because you didn’t stock enough coffee beans? What about the fact that you irritated a large number of your customers because you closed 8 hours early?

I feel for Syd – or whoever owns the place – because they screwed up royally. Still, it was entertaining to watch.

September 8-10th, 2008. I feel a little guilty generating so many posts that cover multiple days, but the truth is Sara and I aren’t doing much except work. The house we’re staying at is very nice, so we’re also staying in most nights. Not many stories to tell. We did visit South Lake Tahoe on Saturday (which I neglected to mention) and we had a nice meal at the Harrah’s buffet. We’ve also enjoyed a few nice conversations.

Today (Wednesday), Sara and I decided we had to do something with our afternoon besides work. We have to enjoy our travels, after all. We figured we’d venture back near Gar Woods and rent a pedal boat we saw. Unfortunately, it seems that the tourist season in Tahoe is over. At three o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon, the pedal boat rental business is too slow to bother to staff. We try a couple of places in our attempt to entertain ourselves, but all we find at the possible pedal boat rental offices are phone numbers – no people.

After giving up on the idea of renting a pedal boat, Sara and I are driving back to our rental home. I’m yammering on about something and Sara is tuning me out. When I ask her what she thinks about what I’m saying, Sara confesses that “thinking takes energy.” Evidently, Sara must conserve thinking in order to preserve her energy.

My guess is that she was trying not to tell me how I was boring her, but when I accused her of as much, she denied it. We then discussed how much energy thinking really consumed. How many calories were spent thinking about math problems as opposed to how many calories can be spent thinking about monkeys, etc. We had a good time.

Tomorrow is more work, but we’ve vowed to go out and have some fun on Friday. We’ve got a meeting in Reno Friday afternoon, and we’re going to head to the local REI to buy some supplies for the big trip to Asia. We’re also going to stock up on wine at Trader Joe’s. Exciting, isn’t it?

September 6th and 7th, 2008. Saturday the 6th was spent traveling around Lake Tahoe. We drove down to Emerald Bay and then hiked down to the shore to see Vikingsholm. It’s a home that was constructed in 1929, and it was built to look sort of like a castle. Or an old home. Or a Viking palace. Or something.

Honestly, I don’t get it. Sod on the roof? An odd mix of architecture? While the house is interesting, it’s a mess. A great example of someone with more money than sense. Maybe I’m just bitter about my injury.

An unfortunate accident.

While Saturday was spent hiking and watching more episodes of Entourage, Sunday was a work day. Sara and I have been swamped with work.

September 5th, 2008. First of all, I want to say one thing. There are entirely too many stray dogs in our neighborhood. Don’t get me wrong – they’re not really “strays” – they belong to people. It’s just that no one here has a fence around their yard, so the god-damned dogs (sorry Mom) can just wander wherever they want. It’s annoying, especially when I have to stop in the middle of the road so some big dumb animal can bark at my car while he/she looks at me like I’m the one with the problem. If I lived here I’d be calling animal control – it’s ridiculous.

Anyways…

Today we enjoyed some fun. We rented a DVD with some episodes of Entourage that we hadn’t seen yet, and we used a gift card from Kim and Kevin (thank you again) to enjoy a nice meal out at Gar Woods Grill and Pier restaurant. It’s right on the water, the staff is friendly, and they have a great menu. We really enjoyed ourselves – I got a steak. Any meal that involves ordering a steak is a good meal for sure.

The rib eye from Gar Woods.

Sara and I took a few photos at the lake before dinner too.

This was a good photo, but Sara wasn’t interested in taking many good photos.

The bottom line is that Sara didn’t want to take photos. This is what happens when you make her do things she doesn’t want to do.

September 4th, 2008. When we first got to Lake Tahoe, we were told about meat bees. Evidently, if you eat meat outside (like if you order suasage for breakfast and you’re sitting on the deck) “meat bees” will come up to your breakfast and abscond with a tiny little piece of meat. Talk about creepy. I already dislike bees and wasps – now you’re telling me there are meat-eating bees?! No thanks.

Next up, bats. Sara saw a bat somewhere. Evidently there are plenty of bats in and around Lake Tahoe. I don’t mind them too much – it’s not like they’re South American vampire bats that spread rabies – but I’m not in love with them or anything. Sara is totally creeped out by them.

When we first got to the house, we were told about bears. Bears that like food. Bears that like trash. Bears that have broken into the neighbor’s house – twice. We now understand why there’s a big bulky box out front with a lock – that’s to keep the bears out of the trash.

Bears.

Bats.

Meat bees.

Exciting times.

Did I mention just how dark it gets here at night? It’s like we’re in the middle of the woods or something…(humor). But seriously it’s pitch black – I’m truly uncomfortable here at night. Between the animals and the fact that it’s so remote, so dark, and so quiet, it’s sort of scary. It’s the kind of place a serial killer would choose for his victims. I’d be much more comfortable at a condo in a big city.

Which brings me to my point – it’s all about perspective. Some people are scared when they hear car alarms, random shouting, and police sirens, but I can sleep right through it. Other people are scared of meat bees, bears, bats, quiet, and eerie deep-woods darkness.

But isn’t everyone scared of bears? At least there are a lot of stray dogs around – if I was a bear I would be more interested in a tasty Labrdor Retriever than a smelly human. Hopefully the bears feel the same way.

September 1st – 3rd, 2008. I’ve been feeling the pressure to get something done for a few days now. Last week was mostly consumed by travel, so I’ve felt like I’ve done “nothing.” “Nothing” isn’t really nothing of course – I’ve found a way to stay on top of most things despite traveling – but it’s frustrating to work for only a few hours a day. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were full fledged work days. I couldn’t be happier.

In addition to finally working, Sara and I have also had a chance to spend some quality time with newlyweds Kim and Kevin. They entertained us, gave us some good tips for our own upcoming wedding, and gave Sara and I a chance to interact with other people. Not that we don’t like all the one-on-one time, but it’s nice to have a break.

Sara, Kevin, and Kim relaxing and having fun.

The house we’re staying at belongs to Kim and Kevin’s family, and it’s awesome. We’re super comfortable here. It’s huge, everything is nice, and there’s lots of food left over from the wedding. Lots of cheese especially. Very good – very good indeed.

The house we’re lucky enough to stay in for 2 weeks. It’s just outside of Tahoe City, CA.

Working in Tahoe City has been easy. Syd’s Bagel Shop is great – free wi-fi, great coffee, and bagel sandwiches. There’s a place called Gears and Grind that’s nice too – just make sure you don’t talk on your phone when you’re inside the place.

My impression of the Lake Tahoe area – it’s a lot like the Evergreen/Conifer area of Colorado (except for the big lake of course). It’s very dry here (just like CO), and there is a very mountain feel to everything.

In any case, we’re very happy here. This is nicer than our old home at 909 Logan for sure.

August 30-31, 2008. Kim and Kevin got married – lots of fun. The ceremony was nice, the food was awesome, and I had a great time. Lots of dancing, lots of fun, lots of nice people. It was a good time.

The view of Lake Tahoe on the wedding day.

Sara and Chrissy, bridesmaids. They were a little cold during the ceremony from the breeze off the lake.

Kim and Kevin about to say “I do.”

Here’s a video of a very special (and funny) speech… Read the rest of this entry »

August 29, 2008. On the way to Tahoe this morning, we had a slight incident. Less than 10 miles from Reno (and about an hour from our final destination in Tahoe), one of the studs on the right rear broke.

See the two holes that don’t have lug nuts? Both of those studs broke.

For those of you that don’t know, the stud is a “bolt” about a half an inch in diameter that the lugnut spins onto. It’s rare that this happens – in fact it’s extremely unlikely. The person who installed my wheels a few weeks ago must have cross-threaded the lugnut and weakened the stud. Once one of the studs broke, it was only a matter of time before a second one gave way. Since the wheels only have four studs a piece, losing one is kind of a big deal, and losing two is cause to stop driving. Sara and I heard a thump-thumping once the second stud broke (we had no idea one was already broken) and we pulled off to the side of I-80.

We called a tow truck and after about an hour we were towed to a service facility in downtown Reno, Nevada known as Generator Exchange. The shop manager was named Dodger, and even though it was lunch time when were towed in, he worked hard to get us back on the road. He has our thanks.

Next we headed for the Cal-Neva Resort which straddles the California-Nevada border. The joke is that you can swim from Nevada to California and back in the hotel pool. Back in the day, Sinatra owned this resort, and it doesn’t look like it’s changed much since the 60’s. Mirrored ceilings in all the hallways, a sort of “swinging 60’s” feeling, you can definitely see the Rat Pack strolling through. Learn more about the Cal-Neva Resort’s history (it’s a quick read and definitely interesting).

The Indian Room of the Cal-Neva Resort with the border lines colorfully emphasized.

I gambled tonight and had no luck. All I won at the casino is a free drink for Sara – not very cost effective. Evidently I’ve already done all the winning I’m going to do two weeks ago in Aruba.

Soon we’ll be attending Kim and Kevin’s wedding. Sara is excited to be a bridesmaid, and I know she’s eager to hang out with her friends after spending so much quality time with me this past month.

August 31, 2008 will live in on infamy as the day that Kim and Kevin got married. We had a blast despite the wind. Here is a picture I snagged of the couple during their rehearsal dinner.

Here is a picture of  me and some of my friends looking like models with our hair in the breeze/hurricane force gales.

And then for the real event…the wedding. Ceremony was sweet. Food was good. Music was great. Toasts were fantastic. And the bar was open.