Oh canadia

We went to Canada this weekend! Our first official international trip as a couple :P (not that the 3 hour drive to vancouver really counts as a foreign country, despite the ketchup chips and smarties).

We had such a great time hanging out with our old friends from atlanta (old as in know them awhile, not as in "old") Norm & Diane and their daughter Robyn and her husband Neil! Thanks guys for putting us up and showing us a good time!

If I Had a Blog Then: Yuri's Night

So, I was reading this post on Gizmodo the other day, and it reminded me of something I wanted to share. I had thought to myself and Rebecca on the topic of blogs that I would blog about things that happened in the past that were worthy of talking about in a blog. This is the first in a most likely short series. However, I'm not quite sure how to start. I think I have to take you back to April of 2008.

Well, some more background information. Rebecca and I had only been dating (again) for about 2 months or so. She had a plan up her sleeve for a surprise for me. She had sent me a package in the mail, which detailed a time and place to be for the next clue. She sent me on a scavenger hunt.

Originally she was planning on us ending at La Bodeguita del Medio in Palo Alto, but she changed her mind when she heard that Yuri's Night was going to be at Moffett Field. Now, Yuri's Night is a big worldwide party that celebrates the day when Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, and promotes a greater interest in space travel. Apparently they have held some big parties in the Bay Area, and the one for 2008 was going to be pretty cool. Rebecca got us tickets, and that was the end of the scavenger hunt. But her plans were almost ruined. I had read about Yuri's Night Bay Area happening on Wired and told her about it a few days before, completely unaware that she had already bought tickets. She was worried that I had figured out her scheme. Acutally, I didn't realize her plan until the end of the scavenger hunt when I was with her, and she told me the coordinates of our last stop, Moffett Field.

Well, it was going to be a very fun evening with my Rebecca (which it was). We arrived at parked the car near Hanger One. We started taking pictures of everything immediately. There was so much visual stimulation, from the airplanes on display, the art and computers, and even a Lego display from the Bay Area Lego Users Group. There was even an acrobatic airshow that we stared at for almost an hour, and attempted to photograph.

There were many big adventures during the day. I think we almost got caught by security for hiding in the main landing gear of a C-141. Will Wright gave a talk about space travel, promoted Spore by providing copies to demo, and urinating on fans. Also worth mentioning is the fact that there was a beer tent. If I recall, I believe they had a special where one could get 5 tickets for $20. A pretty good deal for good beer, considering I had a designated driver. I was reminded there were other drunkards wandering around in various costumes. I believe there was a man wearing Sputnik on his head.

Overall, it was a really awesome time with my then girlfriend (now wife!). For me, there was a defining moment where I knew this was the woman I was to marry. I wanted to demo Spore while we were there, however there was quite a line due to the large amount of people. Rebecca did not want to wait, as she had little interest. I however waited, but she had decided to go explore a bit. She comes back with a beer for me while I continue to wait! After cringing watching children destroy precious computers, it was my turn to play. I was able to enjoy a demo of Spore while drinking a beer. My Rebecca loves me very much! She planned this entire surprise for me, and even gets me a beer. It was an evening filled with some of my favorite things.

After Spore we ended up eating some food, and listening to some of the musical performances before heading home after dark. I think we even met the guy who does the Achewood comic while wating in line for food.

It was a great date with my now wife, and I still appreciate the planning and care that she puts into fun trips for us. We hope to have more adventures like that in the near future, and I'll try to share about more of them.

First class baby

I flew to SF this week for work. I had never flown Virgin America before, so I thought I'd try them out, hearing good things. When I checked in on my SEA->SFO leg, the kiosk prompted me to upgrade to first class for $50. Hey, I'll pay $50 for that kind of new experience! It was awesome! Fully reclining seats with footrests and my own tv and full meals, free games and movies and booze (though none for me at 10am).

I also upgraded on the way back, this time with a jack and coke.

Late Sunday Night, No Time for a Good Title

It seems I haven't blogged a lot in the last few weeks. No real excuses here, but blogging has not been on my priority list. I think it's got something to do with Rebecca's macbook being busted and her using the battery from my macbook, because her battery is officially dead. My macbook has sat for a few weeks, and I still haven't set up my desktop. I've been stewing about a few things to post, and I guess I'll write about that later.

Rebecca mentioned that we joined Twitter. Yeah, we'll see how long this lasts. I already have one random follower after a day. Hopefully it won't be a complete waste. It's interesting so far, but I don't think I'm qualified to pass judgement on it.

McDonalds... like a Baobab tree. Yeah.

Really?

Like the unique African Baobab tree, which nourishes its community with its leaves and fruit, McDonald's has branched out to the African-American community nourishing it with valuable programs and opportunities.

Twitter quitter

You know what the kids are doing these days. Well, I don't either, I'm way old and almost 30, but I heard that Twitter is something that is popular. Bob has been wanting to sign up, so he did last night, so I did too.

Being in the internet marketing space, I know a few things about Twitter already - namely, that it has an abysmally low retention rate. About 70% of people that sign up don't return the next month. For comparison, Myspace and Facebook have about a 60-70% retention rate. This is all according to Nielsen.

So, will Bob and I join the ranks of twitter quitters? Unsure. But you can follow us:

Bob @jimmythesquid
Rebecca @neffbot

Cooking?

So, again with the time intensive hobbies in fits and starts (I'm sure one day, I will take up large loom weaving or something like that).

We acquired, through the generosity of Macy's gift cards as wedding gifts, a Le Creuset dutch oven. I really want to use this beautiful piece of cookware.

However, over the past few weeks I have attempted to "throw together" some recipes in the slow cooker from leftover ingredients. Let's just say that I do not have the necessary cooking chops to throw together anything. Or at least anything edible.

So, tonight I strictly followed this recipe for potato soup. It just finished simmering for 2 hours, and we tasted it... and honestly I don't think it is very good. I think I put too much onion in it. I don't know how much onion 1/2 lb. of onion is. Apparently it is not one whole huge onion. Probably something between a whole huge onion and no onion at all.

Also, 1% milk is not the same as heavy whipping cream. That is all.

Update: Letting the soup sit has made it more delicious. With tons of cheese and sour cream (which is how I'd eat it anyways), I say it is definitely edible.

Star trek! And crafting!

Bob and I are, courtesy of my employer, going to see Star Trek this afternoon on the big (imax) screen! Yay for a free movie at a better theater than we'd go to ourselves! We'd, of course, be going anyways.



Also, last night I indulged in some time away from the computer and instead made a new shirt! I followed this wonderful tutorial and it turned out exactly like the picture - but coral colored instead of white. It was lots of fun!

If you don't have a sewing machine handy, I would still recommend to you this tutorial on how to make a beautiful chrysanthemum-type flower brooch/pin/whatever. You can also just stop at step 3 and end up with a cool, messier-looking flower. All-in-all, a wonderful crafting evening with the gratification of a finished product that I'm wearing today :)

Posting need not be well thought out

So much has happened these past few weeks that was bloggable, I just haven't gotten over the hump of "I need to blog this... and this... and this... and now it will take too long to do it properly so I'm not going to post at all..."

Anyways, this weekend Bob and I went to Macy's and used our gift cards we got as wedding presents to buy some awesome houseware stuff. The reason we went this weekend was the friends/family sale, which gave us 25% off of nearly everything, so we were able to stretch our gift card money further and get more fluffy towel/sharp kitchen knife/small kitchen electric goodness.

Then, to celebrate, we cooked for most of our meals this weekend!

On top of the normal excitement that I get from buying things, the shopping trip was just a big blessing to us. We felt so grateful and blessed that people thought about us and gave us gift cards. We got to shop without spending any of our actual money. It was so awesome.