"A San Francisco Treat"

Hello Readers!

It's been too long! My appologies. Alicia and I worked a four day stretch and then headed off to San Francisco! We absolutely love that city, we both agree that if there was any city in the world that we could live in, San Francisco would be it. The buildings, the culture, the neighborhoods, the restaurants, and the public transportation make the city so appealing.

On Wednesday we headed to the airport but got there a little late so we had to park in the closer lot which meant more money! Oh well.... Better than missing our flight that's for sure! When we got to Oakland, we headed over to the rental car place, then to yet another off site rental place to pick up our car.  We booked with Advantage - mainly because of the price.  We're still not sure whether waiting a full hour from the time we picked up our bags to the time our bags ended up in the trunk of the car was worth it...

After making our way to the city and checking into our hotel we headed out to Rocklin, about two hours inland, to see Jason, Patti, and Dylan! The drive took forever. We hit each city's traffic, during rush hour, not fun.  Jason and Patti had dinner waiting for us when we got there! We had Buca Di Beppo's and then frozen yogurt for dessert.  I got to hold Dylan for the first time! He's one cute kid!! I'm an uncle! How crazy... Alicia was right, seeing pictures of Dylan is one thing, but then actually being able to hold, feel, and smell him is just something you can't but help fall in love with. ...Well, some smells I could do without. Haha.

We stayed at the Warwick - San Francisco, an older hotel with all the quaint amenities and decor of the euro-american old world.  What really happened is that we got lucky and won the "name your own price" bid on Priceline. I don't think we have any photos of the room but lets just say we now know what our dining room would look like if we put a bed in it. Haha. We enjoyed our stay at the hotel though, it was close enough to major BART stations, MUNI lines, a sketchy backpackers hostel, and a "Massage and Sauna" parlor...

The next day (Alicia's Birthday) we spent in Santa Cruz.  We love exploring little beach towns like that - it reminded us of the trip we took up the coast a few years back.  [Which, by the way, is a road trip that I encourage everyone to take - it's relaxing, carefree, and you get to see all the beautiful sights that California has to offer.]  We spent the majority of the day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  This may sound strange, but from the moment we walked onto the boardwalk I had a strong sense of deja vu - come to find out my parents had taken my brother and I there when I was about five years old. Can you imagine, twenty two years later, and I still remember the roller coaster and smells of the boardwalk!

Per the birthday girl's request we had dinner at an Ethiopian food restaurant off Geary St at Assab Eritrean Restaurant.

One of Alicia's old roommates, Rebecca, met us for dinner.  She is an amazing person, humanitarian, physician, and all around fantastic human being. I feel that if there were more Rebecca's in the world, the world would be a much happier place!

On Friday we decided to go out and have a famous San Francisco breakfast at Dotties! ....Yeah right! The line was at least an hour long. Moving on... We ended up eating at this place called Honey Honey Cafe and Crepery. Good food! It definitely hit the spot - chocolate waffles, pecan pancakes, can't get much better than that! Shortly thereafter, we were on a mission. We had tickets to go to the Giants game on Saturday but had no team attire! So strolled, strolled, walked, hiked, ran, etc.... all the way down to AT&T Park to get some Giants paraphernalia.

 Then! We got the call. The others had arrived! We had planned to spend the rest of the weekend with Monique & her husband Jeremy, Meagan, and Heather and her husband Tom. Such a great bunch!  We had lunch at a little cafe off Union Square where we were serenaded by a wannabe broadway singer. Meagan swore that he had a hidden microphone on him, but I think his voice was just that "boomy," he reminded me of that "man with the golden voice."

We met up with Heather and Tom at the Grand Hyatt and watched people repel from the top of the building - Scary and amazing all at the same time. Turns out it was for the Special Olympics or something, that takes guts! I don't know that I could have done that sober - that's for sure! Kudos to those athletes!
We ended the afternoon with drinks at the GH Lounge 36 floors in the air! Yup, your ears pop in the elevator going up and down! The view was amazing! I didn't know that you could take in such a spectacular view for free.

Friday night we had dinner at One Market. The food was great and the half price wine bottles were even better!  I definitely recommend anyone to dine there, make reservations though, it fills up quickly.

On Saturday we met up with some old friends, Melinda and Rick. They had graciously enough saved a spot in line for... Dottie's True Blue Cafe! We're so lucky! Breakfast was amazing - it was like a home cooked meal but better. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to making breakfast... mainly because of the whole waking up part...

Saturday afternoon was relaxing. We walked around Ferry Building and along the piers.  There's so much to see and do in San Francisco! Our on foot journey eventually lead us to AT&T Park for the Giants vs. Brewers game. This was my first Giants game, ever. And I think... my 4th baseball game? I'll be the first to say that I'm not a sports fanatic by any means.  Enter, my wife.  She patiently explained all the in's and out's of the game and laughed with me... or at me... when I called it a "double out" instead of a "double play."

After the game a few of us went to a piano bar on Geary St for some post game beers! ...The atmosphere was kind of a buzz kill though. The piano guy was mediocre at best and his covers were kinda... well, I'll just say we didn't stick around to finish our beers...

Sunday morning was our LAST day in the city! The whole group got together at Honey Honey again and had breakfast.  Alicia and I got there early and waited the line out for everyone else. That place was so packed but we managed to stick a few tables together.  I think eating is one of the ultimate social activities a group of friends can do. Before long, it was time to say our goodbyes and head back home...

We arrived at the airport in good time actually! Alicia and I have learned that between us we can master public transportation! ...Well, maybe her a little more than I.

On the airplane we were in line with this little old Asian lady.  She was shorter than my mom! I don't know, maybe it's my approachable face, my friendly aura, or the fact that I'm a young Asian male with a genetically ingrained cultural respect for elders... But she kindly asked me to help her with her luggage. Of course, I was more than happy to! As we were preparing for lift off the steward had moved her bag three rows back and I could see the poor lady turning in her seat, stretching her neck trying to catch of glimpse of where her luggage was relocated to.  I reassured her that I would get her luggage for her once the place landed.  Pauline, my little old Asian lady friend, was so grateful. I felt like I was on one of those pay it forward commercials...

There you have it! Quality time with your better half, great food, amazing friends, and random acts of kindness.

My photo project during our trip!

Smells like wet dog!

HAVE YOU MET OUR KIDS?!

I can't believe I haven't blogged about our pups! We have three pups! Ella, Bently, and Rocco.

Ella is a Dalmador (Dalmation - Labrador Mix). Her original name was Cruella (Creative right? Her face must have been the inspiration behind that name) but Alicia wasn't too fond of that name so it was shortened to Ella. Ella is the oldest and most mischievous of our pups.  She's been known to clear a 6 foot fence in a single leap! 

Bently is a Golden Retriever. He's probably the most friendly dog you'll ever meet! I think it's in their breed, I know other people who have the same dog and they always say that their dog wouldn't even harm a fly. We actaully adopted Bently from our friends Ryan and Heather Walter when they moved to the east coast. Bently is quite the pup! He follows whatever Ella does and one day that landed him a stay in the Dog/Cat Hospital in San Bernardino after he was injured by a car!! He's all healed now and is usually the one who starts an impromptu wrestling match with either Ella or Rocco.

 

Rocco is a weimaraner and is the youngest of our pups. He was my Christmas present from Alicia two years ago!  He's been such a handful! You should have seen how much trouble he's gotten into in the past... amazing. But he's probably the one pup that tries the hardest to listen and behave, he's cute. He just has so much energy and is still very puppy like in his demeanor. Loves to lick, play, and wimper for attention.

So the other day Alicia and I were talking about how our dogs (Ella and Bently) use to love playing in the water at the dog park in Redlands.  While Alicia is enjoying a girls day at Glen Ivy spa I went out to K-Mart and found a cheap hard plastic dog pool for our pups as the summer days grow longer and hotter! I filled up the pool and of course who jumps in immediately? Ella. By breed, Ella and Bently are natural water lovers. Rocco is freaked out by it - I think he thinks of water as nothing more than a means of hydration.

Well, there you have it.  Our pups, our kids! Have a great day!

The Refrigerator Saga...

This is my first mobile post. I'm not sure if there is a blog app or an easier way to do mobile blogging... I'll have to look into it for sure though. So in the quietness of the living room this morning I listened to the sounds of the neighborhood, the backyard, and the house. However, aside from the regular mundane sounds of a typical Saturday morning there was something else, something I had never heard before. The quiet humming of our GE refrigerator was tainted with what sounded like a little Japanese boy playing with chopsticks and a fan. tat tat tat tat tat tat tat tat... (you like that description? ...yeah, I'm sure I did that once or twice back in the day. Haha) There goes the cooler again. Sure enough, when I checked the temperatures the freezer was reading in the teens. I checked out the cooling grate in the freezer and it had started to ice over again! ...lame

After speaking with Alicia we figured the best thing was to call and check the warranty stuff. As it turns out, the refrigerator is still under the manufacturers warranty for 11 more days then our Home Depot extended warranty will kick in. This is probably the first time in my life I'm glad that we had purchased one of those warranties. So I got on the phone with GE and after five different 1(800) numbers and five automated menus the earliest appointment GE can offer is in 9 days - I'm told that until then I can chip the ice away on a daily basis... Really? Anyways, so this turned out to be one of those life's lemons and lemonade moments. We got the family activated and with my mom and brothers help we're loading my old fridge that was in San Bernardino and taking it down to our house in French Valley!

Alright, I'm gonna get ready. Just got the text that they are getting close.

So, As you can see. I really made sure that there was no way this fridge was going to open up on the freeway or fly away! We had that thing taped up and tied down like no body's business! The fridge was surprisingly light. I didn't tell Tony but I'm pretty sure he pulled the whole thing on his own. The most I was doing was making sure that it didn't tip backwards. Haha. When it came time to unloading Alicia and I were able to do it ourselves with no problem.

Our GE fridge continues to have fits where it's warm and cool, warm and cool. I'm not sure what to make of the situation.  The other fridge is up and running in the garage. It'll be nice to have two working refrigerators. Our current situation is this - we bought a GE profile series french door stainless fridge to match the other GE appliances, however, we purchased a counter depth fridge so that it wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. It looks great and fits in with our kitchen perfectly the only down side is that counter depth fridges do not lend themselves to much storage space! 

I'm sure this isn't the last we'll hear about the Refrigerator Saga... Remember, 8 days from now GE is going to come out and fix our fridge - hope that goes well.

As for today, we're eventually going to make our way to my parents house and switch the vehicles back. Then just relax - Monday starts another work week!

Vanilla Ice Ice Baby...

Yesterday I noticed that our freezer was reading 0 degrees and the fridge was reading in the 50's! I'm not sure what caused it but i took a look at the freezer and saw that some ice had accumulated around the ice maker and fan area so i brushed most of it off and turned off the ice maker. Later that night the freezer temperature had dropped to -3 so naturally I thought that everything was getting better. Even this morning when I made my lunch the freezer temp was still less than 0 so I figured that everything had returned to normal and I had avoided a monumental task of defrosting....

But tonight when I checked the freezer...

 NO BUENO MIS AMIGOS, NO BUENO...

So... I've seen this one other time in my life and this is kind of a Slumdog Millionaire moment for me so... pay attention! When I was working at Camp Cedar Falls the cafeteria freezer had stopped cooling because the grid/ motor froze over.  If I remember correctly it had something to do with the increase in amount of foot traffic in the walk in fridge/freezer that was allowing the warm air to mix with the cold air, humidity, air condensation, etc... that lead to the machine freezing over.  So going with that I took a picture and sent it to my dad and he said that the fan and motor were probably shot... So I took off that back cover to the right of the light and sure enough, ICE everywhere.  Using a rubber spatula I started to chisel away at the ice and eventually took a hairdryer and sorta warmed things up. The cooling grate was frozen over so I spent about 10-15 minute melting it.  Leaving the fridge unplugged and the freezer open, I finished washing dishes, spoke to my wife, and watched a little about HP and the Chamber of Secrets.  I just plugged the fridge back in about 20 minutes ago and it sounds good. The fan and motor weren't frozen over because when the back cover was removed the fan was still spinning - a good sign! 

Well, that's all. I'm no plumber or GE fridge technician but at least I gave it a shot. I'll check in the morning and hopefully, hopefully, everything will be in working order. 

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Remember from the last post about our first Craigslist experience? Well, we got the table all fixed up and it turned out so well! All the products came from our local Lowe's store - That store is going to be the end of me, it's my second home, well...maybe third. (Work being my second home. haha. sad. ) As you can see in the "before" picture the table was kinda dull and unimpressive, aside from it's craftsmanship of course. Alicia and I saw it's potential and the diamond in the rough. After stripping off the old varnish/stain... hand sanding... re-staining... re-varnishing... We now a beautiful finished product!

For everyone wondering, we went with Minwax's Ebony stain and clear satin finish. Beautiful, right?!
Today was also a great day in the valley, warm but not hot, but kinda humid I suppose. We did get a few heavy drizzle drops shortly after lunch. Seeing the drizzle reminded me of one of the few jokes I've memorized. I actaully added on to it today...

Q: What's Snoop Dogg's favorite weather?
A: Da drizzle!
(BUT...My new modified response from this day on will be...)
A: Yo yo, snoop doggy dogg, d-o-double g, fo shizzle my nizzle I love the drizzle!

In other news, our lawn is dying... I'm not sure why or what I can do aside from watering and fertilizing (believe me, we've done PLENTY of that) So I finally resorted to some that turf rebuilder particle mix by Scott's. We'll see if that'll help the grass grow again. I should post a picture because I feel that it's dying in such a weird pattern... You'd think that it's a combination of dog's peeing in the same spot plus possible gopher/ rabbits tunneling... Any suggestions? I've dug up the dry spots and surprisingly enough the dirt under neath is MOIST... but the grass is as dry, well, as dead as heck!

Have a good night fellow readers... Of which I think there are none... I'm just going to keep blogging until I get on Good Morning America though. Hahaha. G'nite!

Fourth of July - Recap

Hello Readers,

Not much has been going on in the Akamine Household.... Alicia and I are working, eating, sleeping, working, eating, sleeping, repeat... The other day though Alicia and I went to our friends house in San Jacinto (The Thompsons) and went swimming! It felt so good to take a dip in the cool water since it was at least 100+ degrees out. Jen and Jeremy have two awesome kids, Brayden and Logan. We played all afternoon and then when Jeremy got home we had dinner and just hung out. Time spent with friends over food is just priceless!

Alicia and I had brought a bottle of Cab Sauv and it was very tasty. Thank you Doffo Winery.

[ Side note: Doffo has some of the BEST wine in the valley - 

and are conveniently located 6 minutes from our driveway ]

We had a simple dinner, Velveeta shells and cheese, salmon and hearts of palm salad, and barbeque meats. Muy Delicioso! 

Have you ever been on Craigslist? Our neighbors are always saying how they got some awesome deal on craigslist, how they got this and that, etc... So the other day Alicia and I were browsing for some furniture and found a pretty awesome antique table! I'll post about it tomorrow with before and after pics.  BUT, there is a story to share about our first Craigslist experience! We have been looking for a dog run for quite some time now and we found one that was brand new, never been used, about 30 minutes from our house. I contacted the guy and tried to bargain which I'm not very good at. Good thing is that it's via email so I don't have to be quick on my toes for a response! haha. Anyways, so this gentleman and I finally get talking on the phone and  I can tell he's one of those old cheap Asian guys. We decided on a price after some bargaining and then it came time to schedule a pick up. The guy says that he's free all day so I thought that would make things easy.  I asked him if 12:00 would work for him and then his response caught me off guard... "How about 10:00?" ...I'm sorry, but my schedule isn't up for compromise let alone bargaining! haha. Anyways, to make a long story short we ended up purchasing the same exact one, brand new, never been used at our local Lowe's for about the same price... 

Stay tuned for... Whatever life has in store for us tomorrow! Oh, and the before and after post about our new table!

Happy 4th of July!!