t o d d and j e n . c o m

Yeah, we got a dog. Thought that might be worth mentioning. The vitals are:

- Name: Kea
- Breed: Schnoodle (half Schnauzer, half Poodle)
- Gender: Female
- Birthdate: 9/30/07
- Weight: 6.8 pounds
- Color: White

Pictures now in the gallery.

It's been 13 years since the Golden State Warriors have been in the playoffs. It's been almost that long since either of us has posted anything to this site. But since I got to go to the Warriors-Mavericks, Game 3 at Oracle Arena tonight, I figured it was time. This game was definitely something worth writing about. And oh yeah, we got married since the last post too. But anyway. I guess the best way to explain this is to say this was the best sporting event I have ever attended. Ever. Of course, this was my first NBA playoff game, and other than a few NFL Pro Bowls and UH bowl games, this is probably the only game I've been to that has had any significance (we don't talk about leaving in the 3rd quarter of "The Comeback" -- ever). But still, this had everything. And they won.

To RSVP for the reception on November 5th, please send email to: rsvp@toddandjen.com and include the number of people attending. Thanks!

This weekend was hot. Africa hot. When we woke up on Saturday morning, it was over 90 degrees. I think sometime after 3:00 PM, it hit a high of 106. It was like Vegas, but without all the fun parts. Maybe more like Phoenix, then. And Sunday wasn't any better. There have been power outages due to everyone turning on their air conditioners at the same time, and some reports of pets and old people dying. Seems like we're really just not equipped to handle this kind of weather.

Shouldn't they at least be passing out those spray bottles with the little fans on the front?

So we didn't get to see Hootie this year. They're playing Villa Montalvo in Saratoga on July 21st, but there are no more tickets with 2 seats next to each other. I don't need to see them that badly that I would go and not sit next to Jen. She would most likely stay home if that were the case. Anyway, because we couldn't get tickets to that, I got the next best thing -- Kenny Loggins. Yeah, it's really not even close, but I will say this: the man can put on a show. You'd be surprised how many Kenny Loggins songs you know. We were. The crowd practically sang Danny's Song for him, and he set up some 'girls sing this part, then the guys sing this part' for Celebrate Me Home. There was the Footloose and Danger Zone stuff -- which seem really lame on the surface -- but for some reason was pretty cool in person. The dude even walked out into the crowd. Mid-song. He stopped about 5 feet from us, stood on an empty seat, and finished the song from there. I think the average age of the audience was like 50, but man those people can still move.

I think we might have to see the Doobie Brothers on August 26th now. Or Chicago in September.

For the past 2+ years, as a part of my job (Production Operations Engineer), I had to carry a pager. I was 'on-call' about maybe 4-5 times a month for a 24 hour shift, and backup about the same number of times. On any given weekday, I would get about 25-30 pages. At all hours. Long story short -- it sucked. Bad. No matter how many different beep volumes or patterns I tried, they all sounded loud and angry. You don't want to wake up to that. Anyway, a few months ago, I changed positions (System Administration, no pager), but was asked to help out my previous group until they filled some open headcount. I'm a team player, so of course, I do this. Well, the new hires just started, so when I went into work last Friday (6/9), my old boss asked for my pager. And I couldn't stop smiling as I handed it to him.

I will remember that moment forever.

I was not initially into the 'pick your own fruit' thing. For one, I don't normally eat that much fruit, and B) I usually let the migrant farm workers do the picking. Despite that, we decided to head out to Brentwood where they have several orchards set up for people to pick stuff like cherries, blackberries, some freak hybrid called a pluot (plum + apricot, I believe), and nectarines. We chose Bacchini's Fruit Tree, mostly based on the fact that it had the most variety and was one of the closest, not because we knew how to pronounce it (we still don't). Jen even managed to convince Karisse that this would be fun and got her to drive down (with Shea, 14 months) from Sacramento to meet us. All in all, not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I could still think of many other ways to spend a Sunday, but this was something different and that was reason enough to give it a shot.

Sounds like we're going back later this summer, probably for strawberries. I may not even complain this time.

So now I'm old. But that's okay because for my birthday, Jen got me a new laptop. Not just any laptop, but a new MacBook Pro. And that was just the beginning. For dinner, we went back to Forbes Mill Steakhouse (see "Kobe" entry on February 12th) for more of the best steak I've ever had. Wait, there's more -- for dessert we bought a "Black and White" cake from Cosentino's (with ice cream). And because we were so full from dinner last night, we will be having it tonight (kind of extending the birthday across the whole weekend). I've had a few birthdays now, but this is definitely the best.

Yes, even better than the time I got the Kenner Death Star Space Station(TM), with the movable trash compactor.

So when we left San Jose for Hawaii, it was raining. When we landed in Hawaii, it rained later that night. When we left Hawaii, it was actually sunny, but the next day after we landed back in San Jose, it rained. Right now -- get this -- it's raining. I think I know where all the rain that Seattle didn't get went: pretty much wherever we go.

The good thing is all our dead plants are getting a lot of water now.

Drove down with Takashi's whole family to Santa Barbara this past weekend. Lots of driving, and lots of eating. Not a good combination when you're trying to lose weight. Along the way, we ate lunch at Nepenthe in Big Sur (ask Takashi how to pronounce that) and then to Hearst Castle in the afternoon. Got into Santa Barbara a little later than expected and wasn't sure what was open, so we got desperate and just ate dinner at Elephant Bar. Lunch the next day was at Enterprise Fish Co., which was probably the best meal of the trip (just don't ask about the 'Traditional Hawaiian Ahi Poki' [sic]). Then we started the long drive back, but on 101 instead of the 1. Last meal of the trip was at Tanto, our neighborhood Japanese restaurant.

I remember there used to be a brand of clothes called PCH a long time ago. I might have actually owned some of that.

Just came back from watching Hawaii beat San Jose State in men's basketball. This is probably a game that will actually seem a lot more exciting on paper than in person. Didn't look like either team was very energetic. Hawaii was losing pretty much the entire game, and seemed content just to keep pace, not really trying to pull ahead. Not sure I like this strategy a whole lot. But it worked in the end -- we were down by 2 and Julian Sensley hit a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds left. He's like Google maps, he's the best. True that.

Double true.

So we didn't win the record $365 million Powerball yesterday (though line 'E' did get us $4). It's not like we were expecting to, but it was nice to think we had a chance (it's a 1 in 146,107,962 chance, but it's still a chance). You hear stuff like "the lottery is a tax on the mathematically challenged," but if someone has to win, why not us? It's like filling out the NCAA tournament bracket every year -- a lot of times it's pretty random -- but it definitely makes March more interesting.

Just the idea that you could win a $177 million lump sum makes life more interesting.

  Dry Ice + Water = FUN !!!





 Dry Ice + Water + Food Coloring = LOTS OF FUN !!!





 Dry Ice + Water + Food Coloring in a glass bowl = NOT FUN AT ALL

For Valentine's dinner last night, we went to Forbes Mill Steakhouse in Los Gatos. Yeah, on the 11th. I think only first date couples actually go out to Valentine's dinner on the 14th. Anyway, I had the best steak I ever had in my life -- the 8 oz. Kobe Brand Filet Mignon. Ever. I've heard people say Kobe beef melts in your mouth, and I never really knew what that meant until last night. It really does. If you're ever in town, remind us to take you there.

But it's kind of expensive, you so have to pay.

Apparently that's how much it costs for your 60k mile service on a 1998 Toyota 4Runner. I wanted to faint, but held it together long enough to initial the estimate and hand over the keys. The thing is, they tell you to come in every 7500 miles, and they charge anywhere from $150 to like $600 depending on the milestone you've reached. I'm going to go dig up all the paperwork now, and I'm guessing the total amount I've paid in servicing is almost as much as getting a whole new car. The other scam they have is the dealership no longer provides the loaners -- now they have a Hertz counter on-site -- and even though the daily rental is "free," you still have to pay the insurance and gas.

I feel so used.