Sunday, October 24, 2010

To SLO Again

Though this week started off badly, waking up and having to deal with the smashed Volvo, it's been filled with mostly highs.  Some Highlights:
1. Though the deer did some damage, the car is not totaled and will be fixed. Yay!
2. Chris arranged a rental car that the insurance pays for, so I have wheels while the car is in the shop.
3. An on-sale Jacket from the Gap showed up on my doorstep.  It fits perfectly and is perfect for the mild fall weather we get in the bay area.  I wore it every day this week.


4. On Friday Chris arranged a rental car trade in for an awesome Dodge Ram TRUCK.  It is almost exactly like the one he drove when we started dating.  He actually squealed with glee when he saw it.
5. We then road tripped it back down to SLO for a final weekend getting the house clean and ready for rental.
6. We busted our butts cleaning windows, floors, touching up paint, wiping down cabinets, installing a new garbage disposal, changing fire alarms, replacing bulbs & cleaning light fixtures, and even pressure washing the whole exterior of the house and the driveway!  Phewwww!
7. We got to watch the Giants win the NLB championship finals against Philly with the family, and that means the Giants are heading to the World Series!  How cool is that?

On a bad note:  I screwed up my back on the great house cleaning, probably with all the obsessive power washing I did... I'm praying that I feel better tomorrow.  But at least the house looks better than ever; everything is in tip-top shape - down to the lightbulbs.  I am hoping we get renters soon.  Fingers crossed!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Oh Deer!

First, Chris and I are okay.  Second, we hit a deer with our car on the way home from SLO tonight.
My dear husband was driving, thank goodness as I would have completely freaked out, and as he came around a curve on Hwy 101, he found a deer standing on the white line looking away from the car.  He swerved to avoid it but clipped it with the front driver headlight of the car.  Our front headlight was shattered and the front of the car is bent a little on that side.  Judging from the little bit of blood and hair found on our car, the deer is not doing well.  Luckily the car seems to drive fine and the headlight somehow still works.
We were able to make it home okay after a quick stop to buy Duct Tape to secure the headlight beam towards the front.  I just have to say, thank God that it wasn't worse, we are alright, and the car will likely be okay.  It could have been such a disaster.  I hope everyone remembers that anything can happen, please drive safely.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

SLO Time

Back in San Luis Obispo for a family visit this weekend.  Plans are lots of time with the D.O.G., getting our SLO house ready to rent out again, shoe shopping @ Charles, watching the Giants & Phillies championship game 1 (go Giants!) on the big HD screen, and free laundry (feels like college for some reason...).
And
Later...  the D.O.G. has been played with, the laundry is in process sans coins, some shoes have been purchased, and the Giants have won game 1 of the championship!  House is not ready, but 4 out of 5 isn't too bad for a Saturday to-do list.
Great experience buying my new shoes from Charles - Above are Naturalizer 'Maude' in Nickel Alloy.  Pretty flats and they can be worn with nearly anything.  Available at Shoes.com.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Fishing Trip

 A couple of weeks ago I got to join my mother-in-law and some of her friends in Morro Bay, CA for a fishing trip.  I wasn't to sure about the fishing idea, but I love being on the water and I thought it might be fun.  It was a beautiful day and such a joy to be doing something new.
 We went out on the ocean and had a great time learning how to bait my hooks, cast out, and tell when there was a fish on the line (I caught 6).  We hauled in about 14 rock fish in the course of about 4 hours, with the waves high and a cold wind.
It was a little sad to watch the crew fillet out our fish, but it was good to remind myself about where food comes from and experience it from sea to plate.  We cooked up the fish with simple olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic and sat out on the deck looking over the hills and recapping our day with the boys.

Fingers Crossed

Giants are playing the Braves tonight in the 4th game of the playoffs.  Giants have won two games, Braves have won 1.  If the Giants win, it's to the division playoffs with the Phillies, then hopefully the World Series. We'll be watching with bated breath, fingers crossed tonight.  [10/12/10 Amendment: YES!!! Giants beat the Braves 3-2!  Here's to more Giants baseball; hopefully all the way to the World Series!]

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Bubble Chambers


These amazing images are photographs of the patterns of proton collisions captured through a Bubble Chamber.  Per Teachers.web:

"Bubble chamber photographs provide an insightful introduction to the exotic short-lived particles that emerge from all high energy accelerator experiments...  Since they show actual trails of bubbles that are formed as charged particles force their way through an unstable liquid, bubble chamber pictures are perceived by non-particle physicists as real, and therefore a good way to introduce particle physics. The pictures themselves are quite often easy to understand in an intuitive, qualitative way."


Science is pretty cool after all, huh?