Here and There Blog

Today's adventure in dining was the Brazilian Steakhouse with the all you can eat meat extravaganza. It was good! We're talking multiple types of beef, chicken, lamb, and turkey. I passed on the chicken hearts but all else was good. And of course, there's the opportunity to try Brazilian beer. The Xingha was a bit too heavy but the Brahma was a winner.

Yes, it's true. Today's my birthday and here I am with a birthday beer!

The condo looks like it won't clear escrow until Monday. Bummer. I'd like to be free of payments but I'm almost there. In the meantime, I'm still struggling along with x + y 4 and graphing. Ugh. I wonder how much more I can slack off and still get a C? I guess I'll have to put the effort in this week.

Thank-you Sheri and Keith for making me laugh about Algebra! I am slowly giving in to despair over the thought of 7 more weeks! Luckily for me, I have moved in with Other Brother and he knows math! Yes, I am out of the condo! I woke up way too early this morning and finished all of the packing. Once the movers arrived at 8:30, it was just a couple of hours before I did the final walk-thru and left. It feels good to be done with that place, now I just have to hope that escrow closes as planned. No time for beer. I'll have to wait for the weekend!

I thought I'd post some pictures today to show that I do still have a fraction of a life but that didn't work out so well. I have a new laptop (good) but I have to reinstall the camera software (bad). Maybe later. So - Condo updates. The repairs are done. The junk is hauled out and I'm sleeping on the couch for 2 more nights. The movers come on Wednesday and I temporarily move in with Brad & Lorie on Thursday before I leave for the Middle East. When I get back home from that trip it will be time to focus and buy a house. I'm just past the halfway point now in school. 10 classes down and I'm in the middle of class 11. It's algebra and I dislike it more than statistics. Algebra is so tough, that I just turned in this week's assignment only partially complete. I haven't gotten better than 75% on the weekly stuff when I try so I figure why do all the extra work if the answer is going to be wrong? I've been working hard to get all A's up until th...

Today is the service for Kristie's husband. Sign On San Diego had a nice write up about him. Even though you don't know him, this gives us a glimpse into what 1 - 20 families go through daily as soldiers are killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Salem Bachar Tuesday, April 18 2006 @ 07:03 AM SignOnSanDiego (edited) -- When Cpl. Salem Bachar left Camp Pendleton for Iraq on Jan. 25, he told his wife, Kristine, to hope for the best but expect the worst. The worst came for her Thursday when she learned that her husband was killed in an attack earlier that day in Anbar province in Iraq. He was on his second tour of duty. “We were writing e-mails to each other almost every day, and he telephoned me twice a week,” said Kristine Bachar, who had married Salem 12 days before his deployment during a small backyard ceremony with immediate family members. “We were exchanging notes and photos of what we wanted for our big wedding and reception,” she added. “We were planning to have that celebratio...

No one was milling about Buster Keaton's statue so I took the moment for a photo op.

I spent Easter Sunday on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and later at Downtown Disney. It was a great day to be a tourist at home. I was in a classic mood, so I'm on Jimmy Stewart's slab. (I love him in Harvey .) I'm not sure why I took HumphreyBogart's photo but the captions of Stewart and Bogart both reference Sid. Scotty - you will always be my favorite engineer!

Antiwar.com has risen to recent headline new for it's dedication to reporting the names of soldiers killed or injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. The name of the site tells you what you need to know about it's political viewpoint. Today, the site has been updated with a name that greatly impacts a friend. The name belongs to her husband. Over 2300 Americans have been killed since the war began on March 19, 2003. Each day increases the total. On April 13th, 2 Marines based out of Camp Pendleton were killed due to enemy action. I can give you a story to one of them. He was young and in love, and recently married. He and his wife were looking forward to spending time together on his upcoming leave. He had only been deployed to Iraq for a short time and had adjusted well and was positive about his future. His wife was full of vitality and energy and radiated the happiness that is found when two people are deeply in love. Her future had never looked brighter. That future was lost to ...

Dublin in July! I finally bought my ticket to Dublin so I can join Ms. Kitty and her sister for a pint or two or three of Guiness at the source! Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope that I don't end up in St. Peterburg instead.

I guess the condo passed everything on the home inspection because that was on Thursday and no one has contacted my realtor yet. I only have two weeks left here and I am mentally done. I did finally pull out the weeds from the yard because I just couldn't take it anymore. I had planned to leave all the weeds for the new owner but the darn things were just bugging me. I went online and looked at some houses. There were a few ones that are probably worth a look but nothing that said "I'm Yours!" One week of Algebra down and 9 to go!

I drive by the Oceanside scenic view all the time and I think I've maybe stopped there twice in my life. On Saturday, it was just too good of a day to pass by and I had someone with me who had never seen the Pacific Ocean, so I pulled over. The fog bank obscured Catalina but it is still the best view in So Cal.

And just so you don't think Temecula is only full of cats, snakes, and rats, here are the people photos. I'm next to 3 tan people and I didn't realize how pale I was until this photo! I haven't seen sun in forever! Rae and Roy strike a pose for us The Trio of Trouble! And we can't forget Champ and Sami!

Last night we said C-Ya! to Aussie Mac who is making her annual return home to Brisbane for the year. It was the usual send off, with flair and style. Of course, our flair and style is the kind that involves lots of animal company! So courtesy of the Three R's and family, we all enjoyed good wine, cheese, and each other's company for the evening. The best photos are sitting in Rae's camera, so this is a reminder for her to send them on over! Here's Roy, the keeper of the menagerie and below is Gizmo, who has a surprising amount of energy for a cat with a plus figure size! Our good rat Reeses has gone to Ratopia but he lives on in memory via the assorted Candy named rats below who were all less than impressed with my camera and really wanted a snack. We also learned not to let Aussie Mac handle snakes. This poor guy took a fall when all he wanted to do was look and see who was holding him. Unnamed snake is happy in Rhonda's hand before we forced Aussie Mac to hol...

The escrow process is still moving slowly along. The termite inspection was done on Tuesday and there are no termites. I've arranged to move my stuff into storage on April 26th and I'll have 800-got-junk? come out and take away old furniture on April 24th. Everything else gets transferred to Brad's house and I'll be a nomad on the 29th. Today is the appraisal and I still have no clue when the buyer is finally going to arrange the inspection. All of the escrow paperwork is signed. 25 days to go! I'm back in math and because I went backwards and took the advanced classes first, the college math is much easier but the workload is far heavier than statistics. It's another 10 weeks of unpleasantness but at least 3 of those weeks will be in the Middle East so it's not as if I'll have anything better to do. I have Jury Duty today. I'm bringing my math book with me. I hope the court lets me in with it, the book is so heavy it could be considered a deadly...

Coming home to California is always the best feeling ever. After 2 weeks in St. Louis I am done with the place for months! Even though this is a working weekend and I'm somehow starting math again, it just feels great to be home. Since I can tell this is going to be a work intense week, I'll just post a few more St. Louis photos for the day.