April 2006 Archives

Catalina was beautiful this week. Click on the picture above for the slideshow.

Katherine and Vincent are all smiles, this Easter 2006. Click on the picture above for the slideshow.

If my ever expanding foray into the field of plumbing and the first home repair on my two week vacation, I replaced the rubber gasket in the sprinkler control valve. As usual, the tool was more expensive than the replacement parts. Luckily, I tried replacing the gaskets rather than the sprinkler assembly itself ($42.00 each). This job only took a few minutes too, not like the shower job which turned 10 minutes into 6 hours.

If you could be any type of contractor, what would you be? Perhaps a plumber.

I had a BLT, but this sure sounds good:

What is is claimed to be the world's most expensive sandwich goes on display at Selfridges Department Store in London, Monday April 10, 2006. Named the McDonald Sandwich, after it's creator, chef Scott McDonald, the ingredients are Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit, and English plum tomatoes, all packed into 24-hour fermented sour dough bread - and it sells for 85 pounds (US$ 148.33: euro 122.53) each.(AP Photo/Tom Hevezi)

From Yahoo! News

The honeymoon is over.

Mr. and Mrs. Barberie of Northridge, CA, (wearing flower leis) were the last guests to check out of The Kapalua Bay Hotel on Maui, which closed its doors today after 28 years of service. Bidding aloha to the couple was General Manager Stan Engeldorf and hotel associates. The oceanfront site will be redeveloped into a luxurious new real estate offering called Kapalua Bay. Photo by Tony Novak-Clifford. (PRNewsFoto/Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Tony Novak-Clifford)

The Kapalua has closed. Suzy and I spent our honeymoon at the Kapalua almost eight years ago, but we won't be able to celebrate our tenth there. Pave paradise to put up luxury condos. Suzy's parents, featured above, have been going there since 1980 and are the last guests to checkout.

The first time we stayed at the hotel, I still used film. Novel concept and I'm sure the pictures are buried somewhere in the closet. We stayed at the adjacent Kapalua Bay Villas in 2003 (still standing) and have these pictures to remember the vacation by.

P.S.

Condos are starting at $4 million.

Yikes!

I have two weeks off between jobs. When I changed last year, I just had the weekend. So it's finally time to decompress.

• Volunteered one hour at Katherine's school in the computer lab
• Went out with Suzy and Vincent to the mall to buy Vincent new shoes
• The three of us met T for lunch at CPK
• Took a two hour nap on the couch, with Vince falling asleep on top of me
• The four of us (Katherine, not T) took a walk with Ally
• Watched Ally and Katherine swim in an unheated pool after 6pm in a unseasonably cool April
• Kids to bed
• Watched TV, browsed the net, light IM
• Blogged the above

All in all, a most decidedly unproductive day. So far, so good.

With Friday's going away party behind me, I have two weeks of unemployment/vacation before starting at Yahoo. One of the biggest unknowns in switching jobs is are you going to like who you work with? Although the interview was a full day, that's really not a lot of time when you're meeting 10 people, and they're doing most of the questioning. But with the magic of personal publishing and the internet, it looks like I can keep track of what the new group is up to. There's even a picture of the new boss, case I forgot.

And speaking of unemployment:

Funny thing about weekends
When you're unemployed
They don't quite mean so much,
except you get to hang out with
all your working friends

Spaghetti Western by Primus

Got all my lunches with my working friends out of the way last week. So this week is lunches with the underemployed: housewives, kids and sister-in-laws.

There's a video of the new office in Burbank starring my future coworkers. Fun. Should have started a week ago.

There may not be Peace in the Middle East, but this picture sure makes it look peaceful. Can't they all just get along.

On a day with April Fool's news, in a week with April Fool's job pranks, I'm here to announce my own news (which isn't a prank). After 11 ¹/₂ months, i'm changing jobs. In 2 weeks, i'll be starting at Yahoo!.

My 2+ hour round trip commute will become a managble 45 minutes as I leave the 405 for the first time in my career. And after working with my brother for most of my previous 14 years, we'll be competing ... no more tech exchanges at holidays

Now besides the major benefits of joining Yahoo! (money / career path), Yahoo! has a number of smaller benefits which in total, are quite major:

Minor Benefits

I'm saving 39 work days on the commute ... that's 15% of the work year not spent on that infernal freeway. Totaling the other benefits, I see over $3,000 in savings, which is $4,300+ before taxes. That's not too shabby, as my Dad would say.

Suffice to say, I'll leaving behind a lot of good friends and close coworkers, but I can't wait to start. Two weeks off ... I haven't had that much time off in 6 years. At least now, I have the kids to keep me busy.

Stuart K, it's been almost 6 years. Last time we saw you, we were staying at Dromoland Castle in Ireland and you popped in for breakfast. How time flies, with wifes and jobs, kids and dogs. Safe travels, my friend. Hope the next time is sooner than the last.

Cell phone pic of Vince before Katherine's soccer game. Like I said, I'm still waiting for a camera phone that takes a decent picture, but I love the mobility of the whole thing.

Last night we limo'd to downtown LA for a surprise 30th birthday party for Chris. The quality here sucks, but it's a cell phone picture forwarded to my cellphone then posted from the restaurant. Glad to know the technology works. Just hope they can improve the quality of cell phone pix some day...