the weather gods smiled

Sometime in September, I had a brainstorm, and told D I thought it would be fun to rent a cabin in Tahoe for my birthday this year.

The tricky thing is that my birthday is in late December, and most people are out of town or with their families by then, so that pushed the date up to at least mid-December. I've lived in the Bay Area nearly my entire life, and I'm well aware that early December is very, very risky as far as snow conditions go. D convinced me that it would be fun even if the weather was sucky, just to hang out in a nice house with our friends for a weekend, so we crossed our fingers and put down a rental deposit on a five-bedroom, 4000 sq/ft house near Northstar at the beginning of October.

As luck would have it, the snow started to fall early this year, and by Thanksgiving the lifts were starting to open. The weekend before the trip, Tahoe was hit by a giant storm which deposited over two feet of snow in the North Tahoe area. I was super psyched.

The final count for the trip was thirteen adults, one toddler, and two infants. Eight of us drove up on Thursday night, of which half of us skied on Friday. The conditions were absolutely gorgeous by December standards: packed powder, good coverage, clear blue skies, and mid-40s temperatures. Since there were no lines, we managed to cram in 18 runs that day (mostly Backside and Lookout), which is a new record for me.

The remaining five people arrived on Friday night and Saturday morning, along with what seemed like half of the Bay Area. Despite that, we managed to get another good day on the mountain, before retiring to our cabin for home-cooked chili and late night board games. It was also great to catch up with everyone after having been gone so long on our around-the-world trip.

The next day, yummy burgers at Ikeda's and almost no traffic on the way back capped off an awesome weekend. Thanks, weather gods!

good clean fun

We had Christmas dinner at my uncle's house this year. After dinner an eight-person game of beer pong commenced...

my uncle: What's happening here?
my cousin (his daughter): Beer pong, Dad, wanna play?
my uncle: No thanks, not this time. Maybe your mom wants to play.

time to go home?

We have the next two days off, so there aren't that many people at work today...I'd say less than 50% of the usual suspects. Maybe that's why I've been unable to get the lights in the women's bathroom to work all day. Luckily the water still works.

simple pleasures

I get such a kick out of watching/reading sports news on days after the 49ers kick ass. I find myself constantly scouring blogs and other sites to see if any more scraps of analysis are to be found. Yes, that's very sad. No, I don't care.

Texas sized meals

It's been nearly a month since our weeklong trip to Texas, but I wanted to mention some of the restaurants we visited there.

We watched the 49ers lose to the Packers at Pluckers, an Austin-area chain that pretty much just serves wings. I particularly enjoyed the Jamaican jerk and Spicy BBQ flavors. Their onion rings were yummy, too.

The next day we ate lunch at Hoover's, where they served us cheap and generous portions of chicken-fried chicken (good!) and steak (so-so).

Then, we had dinner at El Chile Cafe, where they served their chips with a delicious mole sauce. The margaritas were also excellent.

As if that wasn't enough, on our last day in Austin, we went to Salt Lick, a BBQ place with nice juicy beef ribs.

Sadly, we did not have enough time to check out the Alamo Drafthouse. Apparently it's a combination movie theatre and restaurant which is quite popular. I've seen the concept in Taipei with fast food (beef noodle soup, etc.) but never in the US before. Next time!

Our experience in San Antonio was a bit different; we had dinner at Il Sogno Osteria, which is a high-end Italian place. By Bay Area standards it was still quite inexpensive, and they had a fun antipasti sampler option which we enjoyed very much. The white bean & garlic mousse, roasted red peppers w/ anchovy sauce, and potato & octopus salad were especially memorable.

learn to read, people

I have a pet peeve about people in our gym locker room. It's very simple. What part of "please do not dress in the shower area" is so hard to understand?

I was especially annoyed today when five people were waiting in line and someone (who had spent a good fifteen minutes inside) walked out of her shower stall dressed in at least three layers of clothing, including an overcoat, nice sweater, and knee high boots. Argh!!

amazing gingerbread houses

I like gingerbread houses. I think anything involving lots of candy appeals to me. (Like Halloween.)

Over Thanksgiving, when I was in San Antonio, we went to a place called Guenther House for breakfast. In addition to delicious cherry strudel and southern sweet cream pancakes, they had a giant gingerbread house on display. The sign said it contained 90 lbs of candy and had taken 150 hours of labor to construct:


The gingerbread house was built as a replica of the Guenther House itself. It even had a tiny gingerbread house inside:


Awesome.

Yesterday I saw some people working on a giant gingerbread house in one of our main lobbies at work. I'm kind of doubting they can beat 90 lbs of candy, but I'm looking forward to seeing the result anyway.

properly equipped

Some coworkers were rearranging our office this morning at work, and decided to take down some shelving strips. They tried doing it with a Swiss Army knife, but the screws were in pretty tight, so I volunteered to get a multi-bit screwdriver from my car. The response: "Why do you have a screwdriver in your car?"

Is it not normal for people to keep tools in their cars? I do have a habit of keeping way too many things in my car, but I would think a screwdriver would be useful for many situations.

Anyway, we got the shelves taken down, and we're now ready for our new lounge furniture (ETA early next week).

saying things that need saying

I don't usually like speeches by politicians (or maybe I've just gotten into that habit over the past ten years), but I thought Obama's Nobel Prize acceptance speech was really good. My favorite parts...

In defense of America and American foreign policy:
But the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions -- not just treaties and declarations -- that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest -- because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if others' children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.

Regarding Iran and North Korea:
But it is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system. Those who claim to respect international law cannot avert their eyes when those laws are flouted. Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia. Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.

I think he's chastising the Chinese government in the first paragraph of this section, and voicing support for the demonstrators in Iran in the third one. At least, I hope so:
And yet too often, these words are ignored. For some countries, the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the false suggestion that these are somehow Western principles, foreign to local cultures or stages of a nation's development. And within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists -- a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values around the world.

I reject these choices. I believe that peace is unstable where citizens are denied the right to speak freely or worship as they please; choose their own leaders or assemble without fear. Pent-up grievances fester, and the suppression of tribal and religious identity can lead to violence. We also know that the opposite is true. Only when Europe became free did it finally find peace. America has never fought a war against a democracy, and our closest friends are governments that protect the rights of their citizens. No matter how callously defined, neither America's interests -- nor the world's -- are served by the denial of human aspirations.

So even as we respect the unique culture and traditions of different countries, America will always be a voice for those aspirations that are universal. We will bear witness to the quiet dignity of reformers like Aung Sang Suu Kyi; to the bravery of Zimbabweans who cast their ballots in the face of beatings; to the hundreds of thousands who have marched silently through the streets of Iran. It is telling that the leaders of these governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation. And it is the responsibility of all free people and free nations to make clear that these movements -- these movements of hope and history -- they have us on their side.

To Americans who don't understand why we spend money on foreign aid:
And that's why helping farmers feed their own people -- or nations educate their children and care for the sick -- is not mere charity. It's also why the world must come together to confront climate change. There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, more famine, more mass displacement -- all of which will fuel more conflict for decades. For this reason, it is not merely scientists and environmental activists who call for swift and forceful action -- it's military leaders in my own country and others who understand our common security hangs in the balance.

institutional stupidity

As I mentioned before, last year I received a RSA SecurID crypto keychain intended for someone else with my same name, at my office address.

A few weeks ago, I received another one, so I finally called Wells Fargo today. After talking to one customer service rep on the consumer side, his supervisor, another customer service rep on the business side, and her supervisor, they told me to return the package as undeliverable so that the account would get flagged in their system. I told them that the package was delivered through UPS and not USPS, and they said I should call UPS.

I called UPS, and after talking to another rep and supervisor, I was told to call Wells Fargo to get a new package label to return the item. The rep told me (somewhat accusingly, I might add) that because I had opened the package, it could not be returned without a new label. I asked her how I was supposed to know the package wasn't intended for me without opening it to read the letter inside, but she didn't have a good answer for that.

I gave up at that point. I mean, even if I were to succeed in returning the keychain, I'd get nothing from the whole exercise; I was just trying to help Wells Fargo and my mysterious namesake. I'm pretty sure Wells Fargo isn't going to know how to bill the return shipping cost, I'm not paying for it, and it all just seems like too much hassle for what was supposed to be a small good deed on my part. Sigh.

maybe computers are already smarter than us

Credit card fraud detection is amazing.

I spent months booking hotels, plane tickets, train tickets, and random events online. Then I travelled around the world, using the card left and right, and I never got declined. (Granted, I told them the countries and the rough timeframe.)

Yesterday, someone tried to spend $1031 and $435 with my card number online, and the bank promptly flagged my account and disabled my card.

I don't know how they tell the difference.

high tech dentistry

I went to the dentist today for a routine cleaning. My dentist had moved to a newer and larger office.

The first thing I noticed was that the patient chairs were much nicer. Doctor Jane explained they were also massage chairs, and asked me if I wanted to try, but I was in a hurry and passed.

During the cleaning (which is mostly done with some fancy high pressure water device instead of with manual scraping, which is one of the reasons I like my dentist), she noticed my lips were chapped and pulled out a tube of Vaseline (yay!).

After the cleaning, she did my dental x-rays with a new fancy digital x-ray machine. Instead of having to bite those little cards which have sharp edges and hurt your mouth, I bit on a round-ish digital sensor thing. Afterwards, the x-rays came up instantly on the computer, where Doctor Jane was able to zoom in and show me where my old fillings were going bad (boo!).

Later on, when I was setting up my followup appointment, the receptionist gave me a nifty printout detailing the services that I would be receiving, as well as the cost breakdown (the insured portion vs. the part that I would be expected to pay). Very cool.