Passing California Smog

Today I took the van in for a smog test with a heavy heart for I knew it wouldn't pass. It was too much to hope that it might pass. I couldn't take the let down yet again so I didn't even try to think it might pass.

And yet there is a god. Somehow those guys at Tassi pulled off a miracle and tweaked out the van enough that it passed. The used EGR valve helped for sure - cutting the noxious gases reading down about 750 points from 2000 to 1250 roughly. It had to be under 1500.

I am having a great day and actually look forward to going to the DMV tomorrow to make the van a legal resident of California.

This is a snapshot the guys took of me during a video conference while I was telling them that the van passed smog. It's pretty hard for me to control my utter elation. In fact I have been unsuccessful at it. I have been waiting for this day for an entire year.

LEGO Death Star

I finally finished it! The LEGO Death Star is the largest LEGO set produced by LEGO at 3449 pieces and is 19" in diameter. I barely fits on my desk shelf and is in danger of taking a life-threatening dive to the floor should anyone stumble in to it or, willfully push it over... :)

As you can see by the picture, I surround myself with things I have made or appreciate the style of greatly. I know it looks messy, but it makes me feel good and enjoy my work space that much more. Somehow a "sterile" desk seems anti-creative to me. Maybe I'm nuts, though. If so - I'm fine with that. LOL

Back from Costa Rica

These boys terrorize the elementary school in Santa Ana, Costa Rica. Watch out for them. They'll tie your shoelaces together. AJ found them in Costa Rica.

I haven't posted in a while because AJ came back from Costa Rica last Saturday. So, you know - I was busy cleaning up the house and stuff. The cats really missed her and Maddi slept on the bed next to AJ from the first night on. She had been sleeping on the computer chair by herself the whole month. Mike, who had taken AJ's side of the bed all for himself, reluctantly gave it up and slept at our feet again.

AJ was looking out for me and took these pics of the VW buses she saw in Costa Rica. Too bad none of them were for sale. I mean "SE VENDE".

We went to the art fair in downtown Menlo Park on Sunday. Some day I wonder if I will have a booth at one of those... Sometimes people make "crafty" things and sometimes there's "arty" art. Is any of it REAL art? I don't know, I guess. That makes me sound like an art snob, when I'm not. I don't even know if what I'm doing is art. I mean - I'm being creative - sort of... But maybe it's just a craft in another form.

Art - you are a mystery to me. It's probably better that way.

MUNNY finished!

OK so a while ago I posted about the blank MUNNY I bought and how I was going to paint it up all purty-like. Well I'm done. For some reason I couldn't resist doing a monkey, and what's better than a monkey in a suit? Yeah, I don't know either. BUT, I wanted to give him a split personality so I made another face on the back of his head so I can turn it around and perhaps let it represent my mood. Y'know, sometimes you're just trying to get through the day and other times you've got your headphones blaring and you're taking it all on with a FIRE in your eye! So - there ya go JASE's MUNNY. I'm taking it in to work today. I don't really need any more junk on my desk, but I like it when more of the junk is stuff I made rather than junk other people made. LOL

Hiking w/ Kaan

Went on a short hike with Kaan on Saturday. AJ and I had been there before but not down this path. I didn't want to do anything strenuous, so it was more like an amble along the ridge of skyline drive. Still, while the sun was setting we got neat views of the bay lights flickering on and the horizon of the Pacific. It's good to get out away from the city sometimes. OK - a lot. I really like the way the sky was changing to night - there was a weird rainbow-like effect that I don't know if you can fully appreciate in the picture above. Below you can see the clouds moving in off the Pacific and seeping through the mountain ridges.

Michael Thomas Strikes

I've been growing spices in the kitchen window in little pots. Three of them are catnip. The cats can't reach them - or so I thought. Yesterday when I came home I found two of the pots in the sink with dirt all over and none of their leaves. Only one had survived the hunger of Mike. Maddi is a very naughty cat sometimes, but she doesn't like catnip leaves like Michael Thomas - I know it was him. So naughty. He was wild the rest of the evening. Like a crack-head.

4th of July

I went up to SF with Kaan. Check out pics HERE.
We wandered around the pier for a while and then went to Greg's friend's rooftop to view the fireworks. We haven't seen Greg in... about 2 years! He was crazy - it was his birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Greg!! The fireworks were OK - they were short. I guess I expected more.

David's New Snail

"David's New Snail" is an animated short done in Flash. It's uber cute. Watch it HERE.
Thanks to Steve and his blog for making my day. Daddy Long legs and his Harem of Dancing Squirrels.
Kids say funny things.

Napa Valley tasting

Kaan and I went on a long drive up to Napa Valley, had some wine, headed over to see Sonoma Valley and came back down via Hwy 1 along the coast. It was pretty fun - but the traffic was kinda thick and it took us around 9 or 10 hours to drive. We stopped at Pine Ridge for a tasting and that ended up being the only one we could go to because we got up to Napa so late. Which is fine because if we had been able to go to a bunch of places I don't think I could have driven much more...

See those little grapes at the bottom? Soon they will be lovely BIG grapes for mashing with feet!

They gave us 4 wines to try:
A nice Rose - I don't really like Rose, but this was not too sweet and full of flavor.
An excellent Chardonnay - We used to drink Chardonnay but for some reason don't anymore... this wine would change me back for sure.
A Merlot - this has to be the best merlot I've ever had. I'm no wine connoisseur, but this was phenomenal. So tasty and rich with different flavors.
A Dr. Pepper - They mixed a bunch of wines together and got this bastardization of a drink. But dang was it good. A little bit of this and then a bit of that later on the tongue.

It took a while to get home as we headed over to the coast to drive down Hwy 1. We stopped in Point Reyes and had dinner at The Station House". I had a great veggie burger that they made there. (Usually restaurants just buy Boca or Gardenburger - this was leagues above those in taste and texture.)

It was dark when we drove down Hwy 1 so we didn't get much of the effect of driving along a cliff that's falling into the ocean, but the moon was out and it was still pretty cool looking.