The Daily Sabs

Recently morm asked me about old friends; mostly she wanted to know who I considered my best friend and if I bothered to keep in touch with anyone from the past. She knows that I'm crap at correspondence (what can I say, I learned from watching her) and was trying to prove a point about how I prefer to fly solo. I told her I had Randall, but she said that didn't count as he didn't have a choice anymore. Then I told her that I have Scottelbot (whether he likes it/knows it or not, he's the bestie). She shrugged and said okay (but felt her point was still proven). Although, if the same logic is applied, I think the bot might not really count either. I mean does he really have a choice anymore?

Here we are looking really sleepy panda eyes. I drove all day to get here, have no makeup on, have had a few drinks, and am doughy from all the holiday treats. He's just had to deal with me, and his crazy stache (robertbot?).

We've stayed up far too late talking about all sorts (although we talk about 5x a week, we hadn't really spoken in quite some time, so there was some touchbase catching up to do). And now, even the puppy is nuzzly-tired, so everyone, shoot off an email to your bff and call it a night.

Ps. Pok pok for dinner was nom nom!

geoloc

geoloc

This morning Karen and I planned up a food outing to Yamo. Sadly when we got there it was closed. We didn't know what to do and stood around for a little while until we decided to head over to atlas. We talked about their yummy sandwiches the entire way only to arrive to a closed restaurant. Looked like everyone's was out for the holidays.

With two fails under our belt, we trooped on to la torta gorda. At this point we'd gone 6 blocks in one direction and about 10 in another. Luckily we were able to stop there and eat some delicious tortas. Karen had the veggie and I had the chicken tinga. It was super delicious, one of my faves in the city.

Afterwards we wandered back thru the mission (with stops at arkay workshop, arzemendi bakery, and paxton gate). We also fought the wind. It was perfectly sunny, although it rained on us briefly, but man was it windy.

Thanks for the fun outing Karen! Hope little miss olive feels better soon!

geoloc

Today we bid adieu to the beloved "baller" Audi and hello to the new mini countryman. It was just time for something new and so Randall, who is a total car guy, preordered it. It arrived last week, but there was a font fiasco and the DOT didn't let them out. That meant no oversized bows for us on Christmas. But, it's a holiday miracle, they were released before the new year and ours was waiting for us at the dealer. And while it might not be as baller as the Audi, it is pretty dang sweet. It is sorta huge though. It's so tall like a mini suv. I mean really, it's barely a mini, but it sure is fun.

Audi you served us well (except for that time you died in the middle of nowhere Oregon and we had to go back and fetch you a week later), and I hope you find a fun new owner (and that you don't have issues because man your repairs were expensive!).

And countryman, welcome to the family. It's time to go for a ride in the country!

Ps. Man the rain!

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

This afternoon, after a giant filing and photocopying ordeal (morm's getting audited and let's just say that while she is a total straight arrow, her bookkeeping leaves something to be desired), morm decided to make chinese new year cake. Only she didn't just make a single batch, she made a gargantuan pot full of batter (see second photo for proof - also see second photo as proof that I am my mother's daughter). She says it's because she used to cook for hundreds of soldiers every morning and that she only knows how to make a huge batch. There are flaws in this story as that was over 25 years ago, and also I don't think she ever made them Chinese new year cake.

While the cake was cooling (seriously she brought the 10 lb gooey condition outside to chill), I popped over to say hi to uncle Bobby and befi aiyi. There's a new super cute puppy in their life: a little corgi that their granddaughter named Justin (presumably after beiber). It was adorable, but sadly the iPhone only let's you send 5 photos at once, so you'll just have to trust me on that. And on the wackiness of files piled up for the audit. It was insanity. update: more photos of dog and paper insanity added below.

Once the cake was cooled, the car packed, and the obligatory fight fought, I said farewell to morm and hit the road. But first a quick stop at juju & wes's house. I hadn't really seen them all year and that needed to be fixed. In fact it had been so long, I still had their birthday presents. Juju opened hers up and discovered some ceramic squirrels. She immediately replaced her eyes with them. Obviously. Wes entertained us with some sounds and I chatted their ears off in a whirlwind and was gone. They got bonus points for staying in their pjs too. That's how you know we're good pals.

Ps. What a long day. I also scarfed down morm feast part deux. Because like my morm, I have no concept of moderation.


geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

This morning I thought it would be fun to check out the room and board floor sample sale, so Randall and I headed on down to soma. We got there and there was a gigantor line wrapped around the building. We took one look and said no thanks. It felt silly to turn around and head home, so we ran to the grocery store (where we bought beer, coffee, juice, soup and baking soda, WTF?) and then decided to grab brunch. We were out in potrero at this point, so we decided to try something new. I'd been wanting to check out serpentine and luckily it was open. I had an amazing beets & brisket with greens and poached eggs and toast. It was absolutely delicious. So was the bloody mary. Randall ordered the bread, eggs, potatoes, and sausage without the eggs. I felt sad for him. He said it was tasty, but it didn't look nearly as good as mine.

Afterwards we ran a few more errands and then I decided to take advantage of the weather and drove out to visit morm. I felt like I left at an okay time to avoid traffic, but there were so many accidents that traffic ended up being kablooey anyway. Luckily when I arrived morm had a feast waiting, and that made it worth it. So did her smiling face.

Once the feast was over we headed over to jamer's house (he's home for the holidays) where we wished sena a happy birthday. Fun fact her name is sena (sounds like see-na) because she was born near Christmas and it was inspired by the name Santa. At least that's the story I've always been told.

Happy birthday sena!

Ps. I set up morm's skype account, webcam, and robot ear this evening. Watch out future here she comes!

Pps. Both samshrew and bao commented on how Asian morm's house looked via skype. Seriously kids? This room has always been filled with teakwood furniture, oriental carpets and carved statues. What were you expecting?

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

This morning Randall and I got up at the unholy hour of 5:15am. Those who know us well know this is well outside of our comfort zone. Although I've been trying to make myself more of a morning person, if the stars align correctly, wakeup time is more like 10am. But once a year on Christmas, Randall and I both muster up the strength to be fully functioning humans on the road no later than 6am. Today we left a little later than usual and I would question the "fully functioning" bit, but hey we made it to the festivities (mostly on time thanks to the radar detector but no thanks to the fog).

When we arrived to randall's sisters house the presents (which were plentiful) had just started and there was loads of chaos and toy story. Lots and lots of toy story. There was also great cheer, delicious breakfast, mimosas, good company, and tricycles. The wee ones were too transfixed on their other toys, so kaitlynn and Randall took them for a spin.

Once all the food had been eaten and hours spent chatting, Randall and I got in the car and headed back to the city. We got caught in a bunch of traffic and bad weather but made it just in time for dinner at samshrew and chris's place (pork product, stuffing, yams, and green beans). While we ate, bao called and we set up a skype session with him and Laura. We all toasted the holiday and even sushi dog got festive with her jaunty elf outfit.

After we were done making faces at each other, we said farewell to bao and Laura and headed to the movies. True grit was playing down the street so the four of us decided to go. For the most part I liked it, and that means a lot as I generally hate on westerns. However i will admit that the 5am thing and the boozehounding was taking its toll and I did fall asleep for about 5 minutes near the beginning. Whatcha gonna do? I guess I wanted naps for Christmas.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Best wishes to you and yours. Merry Christmas all!

Ps. We had bao call morm while we were skyping but I think it just sounded like a bunch of us yelling at her so she said ttfn right quick. Oh morm!

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

There was nothing planned today (except a few last minute gift purchases) so I made samshrew and chris come have lunch with us. We were originally going to go to woodhouse over on market, but the wait was longer than we wanted, so we headed over to chilango instead. We said feliz navidad and chowed down on delicious food.

Afterwards we stopped for coffee and the last minute gifts (I love that I can stop at the local shops and avoid all the last minute madness). With our prizes in tow, we headed back to our house where it turned into a candy-eating nerd party. At some point Chris, samshrew, and Randall all ended up gathering around the laptop to laugh and point at things on the Internet. It was sort of a magic moment that made me smile.

Today was a longer work day than I anticipated (although shorter than most) and afterwards I braved the mall to pick up the holiday shopping. When I got home Randall was making dinner (pork chops and asparagus). I just supplied the salad and the pretzel bread.

When we were finished eating we put on some tunes courtesy of Mimi and jacek (thanks for the cd kiddos!) and then I asked Randall if he wanted to play a board game. He frowned and gave me the stink eye (see photo) but then said sure why not. I could tell he wasn't thrilled, after all board games don't need power and therefore he doesn't understand them, so i told him he could pick which game we played. He ended up choosing payday. That was one of his favorites when he was a kid. I never played it back then and have only played it a handful of times in the past few years (the first time being when we bought this version because Randall thought it would be fun). I don't like it as much as life or monopoly, but I like that the amount of time to play it can be varied. It's silly though. You buy property and sell it. Really it should be property investor payday, but that's too long and even lamer sounding.

Btw, if you're wondering who won, it was me. 81k to 40k. Guess I'm just a better investor.

When I found out that today was going to be garrick's last day, I knew we had to do a special lunch. I thought sushi would be cool, but then had an epiphany: ike's sandwiches. So I threw out my net and caught orders for the team. It was the longest phone order ever (it took like 15 minutes), but it was pretty awesome.

Once the sandwiches were ready, DK and I hopped into a cab and went on an epic sandwich journey. When we arrived our order wasn't quite ready, but 10 minutes later a giant box with 28 sandwiches arrived. I swear it weighed 28 pounds too. Seriously it was insane. All the folks standing in the ike's rainy line seriously eyeballed us with jealousy. I contemplated selling them to folks in line for double, but didn't know how to face the team if I did. So I didn't. And when we and dk returned it was a full on ike's party.

Farewell gt, you will be missed!

Ps. The cake photo was a celebration for Josh. His birthday is tomorrow, and Kate planned a happy hour for us to celebrate. Pretty much it's been an all day food and drink celebration.

There are many reasons why I love my pal karen. In fact in honor of the "name 10" game we were playing tonight, here are 10 reasons why.

1 - she is super creative
2 - she has an amazing wit
3 - she's practical and punctual (the very rarest of good traits)
4 - she knows how to make a mean cake mosaic
5 - she likes good music
6 - her guilty pleasure music is the same as mine (we have tickets for u2 even)
7 - she gave me her secret veggie chili recipe
8 - she is super down to earth
9 - she has a great laugh
10 - she has good taste in dogs and men

But every December 21 there's another reason why I love Karen. Despite being a year below me in college, she's older than me (by just a few months - I didn't go to kindergarten). And this makes me feel young. So thanks for having a birthday Karen! I'll be right there in your old lady club soon!

Seriously though, all joking aside, Karen is awesome. Randall even busted out the big woop! in her honor. Those of you who know the woop! know that that's sort of a big deal these days.

Happy birthday Karen! Here's to many more!

Ps. Second photo is shin doublefisting the beers. He knows how to celebrate.