She won the million!!

A the NYE party, one of our friends brought in a "Deal or No Deal" handheld game.

Our other friend Deb started to play and hand an interesting run.

She was between $400 and $1,000,000 and the banker's offer was $600k. We all told her to take the offer, but she decided to go for it.

She won the million!

1 year old doggy vs bully stick...

Christmas -- Part Deux..

Clayton came back from Oklahoma today, so we had the second part of Christmas (the part where he opened his gifts under the tree).

That was one tough test...

Well, I can't always put down the stuff I'm proud of. Sometimes I just have to document what actually happens.

In this case, I was all of 10 points shy of passing (I needed 825 out of 1000, I got 815). Had I passed, I would have earned my Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA). Alas, now I have to study harder, pay another $150, and take the test again.

Artisanal chocolates

Caryn's step-mom, a woman of exquisite taste, sent us a box of these chocolates. These aren't your basic "Russell Stovers" -- the flavors include things like "Rosemary Caramel", "Passion Fruit", and "Persian Spiced Marzipan". A quick view of the website for the chocolateer, http://www.elbowchocolates.com, will give you an idea.

Does the cat look happy?

A Most Unique Present ...

My brother is an incredibly talented and creative craftsman. I have often said that he could take two pieces of wood and put them together with pegs and glue and make them balance the checkbook and wash the dishes. He's that talented.

His gift to me this year was this wand.

No, he's not a Harry Potter freak. In fact, as a strongly spiritual Christian, I suspect that he may not be the biggest Harry Potter fan out there.

But the wand is a study in making wood beautiful. The scroll (printed on paper which was also hand made, along with the box it was packaged in, all of the labels, etc) explains the intricate manufacture of this piece (you may have to look at it at the largest resolution to be able to read it all).

I love the last line (of the big print) ...

"I hope you enjoy this wand as much as anyone can enjoy a stick."

Caryn's Cookie Platters

Caryn worked for several days creating these cookie platters as gifts for our friends.

Foggy Christmas Eve Eve

It was a nice, pretty, clear day all day today, but about 9:00, the fog moved in.

It got to be 11:00, and I didn't have a picture, so I took out the tripod and went out to catch the interplay of streetlights in the fog.

Caryn cuttin' loose...

Some very good friends of ours (The Discourser and his fabulous family) threw their annual holiday fête. A fine time was had by all, including my darling wife.

Private Reserve

Regular readers of this blog will remember that LOVE out dog sitter. Every year she presents her clients with a gift, including her "private reserve" wine for that year. Each bottle is personalized (dog- alized?) for the dog

Two years ago, it was "Pawno Grrrigio". Last year it was "Zinfan-tail". I love this year's "Pinot more" (get it, "pee no more"?)

Thanks Shura -- you are the BEST!!

Doin' it wrong ... Doin' it right...

Tis the season for businesses all over the map to send out holiday gifts and cards. This blog entry is designed to give examples of what is right and what is wrong in this practice...

Doin' it wrong...

The CEO of one of our software vendors is a follower of a certain school of thought authored by a certain science fiction author. This CEO "schools" his employees in the teachings of this late prophet.

Now, I'm all for folks believing in what ever they want. I'm even OK with sending out holiday cards with demonstrating thier beliefs. On the other hand ... Seriously!?!?!? Didn't the German government kick Microsoft's butt over your technology being imbedded in Windows? Have you considered that, well, frankly, you might want to examine who your audience is before you send out a card like this?!?!?

---

Doin' it right...

Here we have the example of cheer done exceptionally well. The very kind gentleman who presented me with this lovely bottle of BV Pinot Noir (Carneros Valley) understands that I enjoy a good Pinot (he gave my boss a different bottle, by the way, because we have different tastes, and this most excellent vendor understands that).

There's no proselytizing, no controversial "immortal spirits from another galaxy inhabiting our bodies" -- just some superior grape juice, lovingly crafted by our friends from the north (Napa).

Our driver...

From a recent trip on the Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf Cable Car, this was our driver.

Stockings on the mantle...

What happens when a truck backs into a fire hydrant

A truck driver backed into a fire hydrant right next to my office's window.



Now, that's a yellow hydrant, which according to this website represents a flow rate of at least 500 gallons per minute. It took almost 20 minutes to get the flow cut off, which means at least 10,000 gallons washed our parking lot and flowed to the bay.



The wall next to the spray is approximately 15 feet tall.

Christmas Cookies Time...

Caryn has been baking a lot over the last week or so -- putting together platters to go to all of our friends. Today it was my turn. I made Oatmeal and Toll-House cookies (Caryn made the Snickerdoodles in the middle).

Interior shot from the Paramount Theater - Oakland

Caryn and I went to the Dave Koz and Friends Smooth Jazz Christmas show tonight. The Paramount is beautiful, but it was crowded and I didn't get many shots.

Cupcakes!

This shop is in Ghirardelli Square, down by the wharf. There is also a location, I think, at the Ferry Building.

The cupcakes are quite good, if a tad pricey. The "Salt Chocolate" is surprisingly tasty, though I don't think they make a bad one.

The visitor...

This is Oscar -- he's visiting for a few days.

Those are some eyes, huh?

St. Nick

Preppin'

Young Thomas and I are planning on taking the CCNA test on 12/28.

The "U" Picture

Driving home in the dark, needed a picture.

Pointed the camera out the window with the flash turned off, and voila, the "U" picture.

Sunday Sunset Steeple

Clementines

Little mandarin oranges. Very yummy!

South San Francisco Light Tree

Here in South San Francisco, every year at Holiday time, the city puts a huge "strand of lights style" Christmas tree at the top of "Sign Hill".

Given its location, the tree can be seen from just about anywhere in South City and most of the environs south past the airport.

Rainy Day in San Francisco

South San Francisco Dilapidated Pier

South San Francisco used to be a huge shipbuilding center.

This pier is all that is left of that massive endeavor.

64MB of Ram!!

I got a frantic call from one of our labs at work at 5:30 tonight. One of the critical lab instruments was locked, and noone had any idea of how to unlock it.

I arrived in the lab to find a nearly 10 year old computer, running NT 4.0, not connected to the network, just the instrument. As you can see, the orignal tech who installed this system, between discovering fire and dodging T-Rex, installed a whopping 64 MB of RAM.

Anywho -- thanks to my patron Saint, Petter Norhdal-Hagans (see my 500 day blog post about him) and his WONDERFUL freeware utility, I was able to get back up and running.

Dancing Reindeer at the Disneyland Parade

One last pic from the trip to Disneyland.

A very crooked (but not the crookedest) street

This is Lombard Street. Lombard is often referred to as the crookedest street in the world, when, in fact, it isn't even the crookedest in San Francisco (that would be Vermont, between 19th and 21st street).

It is beautiful though

December Theme Day -- Bridges

I'm not a member of the "City Daily Photo Blogs" yet, but I've applied. These guys do a theme picture on the first day of each month, and for December, it's "Bridges".

Here's mine.

That's BOB (Big Orange Bridge, or, as most people know it, the Golden Gate Bridge) in the background.

Snow in Southern California

It snows 3 times a night a Disneyland during the Christmas season. This one was right after the fireworks.

Ratatouille in the Emporium Window at Disneyland

Who doesn't love Tigger?!?!?

From the Disneyland Holiday Fantasy Parade

Day and Night

Disneyland. They've really stepped up the holiday decorations this year. The snow on the castle is awesome.

The ornament

This ornament was put on our tree just yesterday. It's lit only by the little lights on the tree.

Someone, call PETA -- please!!!!

Lots of Trees on the Tree Lot...

Saw the trees being offloaded the day before Thanksgiving.

Full moon over South San Francisco

On the way to the grocery store this evening, I saw this HUGE, bright, full moon.

Pecan Pie -- Up Close...

It looks really good, but it works out to something like 15 points for 1/12 of the pie. Since that ain't happenin' for fat-boy here, it's strictly for the boys.

Twilight and cars

I liked the juxtaposition of the mesh of cars riding below the obliquely lit sky.

T (as in Thanksgiving) minus 2

I think we have everything we need for the big T-Day dinner. I tried to lay it all out, but I'm sure I missed some things.

Old Blue Eyes...

I think Ziggy is the reincarnation of Frank Sinatra. Just look at those eyes.

The Painted Ladies

The last of the shots from the trip around SF with Sylvia and Bill.

This is the famous "Painted Ladies" -- a set of Victorians next to Alamo Square Park.

The best sunset picture I've ever taken...

While Sylvia and Bill were in town, we got some really great sunset pictures, including this one.

Installed the Leopard today...

I wiped my mac and installed Leopard today.

The pictures and music are transferring over from the backup drive as I write this.