happy halloweenie!

it's only 1015 pm but i'm soooo tired so this post will be short and super boring.  hope you had a happy halloween!  the tiramisu had a lot of fun and surprisingly, kept her costume on all night.  more later.  tomorrow is november 1 and the holidays are officially here!  more later.  the girl from craigslist showed up and took everything this morning.  yay!

gotta love craigslist

i posted an ad on craigslist late last night for some free furniture (bedroom set, tv, tv stand, lamps, night stands) that was left in the condo that we purchased.  within 10 minutes, i had 10 emails.  when i woke up, there were over 30 messages and i quickly removed the ad before my email exploded.

apparently, there is a lot of interest in free stuff.  i tried to be diplomatic and reply in the order that they responded.  very few people answered the phone when i called so i basically gave it to the first person who i actually spoke to who was willing to pick up all the stuff tomorrow morning.  i hope they show up!

anywho, here are some of the responses i received via email, only edited to remove phone number and name.  enjoy.

Hi:) im intrested in the free stuffs. But I dont get it, sorry. But please give me a call @ (808) xxx-xxxx thank you:)


Me please? <smile> Really could use some furniture!


Hi my name is xxx and im interested in your fdes items. I can be reached at xxxxxxx


im intrested in the bedroom set pleaswe call me at 808xxxxxxx my name is xxx


Hello,

I am interested in picking up the white side table and lamp and anything that is white.  My number is xxx-xxxx.
I can pick up anytime on the day you want me to,  but if it is first come first serve then I would pass.  I do not believe in racing with another person to get an item.
When i sell or give something away I would hold it for the first person who contacts me just out of respect.  If they do not pick it up by the toilet frame given to me then i will let the first person that contacted me have it by the time frame given to me.
Anyway please let me know. 

Ty,
xxxx

im intrested phone xxx-xxxx

HELLO IF NOONE HAS REPLIED YET I COULD PICK UP ALL THOSE THINGS JUST GIVE ME A CALL @ xxxxxxx MY NAME IS xxx MY BABYZ DAD NEEDS THESE THINGS TO SET UP HIS ROOM SO WHEN OUR DAUGHTER GOES OVER TO HIS HOUSE THEY HAVE A PLACE TO PUT BOTH THERE THINGS IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED...

hi,my name is xxx,i would love to have your bedroom set.i do need it please call me @xxx-xxxx.i can pick it up any time you like.thank you for your ti me and kindness.aloha. 

I will love to pick them up..my number iis xxxxxxx

i heart cmas music

there are only 58 more days until christmas and i've already started playing cmas music!  i love cmas music and actually listen to it all year round when i'm in the office because it always makes me happy!  

ps - if you wanna know how many more days until christmas, go here!

pianos are good investments

downsizing (albeit temporarily) definitely has its limitations.  although no one in our family plays the piano, we own a cute ebony baby grand.  yes, don't ask.  

anywho, so we've been asking ourselves, what the $(!(# are we going to do with the piano?!

a - take it to the condo

b - put it in storage at $75/month

c - sell it

d - find someone who will let us store it at their house for $free.99

we eliminated option a because of the space constraints.  option b seemed semi-reasonable if all other options failed.  i looked into option c and was told that if we were planning to purchase another baby grand (which we were), we should keep the one we have because it will cost us almost double the price of what we paid in 2007 to purchase another one in 1 or 2 years!!!  who the heck knew that the price of pianos inflated so much?!  

i ahem...we decided to keep the piano and luckily, the father-in-law was happy to house it temporarily!  and he's even planning to take piano lessons!  hahaha.  how funny.  so the piano was moved yesterday...and just in case you're wondering, it takes four guys and a lot of skill to move one.  and every time we move it, it costs $225 :( someone in our family better learn to play that damn thing soon.  hopefully the tiramisu will.

uss hawaii

the hubby and i had an amazing opportunity to tour the USS Hawaii (SSN 76), a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, that is actually commissioned and used for war!  the sub is currently docked for repairs and maintenance in Pearl Harbor and we were invited to tour it via our Navy League membership.

we were shuttled to the pier at Pearl Harbor and then briefed on the sub's capabilities by Commander Mack.

and then we had to CLIMB into the submarine through a pretty narrow opening. climbing in was definitely more difficult than climbing out...and required a bit of coordination.  i held on tight and climbed slowly and luckily, didn't slip or fall :)

inside the sub was fascinating!  this is the escape hatch that is used in case of emergencies.  you climb into this room that fills with water, pressurizes and you swim out...up to a depth of 600 ft! 

here's the control room with SECRET classified computers.  never fear, everything was de-classified prior to us entering and we were allowed to take as many photos as we wanted ;)  apparently, it's very difficult to land a job on the sub and the submariners study all day and all night.  and all the studying needs to be conducted on the sub because everything is classified info and nothing, including notes, can be taken outside of the sub.  that computer screen below shows the sub's location anywhere in the world and the depth of water surrounding it.

we toured the torpedo room, which was actually loaded with actual war torpedos ("war shots")!  each torpedo costs approximately $450,000 and is basically a mini-submarine with a computer.  they're computer programmed to reach it's target and are smart enough to figure out how to get around obstructions, etc.  or at least that's what i think i heard.  hehe.  the entire torpedo room is hydraulically controlled to move and maneuver the torpedos for loading.  very cool.

when the sub is deployed, it carries a crew of approximately 130 submariners.  the confines are tight and most of the men sleep in these tiny sleeping quarters approximately 6'-4" long and about 18" high.  talk about claustrophobic!  i feel sorry for the really tall guys...not sure how they manage to sleep in these little sardine cans.

as the sub becomes the home of the crew, there are provisions for laundry (one washer and dryer for the entire submarine) and of course, meals available 24/7 through the kitchen.  this is the sub's cook...he does ALL the prep and cooking for all 130 men by himself.  today's lunch was hamburger macaroni, deep fried shrimp, soup (?) and cake for dessert.  there was some pizza dough rising in the back, which is what the cook was preparing for dinner.  the "mess" area was pretty cute...almost felt like a little diner and was even equipped with a tv.

these pictures don't do justice for the awesomeness that we witnessed today!  much thanks to all the young men* who serve our country!  sooo glad we went on this little saturday morning field trip!  can't wait for the next cool thing we are invited to -- there's supposed to be an overnight field trip on a plane or ship that actually goes to a destination.  neato!

*there are currently no women on the subs but that all changes next year, when the navy accepts their first female officers!

slowly but surely

this is probably not the most efficient way of moving but we have been taking one car load a day of "small-stuff-that-is-not-essential-for-daily-living-but-not-going-into-storage" to our new condo.  luckily, the condo provides shopping carts (that say Safeway) that you can use to move stuff from the parking garage to your unit, which really speeds things up! 

the plan for the weekend is to start  packing up stuff that's going into storage and decide what i'm going to sell :(  we purged a lot two years ago before we moved here and now it's time to purge again.  i will evaluate each item separately and anything i truly don't love or doesn't serve me will be sold :(  sooo sad but it will feel nice to have less stuff :)  we'll see if i can let go.  hah.

it's gettin', it's gettin', it's gettin' kinda hectic...

it's pretty much all but official that we're headed into condo living for the next 1-1/2 to 2 years.  we signed the lease for our rental  last week and just moved all my beloved oil paintings over tonight.  the walls in our current home feel so bare :(

this morning, we're headed to escrow to sign for the unit that we are purchasing for my parents.  we'll get the keys on monday when we close and then the contractor will come in to change out the carpet to wood floors and then my parents can start moving in.

it's definitely going to take some getting used to but i think it will be okay.  at least we won't have to evacuate for any tsunami warnings and we'll get an awesome view of any water movement if/when another one heads our way...and we'll have the BEST fireworks view for 4th of july and new years!

more later.

japa-talian

this weekend, the hubby and i had a date night at the new Happy Valley Pasta & Pizza.  

left - sampler appetizer (garlic fries, fried calamari, sausage and chicken karaage)
middle - my seafood risotto without arborio rice
right - the hubby's action shot meat pizza

the food was aight...it's japa-talian food (btw, i made that word up).  my seafood risotto was made from normal rice rather traditional arborio rice :(  the pizza pies come out whole and you get to cut the slices yourself, which was a nice touch.  i liked their pizza crust but the menu is super limited and we prefer more traditional italian food so we probably won't ever go back.


*   *   *

holy smokes, we're already in the second half of october!  halloween is just around the corner and i still haven't purchased or made a costume for the little tiramisu.  i have to be creative about her costume since she definitely knows what she likes and doesn't like nowadays and she's much more averse to hats and headwear unless she approves of it!  

the $6 fortune teller

i'm not one for fortune tellers but i love me a good fortune cookie, especially those coated in dark chocolate!  this was tonight's fortune from the famous gourmet restaurant, panda express ;)  it didn't come with chocolate but it was still yummy. btw - did you know that panda express does not use msg in their food?  

4 years ago today...

the hubby and i exchanged wedding vows in santorini.  it was just the two of us...no family...no friends...and it was sooooo beautiful and stress-free.  we rode donkeys through the village, accompanied by musicians playing traditional greek wedding music.  it was spectacular and we wouldn't have had it any other way!  

top L - complimentary champagne; top R - fried calimari
bottom L - my ribeye; bottom R - complimentary dessert (choco cupcakes)

tonight, we celebrated last minute (of course, the hubby didn't even know that it was our anniversary) with a dinner at ruths chris and guess what?  i ate A LOT OF MEAT!  a nice juicy ribeye and it tasted pretty good hehe.  AND, i  even consumed an adult beverage (complimentary champagne haha) for the first time in over two years!!!

(i actually had a few tablespoons of beef last week and some yesterday.  luckily, my stomach wasn't affected after not eating meat for 7 months.  i think i've replenished my iron stores for a few months...going back to vegetarianism tomorrow...i think.)

operation condo clean out - part 2

this picture pretty much sums up my 3-day weekend.  (btw - i found this toy figurine amongst the loads of junk in the condo.  anyone want it?)

the hubby says i look just like this girl but i don't mind
because really, i was *that* annoyed with cleaning...again.

it was beautiful out and we spent most of the weekend cleaning more crap (literally) out of the condo.  like i mentioned before, the geckos pretty much took over the unit and deemed it their private toilet.  i tried to vacuum up as much of the gecko crap i could with the little handheld vacuum that we had in the unit as there's no way i was going to use our regular vacuum.  and i don't know how i got stuck with this job when the majority of the crap in this condo belonged to the hubby.  needless to say, i wasn't a happy camper.

piles of gecko crap EVERYWHERE...with a close-up just so you can witness the level of disgust.

  

we finally got to the big stuff in the condo like the 27" boob tube and an old tube monitor.  we called goodwill to see if they would take them to which they said yes. when the hubby went to drop it off, the donation drop-off guy said that they've never taken tvs or monitors.  the hubby was not amused.  i went to opala.org, which incidentally is a very informative website, and discovered that you can recycle tvs and monitors at best buy!  so we loaded everything onto a cart, pushed it into the store, and the customer service guy greeted us with, "what museum did you pull that out of?"  very funny.  anywho, they charged a $10 recycling fee per monitor/tv but you get an instant $10 best buy gift certificate in exchange, which is nice.  considering that it's so hard to find someone who will take old electronics, best buy's recycling service is awesome.

waiting in line at best buy and walking out with two $10 best buy gift cards.

we had a queen-sized bedroom set that one of the hubby's friends wanted so i disassembled the bed frame and cleaned the nightstands and dresser.  we pulled the mattress outside on sunday afternoon for bulky item pick up on monday...but it was taken within 15 minutes!  and then on monday (yesterday) morning, it re-appeared on the curb. $*#!(  and then 30 minutes later, it was gone again!  hopefully, the second taker decided to keep it or disposed of it properly!!!

i wanted to make a full living room set outside on the curb and take a photo
but people kept taking stuff as we brought it outside!  

we also put out a leather couch, three small wooden tables, a tv stand, a tea table, an air compressor, two shelving systems, and a light and everything was pretty much taken literally within minutes by people in the neighborhood driving by and enticed by the "free" signs.  as the hubby was bringing out my old desk, one of the neighbors in the building asked if he could have it and took it right into his unit.   i was a bit shocked at how quickly people take free stuff...but am glad that someone can use the stuff and it's definitely better than it ending up in a landfill.  

so that's my exciting weekend.  hope yours was just as fun!  remember to practice the 3R's...reduce, reuse, and recycle...so this crazy scenario doesn't ever happen to you!

shreddin' aint easy

left - my wagon carrying 40 lbs of paper to be shredded
right - the poor lady who had to manually shred all 40 lbs of paper...but i honestly think it was more painful for me, having to sit and watch her shred all 40 lbs

my shredding pile was getting out of hand so i finally decided to do something about it today.  i normally take my stuff to the shred-ex truck which charges $5/box and is capable of shredding the entire box in a minute or less.  i'm not even kidding!  shred-ex has the craziest, industrial shredder known to mankind.  the thing sounds like an airplane and you dump the entire box into the the huge opening and it devours the paper in seconds. 

shred-ex is closed on the weekends but i was determined to get my stuff shredded TODAY so i called office max and office depot to see what they offered.  office max shreds for 79 cents/lb but the paper is dumped into a locked bin and then the shredding company comes on site weekly to shred whatever is in the bin.  office depot shreds for 99 cents/lb and it's done in-house while you watch and wait.  given my paranoid tendencies, i took my stuff to office depot.

my entire paper load filled up a shopping wagon and weighed 40 lbs!  i couldn't believe it.  i started getting cold feet about using their services when i realized they were about to charge me 4x what shred-ex would charge.  but i thought, i'm already here...just get it done.  and then the woman proceeded to shred my stuff...MANUALLY feeding the sheets into a machine that is basically an oversized version of the shredder i have at home.  it only accepted 10 sheets or less at a time!  i started freaking out.  i asked her how long it would take to which she said, "about 20 minutes."  it ended up taking over 45 FREAKIN MINUTES.  (i was actually timing how long it would take on my iphone but then my phone mysteriously died and i couldn't turn it back on*)

what a painful test of patience!  i will never stray from shred-ex again, even if it means driving around the island to find their shredding truck.  at least i got the lady to price match office max so i saved $8...and can now buy 4 double scoop cones at pillbox :)

* if you own an iphone and it suddenly shuts off, screen turns black and you can't get it to turn on again...hold the power and home buttons simultaneously for 10 seconds and then let go.  voila!  your phone should turn back on.  thank you google!!!

3-day weekend

it's a 3-day weekend and while i'm happy that it gives us time to finish up our condo cleaning, i'm sad that we're not traveling this month!  2010 BC (before children), october was our international traveling month.  paris is in the 60s now and perfect temperature to bundle up, walk and eat all day long, but not sweat an ounce! hopefully, we'll be able to take our first international trip (and first trip ever) with the tiramisu next spring!

happy columbus day! 

waste not, want not

it's disgusting thinking about how much money is wasted on crap that doesn't serve us...or served us for for a short period of time and now just takes up space in the house.  today, we donated 20 garbage bags full of clothes and household goods (including a brand new, still in sealed box, santa costume) to the kidney foundation. the retail value of the donated stuff was easily over a thousand dollars...probably even two thousand dollars.  

i placed the stuff outside the gate early this morning and later saw one of my neighbor's maintenance guys pilfering through our stuff.  what the hell.  i told him that the stuff belonged to us and we are donating it.  i don't know if he understood me but he eventually walked away.  next time, i'm putting the bags inside the gate and will have the driver ring the doorbell!

anywho...waste not, want not.  that's my new motto.  i'm going to think long and hard before purchasing anything from this point on.  there's nothing i really *need* these days other than food and water :)  oh, and a little bit of bling ;)

*  *  *

btw - the kidney foundation picked up everything except the humungous bunch of curly willow.  i'm guessing the driver thought it was landscaping rubbish and not expensive home decor.  haha.  i called goodwill and they said they would take it so i'll be dropping this off tomorrow.

a sad day

today, we lost the creative genius and mastermind behind all of the world's favorite apple products.  our household happily owns two MacBooks, an iPad, an iPhone 3GS, an iPhone4, an iPod touch, a Mac Mini, and an iMac.  even the littlest member of our family can't get enough of apple products.

rest in peace, mr jobs.  you are definitely gone too soon. the apple lovers of the world will miss you dearly! 


*  *  *
if you haven't watched mr jobs' commencement speech at stanford, you should watch it.

cha-ching!!!

besides the collectable william hung cd, i found a bunch of old gold and silver jewelry at the condo over the weekend.  today, i took the earrings, rings and necklaces to my mom's korean jeweler and walked out with a fat check for $737!  the price of gold was decently high today  so i was quite pleased.  this is the second time i've sold old jewelry and it's kinda fun getting cash for stuff that's just taking up space and/or you'll never wear again.  

now go dig through your drawers and sell all those hawaiian bracelets and jewelry from the 90s!  but be careful where you take it.  i've found that the stores that advertise heavily on tv and radio buy at the lowest rates.  my mom's jeweler has consistently given us 30% more than those other guys!

she bangs

this cleaning/sorting/donating/dumping/storing/packing thing is bananas.  cleaning out the old condo is like opening a time capsule.  everything in the place dates back to 2003 and prior...old bills, magazines, mail, clothes, shoes, toys, etc.  some of the notable finds to date are love letters from the hubby (hah!), tons of mcdonalds' beanie babies and hello kitty dolls (which don't seem to be worth much on ebay), med school paraphernalia (now i can listen to my heart and lungs whenever i want), pagers (143...43770), furbies (the scary little talking creatures), and a cd from one of my favorite singers...

yes, i actually went out and bought this cd.  judge me if you want but i'm pretty sure that you dork-crushed on mr. hung, too.  hahahah.

i still can't believe that it took us this long to clean all the $*(! out of this place.  we donated about 28 garbage bags full of stuff and dumped a bunch of stuff this weekend.  we still have about 1/3 to go!!!