Sailing

As of yesterday afternoon I am officially certified to rent sailboats on Lake Merritt. The class was three long days, mostly with too little or too much wind. I learned a lot about sailing, the wind, the boat, rigging, capsizing, and that I don't have the patience for small boats which lose momentum every time the wind starts to die right by the dock so that even though the dock is only a few yards away it takes half an hour to get there. But enough of the little El Toro's we learned in, now I can rent a Capri and take passengers, or a Catamaran, or Sunfish and if I feel real ambitious in a month I can take the Dinghy II class on the Estuary!

The longest word in the dictionary

After a long, hard week we ordered lunch in at the office today which gave us all a chance to catch up on what reality TV shows everyone is watching and other gossip. Apparently HookUp is the hot new show but I haven't caught an episode yet. This led to a slew of internet dating stories, winner of the made for TV movie award went to a coworker just back from a family reunion. One very ordinary and stable cousin (not at the reunion) recently met a guy online, wrote her husband a scathing Dear John letter and disappeared; abandoning her husband and children for the newfound soulmate. Three weeks later after no contact with the family she walks back into the house, puts her hand up and says I'm back, I don't want to talk about it, it's all behind us. My officemates and I then spent the next hour discussing the degree of the many wrongs committed by this woman and how it must have affected the people around her. Looking around it struck me we are a group as diverse in marital and relationship status as we are in cultural background. Finally we concluded when one of our group said "Forever, that's the longest word in the dictionary."

Life gets in the way

As much as the x40 sitting dead on my desk distresses me here's what I've been doing instead of spending all my time on the phone with IBM tech support.

• Wake up in middle of night thinking oh no the death of the x40 might mean I lose all my iTunes. Hardly sleep the rest of the night.
• Drive away from work and realize I left my cell phone in my office and I need my phone later to meet my brother at the airport.
• Go back to office to get phone.
• Lock keys and passcard which lets me out of the garage in office.
  
• Have security guard call janitor to let me back into my office to recover keys.
  
• Drive to San Francisco International Airport to meet brother during his layover from Bangkok to NY.
• Wait in vain for an hour at International Arrivals Lobby while brother exits through connecting flights doorway.
• Realize in the Philippines I would be a tall person.
• Finally go to Delta terminal and find brother checking bags for NY flight.
• Happy greeting with brother.
• Find out presents he bought me are in bag checked to NY
• Return home. Sleep. Work.
• Bring suitcase brother stored at my house to mailbox place to send to his house.
• Realize I need to stop being so nice to brother. At least until I get presents.
  
• Stop at leasing office to sign renewal agreement for my apartment and schedule carpet cleaning.
• Find out leasing office thinks my renewal is for Sept. 1 instead of Aug. 1. I get slightly cheaper rent for one extra month.
• Water plants.
• Have conversation across courtyard with neighbor though neither one of us can hear because of the fountain.
  
• Make pesto before outrageous amount of basil I have goes bad. Basil, the sheer quantity of which, I meant to blog about but never got around to.
  
• Change cat litter.
• Do laundry.
• Sit down at cluttered desk with glass of wine to blog.
• Curse at Yankee bullpen for losing game.
  
• Decide the x40 can wait one more day.
  

A small vehicle accident on the 880Blog

I picked up my thinkpad x40 this evening ready for a bit of blogging, I have several ideas for posts I want to work on. So I turn on the x40 and there's a terrible monotous sound of the disk drive not going anywhere, Windows XP frozen on the screen. Things didn't really get any better after that. I spent some time trying to figure out the IBM recovery system to no avail and ran some diagnostics. It's too late now and I'm sleepy I'll have to call tech support tomorrow. There won't be a lot of blogging going on until it gets fixed. You'll just have to hold your collective breaths until I'm up and running again.

Red Red Wall

I now have a red accent wall painted in my living room. The apartment complex offers to paint a wall for a person moving in. When I moved into this apartment I was worried the darker wall would make the place feel small so I opted not to get a painted wall. I soon regretted my choice and earlier this summer when I won rent credits at the apartment BBQ I donated some of it to their breast cancer walk fund and one of the apartment managers offered to paint my wall and clean my carpet. So I emptied the bookshelves, put everything in the bedroom, locked the cat in the bedroom for a day and last Thursday when I came home there was my shockingly red wall. It is quite a contrast, feels like I live in a whole new place. It also gave me a chance to look through my books and when they somehow didn't all fit back into the bookshelves decide which ones to find new homes for. I lug around from apartment to apartment as few books as I can get away with. But I never know when I might need Advanced Calculus, or Business Ethics or the Physics of Star Trek. After some perusal I decided I will pawn off my Midwest hiking/biking books to one of my unsuspecting adventurous friends in Minnesota. Some books I keep for hope; a Hiking Guide to the Wind River Range; others I keep from a sense of accomplishment; Operations Management, others because they make me feel smart and nostalgic; Abstract Algebra. There's the fiction that is too good to part with; more Ursula LeGuin books than I am willing to admit, and then a variety of reference books I actually use; various field Guides, a Thesaurus. Every time I move I try to pare down the book collection. I decided at one point that popular fiction is better passed on to others, whether through Goodwill or personally, then carted around. Every time I move I have to carefully evaluate whether there is some need to keep each book, it keeps things under control. I've kept it down to four bookshelves, a manageable size, fiction in the bedroom, nonfiction and favorite books in the livingroom. Problem is I didn't move this year.

Box of Fun

I got to unwrap a whole box of Nextel fun today at work. Being the IT department has its advantages. Five Nextel phones and a Blackberry all for me to play with for a few hours. It's like Christmas. I unpack every box inspecting the contents, skimming through instruction manuals, admiring features. I turn each device on and gaze upon the pretty, colorful screens. Unfortunately most of the day was spent charging so I didn't get to do much setup. It gives me something to look forward to on Monday. I enjoy setting up people's gadgets and explaining features they'll never figure out how to use. Most of my office is technologically incompetent so I'm the one who gets to order stuff. But also the one people come to when their printer doesn't work, or they can't figure out how to burn a CD, or we get on a blacklist. It's a part of my job I like, I can spend whatever dollars and time I need to solve the problem. And for me it's all just a boatload of fun. What a nice way to wake up Monday morning - 5 phones and a Blackberry to work on!

Starbucks

I have a problem with Starbucks. I get a cappuccino every work day. Every Work Day. I try to miss a day sometimes but I can't do it. Today my office went out for breakfast, I had some coffee. But sure enough when we got back to the office (and this is when I fully realized I have a problem) an equally addicted coworker was going to Starbucks. I caved, I said yes I need one. It's not about the caffeine I get decaf a lot. This week I've had trouble falling asleep which leaves me exhausted in the morning so I've been having caffeinated coffee. Which then keeps me up at night and so on and so on. So next week I'll get back to decaf. Part of my Starbuck addiction is I like taking a break in the morning, walking over to City Center, getting away from the office. But even those days someone else makes the Starbucks run, I can't say no. It's the foamy milk, the familiar white cup, the taste that's strong but not overpowering, lifting the cup to find out if it's dry or extra milky. I even love the word, Starbucks, the two syllables the hard k sound at the end. I've had better cappucino, and I've had mocchiatos and lattes but nothing else gives me the same every day satisfaction. So I've come to accept I'll spend $3.00 every day for a cupful of happiness.

My Life

Well not really my life but Bill Clinton's life. I just finished listening to our 42nd President read an abridged version of My Life. I'd been listening to it walking to/from work and it is an excellent way to spend the commute. I wish the audio version had not been abridged, I could have easily listened to another six hours. One thing that struck me was Clinton has this wonderful optimism though he's had many struggles. The first hour is about his younger years, before becoming an elected official. It's a good story, poor boy from Arkansas goes on to live the American Dream. He also uses this segment to instill in the reader the idea that he is a terribly flawed man, living two separate lives. One being the successful student/politician the other a private struggle with personal matters. Most of the rest of the audio describes the accomplishments of his administration and the fights with republican adversaries. Unfortunately he talks very little of international experiences or day to day life; unlike Hillary whose book was full of interesting stories. Thumbing through my hardcover copy of My Life it appears the written version is a much more personal story and I think would fill in what I felt was missing. So at some point I will have to tackle the book. It's about the size of a Tom Clancy novel but I'm sure not nearly as quick a read. I can probably skim through the parts I heard on audio which would make it go a lot faster. Maybe a project for next winter, I've got about six other books on my shelf lined up to read first.

Back in First!!

The Yankees are finally back in first place! I know we'll all sleep a little better tonight.

Holes in the soles of my shoes

One day several months ago I put on my favorite loafers and something felt not quite right. So I looked on the bottom of my shoe and there was a big hole in the leather sole right at the spot of the ball of my foot. After wearing the shoes sparingly for a few months I noticed the inside part of the shoe sticking through the sole was wearing away. It was time to get them fixed before the shoes were totally ruined. So last week I took them to Paolo's shoe repair. When I dropped them off Paolo made me pick a very specific time as to when they needed to be done. So we agreed Monday at noon. I went to pick them up today around 2:30. Paolo was out to lunch so I waited around until he came back. A lady in front of me presented her ticket stub for shoe pickup and Paolo proceeded to search the scores of shoes in his shop to no avail, her shoes could not be found. Finally she suggested he help me so I could get back to work. He found my shoes right away - there they were, beautiful new soles, almost within my grasp. But Paolo, he wanted to polish them up a bit they just weren't looking nice enough for him so if I could just come back in an hour he'd have them all shiny for me. It's always been a secret desire of mine to have my shoes shined so I couldn't say no to that. Needless to say I never got around to going back to pick them up. One more day I'll have to find something to wear that doesn't involve flat, brown shoes.

There has been a major accident on the 880Blog

Yesterday evening at 8:48pm there was a major problem on the 880Blog. Blogger ate my template! There I was happily creating a post, previewed it, published it and poof when I view the blog - nothing but the header shows up. I checked the template and 95% of the HTML was gone, vanished. I hadn't even been working on the template! I had been very pleased with the way the template was coming along and had a lot of fun adjusting fornts and spacing from time to time. All this could have been avoided if I had just copied the template into a text file, thought about it yes, but did I do it? NO.

The 880Blog will remain running during the next few days but you may experience ugliness while repairs are being made.

Today at the Farmer's Market

Today was a beautiful morning, mid 70's not a cloud in the sky (it's been about like that every morning for the past two weeks but still it amazes me) so I headed off to the farmer's market. The apricots and raspberries are all gone now, and there's very few plums left. The cute guy I bought plums (in truth they were pluots) from gave me a couple extra because he thought his selection was growing a little soft. They were excellent but need to be eaten right away. Last summer I made a plum cake. I didn't have enough sugar and used apricot fruit spread for the topping because I didn't have whatever the recipe called for. It came out really well, perfectly sweetened by the fruit. There are two blueberry stands at the market, I buy from the one tended by two young women who come only with plastic containers full of blueberries and plastic bags for you to carry them home in. They don't even have a sign advertising their farm. The blueberries are almost as good as you might get in Maine right off the blueberry bush. I ate the whole pint as soon as I got home. I also bought some squash and cherry tomatoes to add to my pasta for dinner and some flowers to brighten my home.

Orchids

This is the orchid I have in my office. It's quite an accomplishment really. I took one of our expired orchids, diligently watered weekly for six months and kapow one day there was new growth. It then proceeded to grow at an alarming rate and one day started blossoming. The blossoms have lasted a good six months but it's on its last legs. Inspired by my results several of my coworkers have also persuaded orchids to bloom a second time. So our office is full of orchids in different stages of development. Today I went to the farmer's market to replenish the orchids for the front desk. My supplier at the farmer's market didn't have any large Phalaenopsis which is what I usually get so I settled for a smaller phalenopsis with many buds and a Dendrobium both in white. I shouldn't have gotten white because it's the color of death in some cultures but I always seem to forget this while I'm standing in front of the pretty flowers. The local supply of orchids has been slimmer recently, my Sunday guy hasn't been at that market for the past few weeks. And the Friday guy, well he just didn't have exactly the goods I was looking for. The flowers don't last as long in the office in the summer because of the heat on weekends so I'll have an opportunity to replace them soon. One of the things I love about orchids is at first glance it's a white flower but when you look closer there are many tints of yellow, pink and specks of deep red. As for the one in my office unfortunately the leaves are yellowing and I'm afraid it's headed for the trash heap. An undignified end to something that's brightened so many of my days.

Broker!

Well I passed the test and now barring any unforeseen problem with a background check I will shortly be a licensed California Real Estate Broker. What does this mean, well it means I don't have to hang my hat with anyone else. Salespeople have to hang their licenses with a broker, so being a broker I can go anywhere without having to worry about an employer holding my license! It also increase my value to the company as I am the Broker. I can also sign up to look at houses on the MLS system - lots of fun. And technically I could participate in the buying/selling of real estate though I have absolutely no intention of doing so.

Bay Area Blues

Walking home from work today I came across a Bay Area Blues Society concert on a closed off street in Old Oakland. They were just starting up when I happened by so I stopped a while to watch. The music was good, the audience was a little of everything, but what really hooked me was the happy energy the band projected. It was just the thing to reenergize me for the walk home and remind me why I like living in midst of Oakland.

If you use a slide rule....

"If you use a slide rule or calculator, you are resposible for its safekeeping for the morning and afternoon test sessions." So went the instructions on my broker's test. Now I am pretty sure that if I showed up with a slide rule I'd have some trouble explaining exactly what it was and that I wanted to use it while taking the test. But nevertheless there it was in my exam booklet. It almost makes me want to take the test again just to show up with a slide rule (no I don't have one but I know where I could get one). And really anyone who knows how to use a slide rule wouldn't need it to answer the questions asked.

The morning session was pretty tough but I think I more than made up for it in the afternoon. The woman who was giving the instructions was exactly the type of person you want for that job - clear, loud, a voice that puts you at ease. On the whole this ranks right up there with one of the best standardized test taking experiences I've had.

Sunday Blog

So ends my first full week of blogging. I enjoy spending a few minutes every night writing. It's different from writing in my journal as someone else might actually read the blog so I prefer it to be somewhat interesting and a little less revealing. I'm not sure what makes a good blog - good writing helps and that's something that can be improved with practice. I don't know where this blog is going but I believe it will continue pretty regularly because I think writing is a good exercise for me. Things I will try to blog about - books, commuting, neighbors, life in Oakland. Things I try not to blog - cat, work, too many photos. We'll see how it goes I'm sure a journey down the 880 will be interesting for me if not for my readers!

85%

All day was spent in the dark recesses of Real Estate School. It's commonly said in the industry that Real Estate's not rocket science (Duh!). After a very satisfying In&Out Burger and shake for lunch I came back to some future realtors discussing an interest rate problem:
Future realtor 1: 10.75% that's .1075
Future realtor 2: .1075?? How'd you get that?
Future realtor 1: well if it's less than 10% like 9% it's .09 but 10% is .1
Future realtor 2: what if it's 15%
Future realtor 1: then it's .85
Future realtor 2: why .85?
Future realtor 1: I don't know but it is
Future realtor 2: are you sure
Future realtor 1: Well the interest rate is never 15% so you don't have to worry about it.

I never know whether to but into a discussion like this. It's so tempting but then I usually have to admit in the end I'm a math major which provokes all sorts of weird looks so I kept my mouth shut. And she's right the interest rate isn't going to be 15% on the exam so why worry about it. Unless you're worried that this person might be involved in a transaction where you're spending several hundered thousand dollars. That I worry about.

Taxes

I know nothing about the tax implications of real estate and just proved that to myself my scoring 50% on the tax section of my broker practice test. Why do I know nothing about taxes well I don't own any real estate and somehow in the RE classes and review sessions I've taken they never seem to get to the tax section. I do know Brokers are never supposed to give clients tax advice. The correct answer to that question is refer client to a lawyer or accountant. So why are they asking me about taxes? I also know nothing about broker responsibilities, calculating equity and interest rates, or how many days the lender has to supply the Uniform Settlement statement - shouldn't the lender know that? Things I do know - how to calculate areas, number of square feet in an acre, acres in a township, the definition of a condominium, discrimination is always illegal and has been since 1968. So where does all this lead? It leads to me spending every minute of the next 3 days studying for this broker test!

Cats who break things

The cat just pushed a glass off the counter. This is the first time in her short life she has ever knocked something breakable off a counter on purpose. First of all the cat should not have been on the counter. This is a new bad habit she recently started and we're working on it. I suspect she was annoyed because I was on the phone and she wanted some attention. Her usual method of getting this attention is to bite me so maybe a broken glass is better than gashes on my arm. But eventually I will run out of glasses and then what? Does she go back to biting? Find some new annoyance? Some days a sweet dumb cat would be nice. Or maybe I just switch to plasticware.

Fireworks

I enjoy 4th of July in my neighborhood. There's food, live music, fireworks all over the bay. Then to top it all off I can stand on my roof and watch people try to get away from all the excitement. Traffic is fun to observe when you're not in it. Cars everywhere all trying to pour onto two entrance ramps, and this year not many police out directing traffic. I was going to attempt to describe the chaos but can't seem to find the right words, you have to see it to enjoy it.

Sunday

Yesterday was Farmer's market day. This time of year the market makes Sunday the best day of the week. All the apricots, plums, blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes .... though it seems raspberry season is over. Sitting by the water eating my strawberries really is there any better way to spend a Sunday Morning?

First Post

This is the first post of the 880 Blog. More to come later this afternoon. Stay tuned.