Tag: Personal

We were in the Chicago airport yesterday and had lunch. I almost fell off my chair (that seems to happen often with me) when I saw the tax on the bill. It was 10.22%. Wow, that is like VAT in Europe, but I think the highest I’ve ever seen in the US, except for hotel taxes.

We just returned from a trip back east and as part of that trip, we went into Brooklyn twice from New Jersey. I almost fell out of the driver’s seat when I had to pay $15 in tolls for each roundtrip. I can understand paying tolls to maintain the roadway, but one bridge was $6 and the other was $9. That’s completely outrageous.

This past week’s trip to New Jersey/New York reminded me why I live in San Diego. The lows in San Diego were higher than the highs in New Jersey. 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit is just too cold too live for me. While the trees changing colors was pretty, I’ll take San Diego seasons any day.

While I’m quite happy that the fires haven’t affected us (except for the smoke and particulates in the air), it saddens me to see the great loss that so many people have suffered. We returned to our house on Wednesday as the fire threat lessoned and my parents’ 2 bedroom condo is a bit small for 4 adults, a baby, and a dog.

I decided that since we have been and are so fortunate, that I would volunteer. On Wednesday, I went down to Qualcomm Stadium to volunteer. There were so many volunteers, it almost seemed like chaos. I checked in and then waited around. When the guy organizing teams took my name, I said that I had some medical experience (I’m an EMT-B) as I saw other teams being sent out to move stuff to/from people’s cars in the 80+ degree heat. He sent me to the medical volunteer station (which I should have seen first) and they sent me upstairs to the club level where they had the medical facility. So, I checked in and helped out checking people in before they could be seen. As the day continued, my job turned into the job of bouncer. I was supposed to make sure that people didn’t storm the door, were checked in before going inside, and had to keep the media and unnecessary people out. I met some nice people and it was great to see so many people of all different skill sets volunteering their time. Their were some many volunteers that people were being turned away. At the end of the day, I was asked to do data entry into an Excel spreadsheet. This started me thinking that there must be a better way to handle all the information. After talking with the doctor that set it up, I’m convinced that with some assistance from some of the doctors there, I can develop and a deployable, self contained computer/network that could handle supply needs, patient checkin, records, patient checkout, etc.

In any case, we’re all doing fine and paraphrasing the rabbi on Yom Kippur, I wish all those affected by the fires an easy recovery.

Sunday afternoon while my wife and I were running errands, we noticed smoke to the north and my wife found out there was a fire. Later that evening, I walked into the garage and smelled the fires; that’s when I knew things weren’t good. We were glued to the TV watching what was happening. Monday morning, I decided it was a wise idea for us to goto my parents’ place on the coast, so we packed up and left.

It’s now Tuesday morning and we just got back from picking up more stuff from our house. While the air was a bit clearer at our house (the winds are pushing the ash and smoke west), for the time being, we’re going to stay put in La Jolla as it is farther away from the fires. We’re all safe and sound, but I’m a little on edge as everyone can imagine.

I’ve been following KBPS’s Twitter feed as well as the Google map showing everything.

I received email from the alumni office of my alma mater (Harvey Mudd College). The message starts out: “I received your name from the Office of Alumni Relations as someone who might be able to attend our Social Business Luncheon…” and then goes on to say “The purpose of the evening of course is to learn the art of dining, etiquette…”.

Are they trying to tell me something? Are my dining habits all that ape like? Maybe my son is rubbing off on me as he gets his food all over his face (he just started eating solid foods).

My wife and I signed up for the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall newsletter. I thought this was a good idea to see which of our son’s toys we need to inspect. Little did I know that we’d get email just about everyday with a few more recalls. These recalls don’t make headlines, but they make you go “hmmmm” when there are so many. Today’s email had 4 products in it, all made in China, 3 for violation of Lead Paint Standard. China needs to get on the ball or our government could ban imports of certain products.

When I first moved back to San Diego about 8 years ago, I searched for a large desk to fit in my apartment. I ended up buying 3 desk pieces (2 the same, one a large corner piece). The desks gave me a lot of room and weren’t cheap. Over the last 8 years, the desks have moved into 2 different houses, moved because we had carpet installed twice and then the last time they were moved is when I got a new floor in my office. The problem with this is that particleboard doesn’t move very well when there are screws, pins, etc. in them. I had drywall screws holding it together.

This past weekend, my wife and I were at Ikea looking for a new kitchen table (we both came into the marriage with the same small, square table that is a bit small for the two of us to use for anything) and I saw some desk systems. When we got home, I went to Ikea’s website and started looking at tables where you pick the top and legs and put it together. I found a solid beech top with some legs. Wow, a solid wood top that actually looked nice! I was thinking of getting the adjustable legs, but when I went back to look at them, noticed that they were a friction fit such that if something gave way in the leg, the desk would fall down. I only sort of trust stuff from Ikea as there is a reason it is inexpensive. I ended up getting 3 tables with fixed legs and am quite happy with the setup.

In addition, I picked up 2 of their cable racks so that I can hide most of my cables under the desks.

I feel like a kid in a candy store with my new desk!