Wayne and Rebecca Madsen :: Journal

don't know what to say, the monkeys won't do

sneetch@gmail.com (Rebecca Madsen) — Sun, 13 May 2007 16:37:24 -0800

There's not really much to talk about this week. We played games with friends Sunday evening. Rebecca worked during the week days. Wayne worked on school projects pretty much whenever he wasn't sleeping. Rebecca met Wayne on campus several nights and read while he worked on projects. There really wasn't too much else to the week. Even Saturday most of the day Rebecca took care of errands while Wayne worked on school projects.

I suppose somewhat noteworthy, we renewed our rental agreement on Saturday. So I guess we're staying put in the same apartment for another 12 months, but after that I put bets on us moving; this apartment complex is "cutting us a deal" to renew this time around, but the "going rate" is easily 14% more than it was 9 months ago when we moved here! That is crazy inflation, I tell you what. Fortunately we'll only be paying a little more (comparatively speaking) to stay put -- less than we figure we would pay in getting a moving truck and piano mover at least.

We're designing some enhancements to our cat scratching post/pedestal for Star cat. We're trying to give her some more puzzles because she loves them so. Mother's day was good here...Wayne made a delicious breakfast of french toast (with cheese! call me crazy...) and an impressive salmon dinner with crab-breading and red potatoes on the side. Mmm.

This week we look forward to Wayne finishing the last week of the semester and final projects, and Rebecca will have long work days Tuesday through Friday commuting to San Francisco with a coworker for a training class. At least she's looking forward to the topic of the training class, so hopefully that makes up for the long commute.

Adventures in Ice Cream Land

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Sun, 06 May 2007 09:00:52 -0800

There are only two more weeks of this semester left, so naturally that means procrastinating things until the end. Half of the nights this week, I got home at around 9, which meant making dinner, talking with Rebecca and then going to bed. Between that, and reading books until late, and watching more movies than we have all semester...

Wednesday night, Rebecca's old roommate Erika went to dinner with us. While we wanted to go to St. John's Grill (because of their wonderful burgers), the place was packed with people because it was a San Jose Sharks hockey game and St. John's has a few large screen HDTVs. We got there, stood around and waited for a seat to open up. None opened. And then someone scored and the whole place erupted in a scream and we bolted for the door. I think I'll take my meals in quiet, please. Thank you.

After a quieter meal at a different restaurant, we chose to wait outside in the bitter breezy cold in a line that was much too long to get some small 31 cent ice cream cones from Baskin Robins. Rebecca tells me that BR used to do this annually with free ice cream, but they have since started to charge 31 cents (which is still a good deal for ice cream) - I guess I only mention it because it was 10 pm and we were in a long line for ice cream. Who stands in line for ice cream? [we do, as it turns out, because it was an adventure! :) plus the money goes to local firefighters, right? -beck]

Thursday I had a good chat with the head of my department which made me feel better about being here in this school. I'm not sure it encouraged me enough to work really hard - I'm hoping that will come during the summer when I have less distractions from school. But nevertheless, I feel more hopeful about my prospects here at SJSU than I did before and now I understand better why things are in a state of disarray in our department. It will get better. It must get better. I will be a part of making it better.

Mostly Rebecca and I read books in the evenings. But I go to bed so early (11pm), so I don't get enough hours at home to work on things. Perhaps I need to change that. We had a lazy Friday evening and watched Return of the King at home. Saturday was lazy as well (and once again, I haven't touched my 10 page theory paper due next week) and we watched another movie, cleaned house and then played games at Kate and Robi's until late. Rebecca managed to squeeze in going to a baptism for one of her Primary students while I was busy cleaning and running errands.

While it sounds like we didn't do much, I swear we did: it's more that we can't remember it all.

diving for treasures

sneetch@gmail.com (Rebecca Madsen) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:16:27 -0800

Yesterday was lovely weather. Wayne thought it was Hot, but I thought it was just about perfect in the 80s. So when Wayne got home from helping someone in the ward "move" (and helping paint their house for them because they weren't packed when people showed up to help), he told me he wanted to go swimming as soon as I got back from the primary activity.

So I rushed off to the primary talent show, which was a barrel of laughs. There's just something funny about three 4 year-olds doing a "dance routine." Especially when they forget at the beginning why they are even on stage and one of the mothers is anxiously signaling the steps to the girls to help jog their memories. Hehehe. I loved seeing the kids in my class do their stuff. It was fun seeing what the kids wanted to do for the show, except for the very uncomfortable "discussion" one parent had with their child who was insisting she didn't want to perform after all. With the microphone between the two of them. In the "on" position. I kept inwardly wishing she would just take her 5 year-old off the stage and move on. But it did make me wonder what a good way to encourage your child to be brave is; some parents did nothing when their 8 year-old decided he didn't "feel" like playing the piano; another tried to sit on stage with her 4 year-old child when the child decided halfway through she was done, but left after a couple of moments because the daughter kept her head buried in her mom's shoulder. It probably depends on the child and the circumstance, eh?

Anyway swimming was a blast yesterday. We played a game diving for an object at the bottom of the pool, and racing across the pool. We practiced different strokes. And we only remembered the sunscreen about half an hour into the swimming, so I only stayed in the pool a bit longer and then sat in the shade throwing the object for Wayne to dive for, or timing how long he could stay under water. Fortunately I'm not too pink today at all; there's nothing wrong with pink, except when talking about sunburns!

Friday night we went to a ward dinner, with the theme of "Survivor." This, apparently, is some sort of TV show. No one at our table had a clue what the show was about, but we ended up winning anyway. After a miserable attempt to shoot plastic cups off a table with a toy bow and arrow set, we won or tied all the other events - running with two people tied back-to-back to dump a ball in a bucket, a memory game, and a race to get puzzle pieces from a bucket of rice and put it together. They had "luxury items" or a "leg up" that you could choose when you won; we usually chose the luxury items. The "leg up" just never seemed very helpful when other people chose it. Anyway, it was fun to get to know some other people in the ward.

We wandered around Target looking at kid toys and grown up toys one night last week. :) I think it was Thursday. We had gotten a free coupon for a Jamba juice, and wandered around Target which is next door to Jamba juice, drinking our smoothie.

I went to enrichment Tuesday night while Wayne played racquetball with a friend. I came home with three pots with some seeds that will hopefully grow cilantro, parsley, and basil for us. We will see. At the very least I have some pots now.... So my question is, what else can we grow in pots? Can we grow some type of tomato in a pot? Mmm. We don't have a backyard, but we do have a balcony and a pot (not all of our ten trees have survived over the years...). Strawberries? Could we grow some other vegetables or something? Any advice?

The rest of the week went by quickly. I read all night Monday, trying to finish two books in two days because the library wanted them back (for some reason). Wayne had class and I had work. The usual, you know.

The best of the Best

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:26:25 -0800

We are in the process of compiling our own travel guides for places we have lived: hopefully an insider's glimpse into these locations. This list is a directory of the best restaurants in the places we have been. These are the sorts of restaurants where you cry when the place shuts down (or even if the chef leaves and it no longer tastes the same); the sorts of places our friend jokes would be "best if you could just burn down the place afterwards so you never forget how great that food was." A bit morbid, but you get the jist - good food. The sort of place you should make a cross-country trip to eat there.

Zingerman's Deli - Ann Arbor, MI - #38 and the turkey reuben, don't forget to try both kinds of pickles
Ben's Kosher Deli - NYC, NY - get the reuben. you have never tasted a plain corned beef reuben this good. ever.
St. John's Bar & Grill - Sunnyvale, CA - bacon bleu and a side of garlic fries. Wednesday and Saturdays are half price. bring friends because it's too much food. why are there lame chips?
Mr. Villa's - Seattle, WA - anything. everything. i hope they haven't changed.
Sonoma Chicken Coup - San Jose, CA - three words: cheap chicken carbonara
Firehouse Restaurant - Florence, OR - have a bowl of clam chowder and take the next two hours to visit dream land. and the halibut parmesan is worth a 10 hour drive as well.
Rudy's - Austin, TX - i can drink that sauce.
Dawg's Hot Dog Stand - Provo, UT - onions, pickles, pepperchinis, sauce and a polish dog.
Jerusalem Garden - Ann Arbor, MI - it's a tiny house and there's no place to eat. the flavor sticks with you for days.
Diddy Riese Cookies - Westwood (LA), CA - the ice cream sandwich with their fresh cookies is heavenly; (aka "THE cookie place").
BW3s - Ypsilanti, MI - I'm hesitant to put this one on the list because it's a big chain, but the wings are just amazingly good: how can you turn down the spicy garlic or the parmesan?

How many trips do we take?

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:35:13 -0800

Last time we left off, we were up in the Santa Cruz mountains at camp Lehi, getting lips punctured, 25 foot flames and dropping off logs that weighed 500 pounds plus. We were sore Sunday and tried to catch up on that trip while preparing for this weekend's trip.

It was Rebecca's birthday, but thanks to my graduate studies, I only actually saw her for a few hours on her birthday. So, we celebrated mostly on Tuesday by going to a mediocre (not our fault!) mexican restaurant and then on Wednesday, Rebecca celebrated alone with a pizza while I was at a lecture. Rebecca got a lot of ecards, phone calls and birthday wishes and she was happy for that [thanks for all the cards and birthday wishes! -beck].

And by the time that was over, it was already Thursday night and we got things cleaned for our trip Friday morning. We woke up early Friday to pack and load up the car and hit the road after morning traffic had dissipated. 10 hours later, we pulled into Florence and had a mediocre seafood dinner at Moe's.

Most of the weekend was rainy. Oregon rain is refreshing, cold and beautiful, especially as the clouds roll off the ocean and brush through the forests. Most of our Saturday was spent lazily playing with Jon and Faith: I couldn't ask for a more relaxing weekend (minus the 20 hours driving). We played lots of rounds of Munchkin Fu and watched a few movies. Because of the rain we didn't get out to the beach until Sunday after church, and because we just didn't want to leave, we made it home at one in the morning last night. Of course, Star cat refused to let us sleep because she was so happy to have us home. But we're safe, home, and now we need to get back into the regular swing of things until the end of the semester.

chilled to the bone!

sneetch@gmail.com (Rebecca Madsen) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 08:41:25 -0800

Again we had late nights of school much of the week, but starting Wednesday we began preparing for a "get together" with Wayne's fellow grad students we had planned for Thursday. Wayne wanted an opportunity outside of class to talk with the other students about projects and ideas and to just get to know each other better. And since school wasn't providing that opportunity, we decided we ought to. We made several dips and lots of cookies Wednesday, cleaned the house, and minimized furniture in the living room and dining room so there would be room for everyone. Then we played games with Chris and Alyssa at their place so we would get out of our own apartment.

Thursday we reminded ourselves no one comes on time, and sure enough, no one came on time. But we had a good turnout. People brought food to share, several of the girls hung out in the spare room with Star cat because she's too cute for her own good, and we played a few games later on in the evening. We decided we should do things like this more often.

Friday we had two obligations. We signed up for camping at Camp Lehi about a month ago, and helping out with projects around the campground the next morning. About three weeks ago, my company sent around a link to sign up for the annual party...which happened to be the same night. Drat. We debated quite awhile, but finally decided that (a) we had agreed to the camping/project thing earlier, and (2) after having a party of our own, we weren't quite up for socializing with tons more people. So we went camping.

Other families from the ward came too, and it was fun to roast sausages and marshmallows with them. One family has a very energetic three-year old named Jack who likes to shout everything he says. We could hear him when he woke up in the morning several campsites away. Hehehe. When we woke up and got ready for the day, we headed over to see what projects were in store for us. It started to sprinkle. I thought nothing of this, thinking it would soon pass. It continued to rain all morning long. We were both cold and wet by the time we were done. Halfway through another lady from the ward showed up, and they recruited both of us to clean up bathrooms instead of cleaning up tree branches and trunks and debris. I welcomed the roof over my head since I didn't even had a hood on my jacket. Wayne and another guy in our ward (Jack's dad) worked hard though; so hard that when Wayne announced it was time for us to leave, they talked them into "one more thing." Unfortunately, that "one more thing" landed the other guy in our ward on a tree branch that pierced right through his upper lip! I thought we ought to race off to the hospital or something, but he is a doctor and decided since the bleeding was under control we ought to just have us drive him back to his house (we were his ride home) and he could pick up his insurance card and go to the local clinic instead, just to see if he needed stitches to help his lip heal. He said he "always wanted a scar" on his face...to look tough or something. He also mentioned that it was a such a blessing that the branch went through his lip and not his eye. Scary thought. Next time we'll all wear eye protection!

Jack's dad also filled us in on where to find a good place in Santa Clara to fly our kite. So when we got home and took a long warm shower [to get the shivers out], we went to try it out. We're quite glad to have such a nice place to fly our kite now! We also stopped at the store along the way to get a replacement flashlight. The battery officially died on our camping trip, since the flashlight couldn't even help us find our tent from the picnic table. But now we have one that will never die! It's awesome. It has a hand-crank and an AC power adapter so you can either wall charge it, or crank it yourself to get light out of it. We figure that's better than just buying new batteries all the time. :)

Late nights of school

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:38:36 -0800

This week, I went to most of the advancement to candidacy presentations for the second year MFA graduates. ATCs are basically the thesis defense for MFA graduates in this school, as there is no post thesis show defense, only a presentation of the work. Most of the ATC candidates gave a thorough presentation, however I wasn't courageous enough to challenge those candidates I didn't think were addressing important flaws in their work.

Early in the week, Eric Paulos from Intel Berkley labs came to speak to CADRE about their research and work. Their projects blur the lines between research, art and applicational software. Urban Atmospheres. Good stuff.

I got Rebecca an early birthday present. I would have liked to give it to her on her birthday, but I am 100% incompetent with rebate forms, so I had to give it to her before the rebate was due on the 10th. I only learned after she opened it, looked at the forms and told me that it wasn't due until May 10th. Again, do I need to reiterate that I am completely incompetent with rebate forms?

While I was at the store, Rebecca went to a baby shower for one of our friends. She told me that the games they played weren't as bad/painful as most baby showers she has been to. While she was out, I took care of cleaning the house and doing a bit of shopping. At the last minute, our printer ink cartridge died and I had to pick up one before we wrote/printed our talks for Sunday.

Easter day was pleasant, although this is the first time in a while we haven't had other people over for our Easter dinner. So we made too much food and have been using it for lunches and dinners all week. Our talks in church went well and Rebecca wasn't terribly nervous.

That's really all we did. I guess we were taking it easy since things were so busy last week.

bumpity bump bump, thumpity thump thump

sneetch@gmail.com (Rebecca Madsen) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 15:45:04 -0800

Wayne was on spring break, and went in to campus to get work done on his projects even though he had no classes. He got to sleep in, and we stayed up late several nights. One night, I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday, we came up with a brilliant plan to go on a car trip [after we threw out ideas to fly somewhere, like Boston]. We went to maps.google.com and started scrolling along the CA coast -- south at first, since we've been north before. That's when we saw the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area near Pismo Beach. Excellent. We've always wanted to visit dunes. What else we would do and where to stay we left open-ended.

Thursday we left after I got off work, making it to the intended area much quicker than expected -- it only took about 3 hours to get there. However it took about an hour to decide where to spend the night. We tried a couple of state parks: one wasn't well enough labeled to find in the dark; the other was full to the brim with RVs -- this is a big turn off for us tent-dwellers [they need to start labeling campgrounds different on maps for RVs than for tents]. But on the way, we noticed a regional campground, so we turned around to find the camping area. It wasn't much cheaper; considering all we needed was a place to put up a tent and park our car, camping is pricier at most campgrounds than I would expect. But it's still cheaper than a hotel...and we get to wake up to the sound of birds chirping.... At the El Churro Regional campground we actually woke up first (around 4am) to a weird conversation on a loudspeaker system that was far enough away we couldn't understand it, but close enough to hear. Later we woke up (around 5am) to what sounded like men shouting back and forth. As it turns out, we were sandwiched between a "men's colony" (aka prison...the loudspeaker we heard) and a military camp (the shouting was drills). I still don't want to know what the loudspeaker conversation from the men's colony was all about. Ignorance is bliss. [ooh! and don't forget the mountain lion warning signs plastered everywhere! -wayne]

We packed up our belongings and headed into Pismo Beach to learn what we could about dune buggies/ATV rentals. Fortunately we lucked about a tourist information center, and got some convenient, if disjuncted maps of the area and directions to some of the rental places. We found one, asked questions about safety, and got ready to take a bus across the sand to where the ATVs were located. It was a blast riding the ATV. We got just one because I hate driving, but was interested in riding. Our lives flashed before our eyes only twice; the third time doesn't really count for me because we were at a complete stop on a very, very short hill when our ATV started to tip over. It was all in slow motion and we both had plenty of time to clear the vehicle. The other two times we were moving faster and just came across unexpected "features" of the terrain. But we only tipped the one time. Our conclusion was the short hills are more dangerous than the big ones. :) We did get charged for "rolling" the vehicle, even though we merely tipped it. We didn't feel like arguing that tipping at 0mph was hardly the same as rolling. We just won't recommend that particular rental company to anyone in the future due to poor customer service (it took them two hours from signing the paperwork to getting us on an ATV...most of the time was spent just standing around waiting). It was a blast chasing the clouds as they rolled in. We were faster than the clouds, but not as fast as the fog. The fog came in about halfway through our ride and changed the whole landscape; we suddenly couldn't see the ocean, and our depth perception was ruined. But it sure made the place look magical!

After our ride, we stumbled upon a nice park and we thought we'd have a picnic lunch of pb&j there. However, the geese were determined that their pond was a communistic society and that we must share our food amongst them. We didn't have enough for everyone (there were a lot of geese), so we had our lunch in our car parked beside the park. Hehehe. We outsmarted them in the end! [Ultimately, they ended up parking outside our parked car, hissing at us in an attempt to communicate their displeasure at being left out of our lunch.]

That afternoon we were exhausted from our adventures and thought we'd scope out our next campground and relax and perhaps take a short hike or something. We headed to the Los Padres National Forest nearby, and found the ranger station before he closed up. We learned that national parks are much cheaper to camp in, but the directions we got led us to a one-lane dirt road that meant crossing a small creek (ankle high) and traveling 6 miles over more bumps than the dunes gave us. We decided after a mile or so that our little car wasn't meant to endure such conditions, and tried the next camping area the ranger mentioned. It was a little better; at least there was no creek. But the road was just wretched, so we made our way to a state park by a lake and picked a campsite as far from the lake (and other people) as possible. Our neighbors instead were the deer! Deer, toads, and rabbits [and no mountain lions]. What fun. And apparently the deer weren't afraid of our car, just people. They ran away when we got out of the car, not when we drove past them. Tee hee. The state park wasn't as primitive camping as we were hoping for; we don't really need running water when we camp. But I guess running water + insurance of no car troubles getting to the campground is worth the difference of 17 dollars in price and company with RVs. :) Sometimes you just need a 4-wheel drive vehicle to go primitive camping.

Our next adventure led us a bit further south, to Santa Barbara. We found some lovely beaches along the way. The best kind are the ones that you just pull over on the highway to a gravel area and hike a bit to the beach. What fun. We then found a local couple to ask a restaurant recommendation from (pb&j sandwiches will only get you so far!). And we ended up in a tourist-y part of town! We normally would have avoided such areas in any given town, but we carried through with the recommendation to eat at Brophy's. We waited 45 minutes just to get a table at 2:00 in the afternoon. The food was alright, and the place was packed. Shouldn't a long wait have meant a superb ambiance, or excellent food, or cheap food, or something? Ah well. It was part of the adventure. [You just have to follow through when someone gives you recommendations they were so excited to give you.]

Our final quest on our way back home again was to find a good place to fly our kite. We succeeded in all our other quests, but alas, we were foiled left and right in this one. It was foggy, not windy. I didn't realize the two were mutually exclusive. We even followed one recommendation to a park 15 miles from a small town on a very windy road. We felt so alone on our drive to this particular park (Jalama State Park). It was a beautiful drive in the middle of nowhere. Imagine our surprise when we finally turned the corner at the end of the journey to see a ton of RVs and cars! Apparently we weren't lucking upon the locals hidden beach at all! The flags weren't even flying, so we decided to continue driving north. We'll have to fly our kite here in town somewhere. At least we had a beautiful drive.

We made it home last night. Star cat was very happy to see us. And general conference today was nice. Helpful topics for the talks we are supposed to give in Church next Sunday.

Montalvo, Rachmaninoff, Window Shopping

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 10:20:22 -0800

Last Sunday, we mentioned a concert that we were going up to in Palo Alto. More people showed up than I had expected, fewer than Rebecca had expected. The concert was a refreshing experience, since we haven't had much live music in our lives lately - or at least not much good live music. San Jose isn't a cultural center for the arts and we haven't been making much of an effort to invest in seeing their chamber orchestra. Perhaps we should, just to see if it is worth it. But after an evening of Brahams, Saint-saens and Rachmaninoff I am more determined to cultivate my enjoyment of live Rachmaninoff performances.

This week was the last week of school before a week of spring break. While we had hoped to make great plans for leaving the area, we're still debating on where we would go if we could. Maybe I'll be able to finish the piles of back-work that needs to be done and we can drive up to Oregon this coming weekend or go camping in Yosemite. But maybe not.

Due to the frantic pace of this week, not much could be mentioned about its "going-ons." Regardless, Wednesday evening we drove to Saratoga hills to find the Montalvo Arts Center in the dark, arriving 30 minutes late for a presentation on one of the current artists in residency. But we made it and got to meet the current artist in residency and, for my part, to meet the Montalvo director Gordon Knox. It was a good evening and Julie Myers' (the current artist in residence) presentation gave us some good ideas how to proceed with my own projects.

I have a particular invested interest in the Montalvo Arts Center because of the connections being forged between Montalvo and the CADRE lab at SJSU (by the way, not to be off topic but apparently the University is changing its name from SJSU to something better explaining the CSU status that the university has had for the past 150+ years. However, due to it being the first CSU campus, it never was renamed to match the current system. The school now intends to remedy that.) Returning to Montalvo and the CADRE lab, the two directors have been working together to create a tighter knit community between CADRE grads and the artist in residency workshop, not to mention a link to the Zero One biennale festival. This is big news. Keep it on the down-low, though.

Saturday was a nice breezy day and even though we talked about going out to fly our kite, we never did. Rebecca went with her friend Kate to go window shopping for most of the afternoon and I spent the day researching in SecondLife and taking a realspace 10-mile bike tour of the area. We then watched too many movies and have decided that we can't let the rest of our spring break slip away like this. But onwards and upwards, right?

what we learned this week

sneetch@gmail.com (Rebecca Madsen) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 18:20:15 -0800

I learned this week that even though the new building is the exact same distance as the old one I worked in, it takes less time to get there. Excellent. Something about how driving south on highways is better than driving north on highways or what I usually took: city streets. Plus, it's nice to sit near the people I work with. I feel less...isolated...at work. Less likely to resort to instant messenger to communicate to teammates. :) Oh and my coworkers like that we're nearer to a lot of restaurants. I suppose that's a perk.

This week we played a lot of games; we splurged for date night on a new one: munchkin fu. We played games with various friends several nights this week, and ourselves the rest of the nights. It was a game-filled week. Yay.

We took the opportunity this week to rent The Prestige. Fascinating movie. We kept talking about it for several days, and had to watch it over again before returning it to the store. We have our theories about what happened worked out. We also found an interview with an artist online which we've seen bits and pieces of here and there. Charlie Rose interviewed Chuck Close recently, if any one is interested [and so you can find it on his website]. Chuck Close has done some amazing portraits, and it's fun to see and hear him talk about how he works. Wayne took particular note when Chuck Close talked about paintings he has done and destroyed. Through bonfires. He's of the opinion that you should be careful about what you release publicly, because there's no taking it back. So I'm a little more nervous about the future of some of the older paintings of Wayne's we still have in our spare room.... :)

We were able to make it up to Oakland yesterday to visit the temple. And today Wayne agreed to come to my Primary class to help the 7-year-olds "practice" getting baptized. They are really on the ball in my class and know a lot about gospel principles, but the hands on experience was something they loved. And Wayne did a fabulous job talking to them. I should have him guest speak more often!

Tonight we're headed to see a cellist up in a Palo Alto ward. Supposedly this cellist went to Juilliard and will be performing works by Brahms, Schumann, and Rachmaninoff. Should be interesting! Hope everyone had a good pi day and St. Patricks day. Apparently, it's a Catholic holiday. And here I just thought it was when school kids pinched each other for not wearing green.... And Lent? Sometimes they excuse you from doing your fast or whatever on certain holidays: including St. Patricks day. Who knew?

Cold V 2.0

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 10:14:02 -0800

Rebecca's cold has passed, but hit me with a vengeance. Instead of being a quick hit though, it took all week of sniffles before on Friday and Saturday it knocked me off my feet and I couldn't do anything. This is a mean bug. I don't like it. [yeah...I didn't like it much either. Who would? -beck]

Rebecca officially took a sick day on Monday to finish off her cold while the rest of her work was being packed up for her move. Everyone was in a huff over the coffee machine being packed too early on Thursday, apparently. Her first day of work at the new building will be on Monday.

But most of the week was just sickness and being tired and staying in the house. We rented Stranger Than Fiction one of the nights, but I can't remember which. Time gets really warped when you're ill. We also played a new game called Betrayal at House on the Hill that the Rocks bought this week. It is a fun game, albeit one with a few glaring flaws. It combines some of the great parts of Clue, Carcassone, and Scotland Yard into one game. But then has problems at the end of the game in making a fair fight. Maybe we have been approaching the game with the wrong attitude: maybe the best part of the game is before the haunt starts. The haunt is only the completion of the game. I'm rambling now, I know it.

In fact, I had a discussion with one of my professors about fun. He claimed, in class, that games aren't fun - ultimately, you aren't having fun while playing a game. He said: you are being challenged, you strategize, you compete; but it isn't fun. I am too exhausted to come to any conclusion about that. [but strategy is fun! -beck] Now if you don't mind, I think I'm going to go back to bed. Thanks.

Good Advice

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:43:23 -0800

Good advice for every guy who wants to have a solid relationship AND play his video games.

1. Find out if your girlfriend has ever played video games before. She may not be a full-blown gamer, but maybe she played Mario games when she was younger. Or maybe she likes playing an Internet game from time to time. If you know her gaming history, you'll have a better chance of finding a game she'll enjoy now.

2. Remind your girlfriend that if you both play video games, you'll be able to spend even more quality time together.

3. Pick out a game she might like. If you're not 100% sure she'll enjoy it, you can rent it.

* Try to choose a game or game system that isn't too confusing, and doesn't require short reaction time. Many non-gamers are intimidated by button combinations. If you've ever gotten frustrated to the point of throwing the controller in a game, don't start with that one. (For example, in my wife's case, she was used to a simple controller like a Nintendo controller, so using a simple controller with PC games works nicely)
* If you can, get a game that is multi-player or, optimally, co-op.
* Consider your girlfriend's personality when picking out a game. Some girls may prefer the brightly colored, all-ages games like Katamari Damacy, Bust A Move, Lego Star Wars (I couldn't recommend this game more), Sims (or this one), or just about any Mario game. But remember that your girlfriend is an individual who could just as well go for Halo, Resident Evil, or Grand Theft Auto.

4. Have fun when you play with her. If you make it a good time she will enjoy it, even if she's not that "into games." Crack jokes, make her laugh, and focus primarily on spending time with her, not on winning the game at hand. Be prepared to help her out. Even if she's only playing "easy" games, your girlfriend may get stuck and frustrated. As a gamer, you know one of the most frustrating things about video games is getting stuck. Helping her will not only avoid her getting frustrated and fed up with video games, but it will foster a sense of "playing together" and help her see what a great guy you are.

5. Be understanding and supportive. When she first starts out, tell her that it's easy, and that she will catch on. Make her feel like this is something that she can do. Let her win. Try not to show any signs of being annoyed that she can't pass the 1st water zone for the 76th time in a row. As she keeps playing, she will get better and may enjoy the game itself.

6. Next time you and your girlfriend are in a game shop, casually walk by the video game section and ask her if there is anything that catches her eye. She will probably say no at first without looking at any game, but coax her into it.

Tips

* Teach her how to uncramp her hands, because they will get tired during her first few sessions. Show her how you usually stretch out your hands, because if she equates video games with sore and stiff hands, she won't want to play any more. Maybe you could give her a hand massage to make her feel better.

* Recognize that she probably doesn't want to play for 8 hours at a time. When she wants to do something else, don't make her continue to play or make her feel guilty for only playing 2 hours.

* If you are playing an MMORPG, let her create a character on your account. Allow her to choose the look, style of dress, everything. She will appreciate that she is playing with something she created herself.

* Eventually, she may want to try more advanced games. This is not a given, though. She may become a pwnz0r at Mario but never want to pick up a shooter. If you want her to play games like that, try getting her to play co-op with you. You may be able to "ease" her into these kinds of games, especially if she can play with you instead of against you (though she may get a kick out of blowing you away in Halo).

* If you do manage to get your girlfriend playing video games on her own, be ready and willing to help her through some of the harder levels or boss battles.

* If you can get a girl who started out with no interest in video games to enjoy a co-op shooter, you've done well, exceedingly well. Eventually she may play multiplayer with you, or even against you. Maybe. One can dream.

* Some Nintendo systems have more intuitive controls which may be useful to just pick up and play without prior experience. This may be a good starting point for new gamers, unless they have prior experience with other systems controls.

* Having a large screen or projection TV may help get your girlfriend "into" the game. It's much easier to get drawn into the game and pay attention on a big screen instead of squinting to see what's happening on a small one.

Warnings

* If you try to get your girlfriend into something you're into that she's not, she may feel justified in doing the same with you--attempting to show you the glory of shoe-shopping, for example. If she's a good sport, you should be, too.

* If you get her into gaming, you might never get access to your computer or game console again. (This isn't a bad thing)

* If you're the kind of person who shouts phrases with extremely violent cursing after losing a video game, try not to do so. It may show her that you're not a very civil person.

* When and if she starts to beat you on a consistent basis, do *NOT* stop playing the game with her, remember you wanted this. Nurture it.

see link for full article.

flowings and blowings

sneetch@gmail.com (Rebecca Madsen) — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:40:40 -0800

Ah-choo! I started getting the first hints of a cold Tuesday night, and by Friday I was working from home so I wouldn't have to get up all the time to go blow my nose and/or bother coworkers nearby with my flowings and blowings, sniffings and whiffings. Saturday was probably the worst of it, though, and I felt like doing nothing but sitting on the couch in a daze. And so we watched a couple of movies. What else do you do when you'd rather not have to move or think?

One of the movies we watched was "An Inconvenient Truth." It was Al Gore (picture this: this guy is talking with powerpoint slides on the TV screen and I turn to Wayne and say "Who's that?" hehehe) talking about why he's so obsessed about global warming. It reminded me about how strange it is when politicians use emotional events to try and turn things in their favor (to "rally up the troops" as Wayne said). He talked about warm oceans causing more weather catastrophes...like Hurricane Katrina. Well, Katrina's devastations had more to do with city structure than with global warming, but whatever. It was interesting, anyway, but I am not sure how effective politicians are at fixing what needs to be fixed, and I'm positive he presented a completely biased perspective on the topic. That's how you rally the troops after all...by exaggeration and emotional tugs....

Most of the rest of the week Wayne had late nights on campus, but at least he could join me and my sisters for dinner Tuesday to celebrate Suzie's birthday. I took a (belated) President's holiday to show my sisters around Santa Cruz -- the best beach we know of and the little fun downtown shops. And of course we tried to entice them to play games, but we just wore them out a little much for that. Suzie and Amy are in Seattle by now! Amy will fly back to Austin later this week, hopefully with enough time to help Suzie get settled in her new place.

Wayne's late nights consisted of playing racquetball with a friend one night, another class field trip to San Fran another night, and class another night. I did get to see him Friday too, when we had Chris and Alyssa over to play "scary" games. Not really "for" Dr. Seuss day, but on it. I'm sure Dr. Seuss liked games too. I wasn't feeling well enough to organize anything more...organized. [Plus there's the whole sweets fast thing and last year's non-sweets based Dr. Seuss party wasn't as fun as nerds-covered-cake. - wayne] There's always next year. Although this is a disturbing trend...last year I got the flu on the Seuss party day, and this year I have a cold...coincidence? Only time will tell!

An Inconvenient Truth

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 15:38:11 -0800

Or, Why Did the American Political System Fail?

Let me state for the record that I believe in global warming. I can't remember a time when I didn't believe that we have been destroying our environment. I believe in doing things about this: I feel better using public transportation everyday, only owning one car, riding my bike, recycling, minimizing energy use, etc. What is interesting about An Inconvenient Truth is not the message it presents (almost all the information was old news to me), but Rebecca's and my response to the rhetoric: it was cringe-worthy.

And not because it was Al Gore talking, but because it was a politician talking. Politicians use rhetoric: it is their primary tool to "rally the troops" and "win the hearts" of their constituents. But I think that sometime in the past 60-70 years, the American political system collapsed on itself and no longer could be effectively used to affect changes. Instead, there exists so many other factors of control (one of the principle I would declare is Foucault's BioPower), but politicians only upset us all. Unless, they are speaking for "our side." Then they become saints (which I would argue is just as frustrating).

I'd love to sit down and have this conversation with my brother-in-law about the many reasons (or even if he believes) that American politics became an impotent reflection of societal changes. As we watched this program, it actually was turning me off to important issues because of the transparent use of rhetorical devices. Now I'm completely fascinated by why I had that reaction to this movie.

Visitor(s)

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:08:01 -0800

We've spent the past two nights trying to coax our newest visitor, Lux, out of hiding. Lux is Rebecca's sister Suzie's cat and is spending a few days with us (mostly hiding deep in our spare bedroom) while Suzie is on her way north to Seattle. More on this trip later, but trying to get Lux to befriend us has been a tricky situation. Sometimes that's the way house guests are. Even if they're cats.

Last Sunday night, we went with the Rocks to the Snell's house (does this constitute some sort of triple date?) to play a game called Munchkin. [fun game, fun people, fun time]

Monday morning was President's Day, so Rebecca's work kicked her out and required her to take a holiday. I, however, did not have a free day as SJSU doesn't believe in President's Day (although I guess they believe in Caesar Chavez day). So instead of running errands or getting personal projects done, Rebecca decided to skip the holiday and work remotely. That's good because it means we are able to save another day off for later. Sadly, though, we learned that the school sponsored trip to NYC was (probably) canceled, leaving our trip plans a little more open. We have been playing with going to various different locations. Anyone want to come with us to Germany over the fourth of July week? [or Scotland? or Jerusalem?]

Tuesday evening, I had a forum/panel with Steve Dietz, the curator of Zero One festival as well as many other projects. Most of the panel centered on Zero One and the potential reflection of this festival's content onto the city of San Jose. Currently in San Jose city planning committees, the theory for vitalizing San Jose's culture scene is a bottom up approach, with the city offering reasons for that bottom group of artists to start coming here. How this translates in my mind is that the Zero One festival and other activities like it are art festivals for artists only. Although little discussion centered on this dilemma (because it involves a discussion of many of the flaws and cracks in the bedrock of art history), the forum panel was good and as a curator, Steve Dietz is in the top of his class.

After my meeting, Rebecca and I drove up to our local IHOP to get some free pancakes. Tuesday was national pancake day and IHOP was offering a free stack of pancakes [significantly on fat Tuesday]. So we got some and had a very late (or early) breakfast.

Friday night Rebecca's sisters pulled into town. They had planned on spending the weekend in San Francisco but didn't want to drag the cat everywhere with them. Since they will be joining us for Sunday through Tuesday (Suzie's birthday), they made a pitstop in San Jose to leave Lux with us. Star has been very interested in getting to know Lux, but sadly Lux is too confused to want to get to know anyone else. It will be fun to have Suzie and Amy here for the next few days.

I had a long talk with one of my professors this week about my studio environment and difficulty I've had in working there. Or anywhere. We decided together that I really needed to clear out my studio of all my paintings in order to free up some mental space for working. Saturday, my studio mate and I filled up his truck and took my paintings home. This should be a great step in clearing out the mess my current working state is in. Then that evening, Rebecca and I played some games at Kate and Robi's house. We introduced them to Killer Bunnies and they really enjoyed playing Slapagories.

successes and failures

sneetch@gmail.com (Rebecca Madsen) — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 12:02:24 -0800

We had stake conference today, so we're already home from Church before we would have even left home on a normal week. It's nice to have the rest of the day available to us. We'll see what mischief we can come up with later this afternoon. :)

Our successes this week include visiting a fun aquarium and finding a very tempting used bookstore nearby. We spent a couple of hours there Friday (since I had the day off) and had several large piles of books we were interested in. We narrowed it down by making a "to check out from the library" list, and ended up with a more reasonable selection. Unfortunately, the bookstore is en route between campus and our apartment; fortunately, the time of day I normally pick Wayne up instead of him biking home is late enough that they aren't open. But I'm sure there will be exceptions to that! [If it weren't for online reservations for libraries, we would be much naughtier at used book stores. - Wayne]

The Monterey Bay aquarium was a lot of fun yesterday. We went with our friends Chris and Alyssa and had a fabulous time. We got some nice pictures; my favorite part of the aquarium was seeing all the jellies dancing around. They were quite captivating. The otters were fun and playful, but not as stunning as the jellies were. Also, I had no idea how large tuna are. Really. No clue. And to think: they fit in such tiny cans in our cupboards! Tee hee.

Failures this week include a dessert auction and finding food to eat on valentine's day. We had no real plans on Valentine's day. Neither of us particularly care for the holiday. But I got home from work a little later than usual and it was a bit too easy to convince both of us that a holiday was a good enough reason to let someone else cook for us. Silly us. The first place we went to sat us immediately, but we quickly noticed how many people were waiting around with no food and overheard conversations between waitresses about how long the wait for food and checks was [the people next to us had been waiting a LONG time for ordering and the waiters were talking about just trying to get some water to some people]...so we left without ordering and thought to go to Outback. It was 8:30 at night by the time we got there, and we were told there would be over an hour wait for a table [why are there so many people in this world?! :P ]. We were about to leave when we were told "but the wait at the take-out is only twenty minutes." Ahh. There was our solution. We ordered an appetizer and some bread, and went home to enjoy the food. But mental note: our usual efforts to make a nice meal at home on the v-day are probably right on.

The dessert auction is a fundraiser the young women in our ward were doing to raise money for girl's camp. We decided we could help out with that, so we planned our schedules to show up for the auction. We had, oh, probably twenty dollars in cash on us; we thought that would be plenty to get something good. It didn't take long to see the bids were well over thirty, and sometimes over forty for each dessert. Wow. I don't think the young women really needed our help after all. It was fun to watch the bidding though, with kids egging their parents on ("come on Dad! you can beat that!") and whatnot. We didn't manage to come home with a dessert though. Who knew the desserts would be so popular [or at least the competitive auctioning]?

The weather here has been lovely this week - highs into the 70s. We even saw some kids jumping in the pool yesterday. It makes for nice walks to the park. Spring comes early here, I guess!

I'm gonna start off with a little joke...

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 08:32:55 -0800

Last night, we had another fancy dinner cook-off with some friends (with nice seared duck and some pork/gouda open faced sandwich things) and our friend, Chris, told this joke:

A man went into a pet store one day. He said to the clerk “I want a parrot, and it better be able to talk.”
The clerk replied “We have one talking parrot, but we’ve had some trouble selling it.”

“I’ll take it.”

“But…”

“I don’t care, I just want a talking parrot.”

When the man brought the parrot home, he placed it on its perch. Immediately, the bird let loose with a string of expletives. Cursing and squawking, it paced back and forth on its perch. Hours passed, and the bird still wouldn’t say anything but curse words. Finally, late that night, the man burst out of his bedroom in frustration. “Shut Up! Shut UP!”

“*bleep* up! *bleep* UP!”

In a frenzy, the man grabbed the raucous bird, and thrust it into the freezer. Immediately, the bird let out a string of expletives. After 5 minutes of squawking and cursing, the freezer suddenly fell silent. Worried, the man cautiously opened the freezer door. The parrot calmly walked out onto the man’s finger. “Sir, I am most sorry for subjecting you to such language today. I solemnly promise not to curse in your presence again. I will do my best to be a kind and humble pet to you from this moment forward.”

Puzzled, the man placed the parrot back on its perch, expecting another outburst. Instead, the bird turned to him “Sir, may I ask… what did the chicken do?”

It's an oldy but goody, and now, on with the show.

Monday evening I had class until late, which seems to be the theme of this semester: wake up early and get home late. I'm amazed I still manage to get my bike home so late so I can ride it to my 8am class. Rebecca, in the meantime, tries to go in early when I go in early and goes in later when I'm coming home later. During the day, on Monday, I drove down to Santa Cruz to find a pan-handler's sign. Although I found a good one, my professor apparently has different tastes than me in what he considers "authentic pan-handling signs." He wants them used, I care for the content. I found a kid who couldn't have been much older than 18 requesting money because he family was kidnapped by ninjas and he needed to take karate lessons. While this pan-handling text has been passed around the internet for several years, it shows the astute business sense of the kid I bought the sign off of to have gone online, found the most active sign and used it to his advantage to get money from passer-bys. I'm still planning on entering this sign into the show, but I'm also attempting to get another one.

So, Tuesday evening the head of my area (digital media) gave me a good scare. Although some fantastic things are happening in this area (expanding to integrate the facilities and students with a prestigious residency program), this puts enormous pressure on the graduate students to take their work up a few notches as well as being more visible to the outside community. All of which, I'm not certain how to do. So I was in quite the panic Tuesday evening, but Rebecca was there to comfort me, so it all turned out fine.

Most of the second half of the week it has been raining here, so it is a good thing we decided against going camping up at Lehi park. In California, because there is no snow, people drive really slow in the rain to make up for not having ice to drive on. Rebecca and I decided Thursday morning that we would drive up to the city that afternoon to listen to a lecture/open forum with Manuel de Landa at the SFMoMA. We were hoping to hear more about his projects (especially his more recent projects on genetic algorithms), but instead he talked more theoretically about the notion of fingerprinting on artwork and singularities. Reminding Rebecca of projects she had worked on at UCSD.

But we hung out with some of the CADRE people afterwards and I was able to figure out how most people go about deciding who to put on their committee. I need to have a committee for my thesis decided soon, but I wasn't clear how to choose my professors (since there are only three in my area of concentration). [Apparently most people only have one or two professors from their area on their committee, and then go to professors in other concentrations. Reminds me of how they chose the third committee member for my thesis -- the graduate coordinator just thought a bit and said "so-and-so. He doesn't have too many students right now." -beck]

Saturday morning, after cleaning house, we again tried to find some good signs in downtown Santa Cruz, to no avail. We did, however, stop by the UCSC campus and that is a beautiful place. I can't imagine going to school in someplace so distracting. The entire campus is a huge redwoods forest and, especially on a foggy and rainy day like Saturday, the place has a very old growth feel to it. But I'm not going to school for the campus, I'm going for the connections? At least I should keep telling myself that.

Saturday evening, we invited some friends over for a cheese cook-off (with a center piece of duck). Unfortunately, some people couldn't make it, but the food was still really good and we chatted for a while after dinner. I'll be sure to post the recipe because it was well worth making again.

More Guy Debord

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 20:15:18 -0800

"Cyclical time is already dominant among the nomadic peoples because they find the same conditions repeated at each stage of their journey. As Hegel notes, “the wandering of nomads is only nominal because it is limited to uniform spaces.” When a society settles in a particular location and gives space a content by developing distinctive areas within it, it finds itself confined within that locality. The periodic return to similar places now becomes the pure return of time in the same place, the repetition of a sequence of activities. The transition from pastoral nomadism to sedentary agriculture marks the end of an idle and contentless freedom and the beginning of labor. The agrarian mode of production, governed by the rhythm of the seasons, is the basis for fully developed cyclical time. Eternity is within this time, it is the return of the same here on earth. Myth is the unitary mental construct which guarantees that the cosmic order conforms with the order that this society has in fact already established within its frontiers.

"The social appropriation of time and the production of man by human labor develop within a society divided into classes. The power that establishes itself above the poverty of the society of cyclical time, the class that organizes this social labor and appropriates its limited surplus value, simultaneously appropriates the temporal surplus value resulting from its organization of social time: it alone possesses the irreversible time of the living. The wealth that can only be concentrated in the hands of the rulers and spent in extravagant festivities amounts to a squandering of historical time at the surface of society. The owners of this historical surplus value are the only ones in a position to know and enjoy real events. Separated from the collective organization of time associated with the repetitive production at the base of social life, this historical time flows independently above its own static community."

More words by Guy Debord from his The Society of the Spectacle, although I agree less with these paragraphs than the last entry I made. I have been trying understand what I think about time and it's relationship to my work over the past while after someone pointed out that one of the principle factors in everything created is the creator's perception of time. This thread of thought can only be grasped when you consider what would change about your work if your perception of time were to change. I know my work would change dramatically. Maybe that is only because my work so dependently works with time. Yet, I don't even understand clearly how I view time.

Time, for me, ultimately doesn't exist. Call me quaint, but I've always believed that time is a referential creation by man which is terribly superficial. It only exists as a counting system which purports to give us a reference point for history. Time and history are two separate entities which are often confused, but must be kept separate. History relates better to memory and symbolic representations than to a numbering system, like time. Sometimes the two cross over: usually in the present tense, which can't actual be measured, calculated or captured which has lead many to claim that it doesn't exist. Time is fictional. Memory and history are put into a different category.

I view memory and history as being a rhizomatous archive which is recategorized and reorganized according to the present experience of memories. In my recent studies, I have been fascinated with how data holds no intrinsic value, but is given value through collection and categorization. Often people talk about how "you can make the numbers speak" in anyway you want. I'm not sure about that, but what I do know is that the "numbers," as they stand, are numbers only. Memory works in the same vein: erratic and shifting, creating new structures in accordance with our contemporary purposes. Last week my professor cited Walter Benjamin that "you can only understand a point in history at some other point in history." I'm bothered by the idea of points in time and "clearly" understanding, but I do think that historical repossession happens all the time. We give meaning to the past, the past does not give us meaning.

Returning to Guy Debord, I don't know if I believe the Marxist concept of wealth-power and it's control over historical time.

Submit to those spectacles of trade

kentback@elitemail.org (Wayne Madsen) — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 19:57:49 -0800

"Trinkets such as key chains which come as free bonuses with the purchase of some luxury product, but which end up being traded back and forth as valued collectibles in their own right, reflect a mystical self-abandonment to commodity transcendence. Those who collect the trinkets that have been manufactured for the sole purpose of being collected are accumulating commodity indulgences — glorious tokens of the commodity’s real presence among the faithful. Reified people proudly display the proofs of their intimacy with the commodity. Like the old religious fetishism, with its convulsionary raptures and miraculous cures, the fetishism of commodities generates its own moments of fervent exaltation. All this is useful for only one purpose: producing habitual submission."

That, my friends, is beautiful.

Some good words from our friend Guy Debord.

the early bird gets the gummy worms!

sneetch@gmail.com (Rebecca Madsen) — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 09:41:45 -0800

Bums don't carry cardboard signs anymore. That's what we learned yesterday. We wandered around San Jose and Santa Cruz looking for someone with a sign so we could buy it off them. Wayne and his classmates are becoming art collectors for a bit here. If we can find any panhandlers carrying a sign, that is -- and convince them to sell it [a long explanation to this one... so only ask if you want to hear it. -wayne]. Didn't they used to stand on medians before freeway entrances?

We had a graduate student potluck to go to on Friday night. Wayne wasn't excited about going, because they combined "first semester review" with the "potluck social" this semester. That meant we weren't just going to eat and socialize, but he had to give a presentation as well. Fortunately he was able to present fairly early so he could relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. It was a very informal "review" process. The first-year graduate students got feedback from whoever just happened to "feel" like saying something to them afterwards. [and i wasn't so lucky.]

Wayne started having homework to work on in the evenings this week, so several nights he worked on homework and class readings while I worked on other things. I finished sewing my skirt this week, and I get to wear it today. I'll take a picture and post it later (after we get ready for church...). Wayne also has an 8am class to be at, so I made it in to work a lot earlier than usual Tuesday and Thursday. A lot. I'm not so much an...early bird...it won't be easy for me to do this the whole semester.

One of my co-workers based in the India office arrived in this area Wednesday. She's going to spend a couple of weeks in our headquarters before returning to India. We struggled at lunch time to think of "American" food we could introduce her to. Most of the places we normally go are Greek, Italian, Mexican, Brazilian...we finally came up with hamburgers (she was okay with eating beef). But what else is genuinely "American" cuisine? We decided philly cheesesteaks are an American invention, as well as southern BBQ. Are sandwiches? What else?

We also had a chance to try Vietnamese pho (pronounced FA, as in "a long long way to go") this week. It's a soup, apparently. Maybe I've had it before when Karl introduced me to some Vietnamese food, I don't remember. One of the couples Wayne home teaches introduced us to this Vietnamese restaurant [Paul is Vietnamese], and it was pretty good. It's nice to try food you don't have very often.

And for kicks and giggles this week...Wayne made me a blanket tent early Saturday morning and we had quite a relaxing silly morning. And during the week I hid "treasures" (aka bags of gummy worms) around the house when Wayne worked from home and would periodically design a "treasure map" that Wayne could follow to find a nice treat. Yay for silly fun!