Dang Kids

I hope everyone had a great labor day. Mer and I had some guests in town and we bad a blast. On Saturday, we went to Avila Beach. I can't remember the last time I went swimming in the ocean. The water was really cold when you first got in, but it felt great once you started treading water and riding the waves. We tried to celebrate their birthdays (one last Tuesday, and the other this Monday), but the cake mix we used was probably way expired because it didn't rise much like you would expect, and it was nasty. I ate the frosting though, don't worry.

Also, I have some advice for those of you who could use help making cookies.

Before going to the beach, we made waffles and I went to help with a move. I thought it was the same people we helped move the week before, but it was a sister who was moving stuff from her storage unit. Part of it included moving a king size mattress up two flights of stairs that were so small they reminded me of the apartments in Spain. It was like pushing a giant sponge through a birth canal. Happy birthday, Mattress.

Along for the ride to the move, I met the EQP's son. I think he's two or something. A cute kid for sure, but he had a cold. On Sunday, he and his family sat in front of us at church, and now Mer and I both have colds. I haven't decided on how to exact our revenge yet, but it will come, perhaps years later, when he least expects it.

School doesn't start for another couple weeks. I'm pretty much going crazy without any math/physics/engineering problems to solve. I've resorted to watching MIT lectures on dynamics, since people seem to agree that it's the hardest class on campus (or any other campus) and I'm taking it this quarter. My books should be here in the next couple days, and that should help too. Did I tell you my design and manufacturing class uses pro-engineer, and not solidworks? Well, it uses creo parametric 2.0 (judging by the book for the class), which from what I've been able to gather from the internet is basically the new pro-engineer. Anyways...

I'm only taking 12 units this quarter. I'm taking Engineering Dynamics (ME 212, 3 units), Intro to Design and Manufacturing (IME 144, 4 units), Mechanics of Materials I (CE 204, 3 units), and Aerospace Fundamentals (AERO 121, 2 units).

For Labor day, we had a ward breakfast. It was delicious. We were going to go on a hike later, but it was pretty warm and I was still a little red from Saturday (not hurting though) so we decided we'd go this next Saturday in the morning before it got hot. The trail for the Irish Hills by our place is literally a 15 minute walk away.

These pictures are from a while ago. I got some power tools from the Peterson Fire Relief fund and helped America with some gardening stuff. It was nice to be working outside.

Mer and I are still running. We're probably doing like 3.5 miles or so three times a week. Monday we did part of Ab Ripper X before going out. Today I'm really glad we only did part of it. Treats have been disappearing much slower than before with our new system. Sometimes I open the desert tray and think "it sure has been a while." "A while" is probably like "24 hours." I'm still weighing in between 190 and 195. It's all that darn muscle.

I've been working on solving my Rubik's cube faster (it was a birthday gift from Mer). I did it in one minute and 40 seconds today. I don't know what my best time was on the mission, but I feel like it was faster. I'll keep working on it.

Mer is on week two of work. She says it's pretty boring and is hoping they can get some projects for her. We'll be getting insurance benefits in about a month, which will be nice. I tried signing up for obamacare when we moved down and were out of work, but coveredcalifornia rejected us said we'd be getting medical information or something "soon." I just love our current health system.

So it turns out that this place isn't as quiet as we thought it would be. We don't have nearly as many sirens as we did in Hayward, but some of our neighbors have loud voices. It doesn't help that we have gaping windows on three of the four sides of our unit. The living room has the largest window that opens out to a path that goes from the street to the parking lot on the other side of our unit, passing a few units and their porches or balconies. We've had people singing and playing their guitar after 10 pm, some people just chatting on their porch with really loud voices, and of course, children screaming bloody murder in their game of hide and seek. Yesterday during dinner, we were pleased to hear a man's entire phone conversation as he walked back and forth again and again from in front of his unit to the parking lot, passing both our living room window and our patio area which features a large sliding glass door.

The best was this morning at 2:30 when I wake up to hear two men outside our bedroom window in a somewhat emotional conversation. From the voices, it sounded like an older brother trying to help his younger brother get back on the right track. It sounded a lot like the conversation Paul had with me when I was close to joining that biker gang in Dublin. Anyways, I know they had important things to talk about, but Merilee works at 8 am and we both have colds (and it's like 2:30 in the morning people!). I turned the light on, hoping they would notice it and leave. They didn't, so I went out and politely let them know that we were trying to sleep. Luckily, they weren't drunk and didn't get offended and promptly left. We usually hear people talking by that window since the parking lot is right outside, but most people aren't so loud and they usually don't linger. In this rant, I probably sound like a grumpy grandpa but sometimes you just have to stick your head out the window and shout back.

Since we've been meal planning, I've been making lots of food for Merilee when she comes home. It's a lot of work do cook every day. I'm glad I know how to follow a recipe (don't forget the advice on making cookies). You should have been there when I made Merilee 16 of these burritos. Goats love burritos.