Monday, February 16, 2009

Amber Comes for a Visit

Presidents Day is a great holiday. Well, at least was this year. Amber called on Saturday morning and told me she got called off work for the day and she decided she was going to jump in her car and drive home for the long weekend. Santa Cruz is an excellent place for college. It's just far enough away so Amber feels like she went away for college, but it's close enough for an easy one day drive. It may be a long drive, but is still close enough for a weekend trip.
Amber called her boyfriend to see if he would go with her to help drive and he was up for the trip. Josh is a great guy. His sister lives in Santa Monica so they stayed there the first night (after first dropping by our house to say hi) and spent the night with us the second night.


Amber has decided she wants a dog. She is a huge animal lover and enjoys all the stuff most people don’t like about having a dog – walking, brushing, training, etc. (However, I think she is on board with the rest of us about not liking the poop patrol.) The animal shelters in the Santa Cruz and San Jose area are expensive; dogs cost $175. The shelters in Ventura and LA counties sell there dogs for $90 and they were having a half off special over the weekend – any dog for $45.

So we spent Sunday driving around to al the different shelters on Sunday. Dog shelters are noisy, smelly and kind of sad, but any day with the daughter you only get to see a few times a year is a fun day. Unfortunately for Amber, the half-off sell was a huge success. Most of the shelters sold a good portion of their dogs on Saturday so unless you were interested in a pit bull there weren’t very many dogs to choose from.

At the last shelter we visited there was a little dog that Amber fell in love with. On the front of each dog cage there is a little card with basic information about the dog. In the right, bottom corner there is a color code: blue for sick dog and yellow indicating behavioral problems. The dog Amber liked was marked yellow. We asked one of the people working at the shelter about it and she told us the dog was super scared of people. We took the dog out of the cage so we could see how it would get along with Amber.

It took a while, but it really started to warm up to Amber. Eventually, it even leaned over on Amber’s lap. The dog was found as a stray. Another family purchased the dog from the shelter even though they told the family that the dog was super shy, would be tons of work, needed extra TLC, and could bite in fear. After about a month they gave up and returned the dog. Amber was falling in love with the dog but hearing that someone else had already tried and failed to “fix” it was discouraging.

This dog would be a major project and while Amber would definitely be up the job, she also had to think about her roommates. Would they be up for it? Also, with both work and school, Amber is a very busy girl and this dog would require a lot of her time. So while it took Amber a long time to make her decision, she finally decided not to take the dog home.

The next morning as Amber was getting ready to leave for the drive back home I could tell she was still thinking about the dog. I think she made the right decision, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she comes back down for a visit soon and returns home with an extra passenger.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Valentines Dinner

Tania and I went out for valentine’s dinner on Thursday. We beat the crowds and had a nice enjoyable dinner. If you watch America’s Top Chef on Bravo then you should know the Chef from Italy named Fabio. The restaurant he owns and cooks at is in Moorpark called CafĂ© Firenze. We have been their before and know the food is exceptional. Through my work I am able to buy a $25 gift certificate $7 so it was also a good deal.

We tape the show and are a little behind so we were not up to date on Fabio’s standing in the show. When sat down, we saw him coming out of the kitchen to talk to a few guests. I was surprised he wasn’t still on the show because he seems to be one of the better chefs. I asked our waiter about it and he said Fabio made it to the finals and he would be going back to film the last episode in a week or.



Tania had the Butternut squash ravioli and I have the solver dole wrapped up with spinach. The presentation of the food wonderful. My fish looked like little fish cinnamon roles. For dessert we a trio of chocolate cake, bread pudding and cheese cake. The cheese cake was served warm and was incredible. I love exceptional good. It’s too bad great restaurants cost so much, but we got out of there for $50 (including the $25 off).

Not bad for a nice romantic dinner with my wife with food from a soon to be world famous chef. Let’s see the other husbands’ out there top that.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Back Surgery Recovery Update

Due to special request, another update on the progress of back surgery. It seems kind of hard to believe, but it is very difficult to monitor or explain the degree to which I am healing.

Before surgery, I was having constant pain and cramping in my left leg. Most alarming was that the muscles in calf were beginning to atrophy due to pinch nerves in my back. These symptoms are about 90% better. However, after shorts walks my left leg is much more sore than it should be and this is very worry some.

While my leg pain has improved since surgery, my back pain is actually worse now than it was before surgery. It has been three months since the surgery so it is not unusual to still be in more pain than before surgery. Back surgery can take a long time to heal. For some, it takes a full year.

Since surgery my pain has slowly (very slowly) improved. The improvement comes weekly rather than daily. The first two months after surgery my improvement was measured by how much less pain pills I needed each day. I started by taking 2 Norco (super strength vicodin) very four hours, both night and day. Today I am taking about four over a 24 hour period (two during the day, one late at night and at about 4 am). I also take a muscle relaxer at bedtime.

I have been at this frequency for about the past month. My general pain level has also been about the same for the past month. But this doesn’t mean I haven’t been improving. Improvement is now measured by increase in activity. So a month ago, I my pain level was about the same as it is today, but I was spending most of my day lying on the couch watching television. I am now back to work and getting out of the house much more. I never know what type of activity will set my back off and get the pain going.

I still haven’t started physical therapy yet. My doctor wants the bone between my two vertebrae to be better grown before starting. I am going to the gym a few days a week to talk on the treadmill and light swimming.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

A Dog's Life


Clover is by far the best dog we have ever owned. If it wasn't for his constant shedding he would be perfect. The street our new house is on is pretty step, especially when you recently had back surgery. Because of this, I haven't been taking Clover for walks like I used to. The poor dog is getting fat and lazy.

However, when Amber came down to visit us over the Christmas holiday, she took clover the to dog park several times. It is only about a seven minute drive from the house - very convenient.

That's one of the great things about having kids. While they are young you spend a lot effort trying to enspire them. Then when they get older, they get to return the favor. Amber really inspired us to to be more diligent in taking clover out. Crystal, Tania and I have all taken to the dog park since Amber left. He totally LOVES it.

Clover never spends much time around other dogs so when he was around them he didn't know how to act. He is become much more doggy-socialized now. It's funny though, he likes to run and chase other dogs but quickly becomes bored and comes back to us. That is until the next dog runs by then he runs off and chase them. However, he still really doesn't know how to play. When the other dogs start jumping up and stuff Clover just looks confused.

Unfortunately, all the recent rains have prevented us to keep up this good habit. We will just have to try to make sure to start up again when the weather improves.
Hey Amber - Clover thanks you!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Chineese New Year's Parade

One thing that happens as your children get older is that you slowly stop attending parades. From the small city sponsored parades made up mostly of boy scouts and girl scouts to the larger ones with elaborate floats, you just slowly loose interest as the amazed looks these things bestow on your child's face stops occuring.

One of the local parades we never attended in the past was the Chineese New's Years Parade that occures in China Town. For those who never been, China Town is North of down town LA near Dodger Staduim. The parade was schedule for last Saturday and the weather forecasts for for sunny skys, light wind and temps in the low 70's -- perfect parade weather!
So Tania, Crystal, Cory and I went down to China town to check it out. I put the shades on and saved a spot on the parade route while everyone went shopping and hunted for some good Chineese take out for me eat while I enjoyed the sights.
You go to the Pasadena Rose parade for the floats, but the Chineese New Years parade is all about the dragons and they didn't dissapoint this year. Now don't get me wrong, this parade is small time compare to the Rose parade, but it is worth the trip and the crowds are no where near the parade celebrating the American New Years parade.
The dragons come is all colors and sizes. If you ever decide to go try to remember to sit in front of the First National Bank. It has a balocony on the second floor. I don't know who was up their but they had their own dragon costume and all the dragon in the parade stopped in front of the building to do a dance at the dragon on the balcony, who dance back at them in return.

As with most parades, where were a lot of bands to listen to and adorable kids to look at. There were also a lot of martail arts demostrations. If you haven't been to our own China Town here in Los Angeles, this is a perfect way to make a day of it. The Chineese calendar is a lunar calendar so their New Years is usually a few weeks after ours. Let Tania and I know if this sounds fun to you, we would love to be your guides.