Patio Tables and Chairs

Bought some stackable metal-and-rattan patio chairs.  No assembly required.

Craigslist 008

Sold the rest of the Weyerhauser boxes.  30 for $15 to Kate from San Carlos.  23 for 11.50 to Leah who contacted me via email.

12 Days Before England

Watched the London Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies last night.  I'm so excited about this trip.  Though it has nothing to do with the Olympics really.  We'll be watching the Closing Ceremonies on TV in Bristol, hopefully.

Craigslist 007

Sold the other refrigerator for $100 to Elizabeth from Union City.

Craigslist 006

Sold the rest of the Public Storage boxes (20 large, 8 medium) and 10 Weyerhauser boxes for $20 to A. Soni from Fremont.
Sold 40 Weyerhauser boxes for $20 to Robert from area code 925 (same guy as yesterday).
Sold one of these refrigerators (the Frigidaire Gallery) for $100 to Mori from Fremont.

Refrigerator-Freezer - $150

2 REFRIGERATOR-FREEZERS - $150 each.
Refrigerator-Freezer
With Automatic Defrost, With Top-Mounted Freezer
Capacity: 20.9 Cubic Feet
Kirkland (Costco) Model ST21HP*L*O*
66" High, 33" Wide, 29" Deep
Purchased in 2001, used as second refrigerator until 2009. Excellent working condition.
$150

Refrigerator-Freezer
With Automatic Defrost, With Side-Mounted Freezer, With Through-the-Door-Ice-Service
Capacity: 25.6 Cubic Feet
Frigidaire Gallery Model FRS26ZGEW
68" High, 36" Wide, 32" Deep
Purchased in 1997, used until 2009. Excellent working condition.
$150

Craigslist 005

Sold the rest of the bookshelves (2 white medium, 1 pink medium, 2 pink small) for $20 to S. from Fremont.
Sold moving boxes (10 XL and 30 medium) for $30 to Robert from area code 925.

Craigslist 004

Sold 36 of the medium PS boxes today. To Kathleen from Union City.

Cardboard moving boxes - $1
Public Storage Moving Boxes - used only once
Medium  18x18x16  (72 available)    - 2 for $1
Large     18x18x24  (20 available)    - $1 each
XL         22x22x22  (10 available)   - $1.50 each

Weyerhauser Storage Boxes - used only once for moving
             15x12x10  (103 available) -2 for $1

22 Days Before England

Craigslist 003

Sold this for $80 today.  To a guy named Luan from San Jose.  He didn't want the TV stand.

SONY Trinitron XBR 36" - $100
Model KV36XBR450, flat screen. Will include the Oak TV stand for free. TV dimensions: 30" High 40" Wide 24" Deep

Craigslist 002

Sold 7 of these yesterday and today -- 2 medium blue, 2 medium white, and 2 small pink to Anand of Oakland; 1 medium white to Hope of Hayward.

Solid pine book shelves - $5
Fixed (non-adjustable) shelves.
Small (3 available, painted pink)  9 1/8" deep, 27" high, 23"-24" wide
Medium (9 available: 5 white, 2 blue, 2 pink) 11 1/4" deep, 36" high, 23"-24" wide

Craigslist 001

Spent a few hours today preparing to sell some large items on Craigslist -- measuring, photographing, describing, pricing, and then posting all the info online.  Good thing I had photographed some of the items at various times in past, exactly for this purpose.  Just never got around to creating a Craiglist account until now.

These are the items I am selling on Craigslist:
2 refrigerator-freezers
2 office desks
1 TV (36" Sony, the bulky kind)
12 solid pine bookshelves
cardboard moving and storage boxes (more than 200).

25 Days Before England

...

29 Days Before England

Trying to think how I can conveniently and regularly post my photos while in England and Paris.

30 Days Before England

England is small in area, about 50,000 sq. miles, roughly 1/3 the size of California.  But it seems HUGE if you have only 3 weekends to explore it.  Especially if you include London in your itinerary.  (Duh!)

Given our planned base in Bristol which is in west England, here's my loose schedule of what cities to visit on those weekends:

First weekend: 
Windsor on Friday -- directly from Heathrow airport where we arrive at 7:00am
Bath on Saturday -- 1 hour by car from Bristol
Salisbury/Stonehenge on Sunday -- 1 and 1/2 hours by car from Bristol

Second weekend:
Cardiff, Wales on Saturday -- 1 hour by car from Bristol
Cotswolds towns on Sunday -- 1-2 hours by car from Bristol

Third weekend:
London on Saturday -- 2 hours by train from Bristol
London on Sunday -- 2 hours by train from Bristol
London side trip on Monday -- 2 hours by train from Bristol

I've realized over the years that when it comes to vacation and travel, underplanning rather than overplanning works out better for me.  It's more relaxing to figure out the day-to-day logistics when I get to my destination.  So far, though, I've already done more research for this trip than I have for any other trip in the past, except for one -- my very first trip to the US, when I was going to live for a year in a college dorm at Brandeis. 

The month before leaving for Brandeis in 1972 was a deliriously exciting time for me.  This month before leaving for England and Paris, 40 years later, comes pretty close to that.

Union City - 2012 Onwards

I haven't been out and about in Union City lately.  It's been at least 7 years since I had to drive any of my children to school or to a friend's house or to a ball game in the park.  Nowadays, I take my hour-long walks around my neighborhood and I do some shopping in the local stores, but that's about the extent of my Union City experience.

This city used to be a big part of my world.  I kept track of school district policies, housing developments, community events, and politics for years when my children were growing up.  Now I prefer to spend my free days away -- exploring the city of San Francisco, for instance -- and whenever I come back to Union City at the end of the day, I seem to taste a certain blandness in it.

But that's not being fair.  All suburban towns pale when compared to San Francisco of course.  Even other major cities in the world can't hold a candle to San Francisco.

So I have decided to look at Union City in new light.  This is, after all, my children's hometown.  It's safe and beautiful, and its citizens are civic-minded.  Many  improvements have been made since I last took notice, and I really was surprised to see the Union City Bart Station's new look last month.  I took some pictures then.

Earlier, in May, when I had gone to the nearby post office branch, I made it a point to take pictures of the surroundings too.

I have hence put those pictures in a Facebook photo album.  And I plan to add more in the future.

Here's the album:  Union City

31 Days Before England

We have our tickets to London and back, a rental car for 3 weeks in England, an apartment for 3 weeks in Bristol, a return train ticket to Paris, and an apartment in Paris for a week.  We've got the basics, I think.

Now for the hard part, the details.

I've been doing my research, looking up tourist information for every city and attraction within reach from our base in Bristol -- 2 hours by car from London.  I've been looking at maps in detail and been virtually walking/driving myself around those cities using streetview on maps.google.  Ohh, I'm so tired now!  Especially with the driving part, haha.  I've learned to drive on the left side of the street already.  But "virtually" doesn't count, of course.

One thing I know for sure -- because I've read it over and over in every tour guide available -- is that we need raincoats.  Raincoats, umbrellas, waterproof shoes, quick-drying clothes... I know, I know, I get the picture.  It's going to rains cats and dogs when we're there, I get it.  So I better not forget the raincoats, I guess.

Alex Serrano - Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu

I am a fan of my friend Alex Serrano's piano skills.  In the past 3 years, he has given me some recordings -- of him playing some pieces, using a video camera to record -- which I think are so good that I actually posted them on my own youtube account.  And absolutely, they are good enough to move complete strangers to leaving unsolicited compliments on the site for him.

So can anyone blame me if I continue to request Alex to play some more?  He plays when the spirit moves him, he knows he'll always be able to play a tune when he wants to, he does not need a recording.  But that's not true for us, mere admirers.  We need a recording to listen to.  I know Alex plays all the time, at home and at parties.  He loves it.  But to actually set up the camera before sitting down at the keyboard, I know that's not particularly appealing.   So he needs a little nudging sometimes.

Gently nudge him again I did, earlier this week.  And what a great morning surprise it was when I woke up to a few text messages from Alex today!  Saying he has recorded my latest request, Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu.  Here it is:

Thank you, Alex, my brilliant friend.

Michael's Wedding Prep 2

So, we went for the food tasting with Michael and Nadia.  Nadia's parents were there too.  It was dinner for six at the Orinda Country Club.  They served us 3 kinds of salad (2 plates of each kind).  The 6 entrees they served us were 2 filet mignons, 1 new york steak, 2 stuffed chicken breasts, 1 vegetable curry.  We took some pictures of the reception area, the surroundings, and us.

Secret

A friend's daughter invited me to her mom's surprise birthday party later this month.  It's for the big one -- you know, 60.  It's a bit of a drive from I live -- more than 3 hours -- but I'm seriously thinking of going.  Oh, and since it's supposed to be a secret, I'm not going to mention my friend's name yet.  Haha!  Like she's ever going to come across this blog.

July 4th Evening Walk

The evening of July 4th in the US is a dangerous time to go for a walk.  I only realized that tonight when I saw that many people in my neighborhood have set up chairs on their driveways, are now seated there snugly under stadium blankets, and are happily watching the fireworks they have lit on their side of the road.  I had to learn to dodge, slow down, or cross the street where I normally don't.  My planned hour walk quickly turned into a 30-minute dash.  Just because I didn't want to get hit by a stray spark or two.  Chicken!

Michael's Wedding Prep 1

Michael invited us, his parents, to join him and Nadia tomorrow evening for food tasting at Orinda Country Club.  They will be deciding what entrees to serve at their wedding reception.  We'll be going.  I'm excited.

Diosy

An old UP friend Diosy -- and her husband Raffi -- came to have lunch at my house today.  Though we live just over an hour apart, Diosy and I hadn't seen each other in person since 1994.   How do you explain that?  Just been busy, I guess.

Interesting how Diosy and I became friends.  We never took the same classes at UP.  We didn't have friends in common.  I just met her once when I checked out the organization UPSCA (UP Student Catholic Action).  It didn't appeal to me so I never joined.  I don't know if Diosy did -- I never did ask her.  But I saw her around campus often enough that we developed a lasting friendship.  She told me today that she remembers coming to my family's house in Cubao. We wrote each other many letters back when that was in fashion. 

She sent me this graduation picture of her in 1973 -- I was already studying at Brandeis then.

Today, she is just as beautiful.

Diosy and her husband Raffi are my son Richard's godparents.

 Outside my house today.

 

 

Caramel Appletini Cupcakes

Richard tried out a new recipe today -- Caramel Appletini Cupcakes.  His friend Nicole, from San Jose, came over to hang out and help.

 Richard's friend Nicole

While doing the busy work, they also watched several episodes of the TV series "New Girl".

 Finally got him to look at the camera.

 Caramel Appletini Mini-cupcakes

Richard said the recipe called for "three drops" of Vodka.

What Killed the Kalamansi?

I wonder what killed my mature Kalamansi tree (Calamondin)?  It was at least 5 years old and it had a few fruits last April, so I was lulled into thinking that it didn't need my attention.  It's true that I had not watered nor fertilized the plants in my yard this year, and the summer heat has arrived, but that didn't stop the rest of my garden from blooming.  Why not the Kalamansi, I wonder?

Everything is green but the Kalamansi tree.

 

The dried-up fruits on my dead Kalamansi tree.  Sad.

 

Orange and purple Trumpet Vines (Campsis Radicans) near the Kalamansi

 

 Hydrangea near the foot of the Kalamansi

 My neighbor's aggressive -- yet beautiful -- Pink Bower Vine (Pandorae Jasmonoides) has climbed over to my side of the fence.

 My magenta Bougainvillea that didn't look very promising last year has suddenly blossomed and has reached over to my other neighbor's trees.

It's looking good for my White Bower Vine (Pandorae Jasmonoides) too.

Randomness

Like most blogs, this springs out of nowhere and, in all likelihood, will not see much action after a couple of months.  But, what the heck, I might as well give it a try.  I need to write my random thoughts and lists on a supposedly accessible "organizer".  Good luck with that, huh!  The little sheets of paper on which I jot my notes are often misplaced, but at least show up under a pile of junk mail or maps or newer lists, sooner or later.  And more importantly, such recoveries happen without me having to remember a password.  This will be different.


Some of the most difficult things about creating new computer accounts is having to come up with a "strongly secure" password, a unique username, and a fairly decent title for whatever it is you're trying to create.  Take this blog for example.  If I didn't feel strongly that I needed this blog to help me get more organized, I wouldn't have put myself through the torture of finding out how many extended versions of "cynthiacat" there are in the cyber universe today.


Well, anyway, I finally settled on cynthiacat60.blogspot.com for my url.  Not very imaginative, but honest about one's age.  And so, my blogging life begins at 60.


Oh, and what's that you say?  I needed to come up with a title for my blog, too?  Oh, good lord, does it never end?  So, I said "fine, let's just be random and pull a couple of words out of thin air."  But noooo, I'm not a random kind of person.  I like being spontaneous, and I'd rather be different than be a cliche.  Sad to say, however, that there is a method to my randomness.  There was indeed a method to how I "randomly" picked the two words that now grace my title page.


Since I know that there is an abundance of powerful phrases in Desiderata, one of my all-time favorite quotable prose, I figured I couldn't go wrong with just randomly picking from there.  Without knowing where I would land, I started counting the words from the quote, preparing to stop at the 97th through 100th words.  See what I mean by my inate non-randomness?


I'm not really sure if I counted correctly, but I seem to have landed at the words "the changing fortunes of".  The complete passage goes this way:  "Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time."

REWIND: SJSU Campus - June 23, 2012

Richard mentioned that posters of him playing the bari sax were up around campus again.  Apparently they have been up as banners on lampposts, on and off, during the past year or so.  I took some pictures of those posters one Saturday when we were on campus for a concert.

Here's one of those shots:

We took pictures of the campus, too.  See them in this Facebook photo album:

San Jose State University - 2012.

REWIND: Filbert Steps - June 17, 2012

We walked up streets and sidewalks and hills to get to Coit Tower.  Interesting murals inside and good views of the city and the bay from up there, of course.  After that, going down Filbert Steps along well-tended gardens and under shade trees was like passing through a different world.

View of Coit Tower from Lower Montgomery Street, after descending the first of three sections of Filbert Steps.

My Facebook photo album of that day:  San Francisco (Mostly Telegraph Hill) - Jun 17, 2012

REWIND: Father's Day Eve - June 16, 2012

We celebrated Father's Day 12 hours early.  Had dinner at Spice Town chinese restaurant in Fremont.

Group shot.

For more pictures, see my photo album on Facebook: Father's Day Eve - 2012.

REWIND: Vida Alegre - June 11-15, 2012

Vida Alegre was my house guest last month -- June 10-15.  She is my late friend Cynthia Alegre's only daughter.  Before last month, I had met Vida only once -- in Manila in 1997 when she was 9 years.  However, I had talked to her on the phone and chatted with her online several times since 2006 or 2007 when Cynthia migrated to the US.  It was during one of those chats early in 2008 when Vida informed me that her mom Cynthia was in critical condition in the hospital.  Cynthia Alegre subsequently died in August that year.

Vida has lived with her aunt and adoptive mother, Olive -- Cynthia's younger sister -- in Virginia City, Virginia for at least 8 years now, but she keeps up with news about Philippine movie and TV celebrities.  And seriously, too.  In fact her trip to the San  Francisco area last month was triggered by a concert near Sacramento where her longtime idol Piolo Pascual performed -- 2 days before she came to my house.

She called me earlier, weeks before the concert, to ask if she could come and visit me and if I could drive her around the Bay Area.  Sure, I said, and I asked her where she wanted to go.  She said tourist spots in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Filipino restaurants Max, Chow King, and Jollibee.

Her other friends in the Bay Area took turns showing her around too, but I did take her to a few places.

 The Golden Gate Bridge view from the Vista Point -- northeast of the bridge.

Marin Headlands -- northwest of Golden Gate Bridge

The Jollibee restaurant in Union City.  There is a Chow King in Union City too, but Vida's old neighbor in Manila had already taken her there a few days back.  And her cousin had already treated her to Max -- in Daly City -- as soon as he picked her up from the airport the Friday before.

On Powell Street in San Francisco where people wait to board the cable car

In the cinema complex in Westfield San Francisco Centre

Just before we left my house for Oakland Airport on her last day here.  Her next stop was Los Angeles.  She had more friends to meet there, before returning to her home in Virginia.

See more photos of I took of San Francisco while Vida was with me:

San Francisco (Mostly Yerba Buena Gardens) - Jun 13, 2012

See also some pictures I took when we went to Marin Headlands to see a different view of the Golden Gate Bridge:  Marin Headlands - Jun 11, 2012

REWIND: Juror #6 - May 31, 2012

I was on track to becoming Juror #6 in a double-murder case in Oakland last May. 

Finally, I was willing and ready to spend maybe 6 weeks of my life coming to Judge Morris Jacobson's courtroom to listen to testimony and then to participate in more weeks of serious jury deliberation.  Ultimately, I had surrendered all hope that I might be spared from the selection -- first the hope that the group number on my jury summons would not be called to come to the courthouse, then that I would not be one of the 80 to be called to the courtroom to meet the judge, then that the judge would excuse me for possible time conflict with my planned pre-paid vacation in August, then that the defense attorney would reject me for my opposition to gun ownership.  Since none of those things happened, I had decided to, at last, face the music.

I was one of the original 12 to be called to sit in the jury box at the start of the day.  The judge, the prosecutor, and the defense attorney explained the many different aspects of a trial, and at every turn asked us if we could honestly stay impartial given what they had explained so far.  I knew that I could keep an open mind and definitely could think rationally throughout the trial.  Many others said they couldn't, so they were excused and they were free to leave.  Hours went by and candidate jurors were dropping like flies.  The juror seat occupants kept changing, but Juror #6 stayed. 

Until the subject of bloody scenes and autopsies came up, that is.  The question was whether anyone in the room would be affected by the sight of bloody images.  I thought long and hard about this.  In the end, I had to admit to myself and to the judge that there was a reason I never watched CSI or Law and Order on TV, and it was that bloody crime scenes made me sick.  I said I didn't think I could think straight nor would I want to return to court after looking at sickening bloody evidence.  I said, sorry I couldn't stay.  And the kind judge said, "It's alright.  Thank you very much.  You may go."  So, I got up from Juror #6's seat, turned in my Juror badge to the assistant bailiff, and left the courtroom.

Surprisingly disappointed.

 I took some pictures before I went to this courthouse in Oakland on May 31, 2012.  Looking at it from Fallon Street.

 The courthouse view from 12th Street

 Alameda County Conference building on Oak and 12th

Oak and 11th Streets

Oakland Museum of California on Oak Street. The gates were still closed at 8:00 am.

REWIND: Lydge in SF - May 28, 2012

Lydge called me late on a Saturday night to say she was in the Bay Area -- visiting from San Diego -- and was checking to see if any of us, her old high school classmates, were available to see her that coming Monday, Memorial Day.  I said, sure I was, and that I would email the other Gels -- that's a nickname we have for all the members of our class -- that night to see what they were up to.

The next day, Reez and Mary Ann made some phone calls and just like that, a rendezvous was set for Monday lunch at our usual haunt, the food court at the Westfield San Francisco Centre.  So nice and so easy.  I love these gels.

Standing L to R:  Pat, Eileen, Lydge

Seated L to R:  Mary Ann, me, Reez

More photos in this album:  Gels - Lydge in SF - May 28, 2012

REWIND: Palm Springs, California - May 18-25, 2012

We spent a week in Palm Springs, California last May and visited Joshua Tree National Park.  We exchanged our week time share of an efficiency in Ridge Tahoe for a week in a 3-bedroom condo in Palm Springs.  There were just four us -- K, Jennifer, Charlie, and I -- so there was more than enough room in the condo.

We arrived there on a Friday night.  Jennifer had to work on her semester project for a course she was taking at San Francisco State.  It was due on Monday and that's when she finished and submitted it.  So, the first day we went to Joshua Tree was Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we again went to Joshua Tree, then celebrated Jennifer's 30th birthday that evening back in Palm Springs.  On Thursday, we went to Mt. San Jacinto State Park, riding the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.  On Friday, on the drive back to Union City, we passed by the San Bernardino National Forest, and went on an enjoyable one-hour hike.

The living in our Palm Springs condo

A restaurant in Palm Springs

On the drive to Joshua Tree National Park

Ryan Mountain in Joshua Tree National Park

Celebrating Jennifer's 30th birthday in Palm Springs

We rode the tramway up Mt. San Jacinto.

Wildflowers along the road on the way to San Bernardino National Forest

Photo albums:

Our Condo in Palm Springs

Palm Springs

Joshua Tree National Park - Day 1 of 2

Joshua Tree National Park - Day 2 of 2

Jennifer's Birthday in Palm Springs

Mt. San Jacinto

San Berrnardino National Forest