First Day of Work/Pearly/Moving House

Today was the first day of my new life as an IT helpdesk person. It's IT support for the Creative Arts Department a.k.a. Creative Arts Technical Support a.k.a. CATS. They look after a whole load of high spec Dell PCs, G4 and G5 Apples along with networks, printers, media equipment etc.

I'm glad I took this job because I think I'm going to learn a lot about the real life side of computers, i.e. how to fix them when they inevitably break.

The guys I’m working with are pretty laid back, and the pay is really good considering it’s on campus. I’ve fallen on my feet again it would appear!

In other news, Pearly and friends are leaving tomorrow after a really nice few days. They’ve been wonderful guests and I hope they’ve enjoyed San Francisco. Last night we went for a really good Mexican with them, and tonight Madeline hosted a pizza and movies night in my absence. I’ve been too busy to do much with them since the 49ers game, but hopefully they’ve had a good time exploring the city. They’ve got a couple of days in LA before they fly back on Friday.

Madeline and I move into our new apartment on Saturday so we have the added excitement of furniture shopping and bed buying towards the end of the week. I’ve been on campus from 8am-10pm pretty much so I think I’d better get some beauty sleep.

Mum, we’ve got an idea for your stay in San Diego, but I’ll talk to you about it towards the end of the week. I’ll also get you my new address soon.

49ers

Friday, Tapas meal with David and a few beers. Saturday, project meeting, rugby in Dixon then House party in the city. Late Saturday night, Pearly and friends arrived. Sun morning, lazy breakfast - donuts.

Sun afternoon, 49ers game at monster park!



The 49ers lost, but it was awsome!

Earning some $$$

Yesterday was brilliant! David arrived Wednesday night, so Thursday morning we got up early for a stroll on the beach:



Madeline took the car to work, dropping David off in the city, and me at school. I spent the morning learning about cellular respiration in the Library, and at about 2pm I got some Mediterranean food from the student center.

It's beautiful at the moment - apparently September/August is the best weather here - so I had lunch on the lawn, laying in the sun, listening to Madeline's iPod. Hours passed and I got a phone call about the job I applied for. It was the news we'd been hoping for, 20 hours a week, great experience and finally a financial buffer zone! I lay back, completely happy with the world and basked a little longer.

Just before class at 7pm, I got a coffee and climbed to the top of the student center, (pics later). Watched the sunset then learnt all about genetics. Madeline picked me up and I made an omelet. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Today I've had a lazy morning but am thinking of hitting the library for a little bit. Tonight we're going for a Mexican meal in the Mission district and then for a few celebratory beers.

I've heard nothing from Pearly; I hope he's still coming because I'm going to be lonely at the 49ers game otherwise...

An emotional day

So I finally got hold of the SPCA. They were concerned that the kittens had been alone for so long, and were so young. They asked me to take them in, but made very clear that it was quite likely that they would be euthanized. I had class all evening so I had to cancel a job interview, collect the little guys into a cardboard box and drive them down to San Mateo. The whole drive was accompanied by little cries of distress from the passengers, and futile attempts to control the temperature in the car by me.


The gray one was the best!

The people at the SPCA were very nice, but they don’t have the resources to take in un-weaned kittens. I think it’s the same back home. We agreed that it was better they were put to sleep humanely rather than starving or freezing to death.

I did have the option to wean them myself at home, for which they would have provided the equipment, but we can’t have pets in the apartment due to the contract and Madeline’s allergies.

So I left them in capable hands, and endured the lonely drive home. I made it back to school only 30 minutes after my interview so went in and did surprisingly well. I think the kitten story was a good ice breaker.

Classes all evening, from 4-10pm went smoothly. Today I’m going to learn about the internal details of cells, and do a little programming.

This evening Madeline’s friend David is flying in to spend a few days with us, and this Friday (?), Pearly will arrive in SF for the Californian leg of his American tour with friends.

To add to the emotion of the past few days, I think my beloved flip flops are coming to an end...


In memoriam

A Nest of Joy!

Mum will be so jealous! This evening, Madeline and I were ready to leave the house to go and sign for our new apartment, when something caught my eye. Madeline freaked out and ran away, but on closer inspection, what Madeline feared were mice, were actually 5 furry little kittens! They were nestled down in a bush, squeaking and fighting with each other.

I wasn't really sure what to do so I tried to find an RSPCA equivalent online to give me advice. It was pretty late, and there was no sign of mummy cat, so I popped the little guys in a cardboard box with some newspaper, (pet rescue prepared me well!).

Without the RSPCA, we knocked on a few doors to ask if anyone near by had a cat. We found an old lady who wanted to come by tomorrow to look at them and a much saner woman who told us there were a lot of stray cats around and they get this kind of thing annually. She said the mum cat would probably be back for them. So after Emilie had arrived and been suitably impressed with their cuteness, we put them back in the bush hopefully, to await mum.

I think it was the right thing to do, but if they are still there tomorrow, I'm going to contact the SPCA. Fingers crossed!

Because I know mum will be interested, there were 4 sandy/ginger colored ones, and one grey/white. I think one was a runt; it wasn't very lively. They didn’t look new born, maybe a few days/a week. It’s really strange that they would just appear like that. The lady down the road said the mum cat may have carried them there. I’m not so sure...

In other news, we had a nice weekend enjoying the sunshine on the beach, and mild evenings in Emilie's hot tub. Tonight we signed for our new apartment, and all is well. Where is Mandy?! :-D

Rugby and a new home

Another busy weekend! On Friday we finally confirmad that we would be taking the apartment we'd been looking at which is a big weight off Madeline's mind. I met up with some guys from Berkeley RFC and drove down to SLO in a 1988 VW camper van! Beers in town then bed; Econolodge.

Early start to tournament HQ, very nice setting, beautiful weather. Big range of ability from complete beginners to old pros. We were in the 3rd division and quite content. Game 1 was lost by 2 points, and we really should have won. I got 2 tries. Game 2 was less close but I got another 2 tries. Game 3 saw the upset of the tournament as we suddenly clicked and I sneaked in 3 tries to secure a unexpected victory. This had the unfortunate side effect of meaning that we progressed from the group stage and had to play in a quater final.

The organiser of the berkely trip down to SLO got in a bit of a tussle and was asked to leave the pitch with a cut above his eye which would later require 16 stiches! Down to 6 men we gladly ended our campaign and hit the beers/tri tip BBQ!

Hotel for showers/food/nap then into town for bar crawl. Much fun was had by all, hangovers all round this morning!

Spent the morning exporing Pismo Beach, (foggy) had some clam chowder and headed back. Project meetin for OOP this evening in a bar, then picked Madeline up. Much needed bed now, then a busy week of school work ahead!

Sacramento!

Last weekend Madeline and I ventured North East to visit some of Madeline's family in the state capital.


The Capital Building in Sacramento

We went out with Hilary and Nick on Sat after a 3+ hour labor-day-weekend/closed-Bay-Bridge traffic enduced journey over the Golden Gate. On Sunday we went to Russ's house for breakfast, (pastries) before heading to the launch of his boat with his family.

Anita water-skied, Marcus wakeboarded, Morgan and Russ showed us how knee boarding should be done, and then Hilary, Madeline and I gave it a shot. It was sooo cool, there's a compilation of the video highlights from the day on my YouTube account.

More later.

New Apartment?

There is a chance this could be our new home in San Francisco! We're trying not to get over excited, but it's pretty cool!

The Deck - Ready for BBQing!


We'd have the upstairs


The bedroom or office; there is another room attached