beetea.net

Life with a newborn

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:04:00 +0000

The latest game

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:21:00 +0000

I'm trying to figure out of those little bubbles that feel like they keep popping in the same place of my lower abdomen are my first little kicks, or just gas... Hopefully the doctor can enlighten us at our doctor appointment tomorrow!

Holiday News

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 06:37:00 +0000

Since I haven't been very good about updating this blog, I figured I'd post our holiday photo that we're sending out this week. Note the bottom middle photo...we're expecting in June!

Wow. Yes, we can.

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:35:00 +0000

What a great night. What a gracious concession speech. And what an inspiring acceptance speech. I love that we have a president elect that it's looking to the next election cycle but is looking to the future.

"America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made? This is our chance to answer that call.

This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can."

(Full text of his speech can be found here)

I voted

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:59:00 +0000

It's the day we've been waiting for, after two years of intense election coverage. I'm an absentee voter, and this election I actually managed to fill out my ballot correctly and mail it in on time. (The past two elections, I either lost it or accidently voted the wrong way and had to vote provisionally at the polling place.) Wow, did absentee voting pay off! Bryce went down to the polling station at 7 AM, right when they opened - and he was STILL in line at 7:45! I'm so excited about the high voter turn out. I hope this means that there will be a land slide for Barack Obama. I also hope this means good things for Prop 8 (or rather, bad things, since I don't want Prop 8 to pass), but I think that both the left and the right has been mobilized so high voter turn out may not be in our favor for all things. That said, I'm just glad to see that people are motivated, and that this election was exciting enough to get all the apathetic folks into the polling booth.

The Lake of the Devil

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:01:00 +0000

I'm visiting Madison. I have few friends left in Madison these days. I wandered down States Street yesterday, and enjoyed the trip down memory lane, but didn't want to do that again today. So, I reserved a car at the airport (only $20!) and drove. I took the familiar drive from downtown to the place where I lived in high school... past the farms (and new subdivisions where some farms used to be) and gloried in the oranges, yellows and reds of fall. Went to the Shoe Box in Black Earth (for some reason, the world's best shoe store with a huge selection is in Black Earth, population around 1000) and bought two fabulous new pairs of shoes for prices way lower than they would be in Berkeley. Then, I picked up a picnic lunch at Piggly Wiggly and drove up to Devil's Lake, where I would "hike" in high school and college. After wandering around to find the familiar CCC trail, I started up. Even going a slow pace, it only took 20 minutes to reach the top. This was a real wilderness hike for me ten years ago! The top rewarded me for my effort (easy at it was) with fabulous views of the fall colors. On the way down, it started to rain, and yellow oak leaves were drifting down around me. It was serenely beautiful. Then, I headed back to the modern world and met a friend at the newly redone Hilldale mall to eat at Pasqual's. We thought about seeing a movie at the new Sundance theatre, but were scared off by the $11.75 price, and decided instead to see Wall-E at Market Square for only $3. All in all, a great day.

Dry Garden

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:30:00 +0000

You'd think that a dry garden wasn't something you'd desire. But, I spent the past couple weekends redoing some of our wine barrels to create a dry garden - a hardy garden that doesn't require very much water. We got some plants from a nursery up the street (aptly named "The Dry Garden"), then went to town. We have two great wine barrels in the back yard (on wheels, they roll around on our driveway), and a new wine barrel up front. (Well, not new... it was in the back yard and had strawberries growing in it, but the strawberries' irrigation got clogged and they died... Fitting to replant it with a dry garden.)

I'm really excited. The best part? We got all the plants (17 total) and soil (3 bags worth) back on our bike trailer. (Two trips, though...)

Quadruple Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:04:00 +0000

Today was the big public hearing for the M uni route changes that my project is proposing. The meeting started at 2, and we knew that it would go into the evening, and I was prepared to miss my Chorus's monthly potluck/meeting/rehearsal to coordinate the behind the scenes stuff.

Or, that was the plan. I found out on Sunday that a visiting couple from Chile affiliated that the chorus knew but I didn't (because I wasn't in the chorus when they went to Chile) was going to be getting married at the potluck. Monday, I found out that another couple in the chorus that I knew was getting married as well - and Jack was officiating. This morning, I was torn between staying at public hearing and watching Betsy and Diana get married, when I checked my e-mail and got the whole agenda for the chorus potluck... it wasn't just a double wedding. It was a quadruple wedding! Jack was going to be marrying four couples from the chorus. This made my decision easy - duh, do I stay and watch countless people bash the project that I've been working so hard on for the past year, or do I take a break and watch my friends get married? Hmm... let me think about that one....

So, after five hours of public comment, I snuck away and went to the quadruple wedding. It was a blast. The chilean visitors wanted to take advantage of California's same-sex marriages, and inspired 3 others to join in the wedding. They had all been together a total of 100 years, exactly! But, it didn't feel so much like a political statement, but a celebration of their commitment for each other. It was a great ending to a not-so-great day.

My project in the news

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:07:00 +0000

I don't think I mentioned that our backpacking trip almost got canceled because my work was so crazy.... We were supposed to announce the proposed revisions to all the bus routes three days after our trip ended. But, I decided to go anyway since the trip had been planned for months.

When we got back, I found out everything got postponed a week - partly because I hadn't been around to make sure we could make the deadlines. So, for 12 straight days since we got back, we worked like mad. We worked through the weekend, and had a couple late nights (and keep in mind, we're government employees - we're supposed to work 40 hours a week and leave by 5 every night). But, we managed to pull it off.

We publicly announced the changes yesterday, and the press coverage has been pretty positive. We even got almost praise from some of the more skeptical advocates that have been pushing for changes to the plan. It was exhausting, mentally and physically, but so far I'm really happy with how it turned out. Now, if only we could actually get the plan approved by the Board.

(In the hopes of keeping my blog off the radar, I'm deleting the name of the bus system from the links below. But, I'll give you a hint: it starts with M and ends with UNI.)

SF Chronicle: SF's road map for reinventing (insert name of transit system) revised

SF Examiner: (insert name of transit system) fine-tunes transformation

CBS News: SF: REVISED (insert name of transit system) CHANGE PROPOSALS DISCLOSED

Photo Album ready for viewing...

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 05:04:00 +0000

We posted our photos from our backpacking trip today. Take a look! E-mail Britt if you need to know the password for the photo site.

Unplugged

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 04:59:00 +0000

We just got back from a week-long backpacking trip with a group of friends in the John Muir Wilderness. While it was really tough at times for me, as a novice backpacking. The first day was a struggle, since we had to hike from 7500' elevation to 10,000' elevation over the course of 3 miles (meaning - steep, with decreasing density of oxygen) with a week's worth of food on our backs. Bryce was carrying most of the gear, but I think my pack was still over 30 lbs. (His was probably close to 50 lbs!) But, once we got up to elevation, things got easier and the group adjusted the expectations for the trip. The original - but loose - plan was to see lots of the Wilderness, with extensive off-trail exploration and crossing passes to get to different basins. Instead, we stayed in one granite "bowl" and got to know it very well, moving from different lakes every couple days. We compared the mosquitos at the different locations (French Lake - slow and stupid; Star Lake - more in number, but still a pretty mild bite; Honeymoon Lake - fast, fierce, and painful). We ate well and completely unplugged. It was exhausting at times, especially when you woke up at 1:30 AM and had to motivate yourself to get out of the tent to pee, but it was worth it.

Carfree Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:50:00 +0000

Bryce and I spent the holiday weekend in town, and while we were out and about a lot, we didn't drive our car once! We did lots of things that you'd assume you'd need a car for:

went for a hike in the east bay hills
bought a cargo trailer for our bikes (only one trailer, but both of us will use it)
bought groceries
went to the farmer's market and got lots of vegies and even organic cage-free eggs (and not a single one cracked on the way home)
got lots of camping equipment for our upcoming backpacking trip, and
(most impressive of all) went to the big-box Target, biked past all the cars fighting for parking places and bought a vacuum sealer (for food on our backpacking trip)

Who needs a car?

Where in Africa?

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:09:00 +0000

How good is your African Geography? We had a discussion about this recently, and it inspired me to test my knowledge. I took a couple tests (1) (2) online and was HORRIBLE at first. However, after admitting I knew far less than I thought I did, studying the world map in our office, and taking the test a half dozen times, I can now successfully name about 90% of the countries in Africa. The sad thing is, I probably won't remember then in a week. And what's worse, I'm sure that the average American doesn't even know that there's two different Congos in Africa, much less where they both are.

Book Club

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:29:00 +0000

We started a book club at work. The first book, which we discussed earlier this month, was Blink. I enjoyed the read and the discussion. Intellectual, yet light reading. Some interesting examples, including one that really freaked me out about how someone figured out how to slice a 15 minute conversation between a couple into 1800 numbers (one for the mood of each person for every second), and analyze the resulting numbers and figure out with 95% certainty if the couple would be together in 15 years. I would be freaked out to take that test! If Bryce and I won't be together in 15 years, I don't want to know that now. July's book is "Wicked". I just finished it today, and I have to say, I found the last 100 pages a chore to read. And, it's got more sexual references in it than I would feel comfortable discussing with my co-workers (including one of my former supervisors). But, it has inspired me to watch the Wizard of Oz for the first time. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I understood all the references. I picked August's book - the Bookseller of Kabul. I hope it's good! I'm nervous that other people won't like it...

Summer Colds

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:23:00 +0000

How is it that everyone I know is getting sick? I have three friends that have lost their voices in the past 2 weeks. Maybe it's the extreme shifts in weather, but I caught a cold on Saturday. I'm sniffling and sneezing - and it's JUNE! I've had probably 3 or 4 colds so far this year. I have a theory that work stress is running down my immunity.

Cd Release Concert

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:59:00 +0000

We are in the La Peña Community Chorus, and we had a big concert on Saturday to celebrate the release of the chorus's 2nd CD (though it's the first one that we are on). We also had a raffle and bake sale and sold CDs so that we could pay bake some of the multiple thousands of dollars that we spent putting together the CD. It was a great concert. Britt's dad and step-mom came and saw us perform for the first time, which was a real treat for both us and them.

Chicago - Seeing the Sites (both Tourist and Construction)

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:55:00 +0000

Bryce and I went to Chicago last weekend. Bryce had a tall buidling workshop in Chicago, and airfare was cheap so I joined him. Work covered the hotel room, and it happened to be Free February, so most of the museums were free too! We saw the building expansion that he worked on at the Art Institute, and went to lots of great free museums and the (not-free but worth it) Shedd Aquarium. Everything was great - dolphins jumped, penguins waddled, T-Rex roared (ok, well, almost)... Well, Bryce getting sick and throwing up wasn't great. But, that was short lived.

Vote!

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:19:00 +0000

It’s election day! Well, for 24 states it is, at least. I managed to mess up not just my absentee ballot, but Bryce’s too, so we both headed off to the polling place to file provisional ballots this morning.

NPR has a really cool interactive map that shows when all the primaries are scheduled and which candidates won past primaries.

OCO

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:37:00 +0000

I had my second concert with the Oakland Civic Orchestra yesterday.. it was fun! I was honored to have three friends I knew in the audience, which made me really happy. We played 4 pieces, including Prokofiev Symphony #7. You need 4 percussionists to play it, but we only had 3, so there were times when I was playing, for example, bass drum with my right hand and woodblock in my left. It was such a thrill... I love being in an orchestra. You really get to know the pieces intimately - which means that you have them in your head for the next few days after a concert. da da da.....da da da da..... da da da da... da da da da....(imagine me singing)

Why do we have so much stuff?

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:05:00 +0000

There's a great 20 minute documentary about the consumer-supply chain at storyofstuff.com. It talks about how Americans are 5% of the world's population but use 30% of the resources, and how for every pound of garbage that we produce at our house,there are more than 70 pounds of waste generated by industries like mining, manufacturing, agriculture, and petrochemicals. There's 10 things to do to help, like using less energy by hangdrying your clothes or putting on a sweater instead of turning up the heat. I was feeling pretty good about myself, since we do most of the things listed.. until I realized that I was multitasking while watching the movie - spending the other half my brain shopping online! There's an article on the International Socialist Review that appears to be based on the same information, but with more detail.

Snowcamping = surprisingly enjoyable

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:28:00 +0000

Bryce has wanted me to come with him snowcamping for years now. I've always been too scared to do it. Not really scared, I guess it just didn't appeal to me. I mean, who wants to sleep outside on snow when it's 20 degrees out? But, our housemate Jen was organizing a trip with a bunch of our friends, so I decided to try it out. It was great! We skied in about 2.5 miles along an unpaved forest service road to where we set up camp. The actual construction of the tent left me pretty dubious. We had a floorless tent, so we dug a little trench to put the sides of the tent in, then built walls around the bottom so that the wind didn't get through. Bryce also humored me and brought a tarp for the bottom so that we could put our sleeping pads on the tarp instead of directly on snow. I have to say, it wasn't that bad. I'd even do it again! The group built a little snow kitchen, with benches and a table. And, the highlight of each day was going down to the hotsprings and soaking for half an hour or so quite comfortably, despite the snow that was coming down on us! Here are some photos.

New Photos posted

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:27:00 +0000

I posted a bunch of photos to our web albums, www.beetea.smugmug.com. There are photos from Hawaii, our June trip to Point Reyes, and some more photos of the house across the street that was destroyed in a fire. (Sadly, Evan wasn't able to recover from his smoke inhalation and he passed away the next day. ) I'll be posting some more photos in the next week or so.

Think Good Thoughts for Evan

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:12:00 +0000

I woke up about 6:00 this morning to the sound of heavy engines.... I ignored this for a while, then I heard a high powered saw. This finally got me out of bed to discover that the house across the street from us had been on fire, and the firemen were sawing open the walls and the roof to get to the parts of the fire that were hidden and still burning. This house is rented by a couple about our age. We don't know them well, but we see their cats all the time. The guy has two kids but fortunately they were staying with their mom. They had a friend, Evan, staying the night who was the first to see the fire, and he got everyone out but didn't get out himself. He suffered really bad smoke inhalation and may not make it. I felt really bad taking pictures, but wanted to capture this event. Right before we left for work, I watch the firemen removing all the smoldering, loose stuff from the house and piling in front (presumably to keep it from restarting the fire?). You could see clear through the house, and see how the siding had melted away on the house next door. They were renters and the house was in bad shape; the fire probably started by an old, faulty heater starting their Christmas tree on fire. Seeing them rummage through the house made it really sink in how devasting it was.

Oil Spill at Albany Bulb

noreply@blogger.com (beetea) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:15:00 +0000

We went on a bike ride on the Bay Trail this weekend. We biked out to the end of the Emeryville pier, where we saw chunks of the gloppy oil floating around in the water. Then, we biked north and explored the "park" on the Albany bulb, and along with a unique concrete graffitied bunker, we saw lots of evidence of the recent oil spill in the bay area. The spill was of bunker fuel - a solid, tarry, goopy mess. Bryce and Sarah also saw a dead bird, adding to the 84 reported dead so far. It's so sad to see how far the oil has reached. Our photo album has more photos. At 58,000 gallons, this is a pretty small spill (the Valdez spilled 11 MILLION gallons), but with the paltry reaction right after the crash, the oil wasn't contained is already reaching most points within the bay and even out along the coast. What's even sadder is that CNN isn't even reporting that the area that we explored was affected (see this map). Sarah said that the coast guard isn't cleaning up the Berkeley Marina at all, because they haven't had orders to clean it up. It's as if they don't want admit that the oil spill has reached the east side of the bay...