Up, up, update

There seems to be good progress with the house. The framing of the upstairs is just about complete and I would guess that they will start on framing the roof this week.

My shoulder is feeling a lot better.... I now have more mobility than I had after surgery and the first round of physiotheraphy last time out. I was even able to ride my bike with Cynthia and Liam to downtown for coffee this afternoon. I think a second opinion regarding surgery is going to be needed!

Podcasting goes mainstream

The new iTunes 4.9 has built in support for finding and managing podcasts, as described in this NYT article. I've tried a couple of podcasts and podcast management software before, but this is nicely integrated into the software I am already using.

One podcast worth getting is the one from Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW (in Santa Monica). They distribute the live sessions that they record a couple of times a week. People like Damian Rice, Cowboy Junkies, Yo-Yo Ma, Bell X1, ...

On the bike again...

Ok, it was on the trainer in the little side yard at the apartment, but I was able to put some weight on my arm and it didn't hurt - I don't think that I could have done this prior to the surgery last time at all. Also pretty much off the pain killers at this point - maybe they removed all the nerve endings when they were in there last time?

Remodel: We've got our ceilings back

It's good to see progress again but no stairs yet. The ceiling for the living room and the garage are back. I get kinda scared walking through the house with all these temporary poles holding the celings up.

Chop, Chop

I went to see my surgeon today. So the scoop is that my collarbone (clavicle) is broken again and my Coracoclavicular Ligament is torn. The good news is that it does not seem nearly as painful as last time (or my pain tolerance is much higher!)

Here is a picture from Gray's anatomy of the shoulder that shows all these bits.

The surgeon wants me to repeat the procedure (August 17th is penciled in). I'll need to think about it and maybe get a second opinion. If I don't do it I will end up with a bump on my shoulder (no more shoulderless dresses for me :-) and maybe with a weak left shoulder; the doctor says that many patients who decide not to have the surgery come back feeling that their weak shoulder just hangs there. But if I do fix it, what are the chances that I'll have yet another repeat visit a year or two from now?

Ouch!

Just over two years since I last crashed on the bike, it happened again.

Saturday morning I was doing a group ride called "The Spectrum Ride", that tends to be pretty fast and a little crash prone. I tend to avoid it due to that later characteristic, but this time decided to do it to get myself back into shape after my vacation.

About 20 miles in, just before the turnaround sprint while in the middle of the pack I hit a fist sized rock, blew out my front tire, went over the handle bars and landed on my left shoulder. Immediatly on sitting up I uttered a few choice expletives and just knew my collarbone was gone again. A teammate called 911, I got a fire truck, a police car and then an ambulance ride to Stanford ER.

It looks like that my allograft was displaced or torn so I now have this big cliff on my shoulder. I'll go see my orthopedic surgeon tomorrow or as soon as I can and see what he recommends I do with it.

The pain is much lower intensity than last time, and I have much more mobility, but I fear more surgery is ahead of me if I want to get full range of motion back again.

The sandbagger

I finally got my act together to teach Liam to swim around April/May. Kieran and I basically teamed up. I taught Liam to swim and breathe, Kieran practiced with him. This way, Liam can enjoy the water without the mean mommy teacher breathing down his neck. The strategy worked, and he could swim half way through the pool.

On Friday, we went to the pool with Trevor, Mathew and their friends. Liam was having a good old time. Seeing that Mathew was wearing a snorkel, he told me he wanted one too. Like any teacher who thinks bribing is perfectly fine, I told him that I would get him one when he can swim across the pool. He said OK, turned around and swam all the way across. I couldn't believe it!! The little sandbagger. (-:

Remodel: Framing has started

The framing has finally started. We think we're about 1 week late but it looks like the general contractor is trying to make up for the lost time by having the crew work the weekend. It was fun walking through the house and looking at the subfloor. After 2 weeks of seemingly nothing happening, this is a good change.

Click here for photos.

The boys are back

Kieran and Liam came home after being 2 weeks in Ireland. The 2 weeks trip was good for all of us. I got some space, Kieran got to see his family and Liam got to play with his cousins. Kieran is even talking about doing the same trip next year.

Their flight arrived earlier than scheduled. Liam was very tired from the journey and probably from jetlag. We had a nice dinner at home. I made tofu from Amanda's recipe. Then everyone went to bed pretty early.

Unfortunately Liam woke up at 4am and was calling for me. For the rest of the week, I was feeling pretty low engergy probably due to lack of sleep.

Overall, it's good to have the boys back. The apartment was starting to feel pretty empty.

A Day in Monterey

This being Amanda's last weekend, I was having a hard choosing from the many places tourists visit in the Bay Area. Finally, I decided that she should see something she doesn't normally see in HK, coastal scenario and wild sea life.

Off we went to Elkhorn Slough starting from Paul's condo at 8:30am. This was my first visit to Paul's place, darn nice for a bachelor pad. Both Paul and Mike were quite prepared, bringing foods and drinks for snacks and backpacks to store stuff.

I got lost getting from 156 to Kayak Connection but we got there and they got us started. We saw many seals, sea otters, sea lions, pelicans, seagulls, seagull chicks, plus many birds that I can't name. My favorite that day was the pelicans, spreading their wings and flying majestically in front of us as if they were showing off how graceful they are.

After 2.5 hours of kayaking, Amanda's arms were ready to fall off and Mike had to paddle back beating all speed limits to get to the loo. All were expecting to not use their arms for the next day or 3.

After we returned all our kayak gear, we headed off to Nepenthe for lunch. I am always fond of the place. It's not particulary well known and it has spectacular views of the clifts and oceans on a clear day. Unfortunately, it was foggy when we were there but it's still very beautiful. We had lunch then visited the store downstairs. They still had the big Japanese bells with the sounds of morning prayers in a Buddist temple. The tone of these bells are very low, heavy and peaceful. One has to try it to know what I mean.

The men voted Carmel out so we headed to Monterey for the Outlet and Bubba Gum Shrimp dinner. Both Paul and I were rewarded with $24 Rockport shoes. Dinner was fun, foods were good, the blueberry lemon drinks were delicious and the company was great. Amanda thought it was the best trip so far. It says a lot since I thought Alcatraz was pretty cool!

Click here for photos.

Going home

Eva was finally allowed to go home at 10pm last night, they had kept her in to check on her jaundice (she is healthy), unfortunatly missing Alex's birthday party and not getting to spend as much time with Ellen's friends from Holland.

Also, speaking of home, I am writing this in Dublin airport as we wait to board our flight home. Liam is in seat 23F, I am in 42G. I'm looking forward to a peaceful flight :-)

Update: We did actually end up with seats together. Liam's neighbor when faced with the choice of entertaining Liam for 11 hours, or swapping for my aisle seat, went for the swap. And our bags actually made it this time.

Eva

Eva Sherlock was born at 4:20am on July 12. She was 8.5 lbs and was born in the bathtub in Ellen's room at Craigavon hospital. Everyone is doing well.

Ellen was coming up to 10 days overdue so went in to the hospital at 10:30pm to be induced. Paul went back to Nicola's at 2am since they thought not much was happening. He got a call 5 minutes after he was in bed to get back to the hospital, and Eva was born 45 minutes after he arrived.

So the girls score an equalizer, bringing it back to a 3-3 tie for Granny and GrandPa.

The Rock

Amanda and I headed for San Francisco on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I'm sure I didn't take the most efficient route not gotten in the cheapest parking (Kieran would've done better) but we got to Pier 41 in time to pick up our tickets to Alcatraz. I went to Alcatraz with Kieran over 10 years ago and remember that it was very interesting. Amanda bought us yummy Lindt chocolates before boarding so we could stuff ourselves silly on the boat. The boat ride was short and pleasant.

Arriving on the island, we headed up the hill to the prison. We took the audio tour which was excellent. We got lost at times but just stopped the tape until we reoriented ourselves. The interesting parts for me was the escape of the 3 convicts and the dining room. Supposedly the inmates were very well fed.

After Alcatraz, we went to Chinatown for dinner. I didn't know where to go so I just grabbed the first person I saw and asked for suggestions. He pointed us to Chung King Seafood (606 Jackson Street) for cheap and good Chinese foods. It turned out the foods were quite good and they were indeed inexpensive. To further validate the recommendation, Areal's husband showed up with his brother and family shortly after we sat down (there was a 20 min wait). Danny told us that this is one of his favorite restaurants. Well, that's good enough for me.

Click here for photos.

Sunny!

For the last few days the rainy weather has cleared and the sun is shining. We were in Donegal for the weekend and I even managed to pick up a light sunburn.

I now have a borrowed bike that I have ridden a little. Out on the roads today the temperature varied between 81 and 87F. Perfect for the bike, except that it is hot enough to melt the tar on the road.... with visions of Biloki's crash in the '03 tour de france, I was picking my way down one particular hill.

More Irish photos are here

A Japanese Experience in July

It's the time of the year again, many cities in the Bay Area are celebrating the Obon Festival. This year my coworker at Network Appliance told me about the one in San Jose. Seeing that both Stanford Taiko and San Jose Taiko are on the schedule, I had to go. After a morning of running around, I picked up Amanda (a new friend from HK) and Monica and headed toward the Japanese town in San Jose. We had very yummy Tempura (cooked by my coworker Rick) and watched a great Taiko performance. I loved the show and especially liked the end when they invited audiance to join them in a dance. 40+ people came up, it was a riot!!!

Monica took us to a Korean Supermarket to show Amanda the more inexpensive grocery stores. Amanda was in her element, she was having fun picking up fruits and vegetables.

Dinner was in Tanto joined by Adrian, Aaron, Mike and Paul. They moved to a new location a year ago at 1063 E El Camino. As always, very good dishes.

Then back to Moncia's house to wrap up the day. Good time was had by all. Please click here for the photos.

Remodel: Where is the window

Now the ceiling is really GONE. I didn't expect them to take that much out. Also the window in the living room is no longer there (note the boarded part of the wall). I also bought a sink for the upstairs bathroom for $50. Go girl!

Remodel: The ceiling is gone

They took out the ceiling in the living room. It feels like I'm walking through a ruin.

What a landlord

Angel and Lynn (our landlords) invited me to watch the fireworks for July 4th seeing I was home alone. It was in Santa Clara in a park across the stree from Kaiser. The fireworks were spectacular. I'm so glad they invited me.

Rainy

The great thing about being in Ireland in July is that it is bright until about 11pm. Here is the view from inside the living room just after 10pm. Looks nice, doesn't it. The good news is that my bag has been found, and is now making its way down from the airport.

Last time I was here I remember watching the Tour de France on TV every evening. Now, unfortunatly, it seems that it is only on Eurosport here, which is on cable, and of course we don't have cable here. Great to see American cyclist placing so well in yesterday's time trial.

In Ireland...

Liam and I are in Ireland. We arrived early this morning, with one of our luggage missing (of course it is the one with all the presents). We didn't get much sleep on the flight (screaming child - not Liam!) so we are both pretty tired - Liam is napping at the moment. Sister-in-law, Ellen, still has a big tummy.