O (b LOG N)

New Year’s Eve: The Walker and Sushi

Tara and I again held a garage sale yesterday. We've got a lot to unload before we move. We're losing at least a third of our square footage in the move from our current home to a condo in downtown San Diego (which we still haven't found). People are grabbing our crap at a steal compared to what we spent on it. Yesterday we sent off a sleeper sofa, loveseat, coffee table, and two end tables for $400. It should be painful considering what we spent for this stuff, but I think it's cathartic more than anything else. Stuff. Who the hell needs stuff. I suppose it's useful when you have a little one, but Americans just have too damn much stuff. Sell it all!

I am so full. I just devoured a ton of sushi and tempura veggies. We've made sushi a New Year's Eve tradition in the last few years. This year it was especially gooood. I don't know what I did different, but it was especially good tonight. I started cooking at 4pm and didn't get done until 7:30pm. I took some breaks though to see Ashby. I used red snapper, salmon, yellow fin tuna, and marlin. The best was my spicy tuna and spicy marlin rolls, which I made with rooster sauce. Goood…

Earlier today we went to the Walker Art Center. I'm sorry, but as far as I'm concerned 60+% of modern art is just complete crap. I'm not saying it isn't art, I'm just saying I think it's crap. My opinion, obviously. I saw one piece today that took up an entire room. There were posters everywhere, fabrics and clothes strewn all over the floor, garbage and crap everywhere. This was a big room. It was not pretty. I understand art is about evoking emotion, but I find it difficult to appreciate something that absolutely disgusts me and provides me with no introspection beyond: dirt bad. This room was as if a schizophrenic had lived there for years. It reminded me of the schizophrenics and bipolars I've known in the past. Oddly enough they were artists too. I didn't particularly care for their work either. But the art-elite always did. I guess occasionally they would create a piece I could dig, but in general it looked like it was crap a schizo or manic threw together in a weekend. Funny, this is exactly what it was. Perhaps I'm just not sufficiently sophisticated to appreciate it. I did really like this one piece in which the entire room was constructed to be a cave-like labyrinth made out of packing tape and plywood. It was huge and pretty crazy. There were also books wired as bombs throughout the exhibit, soda cans, trash, mannequins, brick walls, and other objects. The book-bombs were, I'm assuming, explosive ideas and the entire piece was about representing the artist's mind. I think. It was creepy. It was cool. Very original. I liked it. I wish I could have taken pictures of some of the pieces we saw at the Walker, but we were quickly informed we were not to take photos in the museum. 

I think Ashby had a good time. I don't think there are many (almost) one year old children that could spend 1.5 hours in a museum of modern art and not make a nuisance of themselves. Ashby was cool as a cucumber and seemed to enjoy the place.

Enough blogging, I'm going to go back to drinking my shaum-pag-ny and stress about all the crap I need to get done for our next release at work…

• Walker Photo Set
• Sushi Photo Set

Ashby’s First Christmas

Christmas was a tad somber this year. Our impending move to San Diego has definitely put a damper on the season for the Boone family. It has been difficult for Tara and her family. Brenda came down to Shoreview for a few days with Tara, Ashby, and I. Then on Christmas day we all drove up to the North Shore of Lake Superior (just north of Duluth) and spent the day at the Boone's house. Ashby made out like a bandit of course. She woke up an hour early Christmas morning as if she knew what was going on. The first few gifts we opened with here were a bit confusing for her. She got the hang of it pretty quickly though and finally was simply bored with all the 'stuff' she was having to unwrap. She is really enjoying the musical table Brenda got her. Julie and Paul bought her a beautiful pink dress, which we've already used in a photo shoot (photos to follow). Grandma Roe sent her many many gifts. She especially appreciates the plastic farm animals. I'm sure I'm forgetting gifts sent to her by others, but this is all I can recollect right now. I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season.

• Photo set

Keep the Monkeys Away from My Hands

It’s Snowing on my Deck!

One of the countless things I need to get done before moving out of Minnesota is to build a deck onto my house. Mike Vath, an old buddy, has been kind enough to lead me in this endeavor as I've never built a deck before. As you'll notice in the photos we just got our first snow. We got probably about 60% of it done last weekend in the pleasantly warm (no I'm not being sarcastic–this is MN) 45 degree weather. We hope to complete it this weekend, but I hear we're likely getting more snow. I'm pretty pissed that this bloody deck is going to be significantly nicer than the one this house had when we bought it, which was promptly tore off when water damage caused by improper installation of the deck was discovered a month after we moved in. I'm pissed it's going to be so nice because in the year and half we've lived in this house I've never been able to enjoy the deck! And now there is going to be a kick ass one and I'm moving.

The specs on the deck are 10'x12'. We've built the frame, mounted it to the house, mounted the stringers in the frame, and have mounted them to the deck feet. All we have left to do is square it off, lay the decking, build a railing and mount the stairs, et Voila! It's been an educational experience. Without Mike, God only knows what I would have built out there. I had a completely different idea about how I was going to build the thing. It would have been baaaad. "Mike do you have one of those liquid-bubbly-thingies?"

Well, the deck is still not done; although, as you’ll see in the photos below it’s come a long way. We haven’t gotten any snow since Dec 21, which is just plain bizarre for Minnesota. However, we’ve had rain. Rain! Rain in December? Crazy. As you can see, all I have left is the railing. I had hoped to get it done this weekend, but we’re expecting more rain.

Minnesota Children’s Museum

Minnesota's Children Museum is cool. We checked it out earlier this week. The museum is designed for children from 6 months to 10 years. Ashby had fun and she's not quite a year old. I can see it being a blast for kids in 2-6 range. They have a bunch of cool interactive exhibits. There was a mock town where kids could dress up as police, fire, or postal workers (among other things). And a mini-grocery store they could go shopping in. Also there was a really cool play factory they could work. As you can see below I had some fun with the giant bubbles. Apparently they rotate exhibits based on the season, etc; so, the museum likely doesn't go stale very quickly.

• Photo Set

“Going to CA with an Aching in my Heart…”

Tara and I flew out to San Diego for a long weekend in search of a new place to live. As previously mentioned here we're moving back to my homeland. Ashby stayed with her MeMa (Brenda). Other folks from work  flew out as well, these included: Roy, Pete, his significant other Marianne, Corey, and his significant other Pam.

Tara and I spent all day Friday and Saturday checking out different condos downtown. We looked at around 15 condos. I liked one on Banker's Hill that was a block away from Balboa Park and a couple blocks from Hillcrest. It was really nice, but Tara didn't feel as comfortable in the neighborhood because the foot traffic was limited. When you are smack downtown you have people everywhere and the throngs give you a sense of safety that you don't have when there is not a lot of foot traffic, which was the case with Banker's Hill. Unfortunately we didn't find a place. However the wonderful people at City Center Properties are helping us find a place (to rent) remotely. They've been very helpful and I recommend them highly.

 Anyway, I'm favoring Little Italy. Tara likes the Gaslamp, and Marina districts. I don't think we're going to find anything we can actually live in and afford in the Marina district though. And to be honest I think the district is a little too sterile, even though you're easily within walking distance of everything else. Gaslamp is cool, but nothing beats Little Italy. I didn't see a single corporate restaurant. It is, by my estimation, the most authentic of the communities we've looked at. Also, I've been told it has the active community association.

I'm really looking forward to living near Henry and Glenda. Henry and I have known each other since kindergarten. Back in June at Tom's wedding I swore that we would live near each other again in the next two years. Turns out I was right. 

At any rate, Tara and I have lucked out and found, who appears to be, a very qualified renter for our home in Minnesota. Our realtor introduced us to a fellow who happens to be an M.D. who is moving from Virginia to Minnesota. He'll be moving into our home Feb 1. So, we'll be back in the homeland in just over a month. We have so much to do! I'm half way through building a new deck on the house, which was..uhh…cold and have had countless other household tasks to get us ready for the move. We have so much left to do. It's daunting.

• Photo set