Apr 04 2012

Been Way Too Long

It’s been far too long since I last signed up for a new online social experience and recently my web prayers were answered. I finally received my requested invite to Pinwheel, a new service that’s still in beta testing. Unfortunately only members can see other people’s posts.

What is Pinwheel you ask? Jeez, what a silly question. From their FAQ: “With Pinwheel, you can find and leave notes around the world.” “Pinwheel is made of notes. A note can be a story, advice, jokes, diatribes, information, memories, facts, advertisements, love letters, grocery lists and manifestoes. The content of a note is only limited by your imagination. A note can be shared with the world, one to many people, one to one, or only with yourself.”

Here is my home screen and my first “note.” You can tell from the missing map of my location that it’s still having beta issues. Examples of a number of bugs I’ve already run into: quotations messing up tags, maps not showing and placement markers in wrong spots. I’m confident these will all be cleared up very soon, though.

Here’s to hopefully leaving, finding, and favoriting many notes from around the globe!

My home page
My first note

Apr 03 2012

Cats – Day Four And Last Full Day

My last full day of taking care of the neighbors’ eight cats. It basically was the same as the other three days of taking care of the neighbors’ eight cats. Spend the night on their couch, feed the felines three times, fresh water twice a day, and clean out the three litter boxes three times a day, with the occasional kitty treats thrown in to keep things interesting for all of us.

As many times as I’ve already watched these cats, I still can’t tell all of them apart, them being all jet-black.

Apr 03 2012

Mourning Doves Close To Flying

Noticed that the Mourning Dove mother had temporarily flown away from her nest so I took the opportunity to run and get my camera to get a couple of shots of the quickly-growing chicks. I have no doubt that they will be flying very soon.

Apr 02 2012

Pick Me!

One of our Mourning Doves was sunning/drying itself on the grass after a nice, refreshing rinse in one of our bird baths.

Apr 02 2012

Cats – Day Three

Normally the neighbors’ cats enjoy watching a good bird show outside one of the bedroom windows. Keeps ’em busy for hours. Today though they had a special treat in store. A gopher (quite possibly the same one that’s been burrowing in our backyard until recently) scored a jackpot by digging up underneath a bird feeder and into a treasure trove of discarded bird seed. He, constantly popping his head out and collecting seeds, kept the cats at the window fascinated for most of the day. One of the cats was even doing this weird, vibrating thing with his mouth and cheeks as he was intensely focused on the gopher.

 

Apr 01 2012

Dinner at Denny’s

After finishing up our afternoon adventure at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, my mom, nephew Stephen, his girlfriend Jeri and I were hungry enough to stop at a Denny’s for dinner before making it home. I wanted to try something new (for Foodspotting) and decided on their new Bacon Lover’s BLT. The sandwich boasts eight pieces of crispy bacon. Maybe there were eight smaller pieces because it didn’t seem all that bacony to me. But the sandwich was overall not bad. I added really good seasoned fries which I ended up hardly touching.

Popular watering hole for seniors
We tired and hungry four
Bacon Lovers BLT
Claw game prizes

Apr 01 2012

Butterfly Jungle Tweet-Up At The Safari Park

Drove up to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park with my mom, my nephew Stephen, and his girlfriend Jeri, to attend the evening’s Butterfly Jungle Tweet-Up gathering. We arrived early enough to walk around a little before the meetup. We checked out some exotic birds around the lagoon adjacent to Nairobi Walk and then stopped to get a few photos of the recently born Red River Hog piglets. From there we walked down to the viewing patio in Elephant Valley where we watched a calf strike some hilarious butt-in-the-air poses on the grassy area. We continued watching and shooting photos until it was time to head back over to Hidden Jungle for the Zoo meetup. There was already a line waiting when we got there fifteen minutes before the meetup time of 5:00. Ran into Matt, the Zoo’s Social Media Director who coordinates these gatherings. For the next hour we enjoyed being buzzed and swarmed by fourteen different species of butterflies. Just like last year I wore my bright yellow SpongeBob t-shirt in hopes that the butterflies would land on me. Last year I had up to six on me at once. This year, while they seemed more active than last time, unfortunately only one small Orange Julia landed on my shirt, and some other one briefly landed on my hair. I chatted with Matt for a while towards the end of our visit. On our way towards the exit we passed by Gorilla Forest but none of the gorillas were out to see. We left shortly before the park closed at 7:00.

It was nice hanging out with family at this kind of venue.

( s a f a r i   p i c s )

Apr 01 2012

First Time At Stephen And Jeri’s

Today our family was invited over to my nephew, Stephen, and his girlfriend, Jeri’s, apartment for a quick tour and snack social. The inside reminded me a lot of my first solo studio apartment in La Mesa. There was one large room that was both living room and dining area, a nice, open kitchen area, a good sized sleeping area and a small bathroom just inside the front door.

Almost immediately they told us they had something very important to announce. We thought they would tell us that they were engaged, but instead they surprised us all by telling us that Jeri was pregnant. Luckily, I knew right away that it was an April Fool’s joke, but some of my family thought it was genuine. I was actually a bit disappointed when I realized it wasn’t true.

For snacks we had crackers, cheeses, fruit slices and wine, and for entertainment we played one round of Scattergories.

Even though we only stayed for about half an hour (because of another engagement), it was a really nice visit and I look forward to the next time I go over.

Down a path…
Front patio
Front door
Den/Dining
Kitchen
Bedroom

Apr 01 2012

Cats – Day Two

Day two of my cat/house-sitting. Other than a nasty bodily organ-looking hairball, there weren’t any major surprises.

I have no idea which one this is

Mar 31 2012

Back With The Cats – All Eight Of Them

First full day cat/house-sitting for the neighbors again. With eight jet-black cats it’s a good thing I’m not superstitious (crossing my fingers).

Five of eight

Mar 30 2012

Retro Cup Of Joe

Went to get some coffee with my mom today and ended up sometime back in the late fifties. “I Like Ike!” Forgot to buy Dupont stock.

Mar 29 2012

Dinosaur Lecture By Jack Horner

Was fortunate enough to attend an evening lecture and book-signing by world-renowned paleontologist Dr. Jack Horner at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. The event had sold out within a couple of days. The presentation lasted a little over an hour and covered mainly infant and juvenile dinosaurs and the mislabeling of those juveniles as separate species. After the lecture there was a long line for the book signing meet-and-greet. Luckily for me he was signing the same paperback book of which the hardcover version he had already signed for me on his last visit. I waited around to make sure I was last in line so I could speak with him casually and get a photo. As luck would have it, Dr. Michael Hager, the museum’s director and old friend of Horner’s, also came to the table and I was able to congratulate him on his twenty years at the museum.

This turned out to be a pretty outstanding evening.

Balboa Park
Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
Entrance to the Museum
Museum’s atrium
Allosaurus fragilis
Prehistoric “Wolf Herring”
Prehistoric “Wolf Herring”
Wolf Herring skull
The Gift Shop
T-Rex toys
Paper Titanic model
Theater seating
Dr. Michael Hager
Introducing Dr. Horner
Dr. Horner, speaking
Captive audience
Speaking on stage
Title slide
Maiasaurus and babies
Egg clutch fossils
Embryo fossils
Nursery fossils
Infant skeletons
Tyrannosaurus skulls
Hypacrosaurus skulls
Triceratops skulls
Mislabeled skulls
Skull differences
Book signing line
Book signing
The good Dr. and me

Mar 29 2012

Old Town Photos And Lunch

Made my way down to Old Town to walk around and take some photos before meeting up with my female friends Heather and her daughter, and Lannie and her kids. My photo spree began at the La Casa de Machado y Stewart Museum, built in 1835. It seemed to be especially fascinating to a group of visiting Japanese tourists. From there I met up with Heather and Lauren, neither of whom are particularly Asian, at the dual-masted flagpole in the main plaza. After some necessary awkward hugging, we casually meandered over to the blacksmith who was doing what he does best…talking to visitors. We took only a few shots and then headed over to see Old Town’s two resident donkeys, Donald and Daisy. We then met up with Lannie and her kids back at the flag pole again. Walking and talking,we explored photo ops inside the Fiesta de Reyes shopping area where Heather thoroughly got a kick out of a guy who was letting visitors sample his salty nuts.

We briefly made a sugar-fix stop at Cousin’s Candy Shop next to the main plaza on our way to check out the Adobe Chapel before meeting up with Bryan for our lunch at Café Coyote, where I thoroughly enjoyed the Baja Fresh Fish Tacos washed down with a relaxing bottle of Negra Modelo.

Our so-longs and good riddances came post lunch as we all went along our merry ways, which for me was in the direction of the nearest bathroom to relieve myself of my Negra Modelo rental.

This turned out to be another really good visit with friends to Old Town.

( o l d   t o w n   p i c s )

Mar 27 2012

Kimi’s Belated Birthday Dinner

Had most of the family over for a belated birthday dinner for my niece, Kimi, who recently lost her teenagenicity and turned twenty. My sister, Beata, started things off by bringing Kimi a dozen beautiful roses. Then the evening took a freak show turn when Kimi showed us how spray from an squeezed orange peel can ignite in a flash when exposed to a flame. The photo looks a lot worse than the actual event. Nobody was burned. After the science demo we sat down for a fantastic dinner of pörkölt (beef) with nokedli (home-made noodles) that my mom had made which was then followed by chocolate birthday cupcakes with single candles for everyone. Topics of discussion, as usual, were all over the map, often at the same time.

Birthday roses
Pre-orange flame
Orange burst
Most of the fam
Beef and noodles
Chocolate cupcakes
Cupcake with candle
Kimi’s wish

Mar 27 2012

Mourning Dove Chicks

After accidentally scaring away the mother Mourning Dove from her nest outside my bathroom window, I ran for my camera to get a few photos of her chicks before she came back. This shot was the only one that worked, but at least I got one. The chicks were much bigger than I was expecting and haven’t heard a peep out of either of them. The dutiful Mom did return pretty quickly.

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