Congratulations are in order!!!

Congrats to the newlyweds :) Jean and Lee, we're all very happy for you!

Weekend Update

So we decided that we were going to do something cool every weekend to write about on here. Well, not just so we would have something to write about on here, but also to do something cool. Right. Anyway, just to let you know because I know you were on edge about it, my dad's visit was really nice. He seemed to really like the area and the Bay Area feel. We went into SF last Tuesday - my dad and Dan first because I had to work and I met up with them later. They walked most of the Embarcadero and went up to Coit Tower, and we all met up to go to Fisherman's Wharf and eat some touristy clam chowder in a bread bowl. Then we rode a cable car to Chinatown to eat dinner at a slightly sketchy restaurant. It was very San Francisco-tastic. Also, cable cars are pretty sweet. They were built originally because early cars couldn't go up and down the streets in SF because they're so steep. Clearly, that is less of a problem now. Also, cable cars are the only moving national historic landmarks in the country. And they move much faster than one would expect. If you visit me, we're going on a cable car. Just a heads up.

Dad left Wednesday for the mountain climbing and whatnot, and I worked the rest of the week. Friday, however, Dan and I met some of my coworkers for dinner...at Chuck E. Cheese. No really. It was another RD's birthday and we kidnapped her, blindfolded her and went to Chuck E. Cheese. She is older than 30. Anyway, we played a lot of skeeball and whack-a-mole. Dan all of a sudden developed some skill at basketball (weird!) and then we bought a lollipop with all of our tickets. Also - there is no more person dressed up like Chuckie the mouse, or the weird animatronic characters that I remember. There are instead music videos that play over and over of the Chuck E. Cheese characters. One of the songs is "Hot Stuff." As in:

"I want some hot stuff baby this evenin'
gotta have some hot stuff
gotta have some lovin' tonight"

yeah. Inappropriate. But, after we left there we went for a little drinking and dancing (see related sad post in the CC forum) and all was well.

Sunday, we went to the Berkeley Kite Festival. It was pretty nice (and the third largest kite festival in the country). If I haven't mentioned already, the Bay Area is friggin windy as all get out, so it's an appropriate place to fly lots of kites. Many of these kites were bigger than I had ever imagined a kite could be. There was also a man who does kite tricks set to music, and teams of people flying kites in sync. Like syncronized swimming, only with kite flying. I, personally, didn't know this was a thing. But I guess people need hobbies. Also, there was funnel cake and a great view of the entire Bay. All in all, a fun time.

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm full of fun facts about this new area I call home - please blame Dan. He bought quite the fun coffee table book about Berkeley and now we're both huge dorks about it. *le sigh*

Also, our comforter arrived today!! We somehow magically forgot to get it from my dad's place to put on the moving truck, so he had to mail it and now it's here. And I'm pleased. We've been sleeping under blankets like college kids on a futon. It's the little things kids.

Enormous flying octopi

Other huge kites

Apparently a team sport. Dan aptly named them "Team Fly A Kite"

Life of Dan

I realized that Kristin has dominated our blog thus far, so it was time for me to contribute. By dominate, I mean she posted twice. For those of you who don't know, I've come to enjoy the lifestyle of a "kept man." While I doubt reading and enjoying the 80 degree weather will ever get boring, I have begun the hunt to join a consultant group. So if you're not interested in the happenings of creativity, innovation, and design... umm, too bad, you have to keep reading.

The design movement here began in Palo Alto, where Xerox created multi-disciplinary teams back in the 70s to invent cool stuff. Yup, that's the direction I'm looking for: Go discover cool stuff! If you want facts, it's where the laser printer was invented, the ethernet, graphical user interface, and object-oriented programming. Now that Ben, Brian, maybe Franklin, and maybe my brother are the only people left listening....

The companies I'm looking at are all rather elite - but help develop business strategies with respect to innovation, design, and products. They generally don't hire for specific job openings, but rather hire people who have a broad range of expertise. AND, I have an interview with one next week! Jump - http://www.jumpassociates.com/ I'll post some pictures from my portfolio to keep things exciting.

My pool cue designed and built with lots of TLC.

Our salt & pepper shakers that I made for Kristin.

A taste of my photography...

Greetings from KK, Dan and KK's dad

Well, my dad arrived today - he has come to visit for just a couple of days, before he goes and climbs some mountains in Colorado. Sounds random, but he's been doing it for years. It's nice to only have been here for a couple of weeks (literally!) and see another familiar face (I mean, besides Dan's, I see his every day). He got in safely today, and we spent some time wandering around Berkeley and then we went to my favorite casual Indian restaurant tonight for dinner. Tomorrow, he and Dan are going to explore SF while I'm at work and then I'll join them in the city for dinner. Good times. Dad has never been here before, he seems to be enjoying it so far. He flew into some GORGEOUS weather, so he was lucky there.

Currently (seriously) he's modeling his new hiking backpack for us. While it is lovely, I really have no idea what to look for in a backpack? Apparently though, it fits very nicely. And he can carry 60 pounds in it (WHY do people do things like this???)

Also, today began my RD training - last week I was being trained as new staff, this week starts annual RD training, which all RDs participate in. Part of today was crisis management and emergency response, including what to do in an earthquake. Helpful. Would have been more helpful last week. But, in case you don't know, duck and cover, or if you're outside, get into a door frame and brace yourself. If you're driving, stay in the car. Those are today's helpful hints. Brought to you by the numbers 7 and 41 and the letter J.

Photos abound, because I think this post is boring. These are from my friend Dana's wedding - who got married on 7/7/07 AND I just found out is coming to VISIT me in October/November. May all the rest of you feel like bad friends now. Not really, I love you all, but I would love to see your faces.


We are pretty cute. And she is a gorgeous gorgeous bride.















Mr. and Mrs. Behum















Pretty cake - also yummy. A hard balance to achieve.

Welcome to the new blog!

Not to alarm you with the sudden change of address, but we decided to start this new blog because really, Dan lives here too. So, welcome to our new online home. Hopefully we can entertain you for at least a few minutes while you're at work. (LB - I'm looking at you.)

So, just to update from the last post (which was on the old blog...mental note to import that) our stuff has arrived safe and sound. It actually arrived one week ago today! We have mostly unpacked our stuff - we only have clothes to go. Things are hanging on the walls, furniture has been moved around, etc. Seriously, I never want to move again. What a process. Honestly, it wasn't that bad, but those last couple of days before we actually had to move were awful. If you attended the "Goodbye to KK and Dan" fete the night before we left, THANK YOU for your help getting all of that crap out of the apartment (Jess Menrath. Wow. You are our new favorite person). So anyway, we got here, our stuff got here, less one wine glass and one champagne flute that broke on the way. But seriously, I was more than happy with the amount of stuff that did NOT break.

What else. We bought our first piece of grown up furniture from IKEA and put it together. It's an island for the kitchen and we love it to death. It gives us some counter space and holds all of our wine on racks underneath. It's pretty sweet.

My job is going really really well - I've just been in training so far (you know, here is how you log into your email...here is where we store the copy paper, etc.) but everyone has been super super nice. I actually went on retreat yesterday into the hills of Marin County with the rest of my department and we...retreated. Lots of exercises on comunication and social justice and goals and the whatnot.

Dan's job hunt is going, he's sent out info to a bunch of companies and is hoping to hear from people ASAP. While I would love for him to get a job, he's been great putting our lives together in our apartment and stuff, because I started work the first full day we were here!

The big news of the day is that at about 4:40 AM, we felt our first earthquake! It woke us up, and apparently caused some damage in the area. This earthquake was actually the largest that has occurred in awhile. Dan did some research and some articles said that the Bay Bridge actually swayed and there were some broken windows in the area (including the closest grocery store to us).

What you may not know is that Berkeley sits directly on the Hayward Fault, which is pretty active. The Cal football stadium actually has a large visible crack that was caused by an earthquake (I'm not sure when). You can see a photo of it below, which was taken last week when Dan and I snuck in to take pictures (by snuck in I mean walked through the open door). We also got some good shots of the stadium in general and the view of the Bay and San Francisco from the press box (see the photo at the beginning of this post).

(clearly, this is MY section)

(Go Bears!)

(Cal starts with a C!)

(That's right, I'm pointing at the crack.)