Blah Blah Blog

Sorry that's all I got. But "blah" is how I feel about blogging right now. This blog was originally suppose to be a means of keeping in touch with people, but that's not quite the way its worked out. So recently, in addition to things being crazy busy I've been none too inspired to make new posts. Hopfully things will calm down here in the future and normalize a bit and I'll have the time and feel able to post to my hearts content. We shall see.

We're still here

We're still here we're just really, really busy. One of these days one of us will have time to sit down and make a real post and get caught up. But that time is definitely not now, its late. Nite.

I still have a job

Well, despite the economic downturn and my neophyte status at work, I still have a job. I'm gonna keep doing my best and cross my fingers that we keep having plenty of work and that I continue to be a help to the local office.

But for those of you that are curious, they posted some info about me on their staff page...I'll let you find my photo. It's kinda fun to hunt.

Picture for Jennifer

Oxnard, CA. October 2, 2008

This was my view (north) as I left for class yesterday. I thought about your request and took a picture before I got in the truck. Hope your day today is a real good one.

Sad Day

Xaxula
(Xaxu for short or aka Doodles)
1989 - 2008

Sad day here at the Gassaways. We are all pining from the loss of this very special, long time feline companion. She has been here in the Gassaway's home sixteen years, but after nineteen total years of life, her kidneys could no longer support her. She is and will continue to be very much missed.

The Quest for a Good GF Sourdough Bread Bowl

Well QGGFSBB Part 1 was completed some weeks ago, and rather unsuccessfully. I was trying to make a GF sourdough starter from scratch. It went ok for the first two days and then things started smelling funny. I doggedly pursued the experiment despite the evidence of my nose and a week later brought out of the oven 3 stinky bricks. (As my mom aptly called it: 'sewer'dough bread.) Clearly just substituting GF flour in regular bread recipes was NOT going to cut it.

Undeterred I scaled back my ambitions and went to seek advice from the local library. They actually had several good books with information on how to make a decent loaf of GF bread. And yesterday I commenced QGGFSBB Part 2: Baking a Decent Loaf of "Regular" GF Bread with much more positive results. (see photographic evidence at top)

I then descended upon some unsuspecting test subjects who engaged bravely in a taste test and emerged unscathed. They even managed to smile and compliment the loaf (no seconds were willingly eaten...). As for my gluten deprived self, the loaf was by far the lightest, moistest and chewiest loaf of GF bread I have eaten to date. It really came very close to tasting like bread!

Perhaps my test subjects would like to contribute their observations?

First Day Of Autumn

I can't believe summer is over, it went by so fast and yet so much happened.
Fall is truly one of my most favorite times of the year. I am looking forward to all the Autumn activities to come. Catherine and I have already noticed the absence of all the strong signs of fall like there was in Oregon, the cool brisk air, warm vibrant autumn colors of the deciduous... Even though it was very enjoyable to experience a more stereotypical fall in that sense, As the subtle signs of fall emerge here I find myself remembering how I felt as a kid during the fall. I've always felt connected to the earth more during this time of year, more observant of its changes I suppose. The different angle of the shadows as the days get shorter. The change in the weather as the wind shifts east bringing the clear dry air. I've always enjoyed the gold hue of fall in this area, Sunsets are more spectacular this time of year, Even the moon takes on a warmer glow. As sad as I am to see summer go, I am just as excited to greet a new autumn. The following is a selection of a few photos from this wonderful summer's events.

First Day of Summer 2008
June 21,

1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th of July
Independence Day & Birthday Bash

Trips to Disneyland

Sunday Evenings at the Lodge

Lots of fun beach nights.

Pollyanna Birthday Party

Good-bye Summer

Last Day of Summer,
September 21, 2008 Sycamore Lodge.

Yay! (external hard drives)

I've got my computer back! I finally took the time to move a lot of old school and job-hunt files off of my hard drive, and move all my AeroComputers work files to their own special portable hard drive. So now my computer works again. For a few months there I averaged about 200 MB free space on my 60 GB internal hard drive...and working on my computer was a CHORE. I wouldn't have enough memory to save files, I didn't have enough disk space to download and install software updates. After I freed up about 20 GB my hard disk was still looking pretty ragged. Just look at all those fragmented files! But a quick (4 hour) defrag later and I'm back in the game.

New Job...Begining a Career

A major milestone has been passed. I have been actively working towards being an architect since 2001 (and even earlier than that if you consider how long I was looking for the right career before that). And now, a few months after completing my academic career, I have officially become a professional student. Because even though I'm working (and getting paid to do so), I have a minimum of three years of on-the-job learning (as well as the successful completion of a battery of tests) before I can be licensed and officially call myself an Architect.

On my second day of job hunting (the first being filled with calls to people who could not even consider hiring anyone due to the dire economic climate) I contacted RNT Architects. They indicated a POTENTIAL interest in hiring someone in the near future. I was ecstatic and stopped my job hunt right there. After one half an hour informal conversation with the satellite office in Oxnard and one half an hour chat with all the principals of the San Diego main office (there's more than enough stories there to fill a few blog posts) on Fri, August 22nd, I was finally told that I had already been considered hired a week or so earlier and could I please start work as soon as possible? As in Monday? (SUBTEXT: Yes, yes. You're portfolio looks great, congratulations. Could we please stop this nonsense and get on with the work now???) That came as somewhat of a shock and my dreams of a conventional job hunt and interview process were thrown out the window. Fortunately it seems that the abrupt end of my laughably short search means that I have somehow (with relatively little effort on my part) been in the right place, available at the right time to land a job in a great firm that is perfect for me. What are the chances??

I know that those of you who know and/or love me are probably far from shocked at this happy conclusion to what has been for me a fairly stressful period of my life. And I suppose I should be complemented by your confidence in my abilities and merits. But really, this luck is too much! At first it really didn't feel possible and I was really on edge thinking that I would wake up some day and find that I never actually had been hired.

I am now nearing the end of my second week at the Oxnard office of RNT. The first week was pretty wild, but now I'm settling in and finding my place. After another week I may feel like I've been there forever! But regardless, I have enjoyed the work from day one and feel that I have chosen my career well.

Disney's California Adventure (or "DCA")

A few years back when I first heard about Disney's plans for a new California themed amusement park and that it was to occupy the then current parking lot, I was not all too thrilled about the idea. It was a short time after that where I had a dry spell from going to Disneyland. I saw the new park only a few times in the last couple years, from the outside and at least one of those times it was still under construction, Still was not impressed. All I can remember is all the construction and changes made getting to Disneyland a little difficult. For our Birthdays this year my gracious parents gave my sisters and my wife and me a Park Hopper ticket for D-land & "DCA" good for three days. We use our first day about a month ago, and not being able to bear leaving the Happiest Place on earth, we did not take advantage of it being a park hopper ticket. About a week ago we were able to use our second day. We left the evening before directly from "Beach Night", and spent the night at Grandma's which is always fun. The next day we started out by going to "DCA" My sisters had been there before and were our tour guides, which was very helpful to have some one in the know, or should I say two, in the know. We had a fun day, and I have to admit there are a lot of neat things there, but still not really impressed. I spent the day feeling like I was at Magic Mountain but then there were places you could see Disneyland and it was sort of weird. The Bugs Life area was neat, it had a lot of atmosphere and was shady, but it was all carnival rides. The Midway area is not "Disney" at all, I'm sure he's turning in his grave. The Toy Story Midway Mania is a clever fun ride and tries to make up for that area, sort of makes it not seem as sleezy . The roller coaster California Scream'in I have to admit is pretty fun, as well as The Hollywood Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The Grizzly Run Raft ride was fun but the water smelled like mildew, which was a lovely aroma we able to enjoy for the rest of the day. I also thought it strange that they felt it appropriate to serve alcohol in the park, not even Six Flags does that, do they? The layout and organization of the park was strange and a little jumbled, but I can see now how it could be seen as a good idea for an amusement park, where before I actually went there I thought the whole scheme of the park was stupid. I just feel now that it needs a lot of revision. It does show the genius of Walt, while Disneyland has been changed and added to again and again the basic layout and form has virtually been unchanged from it's beginning. It was great to see the old Electrical Parade again, but weird not seeing it at Disneyland. So after the Parade ended DCA closed, So we marched right over and used our park hoppers to get into D-land. It was such a different feeling we all felt better there. We first rode the train around to get the full tour and to let our feet rest, then we got off at New Orleans and (Thanks to my Grandma) had a wonderful meal at the French Market. We dined while Fantasmic was showing, it was the evenings dinner entertainment. We we able to get in three rides before closing and even got Nora on Big Thunder, which she enjoyed. The first was Pirates and our last ride of the night was the Haunted Mansion and we each took our own doom buggies. It made it a bit creepier thats for sure, but it was lots of fun. We ended the night on Main Street (of coarse) waiting and watching the crowd disperse and dwindle and just enjoyed being there, pretending to be in a small Mid-western turn of the 20th century town. It ended up being an all around great day. So thank you Mom and Dad, and thank you Walt.

California Girls..."Fierce!"

A blast from the past...

As many of you know, back in high school I played ice hockey on both boys and girls teams. Mostly because there were so few girls playing ice hockey back then I managed to qualify for Girls Team California. The tryouts were grueling: 4 hours on the ice, 8 hours off over a 36 hour period. It was tough for me, but I've gotta say my mom was a saint to drive me to each session from the hotel and back again. It was an honor to compete around the country against team from states that were a bit more serious about the sport and mostly win.

However, the jersey was a completely different story! Take a look>>


"That's not so bad" you say???? Take a CLOSER look...


No self-respecting sport competitor would want to sport a stereotype like this as a mascot!! However it is utterly hilarious and I love it. Final verdict? This jersey is one "hot mess." :)

Walk Score

This is a fun little web tool to help evaluate the walkability of various neighborhoods. Since a walkable lifestyle is important to me, it was fun to use this to verify or debunk my various preferences for future places of residence. Go ahead and try it out!

Walk Score

Paisley Lace Army Camouflage

About a year ago I was wearing one of my shirts, really one of my favorites because it is indestructible, comfortable and doesn't show anything. And all the sudden I started laughing because I realized something that had bothered me for quite some time. I realized that I was wearing a shirt that somehow miraculously and simultaneously was paisley lace army camouflage. And then looking at it tonight, as I photographed it, I realized that the designers of the pattern had even managed to work into it some crackled glaze patterns. It really is amazing how many stunningly potent patterns (each of which individually I would never wear) have been incorporated into this shirt that I actually kind of like quite a lot. Take a look below and let me know if you see anything else that I've missed... Posted by C.

Our Little Garden

That was quite a long spell of no new posts, I apologize. There have been lots of events and happenings in the last few months that if I can get with it might share as posts (we will see), but no promises. One thing that has recently happened that is neat to us, it our little garden is beginning to produce. I mentioned in an earlier post that we had started a garden at my parents home just a few weeks after our return from Oregon. It's something Catherine has always wanted to do and I thought it would be fun too. We planted mainly peppers, there hardy and relatively easy to grow. We have green bell, cayenne, and banana peppers and so not to have too hot of a garden we also planted some bush beans. It's been neat watching our little garden as it has grown. I must admit though my parents, particularly my Dad, has done most the work since we are not there consistently enough too water and such. It still was a feeling of accomplishment when we picked the first of the beans last week and the first peppers last Friday. Tonight at the Lodge we were able to see our little group of veggies get put to good use in some very delicious side dishes. The green beans were cooked with a little bacon and the peppers went into a rice, corn and black bean salad. It all tasted very good and it was really great being so fresh. It has been a marvel to watch nature at work these past few months and its even better now that we are able to enjoy the fruits (or veggies) of our labor.
It has made me realize how much I take food for granted, its so easy to go into a grocery store and pick up a bell pepper or some beans with no thought or effort into thinking how it got there. This little garden experiment of ours has been a good reminder for me to be more appreciative of the conveniences we have in our lives.

Innovative Paper Art

I'm not sure where this blog found this art, but it's quirky and fun. Check it out!

Hummingbird Update: Empty Nest

Well, It's official, the baby hummingbird is out of the nest. All that's left is the egg that didn't hatch. The ants were interested in it so I thought I'd take it and keep it safe somewhere. Here's a picture below to give you an idea of the actual size of the egg.

Wow, now THAT'S art!

I found a really cool site for y'alls to check out.

Along with the work of Andy Goldsworthy...

...James Turrell,...


...and Robert Weingarten...


...this stuff is phenomenal.

Check out the Earth as Art, an offshoot of NASA's Landsat program. (Don't let the web-design stop you!)

Hummingbird Update 3

Look at that! It's already waaaaaay to big for the nest. When you compare it to the little egg it came from, it's just amazing. And it's started grooming itself. I can't get nearly as close anymore because pretty soon it's going to start just flying away.

Hummingbird Update 2

It's growing fast! The eyes are open and the feathers are pretty much in.

Hummingbird Update

Well, it doesn't look good for egg #2. Still hasn't hatched. But hummingbird baby #1 is growing like crazy! :)

Just Hatched!

As most of you probably know, a hummingbird nest was miraculously spared a drastic pruning that was inflicted upon a small tree at my Dad's business. And today I found out that one of the two eggs has hatched. Here's a picture of the nest.


The blackish blob at the top of the nest is the baby hummingbird. You can just barely make out the closed eyes to the left. It kinda looks like a leathery poo with a sprinkling of feathers. The nest itself is about 1.5" in diameter so the baby is TINY!

Sad day :(

Life ain't always easy! And one of our loved ones needs a little support right now. So if you see him, be sure to give him a hug!

I gave a bee a ride to work today

Yup, that's about it! It just wouldn't let go of the windshield wiper. So if I get nothing else done today, I will have given a bee a ride to work.

Father's Day From Far Away... Again

Dad and B. Working on the car

Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Well once again I'm in Eugene on Father's Day. Catherine and her folks and I are here for the week-end for the U of O commencement ceremonies. It was a beautiful, and I mean Beautiful day, that I will have to leave the details to another post, but unfortunately attending Catherine's Graduation prevented me (once again) from being there with my Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day in person. Thank you Dad for all your love and support, and patience, throughout the years. Thank you for your example, I hope someday to be a father as good to my children as you have been to us.

Busy, Busy, Busy, But I Think It's Slowing Down

Well since our return to California our lives have been a whirl wind of events. So much so I can't even keep them all straight. I have so many times during the last few weeks said to myself "I should blog about this," that now if I were to make a post for each time I said it, It would take me forever to get them all done. So here in short is what we've been up to.

The week after we moved back we were traveling once again. We flew to Detroit, MI. to visit Catherine's Grandparents and her Aunt. It served as a needed vacation and diversion from our hectic move, and it was great to see Cat's grandparents and Aunt again and in turn they were glad to see us. We were able to help her grandparents with a few errands and on our last night there, they treated us to a concert performed by the local Dearborn Symphony, which sound was very professional for a local symphonic ensemble.
We made it back in time for Mothers Day, and it was so nice to be there with my Mom to say Happy Mothers Day in person. Two Days after Mothers Day was my parents wedding anniversary, and after there anniversary date my parents helped me make a planter box. Catherine wants to try her hand at growing eatables, So we are starting out with some pepper plants and bush beans. It just so happened Catherine's Mom was getting rid of a little miscellaneous clutter from there garage, and among the items was some lumber. Two 2X6's and one 2X8's all 10' Long, that was once used for doing roller blade grinding tricks by Catherine and her brother Nick. Those three boards made a 2'X5'X2.5' planter with only scraps of wood left over. So Catherine and I now have our own little garden.
That same week I also started some odd jobs for my Father in Law, at his companies office. They recently relocated into a space once used as a restaurant, After a year or more of renovating they finally moved in just a few months ago, and there are still (as anybody familiar with the construction process knows.) a number of details to attend to. Since Catherine was involved with the initial design of the project, and is currently employed there. She volunteered us both to complete these last "little" projects. Its been fun, and a good experience for us both. These projects have ranged from Landscaping to some Framing, Installing built-in shelving, Caulking and even painting... we are currently still finishing up the last of these projects but after this past week-end, now have the bulk of them completed, something we are both very happy about.
In the middle of last month, the same week-end, but the night before Cat's "Trip to the Races" with her Father. My Father and I had an outing of our own. Being back, I was able to go this year to the annual Fathers and Sons Camp out hosted by the church. It was held at Gaviota State Beach, (why so far away? That was the question many had that evening, except those who wanted to kayak.) It was neat to go someplace new though. I've driven by there thousands of times, but had never stopped. The camp site was very full, which made it interesting. Its known to be a very windy spot, and that evening was no exception, but welcome because it was a warm warm night, even on the coast. It was a different Fathers and Sons Camp than what I remember, partly being older and partially the circumstance, but it was still fun and a good memory with my Dad. The next morning, after a short walk we headed back to the Lodge, and watched the old Disney movie "The Shaggy Dog" w/ Fred MacMurray, It was so hot we stayed in most the day to beat the heat and also to enjoy the addition to the Young's Lodge, The new LCD TV. That was what my parents got themselves for their anniversary. Now they can see the TV from across the room.

Apart from keeping busy with the odds and end jobs in past few weeks for my Father in-law, we also have been getting all our ducks in a row, to say, California registration, license plates, drivers license... As part of that process I was told it was necessary for me to have a birth certificate. Mine was lost in the flood, of the Quonset Hut. So I went down to L.A. to get it in person, and it was relatively quick and easy, which is good because It turned out I didn't need it. But its a good thing to have a copy of any way. I was also able to visit my Grandma while down there and even though she has been having troubles of her own she seems in good spirits. I was able to go visit her again last week with my sister, to visit, number one and second to help out any way possible. I couldn't help but feeling in our own ways, her and I are going through similar situations, change and uncomfortably situations. Not exactly the same of course, I just felt as we visited that we both had something else on our minds, and I'm very sure it was true for us both, but in varying degrees.

A few weeks ago Jen, Cat and I went on a hike to Two Trees, which you can find a link to my sisters blog, on the post below. Also that same week-end was Memorial Day week-end and we had a great visit with my family at my sisters house, near the beach. It was a great day. That morning Marc and Jen and Cat and I took a walk on the beach. Catherine and I took photos of Jen & Marc to get a anniversary picture of the two of them. It was a very beautiful morning and made me so happy we moved back. Later that afternoon Nora and my Parents came and we had good old fashion hot dogs and Jenny put on Pixar's "Finding Nemo". It was a very relaxing and fun afternoon.

I hope things will start to so slow down now, however the daunting task of the job hunt is still before us and that is enough to keep us plenty busy. We are finally settled in to my in-laws, Catherine's parents home, (for now). Nagi is "Queen" over her two feline counterparts at my parents house, at least she thinks she is, which is enough to make her happy. Today marked the completion of the largest of the tasks at my F.I.L.'s office. This afternoon driving back to Catherine's parents, I had the window down in the truck and the AC off and it was so pleasant, it was slightly hazy ( no not smog, water vapor ) , yet you could still see the mountains in the distance. The sun was out and warm and the air was just the perfect temperature. Catherine and I took advantage of this weather and the pool here this evening. As we sat immersed in the warmth of the water, above us were long streaked cream colored clouds, against an amazing vibrant azure sky, with the jet black silhouette of birds flying way over head. The sun, low on the horizon bathed the near by homes and palm trees in a golden hue, It was indeed a beautiful evening. It was in this moment that Catherine said she had seen a weather report for Eugene today and told me it had been rainy there all week and is forecast to continue at least another. I apologize to any one reading this from Eugene. Please, I mean no offense, but I am so glad to be back home in Southern California.

Two Trees / The Laziest Post Ever

I was just thinking about how we should really do a post about our hike to Two Trees on the Saturday before Memorial Day. And then Jen went and did all the work for us! Check it out! Thanks Jen!

A Predominance of Poofy Clouds!

Well after the first week of collecting data for our Weather Log the results are in! We've got a resounding consensus for Poofy Clouds! As everyone knows we've had some wonderful weather lately, but I'm still holding out hope for a gloomy June in Oxnard. :) Thanks for all the input from Carpinteria. (Yes, I am aware that Carpinteria is in Santa Barbara County...I just like to pretend it's a part of Ventura.)

If there are any requests for additional choices for weather style just drop a line in the text box at the bottom of the form. For example, Ben took exception to the "boring blue sky" so in the spirit of fairness, now survey participants can chose the alternative "beautiful blue sky" (I do think there is a difference). And don't be shy. If it's a day with predominantly blue sky but there's some haze in the distance, you don't have to chose, just go ahead and select both!!! I know I do!

Fill out our form, Foo!

Hi all! If you know us at all, you know we're always talking (arguing) about the weather. So we've decided to get a little more scientific! We've set up the Wufoo form in the column to the right to help us gather and organize data about weather conditions in various parts of Ventura County. I don't think it will settle the debate, but it should make it more fun. So if you stop by our blog, go ahead and take a minute to fill out our form!

Off to the races

Well I had a father/daughter night last night. The last couple of times we've been in SoCal visiting, my Dad's always been asking people to go to the Ventura fairgrounds with him to go watch the races. No one ever did. But last night we were just chill'n and watching a little TV and when he brought it up, the races sounded good. So we went.

We had just barely enough cash between us to get in (yay!) and we scrounged through his change to gather up enough for some fresh kettle corn (yum!).

As we entered the arena to get some seats (out of the range of mud hurled from the dirt track) we walked by some guys who yelled "GO DUCKS!" That was because I was wearing my UofO hoodie. So I said "Go Ducks" back and we started our climb up the bleachers. It ended up that the seats we'd taken were right next to the other Ducks fans so we had a nice little chat about Oregon and Ducks football and various bars (that I'd never been to!).

And then the races started. The bass-y roar was awesome. If I didn't already play the bass I would've been all over sprint car racing! The speed was incredible even though the dirt track was so tiny. And the way the leaders skated around the turns and the rest of the pack jockeyed for position never got boring. And I got to see a dirt zamboni in action! That was funny.

We got to see about 4 races each with different sized sprint cars. Each race halted about 5 or 6 times due to crashes (not serious crashes but since the sprint cars don't have starters they needed tow trucks to get going again!) and one car even ended up on its side.

And my Dad (who never wins anything...) had a T-shirt literally fall into his lap. The announcer would periodically shoot the t-shirts high into the sky with a compressed air gun. You needed to keep a constant watch out for falling t-shirts!

All in all our night at the races was super fun! I found out that the tires don't smoke, they're just so hot that they instantly vaporize the water in the packed dirt. And I found out that the tires have minimal pressure for maximum grip and a smoother ride. And as we were leaving at around 9:30pm, chilled to the bone in 66 degree weather (gotta love the coast weather!), I found out that this was the first time my Dad had gotten to the races in years! I hope we'll go back soon.

Happy Mother's Day

Thank you Mom, for everything.
July 1978 B. & Mom

Back in California

We are back and it feels great. The sun is shining and warm, it feels like we are finally getting to dry out. It is also wonderful to be back with all the family and to have everyone so close. The move down went well, but it was a long day of driving. Eugene was gray and gloomy and It rained almost the whole way to the Californian boarder, but once in Cali it was clear and sunny the rest of the way. It was even snowing over the Siskiyou pass right before the boarder. It was fun and beautiful but also made it really easy to leave Oregon. Earlier however we were both teary eyed as we left our empty apartment, so many memories there and we were both melancholy those last few days as we said good bye to our favorite places in Eugene. Today we finally got all settled into Catherine's Parents home, and took our last major load of things we feel we can do with out for the time being and put them into storage with the rest of our stuff. So it's official, were here for good, well that is, it sure doesn't feel like we are just here visiting anymore. Tomorrow real life starts again, its the day we put our nose's to the grind stone, where we start looking for work and Catherine will physically be at her Dads companies office instead of miles away. She'll be working for her Father and looking for a job as well. Plus in the field of Architecture she has the extra work of making a portfolio... in finding a place of employment her task is most defiantly harder than mine and the stakes are higher. She will have no problem though, I know. She is very hard working, much harder working than me, thats for sure. So in short, we're moved in, now to find work, to get money, to save money so we can buy or rent so we can move again. Aaaah! too many moves, but when I look outside and see that its not raining or I drive a few minutes to see family, it makes it all worth while. ( Pictures to the side are in chronological order.)