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.