Major Updates

One thing is for sure, this post isn't going to be about how I've completed my blogging goal. It's been about 2 months since I last posted... my apologies. Anyway, in that time I've been pretty busy knocking out goals. So, without further ado, here they are in no particular order (with some commentary for each):

1. Get a new job - I finally managed to get out of IBM. It was time. I had been moved around several times in recent history and it was looking like it was going to happen again. I'm working at UC Davis now. For the next 2 years I will be working, along with developers from many other universities across the US, on an open source project called Kuali. I'll be working on administration software needed by universities. Sounds like it's going to be alot of fun!
2. Clean up and plant the south planting area in the back yard - While there are new plans to do more and different things with the back yard, I did manage to plant some things in that area. My hops took off and have reached a second floor window. The tomato plants Amanda brought back from work one day exploded into tomato bushes and have yielded a pretty good harvest, with more to come. The pepper plants have yet to bear fruit, but are still healthy. We also had a few rogue sunflowers for a while.
3. Wash and clean both cars - I managed to do this about a week before Amanda's parents came to visit... though I cheated a bit and went to a car wash. I still put in the effort and cleaned them out and vacuumed and cleaned the inside. Still, with as dry and dusty as Sacramento has been, but the time her parents showed up a week later, the cars were caked with dust already.
4. Complete my IBM Healthy Living program each year I'm working for IBM - This is kind of a completion. I was about 2/3 of the way through it when I ceased to be an IBM employee. Still I had done all of the tracking and even did some of the evaluations before I quit.
5. Average at least one date night a month - Through the kindness of one of Amanda's friends, Lisa, we managed to have another date night. We had babysat for Lisa a month or so ago and she called us out of the blue to remind us she owed us. We managed to get quite a bit done around the house and then go out to dinner together. Thanks, Lisa.
6. Take Milo for a walk at least 5 times a week for 3 months - So, having walked Milo daily before vacation and after we returned, I have now averaged 5 times a week for 3 months. Milo is pretty addicted to it now and it seems likely that this practice will continue even though the goal has been met.
7. Get a battery charger and slowly switch Deacon's toys' battery consumption to rechargeables - Got the charger and have not bought non-rechargeable batteries since. On a side note, we got the "eneloop"-brand charger. Seemed to be the best mix between the 'fast'-chargers that shorten the overall lifetime of the battery and the 'trickle'-chargers which take forever to charge but make each battery seemingly last forever.

That's the end of my list. There are quite a few more goals in progress, but I'll write about those when I complete them.

Another ethnic restaurant down

To celebrate Amanda's last day at UC Davis last week, I went to Davis and took her out to lunch. She was craving Thai food, so we ate at the Thai Bistro in Davis. The food was quite good! Amanda got her usual Pad See Ewe and I got a Yellow Curry. The portions were great for lunch and included a small salad. I also had the Iced Thai Tea which was typical, but good.

It's your typical 'hole-in-the-wall' Thai joint much like Amanda's and my favorite, Tawan's in San Francisco. We both liked it enough that we'd go back... if we had reason to be in Davis.

Thai Bistro
234 E Street
Davis, CA 95616
(530) 747-0123

Catch Up

OK, so it's easy to fall behind on posting when you've gone on vacation. So here's a quick update of the items completed just before or during vacation:

• Finished the walk/run daily for at least a month before we left... good thing since I didn;t keep up with it on vacation.
• Had a date night while on vacation (movie and dinner at Benihana).

Still playing games

Ok, so this is more like what I expected. Cards! We are still playing
games and I'm well on my way toward completing this goal too!

Working on the office

So, here's my latest progress on the office. I think this is proving
to be one of the harder lost items. More later.

Another One Bites the Dust

So this past week I finally knocked another complete item off my list.  I updated my resume.  Check it out at http://www.eversmann.com/damien/resume.html.  It's even available in several formats.

Haircut

Well, it's not the best picture... and it's not really the best haircut... but it is something new/different and so it counts.  Deacon and I went and got haircuts together today.  This time he got the buzz and I got a "style".  Anyway, another one off the list.

Library Card.... check!

Well, I finally actually COMPLETED a goal!  I got my Sac Public Library card.  Amanda and Deacon have had theirs practically since we moved in.  I finally got mine today... like 2.5 years later.  Oh well, at least now I can go with Amanda and Deacon to story time when they go.

Another Ethnic Restaurant Down

Lunch today was at Cafe Mediterranee in Davis. Amanda wanted me to come to Davis for lunch and I had been talking about wanting to get some Mediterranean food so when we passed this place, Amanda said, "Stop!" I got the beef shawarma plate and Amanda got the grilled chicken breast plate. We got a total of 4 sides combined, Hummus, Babaganoush, Taboulleh, and Potato Salad. The meats were freshly grilled and quite good. The Taboulleh was a little heavy on the parsley (or lacking in other ingredients) for me. Both the Baba and Hummus were tasty but a little bland. And I wasn't aware that potato salad was Mediterranean... though it was pretty good with bell peppers and fresh dill.

All in all, a decent meal.

Café Méditerranée
113 D St

Davis, CA 95616
(530) 759-7007‎

Games!!!

So it occurred to me today that one of my goals is to play games with Amanda... Now, when I wrote the goal, I was thinking cards and board games and things like that. But since Fathers Day, when Amanda gave me Mario Kart Wii, she and I have played that together several times... some last week and some this week. That means I'm 2 weeks into my goal to play games with her at least once a week for a month.... And I didn't even know I was making progress on another goal!

More dining progress

Well today Amanda and I ate lunch out at a new (to us) ethnic restaurant, the Bangkok Garden in Natomas. Amanda and I have a fondness for Thai food, but unfortunately haven't had much of a chance to get much since her surgery. So we decided to try a new place today. Amanda got her usual Pad See-Ew and I got Panang Curry. They have a spiciness scale a little longer than most Thai restaurants (mild, medium, hot, very hot and Thai hot - most restaurants leave off the very hot). I got very hot and it was quite good. Our lunches included a cup of soup which was refreshingly tangy and a touch spicy. The portions were quite generous.

On a side note, they were out of the usual Pad See-Ew noodles so they made Amanda's dish with Pad Thai noodles. We also overheard them tell someone they were out of their usual egg rolls... strange to be out of two common items.

Oh well.... the list marches on.

Bangkok Garden
3230 Arena Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95834
(916) 285-0608

Progress - Mmmm Exercise

Well, I haven't gotten quite the bang up start that Amanda had, but I figure I'm getting pieces of some of the big ones started. Today marked the 8th day in a row that I walked Milo. Now, because of vacation in July, this isn't going to be able to count toward my walking Milo goal, it will count toward my walking or running daily for a month goal... which is now 26% done (as long as I don't miss any days.

Woo hoo, progress!

Starting Strong

Well, Amanda and I ate lunch at Pluto's in Davis today. While there are a few locations in the Sacramento area (2 or 3) I don't think I'd consider it a chain. {EDIT: Turns out there are 8 in Northern California... still counts in my opinion.} So, that's one of my new, non-ethnic restaurants.

Pluto's is sort of a cafeteria style restaurant, similar to Jack's Urban Eats (also a Sacramento area eatery). You can get salads, sandwiches or entrees all made to order. They also have several homestyle sides you can get. I got the Tri Tip sandwich and potato rings (curly fries). Amanda got an asian style salad with turkey. Both were excellent... but the fries were just OK.

Pluto's
500 1st St # 13
Davis, CA 95616
(530) 758-8676

Day One

Well, I've let Amanda talk me into a new project... though I'm thinking I might regret it. To the right, you'll see a list of 101 things that I've set out to try to accomplish in the next 1001 days (roughly 2.75 years). Amanda's been doing it for like 2 weeks and already has 4. At that rate, she'll be done in a year. I can only hope I'll be as efficient!

Oh well, here goes...