Wrenching Serenity is Officially Dormant :-)

I have decided to focus on Facebook for now, so I am declaring this blog officially dormant.

Most of my friends are on Facebook now, and it is a much more powerful tool than this blog. So, for the foreseeable future, pictures and stories of my adventures will appear on Facebook (FB) only. I invite you all to join me there.

FB is hooked into my iPhoto, so it is much easier to post pictures. FB has the ability to handle short "status updates" and longer "notes" that equal what I would do in this space. It also is a more interactive medium, and it is much easier to post and receive comments on my pictures and stories there.

I also appreciate the abilities FB has that this blog does not. For instance, it is possible to post links to URLs on FB. The linked site automatically displays pictures the site has chosen related to the link. This makes it easy to post articles, sites of TV shows I am watching, or anything that catches my eye on the web. It is a great way to spark discussion.

That is the main thing I like about FB: the possibilities for discussion. I can now spend all day, if I like, chatting with my friends all over the world. Since they are all in one place, it is easy to participate in several "threads" or discussions at once. Blogs are, by their nature, very one-sided. FB is much more interactive and therefore much more fun.

I also appreciate the more precise privacy controls I have on FB compared to this blog. I can set almost every element separately at any level from "Everyone of Facebook" to "Only Me" and everything in between. I have most things set to "Only Friends," which means I control who sees my posts. I do not have that fine level of control here at "Wrenching Serenity". Pictures are usually set to "Friends of Friends," so my friends can easily share the pictures of them with folks I don't know. Since it is on my page, though, their friends can only see the pics. If they aren't linked to me, they can't see anything else or write on my page. It is a great system

I may return to this blog in the future, if I take an extended trip, for instance. I think blogs are best suited to those sorts of activities: A single topic that would benefit from at least one post a day.

My stream on consciousness-type postings, though, are much better suited to Facebook. And I find Facebook much more interactive than blogs, as I said. And I really only want to communicate with my friends, and not the world at large. So, for now, it is all about Facebook.

Facebook is infinitely customizable. Some people join under a false name (perhaps the name of their pet) so they have access to all the pictures and videos posted by their friends, but nobody from their past will find them. The other end of the spectrum are the folks who have over 300 connections with folks on FB and post 50 times a day. These folks usually link their FB and Twitter accounts, so they post in two places at once. Some people post every five minutes, and others check once a day and post once a week. FB has replaced email for some, and others only check their friends pics and never say anything.

The time involved is entirely up to each person. The "passive publishing" nature of FB means that nobody expects an instant answer, but such speed is possible if you want it. Unlike "mass emails," I don't feel like I am clogging up inboxes. And, unlike this blog, folks can say they have read something by clicking the "like" button, which makes it easy to tell who knows what. :-)

I enjoy FB more than blogging. Fb is easier, more powerful, and much more interactive. Come join me!

Navigate to . It is possible to join under a false name and then edit it later in the same account if you so desire. I'm listed under my full name. Come see all the pics and videos of my 2-month old nephew Kai! :-D

Our New Apartment

Ricardo and I have moved to an apartment in Sunnyvale. We moved our stuff in about three weeks ago, but we are still drowning in boxes and not all our furniture has been found yet on Craig's List. We also have some on offer from family that we haven't claimed yet. (Thanks Everybody!)

But it is coming along and we should be settled by Christmas. Or President's Day. :-) At the very least I am happy to find that we enjoy sharing our space.

We are in Sunnyvale on a fairly big road. Thankfully the apartment is only about 6 years old, and so has double pane windows and plenty of insulation, so we can hardly hear it. The new construction also means it is not a galley kitchen, and we have a washer and dryer in the unit, which is a really nice perk. Living by the road helps in that apartments with this floor-plan further back in the unit cost more per month.

It was built right in the midst of the housing boom, where everyone was leaving apartments for houses, so they used all sorts of nice touches. Berber style carpet, foot-square granite tiles on the kitchen and bathroom counters, blond wood cabinets. It is so much nicer than some places we looked at. I'm so glad we could find such a deal! We even have a bit of a patio! Thank goodness for that road! :-)

Here's a few pictures to give you an idea. I'll take another set once we're settled:




The bedroom. This room is actually pretty much settled and I should probably take another with the furniture to give you an idea of the size. That's my purse in the corner. It is actually a fairly large room. We actually have about 725 square feet, which is large for a one-bedroom around here. We have another window to the right because we are an end unit.



The bathroom sink. I know, this is like those Real Estate virtual tours of vacant homes you see on the net. But notice the granite! See? :-)



Me in my moving clothes and the huge bathroom mirror. Like a fun house in there I tell ya! Except without the waviness part.



Our huge living room with sliding glass door at the end. This connects to the kitchen by sorta a bar area, an extension of the kitchen sink. Our patio is out the door. We will not be using bar area of course. Complete teetotalers. (Hi Mom!)

Anyway, our new Magicka IKEA bookshelf is off to the left of the sliding door now. A STEAL at $50 on craigslist (retail $200) and 2 doors (sold separately) came with it FREE! Love that craigslist.com. The folks who sold us the bookcase have the matching TV stand. They are selling it at the end of the month, and said we could have it for $20! (It has a bit of a scratch.) Bring it on!



The kitchen. And the granite again! I love these cabinets too. They are a better color than that, I had the florescent on. Where's my light box when I need it?



Our patio, and the lovely street that saved us all that money. Thank you, street!



The floor plan that the manager gave us when we were looking. Ricardo scanned it. So much easier to give a schematic than describe the layout.

You can see our house on Google street view. Email me and I'll getcha the number. It is slightly different than our mailing address, which of course is the same all over the complex.

See below for the other new post, Ricardo's fall color pictures.

Ricardo's Fall Color Pictures

Ricardo took a trip to New England in October and took some amazing pictures of the fall foliage, as well as some of the lighthouses down the coast. Here's a sample:







To see a selection of his best from that trip follow this link.

Ricardo and My Summer Adventure: Capitola, Santa Cruz, San Juan Bautista

Hello Everyone! Ricardo and I took an overnight trip around Labor Day to the Begonia Festival in Capitola, then slightly north to stay in Santa Cruz, then inland to Mission San Juan Bautista the next day. Pictures follow.

First, the Begonia festival in Capitola. A more true small town America festival you could never find. The main event was the floats. Local group created floats out of Begonias (semi-tropical flowers in the red/pink/yellow/white range, mostly) and mounted them on rafts and then towed these by rowboat down the river that runs through the center of town.

The river actually never reaches the ocean. It ends when it meets the beach, which consists of a high dune of sand, so the river ends in this lagoon. So at no time are the pilots in danger from large ocean waves. I knew that would put your mind at rest. (The river actually does meet the ocean, just under the sand, but that is neither here nor there.)

My favorite pics from the festival:



See the little kids on the back on this turtle? You can see the folks in the park watching the action float by too. We stood on this hill high above the river, but we could see well.



A whale, one of my favorites. "It Came from the Sea" was the theme. One group came up with a great monster in response, but I didn't get a good picture.



"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!" Blatant pander to the crowd (we helped in the judging), but cute, no?



I just love this hotel room, right on the sand, so colorful, and a garden. Lovely. We didn't stay here (we lodged in Santa Cruz instead). I just thought it was so cute, and right off the pier.

(Continued below)

Middle of the Weekend in Santa Cruz

We stayed overnight in Santa Cruz. The next morning we walked up West Cliff Drive to Natural Bridges State Beach. It all reminded me how much I love Santa Cruz. I haven't traveled there enough since I graduated from UCSC.

We stayed in Beach Flats, which is actually a little scary because that is supposed to be one of the worst neighborhoods in Santa Cruz. Not bad for one night, though, and we could hear the revellers down at the Boardwalk. Scream down the roller coaster hill, hold your breath going up, scream once more. It has a rhythm, like waves at the ocean. We ate at the pier, which is right there. Good seafood.

Two pics:



The view as we started up West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz. I loved the bikes locked to the fence.



Ah, the California Coast. So gorgeous. I especially enjoyed the watching the water rush into this sea cave.

A Visit to Mission San Juan Bautista

Here is the third part of our trip - a visit to Mission San Juan Bautista. Being a native Californian and having grown up with the name, I had never thought to translate it into English. It means Saint John the Baptist, of course, and they have a lovely statue of him in their alter wall. I've gathered some of the best pictures below. The darkness of the mission kept me from getting good ones inside, though Ricardo got better ones with his professional grade equipment (see links on right below). Here are some of my favorites:



Ceiling of the mission with chandelier. Cool light on this one.



I loved this side door into the mission, complete with obligatory vine. It was just as you'd expect to find at a California mission. It led out into the walled garden of the mission, where the chickens run free. Felt very authentic.



Ricardo took this one obviously. I almost wasn't sure he was really taking one but I thought I'd smile anyway. Didn't it turn out nicely?



Don't we look lovely? This is the mission garden I spoke of. The mission lies behind us. You can hardly tell how hot it was that day.

New Profile Picture

Did y'all see the new picture of me in the "About Me" section on the right (scroll down)? Mom took that one at Katie and Eric's wedding this summer. As you can see I'm wearing my summer garden wedding hat. Love that one; got it in Scotland you know. I'm so pleased with that pic - it is my Facebook pic now too.

I'm a Real Science Writer Now

Well I have been working at NASA Ames for the summer and it has been great fun. I feel like a true science writer now. They hired me to work on the FY06 and FY07 annual reports (from scratch) and I now am putting the finishing touches on the mock-up for the 2006 Annual Report. So I really did accomplish something this summer. 2007 is almost all done as well, though not laid out yet.

I did the lay-out in InDesign, which I have never worked with before. It is a powerful program, that is easy to use once you understand a few rules. I'm glad I have some experience with it now; that is a good skill to have in the job market.

I love my boss, and wish I could continue at NASA, but they told all us interns early on that they don't have enough money to hire us as real employees. In fact that is why they get so many interns: they are cheap and do good work at completing specific projects. Then they leave. It is fun while it lasts, though, and it will look good on the resume.

My department is SimLabs, which runs all the flight and air-traffic control simulation at Ames. Our VMS is the best vertical motion simulator in the world in about 100 different ways, and we are very proud of that. It is an amazing place.

I have learned a huge amount about translating technical documents into more of a marketing tone too, though what I am writing would go to potential customers, so hardly complete lay-people. In fact they know way more about the concepts then I do. But I have enjoyed interviewing the various engineers and becoming something of an expert for a day or two about these esoteric concepts, like pilot control loaders. Fascinating stuff. Ask me anything.

I even flew the Boeing 747 simulator. I crashed the plane. Flying is hard. :-)

Our Trip to Fort Bragg

Ricardo and I just took a trip to Fort Bragg for my Birthday. It is a little odd, the town is "Fort Bragg" but the actual fort the Russians built and maintained for years is called "Fort Ross." Why the discrepancy? Perhaps we'll never know.

It is a cute town though, with lots of fun things to do. You may not have heard of it it is so tiny. It is just north of Mendocino, the artsy touristy town that gets more visitors, and about three hours North of San Francisco. (Is that right Ricardo? I forget.)

Here are my favorite pictures. There are four posts of pictures because it seems blogger has a limit it can handle per post. Enjoy!



My artsy lighthouse picture. This is the Fresnel lens(pronounced "Frennel" because it is a French man's name) used to focus and amplify the oil lamp used to light the lighthouse beacon.



Ricardo on a point of land taking a picture of the Pacific. The first day was a little overcast with stormy waves. My Birthday day though was gorgeous with sun and blue sky. So nice.

I seemed during the trip to have a little equilibrium problem. Most of my distance pictures feature a tilted horizon. I wasn't drunk, I swear! :-)



The angry sea that first day.

Second set::Train

Ricardo set up this delightful excursion. We took a train ride through the woods, by a river, to a "mining camp" under the redwoods. It was beautiful and I do like trains. The only bad thing was that it was supposed to take around three hours round trip and it took more like six. We had been planning to have lunch when we got off our morning train ride so we were hungry at the end. I still had fun though.



Our locomotive. It was a steam locomotive, very fun.



On the train, chugging through the woods by the river. We had someone else take this picture so you could see the train car.



Us by the train up in the pretend mining camp. Someone else took this one too so you can see the train. Y'know, I don't think we took one picture of ourselves. Weird. :-)

Third bunch o' Pictures

These take us to the beach at noon, then to the lighthouse that evening, through to the botanical gardens the next day.



dear Ricardo staring off into the ocean. This was a lovely beach, actually. It had a large river coming to meet the ocean that was warm and shallow and lots of people swam in it. And the actual beach/ocean part featured clean warm sand and good views of amazing waves. That was fun. We were heading to glass beach, though, so we didn't stay really long. Glass Beach is the site of the old dump that closed one or two hundred years ago. All the trash is gone, but the glass bottles have gotten broken and tumbled in the sand and water until they are small and smooth. The ground is covered with glass fragments. People collect them, even though you're not supposed to. Blue glass is very rare. Mainly white, green and amber glass.



This is my most amazing picture. It is one of the light houses, I think Point Cabrillo, at sunset. If you look closely you'll see I caught the flash of the lighthouse and a plane going by on the left. Isn't that cool!?!



A beautiful and fancy fuschia in the botanical gardens.



Ricardo taking some amazing pictures of the flowers in the botanical garden.



A field of sunspot in the gardens.

Fourth and Final Fort. Bragg Pictures

The final pictures in our series. Leaving Fort Bragg behind .



This was also in the botanical garden. Ricardo often takes pictures like this, of just a field of repeating patterns, like roof tiles. I like the texture of these plants that carpeted the ground.



This picture is of the ocean off the point that comes halfway in the walk around the garden. There was an Osprey there that day, diving for food. Real fun to watch.



An impressive cannon at the fort near the chapel (center) and an officer's house (left). I found one of the rangers trying to move one of these cannons in in the eastern round house. This building is heavily fortified, and multiple cannons face out, defending the fort. Someone had moved the cannon nine inches aways from its slit in the wall. Eventually we had three people, levers, everything. We could not budge it. It must have taken a crowd to dislocate it.



A sparsely furnished bedroom in the officer's house in the fort. This would look even better if it was black and white.



The Golden Gate.

Done!

Well I finished the semester at SJSU. I still have about 5 more weeks of my online course because they are on the quarter system, but it feels great to be done with one school course. My last final of the semester there meant I should move out of housing. I won't have classroom instruction except maybe once a week in the Fall so it doesn't make sense to stay. I will mainly work on my thesis all the time, and I can do that anywhere.

It was quite the end of an era in my apartment. Three out of the four of us moved out. We hated to leave the poor 4th one but the time had come. I hope she gets some good housemates. I was so lucky that everyone in that house was so kind and generous. I enjoyed hanging out with them all the time and we all became good friends. We had a good time. I can't believe it is over.

Now I wonder how to integrate my stuff back in to the house. I lived at school for 2 years, so I accumulated a certain amount of stuff. I'm going to get rid of a lot of it hopefully. There's just no room. Amazing the amount of stuff I fit into that room without it seeming crowded at all. It felt open and spacious and yet I took bag after bag out of there. And it is a pretty small room too! Man. Well wish me luck in getting this done somehow. Now some of my stuff is in the living room so I know Mom is rooting for the swift integration.