The Dame

Pat and I ventured up to San Francisco last night to take in a show - Dame Edna. If you have not seen her, I recommend it. She was a hoot. We left the house at three, as the matinee started at five. San Francisco was truly gorgeous - in her full glory. I love this city to our north. It is a beautiful place to visit. Yesterday was so clear we could see for miles. I found myself wishing we had spent the entire day in the city and not worked on mundane stuff like laundry and household chores. But hey, we need clean clothes, sheets and towels.
All the way across the bay, Oakland was crystal clear and the SF skyline was breathtaking. The Post Street Theater is at Union Square, usually a shopping destination for me, but I digress. The theater is a small, intimate one, which was perfect for this type of show. (I think I was there over 20 years ago where I met then Crown Prince Harald of Norway). We had great seats - not close enough for us to be picked on by Edna, but close enough to have great enjoyment of the show. After the show we started our walk back the to parking garage. Union Square was in fine form. It was all decorated with lights and Christmas decorations. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We ate some appetizers at Fog City Diner and headed home. The crab cakes were divine. I checked out my Fog City Diner cookbook when we got home and found the recipe. It's a bit large for our family - starting with two pounds of crab! I'll have to figure out how to cut it down, but they are the best I've had. Better than mine, even.

Christmas Dog

I realized my previous few posts were rants about this and that so decided to try to be more positive. This is our Lucy, who is probably the most spoiled dog on earth. On Christmas Day we were playing the game Apples to Apples, which is a fun game for a group. After chasing her new frisbee for a while, Lucy joined the game by going from lap to lap. Here she is after she fell asleep on Laura's lap - face on the dining room table - before Christmas dinner.

Caveat Emptor

I don't know what I was thinking today, but I went to the mall. Yeah, to Valley Fair on the 26th of December. I didn't really NEED anything, but heard there were great deals to be had, so ended up parking three blocks away and walked. Man, there were so many people there, it was ridiculous.
There was a jacket I had looked at a couple of weeks ago at a small boutique shop. I thought maybe it was on sale, and I could afford it at a discount. When I entered the store the sales guy told me that stuff was marked down 25%. Nice. I figured I would snag the jacket. Yeah, it was on sale, but they jacked up the "previous" price by about $300, so the "sale" price was the same price as when I tried it on before. What the hell? I called Pat and asked him how much it was before - I thought maybe I had forgotten. Nope. He confirmed the price I thought it was. I don't think I'll shop there again. What a crappy, unscrupulous way to do business!

On a happier note, I met Kristen and Laura there and we spent some fun time together. I didn't end up getting anything, but Laura got a killer deal on some cute shoes - buy a pair and get a pair free. Also, Kristen exchanged some "ugly pajamas" for some much needed bras.

I had a hankerin' for some spicy lamb burgers that I have a great recipe for. I left the mall and went to my favorite upscale grocery store. After I had all of the ingredients for the meal in my cart, I went to the meat counter. The butcher informed me they were out of ground lamb. Crap! Now what? I went around the store putting back pita bread, garbanzo beans and all of the other stuff I had and wondered what the heck to cook for dinner. I decided on Veal Scallopine and got all of THOSE ingredients.

Man, what a day. I am beat from all of this shopping crap. I am done. Done except for cooking a great dinner. I hope both of my readers had a better 26th. Hopefully, you were smart and stayed home and did something more productive like do laundry or take out the trash.

Pig update

The tenants we had on that side of the duplex were a single mom and her two kids. They have been there for some time - four years, maybe? We have met her - she's a college professor, articulate, clean, etc. I just couldn't connect the dots as to why she would leave the place in such a mess when she left. It simply did not make sense.

I found out yesterday, what Paul Harvey would call "The rest of the story". When her son turned 18, they put him on the lease, also. She apparently moved out some time ago and Junior was supposed to move out all the stuff. HE'S the one who left all the crap, which totally makes sense now. She called the property manager to ask about her deposit - well..... she's not gonna get much of it back.... maybe a couple hundred bucks. She is angry (at her son) and embarrassed. I feel sorry for her, but he's not my kid and we still had to pay big bucks to get the joint rentable.

Pigs

I have decided that calling someone a pig is probably an insult to the four legged porcine.
We own a duplex in Sacramento, which is just far enough away that I can't manage it myself, so we have a property manager. We recently had a tenant move out and had to do a quick turn around for a new tenant who moved in two weeks later. The turn around time was quick, but we're thankful for a very short vacancy period.
Pat was driving through Sac a couple of weeks ago and stopped by to look at the place to give me a report. He said the place was unbelievable. They left all manner of crap in the house, yard and garage. Including furniture in the driveway.
I sort of thought he was exaggerating until I got the 165 pictures the PM took. Oh my gosh! What slobs! There was clothing, furniture, games, cigarette butts, food and I don't know what else left behind. The cobwebs were so thick on the walls it looked like Herman Munster's house. How can people live like that?

Pat's brother, Ray, is between jobs at the moment and he volunteered to rehab the place for us. He lives in Grass Valley, so it's only about an hour away for him. He needs the work and we knew he'd do a great job. Plus we'd rather pay the dough to family than a stranger who in all likelihood would overcharge us.
It took Ray EIGHT HOURS to clean up all the junk and haul it to the dump. I have the weighmaster's receipt - 1100 POUNDS of crap he hauled out of there. Oh, she also left behind two cats, which Ray took to the animal shelter. Nice lady, NOT. It also took quite a bit of time for him to clean the cobwebs out so he could paint. Oh, and two bedrooms needed three coats of paint due to purple walls.
Ray did a killer job on the place and he is our go-to guy from now on. Our new tenants moved in on Friday and we hope they will be happy and stay a good long time.
I learned a lesson here. I am always lecturing my property management clients that it's an investment - a business, and don't get all tweaked when tenants do stupid stuff to your property. I am upset that this woman had so little regard for our property that she left it in such a shambles. I guess this will make me more empathetic to my clients. Now I know how it feels. Not good at all.

Ugly Cars

I saw today, what I think is probably the 2nd ugliest car on the road. What could it be? A Jaguar Station Wagon - complete with hood ornament. Argh. Jaguar makes sleek, good looking cars. Who on earth would want to buy this beast at 35 to 40 thousand dollars. I guess someone who lives near me.
What I believe is THE ugliest car on the road is the Pontiac Aztec. It is hideous. I have heard it described as what looks like a high school shop project. The students were given the project to start on either end and make it connect in the middle. Another description of a green model likened it to a toad - then the reviewer decided that was an insult to a toad.
While these may be very fine automobiles, I just have one question for the design engineers. What were you thinking?

My Twin, Don

At the request of certain family members, I am now posting what may be the most unflattering picture ever taken of me. For the record, I love this pic.

We camp every Labor Day Weekend at our Sons of Norway District Camp, Camp Norge. The Kelly/Hulberg clan has now merged with the Slama clan and there can be over 30 of us just in the three generations of our group. Don, pictured with me, is the Patriarch of the Slama clan. I've known the Slamas for close to 40 years from our association at our Sons of Norway lodge.

A couple of years ago I rolled out of our tent with my glasses on and hair sticking straight up. Of course the collective group of Kelly/Hulberg/Slama found this uproariously funny and proceeded to rib me about my appearance no end.

About 20 minutes later Don rolled out of his motor home sporting the identical look I had. Of course this made it even funnier and his daughter Becky took this picture, all the while threatening to send it to the Viking. I told her go ahead and do it - either she never sent it in or the smart people at Viking rejected it. Probably the latter.