bonnie & jason

Happy Birthday Grandpa

jason — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:52:09 +0000

Alissa helped Grandpa celebrate his birthday yesterday.

She also picked up this new karate pose from Benita.

It’s actually better than that with her arm held out in a punch but we didn’t get it captured quickly enough.

More Halloween pictures

jason — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:52:58 +0000

On Saturday, Eddy hosted a party at his place for the kids that slowly evolved into a party for the adults. It was kind of a post Halloween, Halloween party. Alissa seemed to have a good time playing with the toys that Megan brought and sort of got a kick out of some of the costumes folks had on. Here are a few highlights:

McDreamy and Eeyore:

Calvin as Incredibly Ugly Betty:

Eddy as Beaker:

Some of the grown up costumes:

Alissa sort of knows her 123’s and Do-Re-Mi’s

jason — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:46:59 +0000

She’s a bit preoccupied with her Halloween stash, but she sort of gets through them.

Halloween, hundred acre wood style

jason — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:03:17 +0000

As posted previously, Alissa was Eeyore for Halloween this year. This time around, she was able to at least hold her own pumpkin and would occasionally say “trick tree.” We just went around the block and hit maybe eight houses or so.

One of the houses just down the street always goes all out. Actually, the guy goes all out on every holiday.

Benita and Alan came along for the fun.

And we took a picture alongside one of Eeyore’s good friends:

In other news, Bonnie finished up a robe for Alissa that has been in the works for quite a while now. It’s a bit big, but should do well to keep her toasty now that the weather is starting to become winterish. (I guess the wink is part of her pose.)

Happy Halloween!

jason — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:19:13 +0000

Bonnie put this little montage together of Alissa at different ages in different Winnie the Pooh costumes.

I got a new bike - Dawes SST review

jason — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:32:55 +0000

I’ve been riding a beater mountain bike to go to work the last few months but it finally started giving me problems. Specifically, the chain was hopping off and the seat stem was starting to bend. So I decided it was time to replace the Motobecane Messenger that got stolen last year. (I’m still bitter by the way.)

I went to bikesdirect.com again since I was pretty happy with my last experience. But I figured I’d try something different this time. And it turns out the Dawes SST was exactly what I was looking for.

It had bullhorn bars, matte black finish, and a pretty easy geometry good for my commute. Plus, it was actually a little cheaper than my last bike. So… without further ado, here’s the review:

1. Ordered 52cm matte black on 10/3/08 (I’m 5′8″ with a 30″ inseam). Received 10/10/08.
2. Everything was in good shape upon delivery. No scratches or dents or anything like that. The only minor things I would mention are that I found a small tear in the bar tape and it looks like one of the welds on the chain stay (on the back end) looks to be slightly incomplete. In other words, there’s a small gap where there should be weld. Not happy about this, but I don’t think it will fail on me either.

EDIT: Bikesdirect is sending me some new bar tape. Yay!

3. Assembly went as expected with the exception of one thing. The rear brake mount seems to be angled a bit such that the brake pads aren’t parallel with the wheel. Not sure if it’s a bad weld or if the mount just wasn’t aligned in the fixture when the guy tacked it down. Regardless, not very happy with the result. I checked the wheel itself and it’s in line with the rest of the frame. Here’s a pic to demonstrate:

I know it’s not a huge deal… I actually was going to remove the brake entirely. But I commute daily on this thing and I figured the rear brake might help me stop a few feet more quickly than without and who knows if that could mean the difference between getting into an accident or just avoiding one.

EDIT: I just bent the brakes a little with some channel locks and now the pads are parallel. TADA!

4. I slapped on a 17T Soma cog and a generic lockring so I’ve been riding fixed. The gear ratio with the supplied 16T freewheel is a bit tall for me. The 17 seems to be a good balance. I might even go up another tooth or swap the chain ring for a slightly smaller one. I’ll have to ride a bit more and see if my legs get stronger or if I really should modify the gear ratio one way or the other.

5. Otherwise, I’m pretty happy with the bike given the price. It’s not the best quality piece of kit out there but it will do the job. I figure I’ll just replace things as they fail or wear out. If bikesdirect could give me a discount given the rear brake thing, then I would be satisfied. Shipping back to them in exchange for another one seems like a big waste of time, money, and energy.

We visit the Pumpkin Patch on 19th Ave at Sloat

jason — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:42:49 +0000

We had originally planned on making a trip to the Half Moon Bay pumpkin patch but it seemed like a big production for just a pumpkin. There’s the cost of gas, having to deal with traffic, twisty roads (with a nauseous pregnant wife), and finally, the time commitment. So instead, we thought we’d check out the corner of 19th and Sloat which is the “seasonal” corner. You know what I mean… in October, it’s pumpkins. In December, it’s Christmas trees. In February, it’s roses. Anyway, it turned out to be perfect. They had everything decorated all nice and Alissa had a fun time picking out the perfect pumpkin. With the exception of some traffic in the background, you would practically think we were in Half Moon Bay. Here are some of the pictures.

So many to choose from!

This pumpkin is too big!

This pumpkin is too small!

This one looks about right…

I’m ready to go pay now.

I wonder how far I can throw it.

It didn’t break… must be a keeper. I guess we’ll bring it home then.

Alissa is a big girl now

jason — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:28:23 +0000

Apart from the potty training (which is going pretty well actually) Alissa is turning into more and more of a big girl every day. Today, she wore this big girl dress that my grandmother gave her so we could take some pictures to send to her as a thank you. While in it, she played with her doll trying to make the doll say “Cheese!” as we were with Alissa. She also got her first big girl toothbrush yesterday and took it for a trial run this morning after breakfast. Furthermore, she’s getting better at remembering her Do-Re-Mi’s and putting on her shoes, pants, jacket, etc. I’m trying to teach her the ABC’s and 123’s and have had some success. Finally, she continues to make progress eating with utensils as well.

Our baby is growing up right before our eyes. Oh well, maybe it’s a good thing… we can teach her to change diapers and clean bottles by the time the twins come!

Ashlyn’s first birthday party

jason — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:26:24 +0000

Alissa made friends with yet another baby today at Ashlyn’s first birthday party. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to stay for the whole thing as it was way past Alissa’s nap time and she was getting cranky. As such, I didn’t take that many pictures (link to them here) but here are a few highlights.

To infinity, and beyond!

jason — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:48:07 +0000

We had bought this pop up Buzz Lightyear spaceship as an “emergency” gift a while back but decided we might as well put it to good use so Alissa has been having a ball with it the last few days. It’s even more fun than the big Amazon cardboard box she was playing with a few weeks ago. The main difference is that it’s big enough for her daddy to crawl in and out of.