Tuesday, November 30, 2004 {home: daly city, ca} the real gilligan's island i'll admit, i got sucked in watching this new reality tv series. whether or not i'll stick to watching it weekly is probably another story, but i just wanted to see what this was about. it's another copycat survivor based on the old series. they are provided the "amenities" that the original castaways had (you would think the producers would make them make the huts and stuff, since the original cast made their own...), and there are two sets of gilligan castaways, where they "compete" to stay on the island to get rescued. it'd be interesting to see the dynamics of these characters, especially since the "movie stars" are nicole eggert (is she really a movie star?, tv i would think) and rachel hunter (isnt she a model?)... oh wait, did i say i was going to watch this weekly? =P i hope they dont run out of show ideas... it would really suck to see some old shows turned rehashed into reality tv shows, i mean, didnt they have the search for the partridge family not too long ago? can you think of any shows that would be really bad as reality tv? * 8:39 PM * bernadette * *

Monday, November 29, 2004 {home: daly city, ca} on and off on and off... wierd [weird (sp?)] things going on with my dsl... my wireless works, but my desktop doesnt.. i think it might have something to do with a key or something (since i changed my modem the last time it didnt work). ugh, i've been trouble shooting all evening, kinda lazy to get into it... run to the far side XX... well, okay not that far... in keeping with the running tradition that we do every year, nico and i decided to do the run to the far side XX this past sunday unofficially (read: we didnt pay money to register to get a number or a "free" t-shirt, but ran the course with everyone else anyway...). we figured we'd get there at 8:30am the ususal race start time. the starting line, however, was in a different place this year due to all the construction at the academy of sciences museums (where the race ususally starts). they moved it! we arrived late, couldnt find parking, couldnt find the starting line.... by the time we noticed where all the runners were coming from, it was already 18-20 minutes into the race! we passed what we thought was the start but it was where the 5k finish line was. people who running this distance were crossing the finish line already! damn that's fast! we backtracked the trail of runners and somehow found where the 3 mile marker was, and just started running from there -- running the last 3 miles of the 10k is better than running none, right? besides, i hadnt run a long distance since august... AND had to run off all that turkey we ate... towards the finish line, grande called saying he was at the power bar tent, so we met up with him there when were were done (yay free harvest power bars!). he was supposed to run the race, but didnt end up doing so. he gave me his number to get a run to the far side shirt. i now have a collection. next year, we will try to run the farther. haha! * 8:44 PM * bernadette * *

Tuesday, November 23, 2004 {home: daly city, ca} i miss blogging me gee, i didnt notice it's been a while since i've posted (or even read ppl's blogs!) i havent caught up to everyone... i think a lot of it has to do with the fact that work has kept me engaged. it's been challenging/frustrating and at times, i feel like i get pulled in so many directions. i dont have much time to check work email, much less personal (i cant even check yahoo mail anyways =P) and blogging is another thing that gets lower priority... but im learning soooo much at work! sometimes i wonder if im doing okay, since there really isnt anything to gauge my performance at this time (our department is still being formed) except for advice/comments/critcisms from my colleagues. one thing's for sure, as much as i enjoyed "kick back" jobs in the past where i can surf/shop the web/check email/blog, i like that work is actually interesting. one of the things i really miss most is the blogging part of me. i do get random thoughts and anecdotes throughout the day that i would want to post but dont get the chance to since i get so caught up during the day. and then when i get home and do actually check yahoo mail, im pretty much done for the day and blogging the story doesnt come out naturally. feels a bit contrived. or maybe i even forget. =P i'm hoping to get better, tho. i think it's important for me to post something, if not for you to read, but for me to check in with myself. to let myself know that i am thinking about other things... other more interesting things apart from "to do" lists at work. =P * 5:55 PM * bernadette * *

Monday, November 08, 2004 {home: daly city, ca} the oaks i finally got my pictures developed from bev and gary's wedding. here is a snapshot of the girls: [bern, ardees, liz, joyce, sheila, denise, narimel, beverly, gary] i remember when we took this picture, bev was thinking of sending one of these to our high school newsletter, "the oaks" [bev, let me know if you like this pic] - we always get it in the mail every semester or so, but we hardly see any news from friends from our class (and our class is pretty small). when we were students at the school, our newsletter was called "the acorn", i guess cuz we were still growing like little acorns. now that we're alumnae, we grew into "the oaks". yep, we're all growns up... =P ;) * 11:13 PM * bernadette * *

Thursday, November 04, 2004 {work: berkeley, ca} on babysitting so far my new job's been okay... until this week. well, i cant complain, since i am making income, and i am doing what i want to do. it's just that work gets a bit challenging when you have to collaborate with groups that are not as motivated as you are to get things done.. "yeah yeah that'll get it done first thing in the morning" so i go and check on it first thing in the morning. it hasnt been done. i go to put pressure on them. "hi, thanks for all your help thus far but, i looked and it's not there yet -- we need the furniture moved in there from the other building so the carpenters can reconfigure..." "yeah, no problem" i go to the building again later in the afternoon. haha. guess what? it's not there yet. i had to wait a whole day and a half from the original date that i requested for furniture to get moved. that's one baby to sit, for sure. =P oh yeah, and guess what? the occupant who just recently moved into that room? pretty much threw a wrench in my move/reconfiguration plan -- he went around me (and my point of contact, no doubt -- she thought the room was fine for moving in) and ordered a paint, patch and recarpet work order, without telling anyone, simply because he whined and thought it was grubby in there! so now we have to move everything that I JUST moved in OUT in order to complete all the paint/patch/recarpet. and THEN move everything back in again for the carpenters to reconfigure the furniture. =P gee, thanks. can i whine too? WAH! But thank you, God for this wonderful job i have. =D =D =D * 1:53 PM * bernadette * *

Monday, November 01, 2004 {home: daly city, ca} i fit a whole dining set in my car! nico and i spent most of last week and this past weekend looking at living room and dining room sets. the priority was to at least get a couch and small dining table and chairs. (the only thing sitting in the living room right now is the black leather recliner). after looking at brueners (even tho they are going out of business, it was expensive), levitz (we liked some of the sets, but were unhappy we couldnt pick the upholstery), ikea (some sofas were just as expensive as the nice ones we've seen at the furniture stores), etc, we finally decided on the metro sofa with the matching chair from scandinavian designs. we liked the contemporary lines and the tight back and throw pillows - it's a couch you can either sit up in or lean back and slouch in, and the price was right! =D our next quest was to find a nice yet not overly expensive (and not cheap-looking) dining set. since we had the entertainment book, we found a coupon for Hoot Judkins. i had bought a piece there a few years ago, and I liked their selection of wood furniture. the coupon was going to expire on Oct 31, so we had to act quickly! we found something similar to this one, but the one we got has a leaf (extension) on it. we were originally going to buy dining chairs elsewhere (at ikea, cuz it was cheap) but decided against it (cuz it looked and felt cheap). we realized that if we wanted something nice, we were going to have to spend $70-100 per chair! in the end i picked something like this, but with an X back. AND it was on SALE! =D and it matches! the fun part was amazing the hoot judkins staff by fitting the SIX full sized dining room chairs PLUS the table (with the legs detached) in my nissan maxima. "wow, that is the biggest back seat i've ever seen!" two chairs fit in the trunk, three in the back seat with tabletop and legs, and one chair in the passenger seat. yay for a spacious car! our next project is to stain the table and chairs a dark espresso color to match the legs of the metro sofa. stay tuned... =) * 10:51 PM * bernadette * *