The Bell Curve of Life

Monday, February 15, 2021

Happy Valentine's Day

To my sweetie for Valentine's Day.

The white specks are actually glitter - it can be seen better on the leaves. Looks pretty sharp in person.

Since we first bought the house in 2007, the left bay of the garage has been hard to reach with a car. It is not too bad to get a car in, but getting it out was a real pain - this is because when backing up, the wheels leading the car don't turn. As visible in this photo, the curb didn't dip down until the next garage bay over.

So we decided to change that. This photo shows the USA (Underground Service Alert) markings where the electric, gas, water, cable, and other underground utilities will mark where they have a hazard. Fortunately for us, no hazards existed in this area.

We received HOA and city approval for the change. City approval was needed because we would be replacing sidewalk, curb, and gutter. We presented our plan to the city. They asked us to develop a traffic plan and gave us a few examples. In the end, we had to rent "Sidewalk Closed" and "Road Work Ahead" signs. Did you know that there are companies that will rent each sign for $1.50 per day? I didn't either! I do now!

Day One involved ripping out the old concrete, bringing in road base, and compacting it to city specifications. The city inspector then came out and gave approval.

We made sure the area was very clearly marked that night as we certainly didn't want anyone getting injured. This looks pretty visible to me!

This is the view when approaching from the other side. Very visible at night.

The next day, the concrete was delivered and shaped.

I think it came out very very nicely. Now we can back out of that garage bay with no problem!

Getting concrete to stand up like this is not easy.

If you need concrete work in north San Diego county, I highly recommend Mendenhall Concrete. They were professional, responsive, and very precise in everything they did.

Sunday, February 7, 2021

Live Music Is Back

Live music is back! Enjoying a nice February evening in Carlsbad.

A great little band was playing - "West of Five".

They were playing east of Five. Ha ha. Their first night with a new guitarist. They did great.

Saturday, December 26, 2020

How boring was 2020?

The restaurants were closed to dine-in, so we learned to have it delivered. We never had food delivered before 2020.

It was so boring that even when the comedy clubs were open, nobody showed up. Well a few folks did show after this photo was taken, but even with just a few tables the place did not fill up.

It was so boring that my first sighting of a C8 Corvette made me stop and take a photo. I had just read about this exact car earlier in the day.

It was so boring that when I saw an open hangar door at the airport next to the restaurant we were eating at (during one of the short periods when restaurants allowed dine-in), I took a photo.

It was so boring that Ruby took to watching for activity - anything! - on our boring street.

Even a two acre brush fire became big news.

The men in the neighborhood gathered to watch.

And finally, the folks who put on the large Christmas displays took this year off, so we didn't go out and look at lights. But when I opened the gate one night, the scene looked at least a little Southern California Christmas-y. The neighbors green holiday lights bounced off the palm tree and framed the Christmas tree across the street. At this point even that qualifies as something exciting!

Here's to a more interesting 2021...

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Mateo's Birthday Dinner

We have a tradition in our house - we go out to eat as a family each Friday night and rotate who gets to pick the place (or they can choose to have delivery done). Even the kids get a turn.

And when its your turn closest to your birthday, price is no object!

Each year, Mateo chooses either Shogun or Katsu, where they cook the food right at the table. This year he chose Katsu. That's a happy birthday smile if I ever saw one!