moving up in the world

I know, I know, my blog is getting updated less frequently than Susan's resume, but it is, in fact, official - Susan's got a new job! She did really well at Nordstrom (like, REALLY well - especially on the day that she gave the two-day notice to her manager, hehe). But anyhoo, it just so happened that a Burberry store was opening in the same mall, and the hiring manager made Susan an offer that she couldn't refuse. So there she is now, in a world of even more upscale fashion.

In other Susan-related news, her parents are buying a house even closer to us than before (her dad made it very clear that part of the reason was the walking convenience of his future grandkids). So, for the past few weeks, Susan and I were playing the role of couriers/translators/ruthless enforcers to make sure that the transaction goes through smoothly. Closing is tomorrow, so we'll find out if we were successful.

ming sighting

So Susan and I went to Minado, an Asian seafood buffet. Those three words spell trouble right there - all-you-can-eat that's yummy and supposedly healthy. Uh oh. Anyhoo, while we were stuffing ourselves, we saw Ming Tsai. Yes, this guy:

Clearly, Susan was the first to spot him, while I remained unconvinced that a chef of such caliber would be caught in any restaurant but his own. But no, the waitress confirmed it, Ming comes to Minado a lot. I guess even if you own your own upscale joint, the deal that Minado delivers just can't be beat.

update

Um yeah. Not much going on, except that I got my car back - wooo! Besides that, just running back and forth between working at work and working on the kitchen.

One cool discovery that we just made is that a gym in our town charges just $19.99/mo for membership - and this membership allows you to bring a guest any time. For Susan and me, that's even cheaper than the Tufts gym - and much, much closer. Awesome. Also, this gym doesn't close for every school break, thus causing me to lose whatever muscle weight I had.

for the record

It's a little difficult to say anything about the whole Palin debacle. Look at it from any angle, and all you can do is throw your hands up and say, "This is what politics ended up becoming in this country?" If anyone has managed to stay with the Republican party up until now - which would be a remarkable achievement in its own right - it's probably time to quietly peel that Bush/Cheney sticker from your bumper. It's OK, we'll take you back. We won't even mock you (all that much).

Anyhoo, my brother was visiting for the weekend, so he told me two amusing anecdotes:
- He just got a new game, and decided to name his character "McCainPalin2008", figuring that he'd just make an ass of himself in multiplayer mode. Unfortunately, the game turned out to be single player only. So now, any time he starts it up, he has to shudder in disgust.
- Eugene filled me in on the fact that Palin was using her personal Yahoo email account for official business. Apparently, as soon as that became known, dozens of people tried to reverse-engineer her password by using the "forgotten password" service on Yahoo. I guess there were so many attempts that Palin's account got locked. That's where the funny part ends. As I was reading up on this farce, it slowly became clear that Palin was most likely using Yahoo to circumvent the Freedom of Information Act. Maybe she is ready to continue the Bush legacy after all.

let's see what's cookin'

We definitely put the "labor" into Labor Day by continuing our kitchen remodel. The previous owners made their own "custom" cabinets from some scrap wood, and tried to go for a classy look with a paper trim on the walls:

One of the first things we did when we moved in was to rip off the horrendous cabinet doors and cover up some of the eye-soreness with new paint:

I thought the cheery green color was not too bad, but Susan outlined some of the things she'd rather do to herself than have to look at it for an extended period of time. The kitchen was to be one of the primary post-France projects, and we kicked it off a week or two ago.

IKEA helped us out big time, and we had the whole thing planned out in their design tool (give or take a few inches here or there). As the first step, I hacked off a good portion of the island, and moved the fridge to its new home. As the sweet-looking hole in the wall indicates, I need to run some wiring for a new outlet and the microwave that will go where the door is now:

Moving right along. Days later, first pieces of wallboard that so cleverly imitate tile are up, and the wall cabinets are beginning to take shape. You can also see some under-cabinet lights hanging out, unattached:

Here's where we are today:

The range is relocated and rewired (although we'll have to get a new one, this beast is way too old), the microwave/exhaust fan combo is operating with no trace of electrical connections anywhere, and the old cabinets are completely gone. The center island is slated for demolition, but we'll keep it around until I can hook up the plumbing under the new sink, to be placed in the middle of the long wall under a window that we're installing. To put it differently, much work remains, but we hope to be able to use the kitchen in at least some capacity while we work on it.

boston from the water

Sunny and I took a break from it all to enjoy a perfect day on the Charles. We rented kayaks and paddled all the way from the Newton line to just past the BU bridge:

The way back was, admittedly, a little more strenuous, seeing that the wind and the current were not in our favor. But, we still made it back in one piece - well, two pieces, each a little sunburned, but both totally enjoying the whole thing.