May 20, 2007

OK, a major delay in updating the web site. Just too much going on. Let's see if I can go through everything that's happened since my last entry, back in December.

• December 2: Val and I had dinner with her friend Jason and his girlfriend Harley at The Slanted Door in San Francisco.
• December 8: Kate had a movie night/slumber party for her 10th birthday.
• December 9: Val and I attended the Intuit holiday party at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.
• December 15: I had my first meeting with Scott Cook, the founder and Chairman of the Board at Intuit. I've since had several other meetings with him, and find him to be easy to work with.
• December 16: Got our Christmas tree and decorated it with Judy and Donna's help.
• December 17: Went to a baby shower for Tyler, who is having a second child with her partner Ruth.
• December 23: Went to an open house at Dossie's.
• December 24: Had Jenny, Al, Cara, and Nelee over for brunch.
• December 24-26: Started and finished work on a 3-D puzzle of San Francisco (see all the pictures here).
• December 26: Took the day off to hang out. We also went to a "Boxing Day Giveaway" at Max and Elena's.
• December 31: Rang in the new year at Tank & Huck's. Saw fireworks over the bay bridge from their balcony.
• January 4: Ordered my new car, a Volvo S80 sedan.
• January 27: Jennifer & Selena visited.
• January 28: Played Texas Hold 'Em at Glynis & Susan's
• Feburary 4: Superbowl Party at our house
• February 17: Flew to SoCal, family gathering at Kim & Vito's
• February 18: Long-awaited 100th birthday party for Grandma Frances, complete with all of the extended family and even some folks from Florida, New Jersey, Canada, and Boston. It was great to re-connect with cousins and step-siblings, and get to know some relatives we either had never met or hadn't seen in 35 years. A bunch of us went out to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in Mission Viejo after the party.
• February 19: Quick dip in the hotel pool before heading home. Kathie and Val took the kids home so I could drive to Coronado for a conference.
• February 19-22: I attended the "Create the Offering" forum (CTOF) for product development staff of Intuit, in Coronado (San Diego). Pictures are here. Val had some good quality time with the kids while I was away.
• March 2: Kate and Haley's classes both led the Shabbat service at Peninsula Temple Sholom.
• March 3: Kate participated in a big Karate tournament in South San Francisco. She didn't place, but it was good experience for her.
• March 4: Megillah reading and Purim Carnival at Peninsula Temple Sholom.
• March 9: Val & I joined Pam and her family for a birthday celebration at The Cheesecake Factory in San Francisco.
• March 11: We hosted an all-day retreat for 25 members of our club.
• March 16: Got my new car, finally!
• March 17: I once again judged the St. Patrick's Day Parade in San Francisco.
• March 26: Kate got new glasses. Her prescription is a littlw worse, but not a lot worse, so that was good news.
• March 31 : Jennifer & Selena visited.
• April 2: Haley had a tooth growing in behind her lower right front tooth, so we took her to the dentist. He pulled her two front lower teeth... what a way to lose you first teeth!
• April 7: Passover Seder for 19 people
• April 9: I did presentations on Passover in both Haley's and Kate's classes at school.
• April 9: I met again with my Menttium reunion group. We've been meeting regularly since we all went through the program 9 years ago.
• April 13-15: Visited Judy and Donna at their new place in Grass Valley. Judy is happily celebrating her retirement.
• April 20: Kate played "Skip It Lou" on the flute for the Spring Valley Variety Show. This inspired Haley, who is trying to think of what talent she can show off next year.
• April 21: Val and I went to a party at Lisa and Rocket's.
• April 24: Kate badly sprained her ankle. It was still twisted awkwardly 6 days later so we took her to the pediatric orthopedist. He said she had a rare muscle spasm that was keeping the ankle turned. He (painfully) twisted it back and casted it to keep it that way. She wore the cast for 2 weeks, and now seems fine.
• April 29-May 3: I attended the CHI conference at the San Jose Convention Center, with session such as the opening plenary across the street at the Civic Auditorium. The first night I stayed in a great room on the 17th floor of the Fairmont Hotel. I had an awesome view from one direction, and another. Intuit had a large booth.
• May 1: I took a day off from the CHI conference to attend the PBWC conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco. I arranged to have 20 women from the Quicken Health team attend also, some of them for the first time. It was fun spending the time with women from my work.
• May 5: Jennifer & Selena visited.
• May 11: Val left for London, to go help her mom pack up for the big move to Italy.
• May 12: Adrien had her "practice Bat Mitzvah" with her adult class at Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos. She did the whole service with her class except the Torah reading, which she will do with us in August.
• May 13: A whole gang of us went to brunch at Marie Callendar's in Morgan Hill, and of course took no pictures!
• May 19: Spring Valley Carnival. Afterwards we (moms and aunties) took the kids to see Shrek the Third, which we all really enjoyed.
• May 20: Last day of religious school until September.

This doesn't count all of the birthday parties, gymnastics and karate classes, late night work sessions, club meetings (and parties), lunches with friends, and just everyday things that keep us busy. Maybe I shouldn't feel so bad about not having updated the site in 6 months! :-)

Kate continues to have some stomach trouble. She's had problems on and off for a couple of years but it's gotten worse in the last 6 months. She has alternating constipation and diarrhea, plus acid reflux and occasional nausea/vomiting. Within the last couple of weeks it's gotten significantly worse and she has missed school a lot. We have another appointment with the GI specialist at Stanford on 5/22, and an upper GI (with small bower follow-through) on 5/23.

Haley is going to start getting piano lessons from Grandma. We tried a short time ago, but she wasn't really ready. Maybe she'll sit still long enough now!

I continue to practice for my Bat Mitzvah, which will happen on August 18th with Mom and Susan. I go for tutoring every other week.

I'm continuing to really enjoy working at Intuit. The product I'm working on, Quicken Health, is really great, and I love the company's operating processes and philosophies, and the people I work with. I'm actively hiring, so that's also exciting.

Val and I just worked out our vacation with the kids in June. After going to Granite Bay to see Lee graduate on June 9, we'll come back and fly to San Diego June 10 and stay in La Jolla for a few days. We're looking forward to a fun vacation on the beach, and we'll also visit the San Diego Wild Animal Park.