Christmas traditions

For the past few years we have been getting together with Kelley and Rosemary sometime in the week or two before Christmas to decorate cookies. Just a little something to put us in the Christmas spirit and be able to spend some time together. This year, we didn't take any photos of the cookies themselves, but here's the lovely cookie decorating crew. Aaron and Zach were good sports as usual and also decorated, but sorry dudes, this pic is dedicated to the ladies!

Baby Shower!

My long time girlfriends Kelley and Rosemary hosted a shower for me, Aaron, and the baby girls. They really out-did themselves - the party was excellent! It felt so good to have so many friends come to help us celebrate and prepare for the arrival of our two precious little girls.

Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah traditions continue this year with a lovely meal at Denny & Nan's house, a gift exchange, and some prizes meant for the Bingo game. Bingo was skipped this year, but we all still ate way too much and had a great time!

Plans are officially underway

Aaron and I are about to start a little construction project here at the house. Yes, some might call it crazy timing - being 7 months pregnant with twins - but we're going for it. The plan is to add a second story over our detached garage. The designer we chose came out today to take measurements and a deposit. If the first step goes smoothly, we should have plans submitted to the city for permits before the year end!

Baby shower from friends at Deloitte

What better excuse than anticipating the arrival of two baby girls to have a game of pictionary and some yummy cupcakes 20 stories above the street in the middle of the day in the middle of the week!? A big thank you to my friends at Deloitte who helped me celebrate our babies earlier this week with a shower. A few photos are here (not many, doh!).

AAFA Auction: 2009

Just as we have in years past, we enjoyed ourselves at the 2009 AAFA Auction and Ball earlier this week. This year might be remembered by two things. 1) Aaron hovering near the baby monitor during the silent auction, but some other woman swooping in illegally after the auctioneer called 'time' and taking it from under us. 2) The extra plate of mashed potatoes our table staff brought me after I had practically licked mine, Aaron's and Beth's plates clean of all potatoes.

UCLA Basketball

Last night we made good use of Aaron's aunt and uncle's UCLA basketball season tickets - Bob and Linda were out of town and knew we would enjoy going to the game. We saw a couple of newborns in the crowd and wondered how soon we would be able to bring our little girls out to sporting events. Will we actually be as brave (crazy) as we are hoping to be?!

Getting ready for the babies

This weekend my mom came to town to help us prep for the babies. We spent a lot of time planning out the various scenarios and details for the first few months after the babies arrive. Even though in reality there really is no predicting when these little girls will find their way into the world, it sure helps me feel better that we have a 'plan' - even if it will be modified. She and Aaron also did some manual labor boxing up and cleaning out the closet in the guestroom-soon-to-be-nursery, painting the changing table, and installing some IKEA storage for all the baby items that will soon fill the space.

3 birthday parties in 3 days

This weekend was incredibly celebratory... 3 birthdays in 3 days! We had Aaron's parents over for a quiet dinner at home to celebrate Nan's birthday on Friday evening. Saturday we headed up to Big Bear for a special 30th birthday celebration for our friend Amanda. And we arrived home in time on Sunday to rest for a minute and then head to the South Bay for Auntie Sandye's 60th birthday fiesta in the SouthBay! Three days, three cakes, and lots of "Happy Birthday To You" singing...we are tuckered out! Well worth it though.

The baby girls in 3D

As freaky as these 3D photos can be, they are equally cool. Here's a glimpse at what our baby girls might look like once we get to meet them. That is Baby A's foot right next to Baby B's head in the second shot.

Disney Concert Hall w/ Grandpa Shel

Aaron's grandpa treated us to an afternoon symphony concert and dinner downtown today. I *may* have snoozed a little during one or two of the songs, but I'll blame being pregnant because it was a really nice show.

Two Girls!

Surprise! We asked the doctor to put the genders of our little babies in a sealed envelope and took it to the store. I picked out two boy outfits and two girl outfits and had the lady at the register wrap up the two correct outfits without me peeking. Here's a video of opening the package and sharing the moment with family and friends.

Wedding weekend at camp!

This past weekend we went to a camp in Malibu to celebrate with cousin Dani and Dan as they got married. It was a whole weekend affair - dinner and talent show on Friday night, zip lines and rock walls on Saturday during the day, the wedding that evening, and a send off brunch on Sunday. It was so nice to spend actual significant time with out of town guests and to see the bride and groom more than just as they walked down the aisle and boogied on the dance floor.

Babies like yoga

I tried out a new pre-natal yoga class this week, which I have to confess is one of the first workouts I've done since I got pregnant other than walking. The studio is super convenient to where we live and so cheap! I happened to be the only person at my first class so I ended up on-screen for the online members, which I don't mind.

Quick trip to the East Coast

Directly after Hawaii, Aaron and I headed over to the East Coast. Our primary reason for making such a long haul trip was to get to Meg & Chris' wedding in Vermont. But we arrived a couple of days early so that we could visited with my dad, Julie, and new college freshman Jenn in Yonkers.

We spent Thursday with brand new baby Clara in Harlem (and her family, naturally). Grandma Deni fixed us a fantastic lunch and somewhere between nursing, napping, and diaper changing we took Clara for a stroll in Central Park.

After sleeping in on Friday we drove to Vermont for the wedding on Saturday. We explored the little town of Brattleboro Saturday afternoon - several cute shops and restaurants on the main street. Meg and Chris' ceremony and reception was absolutely beautiful that evening!

Sunday took us back to NYC for our flight home. Aaron scored us some upgrades to business class which was divine. We were pretty much giddy the whole time.

Aloha!

To extend my 30th birthday celebrations, we went to Hawaii for a long weekend. We arrived Friday afternoon and stayed through Tuesday. Our home base this time was Kihei, Maui which is an awesome place. Just the right mix of local and tourist.

Our good friend Darren was able to join us (an urgent issue kept Funzel and Brian at home). We spent a lot of our time just relaxing, sleeping in, A road trip up to the top of the Haleakela Crater brought my lunch back up - first time for the entire pregnancy. I place 50/50 blame on the windy road/babies. Aaron and Darren blame the Volcano Fries I ate just before hitting the road. We also took a helicopter ride and a snorkel trip out to Molokini. It was a great get-away!! Enjoy the pics!

There is something we've been wanting to mention...

Julie is pregnant! And, the news gets bigger from there.... it's twins!! They are officially due March 4, but our OB says to expect them about a full month earlier. Both babies are doing great - measuring right on time - 13 weeks along. We'll find out in the next month or two whether we're having boys/girls or one of each. We are soooooooo excited!!

Bridal Shower Fiesta!

Cousin Dani from Aaron's side is getting married in October here in her home-town of Los Angeles (even though she lives in NYC). We caught her on one of her bridal visits home this weekend to shower her with love, well wishes, and gifts. Since she is a lover of Mexican food we themed it as a fiesta! Denny & Nan's backyard was tented and just over 20 lovely ladies came out to celebrate. Looking forward to their wedding in just two short months!

A Birthday Project

This year I decided to do something a little different for my birthday. I wanted to get friends together and celebrate, but also give something back to the community. After a few phone calls and emails, we were able to arrange a private volunteer day painting a mural at a local elementary school's garden. The LA Conservation Corps provided supplies and obtained approvals, we provided friends (aka: muralists/worker-bees) and lunch. Many thanks to everyone who participated!

Lohrberg/Mueller family reunion

This past weekend we were in the lovely Wisconsin Dells with my mom's side of the family. These reunions happen every three years in various locations across the country. Though we do seem to most often land in the Mid-West somewhere since most people live in or within driving distance to Lincoln, NE where my mom grew up.

The Dells is officially the cheesiest place I've seen - theme parks and attractions of every kind you can imagine for several square miles. We got into the spirit of things and went on a jet boat ride, mini-golfing, and to The Tommy Bartlett Show. But most of our time was spent just hanging out and catching up with family at our resort. Our resort definitely had the obligatory kiddy water attraction at the resort pool, but other than that it was more-or-less a collection of cabins with fire pits, a gazebo, and a volleyball court. It worked out perfectly for us!

Concert on the Peir

Yes, spellcheck, I know that pier follows the 'i before e' rule (which I hear is no longer being taught as an official rule in the UK), but Aaron and I joined a friend and her daughter on the Santa Monica pier last night for an open air concert and Aaron spotted that the stage signage had it spelled incorrectly. I cringed for whoever was responsible for that - I'm sure they've noticed it by now and feel like idiots. Rule #1 of marketing/advertising: SPELL CHECK!

That aside, we had a really nice time. Having been born in the wrong decade we were not exactly the target audience. Aaron only recognized one song (it had been covered by someone else recently - maybe Nirvana?) and I didn't recognize a single one. But we enjoyed the atmosphere, the tunes, and watching the older woman to our right rocking out and singing along with all of the songs.

4th of July

This year our friends Chris and Gina hosted a bunch of us for the 4th of July at their block party in the Venice Canals. Who knew that in a city as large as Los Angeles people actually still have POTLUCK block parties?! After lunch and the hula hoop show we headed to Chris and Gina's boat in the Marina. Dock neighbor Salty Dave let us know that watching the fireworks out on the water would be more than hectic, so we went for a quick pleasure cruise and then watched the show from the land.

The first zucchini

We harvested the first of this year's zucchini this weekend and enjoyed it in a pasta dinner with good friends. Since we planted the seeds earlier this time the crop was ready a full month sooner than last summer. Now I wonder how long the growing season will last? Just as long? Longer?

Backyard movie night

With all of the changes we've been making to our backyard over the past couple of years we have been excited with the possibilities of hosting all sorts of get-togethers and parties. We've had a number of people over for various outdoor meals, but last night was something special. We were able to create something of an outdoor theater and host a few friends for drinks and a movie. We borrowed some key items (the projector and enormous popcorn bowls) from the 'Denny and Nan Rental Service' - it worked out perfectly!

We made a Blockbuster run earlier in the day and chose three movies for people to vote on. Vicki Cristina Barcelona won by a landslide which made it easy. We also finally got to try out a contraption to make popcorn over the fire - our estate sale find from a few months ago - and everyone brought other sweets and snacks to munch on. Beer and wine were of course plentiful. We had an awesome time so we'll definitely do this again before the end of the summer!

Home improvements

After waaaaaaaaaaay too long, we finally got around to patching the cracks in our walls that were made when we straightened our foundation. It was actually pretty simple once we got down to it. Why on earth did we wait so long?!

Now just wondering how long until we paint.

Swiss chard

The first harvest from our summer crop is swiss chard which we made into a yummy baked cheese polenta dish tonight.

Aaron wanted me to share this conversation snip-it we had this evening:

Julie: I hear that "Polenta" translates to "corn meal mush."
Aaron: translates from what?!?
Julie: I dunno. Italian?
Aaron: There's a word in Italian for "corn meal mush?!?"

So now, even though he liked the dish, Aaron is pretty sure that from here on out he wont be ordering it based on the translation. Aaron's culinary journey: two steps forward, one step back.

Huntington Gardens

This afternoon I needed to send my computer to IT, which basically means I can't work since I'm so dependent on it for my job. So I gladly passed the time with a couple of girlfriends at Huntington Gardens out in the sunshine, enjoying some fresh air, and getting acquainted with the massive estate. We peeked at one of the Gutenberg bibles, viewed some art, and toured a portion of the acres and acres of gardens. I was able to identify a number of the plants and flowers, but I have a long way to go!

Springtime in New York City

Aaron and I recently returned from a whirlwind weekend visiting friends and family in New York City. We arrived Thursday evening in time for an amazing home cooked dinner with cousin Dani and fiance Dan in Brooklyn (though we unfortunately forgot to take the camera out!). We caught one of the last trains to Yonkers where my dad, Julie, and Jen now live. Friday we all drove out to tour Jen's college, Manhattanville in Purchase, NY. We spent some quality time with my dad and Julie, then headed into the city to meet up with some friends and to cheer on the Lakers at a bar in the Village. Saturday included bocce ball and a take out pizza picnic in Central Park with Lisa and Timmy. We were back in the park on Sunday morning to participate in the 4 mile Japan Day run with my dad - Aaron's first race ever. After a super tasty lunch at my dad and Julie's new favorite mexican food restaurant we took a much needed nap. Our friend Miro picked us up later that afternoon and we headed out to Jersey to see the new baby and new home. He and Nida treated us to a yummy backyard BBQ. Monday we went on a mini road trip to check out the Jersey Shore. The sun and sea air must have magnified our lack of sleep because Aaron and I both slept as Miro graciously brought us to the airport in time for our early evening flight back to LAX.

Schneider family farm update

Aaron built us a new garden box a few months ago to match the one we picked up on Freecycle last year - and we finally planted our summer crop! We installed a drip water system and outsmarted Alex this time by adding a plastic chicken wire on top of the soil. It has successfully kept him out, plus an unintended side benefit is that the squirrels aren't able to 'plant' their peanuts either.

This year we hope to harvest loads of strawberries, zucchini, squash, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, swiss chard, corn, blueberries, red & yellow bell pepper, and carrots. The second photo was taken a few weeks after planting and the seeds have officially become seedlings.

Face-lift

Time for a slightly new look for the blog.

Overnight in Bear Valley Springs

This weekend Aaron, Grandma Fritzi, and I went for a visit to Uncle Robbie and Auntie Marty's home near Tehachapi. We arrived in time for a trout lunch (U. Robbie caught it himself), which we enjoyed while watching the blue jays and woodpeckers land on the deck. With full stomachs Aaron, U. Robbie, and I went out for a hike on one of the hundreds of trails just steps from their front door - it was so beautiful and peaceful. Nearly 2 hours later we returned just as cousin Wendy pulled up. We were all a little too pleased that she also brought a load of laundry with her, which she later mesmerized us with using the new super fancy washer/dryer in the home. Guitar Hero kept us entertained while dinner was being prepped (oh, should we have helped with that?!) and we followed dinner with a game of Chronology. We were all pretty certain that G. Fritzi would have pulled out the win with her advantage of being alive for more of the events in the game than the rest of us, but actually U. Robbie won

It was a pretty quick turn around - we left this morning in order to get back to LA in time for Aaron's noon time basketball game. But it was worth the drive as we had a great time! The best part of course was getting a glimpse into the place that this part of our family calls home. They love it there and we can certainly see why. Perhaps next time we will stay a touch longer and make use of one of the private camping grounds? Or the tennis courts? Or the horseback riding? Or the fishing? Or the golf course?? So much to do!!

Spring hiking

Last weekend's hike in Oregon: damp and chilly.This weekend's hike in Orange County foothills: dry and hot.

Easter weekend in Portland

Aaron and I went up to Portland this past weekend and spent some quality time with family. We flew up on one of the last flights of the night on Thursday, spent some time on Friday shopping downtown (no sales tax!), Saturday we went to the Woodburn Tulip Festival, and then to Silver Falls State Park for a hike. Easter Sunday brought us to church and then we pretty much just ate for several hours. We had some more time on Monday to hang out before heading to the airport for an early evening flight back to Los Angeles.

It's a shame how quickly 4 days can fly by, but as always it was a great trip. Nephew Carson and baby sister Hadley are growing up so fast! I know, that's what old people say all the time, but it's true.

San Diego Crew Classic - 2009

The San Diego Crew Classic was this weekend and my Marina Aquatic Center's Women's Masters team made a pretty good showing for ourselves!

There were 17 boats in our Women's Open category which meant that there were three heats on Saturday to see who would go to the finals. We came in third in our heat on Saturday putting us in the Petite Finals (consolation race) for Sunday. Too bad we drew the second heat instead of the third because we did technically have a faster time than their second place team. Anyway...

After loading up at a fantastic ocean front BBQ dinner everyone turned in relatively early after a full day in the sun and in preparation for an early morning today. We had another good row this morning and took first place in the Petites. Our coach said something along these lines before going on the water this morning "Hey, a race is a race, there is a winner and a loser." So heck yeah - we were the winners!

Now, to brag a little more here, I would like to point out that if you went strictly by today's times we kinda would have been second place in the Grand Finals. Yes, I totally get that conditions on the water change over the day and that you can't fairly compare a race that happened at 7:50 in the morning to one 3 1/2 hours later... but our time this morning was 7.37.20 and second place in the Grand Finals came in at 7.42.70. I guess those girls were all too tuckered out to pull hard for two days in a row except for the USC boat. We totally had the second fastest time today in our category. And yes, five seconds is a lot in rowing.

That said, which ever way you want to look at it, both of our races felt great this weekend and everyone was really pleased with how we did as a boat. So much fun!

Space for Photography

This weekend we went with some friends to the brand spanking new Annenberg Space for Photography. Love the concept, love the execution, love it. Will definitely go back as the exhibits rotate.

Cousins

On Saturday we went to Aaron's cousin Mark's place to visit and see baby Sophie. And then on to my cousin Michelle's place for her housewarming.

Backyard in bloom

Spring is quickly becoming my favorite season. Our backyard has some beautiful splashes of color right now.

Weekend Happenings

This past weekend Aaron and I got to meet the first baby born into his side of the extended family in 30 years - Sophie Madison Brown. She's the daughter of Aaron's cousin Mark and his lovely Jule. So precious!

That evening we went to Los Feliz intending to go to a movie, but when we realized that our passes weren't good for Saturday night and also realized we weren't all that keen on the movie itself, we changed plans and walked down the street to my friend Jack's improv show. Luck had it that we got the last two seats in the (very small) house and we had just enough time to grab a bite to eat at the pub two doors down before the show.

Sunday morning we were up early for the Long Beach Spring Regatta. Aaron got some great shots of the boat this time having sweet talked his way onto an official's launch. Don't we all look like we're having a great time?! (more pics are here) A special thanks to Stacy, Rosemary and Andy for coming to cheer us on! After grabbing a coffee with them and a couple of girls from the team we went on to Aaron's weekly basketball game in Westchester.

All of this and we still managed to get in a lot of work in the garden!

Out on a school night

Aaron and I were motivated to get off our butts and go out on a school night last night... we met up with a couple friends and saw these two bands play at a local spot. We both really enjoyed them, so I thought I would do my part to spread the word about who they are and support the LA music scene.

These guys called themselves Uncle Daddy last night, so I'm not sure why their links shows up under the lead singer's name, regardless:
http://www.myspace.com/tjstaffordmusic

And this is who we went to see (Uncle Daddy was a bonus):
http://www.myspace.com/andrewjedband

Enjoy!

San Diego

Aaron and I took a little road trip this weekend to San Diego. Our primary reason was to go to my friend Val's wedding. But we left Friday night so we could also spend some time with my Aunt Rhonda, Uncle Kevin, and cousin Sophie Saturday morning before the wedding. They took us up to Mission Trails for a nature walk where we spotted creatures and wildflowers on our way to check out the dam. We definitely had a nice time getting some fresh air and California sunshine. More hike photos are here.

That evening, Val and Muriz's wedding was beautiful! I immediately choked up when she entered the church. Her reaction to all the people in the room, the enormity of the event, and spotting her groom waiting for her up at the front of the church had me in tears. She was so happy and emotional it was precious. More wedding photos are here.

Long Beach Bay Series

The crew team I joined had another race/scrimage this past weekend. You'll see in the photo I chose to highlight that we were passing another boat (we are in all red). This boat was from the not-so-competitive Lyon's Rowing Club. But there was another women's 8 in the race this time providing some real competition - former Olympians and National Team Members from the Long Beach Rowing Association. Never mind their age (the stroke seat won a silver medal before we were even born), these women smoked us. This race was extra fun though because my mom and Dave got to come watch! Click here for more photos from the morning.

Quick trip to Mammoth

We took another trip to Mammoth - this time making it a super short turn around. Up on Friday after work and back Sunday evening but definitely worth it! Can you believe that we spend about 12 hours in a car on a weekend to get in two days of riding? And we do this a couple of times a season? So worth it though!

The Infinite Dress

Even though Aaron contends that Valentine's Day is a Hallmark holiday, he still manages to sort out a way to treat me to something a little special to celebrate. This year, he bought me this gimmicky infinite dress - actually two, one in red and another in black. He didn't think that I would ever actually wear it, but he correctly guessed that I would have fun trying out all the combinations. And actually, I wore it out in public! Here I am wearing style #18 for Val & Muriz's wedding.

Salt Lake City

This weekend Aaron and I were in Salt Lake City for a ski trip. The ironic thing is that we realized that this is the very first ski trip we've ever taken just the two of us. How romantic! We flew out Friday late afternoon and arrived at our hotel in less time than it takes us to drive to Mammoth.

Our overall impression is that this place is great! We stayed in downtown Salt Lake, but the drive up to Park City is a quick 30 miles. Seriously, it couldn't be any easier. Everyone is super nice - not just the service industry folks who are hoping for a tip - everyone. The weather worked out great for us and we had fresh powder to play on all day.

As for Salt Lake being the Mormon mecca, we did a driving tour of Temple Square Saturday after riding all day. But other than that, the people we have interacted with have really been promoting the drinking and have downplayed the Mormon influence. Also, it's hilarious just how busy the state run liquor store is. We watched the parking lot from our hotel room and cracked up Friday night.

And yes, of course we started dreaming of buying rental property in Park City. The prices are 'reasonable' compared to Mammoth with a surprising number of places in an affordable six figure range. Of course there are loads of properties listed in the real estate book similarly priced to the multi-million dollar Silver Star development that we toured. Oh we can dream!

(photos to come)

Busy, busy weekend

This past weekend was super busy for Aaron and I. Friday night we had a family dinner to celebrate Grandpa Shel's birthday, Aaron's parent's anniversary, and Aaron's upcoming birthday. It was a last minute idea, so we tried to squeeze it in before a show at Molly Malone's that I had been wanting to go to. Turns out that dinner ran late so we missed the band that we wanted to see (Andrew Jed) but caught a little of this other band that turned out to be pretty good (Freeman) and had some time to chat with my friends that we were meeting up with.

Saturday morning we made waffles before planting the chocolate comsos that we had found at Costco the week prior. It's one of the flowers that we had in our wedding, so I'm really hoping they do well in our yard. We cleaned up in time to make it to Akemi Fu's first birthday party (I love this photo we captured when the bubble machine was turned on!) and then rushed home to make a turnaround to get to our friend Minh's More Cowbell show downtown.

We didn't stay super late downtown though since early Sunday morning I had another rowing race in Long Beach. This time we took out an 8 and there were 2 other boats in our category. We totally smoked them - which was a lot of fun! We were lame and didn't remember to charge our camera, which means no photos. Hopefully I'll have some from Gwen's boyfriend to share soon.

Since our team doesn't have many opportunities to row together, we had practice after the race back in Marina Del Rey. I was officially exhausted but when I got home I managed to do some laundry and clean up the kitchen before sleeping through the first half of the Super Bowl.

Settled behind closed doors

Quick update: after 3 more hours of waiting on Tuesday afternoon, the courtroom announced that they had in fact settled our case out of court and our jury services weren't needed. We were all free to go home and do not need to come back for at least another year.

Jury Duty - Day #1 of ??

I haven't served jury duty yet, and since I'm in my 12th year of eligibility I suppose it's about time. So, here's what my civic duty looked like today: starting at 8:30 am I sat in a room with about 100 strangers, watched a video about the court system, turned in my pre-filled out paperwork, took a nap (no joke!), read a magazine, listened to my music player, chatted with a few people at my table, listened to the tapping of fingers on laptops, took a 90 minute lunch (enough time to go home and get my computer!), tried to drown out the soap operas on the TV in the background, and eaves-dropped on a few people's cell phone conversations. Nothing juicy.

Finally, the action started at 3:55 pm. I watched about 35 people get called to report to courtroom #4. About 10 mins later they called another 50 of us (my name was called this time) to report to courtroom O. We headed upstairs and waited for the bailiff to greet us and bring us inside. I was surprised to see the defendant in the courtroom. H-e-l-l-a- s-k-e-t-c-h-y looking dude in prison uniform. We were sworn in and then the judge let us know that it's estimated to be about a 7 day trial and since it was so late in the day already they would complete the jury selection tomorrow starting at 1:30 pm.

I wonder if I'll get selected?? One side of me wants to, the other side doesn't. The part that says 'hell no, get me out of here' is the same part that prefers romantic comedies to scary movies any day of the week. The part of me that does want to get selected is the same part of me that my mom sees in me when she tells me I would have made a good judge.

50 things about me (Aaron)

Inspired by Amy's list on her blog, www.dailygnome.com...
(A warning, it's pretty heavy on the pre-college stuff...)

1. I didn't like pizza until I got to middle school. I always made my parents order me spaghetti instead.


2. My cousin and I drove the family car at 2 years old.


3. That same cousin and I painted his younger brother with white house paint a year or two later.


4. I used to canvas the neighborhood looking to wash cars for a few bucks.


5. I learned multiplication from buying 45 cent candy bars at the AM/PM


6. I used to love "suicides", which is when you buy a fountain drink and then mix all the sodas together. Not so much anymore.


7. I was parked in the family car just down the street from our house with my first girlfriend. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that since it was a cul-de-sac, my parents could still see us. My sister and my mom walked right by us, twice, and neither of us noticed. :)


8. My parents have lived in the same house since before I was born.


9. I went to the same private school from first through eighth grade, and of my graduating class of 21 kids, 9 of us had been together that whole time.


10. I used to love watching when my sister played Castle Wolfenstein if she threw grenades. Such a satisfying animation. :)


11. I was in the first graduating class of the Westchester High School Math-Science-Aerospace magnet.


12. I went to basketball camp every summer until high school.


13. I can remember the name of all my elementary school teachers.


14. Since we had cable, if I saw a movie from the 80s, I probably watched it dozens of times.


15. I didn't really appreciate my sister until after she left for college.


16. My sister used to hold a basketball up so I couldn't reach it. My parents warned her that that wouldn't work soon. They were right.


17. I skipped a grade in Math during 2nd grade with Jason Musicer and Ann O'Brien.


18. My team won my third grade gold rush simulation. About a week before it started, my family went to a Chinese restaurant, and I got two fortune cookies that said something like "You will come into a lot of gold soon," so I always think about the gold rush when I go to Panda Express.


19. I enjoy singing.


20. When I was twelve, my friend Dave told I was going to be the drummer in our band and gave me a pair of drum sticks. As anyone can attest, I can rarely go for more than few hours without banging out a beat on whatever surface is available, even if no music is playing.


21. I love hearing my mother sing or whistle old tunes as she tends her garden or waters her grass.


22. I have never worked in retail, but I have worked in tech support.


23. I used to love Big League Chew. It tasted so good that I used to swallow it.


24. I loved getting sodas at the vending machine at the park when growing up because then I got to drink Cactus Cooler.


25. I had major surgery when I was 14 to repair a curved breastbone. I was in the hospital for 5 days.


26. My friends dubbed the scar "Mr Frowny Face"


27. I love playing Boggle with my mom.


28. I'm very proud of my parents for their commitment to civil service. They've been honored by the LA city council, and even have a certificate of commendation signed by the whole council, a few govt officers, and mayor Villaraigosa.


29. My parents volunteered so much at my high school, people used to ask me if they worked there.


30. I don't particularly like my middle name.


31. I have lived in LA for my whole life, except for 367 days when I lived in Austin, TX. I miss it there.


32. The first pop song I remember hearing on the radio and paying any attention to was "Don't You Want Me" by Human League. I was a late bloomer to the radio - even though I was 4 - 14 years old, I didn't know 80's music til later.


33. I was my high school's valedictorian.


34. So was my wife.


35. I used to eschew local establishments and only go to chain restaurants, but my wife has taught me that I enjoy the unique experience of local flavors.


36. People think I'm a stoner sometimes. Definitely not.


37. I do enjoy a drink every now and then, but it's not usually worth the consequences, since I suffer more than the usual sick stomach and headache. It's harder than you think to not drink with other adults.


38. I love it when my wife smiles.


39. I've always wanted to go to Alaska sometime and see the glaciers. Definitely during summer, though.


40. I play sports to have fun. I mainly have fun when I'm playing well. Which hopefully leads to winning.


41. I think people who play rec sports "to win" above good sportsmanship are jerks, like guys who don't call their own nets or touches in volleyball.


42. There's another Aaron Schneider who won an oscar last year, and I started getting phone calls after the award was announced.


43. There's another Aaron Schneider who went to U of Nebraska. He got the domain name. Dammit.


44. There are a lot of people named "Aaron Schneider" on LinkedIn


45. I follow the NBA very closely.


46. I love me some regular M&Ms.


47. I'm not very organized. My wife complements me well in this regard.


48. I enjoy my work. Most of the time.


49. I like a good deal. Even if it's a deal for something I don't really need.


50. My wife loves making lists.

English Country Dancing in Pasadena

For the second time in the past few months, Aaron and I went with a few friends to an English Country Dancing event (aka: Jane Austin Ball). I recognize that this might make me a complete and total nerd, but I really enjoyed it!

I considered for a short time that maybe it's the anglophile in me, but then this really doesn't relate at all to the experience I had in London. My love of England is for the modern England. The nightlife, the tube, the pubs, the parks, the people, the high streets, the fact that no matter how many times you walk down the same streets there is still something surprising, the fact that people walk... I could go on.


Really I think the reason I had such a good time speaks more to the same interest I have in marching bands. There is something poetic about so many bodies (and minds) organized, working together, and moving in the same space. Yes, every so often we would bump into the set near us, but all in all it works and makes for a very enjoyable evening.

Visitors from down under

This past week my very good friend Alanna and her boyfriend Neil stayed with us. They are in LA on their way back to Australia from Spain. It was so nice to spend time catching up and hearing about their adventures. Not sure how I managed to not take a single photo of their visit. You'll just have to picture us sitting in our living room, enjoying a glass of wine, the boys playing Rock Band.

Editing Photos - Picasa!!!

Alrighty, we all have a zillion photos from our shiny new digital cameras. I would like to share with you my methodology for processing and sharing those photos. As many of you know, Picasa3 (www.picasa.com) is my favorite photo editing and management program, and I bug you all to use it. Whenever I get a new batch of photos to edit, I run through 9 very quick and easy steps:

1) Import: Import the photos into your "My Photos" directory, or wherever you save your pics. Picasa has an import tool, but I prefer to do this manually.

2) Correct: Click on the new folder so that all of the pics are selected. In the menu, click "Picture", then "Batch Edit", then "I'm feeling lucky". This auto-corrects white balance and colors. Pictures ALWAYS look better after running this. Give it a moment to update your thumbnails.

3) Describe: Give your folder a very descriptive name, and type in a little blurb about the event(s) in your folder.

4) Remove duplicates: Time to go through the photos. Double click on the first photo. For duplicates, pick the best one and delete the others. If you keep more than one, make sure that there's a compelling reason.

5) Crop, crop, crop! For me, 99% of these photos will only be seen on a computer screen. They will look better if you simply crop out all of the unnecessary stuff so that the things you want to see will be BIGGER. Focus on the faces. Don't be afraid to crop into other aspect ratios, but I would recommend nothing taller and skinnier than a typical 4x6 portrait. That means that you should shoot for 4x6/3x5 aspects, square, or something panoramic.

Picasa3 has face detection technology, so when you click the crop button, it gives you 3 suggestions of different cropping around the face in your pic. The suggestions also tend to automatically exclude the boring stuff, like the monochromatic elements at the edges around your subjects. The suggestions are not perfect, but they make editting easier and faster.

6) Finish: Apply other finishing effects to the photos. There's one click stuff for other effects like sepia or b&w, red eye reduction, and even simple retouching. Not strictly necessary, but can be great to mix it up a little.

7) More describing: Add captions for as many photos as you can. Photos tell a story, but they don't always say everything that needs to be said.

8) Feel lucky, again: Select all the photos again (your cropped, captioned, tagged, de-duped photos, hopefully!), and re-run the "I'm feeling lucky" edit from step 2. Whenever you crop or apply effects to a picture, that can change how the white or color balance looks, so if you re-run this, the pictures will probably look just a little bit better.

9) Upload! Click "Sync to Web" to share the photos. It may ask you to set up a google account for this if you don't have one. Once it finishes uploading the pictures, click the "Web Albums" button and send the link to your fam and friends or put it in your blog. Because of the "sync" feature, if you make changes to the picture (changing captions, retouch, crop, etc...", it will automatically update the web album too!

Voila! You are done! I hope that helps you save your memories.

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One last step that I like to do is click the "save" button (to commit your updates to the pic). Don't worry - ALL edits are undo-able, even saving. Normally, picasa effects are "applied" to the original photos each time you view it, so when you view in Windows or Photoshop, you wouldn't see you changes. This last step will make every app show your nice pics the same way that Picasa does, and will make them ready to archive.

See this page for more tips, including tagging, geotagging, gift CDs, Flickr, and keyboard shortcuts.

One last thing, it just came out for mac, and it plays nice with iPhoto. Check it out!

Mammoth for New Years

We spent New Years in Mammoth this year (as in some years past) with a few friends and had a great time! The first day out on the mountain was *awesome* - perfect conditions. The second day was windy with many of our favorite lifts closed so we took the day to hang out in the condo, play lots of Scrabble, and check out Tamarack Lodge (build in 1924). I was back on the slopes again on the third day with some fresh powder, but Aaron wasn't feeling well so he headed back to the condo pretty early. We didn't snowboard on Sunday so we took our time getting back to LA and stopped at the Manzanar Relocation Camp. It is an interesting piece of war history and had a much nicer (quality, not content) exhibit than any of us were expecting. For many, many photos from the trip click here.