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.