best surprise birthday ever

one reason its a big surprise is that my birthday isn't until next month. But since i won't be up in WA in January, my wonderful wife, got all my friends together for the best birthday party ever.



Go Karts!!!!



and not just one race, but 4. and we are still hurting from it days later, but it was the most fun ever.

We went really really fast. (will have a video to come soon)


Oh yeah, i won 3 out of 4 races. good stuff.

help

..i've been kidnapped and forced to watch the disney channel all day..
someone send some wine - stat

rock on

today ben, jeanne, and i got on the train super early - and headed up to seattle for some christmas shopping.. we walked around downtown, shopped, ate, and had a great time..
in order to spend so much time away from the girls (the nieces) we had to promise that tonight we'd have '80's dance party'.. originally i didn't take this too seriously - until today when we came home - the girls had posters made for our party and their hair crimped in side ponytails.. i realized that i had to 'bring it' - and so i did..
while the girls went out - i got my 80's on - body glitter, gym shorts and all..
we danced all night, i drank some wine, and eventually we had a dance off.. the competition was tough - but by the judges unanimous decision - i was victorious..
we had a great time - but i've got to go take a shower, wash off my very pink eye shadow - and try to convince my hair to forgive me for all the crimping.. so damaging - but absolutely necessary..


let's get physical with princess sophie
 

zanadoo and army spice
 

girls just wanna have fun..
 

Off to WA (and the Long Beach airport rocks)

the Charo and i are in the Long Beach airport which is just about as small and cute as it could be. but its not crowded and i have free wi-fi so i'm very happy.

we are off to WA for Christmas to visit the family and friends.

Have a good Christmas everyone!

Ben...


oh and that last post has a wonderful hint of irony to it now. What a difference a day makes.

working like a dog

i'm not always sure that when my husband goes to work he ever actually does any real work.. he has complained that his work is harder than my school.. but i don't think so..
this is where ben works
 
doesn't look that hard to me..

celebrate good times

i feel like we have been going non stop since thursday..
thursday was my last final for the semester.. i now have 5 semesters done, one more to go.. so to celebrate the girls came over thursday, and we danced until about 3am..
friday we celebrated the holidays with ben's company, stage six.
we started saturday afternoon by celebrating my pal melody's bday with a pub crawl down in pb,
quickly followed by another holiday celebration with ben's company divx..
we had tickets that were going to expire so sunday ben and i went to sea world..
quite the weekend.. good times, and lots of fun

cheers to melody
 

chara and the charlie brown christams tree
 

ben - please buy me a puppy for christmas..
 

Ben's new project

Not sure if you saw the new link off to the left there. No not the Ron Paul one. Vote Ron Paul 2008! Seriously people check out that link as well. He's got some good stuff to say.

the other new link is for my new project. I am restoring a 1960 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite.

Check out the new project blog for my new project car. i'll be updating it regularly with photos of the progress. of course with the holidays and work i won't be starting it until early Feb, but check back and hopefully a new car will appear where the old one once was.

straw that broke the camels back

i took a horrible final today - and it finally broke me..

after answering multiple questions during the test the teacher finally admitted that in trying to trick us she wrote a bad test..

does that mean she'll curve the test? throw out all bad questions? no one knows..

... all i know is that i am broken.. and as of thursday at 4pm i am done for the semester.. i need a break..

Some good music for a rainy Friday

If your looking for some good music to get you through this blustery day check out this farewell for now concert from Nickel Creek.

its so good. I'm sad they are not together anymore

Hopefully they will get together for the Telluride Bluegrass festival. I'm looking to go out there in June. Anyone want to come along and make it a big fun friends camping trip with some good music?

Break the rules

I am Legend

So i got into work this morning a little after nine and i'm the only one here.

its weird.

i've called several people and no one is answering their phones

its weird.

i'm not sure if there has been an outbreak of some zombie virus that killed everyone else or if there is some holiday i'm not aware of

i guess i'll just get some work done in the peace and quiet

the stress has finally gotten to Chara

all the stress of school and finals has finally gotten to Chara.

She has snapped and she thinks she is getting a puppy for Christmas.

and the best part is she wants to name it John Patrick Francis Mulcahy

she is a cute one that Chara

mark your calandars..

just found out today that -

i am graduating thursday may 22nd 2008.. i can't wait..

what did i eat last night..

i had a strange dream last night..
i was at someone's house - and there was a get together - and we were talking about nana's memorial - which apparently is the upcoming monday (it's really not - we already had it, but in my dream it was on monday) - any how - someone thought they were doing a favor for me and was going to let me take their kid up to WA with me - so that the kid (who is like 3 years old) could play some song on the piano - and i was like - 'oh no thanks, look - i'm going to be stressed out enough - i don't really think it's a good idea to take a kid with me ' - and they (slightly offended that i didn't think it was the best idea ever) were like, 'fine, dustin will do it' - and sure enough dustin hoffman was sitting in the group - and i was like - 'no - dustin is not going to my nanas funeral - he never met her - and it's in washington - and that just doesn't make sense' - (no so much surprised dustin hoffman was hanging with us - more surprised that he'd want to fly to WA) - and then dustin was like, 'sure - of course i'll go - it's the right thing to do' - then i realized that i was busy all sunday with some test prep for some random test - and i had to get to wa for nana's memorial on monday - and then had my final on tuesday - that's when i started freaking out - cuz - when was i going to study?
oh yes - the nightmares before finals week have begun..

things that go beep in the night

around 2am the power went out last night -
which in our house is really noisy..

ben has 3 different back up power supplies meant to protect his computers and such in the event of a power failure..

all this means to me is that when the power goes out - three diffrent things beep loudly, and consistently in order to warn me that the power is out.. these three things beep until they eventually run out of power..

ben of course doesn't wake to hear any of this until i (accidentally of course) knock him in the head looking for a flash light..

all this said to say - that i didn't get much sleep last night.. i might be a little grumpy.

Holy Cow Craiglist works... a little too well

i had some stuff to get rid of

a dresser and a bunch of computer crap

i posted two posts online

within 30 seconds i had 3 calls, and this continued every 5 minutes for the next two hours

i pulled both ads down and all the stuff is gone now

the last guy was a nut! he just spent 40 minutes sitting in my garage talking about computers and the cool things he modified on his truck

good times

be warned. the crazies come out of the woodwork for stuff on Craiglist, especially free stuff, especially free computer stuff. geesh

Chara was not so happy as she was going to take a nap when our house turned into telethon with the phone ringing off the hook

Beautiful Sunset

I looked out the front door the other day and noticed this...

I grabbed the camera and took a few pictures. It was beautiful.

 

 

 

looking for a meth lab

so they don't make over the counter drugs with pseudoephedrine in them anymore because everyone was buying them and making meth. So now i'm stuck here miserable because i can't get any good drugs to clear up my head. So if anyone knows of a good meth lab around, let me know. I don't want the meth, i just want the pseudoephedrine that i can't get at the stupid drug store!

sinus infections suck

Ben...

the Black Friday adventures

we don't buy a lot of junk normally

but its fun sometimes to get up at the crack of dawn with a bunch of other lunatics and hunt down the bargains.

Anyway, we headed out this morning for the Black Friday sales. We only hit Fry's and then came home and napped. The line was INSANE, but i got almost everything i wanted on my list.

Here is the video of the line right before the store opened.




Yes the line wrapped around the store and then down the street and around the corner

cool picture

Our Nana

Our Nana is gone to heaven

visiting nana in WA

Chara and I made a last minute trip up to visit our Nana.

she is sick and not doing so well, so we are up here helping my sister take care of her.

we are now just all hanging out in her room. She is sleeping in her chair and Chara is on her laptop and my mom is playing Chara's DS playing Brain Age. good times

we were planning to come back on Tuesday, but we may extend our stay to continue taking care of our Nana

Ben..

Officially getting old

I just did something I've never done before and something i accredit to old people.

I gave money to a presidential candidate. Who does that? old people. I'm old. Or at least getting there.

I'm not a political person and am usually very disenfranchised with the whole process, so this was part of that. I felt it was important to put some money behind someone i believed in. I have great cynicism toward the system and i've seen that play out in spades in the media and how it views the current roster of political hopefuls.

I gave my money to Ron Paul, because i believe he is truly different than any of the other parties running and would actually bring a change instead more of the same from a new name. I believe in many of the things he is promoting and i have great hopes that we can make some good changes with him in office. Check him out if you haven't heard him. Listen to his ideas. they are truly refreshing.

His supporters were having a fund raising push today and he has raised almost 6.9 million today alone. That is a lot of people putting their money where their mouths are so to speak.

good clean fun

the weekend started with a trip to sissy's place in la - a stop over for us ladies to rest up before the big day..
we hung out, went to the grove, and played with the kiddos.. much fun..

deborah showing melody her reading skill
 

isaiah aka the ladies man telling lizard a about his plans for his birthday party
 


we headed off sunday AM to san dimas to get our race on..
this race is a 6-7 mile race, where you and a partner alternate biking and running - at the end of the race there is a giant mud pit that you and your buddy crawl though.. good times..
now.. i have been training for this race for months - and have done mini muddy buddies in the gym - meaning i would run a mile and bike a mile six different times... i felt i had prepared.. not so much..
turns out there was nothing i could have done to prepare me for this.. the whole entire race was either straight up hill, or straight down hill - mixed with a little more uphill action.. there a total of one flat area.. the hills were so steep that most racers didn't even attempt to ride their bikes... the runners passed the bikers every time.. it was insane.. needless to say i was most unhappy that my 'buddy' (yeah.. that's you jo jessica) had 'tricked' me into even attempting this event..
but.. at the end of the six miles.. there was this pit.. a giant pit filled with mud that we all as a group got to crawl through.. crawling through mud with my girls made the whole thing mostly worth it..

pre-race.. all clean - and happily unaware of what's up ahead..
 

the charo bringing it home.. last stretch of the race.. i think it's the only time i actually rode the bike..
 

oh my god we're done..
 

the two crazies int the white helmets are the charo and jo jessica, melobeast and lizard are to the left, lizard in the blue, beast in the red
 

my team kicks ass..
 

and the post race photo..
 

everyone just tossed their shoes away..
 

melody about to be baptized with a hose..
 

getting clean was just as fun as getting dirty
 

the race is on..

the girls and i ran/biked the muddy buddy this weekend..

i promise more pictures to come.. but for now i need to take a shower..

 

working for the weekend..

today was my last psych clinical..

that means for the rest of the semester i have fridays off - no more alarms going at at 4am waking my sleepy self up - no more driving to san diego to be at class at 645..

for the rest of the semester i have four day weekends.. today was a good day..

happy halloween

it's 6:22 and i just got my first trick-or-treaters...
i'd better get more - or i'm going to have to eat all this candy by myself..

back to life, back to reality

school was closed all week last week.. and opened this week a week behind, with a bunch of work due.. nevermind that none of us nursing students got anything done because we were all glued to the news wondering if we should evacuate or not.. doesn't matter...
this week and all the work due with it just need to be over..
i need some sleep..

best birthday ever..

ben made sure today was the best birthday ever..
we started the day with breakfast at my favorite place in del mar
then ben took me on shopping spree in down town
and then - the super surprise..
ben took me to sea world - where i got to take part in the 'dolphin interaction program'..
today was awesome.. we got to go behind the scenes, get in the water, and play with some dolphins. it was an amazing birthday present.. just me and some dolphins - holding hands..
and we ended off the day having dinner at bj's ..

the only way today could have been better is if they let me take a dolphin home with me.. no such luck..

stayed tunned for pictures.. we'll put them up as soon as we get them..

Guess who's birthday it is?

Its a big champagne birthday for the Charo

we got big super secret plans for her big birthday day

oh what do we have in store for the big day?

i'm not telling

photos and video montage of all the events to follow

Wish Chara a big happy birthday

returning back to normal

i'm back at work

Chara and the puppy are hanging out at home

things are starting to get back to normal. the air is better. still smoky, but better

hopefully these fires will be out soon and we can go on with our regularly scheduled lives

thanks for all the nice thoughts and prayers

we're fine.... it's all fine

still smokey, but we can breath

the fires look like they will not approach the Cote compound so we are safe.

we had a big fire party last night with Matt and Jess and Jimmy and Lizz. we had homemade stew and biscuits and it was yummy

I think i'm going back to work if Chara will let me

Ben...

holy fires batman

the update so far today -
we have a rather large fire, the witch fire' - to the south of us. - that one looks like it's moving west towards encinitas - and wouldn't worry me except that it has merged with another fire - and by itself is about 196,000 acres.. it just doesn't want to stop.. it is however 10% contained..
there is another fire to the east of us - in the fallbrook area - heading towards bonsal. some of you know that aunt tamie lives out that way - so far she is ok - and is ready to leave if need be. i will keep you updated on her status.
and we have a fire to the north on camp Pendleton - that fire doesn't so much worry me - except that the 5 freeway has been closed up to san clemente - so now we're kinda stuck surrounded by fires..

there are other fires further south - but these are the ones making me nervous right now.
so far we are all ok - we try not to go outside because the air quality is so bad. so for now we sit at home, keep an eye out, and try not to kill each other..

so keep sending your prayers, happy thoughts, and good mojo - there are plenty of people in san diego in need of it today..

Wednesday morning...the sun is shining

You can actually see the sky today at our house which is good news. its still smokey, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. the sky has a little blue which is nice.

There are a few new fires popping up, one in Camp Pendleton that has I-5 shut down going north.

we are still good. just hanging out at the house.

Ben...

Here is a google map of the fire

easy does it..

tonight we put dad and katie in charge of the house and dogs - and ben and i ventured outside to our friends the hobby's. it's strange.. two days stuck at home - and we are so over it.. - but at the same time it's been hard to leave the house.. with all the fires and the crazy wind it's hard to leave - because we just don't know what is really going on - and we don't want to leave in case something happens.. but.. tonight we heard that the rice fire was more contained - today helicopters were out and about dropping anti-fire stuff on the fire - so we were feeling better.. tonight was a nice break considering how stressful the last couple days have been.. even if ben and i haven't been evacuated - we've been fielding calls from multiple friends (and family) who need places to flee... of course we then get another call tonight that a different fire has started that we need to keep an eye on..
the latest update is that tonight - i should be sleeping easy.. as far as we have been told, unless crazy winds pick up over night - we should be fine.. the winds have died down, and should stay down through thursday...

so update for the night.. my family and i are a-ok.. we will continue to update as we know more.. but for now - somebodies prayers are working..

Its all fine and smokey here

Its a good idea not to breath outside right now. We are still at the house. We are all smokey outside.

cabin fever is setting in.

latest from union tribune

*as of right now this is the fire that concerns me the most..

Rice Fire update
Posted @ 7:32 AM

Here are the latest statistics regarding the Rice Fire:
* 6,100 acres. Zero percent contained.
* One injury.
* 500 homes destroyed, 30 damaged.
The fire is burning on both sides on Interstate 15 towards Fallbrook as well as to the north said, Cal Fire Capt. Don Camp. The blaze may merge with the Rosa Fire in Riverside County.

The fire is burning in the Santa Margarita and Sandia Creek drainage areas. Fallbrook could be threatened in the next 12 hours. Fallbrook and Oceanside could be threatened in the next 24 hours, Camp said.

Winds are at 50 mph. The temperature is 60 degres and the humidity is 10 percent, Camp said.

smokey morning

 

so we slept, the fires did not. Woke up to a very smokey morning. Ash everywhere. thats a pic of the Prius covered in ash.

the air is hard to breath today. the fires continue to push on with the high winds.

we'll see what today holds. I think my idea of going to Disneyland is still strong.

Ben...

Going to sleep, the fires approaches

 

this is a picture from our neighbors house. the lights up in the upper right, aren't lights. thats the fire coming over the hill. that is one of the fires coming towards us. But i'm not worried. We are going to bed now. Well i am anyway. Chara will probably not sleep much. We'll see what tomorrow holds for us.

Ben...

were still here

still hanging out at our house

Fires to the north, fires to the south. its actually quite nice at our house. the wind is blowing all the smoke away from us on both fires. so its big party at our house

2 dogs, 2 cats and 5 people so far. Chara's aunt might be pulling up the trailer any minute now.

Ben...

fire fire everywhere..

some of you might have heard that a good part of san diego is on fire..
so far we are just fine - but there are about 8 fires in san diego right now - ben and i are both at home today just in case.. who knows what this crazy wind will do...
in addition to all the san diego fires there is also a fire southwest of Lake Arrowhead which started near Highway 18 and Bear Springs Road - right by my dad..
so.. dad, katie and the dog have been evacuated - and are on their way to our house.
so - if anyone is worried - or needs to get a hold of us - try to call our home phone.. we have been told to avoid using the cell phones..

so.. to update - we are fine -
but in san diego we can all use your prayers, happy thoughts, good wishes, rain dances - whatever else you got - send it all our way...

regression

we have a new development in our house. if we leave a room while keaton is sleeping in it, when she wakes up and realizes that we are gone she starts crying - non stop.. she cries until we call to her from another room to let her know where we're at... sometimes it's really bad, and we have to physically go get her.. i say it's time for a new puppy - someone to keep her company.... ben keeps saying no.. we'll see if he can keep saying no when he takes me to the humane society today..

atomosphereic pressure pattern

Santa anna's make my allergies go crazy.. not my favorite weather.. i'm all stuffed up..

look what i found..

i came home today to find this guy starring at me..



afraid he was going to eat the dog i went and got the neighbor who promptly came over and stepped on the big guy... so no worries - the puppy and i are safe.. thank you don for saving the day..

anatomy

deborah calls today with an important question:
deborah - 'kai - what does brains look like'
me - 'hmmmm.. interesting question - kinda like gray slimy broccoli'
deborah - 'what is slimy?'
me - 'like spaghetti noodles' - and then i ask, 'where is the brain'
deborah - 'on your forehead' -
me - 'nope - put your hand on your head - and you will feel hair, and underneath that is something hard - your skull - and then your brains'
deborah - 'but kai i don't feel anything slimy'
goodness anatomy is hard to teach over the phone..

girls weekend 2007

the girls and i decided to get away this weekend for some much needed time off.. friday night we headed out to palm springs and spent the weekend dancing, going out, hanging by the pool, shopping, and hot tubbing at night.. the weather was perfect - low 90's during the day, cooling off nicley in the evenings..
this weekend was an amazng time spent with amazing ladies.. thanks to all you all for such a great time..

the ladies looking great before we head out
 

momma jacks and nerissa glamming it up..
 

liz and jo jessica showing the love
 

hanging pool side...
 

Last day in Sitges

statue in Sitges, originally uploaded by Cote289.

I leave tomorrow morning. It was fun here, but i'm ready to be home.

i'm not looking forward to the long plain ride. Hopefully they will show a better movie than Nancy Drew.

Ben..

Buenos Noches

Sunset in Sitges, originally uploaded by Cote289.

here is a cool sunset in Sitges taken from the church

I added more photos to my Flickr page

Ben..