Weird Al again

Yesterday my dear wife was kind enough to watch Charlotte most of the day, and gave me the opportunity to do 2 things that I hadn't been able to do for a while. 

I went golfing for the first time in 5-6 weeks.  I went with Matt, and we both had a nice time.  My golf game continues worsening since Charlotte was born, but that's ok.  It's still fun and relaxing to go.

I also got to see Weird Al Yankovic in concert again!!!  He came back to the California State Fair, so I got to see him again.  This is the 3rd time I've seen him, the first 2 with Becca, and this time with Matt, Tina and Alan.  I'm fairly certain I enjoyed it more than the three of them combined, but they did say that they had good time and would consider seeing him again the next time he comes around.  If you haven't seen him perform, you should, I certainly think he does a pretty good show. 

Charlotte continues to do well.  While we were in Colorado she developed a bilateral ear infection as well as a nasty case of hand foot mouth disease.  Here is a picture of one of her legs, which doesn't show it perfectly but it's the best picture I have at the moment.  In any case, she got blistered on her arms, legs, hands and feet.  She still has some scarring which hopefully will resolve.  However, now that she's feeling better she's been acting pretty normal for about 2 weeks.  She's walking a lot since her birthday. We've basically stopped counting steps now because she walks so much. 

While I was enjoying watching Weird Al, Becca got a fun video of Charlotte dancing in her new car.  We already sent the video out to many of my reading audience, but I'm going to post it here anyway.  It's just too fun.

Sleepless Gardening

So, life at home with a newborn continues :).  The past 2 days she slept a good amount of the day, then cluster fed for about 8 hours overnight and didn't let us sleep.  At this point she has her days and night flipped, which I realize is normal but still exhausting.  On Friday we did a photo session, which we sent out some pictures to family members.  I'm putting a few of the other pictures up here.  The pictures came out pretty well.  Charlotte certainly is cute in them! 

Then on our most recent game night Gina was encouraging me to put some stuff about the rest of our lives here as well.  So here are a few pictures of our garden.  As you can see, it's mostly zucchini and tomatoes.  there are a few green beans getting overgrown by zucchini, and some red bell peppers by the tomatoes.  We're getting lots of zucchini, so there's also a pic of our recent harvest.  I'm not always very good about picking them early, so we end up with zucchinis that are best in grated recipes like breads.  But I love all breads, so no complaints there!

 

Charlotte's Arrival

So, you all know by now, but I'm going to post this anyway!  :)  On July 4 our daughter, Charlotte Meilee, was born.  Becca had to get a c-section because Charlotte wasn't coming out after lots and lots of pushing. She weighed: 7 lbs 14 oz and is 20 inches long.  We were in the hospital for 3 days then were discharged yesterday.  Both Becca and Charlotte are doing great.  Thanks for all of your prayers!

Here are a few pictures.  She's looks a lot more like Becca than me, and is therefore quite cute.  There is also a video of her playing on the floor.  Enjoy  :)

Name Poll

As you very likely already know, Becca and I are expecting our first child, a girl, in July. We've been working on names and have come up with a list of candidates. Let us know what you think!

What should we name our child?
	Alyssa
	Ashlyn
	Brooklyn
	Charlotte
	Claire
	Grace
	Margaret
pollcode.com free polls

The MILF and the Shire folk

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8-9-10

Today was 8-9-10. That's a good day as Becca and I were married on 10-9-8. After all, there is only one inverse anniversary day. I enjoyed writing it all day, then I got home from work today and the first thing Becca said to me was "Do you know what day it is?" Of course, I'm not really sure what an inverse anniversary day means..... I guess as long as it isn't a free annulment day for Becca, kind of like a get-out-of-jail free card in monopoly, I'll be happy. :)

I know what you're thinking: You don't blog for nearly a year and you choose this?!?!?! Admittedly I didn't blog about starting my job, my actual first anniversary, buying a house, building a bookshelf from scratch, the joy of pool care, my first swim in the aforementioned pool, whitewater rafting, buying a bike, getting another new job, my new nephew, my new niece, or the very exciting Cooper Book Club. But this was big. I mean, we may someday buy another house, and we'll certainly have more anniversaries, and considering how fertile my family is I'm bound to have a few more nieces and nephews in the future, but we'll never have another inverse anniversary day, so I don't want to hear it! :)

Well, since I mentioned it anyway, here are a few other updates from my life. I have accepted a new job with Kaiser and will be switching to work there at some point in November. The delay is because I need to get my hospital privileges set up with Kaiser before I can start working for them. Ultimately, I think this will be a much better fit for me so I'm pretty excited about it. Also, 2 of my sister-in-laws had babies within the last month and a half. Matthew out in Columbus, and Emily here in California. I haven't gotten to see Matthew in person yet, but Becca and I have been up with Jen, Alan and Emily a good bit over the last week helping out, which has been fun. Oh yes, and the Cooper Book Club. After all, just getting on and playing Everquest 2 every week isn't nerdy enough, so we had to step it up a notch and read books to talk about as well. We started out reading Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind, and now we are reading Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson. So far we've really had a good time with the book club, and hopefully can keep it going for a while. Anyone else want to start playing EQ2 and reading nerd books at the same time?

Okay, that's all for now. Any guesses on when my next posting will be?

Oahu

So, I just got back from vacation in Oahu with Becca and her family. It was great. We rented a condo up on a hill outside of Honolulu, with a great view of the city and ocean. To the far left in the picture is Diamond Head State Monument, a crater that formed following a volcanic eruption. We walked up to the peak on Friday morning (our first full day there).

That afternoon the guys went golfing at Kahuku Municipal Golf Course, up near the northern tip of the island. The golf course was right on the coast, so we had great views of the ocean the whole time. Also, it had huge, forgiving fairways so it was just about the right level of difficulty for me. While we were out golfing the girls stayed back and went to a spa for manicures or massages.

On Saturday we went to Hanauma Bay where we went snorkeling and saw lots of coral, some beautiful fish, and a sea turtle. Then to top it off Becca's brother Matt proposed to his girlfriend Tina before we left, so we then had an engagement to celebrate!

For the engagement celebration we went to a Luau that evening. They had lots of fun activities, including a spear throw for which I am simply grateful there isn't a video of my throw attempt. :) Let's just say it's not quite as easy to do as it looks.

So that takes us through Saturday. On Sunday we went to the Swap Meet, which really was a huge number of vendors in tents surrounding Aloha Stadium. They did have pretty good prices; Becca and I bought 8 T-shirts from one vendor for $20. Can't complain too much about that. After the Swap Meet, we went to Chinatown and ate Dim sum for lunch. After lunch we walked around Chinatown some more. There was a statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who I hadn't heard before. He played a large role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and was the first president of the Republic of China as we know it today. I hadn't expected to learn about Chinese history in Hawai'i, but was pleasantly surprised.

On Monday we went to Pearl Harbor. We first went to the USS Arizona, which was one of the battleships sunk in the attack. It suffered enough structural damage so that they were unable to pull it up. The picture to the left is of the memorial that was built over top of the Arizona and the nearly 1000 U.S. servicemen who died and could not be recovered. Additionally some of the surviving members of the Arizona's crew have been interred in the ship when their times passed as well.

We also went to the USS Missouri, which is the retired battleship best known for being the location of the signing for the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII. It is a pretty impressive ship. You can also see the USS Bowfin, one of the submarines from that time.

On Tuesday it was a raining, and we'd planned on going for a hike. Instead we drove up the North Coast, stopping frequently for photo opportunities. One of the times we stopped there was a coconut tree that had a few coconuts down low enough that I could knock one down with a stick. So I did. Here's a pic of me proudly holding my well earned coconut. How many of you knew what a coconut looks like coming right off the tree? I sure didn't. Unfortunately it wasn't ripe yet, so there probably is good reason no one else had picked it yet.

Then on Wednesday the weather was cooperating so we went on our hike, up to Manoa Falls. It was a fairly short hike, around 1.5 miles round trip. Then just after leaving the falls we came across a group of nearly 100 elementary school students on their way up to the falls, so we figured we'd left just in time. That afternoon we went to Lanikai Beach, where we went kayaking, as well as some more snorkeling.

On Thursday when we went to the airport. Becca, her dad and I got on our plane and waited there for 3 hours. Then they gave up on the maintenance issues for the plane and canceled the flight. So we left the plane and got our checked luggage back. They put us up in the Marriott downtown in Waikiki, up on the 30th floor. We had an amazing view of the ocean and Diamond Head Crater. We spent the remainder of the day walking around Waikiki, then got some sleep before heading back to the airport where we got on our new flight. They told us that instead of canceling the flight, they had simply delayed it for 20 hours. I prefer to think of it as a whole new flight. This time the flight went as scheduled/delayed, and we got back to California with no additional issues.

Well, that's the story of my week in Oahu. Like I said, we had a great time.

Baldness Retreating, 2 weeks post

So, as I don't have anything all that exciting to post on here, I'd thought I'd chronicle my hair regrowth. It's coming along, but still pretty short. I think somewhere around 3/16 of an inch. The question as it grows back will be where the optimal length is, and how long I want to keep it.

Baldness Arrived

Yes, I went through with it. I went and got my head shaved for St. Baldrick's Day. There were around 110 people getting their heads shaved in Albany today. At the start of the day they had raised over $38,000, and expected to raise nearly that same amount more today. I had raised $195. Thanks to all those who donated!

So, as promised, here are a couple pictures. They didn't shave us quite this close at the event. However, I wanted to see what it would look like really clean-shaven, so I finished it up from there. Let me know what you think.

Baldness Incoming

Yes, I'm getting my head shaved in 2 weeks. How exiting! :) I've shaved my head once before, but that was really just for fun. This time is for a purpose.

It's for St. Baldrick's Day. The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a national national organization that shaves people's heads to raise money for childhood cancer research. They do events in different cities around the country, and Albany's St. Baldrick's Day event this year is March 22. I went last year to observe and provide moral support, but this year I decided to participate myself.

Here's the link to my page on their website.

http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/shavee_info.php?ParticipantKey=2009-336996

You can follow my donations, or even make a donation if you are feeling generous. :) I'll post an after-picture up there later too.

Boards

We just found out our board scores today, and both Becca and I passed our pediatric boards! Yippee!! Now we are board certified in pediatrics and don't have to worry about it again until 2015.

Brain Power

Today Becca and I went to the Schenectady Museum and Planetarium. Thomas Edison set up his factory in the Schenectady area, so much of the museum is about the history of Electricity and some fun kids stuff to go along with it. In the Planetarium we saw a show about astronomy and how it has contributed to our Christmas traditions.

After that we continued walking around the museum. There was a section on DNA, which was really quite basic and not too interesting to either of us. The last thing we did in the museum was to go back to a game that was in use when we went by the first time.

Set-up for the game included each of us putting on a head band which was connected to a computer. The head bands measured brain activity. The games were based on the amount of brain activity in each person. In the first game we played we were trying to stay calm, relaxed and produce as little brain activity as possible.....Becca won that game. Then we switched the rules and competed to have the most brain wave activity. So, while I had a hard time being relaxed, I didn't have much trouble putting my brain into overdrive and proceeded to win that one. All I had to do was take my overactive ADHD brain, turn off all controls, and go crazy. Admittedly I couldn't achieve anything in the form of functional activity in that state, but for the purpose of the game it worked out well.

The Joy of Ice

As you know, we in the Northeast have recently been hit with a pretty big ice storm. So, as a result, we've been dealing with many of the consequences of this weather. One of my interns had a tree fall down on her driveway, blocking her in and making her late to work. Not so bad..... Another intern, not to be outdone, had the poor fortune of a tree falling on her car and in her words, "smashing it all up." I don't know for certain how bad it is, but I wont be surprised if it is totaled.

Of course, the impacts on my residents is only a small part of what is going on. Approximately 300,000 people in New York alone are without power, and it will take quite a few days to get most of the power back on.

One additional consequence of all the power outages is that many of the traffic signals are not working. So, this bears a question: What are the traffic laws for intersections in which the power is lost? Well, the laws are that the intersection turns into 4 way stop signs. That law works great if it is followed. So I was out doing some shopping and got to see what was actually happening. People aren't treating them as 4 way stops. Instead, what is happening is that people are going through the intersections as if they have green lights. And this is happening from any directions. I am just surprised I was out for a couple hours and didn't see any accidents. Subsequently when I got home I told Becca that the roads were clean but I felt they were more dangerous than during immediate bad weather as there seems to be no good sense of order to the roads.

Well, that's the most recent news from here. Hope everyone is having a good week. I, at least, have power and can play on Facebook or Everquest II all weekend. Actually, Becca and I are about to go watch a musical comedy called Nuncrackers. It should be interesting.

The Wedding

As all my reading audience knows (most of you were there) I got married on Thursday, October 9. I'm putting the date in because I feel like if I say it enough, then I might even remember it next year. :) Or I can look in my ring, as the date is engraved on the inside of the ring.

I don't have a picture of both sides of our families together, as those were taken by our photographer and we do not have those pictures yet. So instead I put up 2 pictures so that everyone can be included. Once we get the link to the pictures from our photographer I will post the link up here.

The day ended up being just about perfect. It rained until about 9 AM, then cleared up and was sunny by noon. We had been concerned that it would be raining or cold, but instead we had a beautiful day which allowed us to enjoy the area to it's fullest.

A few of us went and set up chairs in the park at 10, then Joel stayed guard to make sure nobody moved the chairs around while the rest of us got dressed. It worked out well as Joel was the least dressed of the group anyway.... :) Then we stared taking pictures at Mt Philo around 1 PM. After we were finished taking pictures we started the wedding. I don't have much to say about the wedding because I really don't remember much. I'm just glad I did not stumble over my vows. We did have a few wedding crashers. This dog wandered through and there was an older couple who sat back behind our families and watched the whole thing.

Following the wedding we took a few more pictures, then packed up the area and left. Becca's sister Jen and Jen's husband Alan went to decorate the room for dinner, and we took a short nap. Then off to dinner which was at Kitchen Table Bistro. The decorations were gorgeous, including a few baby pumkins. The pumpkins had tea lights placed in small holes which had been masterfully drilled by yours truly. However, the brains behind all the decorations was Jen who did a wonderful job. The dinner was wonderful too. Both Becca and I had Ahi Tuna for our appetizer and Ribeye steak for our dinner. That was tasty.

Guess that about does it. Thanks to all of our families who came, and to everyone else who has sent us encouraging messages.

The Marriage License

As I said on a short term update on Facebook, Becca and I got our marriage license last week up in Vermont. We went up on Thursday to get some finishing touches done.

The first thing we did was to meet with Karen Pike, our photographer. We had picked her out based on the photos she had on her website, then I had talked to her but we hadn't met her yet. She is really quite nice and I think will be able to get some great pictures while allowing the mood to remain pleasantly calm.

Next we went to the Charlotte Town Clerk to get our marriage license. The only requirement was that we got the license from inside Chittenden county, and this was the closest. We were lucky enough to have our license done by a new employee. Our license was the first one she had done on her own. First of all, she erased 2 lines, and used white-out 6 or 7 times. Doesn't seem too official to me. But at least this is the document that needs to be signed on the wedding day, then we will get a new, official document. That's at least some consolation. Here's the fun part. We didn't show anyone there our licenses, or any other form of identification. Instead, we just filled out a paper, signed it, and walked out with the license. Kinda creepy isn't it? We could have been anyone. That just seemed a bit odd to us.

After that we went to see Mt Philo, where the wedding will take place. Assuming the weather holds up it's going to be really nice. Otherwise the ceremony will be inside an enclosed room that will require a bit of decorating to fit the mood.

Lastly we went to the resaurant where we will have our reception. We were pretty pleased with it. Everything was really good and the portion sizes were appropriate. We got everyone's votes on what to include on the menu, but talking to the manager we may be able to keep our options even a bit more open than that. One of our appetizers was mussels, which were quite tasty and may very well chow up on our dinner menu if they're still available at that time.

I'll post if there are any major changes to plans. As of now everything seems to be falling into place.

I think I'll even be able to join in on Game Night this week! Yippee!! I've been missing talking to you guys on Thursdays.

My time in Colorado

As you most likely know, I spent this past week in Colorado for my grandfather's funeral. Grandada, as we all called him, died on Sunday, July 27. The funeral was outlined by Grandada himself and included a bible reading by each of his grandchildren, a few songs and short sermons by Dad and Uncle Jim. It was really a nice service and did some work to take the attention off of Grandada and put it on God, which is exactly what Grandada wanted it to do.

Beyond that I will hold off from summarizing the whole week, but instead will discuss a few things I learned/had confirmed during the week.

1. I have a huge amount of respect for Grandada. Obviously he was a topic of conversation during the entire week and I learned a lot. One of the most telling things I learned about him is in this story. Like many males in that time, he was drafted into the military during WW2. Early in his time in the Navy, all of the soldiers at the camp were given jobs but they unknowingly skipped Grandada. He didn't get a job, and did not speak up for 3 weeks. During that time he sat in his tent and read the bible. Then at some point he wound up on a work crew. There are 2 things about that story that impress me. First, given that he was a young man in a foreign country with 3 weeks of nothing to do and no one keeping him in line, he could have gotten into trouble off base. Instead he sat in his tent and read the bible. The second striking thing to me, well, is that the story may be the worst thing I know about him. Think about that. How many of us could claim that the worst thing people can think of about us is that benign?

Also, at one point I called and talked to some of his acquaintances to inform them of his passing. The conversation that stuck with me was with the head of the beekeeper association in Colorado Springs. She could not stop talking about Grandada's contribution to their organization. Getting to see a bit more clearly about how much of an impact he had on people and how he was appreciated by them, even those outside of his family, made me proud to be his grandson.

2. OK, away from the sappy stuff. My family is crazy. I picked Elizabeth, one of my cousins, up from the Denver Airport. While we were talking together on the way back down, we decided that eccentricity was a strong genetic trait for our family (yes, including us). Uncles Nelson and Bob, my grandmother's brothers, were there along with Nelson's son Mark. They had some of the most bizarre conversations you could imagine. One day these brothers were talking about sex amongst themselves. The rest of us did not want to hear these 70-80 year old guys talking about sex so we stayed outside until the coast was clear. Another time Mark came outside and told us stories about his childhood, mostly composed of odd things he did which got him in trouble. I think my favorite story was that while he was inside, he decided the best thing to do would be to light a firecracker. Then he realized he wasn't sure what to do with it, so he stuffed it through a small hole in the window screen and let it fall to the ground. Only, it never made it to the ground but instead landed on a 70 year old pastor who was walking by and blew a bald spot into his hair. Then there was this time when he was 8, and with his older brothers filled balloons with paint. They went out at night, hid along the side of a road, and decided to throw the balloons at the next car they saw. When the car came, his older brother gave the signal to throw the balloons. Mark was the only one who obeyed because the others in the group had realized the oncoming car was in fact a police car. One more story included them arranging to have a dump truck full of manure dumped on a neighbor's driveway (along with the bill on her doorstep). While I won't go into the stories, rest assured that younger generations of my family have not remained immune from the craziness.

3. Amy and Elizabeth are great. They are 2 of my cousins who are around my age. I have much less time to be around either of them than I'd like, but I always enjoy their company. Also, their presence, in addition to Erik's while he was there, helped make the whole process much more bearable. A funeral is never easy, but to have some comic relief at the appropriate times and people to go out with and talk to was very helpful.

New Apartment

I am currently in the process of moving to a new apartment. While it is taking a good amount of time and energy I am quite excited to be moving. I realize most everybody reading this knows about my old apartment, but I'm going to describe a little about it anyway.

First of all it has around 315 square feet. My kitchen was big enough to hold the stove, but the refrigerator needed to be in the living room because there wasn't space for it. During my first week living there it rained heavily and leaked thru the roof, flooded the 3rd floor and soaked my ceiling as well as some of my freshly moved in possessions. Not really a warm intro. I was doing OK and fairly comfortable when I was studying for my USMLE Step 3. Then I looked up and realized I was not alone. Instead, there was a mouse sniffing around my shoe. I put up traps and ultimately caught 6 mice during my time there. Then at one point one of my windows broke and it literally took 4 months for them to fix it. With all that, it should be no surprise that I am glad to be moving out.

The place I'm moving to, on the other hand, is very nice. It's about 3 times the space, which of course having lived in a small place for a while I don't have nearly the furniture for it. I now have a kitchen and am excited to be able to actually cook and bake again. I even have my own washer and dryer. Now of course I am moving to a nicer place like this in part because I thought Becca would be living with me this coming year and instead she will be spending most of the year living in Sacramento. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy having a nice place.

Becca's Graduation

Last weekend I went down to Tucson to go to Becca's graduation. Her Dad, sister Jen and brother Jon all came down for it as well. We all got down there Thursday evening. Friday Becca and Jen went to get their hair done, leaving her dad, Jon and I to fend for ourselves. We did the ever manly thing and went shopping..... Fortunately the males in Becca's family are no less nerdy than I am, so we spent the time looking at electronics. Our main visit was to BestBuy where we looked at cameras, TVs, and games. Then it was lunch time and I recommended we go to Sweet Tomato, the salad bar restaurant. I recommended a salad bar restaurant?!?!? What had Becca done to me? We go out on a manly shopping trip and end up at a salad bar restaurant. :) Actually, Becca and I have been there a couple times and it is really quite good. Then we met Becca and Jen downtown and dropped her car off where we would need it later that evening to get home following the after-dinner festivities. Next the 5 of us squeezed into her dad's rental car, a Ford Mustang, and went back to her place to get ready for the night.

Once ready we took pictures, then Becca and I were dropped off at Ryan's, one of her classmates, so we didn't have to squeeze into the mustang all dressed up. Her family was then to drive themselves to the event. That would have worked great except, instead of driving the the golf resort and spa where the graduation was, they drove to where we had left her car. Then they got lost a bit on the way to the golf resort and spa but did finally make it.

The graduation was really nice. The food was quite tasty. We had plenty opportunities to take more pictures. Then they gave out awards to some of the residents and gave the residents a chance to hand out awards to the faculty. Once dinner was done and people got up and started mingling, a band started playing. The band was made up of 2 of her classmates and some of her faculty. They played a lot of covers, and did a wonderful job. Many of us were out on the dance floor during much of the time. Near the end they played 'Paradise City' by Guns N' Roses. I wouldn't have mentioned that except that early in the song Becca leaned over to me and said that she didn't know the song, or for that matter anything else by them. I was a bit surprised probably because most people I grew up with could sing parts of at least 3 Gun N' Roses songs. You guys agree?

Following that we all went out to the limo. For a bit we thought it was a Hummer limo, but it was actually an Excursion limo. It was still pretty cool. The limo took us downtown where we hung out at a bar, chatted and played pool for a couple more hours then made our way home.

Wow, that was longer than I'd anticipated. I'd considered having a second part to this blog but I think instead I'll wait and post another entry in the next day or so.

Engagement

I know most of you have already seen the comment on facebook and/or talked to me about it but I still wanted to do a blog about getting engaged. That and I needed to post picture of the ring do you could see it. The pictures are from Becca's sister Jen who has a good camera that she could effectively focus close-up with. Thanks Jen!

So I flew down to see Becca on Saturday last week and proposed. We had met at Sprint to get new phones together, then went back to her place to get ready for dinner. After getting dressed I proposed so that she would have the ring at dinner. For dinner we went to a very nice French-Mexican restaurant. It's sort of an odd combination but basically it was French with a few Mexican shrimp thrown in.

The next day we went on a hike. It was about 7 miles round trip and took us to a place with an extremely nice view of Tucson and the surrounding area. Becca wore the ring on the hike and at one point noted that her finger had swollen some and she couldn't get the ring off. She got a bit more swollen during the hike to the point that part of the skin on her finger was sticking up towards the diamond. We tried to get a picture of the swelling but we didn't manage to get a good one. The swelling stopped there though, and after we had a nice, healthy lunch at the Sweet Tomato (that salad bar place I've mentioned earlier that I was nervous about but we both ended up really liking) the swelling was gone and she could again take off the ring. So now we know that maybe she shouldn't wear the ring on hikes/other strenuous activity. Considering that neither of us have much experience wearing rings we hadn't anticipated that. Are the any other times you guys have noticed that you needed to take off your rings to prevent swelling. One person told me she should have taken hers off during the last 2 months of pregnancy, but thats all people have told me.

Now I think all my family knows. I just told my parents yesterday who thought I was getting engaged this past weekend instead of the weekend before. So I was engaged over a week before they knew.

As far as when and where our wedding will be, that is still a topic of discussion. The only thing we know for certain is we want a small, simple wedding with immediate family only. I will let you know further details once they are ironed out.

San Francisco Bush-man

I know this is late, but I still wanted to post this from my trip out to see Becca in Sacramento. One day we went with her dad and brother Jon to San Francisco. Becca, Jon and I went walking around the shopping areas around the piers. There was a guy there startling people as you can see in this video. And he got paid for it! People would walk by, get startled, and drop money in his can. Others would just watch him startle other people, laugh, and drop him some change. Apparently this guy does it all the time because we told Jen and her husband Alan about it and Alan had seen the guy there too. Maybe I joined the wrong profession. Now I'm running around taking care of kids and parents who don't always appreciate me when I could be making a fine living startling people. :)