We're crazy (in love) and we want to share it with you!
|
|
Michael And Rochelle's Site We're crazy (in love) and we want to share it with you! |
|
||
| About Us Contact Us Events Newsletter Photos Site Map Search | ||
|
|
WEDDED BLISS The Newsletter for Michael and Rochelle's Marriage Volume III, Number 8 -- January 19, 2002 Table of Contents:
What Has Gone Before It's been a while since the last time we sent out a newsletter! When last you heard from us, way back in April 2001, we were both unemployed. A lot has happened since then, hopefully we can catch you up a bit here. Note: Rochelle didn't write for this edition of Wedded Bliss, so it's a little light on news from her, but you can always e-mail her and ask her what's up, at .
Rochelle's New Job Rochelle got a new job in May, still at Gap, working in the corporate archives. This means her job is now aligned with her academic ambition though she's more interested in the information science specialization of the MLIS program she's in than the archiving specialization). It also means she has a lot less time to watch Martha Stewart and the Food Network, and no longer gets to take an afternoon cat-sponsored nap. Boo hoo!
Michael Accepts the Inevitable At the beginning of May Michael accidentally took a job. It happened really fast, he wasn't paying enough attention, and even though he wasn't ready for the interview, it wasn't bad enough for him to not get invited back on a contract basis. As a contract job it was only four days a week, which let him continue to take a cat-sponsored nap on Thursdays. But then the company hired him full time, and Michael's unemployment came to an end almost as unexpectedly as it had begun. The job is with a smallish company in San Mateo, Persistence Software, http://www.persistence.com/, which cleaned out their entire marketing team a week before Michael started there. He's one of two product managers in the newly-formed nine person marketing organization. Michael's the "oldest" of the group, having been with Persistence since May. All but one of the rest of the team joined in August or later of 2001. It's a lot of work, but the company's got great technology and a great group of people. And as a public company with startup-priced stock options, it was an opportunity Michael couldn't pass up. Oh, yeah, there's that little thing the recession we're in. That was another good reason to take the job. ;-)
Partying With Auntie Mame Rochelle had a birthday party in May 2001, and a great friend of ours, David Henry, let us host it at his house, just a few blocks from our own. His house worked better with the theme of the party, old fashioned decadence, as everyone was instructed to come as their favorite character from the movie Auntie Mame. Most people did, much champagne was drunk, as well as many martinis, served without olives because "they take up too much room in such a small glass." We and some other guests did take photos of the party, and we'll try to get some of them up on the web site before Rochelle's next birthday.
This Old House, The Uncut Version We like to start home improvement projects, and then abandon them midway, until other people (usually a spouse) complain. Recently, as part of stripping the paint off the walls, we took the doors off our bathroom and left them off for two months. People stopped hanging out at our house, we're not sure why. We even had one group of women flee after only 5 minutes in the house; apparently they really needed to go. Ahem. We have put the doors back on, but otherwise haven't progressed much on our watercloset project. That's because we finally got completely sick of the nasty carpets we have in much of the house, and started a project to replace them. The original plan was to just take off the carpet, and the linoleum underneath it, and have the sub-flooring polished and finished. An old house like ours doesn't have plywood for sub-flooring, it has real wood, in our case some nice (but soft) pine. Unfortunately, the glue used on the linoleum had penetrated the soft wood, and permanently stained it. The contractors said there was no way for them to get an even-colored finish, it would look horrible, and suggested in the nicest way possible that continuing would be stupid. We decided they were right, but were committed to the project by dint of having moved all of the furniture from half the house into the other half. Plus we had the funds set aside, burning a hole in our pocket. Our contractors, not surprisingly, had a solution for us. So, for only about 15% more than we'd originally expected to spend, we got hardwood floors instead. We're incredibly happy with them, and plan to do something similar with the other half of the house, once we've saved up enough in our home-improvement fund.
We Like We're adding a new, recurring column to this newsletter, to highlight some of the things in our life that we really like, and would like to share. Vendors and organizations, products and services, more often that not related to food. Seltzer Sisters Rochelle has been having seltzer delivered, in antique bottles and wood crates, for more than 10 years. When she served it to him on our first date, Michael knew she was a groovy chick. We are now both totally addicted to having refreshing, bubbly seltzer delivered a couple times a month. It is the world's best thing to have in your refrigerator when you're looking to rehydrate from an evening of drinking. Seltzer Sisters is based in Redwood City, and delivers their flagship product, along with a great selection of syrups and other seltzer-related items, throughout the Bay Area. If you're already getting drinking water delivered to your house, switch over to seltzer (get a filter for your tap for still water). You won't be disappointed. Slow Food Slow food is the opposite of fast food, in every sense of the word. And slower is better. The organization Slow Food is dedicated to preserving traditional foods and foodmaking techniques throughout the world. In a world being overrun by McDonald's and genetically modified foods[*], Slow Food is fighting back, slowly, by using the Internet to find global markets for foods which otherwise could not be produced profitably. We've already experienced the best coffee we've ever tasted, and nearly a dozen different varietals of garlic (you're lucky if you can find two in your supermarket). If you care about food, especially if you enjoy tasting unique and special foods from around the world, Slow Food is an organization well-worth getting to know. [*] A friend of ours with unusually sensitive taste can actually taste fish in some of the genetically modified tomatoes, which apparently have fish genes grafted in to help them stay firm. We say stay away. Boulangerie Bay Bread To get better croissants you have to go to Paris. No, really, you have to go to Paris. Bay Bread knows French pastries and breads, and makes them so well, you can't find better on this continent. Memphis Minnie's You've heard us rant about Minnie's before, so we won't belabor the point. You know this is good BBQ. Any time you want to try it, just give us a call and come visit! The Job You already know about The Sopranos, West Wing, and Six Feet Under, all great TV and unqualified hits. But the best show no one's watching is The Job, with Denis Leary. It's shot in a style similar to NYPD Blue, but it's a comedy. The Job has us cackling with laughter through most of its half hour. It's back, unfortunately opposite The West Wing, but if you have a way to record one show and watch another, spend some time on The Job. NextDraft NextDraft's tagline is "The birthplace of water cooler cool." It's a daily review of interesting news, with humorous summaries of each item, and links to the full story. The newsletter itself is enjoyable, even addictive, and because it covers all the important news, from the Middle East to JLo, you'll always be ready with small talk.
And More Besides... Yes, we're lame. We've been up to more, but just don't have the energy to write about it here. Maybe in the next newsletter, maybe never. A quick list (so you can pester us at events):
We've been working on this newsletter since August, so please forgive us if we sacrifice "complete" for "finished".
Online Updates Michael is committed to writing regularly, and since we're obviously not succeeding in doing that via this newsletter, he's started a "Weblog". These are sort of like online, public journals, and have become one of the more interesting recent developments on the Internet. A number of prominent and interesting people are at the forefront of this:
Michael's Weblog, by comparison, is a bit more humble. Expect to see stories about us, the cats, great food, friends, travel, and the like. In fact, since Michael's been writing into the 'blog for a couple months now, so you can already read exciting stuff like the "Fun With Electricity" series: Although the software Michael's using to manage it doesn't do everything he wants (Michael really prefers to write these things himself), it's pretty decent. It's not tied into the rest of our Website, but it will give you an opportunity to read about what's going on with us more frequently. |
Copyright ©
2002-2007 by Michael A. Alderete and Rochelle McCune. All rights reserved. |
