http://www.rebron.org Every day life - Work - Ironman Training Fri, 02 May 2008 16:26:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Our countertops are in, we went with a black (slate) Paperstone.  We were waiting to get a cabinet installation so that was the delay.  We have a new faucet and a new undermount sink and because of the new cabinet, more counter space.  We already got the BlueStar range aka ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/05/02/kitchen-update/ The address is 5335 College Ave, Oakland, CA.  It used to be Hiro's Sushi but the family sold the business to the new owner who used to be a sushi chef at Kirala.  Which, if you extrapolate, means the sushi at Rikyu is really, really good.  One sushi chef and ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/04/30/rikyu-sushi-on-college-ave/ This oyster po' boy from Brown Sugar Kitchen, in West Oakland, is going to give Bakesale Betty's fried chicken sandwich a run for her money.  You watch. There's Flora Restaruant, B Restaurant, and some new restaurant that just opened up near Jack London Square (folks from San Francisco) that I can't ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/04/30/oyster-po-boy/ I don't have an event/race this year.  Not doing Honu Half in Kona, not ready and too expensive right now.  Instead going to do the Marin Century on August 2, which is a 100 mile bike ride around Marin.  On August 3, I'm going to do the San Francisco Marathon.  ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/04/23/bay-area-almost-ironman-race/ We've got Atrium vinyl double pane, double hung windows.  They're pretty good and we're happy with them, we had them installed when we first got the house 6 years ago.  I don't know if Ultrex Integrity from Marvin windows were available but may have chosen them instead; these ones are ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/04/19/windows-atrium-ultrex-integrity/ Went for a stroll to The Wine Mine, which is just a block away.  Wine Mine is an alternative to Paul Marcus wines in Rockridge, cozier and cooler than BevMo, and is another one of those "yeah, this is Oakland...people just don't know" type of places (good, substantive, real deal). They ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/04/18/the-wine-mine/ We have this euphorbia plant at the new house but it's overgrown and in a bad location.  I hope i can move it to somewhere better in the backyard.  There's a lot of these plants in Oakland/Berkeley, it's a nice but strange "architectural" plant. Other favorites because of the smell are ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/04/13/euphorbia-and-friends/ This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below: Password: http://www.rebron.org/2008/04/10/home-resources/ I've settled with Kiehl's products for men, their shampoo, shaving cream, other lotions; they're basic, "gentlemenly" smelling products that seem to work ok.  The shampoo is good because it's geared for active people who take a lot of showers and there's the chlorine removing version of the shampoo for swimmers. This ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/04/08/kiehls/ Favorite Places to Snowboard Northstar - (nice looking website) really fun, long rides, quick lifts Sugarbowl - quickest access to snow from the Bay Area Kirkwood - great for learning Useful links Ski Bonk weather conditions for Tahoe Bay Area Ski bus Other resorts that look cool Tahoe Alpine Meadows Boreal Heavenly Squaw Valley Colorado and Utah Crested Butte Deer Valley Park ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/04/01/ca-snowboarding/ What I've learned about home appliances over the years.  Not that much, but enough. In general, Kenmore appliances (from Sears) are the way to go.  Solid products (mostly private-labeled) and solid customer repair service.  A lot of appliances are private label Amana or Bosch.  Fagor is a Spanish appliance company and ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/03/31/home-appliances/ If I didn't have my car now, we'd probably get one of these Honda CR-V's (but in Black!!!).  The other contenders would be the Hyundai Santa Fe and Tucson, Mazda CX-7, Audi A3, Subaru Impreza hatchback (also in Black! or something other than Blue!!).  The Subaru would be the top ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/03/21/honda-cr-v/ We try out new rice every so often brown rice, some multi-colored rice, jasmine, etc.  I picked up this brown rice Kagayaki haiga rice.  It's supposedly brown rice in nutritional value but tastes like white rice.  It's pretty good and probably we'll keep this as our main rice. While we're here, ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/03/21/haiga-brown-rice/ *sigh* The Vatican web site. The "new" seven social sins are: Bioethical violations such as birth control Morally dubious experiments such as stem cell research Drug abuse Polluting the environment Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor Excessive wealth Creating poverty The original deadly sins: Pride Envy Gluttony Lust Anger Greed Sloth http://www.rebron.org/2008/03/19/sins-20/ I got one of these Dell XPS M1330 RED computers.  It's a good computer, I recommend it. http://www.rebron.org/2008/03/12/dell-xps-m1330-red/ Pizza in North Oakland/Berkeley Area Pizzaiolo Temescal on Telegraph - wood oven, former Chez Panisse pizza cook Zachary's Rockridge on College -Chicago style LaneSplitter's Temescal on Telegraph- New York style; thin crust CheeseBoard Berkeley Gourmet Ghetto on Shattuck - foo foo Berkeley style Too good. http://www.rebron.org/2008/03/11/pizza/ We're going with these guys - Oceanside Glasstile for kitchen backsplash, specifically a "Creme Brulee" iridescent mosaic.  100% recycled glass, yada-yada, hecho en mexico.  Part of our mini kitchen remodel.  We also went with Dawn for our faucet and sink, I guess these guys are out of China. We should have ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/02/26/oceanside-glasstile/ Soup kick: Soondubu from My Tofu House on Geary in SF, or Pyung Chang on Telegraph Chicken soup from La Calaca Loca in Temescal Tom Yung Kung from Lotus Thai (we only do take out now, FYI) Seafood soup w/ handmade noodles from Shan Dong, downtown Oakland Could use some more Oakland/Berkeley/SF recommendations maybe for ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/02/20/soup/ Tucson, Arizona is an interesting City.  I almost stopped by last year as there was a pow wow at the University of Arizona.  That pow wow and the one hosted by Arizona State University in Tempe are both supposed to be pretty good. Tucson is about 100 miles past (southeast) Phoenix.  ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/02/19/tucson-intro/ Tour of California is going on now.  It started on Sunday at Stanford and will end in Pasadena.  Stage 1 of the Tour is a bike ride I've done bits of before. Would probably be cool to do some of these rides.  I've downloaded the maps but linking to the ones ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/02/18/tour-of-california-stage-maps/ A good friend of mine hooked me up with some Royce chocolate from Japan today. It's pretty good. http://www.rebron.org/2008/02/15/royce-chocolate/ I'd go with Neuhaus belgian chocolates for Valentine's Day. Marie Belle is really good/artsy too and Bay Area local chocolate is nice too, Michael Recchiuti and Charle's Chocolates. I'm cool with being cheap, but not with chocolate. Not sure what it is with Belgians and chocolates (and beer and ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/02/14/neuhaus-chocolates/ Haven't tried it yet but seems like the way to go for getting it up to Tahoe, Kirkwood, etc. Bay Area Ski Bus http://www.rebron.org/2008/01/25/bay-area-ski-bus/ Useful life of a computer for someone in the tech industry is two to three years for developers, two to four years for everyone else. Useful life of a computer for a business is until it dies, ceases to perform it's function. For tax purposes for businesses, computers can be written off ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/01/23/useful-life-of-computers/ I'm not a chocolate connoisseur either. As we're nearing Valentine's Day here are my favorites: Neuhaus (belgian chocolates) Joseph Schmidt* (founded in SF but now owned by Hershey's) Recchiuiti* (based in San Francisco) MarieBelle (based in New York) - expensive, killer hot chocolate though But, I usually just eat slivers of the big baking chocolate bars Valhrona El ... http://www.rebron.org/2008/01/23/chocolate/