July 2003
Holidays George, Robin, Dave and I got together over at George's for a 4th of July BBQ. After a yummy dinner, we didn't set off any illegal fireworks. Really... I don't know where all that noise and smoke came from and why it seemed to be coming from George's back yard! After finishing with the illegal fireworks that we didn't set off... really... we headed out to Grape Day Park in Escondido to see the official fireworks. It was a great show as usual.
Weddings I attended a bridal shower for my friend Joyce. Then Dave and I attended the wedding. It was just beautiful... and Joyce and Larry seem blissfully happy! My friend Gina was the Matron of Honor, and Malaya (who was the counselor at my Mind/Body Connection diet group) was the officiant at the wedding.
Birthday Parties Dave and I attended a birthday party for his "surrogate" granddaughter, Alex, who turned 8 on July 24th.
Baby Showers Tammy held a baby shower for Barbra -- who is due in September. I got to be the semi-official photographer... which meant I had a lot of fun and managed to get out of playing the diaper game. This involved examining baby diapers that were loaded with various types of melted chocolate candy and trying to guess what it was. It was a hoot to watch everyone open the diapers, get vaguely disgusted by the brown mess, and then sniff it as they tried to figure out what kind of candy it was!
Entertainment Hiking Lots of hiking this month. Someday I really will update my hiking page with pictures and details. Sailing Robin and I had another sailing adventure... and I do mean adventure :-) Life is never dull with Robin! Clocks Robin finished George's secret birthday present -- the world's coolest clock! I got to help create the clock faces, but Robin did all the hard stuff (like design the hardware, the firmware, build it all and make it all work). It's just amazing. The clock is made to look like an old piece of test equipment... made with old meters that Robin scored on eBay. The meter/clock faces are made to look as much like the original meter plates as possible. (Click on the thumbnails to see bigger, better pictures). Here's a view of the circuit board Robin made which contains the brains of the operation... And here's the innards of the clock... Here's a picture of one of the original meter faces that I used as a model for making the clock faces.
Career This month included lots and lots of studying. I took my Real Estate License Exam on the 28th -- and woo hoo -- I passed! As soon as I get the official paperwork, I need to get fingerprinted and then send in the application for the actual license. That takes about 6 or 7 weeks. In the meantime, I need to start looking for a job. There is a lot of training to do before I actually start selling real estate, so I can do that while I wait for the official license to show up.
Cars Dave helped me get the Miata running again. We put in a new battery, pumped up the tires, and it just fired right up! Then Dave decided to undertake putting the new top on for me. I was amazed that he even wanted to attempt this... and even more amazed when he finished it about a week later and it looks just GREAT! Hey -- this guy's kinda handy. I may have to keep him around :-).