Orienteering

Abigail and I went Orienteering this weekend. It was epic!

I had gone when I was about 10 years old with my dad and it is a memory and feeling I cherish dearly! I am so glad to have shared this experience, in a whole new way, with my daughter!

 

 

Making and Selling Art in the East Bay

My great friend Sarahjane owns Bay-Made, a gift shop in Oakland, CA that sells locally produced art. It’s a great place to shop! She is seeking a change to her business model. If you’re an artist that sells their work, consider working with her! Could be awesome!

Here’s a reel on Facebook where she makes her plea!  (or see on Instagram)

In brief, she’s looking to change it to a co-op model, where some artists also spend time working in the store.

A Fine Afternoon

This is just a pleasant ramble about Abigail and I having a good afternoon.

Last week, I picked Abigail up from school and she wanted to go to Yaoya-san, a local Japanese grocery store. We had an absolute blast finding fun foods for dinner. She picked the required foods for dinner, then her “for fun” foods. We had a magic moment when we were deciding which “fun” food I’d get. I let Abigail pick: I took the pint of red bean paste ice cream and the kilo of tapioca balls behind my back and she got to pick which hand. Tapioca won!

We got home and we cleaned up a little before Megan got home. We put away some of the beautiful home-made soaps we had made as holiday gifts. Some soaps went into our own “gonna use” pile, some, we realized, still had to get to their giftees, and some went into the “pre-emptive gifts” pile! You might get one of our soaps!

I started cooking up some tapioca balls for milk-tea. (I had never made milk-tea but how hard could be be, right? Foreshadowing!)

I started making dinner, then Megan and Abigail finished it. It was a super-yummie “Creamy Dreamy Mushroom Cavatappi with Scallions & Parmesan” recipe from Hello Fresh that made us all “mmmm” with delight!

After some chilling and washing dishes, I sat down with Abigail who was watching this very charismatic Minecraft Youtuber, “aCookieGod”. It was really pleasant! I gave the milk-tea a try. What should be in it? How about… umm, milk… and tea… and tapioca balls? Ding Ding Ding! It was so simple and good! Abigail’s suggestion of adding some brown sugar was a winner and we had milk-tea while chilling on her new bean-bag, watching TV together!

It came near bed-time so we brushed teeth together. Abigail asked to play Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel) by Billy Joel while we brushed. I hadn’t realized until then what a hauntingly beautiful song it was. As we listened and brushed teeth, she told me how the girls in her class were going to hum the song at the spring song-swap, and the boys were going to say the words… and she was amused at how bad the boys were in the practices they’ve had so far! What a great time we had brushing teeth and chatting!

Then into the bedroom for bed… almost. We played with her slinky for half an hour, learning how to flip it so it would slink on the ground just so. We went back and forth teaching each other tricks. And I snuck some nice parenting into it: suggesting instead of her telling me how I was doing it wrong, that she focus on how I could do it better. “Show me how to do it right three ways, and how I did it wrong just one time.” We had a magical time!

Cost of Dental Visits?

How much should a dentist visit cost with insurance? I get “periodontal maintenance” (more expensive & extensive than a regular cleaning) every 3-4 months to keep my gums from receding because I’ve got 2-5mm pockets. My latest visit had a “submitted fee of $680, an “accepted fee” of $280, insurance paid $70. I was left to pay $130. The math doesn’t add up, I know, but that’s what the bill says. Why would Delta Dental only pay $70 for a fancy cleaning? Annoyingly, $88 of my bill was for “D1330, Oral hygiene instructions.” That doesn’t seem right. Thoughts?
At another dentist’s office, my daughter had a visit. They didn’t clean her teeth, only examined and applied some fluoride varnish. Insurance paid $130 and I owe $60.
Is this how dental insurance goes these days?

Sign up for Sonic.com Internet, get 2 months free

I’m a super-happy Sonic Internet user of (OMG!) 19 years. In El Cerrito, they are installing 10 gigabit fiber for about $50/month, after taxes & fees!
I found an offer through a sales rep where you can sign up for 2 free months of Sonic instead of the regular 1 free month. If it’s available in your area (check here) message me and I’ll connect you with them right away.

Cash App Taxes

Tax recommendation: Last year I did my taxes with Cash App Taxes for free and they did just as good a job as Turbotax online. Though I eventually called Turbotax Live Full Service because I had messed up my taxes in years past and only just realized. That was a good experience, though cost $400.

 

 

Inbox Zero!

They thought it was a myth!

Inbox Zero

I mean… it is a myth. I’ve got a zillion things in my Notion Todo list. But I choose to celebrate the little things!

 

Retro Movie Reviews

Here’s a fun retro movie review site run by a friend: Will Turntale

He reviews in print and audio flix like the 1990 Robot Jox and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fun stuff!

 

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Go To Burning Man With Us

Our family is planning on going to Burning Man this year. Join us?

Kern County Water Release: Officials Say “Cut it out, Trump”

In response to Trump ordering the release of water, ostensibly to help stop the southern California wildfires (see his tweet on X), the water officials in the strongly Republican Kern County, California said, “What the fuck, stop messing with our water, Trump! That is not helpful AT ALL!”

The article reports:

Tulare County water managers were perplexed and frustrated, noting both physical and legal barriers that make it virtually impossible for Tulare County river water to be used for southern California fires.

And Dan Vink, longtime Tulare County water manager said:

This decision was clearly made by someone with no understanding of the system or the impacts that come from knee-jerk political actions.”

See the message from the Water Association of Kern County

archive image of the page, just in case: