The usual excuses. I'm just not finding the time to post these days. Somehow work always seems more pressing. What a sorry state of affairs. On the flip side, i'm getting a lot done at Stanford. Give and take, i suppose.

V and i discovered a great new dinner spot in downtown Redwood City, New Kapodokia, with my Stanford chums Frank and Jennifer a few weeks ago. We had a lovely Turkish meal boasting some fantastic spanakopita-esque appetizers, then walked down the lovely new RC downtown promenade to the theater for a Sunday night movie. Turns out the only thing starting within the next 90 minutes was Reno 911!: Miami, so we bought our tickets and headed in. Egad. Veronica summed up the flick in three little words on our way out: "that was rough". One of Phil and Naomi's friends provided the equally apt summation that the show is funny for a few minutes ... even watching a full half hour episode gets old. A movie? No freakin' way. It was fun to hang with Frank and Jennifer some more, at any rate.

Our house refi ended pleasantly earlier this week with the close of our new loan. The Thursday prior V and i had gone to the title company to sign the papers. When we bought the house, it seemed every time we talked to our realtor, lender, or title agent they would spring a new wrinkle or expense on us. The refi was the opposite ... each contact with an official sweetened the deal for us. First we got a great quote on a 30 year fixed loan, then our house appraised for the amount we needed, then i found out we get a $500 refund on our closing costs because i'm a Stanford employee. At the title company the signing went smoothly, and we got another bit of good news: while our old loans were paid off earlier this week, our new loan payments don't begin until May 1, meaning we have a month and a half vacation from our mortgage. Booya! We did have to pay the next installment of our property taxes on closing, but were reassured that the contents of our current loan's escrow account, used for paying out the property taxes twice a year, would be refunded to us. I called our old lender last week to confirm everything had gone smoothly, and inquired as to the balance of escrow that would be sent back to us. Turns out it's almost double what i thought it was. Booya²!

With our newfound mortgage stability, we've been continuing our home improvement. This morning i rose early to install an art deco ceiling light that V bought on eBay. That was significantly easier than the last ceiling light i fought with. Now we're looking for a shallow or recessed ceiling light to replace the other fixture in our kitchen, which currently limits the opening of two cabinet doors in our kitchen. Also on the agenda is the long-overdue de-carpeting of our bedroom and refinishing of the underlying hardwood floor, selection and application of a new color to said bedroom, and decoration of the laundry room. Then we'll begin looking at more substantial projects, including renovating our backyard and the possibility of adding another bedroom and/or bathroom.

This weekend i've spent way too much time in my Jetta. Saturday morning we headed out early to Palo Alto to select a new set of eyeglass frames for me. I'd had an exam earlier in the week, which took all of five minutes as my prescription hasn't changed a bit. V helped me settle on a swanky pair of Alain Mikli's (to compete with Veronica's pair from the Champs-Elysées, which constantly elicit praise from random strangers), then we hopped on the 101 and drove to SF for V's noon hair appointment. Cruising up 6th St., i began to wonder why traffic was backing up approaching Mission St. Then i began to wonder why there were barricades and traffic cops at the intersection. I failed to integrate the multitude of green-clad pedestrians into my consideration, which prolonged the time needed for me to determine that we were stuck below Market and the St. Patrick's Day parade. With only ten minutes until V's appointment and no easy way across Market to Union Square, i convinced V to hop out of the car and walk the five blocks to the salon. After she departed, i was stuck in traffic for another twenty minutes in a car running on fumes. Thankfully i was able to extricate myself from the masses and take a few side streets down to Harrison St., relative smooth sailing, and a gas station. I then found an open post office on Potrero Hill and mailed Ana's guitar back to Iowa, only three short months after she received it at our house as a Christmas gift. I made it to Union Square via the Castro (winding around the parade route), and parked the car in the Stockton-Sutter garage before rendez-vousing with V and checking out Niketown. Nothing great there, so back in the car and over to the Sunset for lunch at old haunt Irving Street Café. Then it was a bit of shopping down the peninsula at another old haunt, the Hillsdale Mall, before fetching the dog from home for some fun at the dog park. She almost played with another dog this time. We'll teach her to have fun yet. According to my car's trip computer, by the end of the day i'd spent 6.5 hours cruising up and down the peninsula.

Today after my morning handyman duties, we picked up Naomi in the city and had brunch in Sausalito at the Lighthouse. Then back to Hillsdale for some continued shopping, with Naomi beating out V for the title of most successful shopper. More driving to return to SF, where we had a quick look at furniture at Room and Board before cruising around the Richmond for a half hour to find parking. Then on to dinner with Phil and assorted other scooter friends at Kitaro. Back home to an impatient Tara at 9:15pm, and i had logged another four hours of driving time.

Our time at Room and Board was fruitful for me in that V and i agreed to stick with our current entertainment center, meaning i could order our new flat panel HDTV. Before placing my Amazon order however, i found my plan to upgrade our DirecTV to an HD tuner and combine it with a Series 3 HD Tivo was flawed. Turns out Tivo has split with satellite providers, meaning the new units are fundamentally incompatible with satellite HD. Hrm. So we either go with a DirecTV HD non-Tivo DVR, which has decidedly mixed reviews, or switch to digital cable. After a bit more research and some logical analysis, we decided that trying out the DirecTV HD DVR was the least expensive and complicated solution, so i'll be moving forward with that plan presently. There's a couple of other variables to sort out regarding our new entertainment mecca, such as how to wire multiple HD sources (game consoles, DVD, satellite, etc) into the TV, but i've already got designs on how to solve those issues.

I watched a match and half of soccer this weekend, probably the most i've seen all season. Today's Arsenal/Everton encounter was entertaining, won surprisingly on a stoppage time Andy Johnson goal at the death. I only caught highlights of Chelsea's 3-nil win over struggling Sheffield United, but was quite pleased with Andriy Shevchenko's looping strike to open the scoring, a hopefully increasingly less unusual return to form for the Ukrainian. However, as much as it pains me i have to admit that Manchester United looks fully capable of duplicating the treble-winning exploits of the 1999 squad. Cristiano Ronaldo, while certainly not immune to random acts of showboating, is proving more and more difficult for opposing defense's to contain, and may walk away with the league's MVP. I can easily see United knocking off every remaining team in Europe, and am having increasingly more trouble imagining them slumping enough to let Chelsea back in the title race. As i was discussing with Matthew recently, it's becoming harder for me to blindly support my club. It's clear that Roman Abramovich and Peter Kenyon are out to build a marketing juggernaut, a fact that's causing José Mourinho stress as his requests to fill out his squad with role players are ignored by executives keen on acquiring big name but ill-fitting stars. My current worry is that the club will botch contract renewal negotiations with cornerstones John Terry and Frank Lampard, hastening their exit from Stamford Bridge. If that happens, i'm questioning whether i'll be supporting the club at all.