Browse Month: October 2014

Halloween 2014

DSCN3385We flew down to Southern California this morning and went to the Halloween Festival at Regional Park this evening.  Instead of Trick-or-Treating, KK played games and received candy from each of the booths.

DSCN3371For some reason I seem to appreciate this more than going door-to-door begging for candy.  It was also just the right amount of activity for our little piglet.

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Here’s what the costume looked like when it was all done.  I forgot the scarf but it seemed to be fine without it.

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Happy Halloween!

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Once again…

…the Giants won the World Series.  We went outside to check out all the ruckus.

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Fans took over the intersection of King and 3rd.  Police were out in full force and luckily nothing was damaged.

This was the view from the front of our building.IMG_9360

We later watched from the Muni tracks as they fired off fireworks and celebrated.IMG_9362 IMG_9363

This is the third time they’ve won since we moved here 7 years ago.

October

Is it really October 26th already?!  Didn’t I JUST celebrate my birthday?!  Well, this has been a busy month at work and at home and has likely resulted in the sprouting of 4 grey hairs on the top of my head this month.  *sigh*

The rate of blogging on beakatude hasn’t been as frequent as it used to be.  It’s been so bad lately that I felt the need to recap some highlights from this month before it ends.  I’ll be traveling down to Cerritos for Halloween/Alice’s Birthday and that will require an entire post or two all on its own.

Let’s start out with some tasty eats from this month:

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These are the mini waffles and 6 fried chicken wings that I had Little Skillet.  Actually, they opened up a bar/restaurant right next door to the window and called it Victory Hall & Parlor.  They serve the same menu but now there’s plenty of places to sit and you can order a drink too!

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Ah…this is an old favorite and still as good as the first one I had.  It’s an open-faced smoked salmon sandwich from Cap’n Mike’s Holy Smoke at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market on Saturdays.  KK likes it because she gets all of my capers.

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For brunch one morning, I had this Crab and Avocado Eggs Benedict from a food truck called Benedict Arnold’s.  It was parked at the SOMA StrEat Food Park on the morning we were there waiting for our car to be serviced by the Costco Tire Center.

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It’s been nice and warm this month and we had dinner outdoors one night at Sauce, located in the Belden Place alley.  These are the tater tots: made of pureed potato with bits of bacon mixed in, rolled into balls, and then fried.  Reminded me of miniature potato croquettes.

OK.  Now for the rest of this month:

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As I had mentioned, we had a warm first half of October.  It was warm enough to take a dip in our pool.

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Fleet Week came and left.  I saw the Blue Angels fly over the Bay Bridge one evening as I was driving home from work as they were practicing for the weekend show.  We missed the show this year (on both days!) because it coincided with KK’s nap.  Oh well, at least I got to see them from our condo window every once in a while.

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I did a lot of running this past month and enjoyed a few solo runs in the wee hours of the morning.  This morning was particularly neato because the fog was rolling over the bridge near Treasure Island.

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This is my favorite photo of the month.  It looks staged but it was completely not.  I was just able to press the button on my phone at just the right time.  I also love the fact that KK can pump a swing now.

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For Halloween this year, KK is going to be Piglet from Winnie the Pooh.  I decided to make her costume and was able to whip it out during her nap on the day I stayed home to take her to the doctor for her check-up.  Here’s my pattern for the body.  It came out a little long but I managed to tweak it just fine.  You’ll see the final product a little later this week.

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Sleep deprivation has also been a theme for this month.  KK has been going through some weird sleep patterns this month and she kept me up every 1-2 hours all night for the past 3 days.  Luckily she sorta figured it out last night and I got to sleep in 4-hour chunks.  Woot!

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And finally, the Giants have made it to the World Series again for the third time in the seven years we’ve lived here.  IMG_9261

This was the scene around the 7th inning last night before the crowd rushed out.  The energy is actually pretty fun and the rowdiness has been peaceful so far (because they’re winning).  I’m rooting for them to win the whole thing just out of fear that my neighborhood will be rioted if they don’t.  Go Giants.IMG_9260

Some people at work don’t believe that I live RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from AT&T Park when they ask me where I live.  This is the view from our front door and that’s Willie Mays Plaza right out front.

And of course, this month will always have significance to me because the anniversary of Koa’s passing, which also falls on the same day of KK’s half-birthday.  I’m glad I took that day off this year.

So there you have it…most of October in a nutshell.  Before I can even catch my breath from this month, it’ll be Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then 2015 in a flash.  I’d better stop once in a while to appreciate the things around me.  Luckily, I take photos of everything to remind me of how I’m spending my time and energy.  My memory is certainly not as good as it used to be.

I miss him.

koa signOne year ago today, we lost Koa to kidney failure. At times, it seems surreal that he’s actually gone.

DSC_2897I think about him daily and wonder what kind of trouble he and KK would be up to if he was still around.  KK loves watching videos of him and looks at the painting on our wall when she eats dinner and often says “it’s Mama and Koa”. I’m still amazed at how patient he was with her.

Running KoaI get a little choked up when I run along parts of McCovey Cove or when we drive past Fort Funston.  We sometimes talk about getting another dog.  I know we’ll never be able to replace him and will it be weird to get another shiba?

Thanks to my Brother, makakoa.org is still up and running.  He happened to renew the domain name just before his passing so we still have it for a couple more years.

Miss you, Koa Bear.

Miracle Marathon: Completed

IMG_8837 On October 12th, I completed my 27-day fundraising effort.  I completed a total of 36.6 miles and raised $1063.00 for my department.  Thanks to my generous family and friends, I raised the most money on my team.  Amazing!  I am so grateful for all the support and KK had a great time being my sidekick.  She even finished the last mile by walking, climbing, jumping, and running it alongside me.