Although very little in this life is fully guaranteed, I wanted to let all of you blog followers our big news of late (deep breath).
I bought a new winter coat.
Fascinating, right? I mean, it's a winter coat.
Oh, but it's navy blue, trench-style, and it WAS obscenely expensive before I got in on clearance from Anthropologie.
Which is an awesome store, by the way.
Super cute. Big collar, looks like something I should wear in winter in Paris.
Still with me? Good. Now ... let's think about this for a minute. WHY would someone who lives in San Diego (aka climate of paradise) buy a winter coat? Hmmmmmmmmm . . .
Have you figured it out yet?
HAVE YOU?!
OKAY, I can't keep it in any longer! Nick and I are going to be moving to Columbus, OH next summer. Nick is going to attend the Air Force Institute of Technology for his Master's Degree in Aero Engineering. I am (fingers crossed) going to land a postdoc with one of the labs I'm eyeing at OSU. So far, Nick is optimistic about commuting to Dayton every day, even though it'll be over an hour each way. We've checked out neighborhoods and are excited about living in a sweet pad in the city and being walking distance from bars, restaurants, and markets ... and hopefully the OSU medical campus. Yes, there will be scorching heat in the summer and blistering cold in the winter. Yes, the days of $40 / month power bills year-round will be history. But Nick and I are excited about this new chapter in our lives, and we knew we couldn't stay in San Diego forever!
A bonus: we will be 6 hours by car from Chicago, 5 hours from the Morrell clan in Michigan, less than 7 hours from St. Louis, and 5 hours from Champaign-Urbana. This puts us a reasonable driving distance from our nephews Braydan and Josh in the STL, our parents in Chicago, my brothers in Chicago, our soon-to-be new niece or nephew in Chicago (did I spill the beans, Randy?), the future location of my mom and dad's house in Michigan, etc etc etc. And the other good side? Cute winter clothes (reference the aforementioned winter coat).
The downside: I heard somewhere that Columbus gets 70 days of sunshine a year. Contrast this with San Diego, where we get less than 50 days of NOT sunshine a year. Ouch. I guess I'll move the sunscreen fund over to the Vitamin D supplement fund.
Now that the big news is out, on to the Thanksgiving Ramblings section of this post.
Though Nick is traveling again and will be out of town most of the remainder of the year, I'm thankful that he has been able to catch up with friends while he's been across the country. He was in the DC area last week for work, but got a chance to catch up with our friends the Kaciaks (our former next-door neighbors in Pensacola) and his college roommate Andy. His upcoming travel includes New Orleans, where I hope to meet him for a weekend, and St. Louis, where he gets to spend his birthday with his whole family!
I'm also very thankful that before this past week, Nick hadn't had to travel in a while which means he's been in town to help me deal with some health issues that have hopefully been resolved. I will leave it at that and just say I'm fine now and there's no need to worry about me! (But for anyone wondering why I've been totally MIA recently, that's why.) So we're thankful for our health and well-being!
We're so thankful for the time we've spent here in San Diego. It's been an awesome adventure, and it's actually a bit scary to think about the next big move, living in a new place, dealing with new neighbors ... we've been so lucky to find this house when we did, buy this house when we did, live in a place with such wonderful and caring neighbors, live somewhere that's close to everything but is blissfully quiet, live in a climate that lets us be outside and active 12 months a year ... we hope that Ohio brings its own wonderful things and adventures!
Of course, we're thankful for our wonderful kids - I mean, CATS! The addition of Naski to our family has made life in the Sinnokrak household more exciting, and has also created more 120-decibal reprimands (usually at Naski when he fly-tackles Natasha), 100-meter dashes (usually Naski chashing Tasha, though sometimes it's the other way around), early morning cries for food (Naski), save-me-from-the-evil-one cuddles (Natasha), and moments where we couldn't be more happy to have two cats napping in our laps in blissful silence.
And with our impending move to Ohio, we're thankful that we will be so much closer to our families. It's been difficult seeing our nephew Braydan grow up barely knowing us ... we get to see him maybe once or twice a year! Our new nephew Joshua, also in St. Louis, hasn't even met us yet (though Nick will remedy that in a couple of weeks)! And I look forward to being closer to Chicago for our new niece or nephew, due in late May.
As a consequence of the travel and the being ill, Nick and I hadn't thought much about Thanksgiving aside from thinking about how much we are missing our families right now! But the realization that it's right around the corner prompted us to want to celebrate what we're most thankful for, which is each other! I can't say I've ever prepared a Thanksgiving dinner for two, but we're happy to keep it very low-key. We're cooking a turkey breast to keep the leftovers manageable, making my mom's amazing wild rice salad, my awesome roasted garlic butternut squash soup, roasted sweet potatoes, cranberry-port wine sauce with figs, and some sort of apple pie thing for dessert (that's Nick's department). It's a bit strange to think that we're doing a whole lot of San Diego "lasts": this is our last Thanksgiving in San Digeo, our last winter in San Diego ... the last few nights have had the most spectacular sunsets and have made me realize that we don't have too many San Diego sunsets left ...
We hope you all know how thankful we are for you, our friends and family who keep us in your lives by reading the blog. We're thinking of you on this holiday and we hope you have a wonderful day and season!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Tides, Pools, and Tidepools
Y'all KNOW I wouldn't have gone someplace like the Point Loma tidepools (surpassed only by - perhaps - British Columbia's and Monterey's) without my camera. I took plenty of pictures but honestly tried to rein myself in a bit ... Mom, stop laughing. Just ask Nick how bad it can be when I'm in FULL photog mode. I really just wanted to enjoy the experience. The tidepools are only really accessible during a negative low tide (inlander translation: VERY low), which is achieved only around certain phases of the moon. Additionally, they only coincide with the daylight hours in the early winter months here in San Diego. A near-negative tide was predicted for one day during Mom and Dad's visit, so we checked it out. It was a beautiful day, the light was great, and I snapped and snapped away. Begin the photo journey!
One of the first things we saw was a (relatively) rare Bat Star, and a ranger was nearby to answer questions and stop curious children from being a little TOO curious.
The two most common species we saw in almost every pool were anemones and hermit crabs. The hermit crabs were very small and if you didn't look closely, you wouldn't have thought anything in those pools was even alive ... but upon closer quiet examination, we realized EVERYTHING was alive and moving!
In addition to the pools with standing water, the rocks all around us were covered with tiny living organisms. We tried to be careful where we walked so we didn't disturb the wee guys. Still, you have to wonder, if those creatures can withstand 2-3 hours a day above water, they are probably pretty hardy, right?
(You might want to click on that one and get the largest size to see all the detail - it's pretty cool.)
In one spot, there was this fantastically green sea grass clinging to the side of the cliff. It was pretty striking in contrast to the sandstone.
(that's mom and dad, by the way)
The Gooseneck Barnacles were pretty awesome and they were EVERYWHERE. They collected pieces of kelp and sea grass and, most impressively, they hosted individual and sporatic California Blue Mussels. They were hard to see until you really looked, and up close it was a cool juxtaposition.
As we hopped from rock to rock, we rounded a corner and saw this cave.
Past the cave and up the coast:
A tidepool and a snowy egret (look closely!):
The egret came closer and closer, hunting in the tidepools for the easy (trapped) prey.
There's a species of water worms that lives in and forms these tubes. We even found a few that still looked like they had wormies living in them.
(not this one)
(this one!)
At some point, I became less interested in the tidepools and more interested in the amazing rock formations. The rock here is stunning and is so distinct because the California coastline is a product of collision tectonics, producing a "staircase" effect in the rock (I am not an encyclopedia; I Googled that.)
And then there's some stuff that was just plain cool, like this rock. Water + sand + time = beachglass. Or perfect circles.
One of the unexpected finds at extreme low tide is that pieces of kelp brought IN with the tide get dragged OUT with the tide and leave the most beautiful and mystifying trails in the sand.
Climbing up on the staircase cliffs, the tops of the rock were very different looking than the sides.
There was something very bark-like about the appearance, which was highlighted when viewed from directly above:
I called this one the Giant's Foot:
The tide started pulling back in, getting some rocks wet (and giving us an excuse to get our feet wet!)
Oh, and this was one of my favorite shots of the day. Very abstract.
We ended the day by popping up the hill to the Cabrillo National Monument, which is situated to give sweeping views of San Diego and North Island (where Nick flew out of).
And here are some fun shots of my 'rents:
(Dad, who are you looking at in this shot? I was the only one with the camera!!)
There's another good low tide on Thanksgiving, so Nick and I might head out and spend some time together being thankful for our last T-day in San Diego!
One of the first things we saw was a (relatively) rare Bat Star, and a ranger was nearby to answer questions and stop curious children from being a little TOO curious.
The two most common species we saw in almost every pool were anemones and hermit crabs. The hermit crabs were very small and if you didn't look closely, you wouldn't have thought anything in those pools was even alive ... but upon closer quiet examination, we realized EVERYTHING was alive and moving!
In addition to the pools with standing water, the rocks all around us were covered with tiny living organisms. We tried to be careful where we walked so we didn't disturb the wee guys. Still, you have to wonder, if those creatures can withstand 2-3 hours a day above water, they are probably pretty hardy, right?
(You might want to click on that one and get the largest size to see all the detail - it's pretty cool.)
In one spot, there was this fantastically green sea grass clinging to the side of the cliff. It was pretty striking in contrast to the sandstone.
(that's mom and dad, by the way)
The Gooseneck Barnacles were pretty awesome and they were EVERYWHERE. They collected pieces of kelp and sea grass and, most impressively, they hosted individual and sporatic California Blue Mussels. They were hard to see until you really looked, and up close it was a cool juxtaposition.
As we hopped from rock to rock, we rounded a corner and saw this cave.
Past the cave and up the coast:
A tidepool and a snowy egret (look closely!):
The egret came closer and closer, hunting in the tidepools for the easy (trapped) prey.
There's a species of water worms that lives in and forms these tubes. We even found a few that still looked like they had wormies living in them.
(not this one)
(this one!)
At some point, I became less interested in the tidepools and more interested in the amazing rock formations. The rock here is stunning and is so distinct because the California coastline is a product of collision tectonics, producing a "staircase" effect in the rock (I am not an encyclopedia; I Googled that.)
And then there's some stuff that was just plain cool, like this rock. Water + sand + time = beachglass. Or perfect circles.
One of the unexpected finds at extreme low tide is that pieces of kelp brought IN with the tide get dragged OUT with the tide and leave the most beautiful and mystifying trails in the sand.
Climbing up on the staircase cliffs, the tops of the rock were very different looking than the sides.
There was something very bark-like about the appearance, which was highlighted when viewed from directly above:
I called this one the Giant's Foot:
The tide started pulling back in, getting some rocks wet (and giving us an excuse to get our feet wet!)
Oh, and this was one of my favorite shots of the day. Very abstract.
We ended the day by popping up the hill to the Cabrillo National Monument, which is situated to give sweeping views of San Diego and North Island (where Nick flew out of).
And here are some fun shots of my 'rents:
(Dad, who are you looking at in this shot? I was the only one with the camera!!)
There's another good low tide on Thanksgiving, so Nick and I might head out and spend some time together being thankful for our last T-day in San Diego!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Canon Battles! ARRRRRRR!!
[title edit: Nick informed me that the proper pirate speak includes a silent "gh" on the end of ARRRRRR. So consider the title "Canon Battles! ARRRRRRRGH!!")
Nick and I had the pleasure of hosting my mom and dad this weekend, and as usual, we made the most of their time out here! We went to the Wild Animal Park, showed them the best wineries in Temecula, and visited the Point Loma tidepools. Mom had suggested that we do something "special" and sent me a list of fun things happening locally this weekend. One of the things on the list really caught my eye: the San Diego Maritime Museum takes out two early-1800's-era tall ships and re-enacts a canon battle, Master and Commander style. Nick and I have seen this happen several times over the years that we've lived in San Diego, but we never realized that you could buy tickets and be on board as a tourist/passenger! And even though I figured they would cram us on there like sardines and we would just be along for the ride, I was beyond pleasantly surprised that a) there were only 18-20 of us on each ship, and b) they used us as part of the crew, hauling lines, hoisting sails, chatting with us, etc. Awesome, right? It gets even better: Sunday was the day of our sail and it was also the day after a storm front moved through, bringing 20+ knot winds. It's like we were in San Francisco, not San Diego, and it was a sailor's dream! We hauled ASS through the water.
It was so windy, the Star of India needed to have some sails taken in, so they had crews up on the rigging to furl the sails:
Aboard the Lynx, Mom, Dad, and Nick being put to work to help hoist the sails:
Dad, hoisting the jib:
When it came time to unfurl the main, the crew explained to us that it unfurls OUT and DOWN, unlike modern sailboats. I laid back on top of the cabin to get a view from underneath (yeah, I was "that guy" who was doing all the picture taking and none of the helping).
The Californian, the ship with whom we did battle that day, came out into the bay just behind us and we both maneuvered into position for the start of the EPIC canon fight.
The winds were anywhere from 20-28 knots during the time we were out, and it was one of the only times we've seen whitecaps like these on the very protected San Diego bay!
The heavy sails sounded like a thunderstorm when they luffed during a tack:
The Californian sails up beside us and we exchange pleasantries (we let them fire first because, as our crew said, we were the "good guys"):
The sails, oh those beautiful cloth sails ...
The masts and the fittings weren't too shabby, either.
After we allowed the Californian to live to fight another day, we sailed past the Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum and gave it a two-gun salute. One of our fellow passengers took video of it, which I make him promise to post on youtube someday, but for now here's a video of a previous year's sailing and Midway salute:
And as the sun started dipping to the West, we helped the crew take down the sails:
And to cap off a spectacular day on the water, we got a beautiful sunset.
I don't have too many more words to describe how amazing the experience was ... stunning. Perfect weather, perfect wind, a ship and crew that so exceeded our expectations ... it was really unforgettable. And just in case one of us loses our memory, I have hundreds of pictures (literally) to help us remember!
Nick and I had the pleasure of hosting my mom and dad this weekend, and as usual, we made the most of their time out here! We went to the Wild Animal Park, showed them the best wineries in Temecula, and visited the Point Loma tidepools. Mom had suggested that we do something "special" and sent me a list of fun things happening locally this weekend. One of the things on the list really caught my eye: the San Diego Maritime Museum takes out two early-1800's-era tall ships and re-enacts a canon battle, Master and Commander style. Nick and I have seen this happen several times over the years that we've lived in San Diego, but we never realized that you could buy tickets and be on board as a tourist/passenger! And even though I figured they would cram us on there like sardines and we would just be along for the ride, I was beyond pleasantly surprised that a) there were only 18-20 of us on each ship, and b) they used us as part of the crew, hauling lines, hoisting sails, chatting with us, etc. Awesome, right? It gets even better: Sunday was the day of our sail and it was also the day after a storm front moved through, bringing 20+ knot winds. It's like we were in San Francisco, not San Diego, and it was a sailor's dream! We hauled ASS through the water.
It was so windy, the Star of India needed to have some sails taken in, so they had crews up on the rigging to furl the sails:
Aboard the Lynx, Mom, Dad, and Nick being put to work to help hoist the sails:
Dad, hoisting the jib:
When it came time to unfurl the main, the crew explained to us that it unfurls OUT and DOWN, unlike modern sailboats. I laid back on top of the cabin to get a view from underneath (yeah, I was "that guy" who was doing all the picture taking and none of the helping).
The Californian, the ship with whom we did battle that day, came out into the bay just behind us and we both maneuvered into position for the start of the EPIC canon fight.
The winds were anywhere from 20-28 knots during the time we were out, and it was one of the only times we've seen whitecaps like these on the very protected San Diego bay!
The heavy sails sounded like a thunderstorm when they luffed during a tack:
The Californian sails up beside us and we exchange pleasantries (we let them fire first because, as our crew said, we were the "good guys"):
The sails, oh those beautiful cloth sails ...
The masts and the fittings weren't too shabby, either.
After we allowed the Californian to live to fight another day, we sailed past the Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum and gave it a two-gun salute. One of our fellow passengers took video of it, which I make him promise to post on youtube someday, but for now here's a video of a previous year's sailing and Midway salute:
And as the sun started dipping to the West, we helped the crew take down the sails:
And to cap off a spectacular day on the water, we got a beautiful sunset.
I don't have too many more words to describe how amazing the experience was ... stunning. Perfect weather, perfect wind, a ship and crew that so exceeded our expectations ... it was really unforgettable. And just in case one of us loses our memory, I have hundreds of pictures (literally) to help us remember!
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