Sep, Oct, Nov & Dec 2006 Update

i there

We've been fairly slack at updating this blog haven't we, did ya miss us ??

Here's a bit of a summary of what's been going on.

September
Our friend from Melbourne (Legs) came to San Francisco for a visit. We visited Alcatraz with her and took a bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. Legs and Anita rode a tandem bike over the bridge which was heaps of fun ! Legs stayed with us for a couple of days and then hopped on a flight to London to continue her adventure.

On 16/9 we drove up to Lake Tahoe with friends Erik & Elisa and we rode the Flume Trail. It's a mountain bike trail which starts at 7,000ft and ascends to 8,157ft. The first part of the trail is really tough as you battle both a steep ascent and thin air, but the views from the top are spectacular and well worth the initial pain.

The next weekend we went on a Deloitte organised camping trip to Yosemite Park with Erik & Elisa. We went as volunteers and spent 2 days pulling blackberry roots, which are a nuisance to the park. They supplied a camping spot (we took our own tents) and they had volunteers there to feed us breakfast, lunch & dinner - which was especially nice. Beautiful park, full of amazing sights.
Before we started pulling weeds we were given advice from the Park Ranger on what to do if we encounter any animals - which included bears, coyotes, snakes and squirrels. We didn't see much while we were pulling roots, but we did see a coyote on the side of the road as we drove into the park - that was exciting !

October
In early October Anita's parents came to visit us for 3 weeks. It was really awesome to have them come over and we sure managed to keep them busy !
We took them to an Ice Hockey game (San Jose Sharks vs Dallas Stars), drove up to Napa Valley for some wine tasting, went up to Lake Tahoe to ride the Flume trail (again :) ) and take a cruise on the lake and of course we went shopping. The folks then did a bit of exploring on their own which included taking a bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge, visiting Alcatraz and taking many bike rides out the back of San Mateo (they discovered stuff we'd never seen before !).
Had a wonderful time and were very sad to see them go home.

During the time the folks were here Anita was winding down at work. Her work had been transitioned to the East Coast and so she was mainly just providing support to the transferee's, which meant thankfully she was only needed in the office for 3 days total during the 3 weeks her folks were here and the rest of the time she took off as leave or worked from home. Manu was in Phoenix :(

In October we spent Halloween with Goce & Stacey and their kids. We got dressed up and went trick or treating around the streets of San Mateo. The amount of lollies those kids get is amazing, we just had to help them eat them....

November
November was a sad month for us as our good friends Goce & Stace prepared to leave the US and go back to Melbourne. We spent most of the month spending time with them or helping them with cleaning, packing and babysitting. We had a "Settlers of Catan World Series 2006" competition but we came out with a 3 way tie (Manu, Stace & Marty all winning a game each), so we have to continue the competition in Melbourne sometime in the future.

At the end of November we received notification of a Class Action suit against the company who made our laptop (Toshiba). The class action suit alleged that the company was making laptops with a known susceptibility to static electricity. The company was settling out of court and as part of the settlement all purchasers of certain laptop models got an extension to their Warranty and options to claim some money back for any repairs. Kind of freaky to get a document like that in the mail, but it turned out great for us as we were having big problems with our laptop and the Warranty is now getting that fixed for us.
Gotta say, there is some major abuse of the US legal system, we've met people who have sued companies cause they tripped and fell over, but sometimes the legal system works well to benefit people who have been ripped off. We certainly felt ripped off, the laptop we bought brand new 2 years ago was worth nothing with all the problems that were occurring.

December
December has been a fairly relaxed month for us with Anita completely off work and Manu working locally in San Jose (actually getting home at a reasonable time due to carpooling with his friend Erik).

With Manu's HSMP visa application underway, Anita has started selling a lot of our stuff in preparation to moving to London. All going well we will be leaving the US sometime in Feb. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well with the visa application.

Last but not least we had a great 10 day holiday over the Xmas period - first stop was Orlando, Florida where Manu spent a day at NASA in the ATX (Astronaut Training Experience) and Anita did some shopping in "The Florida Mall". Then it was on to London...

Unfortunately just after we arrived in London (and just before xmas) Anita received some unhappy news - her Uncle Dennis passed away after suffering a heart attack at the age of 54. It was tough being away from the family during this time as we couldn't get back home to attend the funeral.

He is greatly missed and will always remain in our hearts.

For xmas our dear friends, the Parkers, hosted a traditional Polish xmas eve which included opening presents early (Mum we should take up this Polish tradition - Anita) and traditional Kiwi xmas day, which was truly special and involved a whole lot of cooking ! The food was delicious and the company wonderful. Over the next few days Matt did a great job of showing us around London and a bit of the English way of life, we really didn't want to leave......

Now we're home, catching up on emails and planning more fun things - first weekend in Jan we're going to Heavenly for the first snow trip of the season and Manu gets to use his very first snowboard which he is extremely excited about.......

love and big manu hugs,
Anita and manu