Another week went by ...

Highlights of the past week were the arrival and assembly of our bikes (don't think I've ever had such a good bike as now - apart then from the purple and pink monster that was given to me for my communion when I was twelve ...) and the preliminary arrival of two Christmas presents: a naughty book-with-a-wink about Syrian lingerie and a bread machine! Bread is insanely expensive here and not necessarily that good of a quality, so I'm looking forward to baking my own bread again.

Last Saturday we spent quite some time trying to adjust the dérailleurs of Will's bike and then drove up Persia and down Avalon to the Mc Laren Park where we had a good view over the bay. Check out some pictures from our ride and of the house!

The Sunday - yet another incredible sunny November day with a sun still capable of causing minor sun burn - we had a pancake brunch at the house with Mike, Brendan and Jutta. Good company, yummie food! We dropped Mike and Brendan off at the Glen Park BART station as an excuse for a little walk and then went on a bit further and discovered the beautiful Glen Park Canyon!

Yesterday evening then was the last Tuesday of the month, which meant another SFBC meeting. The annual grotto elections were held with all positions filled unanimously, something unheard of at Spekul ... ;-) No bitter election campaigns, heated discussions or people voting against. It was a painless affair and very quick, no time to get bored! ;-)

We were all looking forward to this month’s program which sounded very promising. Dave DesMarais of NASA Ames gave a very interesting talk about “Exploring Mars for Evidence of Habitable Environments and Life”. The majority of those present seemed already rather well informed about the Mars expeditions, but for me it was an introduction into a whole new world. He mainly talked about the Mars Rovers who were sent there to gather information about the past and present climate and gather evidence on the (past)(non-) presence of water and possibilities for sustaining life on Mars. He showed a cool animation showing the take off of the space shuttle, the landing on Mars (very bumpy with bounces more than a 100 m high, but a cushion of air bags protected the shell that contained the Rover!), the unfolding of the Rovers (think transformers!) and the start of their voyage. Check Wikipedia or YouTube for some more info or a cool animation!

Tomorrow morning we'll leave for our first caving trip to the Lava Beds National Monument. Looking forward to that!

Our wedding: September 20, 2008

Some pictures taken by our semi-professional photographers!

(I'm pretty sure we had more of those around, but I still need to locate their cd's with pics ...)

• Scott
• Sam
• Andy

Thanks guys!

About a birthday, amazing weather and how to throw the perfect barbecue!

This Saturday Andy - our house mate - celebrated his 27th birthday. Good weather had been announced so Taylor saw an opportunity there to suggest a barbecue to celebrate the event. All of us did some last minute shopping ... mostly groceries and a lot of booze (as in a big bottle of rum, coke and lime to make Cuba Libre and a (large!) keg of beer!) and ice. But Andy also wanted a special piece of grilling equipment allowing you to shove a can of beer into the chicken's a*!# which indeed makes the grilled chicken very juicy! It was a cool party with lots of sun, very nice people, great food and an introduction for us into beer pong! Check here for a couple of pictures.

Sunday was yet another sunny day (thanks to East wind blowing desert air over SF). Will and I took advantage of it by going for brunch with Lukas, one of Will's geeky friends. In the afternoon we had a visit from Mohammad - who moved last year from Belgium to San Jose a bit to the South of SF - and spent some time with him in our backyard enjoying the sun, ice cream and apple juice. The day was concluded with two episodes of the original Star Wars movies ... Taylor had managed through Craigslist to lay hands upon four or more boxes full of VHS tapes! ;-)

Other notable events of the past week include us hosting our first dinner at the house, discovering the public pool two minutes walking from the house, me attending my first dancing class and registering for City College only to find out after that that I'll have to pay as much here to attend one class for six months as in Belgium for all of my classes for an entire academic year!

Oh yes, and we've met up with the cavers on the other side of the Bay from the Diablo Grotto. They're a nice bunch as well and their meetings are easily reachable by BART and somewhat less formal than those of the SFBC (although I don't mind the formality that much and they seem to have interesting talks at the SFBC meetings; about some kind of Mars research next time!) We've also managed to sign up for the Thanksgiving Lava Beds trip from November 27-30th! Our first appointment with actual "caves"!

The week that the US elected a new president (in a nutshell)

Last week Will and I did some touristy stuff. Went for a ride with the cable cars and a romantic walk at Embarcadero last Tuesday (at night this time, therefore romantic ... ;-), but also cause we went for pizza after that). Thursday evening we visited SF MOMA, the Museum of Modern Arts. They have an impressive collection of photos, some famous works of art and a very cool Jacob's Ladder in the main hall! On Friday then, we visited the California Academy of Sciences and were sufficiently impressed! Something to write on your to do list for those who plan to visit SF at some point! Check out the caimans and go and have a look at our Picasa webalbum!

Saturday then was the big day. We were finally moving out of the Gaylord Suites and into our new home at Balboa Park (in pouring rain! Something apparently rather exceptional for here ...). Our housemates: Hilary & Taylor, Stephany & Andy and Oscar; the cats: Goose & Cin Jin; the dog: Chinook. You can check out the street view with Google Maps, it's the brown house, somewhat hidden by the car and the tree, with stairs going up to the front door and with the blue house on the left.

Saturday evening we were invited to Jeff's (one of Will's colleagues) BD party. I really enjoyed that party: great food, great people and a very relaxed atmosphere! The only drawback was the wading through the puddles to get to Jeff's place. California's definitely not used to dealing with rain!

The Sunday Will and I set a record! We spent almost the entire day in IKEA looking for a bed & mattress, (computer)table & chair, bookshelves and minor items. Came back with heavy bags and were treated to a bbq by our housemates! ;-) That was very cool!

Monday was dangerously-leaning-out-of-the-window room cleaning day

Tuesday - apart from being that historic day when the US elected their first African American president (what a relief ...) - Ikea delivered our furniture and we went to the SFCB's vertical practice (including bbq and lots of yummy desserts!) Check out a very cool pic of Hilary celebrating Obama's vistory (and some others)!

Wednesday UPS finally brought our stuff that came from Belgium after messing up the previous day and - o joy - that evening we slept for the first time in - eeuh - more than a month in our own bed! :-)

And yesterday evening we went to a concert of Natacha Atlas. Despite rumours about her being notorious for cancelling concerts she did show up, and did so in style and accompanied by great musicians! Both Will and I enjoyed the concert a lot!