Catalina Island

Wow!  Behind again - I promise, it's just because we are having so much fun.  Jay bought me a Roomba for our anniversary, so that should free up some time to post more.  :)  My birthday was a month ago, and I am just getting around to posting some pictures. 

We decided for my birthday weekend this year to go to Catalina Island, and, yes, go diving.  I believe for the next few months you should just consider this blog a run down of our diving adventures.  We took the afternoon ferry over on Saturday, and stayed at the Hotel Atwater.  That evening we strolled through Avalon, and had dinner at Armstrong's.  We went to bed early, since the next day would begin early. 

Our diving master and instructors took the first ferry over the next morning, and we met them at Casino Point.  The old casino in Avalon is built right on the water, and now overlooks a dive park preserve with some of the best diving I've experienced in California.  It was lovely.  We were able to get in three dives that day.  The video below was taken during our Fish ID dive - we are working towards our Advanced Open Water certification, and this was one of our skills.  The large orange fish you see are called Garibaldi.  The spotted ones are kelp bass.

That evening we rented a golf cart, and drove into the hills surrounding Avalon to get a better look at the scenery from above. 

The golf cart driver, and photographer.  I grabbed the camera for this shot.

The view of Avalon bay from the hills above.

That evening we celebrated with dinner at The Landing.  We watched the sun set over the water and enjoyed a delicious dinner.  The next morning we had time for breakfast and a quick walk along the water front to the casino before we caught the last morning ferry back home.  We will need to return to Catalina soon for a much longer visit!

My passion for writing, love of investing, and something cool I'm getting paid to do!

I know.

Two posts in one week?  We don't seem to make the time to do that very often, do we?  Especially when you consider that the post April just did was from our trip in JULY...

Anyhow, this will be quick.  Many of you know that I love to write, and that one of these days I plan to retire and be a writer.  Well, April has insisted that if I am to do that, we need to be rich.  So I have been actively investing for the past 5 years or so, and have really become quite passionate about it.  The bottom line it that for most of us, the only way we can have the promise of a better tomorrow is by long-term investing.

So with that said, I have recently begun writing blog posts for the Motley Fool.  For those that aren't familiar with Fool.com, it's one of the best places to go to learn about investing as an individual.  It's all about empowering people to take their financial future in their own hands. 

At any rate, I have been an active member of a couple of the services that they offer (specifically Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers) for about 5 years, and it has really enriched our lives, and allowed us to make up for lost time towards our retirement plans. 

And while picking your own stocks and investing directly in them isn't for everyone, understanding if you are heading down the right path is for everyone.  And while Financial Advisors aren't necessarily bad people by nature, most people don't know that they are just sales people first, and that their interests aren't necessarily aligned with yours.  Doing your due-diligence and understanding where your 401(k) money is invested and why you are being recommended specific Investment Funds by Financial Advisor is just as important as questioning your Physician about your health, and the prescriptions that he gives you.  This is your future.  Don't just leave it up to a sales person. 

Okay, so I am really starting to ramble.  Check out my blog.  My goal is to post at least once per week, and increase over time. 

If any of you want to talk investing, please reach out to me.  I'm not an expert, and I'm not going to tell you which stocks to buy.  But I can tell you where to start!

-jh

Diving trip to Key West

It has been on my to-do list to get the blog updated for some time... this particular trip was taken the first week in July.  We headed to the Florida Keys to get in some scuba diving, and spend time with Rob and Tia.  We haven't had an honest-to-goodness vacation in some time, so we made the most of our time.

We rented a house on Key Largo.  During our stay, we went diving with Island Ventures.  This was a great diving outfit.  On our first morning out, we were the only four people on the boat.  In fact, all the dives had fewer than a dozen people on them.  You don't always get that with charters - often they pack as many people as possible onto a boat.  In total, we had six dives with Captain Al.  All were beautiful, warm, relaxing... ah, what's that?  Nausea?  Seasickness?  Well, I had a new secret weapon!

Do you see that little patch just below my ear?  That is a scopolamine transdermal patch.  It led to my first trip on a boat without motion sickness.  In fact, while others on the boat did get sick, I remained blissfully symptom free.  For once, it was me bringing water to sick passengers.  I loved my first experience diving without nausea.  It was incredible!



Jason complained about the equipment he used to take photos underwater.  We dove at several sites, including the Benwood wreck, Turtle Ledges at the French Reef, the wreck of the City of Washington, Elbow Reef, Christ of the Abyss at the Dry Rocks, and the Horseshoe Reef.  We saw so many beautiful, colorful fish, and although the coral reefs are not faring well with global warming and other depredations, they were still amazing.

Having a blast without feeling sick!

Brain coral.... brains....

Me reading the plaque at the Christ of the Abyss site.

Stoplight parrotfish, one of my favorite to spot! 

When we weren't in the water chasing parrotfish (or yellowtail snapper, bar jack, French grunt, butterfly fish, spadefish, French angelfish, Blue angelfish, Sergeant major, damselfish, goby, Spanish hogfish, or any other of the beautiful species we got to see) we were enjoying the other delights of the Keys.  For one, we went kayaking in the mangrove forests.  We rented two-person kayaks at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, then promptly got lost.  We spent about 30 minutes getting lost, then about 2 hours finding our way back.  Thank goodness for GPS and iPhones.  Map reading is not my forte.   It was a great way to spend the 4th of July!  After we got back home, we grilled out and watched the fireworks from the house.

The back of my head in the kayak, wondering where we are.

We also spent one day in Key West.  On the drive down we stopped at Robbie's of Islamorada so I could feed the tarpon.  And I spotted this giant lobster.  Who wouldn't want a vacation photo with a mutant lobster?

We visited the southernmost point (just a short 90 mile swim to Cuba), then headed to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory.  It was magical - air conditioning, gorgeous butterflies everywhere you looked, and the cutest birds!

Posing at the marker for the southernmost point... clearly.  It was brutally hot that day.

 From there, Jay and I headed to Ernest Hemingway's house.  I'm sure it's a lovely house, and I enjoyed the tour.  I have even read an Ernest Hemingway book or two... but let's be honest here.  I went to see the famous six-toed cats.  There are around 45 cats that live on the property, with free rein to do as they please.  All are descendents of Hemingway's original six-toed cat, Snowball. 

Count the toes on that paw... that's right, six.  And he let me shake paws.  Love.

From that point, we ran flat out to get to the Key West Shipwreck Museum before it closed. 

I am leaving out the naps, the enormous amount of seafood, and all the fun we had just hanging out.  There's only so much room for pictures! 

Weekend in La Jolla

Over Memorial Day weekend, Jay and I headed to La Jolla, CA just outside of San Diego.  We were planning to see our friends Zach and Cheryl, their little guy Chaz, and do some scuba diving in La Jolla Cove.  We drove down that Friday night, intending to do our dive on Saturday.  But due to a storm earlier that week, visibility was not good and our dive was postponed till Sunday morning.

Instead, we walked the waterfront and visited with the harbor seals at Children's Beach. 

The seals swim up on the beach, the surrounding rocks, and sun themselves. The smell is not the best, but it was fun to watch them.  I was pretty excited about being in the water with them the next day!
Here's a very comfortable seal napping on a rock:

After watching the seals we headed for a delicious lunch at the Brockton Villa Restaurant.

The food was delicious, and the restaurant itself is beautiful.  The fireplace was covered in abalone shells.  That night we had dinner with Cheryl, Zach, and Chaz in old town San Diego.  Chaz was a lot of fun.  He had grown so much since the last time we saw him, and he was a chatterbox!  He has quite the vocabulary for a 2 year old - not surprising considering how intelligent his parents are!  We could've stay all night, but since we had an early dive trip, we headed back at a reasonable hour.

The next morning we headed out scuba diving with Rod from Dive San Diego.  We only got a few pictures - as you can see below, the visibility was still not great.  The seals were not out because some sea lions had come in, and they were busy fighting a turf war on the beach.  Also, I got very sea sick.  Again.  Without a boat.  But hey, look at the starfish!

Yeah, the seasickness was bad.  Apparently just being in the ocean makes me ill.  We had to cut the dive short, and getting back in was really tough for me.  I took some nausea medication, and slept the entire afternoon.  (I now have a prescription for scopolamine- I hope this helps because nothing else has.)  When I woke up, I felt much better.  Jay and I headed back to the waterfront for drinks and dinner at Azul  La Jolla - another fabulous meal! We watched the sun set over the cove, and headed back to the hotel. 

It was a great trip, but underscored for me that to continue diving, an activity I enjoy a lot, I need to find a solution for the nausea.  I feel so sick, it's hard for me to get comfortable underwater. I have also had to cut my dives short, missing out on a lot of fun.  Hopefully the scopolamine will work- if any of you diving friends of mine have experienced this, and have some advice, I would love to hear it!

Scuba Scuba!

So it's official.  We are both PADI Open Water certified divers.  We got cards and everything.

 We did several boat dives last weekend, on Sunday the 15th, off Catalina Island.  The conditions on the way out were a little rough, and April and I were both seasick as hell.  April puked.  I wish I could, I would have felt better.  


You wanna know a great cure for seasickness?  55 degree water!  Seriously, within moments of getting in the water, we both felt fine.  And despite the cold, it was an awesome time!

San Pedro Harbor, around 6am

April getting ready to go chase a Garibaldi

A Garibaldi!

April.  She ate the Girabaldi.  Don't tell California.

So I was just kidding about April eating the Girabaldi.  She ate the Abalone.

Kidding again.  April didn't eat anything, even this Sheep Crab.  We were in a protected area, which is why we saw so much cool stuff!

We went out on the Magician.  The folks than run this operation are solid.  They take great care of their divers, make sure that it's fun and safe, and get you back home happy and ready to go back out with them!  

We had a great time, and are looking forward to a few more trips before we head down to Key Largo this summer with Robert and Tia!

-jh

PS- As soon as I get it to work, I plan to upload some short videos I recorded. 

SCUBA!

April and I have been talking about geting our PADI scuba certification for a few years now. The Open Water Diver course means that you can easily rent gear and dive when traveling, as the renter and tour operators know that you have been trained properly and can dive safely. And their insurance will still cover them if you screw up and drown while wearing gear they rented you. Because you were PADI certified. So it's your fault!

Anyway, we started classes last week, and it has been a blast. April had a run-in as a child and almost drowned, so she has been a little apprehensive, but honestly she's taken to it amazingly quickly! We have been in the pool in full gear several times this week, getting ready, going over all the safety skills, like dealing with a mask flooding, running out of air and having to use an alternate source, etc.

But today it was time for the real thing... diving in the ocean!

We spend about an hour and a half diving in Malibu this morning. The weather was very calm, and the water was flat, but the visibility was awful-maybe 5-6 feet, so we didn't really see very much, besides a little bit of kelp and some other underwater plants.

Oh, and this guy:


This Pacific Harbor Seal showed up when we were on the surface, about a hundred yards off the shore, getting ready to dive. Apparently he trailed us the entire way under water. One of the dive-masters said he saw him a couple of times under water. I took this photo of him as I was getting ready to head to shore. He was only about 8 feet away!

So we have one more day in the classroom, one day in the pool, and next weekend we are off to Catalina Island for diving in the Kelp beds! The visibility should be much better, and hopefully we will have lots of photos to post!

Cheers!

-jh

The Story of Meow

This week we are observing Meow's 13th birthday. I say observing because we don't know her real birthday, just that it was around this time in 1999. My sister found Meow in the middle of the road that runs behind the old Cedartown Wal-Mart (now Home Depot). She was a little black and white ball of fur lying on the yellow stripe that ran down the middle of the road. Amanda stopped, scooped up the tiny kitten, and thus my life changed.

Meow hadn't been weaned. Her eyes were still blue. We had to feed her with an eyedropper every 2 hours, then massage her abdomen to help her digestive tract function. She cried constantly for days- and for a small kitten, she made a LOT of noise. I didn't have any expectations that she would live. She needed a foster mother, and no cats we knew had recently had kittens. But somehow, she did live. I was finishing my senior year of University, about to graduate. My sister was finishing her senior year of high school. And my sister couldn't keep Meow. She loved that little kitten, and I loved my sister, and to keep her heart from breaking I agreed to keep Meow - just until my sister could take her back.

There was only one problem. My then-boyfriend (now husband) Jay. He was allergic to cats (though to be fair, Jay is allergic to everything). What to do? Well....I waited until Jay had a business trip to Virginia, then went to Cedartown and brought Meow back with me to Athens. I picked Jay up from the airport with roses and chocolates, kissed him passionately, held his hand all the way home, and chatted about everything except kittens. I don't know what I was thinking; at first I thought I could keep Meow hidden in the spare bedroom and never mention her. Clearly not an option. But when we got home the problem solved itself. Jay walked through the door, flipped on the living room light. In the middle of the floor was a small black and white kitten wearing a big pink bow. Jay's first words were, "She's so tiny!" His next big mistake was letting her in the bedroom while we slept. We haven't slept alone in almost 13 years now. And my sister? Well, somehow Meow never made it back to live with her....but Meow does remember her. Whenever Amanda visits, Meow follows her around, rubbing on her, purring, and just generally being very loving. We're pretty grateful to Amanda in this house. Below is a picture of Meow the weekend she came to live with Jay and me.

Happy birthday to my fuzzy little girl!

Un-Curry!!!

Cooking together is an activity Jay and I enjoy immensely. Many Friday nights you can find us in the kitchen, listening to blues, sipping wine, chopping, sauteing, steeping, spicing, and enjoying one another's company. We cook many different types of cuisine - southern, Thai, and one of our favorites - Indian. We recently had the opportunity to take a one-day course in Indian cooking with chef Kaumudi Marathe of Un-Curry. We took a class called Indian Tea Party, where we learned about spices, tea, coffee, and how to make Samosas, Chup-chup cake, and cilantro chutney. We had a wonderful three hours, and learned a lot. I have enjoyed making my own chai at home, and we've made our own chutneys. Delicious! Samosas are much easier than I thought, and so much more delicious when you make them in your favorite way. We didn't get to take many pictures, we were pretty busy cooking and taking notes. But Jay did snap a few with his droid. Below are our samosas and cilantro chutney.



One of our yummy (and easy) samosas!



Our spicy, yummy cilantro chutney.

We had a great time, and hopefully will get a chance to take more cooking classes together in the future.

New Year, New Job, New Home, New Car!

The delay in writing this post is entirely indicative of how frantically busy our life has been over the last 4 months. I can hardly believe I have let so much time pass without a full story of how many changes have happened in a short period of time! This will be a post devoid of photos, however, as the resident photographer has broken his camera. I have a post pending that he has taken photos for already, but not loaded them for me. You know how it is.... the cobbler's wife goes shoeless, the photographer's wife never has any pictures to post!

As most of you know, Jay and I were very ready to see the end of 2011. In many ways it has been one of the most trying times we've ever experienced. I lost my Aunt Faye, a huge support in my life in so many ways, and in September we lost Jay's mom. By October, though, I thought that things had calmed down. We could grieve and begin to figure out what life was going to be like without those two women.

In November, I got an email. It was a friend asking if I would be interested in applying for a job at Amgen. For a while now I have been thinking about what to do next in my career. I was not interested in continuing in the post-doctoral track, something that would be unavoidable if I stayed in academia. I had been considering making a move to industry, but what that move would look like and when it would come I wasn't sure. The specifics of this job were very appealing to me, and I decided to apply. I interviewed right after Thanksgiving, and I was offered the position the next day. To start in two weeks.

For those who live outside the hallowed halls of academia, most job changes and moves are planned out months in advance. To give two weeks notice is unheard of. But I did it. Poor Patricia! It was hard on her. But I committed to helping wrap up the project on weekends and to write the manuscript. It's in my best interest as well, and I hated leaving a lab on those terms. It felt like a betrayal; but I also knew I needed this change.

This also meant that we had to move. Our apartment was through UCLA housing - since I would no longer be a post-doctoral researcher, we had to leave. Besides, Amgen is in Thousand Oaks, much closer to Jay's offices in Agoura Hills and Woodland Hills. The move made sense. So we completed a whirlwind house hunting, and found a two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse in Thousand Oaks. It's less than 3 miles from Amgen, and less than a mile from the 101 Fwy. It has a washer & dryer, tons of space, a fireplace, 2-car garage, and a private garden courtyard that Meow can enjoy (and she does). Once I get Jay to take some pictures, I promise to post them.

So, here we are. Beginning of December. Wrapping up at the lab. Shopping and shipping Christmas gifts. Writing Christmas cards and getting them mailed. Packing up our apartment. Starting at my new job! Headed to visit Jay's brother for the holiday weekend.... and then it hit. I began work at Amgen as a Scientist II on December 19th. Amgen's winter shutdown was scheduled for the following week. We were flying to San Antonio, TX on December 24th, returning on December 26th. Movers arriving on December 28th. I got the flu on December 23rd. Jay came down with it on December 27th. When we came back to LA, we discovered that I had left the interior light on in the Subaru. That car was stone-cold dead, and nothing we did was getting it to start.

Moving day was chaos, pure and simple. We were both sick, and we had no car. Our movers loaded everything, and we drove together with Meow in the U-Haul to Thousand Oaks. We rented a car, and returned to LA where Jay managed to get the Subaru running. We spent the 29th and 30th in bed, trying to recover from the holidays, moving, and the flu. New Year's Eve I dragged Jay out of bed. No matter how high our fevers, by heavens I was showing 2011 the door. That year could get gone and good riddance! We finally began unpacking on New Year's Day. And we've been adjusting and settling ever since!

Oh, and the new car? That just happened this weekend. Jay decided that he wanted a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, and he got one. Lucky boy! This is the first time in almost 6 years that we have been a 2 car family.

So, on the whole? I love my new job. We love the new house. Jay just got the new car, but so far it's been nice. 2012 is looking much brighter than last year for us both.