September Report

The lowlight of the month was my friend Mary R undergoing yet another cancer surgery at Stanford on September 9.  THe highlight was the success of the surgery and her fast recovery from yet another set of knives!  

Well, the America's Cup got serious.  As did the remodel of the St. Paul Condo.  Oh, and the asbestos removal from the new Los Gatos place actually happened! 

September was a lot less travel--for me.  I actually did not go anywhere for the entire month upon my return from Minnesota on the 4th of September.  Stephanie did make two trips to the bay area, the first for opening of the America's Cup races and then wonderful ball held the night before the New Zealanders were going to take the cup away from the Golden Gate Yacht Club and haul it to New Zealand.  She returned for the last race as Team USA successfully defended the Cup in one of sports most unbelievable comebacks! 


Mary R has been the topic of my blog off and on for many years. Mary and I met in 1972 or 73 when I hired her into my work group at National Semiconductor.  The connection was made by her then husband who I also worked with at National.  Mary has been a good friend for four decades now and in spite of all her battles with cancer, I expect we'll have many more years ahead of us.  If you know Mary and want a full update, let me know. She keeps a blog on CaringBridge but you need to have an invitation to sign on and read her entries.  

The America's Cup

One of the strangest and most exciting sporting events ever!  

First, the very strange part.  The international committee ruled in the week before the final races that Oracle Team USA was to be penalized for infractions during the 2012 competition.  Let's think about that. On the evening of the defending races, they impose penalties.  Let's see, how can we really hurt a team?  Well, let's ban two of their key players (out of 11).  That should slow them down.  Oh, and let's make sure they are in a hole.  So the race is a best of 17 meaning the first team to 9 victories wins the cup.  Ok, let's put Team USA at minus two (-2) so that they have to win 11 races and the challenger only has to win 9.  Huh? 

The only thing I can imagine being similar is to declare on the eve of the Superbowl that the penalized team has to pull two starters from the offense and, they are starting with a score of 0 to minus 12.  

Burgee (aka flag) of the Golden Gate Yacht Club

The result is that the defending Team USA flying the burgee of the Golden Gate Yacht Club began the final best of 17 races with a significant impediment.  Two team members were barred and the score was 0 to minus 2 before the boats went into the water.  

So Team USA started in a hole. A very big hole, it turns out.  The New Zealand Emriates team had been sharpened by competition in the July round robins and by the August semifinal races against Italy's Luna Rossa. They also were the first team to have an AC72 in the water last year and had more practice time than any other team.  (The Team USA boat capsized and was severely damaged in the fall and several months went by when there was no boat to practice in.  The Italians used a prior generation Kiwi boat but their practice time was limited compared to the Kiwi's.) The Kiwi's were disciplined, sharp, well practiced and fast!  It was clearly not going to be an easy defense of the America's Cup. 

And, while all of this was going on, I learned that I did have the best seat in San Francisco.  Check out the location of my apartment building! I can see the entire course from my deck!  Perfection!  

We had arranged for Stephanie to fly out on the eve of the opening race to enjoy the America's Cup.  On the first race day, Saturday September 7, we watched the two races from the Gold Gate Yacht Club.  It is located on the Marina Green which is the same place as the red marker America's Cup Village (not the Park) on the map above.  It was great being at the club, the defender of the America's Cup.  It wasn't so great that New Zealand won the first two races.  Score:  NZ 2, USA minus 2.  Gulp!  

We planned to attend some races at the club and most from my apartment.  I had the view and the cable TV set up.  Stephanie was there to help me with the preparations and hosting the friends who came to see the races.  Friends came over with various fun dishes to eat and drink.  A great time was had by all! 

From left to right: Mr. Wiley, his friend, Kristi Wiley, Jim Wiley and your's truly.  Jim and Kristi and I have worked together in the semiconductor industry at several different companies over the years. It was a treat to finally meet his Dad!  

The races were unpredictable.  Some days, the winds were too strong and the Coast Guard had set upper wind limits for the start of the races.  As a result, we sometimes had no races, one race or two races on race days.  On some make up days, we couldn't make up the prior lost time so things were postponed.  It was a great exercise in learning that the wind and the seas really do control things!  

Stephanie and your's truly in front of the America's Cup at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. 

The Club had set an America's Cup ball on the evening prior to the 9th race (by original schedule). Stephanie had stayed through that week to attend the ball (plus make decisions on the new Los Gatos place--more later).  The ball was held on time, but the races were behind schedule.  It didn't really matter much, we were so far behind and New Zealand was so strong, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Cup was going to New Zealand.  

Although we all had hoped it would be a Team USA sweep, it was closer to a New Zealand sweep at the time of the ball. After all, New Zealand had six victories to our one victory so the score was 6 to minus 1.  But, we put on our cheerful faces and routinely said it isn't over 'til its over. Thank you Casey Stengel.  

Stephanie had to leave and return to St Paul.  I managed to watch and attend races and host visitors to my place.  But, face it, when one team has that strong a position in a competitive series, its pretty obvious, right?  

The absolute low point was after the races on September 18.  New Zealand 8, USA 1.  Basically, all New Zealand had to do was win one race and they were hauling the Cup away.  

The next race was also a demonstration of the strength of New Zealand and the capriciousness of the wind and the sea.  New Zealand had a huge lead as they approached the leeward gate prior to the turn to the finish line. Crossing the line was their ninth win and would be victory in the 2013 America's Cup.  But the wind and the sea decided it wasn't yet time.  The winds were so light that day, the maximum time limit was reached before New Zealand could cross the finish line.  Race nullified!  

But we had all seen how dominant New Zealand was again in the very light winds.  Although tomorrow was another day, it was clear it wouldn't stop the New Zealand team. 

We sit with the series score being New Zealand 8, USA 1.  Hey, at least we were no longer negative!  We had won three races against clearly superior New Zealand team.  Hold your heads up high, boys, we've made them work for it!  

But then something began to happen.  Team USA won the next race, and the next, and the next...in fact, the won seven races in a row!  Seven!  Unbelievable.  Light winds, heavy winds, whatever, seven races in a row against the best the world has to offer. Absolutely stunning!  

New Zealand 8, USA 8.  Hold your breath!  

We now have the 19th race in a best of 17 series (recall, Team USA was minus 2 at the beginning.) All the work, preparation, everything boils down to this one last race.  Wow!  

The entire city of San Francisco was on the waterfront the day of the last race. And most of the bay area, too.  It was pure emotion.  Now, some could say San Francisco was jaded from too much in sports.  World Series Champs in Sept of 2010 and 2012.  Superbowl contender in January of 2013.  All the issues, the politics, the fingerpointing were all gone.  Our team was playing for all the marbles on this last race day.  

Yeah, we won!  ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!  

Stephanie had returned that week for a quick visit.  Because the races ran late, she was able to attend the final race with me at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. What a treat!  

I still get tingles thinking about having to win 8 in a row because you are behind 8 to 1.  And the Team USA did it.  Wow!  

St Paul Condo

Progress was made pretty rapidly after the painting was done.  The tile floor went in, the cabinets arrived, new kitchen sink, new bathroom vanity and appliances.  We were still missing things like the LR flooring, carpeting in the bedrooms and, oh yes, electricity.  But progress was made although we really missed the August end date.  

This shows the tile floor but the paint colors are way off in the picture. The red is much more subdued than that and the far LR wall is pale yellow--no green at all!  

Cabinets are in place, new refrigerator is standing by waiting for installation. 

Tile floor and bathroom vanity. 

To be fair, we did change the flooring material in the living room from carpet to hardwood.  As we have all experienced, we know its tough for a contractor to keep things on track.  

Stephanie was the project manager as I spent the entire month in California. And, between her two trips she spent a third of her time way too. But our contractor kept plugging along and making it happen. 

Los Gatos Townhouse

When Stephanie arrived for the America's Cup, we also had plans to make decorating decision for the new Los Gatos place.  The days without races being held became a race for us to get to each of the vendors and make choices for the townhouse before she returned to St Paul. 

Our sequence was granite countertops, cabinets materials and color, paint colors thoughout, kitchen flooring, backsplash tile and accent materials, sink, faucets, light fixtures and whatever else.  The various suppliers we met with were a bit stunned because we made decisions so fast.  Well, we had just made the very same decisions for the St Paul Condo so we knew what was needed and what we wanted.  The St Paul Condo kitchen has strong red elements in it.  Los Gatos is in the blues and greys.  

And although we were 'storming the gates' making these decisions, the actual design work was hung up because Silicon Valley is in a remodel boom.  Everyone is super busy and we had to wait until our architect and engineering folks could really take a look at what we wanted to do and then prepare the calculations, engineering assessment and drawings.  So even though we had picked all of our key items, no progress was made on the construction itself.  

Of course, rushing the engineering along didn't do much as the asbestos removal was, shall we say, not terribly quick.  But it did finally get done and they did remove all the "Death Unto You" signs from the property.  Whew...

Errata

I mentioned that Stephanie made a second trip in September. The purpose was to attend several plays with my season tickets. We saw Beautiful, the story of Carol King performed by the traveling Broadway group   We also saw 1776 at San Francisco's ACT.  Plus, Stephanie got to see the last America's Cup race at the Golden Gate Yacht Club.  

In addition, my friends Ute and Jochen with Ute's father were in town on a vacation from their home in Germany.  This happened the same week Stephanie was in town for the plays!  We did several events with them, the highlight being attending the San Francisco-Los Angeles baseball game.  
In July when Jochen was visiting San Francisco for business, he told me he was taking Ute and her father to "the game."  
I asked "What game?  Baseball or football?"  He didn't know.  But when he told me it was on a Wednesday night in late September, I knew it was baseball. 
"What do you know about baseball?"  
"There are a bunch of players and they run around on a circular track." was his reply. 
Well, I managed to score two tickets adjacent to theirs and all five of us attended the game.  
Explaining baseball is hard!  

The prior week, I took BART to the Oakland stadium again and watched the Minnesota Twins play the Oakland A's.  Its one of those games where I cheer for the winner and my heart breaks for the loser.  

Seems that Oakland has some extra help on the field: Storm Troupers, Boba Fett, Darth Vader...you can't see Princess Leia in this picture, she is down the third base line taking her own photos of Darth Vader on the field. 

Finally, I had my periodic visits with all my doctors and I got a clean bill of health!  Onward and upward!  

Ciao. 

August Report

The America's Cup dominated my life in August.  Well, except for the remodel project of the St Paul condo, the purchase of a new residence in Los Gatos and the confirmation of asbestos in the Los Gatos place.

There is an older posting of the America's Cup dated August 11, 2013.  Click here to read it. 

Los Gatos Townhouse

We closed on the new place in the first few days of August.  I did offer a six week rentback but the seller vacated by August 15.  My first tour of the place was with my contractor as I described how we wanted to expand the kitchen and update the rest of the home.  

One major thing that bothered me was the 'popcorn' ceilings. I told my contractor to remove them.  He said ok, grabbed a step stool and proceeded to scrape some popcorn into an envelope.  
"What is that for?" I ask. 
"It has to be tested." says Steve
"To scrape it off?  Just get rid of it!"  I reply. 
"Well, this place was built in the early 70s, its highly unlikely but still possible there is asbestos in the popcorn. I have to have it tested before I can remove it." is his answer.  

A week or so later the test comes back positive.  You would think they had discovered Saddam's weapons of mass distruction in this place once asbestos was confirmed.  All of a sudden, the place looks like a scene from ET.  Plastic sheeting everywhere coupled with big warning signs to not enter unless properly covered in hazmat suits. The scary bit was opening the door from the garage and discovering a double zipper set of plastic sheeting with skull and crossbones warnings plus a very formal declaration of the imminent death of anyone who enters without proper protection.  

I don't get it, it was there for 40 years.  Why is it a big deal if you want to remove it?  

But, we follow the rules, I sign documents confirming I have none of Saddam's WMD or additional asbestos hidden in the property and (drum roll please) I am promised a written clean bill of health so I can move into the property after the removal and the final "recleaning" which is needed to clean after the Hazmat folks have done their cleaning.  Now if you have signed the documents, you'd expect the work to begin posthaste.  You'd be wrong, very wrong.  

I learn that Hazmat time lines are several times worse than hospital time. As we exit August, we are still waiting for the clean bill of health.  Heck, we are still waiting for the Hazmat guys to show up for the initial removal of the asbestos.  Turns out, Hazmat removal is a precious resource so my contractor invokes some ancient sorcery of the saw and hammer and gets an expedited team assigned because its a new purchase and we need to move in.  As we exit August, we are still waiting for a commitment for the expedited team to show up. 

Turns out the guys who hang plastic are low skilled and jump into action immediately upon confirmation of asbestos.  The actual, high skilled removal folks are rare and booked for months in advance.  If we had been trying to live in the place, we'd be living in the ET decor for weeks and weeks waiting.  Thankfully, we were not living there.  

Oh, and it does warm the cockles of your heart to have the state and county Hazmat folks place warnings all over about the imminent danger and near death condition of your just purchased property. Makes one wonder if, perchance, it was not exactly the best expenditure of your hard earned money? 

We leave August wondering about the plan to have Stephanie move to the bay area in early October. Ah, no problem, we can live in the one room studio in San Francisco. With a dog.  An old, diabetic, blind dog.  Oh, this is not sounding too cool.    

Actually, I do not have pictures of the Hazmat condition of the place. I couldn't get in to take them!   

St Paul Condo

Now this is totally under control!  Early on to save money, we withdrew our request to remove the popcorn from the existing ceiling.  This saved me, as I learned later from the California experience, not only money but also a formal invitation to meet the Minnesota Hazmat folks.  Whew!  I guess if you paint over it, its ok. But if you want to remove it to create smooth ceilings, out comes the ET team. 

The plan was simple.  Our St Paul contractor, Ron, would charge us extra to strip some additional sheetrock so the electrician could charge us extra to remove the old wires.  The electrician would then charge us even more extra to run the new wires. That was followed by the sheetrock guy who would then charge us extra to replace the sheetrock that we had just destroyed.  My pocket was feeling very light. Ron then offered, and I accepted readily, that because there was no structural work needed after the initial demolition that he would not charge us for the removal and replacement of the sheetrock. The electrician, however, would get his full pound of flesh. Blood included.  

All of this boiled down to the time window for painting of the place.  Back in July, Stephanie and I decided we could save some money by painting it ourselves. After all, we had both learned how to paint from our respective fathers and we both enjoyed doing it. It turned out the America's Cup Louis Vuitton ended early in August as New Zealand defeated Italy's Luna Rossa team.  We planned on a busy Labor Day weekend buzzing through and painting our new condo.  

Well, Dear Reader, life throws curveballs.  I recall, at the age of 17, my parents moving into a new home.  I stripped wallpaper in three rooms and painted all three of them myself. I am sure this took no more than half a day each.  At least, in my memory that is what it took.  I thought Stephanie and I could accomplish the painting of a two bedroom condo in three, maybe four days tops.  And, Stephanie agreed!  Afterall, there was no wallpaper removal to deal with! 

We were wrong. Big time wrong!

We worked our tails off over the Labor Day weekend.  Sanding and priming woodwork, removing hinges and doorknobs prior to priming the doors, two coats of primer to cover the mauve and purple walls, carefully removing baseboard so we could reuse it, etc.  We actually got the priming done--it took a bit more time than we planned, but it was done. And we started on the color palette we had selected.  

OMG, what happened?  Those little samples don't look like that at all once its on the wall!  And now we were out of time.  I was returning to CA for the opening of the America's Cup finals and Stephanie was joining me!  

We did two things: First, we went to the same paint store and bought paint that looked better on the wall. And, of course, because our first choice was custom mixed, it was not returnable.  Second, we asked our contractor to bring in his painters to finish the job.  

Well, paying for twice the amount of paint one needs is never fun. Its even less fun to find out you cannot get rid of the stuff you don't want because its considered hazardous material!  What else can go wrong? Turns out the painter's quote to finish the paint job was exactly the amount of money that was deleted from the estimates when we planned on doing our own painting.  Wait a second, the priming is all done, the hardware and doors are all disassembled, the woodwork and baseboards are primed and ready to go.  Why is the price so much? 

Ah, now you need it in the next few days!  

Ouch!  Its sort of like airline pricing.  If you want it in a year, its cheap. Tomorrow, we have a special price for you!  

So we exit August with New Zealand winning the Louis Vuitton Cup which means they will sail in September against the defending Oracle Team USA under the banner of the Golden Gate Yacht Club.  

Our St Paul condo is running a bit late due to the added electrical work and the further slipped schedule due to amateur painters. What was that about an August completion? 

And Los Gatos is still in the planning stages putting a September completion in a bit of doubt.  

Stephanie to move in October?  Not sounding too good.  

Ciao! 

July Report

My son, his family and I went on a 10 day trip to Hawaii, the America's Cup races began, learned that my 17th floor studio apartment is probably the best place in all of San Francisco to view the races, flew to Florida to buy a car and drive it to Minnesota, started the St Paul condo remodel AND made an offer and was accepted for a townhouse purchase in Los Gatos!  A quiet month by most standards.   


Hawaii

What can I say, I love Hawaii.  One of the most beautiful spots in the world.  And, we stayed in a set of Condo's in Wailea on Maui. Truly beautiful.  My granddaughter just loved the surf while my grandson spent hours in the pool. It was marvelous.  

We did have one teensy mess up on the trip.  My son and family arrived at SFO and I had cleared security and was waiting for them at their incoming gate.  As we grabbed a quick breakfast snack, I asked what kind of car they had rented.  Casey and Chris both looked at me with that "What?" expression on their face.  Seems like we all assumed the other was renting the car.  NOT!  

Fear not, gentle reader. With all my lifetime travels, I have an app on my iPhone.  Before the coffee was consumed, I had a reservation confirmed for a sedan that could handle the five of us.  And, is their practice, when we got to the rental car lot, they had upgraded me to a sport ute about the size of the state of Texas.  A very comfortable ride for our travels around Maui.  

We swam, toured, swam, walked the beach, snorkled, played in the surf and all the wonderful stuff you do with your grandkids on vacation.  It was a treat!  

There was a miss, however.  I had booked us on a sunset cruise on the 4th of July to watch the fireworks of Lahaina town from the water.  The concept is fantastic, the food was good (but not great), the weather was wonderful.  I guess, however, we could title this event with "In which we learn that Casey does get seasick on a boat." Ouch!  

As a result, Chris and I did Molokini and Casey and the kids took a pass.  They had a rough morning at the pool and beach while us guys did the snorkel trip.  

All in all it was a marvelous trip!  

Click here for more pictures. 

America's Cup and the 17th Floor

Upon my return from Hawaii, the semifinals of the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series was in progress.  Unfortunately, there were not that many competitors but I did watch Artemis (Sweden) compete with Luna Rossa (Italy) from my studio on the 17th floor.  New Zealand and Team USA were out regularly doing practice runs too.  

As for the view of the race course from 17, take a look at my pictures from this blog entry.  Click here.  

Also in the sports world was major league baseball.  I had attended the LA-SF game at AT&T park earlier and here is a picture of the Red Sox vs A's in Oakland. 

Boston Red Sox vs the Oakland A's at Oakland. 

For more baseball pictures, click here.  

Florida and the Cruiser

My friend Laura had decided to finally liquidate the last of her parents estate. This included a 1992 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser.  The only thing she could tell me was that it had low mileage.  Well, I took a chance, flew to Fort Lauderdale and discovered this Olds had been in storage since 2002 and had 32,000 miles on it. It was a top of the line Cruiser SL including the "woodie" side panels.  

AAA took it to the shop on a flatbed truck.  The shop owner was doubtful about the status as modern gasoline breaks down fairly quickly and then the resulting acidic solution attacks the working bits of the injectors and fuel system.  Well, apparently this car had old gas (or the product StaBil) in it as it fired right up once he put the jumper cables on it!  $900 later including a set of tires and it was ready to drive to Minnesota.  

When I picked the car up, the shop owner had a great conversation with me. 
"I replaced the air cleaner on that car 325 miles ago so I didn't put a new one on it."  
Made sense to me but then he added, "That was 12 years ago."  
Ah!
"All the hoses and clamps were redone 200 miles ago."
So now I am waiting for the punch line. 
"That was 8 years ago. They seem fine and you shouldn't have any problem driving this to Minnesota."  Amazingly, he was right!  He also said they drove the car around for a day to see if the tires would lose their flat spot for having sat in one place for 8 years or so.  They did not so he put new ones on the car. 

Laura had one more thing that I needed to do before I could leave.  We searched for hours and finally found it in a pawn shop.  A yellow surfboard to clamp on the top of the car for its trip to Minnesota!  And, the surfboard is still clamped there.  

I made the trip from Florida to Minnesota in good time.  My cousin, Mary Jo, had arranged a dinner in St Paul with my son and his family, her family, and they graciously included Stephanie.  Well, Stephanie had not met Chris and Casey so I thought it best that I be there for their first meeting.  After dinner, the kids played for an hour on and around the Cruiser.  It was cool if your age was still in single digits!  

Needless to say, its fun to pull into a parking lot and watch the reaction to people who see a woodie with Florida plates and a surfboard on the roof!  

Click here for more pictures. 

Remodel in St Paul

We spent some time negotiating the price of the remodel.  We basically deleted some fancy items that we just didn't expect to cost that much.  With all the deletes, we got the estimate down to our budget number.  It was about a 20% reduction from the original quote.  Not bad, not bad at all.  

Then the demolition started quickly. And, we were lucky that the walls we had removed were not bearing walls so there was no added cost to the remodel to build in weight bearing structures to replace the walls.  It was great to see all the progress that was made right away as a result of removing sheetrock, carpeting, flooring, appliances, the old kitchen sink, etc., etc.  

Of course, the first gotcha was the electrician.  He took one look at what had been hidden behind the walls of an early 70's built condo building and pronounced we needed to rerun the electrical, all of it...and it was not free.  Nor is it done in zero time either.  So our first change order and first delay.  

But still we were optimistic. After all, a week or two on electrical and we'd still be finished before Stephanie retired in mid-September.  

This was the initial demolition in July before the electrician had a chance to look at the wiring.

Click for more July demolition pictures here. 

New Los Gatos Home

There were two complexes in Los Gatos that we had hoped to buy into with Stephanie moving to California. Unfortunately, prices skyrocketed between my putting the Golf Links home on the market (May 2012) and the closing in June of 2013.  It didn't quite take us out of all the properties, but it was close.  

The other problem in July is that properties hit the market and were gobbled up in less than a few days. In some cases, in a few hours.  With Stephanie still living in Minnesota, it made decision making a bit 'dicey.'

One single story, three bedroom unit came on the market in one of the two preferred complexes!  Yeah!  It was perfect for layout, location, greenery, etc.  In fact, it was probably only a few hundred feet from my Golf Links home as it was on the back side of the block and down a dozen doors or so.  But, it had problems. I had my contractor look at it, and he estimated a rather substantial number just for the remedial work.  In fact, the remedial work was more expensive than what I had just agreed to spend in St Paul for the remodel. So we passed. (It eventually sold for almost $50,000 over asking price in spite of the remedial problems. Too much money in Silicon Valley, eh?)

The next unit came up in our other choice complex.  This was perfect. It had a front and back courtyard and patio so Stephanie can work her green thumb magic to her heart's content. It is on one level which us aging boomers need to be aware of for knee issues. Three bedroom, two car garage in what is termed a cluster home configuration.  What that means is that the living space does not share common walls, only the garages.  We also share the driveway with five other neighbors. Of course, we do share courtyard and patio fences. Our front patio opens on to the green belt of the complex so we can easily take Robbie out for his walks.  

One of the reasons the place is perfect is that the kitchen was totally out of date. My realtor, Joel Newman, asked me if I really wanted to buy a place with an out of date kitchen like this one.  My response?  "Joel, this is perfect!  I have no hesitancy or concerns about immediately demolishing the kitchen.  Stephanie and I can remodel it to our hearts' desire!"  

Now, not to say there was pressure, but I offered to fly Stephanie to view the house the first day it was to be shown.  Her response, quite lovely in one way but absolutely dangerous in another, was "I trust you, if you like it, it will be fine."  

Gulp. 

So with that endorsement, we moved fast in a fast moving market!  

This is Silicon Valley real estate.  

1. The listing went on MLS on Friday night with the statement that the house could not be shown until the open house on Sunday. Fortunately, I had been looking at open houses for a year and knew the townhouse property as three units had sold during the prior 12 months.  
2. I arrived at the open house as it opened on Sunday. 
3. Joel arrived a few minutes later. 
4. We left for Joel's office to go write an offer. 
5. Joel returned to the open house 30 minutes before it was to end with our signed offer. 
6. Late Monday afternoon, the owner and his realtor looked at the submitted offers. NOTE:  In 24 hours the place had collected multiple offers. 
7. Early Monday evening, Joel called to confirm our offer was accepted. The place was ours.  

We almost but not quite got into a bidding war--there was another buyer who was demanding a bidding contest because they really wanted the property.  Fortunately for me, the seller decided that my offer was good enough and stopped at that point.  Whew!  The seller was relocating to the East coast so we did a quick close so he could buy his new East coast property and then I did a rent back so he could take his time moving out for his cross country trek.  

Pictures of the new Los Gatos home as we bought it. 

And that, Dear Reader, is what I call a "Quiet Month."  

Ciao! 

June Report

As I reread my blog, I realized I had missed a couple of major items.  June is the first month of those items so here is the June recap.  

June was pretty simple, there is an older posting about selling and moving out of the Golf Links house (June 17, 2013) Click here to read it.  The only other notable June events are that Stephanie and I purchased a condo in St. Paul, embarked on a remodel project and then my brother Dan stopped in from Manila for a visit in San Francisco. 

Say What? A Condo in St Paul?  

Yes.  Stephanie set a plan to retire in September as she became eligible for Medicare.  And, other than two years she lived out of state, she is a full fledged Minnesota girl.  Couple that with her Mom, two sisters, brother, bother's-in-law, nieces and nephews, and a lifetime of friends, she has deep roots in Minnesota. 

Of course, I have my daughter, my sister, Mary's sister and family, my cousins both maternal and fraternal plus a bunch of Minnesota friends and it seems like a good idea.  

Of course, I look at Minnesota real estate compared to the San Francisco area and think there is a zero missing on the prices.  There was not.  

So Stephanie and I are happy co-owners of a two bedroom condo with indoor parking in a secure building in a very nice area of the Twin Cities.  We figure we'll spend up to three months there each year plus certain holidays. 

The major issue was that it needed a little clean up before we were willing move our stuff in.  We hired a contractor, approved the changes to the space--we only knocked down enough wall to eliminate the rabbit warren feeling--selected countertops, cabinets, appliances, flooring, sinks, faucets, backsplashes, paint colors, light fixtures, etc., etc., etc.  I was overruled about keeping the Minnesota Viking's Purple in the bathroom.  Stephanie insisted it be painted some other tasteful color. 

 Click here for the rest of the MLS pictures. 

And a promise of an August finish!  Wow, we were rocking and rolling!  The August finish was important because we were hoping to move Stephanie to California just a few weeks after she retired.  It would be great if the St Paul place was done by the end of August.  We could move her furniture in and head west! What a plan!  

Well, Dear Reader, you'll have to read the follow up postings to learn about our remodel experience.  

As for the rest of June, my brother Dan stopped in on his way back to Manila.  He is working visa issues and in the meantime has to leave every 90 days or so.  That works out pretty good as he has more stuff in storage in Phoenix that he is sorting and dumping. The problem, of course, is that there are gems in the stuff and he doesn't want to toss family or personal gems as he off-loads three decades of stuff.  

On the last day of June, Laura and I (who are both members of the Golden Gate Yacht Club) hosted our Pathway Grief Group for a Sunday brunch. 

Ciao! 

Pat

Merry Christmas!

Due to popular demand, I am going to update the blog on a regular basis again.

Well, one person asked, I guess that counts as 'popular demand'.

Because the blog posts the latest entries last, I am going to do a set of monthly recaps for everyone's enjoyment.  So if you see an entry dated December 6 but the topic is the June Report from last summer, you can safely assume there are more recent blog entries soon to be posted.

I have re-read the blog and have decided to start my recap from June of 2013 as that is the beginning of a quiet period in my life (yeah, right). I do have a bit of back-tracking to do! Patience dear reader, I will get to my current events soon.

If you would like to follow me on FaceBook, please feel free to do so.  My FaceBook address is: https://www.facebook.com/patlamey

Ciao!

Pat

It is better than I hoped!

What is he talking about now? 

The America's Cup races from my place in San Francisco.  It was a pretty good bet that I'd have a good look at the race as it progressed. Well, what I have learned this week is that it is more than just pretty good. From my little studio I can see the start line, the leeward gate, the windward gate and the finish line all without obstruction.  It is unbelievably good! Absolutely Amazing!  

One of my guests called this the 'Candy Corn' as in, "I see they are towing the candy corn out to set the gates for the race."  Yup, candy corn it is!  The boats had to race up and down the course and there were two pairs of candy corn (i.e., the gate) setting the turning points windward and leeward

Each race day I hosted friends who wanted to view the race. The price of admission is quite reasonable with parking being the big issue.  Fisherman's Wharf isn't the best place to park a car for free and my building only has five guest spots so it can be a challenge. Once here, however, the view is out of this world. 

The beginning of the fourth race and Sweden's Artemis takes an early lead. You can see both boats are up on their (hydro)foils. But, Artemis was penalized and then penalized again for ignoring (missing?) the first penalty.  A penalty means a time delay and they never recovered.  

The start of a yacht race is a true puzzle. Both boats must be in an imaginary box behind the start line at least 1 minute before the race starts. Well, its a relatively small box and the objective is to put your competitor in a bad position as the race begins with the sound of a starting gun.  For the 3rd race, Luna Rossa was so effective, it has the Swedish team sailing away from the start line as the gun sounded.  The Swedes apparently took the lead in the 4th race but the judges ruled they had faulted the Italian boat during the starting maneuvering and were given a penalty.  They ignored the penalty and were given a second penalty for ignoring the first.  It wasn't a surprise about ignoring the penalty, the TV announcers, experienced yachting competitors themselves, were claiming the Italian boat had fouled the Swedes!  So I guess the Swedish team was not looking for the penalty signal as appeared they would be the beneficiary. 

Unfortunately, in this competition, a penalty means you have to slow down for a fixed number of seconds while your competitor gets to sail away at full speed.  And, at this point in the race (2nd leg), the Italians were sailing downwind meaning a speed in excess of 30 mph while the Swedish team waited for the penalty to time out.  

The race has seven segments and this is the Artemis boat near the end of its 2nd leg (sailing downwind) at the turn marker while Luna Rossa is on its 3rd leg (sailing upwind) after completing the turn. The lead by Luna Rossa is the result of the penalties incurred by Artemis at the start of the 2nd segment. 

The difference between sailing downwind and upwind is the advantage of being able to hydrofoil in the downwind direction.  In the bay, when the boats are sailing from west to east (left to right), there is enough speed that they can 'foil' to go even faster.  In these pictures of each boat you can see the boat is up on the foils in the downwind direction. Think about this--the boats weigh in excess of 7 tons and they are riding on a carbon fiber hydrofoil.  It looks like they have three foils in this pictures but in reality there is one main foil and two rudders. The rudders do provide some lift and weight bearing but not much.  

In last month's preliminaries, Luna Rossa had not yet mastered sailing and maneuvering on their foils. It appears they learned a lot in the past several weeks.  

Both boats are up out of the water riding on their 'foils'.  The speed while downwind on the foils often exceeded 30 knots (about 35 mph) although they were being driven by winds that were half that speed. Amazing technology!  

Now compare the two pictures of the boat in the upwind direction. Their speed is cut to about 20 knots (about 24 mph) because one of the two pontoons are down on the water.  Having a pontoon in the water creates more 'drag' than being on a hydrofoil so the boats are slower. 

Upwind results in one pontoon being in the water and reducing the speed. 

Also upwind and also going slower. The rigging you see is the Barcalutha, docked in the Maritime museum on Hyde pier.
Click here to see the USS Barcalutha. 

The lead created by the penalties was insurmountable.  Artemis was the team who suffered the horrible accident in the spring where one of their sailors was killed.  The boat was destroyed and they did not get a competitive boat until two weeks ago. So they were competing against an Italian team that had more than 100 days experience on these big, fast boats while they had only a couple of weeks.  I and my guests cheered for the Swedish team, but it didn't help very much!  

My last views are of the race as it ends.  Luna Rossa crossed the finish line a full two minutes ahead of Artemis. 

Luna Rossa finishes the fourth and final race of the semifinals. In the background is the new bay bridge and Yerba Buena island 

You can see the candy corn of the far mark at the finish line. The other candy corn that forms the finish line is hidden by the buildings on the wharf.

The next series is the finals for the Louis Vuitton Cup starting Saturday August 17.  By beating the Swedish team, the Italians have earned the position to compete in the best of thirteen finals against New Zealand's Emirates team. The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup then competes starting September 7th against the Golden Gate Yacht Club's Oracle Team USA for the America's Cup in a best of 17 series. This is the 34th competition for the cup which began in 1851 with the winning boat, America, beating the English competitor. 

Besides these pictures, I have more posted at:  http://patlamey.smugmug.com

You'll find me here watching the races!  Let me know if you'd like to come over and watch too!  

Objective #2 is Done!

Objectives for my retirement are: 

1. Improve and re-establish relationships with family and friends. 
2. Simplify my life:  By this I meant selling the big single family home and downsizing.  
3. My health:  Getting in shape and losing weight. 

And, as of this week, I am the proud owner of a townhouse in Los Gatos--a true lock and leave situation for me.  While the closing and recording were August 1, the current owner needs a few weeks to move out. So I'll be taking possession during the 3rd week of August. I already have my contractor lined up to work on removing the popcorn ceilings and doing some preliminary design work on upgrading the kitchen.  A lot of this needs to be done before Stephanie arrives in late October-early November.  

And, my life isn't exactly getting simpler. I still have the studio apartment in San Francisco overlooking Aquatic Park. It is just about perfect but I'd like to find two pieces of furniture to replace a couple items that just aren't quite right.  

And in June I bought a two bedroom condo in St. Paul as a co-owner with Stephanie.  We've gutted it and are redoing it to our liking.  Its in a secure building so we can leave it for long periods of time but then we can hang out in the Twin Cities as we see fit to visit friends and relatives. Plus the real estate market in the Cities hasn't recovered yet so we are hoping it will be prove to be a good investment as well. 

Overall, I am making good progress on objectives #1 and #2.  Lots of time with family and friends.  And I feel a huge relief knowing that I have found and bought a very desirable townhouse in Los Gatos.  Things are good! 

The health part is holding steady with no weight gain but I need still need to get into shape and lose some pounds.  My first step is that I now have bikes at all three locations so there is no excuse!  As an aside, the first bike was purchased new from a bike shop in Los Gatos--lots of gears and stuff with an overblown pedigree.  The second was purchased used from a neighbor in my apartment building in San Francisco--something called a Bianchi. The third was from a pawn shop in Minneapolis--that was an experience--and I did snag a bike called Treks or Trex or some such.  Some people tell me I did good with the two used bikes. What do I know? 

And I want to post a blog entry about my June-July experiences.  Because I am home (SF) for the next 8 weeks (but for 1 week), I plan on posting entries a little more frequently.  

The America's Cup races start on Aug 6.  I will be here!  

Ciao