002/365

002/365, a photo by credd on Flickr.

today was my first day back in the office since 12/21.
my office is a hub for our norcal offices...
and we maintain a lot of things for the region locally...
hence the need for lots of storage.

yes i use cloud storage...
but...
i prefer my arsenal of flash drives.

two are 4 gb.
two are 8 gb.
two are 32 gb.

the two at the bottom are my faves...
and i use them every day.
one contains a kazillion email messages...
and the other holds my personal projects.

oh...
and in the middle...
that's my 35mm lens.

and that seamless while background...
copy paper.

001/365

001/365, a photo by credd on Flickr.

this morning after we dropped our daughter off at sfo...
the sun was just beginning to rise...
so we detoured to treasure island for photo ops.

on your left is the bay bridge...
connecting the east bay to the city.
on the far right is the transamerica pyramid.

i don't go into the city very often...
as i'm not into fighting all that traffic.
perhaps this year i'll finally take the ferry over...
especially since there's one where i live.

i wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year!

getting ready for the new year...

getting ready for the new year..., a photo by credd on Flickr.

today...
i cleaned up my google reader.
i was still subscribed to blogs that hadn't updated in over a year!!!

it felt great to clear out the clutter...
and discover a few new gems hiding beneath it all.

after lazing around the house until about 4ish...
the daughter and i headed to whole foods napa...
and treated ourselves to champagne in the wine bar there.

***

the rosemary syrup is for gin sparklers that we made for tonight's cocktails.

i've always like rosemary...
and using it in beverages is very refreshing.

tomorrow...
we're making a walnut cheddar cracker...
but i may add a bit of rosemary to those too!

violated...

have you ever had your home broken into?  it happened to me for the first time last month...and i'm still haunted by it.  the state of the art alarm system on my house gave me a false sense of security.  my house is always locked...and my alarm activated when i leave the house...and that made me feel secure. until...the alarm was triggered on an outside door.  and then...another alarm was triggered on an inside door.  and because i receive push notifications on my smart phone about my alarms activities...all i could do was watch these incidents occur.  

from the time the first alarm was triggered until the police arrived at my home was fifteen minutes.  you don't really think of that as being a lot of time.  but it was long enough for all of my jewelry to be taken...my dresser drawers ransacked...and a few other items lifted and carried away in my own pillowcases.  

oddly...i stopped wearing all of my jewelry because one day...i added up the value of just how much jewelry i was wearing...and told myself i was just asking to be robbed.  never did i think it wouldn't be safe at home.  no...i didn't have a safe...and kept it all proudly displayed in three jewelry boxes on top of my dresser.  well...i may as well throw them away...because i will never use them again.  

i'm glad the police got there as soon as they did...but considering that there had been a break-in on my block an hour before mine...they should have been there sooner.  it all makes you want to take things into your own hands...but then...that's probably a case they'd solve and i'd be arrested.  

while i am totally upset about the things that were taken...i am grateful that we weren't home and were unharmed physically.  i've also gotten smarter about backing up my data...and having backups offsite.  things can be replaced...memories can't.  

how secure are you?  make sure you have photos of your valuables...and store copies of your data offsite.  

with the holidays quickly approaching...thieves are out in full force...so please...be aware of your surroundings...and stay safe!