Smogging

Every summer we pay our car registration and every other summer we have to have a smog check.  As H mentioned, it's not the most fun thing to do, but we are glad that the state of California does it so that our air is not so horrendous as it was when we moved here 25 years ago.

Anyway, this time I used yelp to find out a good "test only" station, and turns out that the car wash place on Foothill in Upland that my mom likes, has a test only station behind it (you really have to know it's there and follow the tiny signs pointing the way behind the car wash).  If you go to their site, you can get a coupon for a free car wash with a smog test, so $40 and 1 hour later (it was a particularly busy day since the state has been holding on to registration renewals until the budget passed, so the guy said it would be busy for a month or so) we had an all-clear on the car and a clean one, to boot!  (Maybe next time we'll head next door to EZ Take-Out Burger and get a 99-cent breakfast burrito...)

Forever Stamps

When I went to the PO the other day, I decided to pick up stamps, and I love to choose commemorative varieties.  This time I chose Kansas and Gregory Peck stamps.  After I got home and looked at them more closely, I didn't see the 44-cent denomination on them, but the "forever" designation.  I'm guessing that all first class stamps are going this way so that when the prices change, you won't have to go buy 2 cent stamps, and then commemorative stamps will have a longer printing life.

Another Building Has Gone Up

This is the Kravis Center at CMC which is getting very close to opening.  It seems as though they have been working on this building for 3 years, ever since we returned from our last sabbatical.  It certainly blocks the view of the mountains from the Pomona grassy area.

One Building Comes Down. . . .

The Thomas-Garrett academic building at Harvey Mudd College is starting to come down.  It must make way for a brand-new multi-use building which will be completed in about 2 1/2 years.  We were unable to go to the good-bye ceremony on Saturday, but we will miss the courtyard and olive trees where the Shakespeare plays took place each May.

Low-Income Housing Progress

The low-income housing just south of the tracks in the old Courier lot is moving along this summer.  Here are some photos from the Courier building demolition in January.

Egg Sliders

I did not know what the word "slider" meant until recently.  Now I am a real fan of Egg Sliders from Some Crust for a Saturday breakfast.  You get a choice of sourdough or french bread, two fillings (I like bell peppers and white cheddar cheese), and one sauce (I like pesto).  All this for $2, so it's easy to get two for one breakfast.  You can also add meat or extra filling or sauce.

H likes mushrooms and swiss with chipotle ranch sauce.

Habitat Restore

Although I accomplished my goal of getting rid of at least one item per day last week, the clean-out still continues, little-by-little.  I'm still going through the upstairs, but I also took stuff from the basement to Goodwill this week.  Then we attacked one wall of the garage.  Filling one box and one grocery bag with items for the house (electrical switches and faceplates, vintage light fixtures, etc) plus some new furnace filters that we won't use, I headed off to the Habitat for Humanity Restore on Holt in Montclair to donate these items.  Habitat has these stores across the US and Canada where you can donate as well as purchase items for your home from tile and toilets to furniture.

Bee Cells

My family likes to make fun of me playing this computer game - Bee Cells.  That's okay.  I like to play a mindless game in the late afternoon  and let my mind wander.

The game is simple and doesn't require swift mouse skills.  The objective is to group 6 or more same-color balls together so they will disappear.  After each turn where you move one ball, the computer adds more balls (from 3-6), filling up the grid until finally every spot is occupied, ending the game.

Yesterday I had the best game I've ever had, as you can see here.

Gleaning

Our orange tree has been bursting (and the squirrels have started on the oranges now that the peaches and plums are gone), and I can't make use of all the fruit.  So I called Gleaning HOPE, an organization that works with the Pomona Valley food banks.  Two young people came this afternoon and picked about 100 of the oranges that were the easiest to reach and took them straight to the food bank.  If you  live locally, you can email them at VCoordinator@inlandvalleyhopepartners.org or call Ronald Ortizo at 909-622-3806 x223.

Room

I could hardly put this book down.  I don't want to give too much away, but I think that what makes this book so powerful is the voice of the 5-year-old protagonist and hero of this book.  At one point in the book I was gasping and H to make sure that I was not having a heart attack.  I had a nightmare the first night into the book, although that may be because it was a hot night. Through the eyes of young Jack, we see our world in a new way and challenge assumptions we may not know that we have.

I knew a few things about the plot before I started the book, and one could easily read about the story on the NPR, NY Times and other sites, but I will put no spoilers here.