Blossoms

Spring! Here's our peach tree in bloom.

Further Health Care

Even though I have to wait for two weeks to see the allergist, the office was kind enough to email me the needed paperwork to fill out ahead of time.

I watched an ad for Kaiser Permanente today, Bill, that declared how connected everything there is, and showed how patients can schedule their own appointments online. Still waiting for the rest of the health world to catch up!

Wedding Gig

Saturday was my first wedding gig of the year (only one, so far). Our string trio made the trek down to Laguna Beach and the Aliso Creek Inn. The adventure was getting there. I had reserved a Sienna from Zipcar to transport the cello, violin, viola, three musicians, and three stands and music with various other paraphernalia. I had a message from zipcar that the person who had the car just before me was running 5 minutes late. Well, after 10 minutes, we couldn't wait, so I cancelled my reservation (and Zipcar gave me a 2-hour credit) and we did a Tetris thing to get all our stuff into the violinist's Prius. The Prius needed gas, so we finally hit the freeway 1/2 hour late. Traffic was great until we hit the 133 where we crawled along, as well as along the Pac Coast Highway. We were supposed to start playing at 4:30 for 1/2 hour before the wedding, but we arrived at 4:40.

Turns out, the bridal veil was late, so the whole ceremony was put off for 1/2 hour. Whew. After we got started, everything turned out just fine, and the wedding was lovely.

Restaurant Review

Tofu Kitchen, of a past blog entry, is gone. Ali Baba is in. After a nice write-up in the Claremont Courier, we thought we should give it a try last night. The place was nearly full, but we were happy to see one table for two right in the middle of the room. In short, the food was absolutely delicious. Probably the best Mediterranean food I've had (!). However, they have serious problems in the service arena. The owner and his son (?) don't seem to have much experience with waiting on tables (read: none). When one finally came to take our order, we didn't have the menus. Then, after the order was taken, the other one came over to take our order. We had to ask for silverware.

Having waited tables for 5 years myself, I know how hard it is, but the key is organization. I think I will wait a month before returning to Ali Baba, and hopefully, they will have these problems sorted out.

Random Thoughts on Health Care

I've seen several different doctors in the past few months, trying to deal with some skin issues. Each new doctor requires that I fill out paperwork (and then some more paperwork). It seems to me in this digital era that our records could be centralized on a computer. Especially since after filling out all the information, the doctor just goes ahead and asks you the same questions. I know the possibility exists for hacking my personal data, but I am willing to take that chance.

I also want to know why communication between doctor and patient has to be so slow. I call the office (after 9 am when they open), sometimes wait on hold, then give a message to the receptionist who relays it to the doctor who tells the receptionist what to say and then I get a call back. Email, anyone? Sometimes I just want a 30-second answer to a question and don't need to make an appointment.

Ever read something that says, "In case of XXX, contact your doctor immediately."? Ha.

Out of My Skin: A Novel

On Sunday, our book group is going to discuss Out of My Skin: A Novel by John Haskell. Since I am not very good at writing book reviews, I look for what others say, and to describe this book, I found a review in the LA Times (appropriately, since the book is not only set in LA, it IS one LA).

In preparation for book club, Hal and I watched Sunset Boulevard, one of the many movies the main character talks about. Other movies discussed in the book are North by Northwest, Notorious, Roxanne, Detour, and Rosemary's Baby.

Favorite Sign in SF

Who wouldn't want to go to Joey's? You can get your sausage and ice cream, then drink an espresso while you do your laundry!

Weekend in the City by the Bay

We had a great time this weekend just up the coast - in San Francisco. Hal went to the ACS (American Chemical Society) national meeting where a number of HMC students are presenting posters today. It's still amazing to me that we can get up from our own bed in the morning and then be wandering around Chinatown looking for dim sum by lunch. Perhaps the highlights of the getaway were finding all the good places to eat. Besides dim sum, we found great Thai and Indian restaurants.

Other events included a meeting of HMC alums and current students as well as an afternoon at the SF Museum of Modern Art. Oh, yeah, I didn't need to go to the gym since we walked everywhere - up and down hills, too.

Pitzer College in the LA Times

Today's Home section of the LA Times features and article about sustainability at Pitzer College. The online version doesn't have pictures, but the print version has a few nice ones.

Play Day

On Hal's last day of spring break, we cleared our schedules and had a play day. The original plan was to spend last night in Palm Springs and then go to Joshua Tree National Park today to see wildflowers (after this winter's generous rainfall), but the flowers are not near peak yet due to the cooler weather we've also had.

We decided, instead, to tour Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House in East Hollywood. The house sits atop Olive Hill, surrounded by Barnsdall Park, and we found it, though the signage is nearly non-existent. The hour-long tour was excellent and we were especially taken with the beautiful living room (seen here in a photo from the internet). This house does not look, on the outside, like prairie-style architecture, but is said to have been influenced by Mayan temples. You can see more pictures of the interior here.

After the tour, we treated ourselves to lunch at Senor Fish in Eagle Rock. Two fish tacos, black beans and rice. Delicious!