I'm back, baby!

I've been gone for a long while now but I'm back now. Google gave me some static about "suspicious activity" on my account, but it's been straightened out now.

What do you folks want to hear about? Trees? Wine?

Let me know.

Fondly,

Buena

Value of a view

Jerry and I have been in our new home for about a year now. It's been a long year. First, we had the move and attendant disruptions. Then 3-4 months of planning for renovation. Then 4-5 months of renovation and displacement. Then a new baby.

I'm bushed.

The point of all this renovation, by the by, was to improve our view. We removed the chimney and put in huge glass doors, giving us a long long view. Now, a year after the process started, it is starting to feel really *worth it*. Now, the construction is done. I wake up in the morning to silence and come out to the living room, stare at the view, and work. It is a joy.

I don't know how long I'll need to enjoy this view to make up for the months of inactivity. Probably for a decade or more. But I can now see it paying for itself over time, not in money, but in daily blissful contemplation.

I'm happy.

Obsession with Twitter

Where have I been, you might ask? What happened to casabuena? Basically, it moved to Twitter!

I find that Twitter is a lot more fun and less onerous than Blogspot. What I say here at Casa Buena stays here just about permanently. What I say on Twitter is fleeting, so it can be sexier, looser, more fun. Look me up on twitter at http://twitter.com/buenavilalta!

Just today I got a new Twitter client for my new Mac Book Pro called Twit Menulet. This program is the bomb...tweets show up in the menu bar rather than in a separate window. That means I can write this blog post or (better yet!) "participate" in a conference call while watching the tweet stream flow by. Twit Menulet is the best program I've found yet for allowing me to follow twitter *unobtrusively*.

As for the new MacBook Pro, let's just say that a pregnant woman has a lot of leverage over her husband!

I'm pregnant!!!

It's been a loong time since my last post, I know.

The truth is that: I'm pregnant! Does this leave time for blogging? Yes, of course, but to be honest I've been very tired and this last month has been the worst. I'm due September 21!

I don't know how many words I can eke out but I'd like to get back to this in the days and weeks after the baby is born. I may come to you all for advice, as it's been many years since I was in this position!

Rain's perfect timing

You all may know that I've been sitting here praying, hoping, ferverently desiring: rain. Rain down here means snow in the hills, which we skiiers need desperately.

The past few days have been just perfect. It rained on Friday while I was at work. It was clear yesterday while I played soccer with my buds. It rained again last night while I was partying, then sleeping.

Beats sitting here watching the stock ticker!

Are we ready for the Galaxy?

Woke up in a funk this morning about the Earthquakes, I'm not sure why.

This weekend we are going to face David Beckham and the Galaxy. We are coming off a 2-0 win against the Crew, which would be great, except...our win was against the Crew. When's the last time those guys scored a goal, anyway? Does anybody remember? Even their name stinks: the Crew? Why not the Gang? How about the Bunch? Even the Posse would have been better.

So, we are coming off the win, but I'm not sure whether we have the momentum we will need. Perhaps I'll feel better when I put on my face paint!

Binoculars for my man

We are set to move in to our new house at the end of this month, so we have the whole summer ahead to enjoy it. I'm picturing: breakfasts in bed, mornings in the garden, long dinners on the porch, evenings under the stars, and sunbathing in the back yard next to a kiddie pool. I wonder if Jerry is imagining the same activities--or a whole bunch of back-breaking renovations!

I have to admit that Jerry has been a prince throughout this house-hunting ordeal. I'm going to reward him with some summertime gifts to go with our new house. I'm going to go back to OpticsPlanet, where I got Jerry's telescope, which he loved. I can't decide what is the best next step, though. A more powerful telescope? Binoculars for the Earthquakes game we will see this coming weekend? (Don't miss it: they are playing the Galaxy in Oakland.) Or even Laser Sights for the summer's hunting?

Vote in the comments!