Oh crap, I think I'm related to David Copperfield!

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

But I sure as heck don't look like any of those other fools. I was always told I look like John Belushi or Jeff Goldblum, but neither of those freaks showed up on my profile. Cool site, Matt.

New Wheels

Since we are doing new wheels, here is the DePompeis new-ish CRV. She is kind of old news to us and those we saw in the summer but I figure I haven't posted in awhile and thought Bob gave a great inspiration for a "new" theme...What is "new" with everyone else???

My New 07 Yamaha Roadliner Midnight

Midlife Crisis is kicking in... Just traded up from my 1300 VTX to this Nice Yamaha (Roadie) Roadliner. 1900 CC's...This thing flys! I'll be careful...Who's coming down to TX, hopefully somebody, someday??? Hoping everyone has a wonderful Christmas...Love U Guys...

Its a day late but happy birthday grandpa!!!

You were gone before we knew it,
and only God knows why.
A million times we will miss you.
A million times we will cry.
If love alone could have saved
you, you never would have died.
In life we loved you dearly.
In death we love you stil.
In our hearts you hold a place,
no one else can fill.
It broke our hearts to lose you
but you didn't go alone,
for part of us went with you,
the day God took you home.
We will meet again some day
I know in a better place.

Colleen and I did a little pumpkin carving.

Colleen made the girl and I made the other three. After carving into wood, pumpkins were really easy. Happy Halloween!!

Happy halloween!

My Celebrity Look-Alikes

We did it!

Completed the Nike Women's Half Marathon yesterday in 2:23:59. I was quite happy with the time as Amy and I have been running at an 11min/mile pace during our training. Our actual pace from yesterday was 10:59/mile, wow, we sure timed ourselves pretty well.

The race was a lot of fun. On Saturday, when we had to go to Union Square to pick up our bib and timing chip, there was a whole party going on. There were booths for manicure, foot massages, whole body massages etc... The wait for each one is approximately 30 minutes, so we just picked to get a manicure.

Yesterday, we were in the city bright and early around 6:30ish. I must say, it's very different to be walking around the city when all the shops were still closed, but there were these 20000 runners congregating around Union Square, and with loud music playing and runners cheering, I felt a bit bad for the people staying at the Westin . I looked up, and for a lot of the rooms, the lights were already turned on.

The weather was mild, and I didn't even need my sweatshirt anymore by mile 2. The course was very scenic, which was a good thing, because it certainly made the run much shorter. We started at Union Square, and then cut through the financial district, and then ran on the Embacadero along the bay. So we got to go pass Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradhelli Square, and Fort Mason. It was such a clear day that the view of Golden Gate Bridge was simply amazing. Then, we started running uphill at the Presidio, that at one point, when we looked back, we could see skyline of the city. The view from the Cliff House was also very breathtaking, with the waves in the ocean. After that, we ran through Golden Gate Park and finished at the Great Highway.

The best part of the race was when we passed the finish line, there were these men dressed in Tuxedo giving out the Tiffany necklaces :) (One big reward at the end that motivated us to sign up for this race initially, hehe. )

Still can't believe we ran 13.1 miles yeterday!

new playhouse

The cats got something new today!

Long lost twin

Which one is Meeku and which one is Toro?

Remember Uncle Buck? Here is Mad Matt- a double barrelled mad man. It's his birthday today. He's 28 years old and climbing. Hope you have a fun day. Don't watch ND. That will take all of the fun out of it.

Rafiki cleaning his paws

Rafiki likes to dip his paws into the water before cleaning them. How cute!

Meeku!

Meeku is finally here! We got her last Friday, so I guess she's been with us for 1 week now. She is definitely making herself comfortable in the house, and likes to sleep on our down comforter on our bed So nowadays, we have to keep the door shut when we are not around. She is pretty smart though, when we are around, she will not take her nap on the bed, but on the floor on Matt's old comforter that we keep on the floor.

She was close to 16 lbs when we got her last week. The vet says she should lose about 4 lbs. I wonder if she had lose any weight since her arrival as she is definitely running around more, playing with Rafiki, and following us whever we go. Anything is better than that little confined space she had in the shelter.

Purr... purr...... Meeku definitely has the loudest purr of all cats! And it doesn't stop... if you can't find her in the house, just try to listen for her purr and track her down. She is very sweet and affectionate, and likes to rub her head against your hands, face, legs etc...

Optical Illusions

Get the code at www.winterrowd.com

updates on rafiki

It's been almost 2 weeks since we adopted Rafiki. He is a sweet cat that likes to be around people. We are really enjoying his company very much, it is really nice to have Rafiki come to the door and greet us when we get back from work. He gets very hyper after dinner, and likes to play with his toys. Here is a video of him playing with his toy mouse.

He also likes to sleep a lot-on the couch, on the floor, in the papasan chair. He also took a nap on Choonping when they came over to visit the first day of Rafiki's arrival.

For those who are wondering, we should be able to pick up Meeku on Friday. :) Can't wait!

 

Rafiki and Meeku

We went to the Nine Lives Foundation shelter yesterday, and saw many many cute kittens and cats. At first, we were planning on either getting 2 kittens (since they have to be adopted in pairs) or getting just one young cat. There were 3 cats that we particularly felt a connection to. One of them is a grey domestic long hair cat, she's about 1 year old, and is very friendly and pretty. Then there were two other ones that were the sweetest and most affectionate cats. One of them is a tuxedo and likes to rub himself against our legs and will follow us around, but the sad thing is, one of his hind leg is somewhat paralyzed so he is a semi cripple. The other one is very friendly and likes to get close to your face to kiss you. That cat is really really big tabby which reminds me a lot of Toro. (She's actually even bigger than Toro!) All the kittens that we saw were little fur balls and really adorable. We were unable to decide what to do yesterday, so we left the shelter and came home.

At night, I started thinking about all the cats at the shelter. I was actually feeling very sad for all these homeless cats that do not have a home to go to. I think most of the kittens will get adopted since they are so playful and cute, but I am not so sure about the cats. We think the gray cat will be adopted since she very beautiful and has a friendly personality. We were not as sure for the crippled leg cat since he's not the cutest looking cat, and we feel very sad for his leg. This cat and the other big tabby also seems to be friends to one another, they were grooming one another when we were at the shelter, so we felt like we should adopt them both if we were to adopt either one since we don't want them to get lonely. The only thing that is preventing us from adopting 2 cats is that we have to pay pet rent for each animal that we have in the apartment. So anyway, after spending some time discussing what we should do, we finally made our decision. We will adopt both cats!

We went back to the shelter today and picked out both our cats. We feel very good about our decision. The volunteers at the shelter seemed very surprise when we decided to pick both of them since they like each other so much, and one of the girls told me that the tuxedo have been in the shelter for over a year now. We decided to name the tuxedo cat Rafiki and the tabby Meeku. Too bad Meeku has a rash on her back, so she is currently under treatment at the shelter. Hopefully we can pick her up next weekend. So in the mean time, we have Rafiki at our place. He is a very curious cat and can move very well despite his slight misfortune. He is now enoying his spot on the top of the cat tree that we splurge on, and is cleaning himself! Very cute!

Here are some pictures of Rafiki, we will post pictures of Meeku once we get her. Oh yeah, Meeku is currently overweight at 15 lbs, and we need to put her on a diet to get her down to around 10lbs.

We are looking forward to all the great times that we can share with our cats, and all the joy and company they will provide us.

The real GreG

Barbie did a good job, but this is what I really look like as a Simpsons character.

I hope everyone enjoys themselves at the Hargenrater family reunion. Sending best wishes to everyone.

BTW, I kept the German Shepherd Dog, Miko. She can kick Bob's dog's ass any day of the week, but she is too nice to do something like that.

sheep or cow?

We went to the San Mateo County Fair last night, it was lots of fun. I always forget how much they increase the price at the fair for the food, but regardless, we enjoyed our greasy fair food and yummy funnel cake. On top of the food, there are of course other attractions. This year, there is a reptile exhibit, and we saw lots of different snakes, alligators, turtles, and geckos (not my favorite). I even petted a snake! I still like the farm animals better. There were many big fat rabbits, sheep, pony, cows, pigs, water fowls etc. I got a chance to pet a 2 weeks old lamb, it feels really nice and woolly. One thing that I didn't know before yesterday was that camels make this 'purr' noise when you pet them, and they are very friendly as well.

We had to resist in playing the games that can win really big stuffed animals as we are cutting down the amount of soft toys that we have. Still, we couldn't resist in just playing one game, and got to welcome a new member into the family. We are pretty confused as to what it is though, is it a sheep or a cow?

Hargenrater-DePompeis as Simpsons characters

You too can make an "avatar" of yourself at the website: http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/
How did Jim and I do?? Can you guess my other two characters? It's a fun way to waste an hour (or an afternoon) since I know we all have it to spare...especially Diane, Stacie. Robbie and me! Summer break woo-hoo. Anyways, as you can see I am enjoying my vacation--watching movies, reading books, trying not to be too lazy but failing miserabely. It would be fun to see Uncle Homer or Cousin Lisa or Poppy Flanders.

Happy belated birthday Barb and Greg

Dad ate all of your cake!!

Someone became a registered nurse...

Colleen has recently passed her last test!! She is now a nurse. Q2 that dosn't mean she will be giving you a sponge bath any time soon.

Presenting

Dr. Siegel

Dr. Chng

Better known as Matt and Chinping.

Yes we are all very proud and happy for you two!

hey matt, congrats on your graduation and chinping and matt on your first marriage!

My fav pics of grandpa