Nepenthes!
Originally uploaded by bernie.c.

I ordered a couple of Nepenthes (Pitcher Plants) and they arrived today. These CPs are tropical, and thrive on an east-facing window sill. Good thing only of my windows faces east, so my whole CP collection resides there, some indoors, as in the case of these Neps, and some outdoors, like my Drosera, Sarracenias and Venus Flytraps. I’ll try to take nicer pictures tomorrow morning.

Just thought I’d share:

Thank you for your interest in Tesla Motors. It’s been a little more than a month since we unveiled our Tesla Roadster and the response we’ve received from the media, the marketplace and interested buyers like you have exceeded our expectations. We appreciate your patience as we respond to your inquiries.As you may have heard, we quickly filled all of the reservations for the Signature 100 edition of the Tesla Roadster. As a result, we reached a decision to open up reservations for an additional series of the next 100 produced Tesla Roadsters. These vehicles, like the Signature 100, will be fully loaded versions of the Tesla Roadster. This helps us to minimize the time it will take to get your car delivered to you. Your Tesla Roadster will include:

• Removable hard top and soft top
• Navigation system
• Mobile charging cable
• Upgraded leather interior
• A/C, power locks and windows, cruise control
• Heated seats, stereo w/ CD player, iPod connector
• Valet mode to limit car’s range, acceleration and speed
• Security system
• Dual airbags, ABS brakes, traction control
• Tesla-branded floor mats

These next 100 Tesla Roadsters have an anticipated delivery date in the fall of 2007. As with the Signature 100, these Tesla Roadsters will be priced at $100,000 (excluding taxes and other governmental fees). To secure a spot, we require a reservation payment of $75,000 which can be applied to the sales price at the time of delivery. This reservation payment is fully refundable at any time up to and including the day of delivery.If you happen to live outside of a 100 mile radius of one of our initial Customer Care Centers (locations to be in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City and Miami), we will be charging a one time out-of-service area fee of $8000. This fee will allow you to receive the same high level of service that customers within 100 mile radius will receive and will cover the cost of sending a Tesla Motors-trained technician to your home or transporting your car to our nearest facility for servicing if necessary.

To confirm your interest in reserving a Tesla Roadster, please send an email to reservations@teslamotors.com. For general comments and inquiries, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions located at www.teslamotors.com/learn_more/faqs.php.

Again we thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,
Gretchen Joyce
Vice President Sales
Tesla Motors, Inc.

Fun with Rebecca
Originally uploaded by bernie.c.

Watching your 7 month old chuckle, giggle and scream all in one breath.

The mornings are chilly now. Every morning this week I had to take a towel to wipe the melted frost on my Miata before driving off. The interior’s fine, but its pretty hard on the paint, coz you’ll get oil spots collecting on it, and when it dries on the paint, the residue stays, and you get water spots. I tell ya, a wet car gets way dirtier than a dry one.

I’m still trying to sell my RSX, so if anyone’s interested, here’s the ad - CLICK HERE

I really want to get the new Mazda MX-5 PRHT (Power Retractable Hard Top).

I sure hope this doesn’t set a precendent for all future layoffs.

RadioShack Uses E-Mail to Fire Employees

There’s a new feature on Flickr - Maps. Cool. When you go to organize your photos, there is a tab that says “Map” and you can search for a location, drag whatever pictures you want onto the map area, and voila, your pictures will be tagged with a location map link. Great for travel photos.

Here’s my Map Link.

I know this plugin has been around for a while now, but I just discovered it while searching for WP widgets that integrate with Flickr. This plugin allows you to create a page on your blog that will show all the sets you have based on your username. You can even customize it to use tags, and how many photos to show per page. Pretty neat. Here’s my photo page.

The Bratties and I
Originally uploaded by bernie.c.

This month we decided to try a new place in South San Jose called the Santa Clara Valley Water District. This place is off Almaden Expressway, and its located at the backyard of the SCWD office. Quite a view, but we didn’t stay too long because Charlotte and Cayenne are not fond of water, and didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Rebecca was ok, except the sun was pretty strong at around 3pm in the afternoon. We walked one round around the lake, enjoyed the scenery, chatted with a couple of GBART members and headed back home. It was a pretty interesting outing, but I’m sure Charlotte and Cayenne would prefer some place drier.

Click here for more pictures.

Reb and Mom
Originally uploaded by bernie.c.

Palo Alto is one of my favorite Bay Area cities, and today we went to PA downtown to mingle with the crowds at their annual Festival of Arts. Compared to the one in Fremont which we went a couple weeks earlier, this one is on a smaller scale, but there seemed to be more art stuff. I saw a bunch of interesting art, but they were all pretty expensive for us. There was a Harpist there who played really beautiful celtic music, and we saw lots of cute doggies. Made me wish we’d brought Charlotte and Cayenne.

Click here to view more pictures.

Rebecca
Originally uploaded by bernie.c.

I can’t believe I took this candid shot of Rebecca. She looks so cute she’s yummy!

Drosera and Pings
Originally uploaded by bernie.c.

Thanks to a kind forum member, I was sent a total of 14 different CP cuttings, ranging from Drosera, to Pings, to Utricularia. Can you say Wahoo! So now my collection is almost complete. I still have yet to collect CPs from the Nepenthes and the awesome Darlingtonia. I’ll safe those for next year.

Check out my collection here.

Walk N Wag 2006
Originally uploaded by bernie.c.

This event holds a special place in my heart. Last year we attended this walk n wag, I was pregnant with Rebecca, and today, our second time at this event, Rebecca is already 7 months old and enjoying the walk with us.

Beautiful weather, and almost the whole family was out together (minus Clover, who had to stay home). Charlotte and Cayenne had a great time, and even met their pals Allie and Poppa. Rebecca started off pretty grumpy looking, sitting in her stroller, but she got really excited when either me, Doug or Grandma carried her. She squealed in delight when Doug carried her up high over his shoulder. The walk proved a little too tiring for our little princess, and at the end of it she was dozing in Doug’s arms.

I think I’ll start collecting Walk n Wag T-shirts. I already have 2. Click here for more pictures.

Google WiFi
Originally uploaded by bernie.c.

Last night, my airport card was scanning the vicinity for Wifi access and I came across …. GOOGLE WiFi! You need to have a Google account to access it, but that was it - after that you get free wifi. Pretty neat! Downside was that the signal strength sucks.

Mazda MX5 Roadster Coupe (RHT)
Originally uploaded by bernie.c.

My current Roadster fetish is the Mazda MX5 Roadster Coupe. It looks real sweet, at an affordable price. Great new color too (Stormy Blue) !!!

DSC_3998
Originally uploaded by danwoo.

I would like to wish Singapore a Happy National Day, 41 years of independence! Wooooo! Hope everybody in Singapore had a fun time celebrating it. I was looking at pictures on Flickr and the National Day Parade looks great.