PurpAnd

Well the beard has stopped itching, but I can’t say that I am all that pleased. It’s not coming in as dense as I had hoped, especially because I am most certainly going to lose this contest, but now I just look silly.

The hair is just long enough such that it is clear that I am trying to grow it out. No longer can I get by with, “Oops, forgot to shave this morning.’ It’s also long enough that I feel like I should be wearing hiking boots and a flannel jacket, while slurping down Portland’s finest microbrew on the edge of my buddy’s jeep in the Cascade wilderness.

After I washed the sleep off me this morning, I peered into the bathroom mirror and nearly scared myself. All of a sudden I look like Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf… well, more like Rick Moranis with sweater fuzz on his cheeks.

I can’t wait until this contest is over and I can go back to my clean-shaven ways. People no longer make eye contact with me, which I think is out of fear that I might be secretly hiding my pet black bear that would jump out from behind a wall and attack them on command. Sunday is judgment day and you can bet that by Monday I’ll be rid of this face pelt. After I take pictures, of course!

My money-loving alter ego has been featured on the Amateur Asset Allocator website. Please visit if you get the chance.

I admit, I staged this one. Man, she sure looks happy.

Last weekend, we went to Sacramento to celebrate the new nurse in the family. We drove up on Friday night to have dinner with some friends and had planned on coming back to SF that night, although we did take toothbrushes and sleep clothes just in case.

Turns out, we stayed the night in Sacramento with our friends and their little six month old future rodeo star. We woke the next morning, had a nice morning chat with our friends and then were on our way. But as we left, we found out that another couple was in town from Irvine. They had little to do until that evening so we decided to meet them for lunch.

We had a couple hours to kill, but no change of clothes, so we went to the Gap to buy outfits for the day. Afterward, we went to see my mom’s new place about 30 minutes from where we were and visited for about an hour until it was time for lunch.

At lunch, sporting our new duds, we caught up with our friends whom we hadn’t seen in months. After lunch, they mentioned they were going to have dinner with another friend at our favorite sushi place, Mikuni in downtown Sacramento. We were politely invited, and this offer was too good to pass up, even though we were a little tired, and had planned to be home by that time .

Going with the flow, we hung out for a couple hours until dinner. It was during this time that I had a glimpse into what it is like for the homeless…

After lunch, Tracy wanted to take a nap so we went to the car which was parked behind one of the local shopping centers. She grabbed a newspaper, and I a book, and we sat in the car for nearly an hour as she sacked out in the passenger seat with the newspaper over her. When she awoke, she wanted to brush her teeth thanks to the tasty garlic fries we had with lunch. She also was without makeup or deodorant so it was imperative that we stop at the drug store on the way to dinner.

We bought water, gum, eye liner, nail polish, and a few other girlie items that I don’t have names for. We walked to the car and proceeded to brush our teeth in the parking lot, wetting the toothbrush with the bottled water, and spitting on the asphalt.

It made us laugh at how silly we were being because we could have easily gone to any of our friends’ houses to clean-up, but it was just on par with the day, and the weekend, teaching us the lesson to always be prepared.

Living life, it is so easy take the daily tasks for granted. Something as mundane as brushing your teeth becomes a huge deal when all of a sudden you can’t do it. Not having more than one pair of clothes makes it difficult to be prepared for life’s little surprises. Granted, we had a place to sleep and a way to get around, so our experience is hardly typical of being homeless, but the little details of our weekend gave us a peak at what it could be like if we were.