Author: Michael Pellegrini

All of San Diego county plus parts of Northern Mexico, Western Arizona, Riverside County, Imperial County and South Orange County were without power for over 9 hours last night starting at 3:45pm. I was at work just getting started when everything went dark. I managed to hit my head pretty hard on a corner and have a nice bump to show for it today. Both Jessica’s and my restaurant weren’t able to open so we both got an unexpected night off. Unfortunately there wasn’t much to do besides read by candlelight and take the dogs for a walk. I would have loved to watched the NFL season opener between the Packers and Saints but that wasn’t an option. It was Jessica’s first full day back from Dallas as well. The dogs and I were very happy to have her home. I want to wish a very happy 40th birthday to my good friend Sean Beavers today. Hope it’s a great one!!

Since Jessica is out of town and I have a three–day weekend, I’m getting tons of web design work done. Today I launched a site for a restaurant concept I’ve been working on for a while called ‘Sidecar.’ It’s basically a pizza, mixology place with live music and a vintage motorcycle feel. I designed the logo a while ago and recently decided to turn that into a full website, mostly so that I’ll have another nice portfolio piece to showcase when I’m looking for a job.

I also met with one of Jessica’s co–workers today who does professional photography and needs a website to showcase his work. I’m going to start designing his site tonight, as well as begin on a site for our karate school. To say that I’m keeping busy with design work would be a drastic understatement but hopefully it will all pay off in the near future! Time to take a break from the computer and take the dogs on a walk.

Check out the Sidecar site at: www.PellegriniPage.com/Portfolio/Sidecar

Jessic flew out to Dallas today to visit her friend Liz, so it’s just me and the dogs for the next few days. I have a three-day weekend starting tomorrow and I wish I could say that I had big plans, but it looks like most of my time will be spent working on web design related stuff. Hopefully I’ll get out for some surfing or a karate lesson.

Today has been a very productive day for me! In addition to launching my personal portfolio website, I also launched a site for San Diego ‘Pulpcore’ artist David Russell Talbott. I’ve been hard at work on both of these projects lately and am very excited to see them go live. David’s site will definitely serve as a great portfolio piece for me. Visit his site at: www.DavidRussellTalbott.com

Today I finished building my portfolio website. This is where I’ll be displaying all of the new sites I build, as well as my resume and freelancing information. Check it out at: www.PellegriniPage.com/Portfolio or just click on the Portfolio link in the navigation bar at the top of the page. Please enjoy!

Today Jessica and I took the dogs to Fiesta Island to go swimming. Bella loves getting in the water but Bruno stays away. Even though he has webbed feet and seems like he’d be a natural at it, he doesn’t like to get in. Surprisingly there aren’t that many places around here where dogs are allowed in the water. You can’t take them to the public beaches, so you have to settle for going to a dog park that has it’s own beach, which is exactly what Fiesta Island has. I took Bruno out twice and he did ok but it was obvious that he wanted out so I spent the rest of the time throwing the frisbee way out into the bay for Bella to fetch. Bruno, meanwhile, spent the day running full speed up and down the beach. We didn’t know he could even run that fast but it was pretty fun to watch. As always Bruno receives lots of attention from curious dog owners about what breed he is and why he walks so funny. Looks like the two of them will be asleep for the rest of the evening.

We arrived in Las Vegas yesterday and had a nice dinner at my mom’s house with family and friends. Today we spent the day at my uncle Bob’s place swimming and playing pool, then we went to Gold & Silver Pawn on the strip to see the home of one of our favorite tv shows "Pawn Stars." Tonight we’re heading out to dinner with friends. I also got a call from my good friend Shawn today who recently got engaged. He asked me to stand up in his wedding, which I was honored to agree to. He’s getting married in early June in Vegas so I’m sure that will be great. It’s been a really nice day!

Monday will mark the beginning of the 26th week of Jessica’s pregnancy. This means that we are closing in on the third trimester! She had a checkup with the doctor this week and everything is looking great. We’re looking forward to Monday because we have a three-day weekend together and we’re spending it in Las Vegas at my Mom’s house. We try to go to Vegas every other month or so because we always have a place to stay and it’s only a five hour drive from San Diego. Plus Bruno and Bella love playing with all of my Mom’s dogs. Business has picked up at both of our restaurants for the end of summer so it will be very nice to get away for a few days and relax. Definitely looking forward to spending some time by the pool 😉

Well today was an interesting day. A little history might be necessary to fully explain this story. My dad had a good friend named Woody that he was close with for many years. I remember hearing lots of funny stories about him when I was growing up, the best of which was the time Woody and my Mom decided to have a race in the parking lot. Woody won the race… while running backwards. Cracks me up every time. Anyway, Woody was also very good friends with a guy named John Lamont who I’ve worked with for years at El Gaucho in Seattle. Unfortunately Woody passed away earlier this year and John and his wife were by his side for all of his final days. When Jessica and I were getting ready to make a visit to Seattle for her birthday in April, John asked me if I could do him a favor. As it turns out, one of Woody’s dying wishes was to have part of his ashes scattered at the Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego, and since I live in San Diego, John asked me if I would mind taking care of that. Obviously I said I would be happy to do it, so John brought me Woody’s ashes and I mailed them to myself in San Diego. We then had to wait until the track opened, which wasn’t until late July.

Today we went to the track to do the deed. We weren’t completely sure how we were going to do this since we didn’t exactly have permission, but we figured if we went into the infield we’d be able to get it done without being noticed. We rode the motorcycle up to the track, which was a good idea because you get front row parking and it’s free. While on our way into the track, Jessica walked right by the station where they were checking bags and purses and she didn’t even notice the man asking her to stop. She kept walking and he just let it go. I got a kick out of this. Once inside the track we headed to the infield and found the perfect final resting place for Woody. As the horses were coming down the final stretch of the day’s first race, I opend the bag and tossed the remains over the fence. Unfortunately there was a problem. I completely forgot that the ashes were double bagged! Several swear words followed as we looked over the fence to see a small ziplock bag on the ground filled with Woody’s ashes.

First I tried reaching through the chain link fence but there was no way my arm would fit. Finally I decided to climb the fence and reach over to grab the bag. This was tough since there were employees in the area but I was able to grab it without being noticed. We then headed to a different part of the infield to give it another try. We found another good spot and I was successful in spreading the ashes. Jessica was standing downwind of me and I saw some of the ashes heading her way but she was far enough away that it didn’t get on her. After accomplishing our mission we left the track and had a nice lunch in Del Mar. Hopefully Woody’s wishes were granted. It was certainly a memorable day for us!

Yesterday Jessica was able to purchase a ton of clothes for Ava from a woman who’s child had outgrown them. She came home with an entire wardrobe for $25. Unbelievable. At this point our unborn daughter has more clothes than I do. We also recently purchased a crib and a hutch. Her bedroom is coming along nicely and will be more than ready by the time she comes home. The good news is that we don’t need to think about buying her anymore clothes until she’s at least six months old.