• E-mail us suggestions for content, photos, links, etc! We'd love to include more information about our family, friends, and fellow outdoor fanatics.

PUPPY !!!

Well, he's not so much a puppy anymore. McKenzie (Kenzie for short) is now 19 months (as of December 2004) and already weighs over 86+ lbs. and stands over 27 inches tall. We found a great golden retriever breeder and brought home a male puppy in July 2003! The puppies were born on Wednesday, May 21, 2003. We named him McKenzie's Golden Boy. McKenzie after the McKenzie River in Oregon, because that is where Angela and Mike were traveling to for a fly fishing trip when they first met Kenzie in Mt. Shasta City while he was only 6 weeks old. Golden because he is a dark red gold and his mother and father both have Gold in their names, and Boy since for all the other males in his litter were known as either Red Boy, Blue Boy, Purple Boy or Green Boy, but since Kenzie did not have a colored collar (or any collar for that point) as he died at birth (the breeder conducted CPR on him and rescusitated him) and they weren't sure he would survive, no collar was given to Kenzie. So he was just known as "Boy". Mike is busy training him for AKC field trials. Already, Kenzie is up to triple retreives, and is on his way to working on blind retrieves. He loves the water, has a great disposition, and is a great example of the working dog breed. We absolutely love him like our own son and feel very fortunate to have him as part of our family.

• Kenzie!': Some photos of our "son" - Kenzie' (McKenzie's Golden Boy), is a wonderful working retreiver. He is very strong and powerful, loves the retrieve and working, loves water even more, and has a very high desire to please. Great disposition, loves to play with people and other dogs, but mostly loves to chase Mom and Dad around the house. We absolutely love him!

• Field Trial Exercises!': Field training Pictures - Mike and Kenzie are training for Junior Hunting trials. Will he get his title? We hope so! He definitely enjoys working! Here are some great pictures of Kenzie in the field at almost 21 months old.

• Puppies!!!: Photos of the newborns! - So which one do you think we took home with us!? Hint: Darker coat, big paws, waggly tail, and very cuddly!

• Tom: Photos of "Daddy" - The Sire, Tom (Golden Bo Thomas SH WCX), is a high powered, large retriever who stands at 25", weighs 78 pounds and has a thick dark gold coat. He is a working dog, has the titles of Junior Hunter and Working Certificate Excellent, and is currently running for a Senior Hunter title.

• Nee-Che': Photos of "Mommy" - The Dam, Nee-Che' (Autumn's Golden Awahnee), is a beautiful retreiver. We got to play with Nee-Che before her litter started to show! She's a georgeous girl - well mannered, very playful, and loves people. She also loves to rock climb, backpack, and roam around the great outdoors. Born in Yosemite, she's a natural outdoor lover and we hope that those characteritics pass on to her litter - since we plan on doing a good amount of backpacking and climbing with Ledo!

OUR NEW HOME!

Well...actually, it's not so new. But we did buy our our first home in June 2001! We live in the Park North neighborhood of San Francisco! Yippee! It's a Victorian that was built around 1898 and it still has many of the fine details of that era. Hardwood floors. Wainscotting. Eleven foot high ceilings with center room medallions. We have been busy turning it into our 'Home Sweet Home.' We have updated the photo tour with newer photos showing some of the remodeling progress! We finally finished the remodel and will post new photos when available. But of course, a home is never really finished, so we will have more projects to make this 'Home Sweet Home'.

• Images of home: Photo Tour or Photo Gallery - Take a photo tour of our home or see all the images in gallery format (click on a thumbnail to enlarge the gallery photo). These pictures were taken before we started restoring the house, so it's a great reference point for the work we are doing!

• Bonnie Spindler - Bonnie is our good friend and the best Victorian specialist real estate agent in San Francisco! She represented us as buyers and found us the perfect home for a great price. We highly recommend her! Visit her site, which includes great information on how to restore a Victorian. She lives in a 39 room mansion, which used to be the Zellerbach estate, that she has restored beatifully over an 8 year period!

While waiting for escrow to close, we had to use up a few vacation days that we originally planned to use fixing up the house. So off we went to Canada!

• Canada Photos - A photo journal of our recent trip to Canada - Vancouver and Victoria Island, British Columbia.

Wedding!!!

It's unbelievable, but after four+ years of marriage we are still in the honeymoon stage - and we never plan to leave it! Check out our wedding photos!

• Our Wedding Photos - Posers, posers everywhere. What do you expect when you get all dressed up? A few wedding pics taken by Angela's father.

Work it, baby!

Mike left Fresh Latitudes (formerly World Wrapps) in May 2000 to take a position with the Big 4 accounting firm Ernst & Young. Instead of managing FL's financial controls, he is now providing attestation and audit services to many clients! Mike started in the Palo Alto office, located in ground zero of Silicon Valley. His clients included both public and private companies in the technology, communications, and biotechnolgy sectors. Mike tranferred in October 2002 to the San Francisco office, and Mike's clients now also include Real Estate companies.

EY is also paid for all costs associated with Mike's pursuit of a Master of Science in Accountancy degree at the University of Notre Dame (Go Irish!). He finished up his studies in Southbend, Indiana, and graduated in August, 2001, with Magna Cum Laude honors! After earning his MSA, Mike began studying to pass the CPA examination.

Yipeee!! Angela was promoted to Senior Analyst at her company, Minneapolis based Dain Rauscher Wessels, an investment bank, which was eventually bought by Royal Bank Of Canada and is now known as RBC Capital Markets. She finished her third year with the company and managed the analyst pool. Since the market was quiet, Angela continued to develop and market her own interior design, lifestyle consulting, and construction project & remodel management business, operating as :

Marrakech Designs

- Design, Create, Live -

In 2002, Angela and Marrakech Designs won their first client, a remodel of a five bedroom, five bath, 3,600 sq. foot home in an eight-story brownstone building built in the 1920's-30's. The home takes up the entire 7th floor of the building and has 360 degree views of San Francisco from Pacific Heights. Marrakech Designs also eventually won clients in the same building, and worked on the interior design and project management for the Lobby, 5th Floor, 7th Floor, and 8th Floor/Penthouse Suite of the building.

Angela and MKD have also completed a 6,000 sq. foot remodel in Kentfield, CA (Marin County), a kitchen remodel and deck rebuild in Tiburon, CA, a full design and remodel of a pied-de-terre in San Francisco, and an architecturally detailed cabinetry in Sonoma, CA. She is currently working on a 6,000 sq. foot reconstruction of a Tuscan style villa in Santa Rosa, CA, a bathroom remodel in Mill Valley, CA, and another pied-de-terre remodel in San Francisco. As you can see, she and MKD are very busy! So look out for Angela and MKD in a future issue of Veranda, Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, etc...It just may happen!

• E-mail us if you are interested in finding out more about Marrkech Designs and Angela's lifestyle, interior design, construction project & remodel management services.

• Photos of a remodel project - Take a photo tour of one of Angela's projects - a full remodel of a San Francisco studio - which required a lot of creativity and thoughtfulness given space and budget constraints of the project. The results are beautiful.

• Marrkech Designs Website - Visit our website, which includes some furniture items in which you might be interested!

Midway through Mikes' first summer at ND, we took a trip together in Oregon during July 2001 for a little fly fishing (see the pics above). After Mike finished his first summer, we took a trip to Europe and visited our friends Pablo and Olga in Madrid and Christina and Adrian in London. We had a great time traveling abroad. In the spring of 2001, Pablo and Olga stayed with us for two months while Pablo finished up a research project at UC Berkeley. They returned to Spain in May 2001 and we miss them dearly. But we may head back to Spain in a few years with the Ernst & Young Global Exchange Program! Mike can participate in a two year transfer to the Madrid office and we can enjoy Europe and Pablo and Olga's company!

Mike and Angela have been busy ever since enjoying life and completing the remodeling of their Victorian!

• Ernst & Young - Read about the Ernst & Young "Your Master Plan" progam in which Mike is participating.
• University Of Notre Dame - Read about the University and the special program dedicated to Ernst & Young audit staff.
• RBC Captial Markets - Read about the investment bank for which Angela used to work. Angela specialized in Mergers & Acquisitions and equity underwriting (i.e. IPOs) in the biotechnology space.

Family

Come to a Wemyss or Sarmiento dinner and you'll be shocked at how much noise we can generate during a meal. Although we may be in different parts of the world, we still stay connected.

• Out of Africa - Our brother, Marlo, travelled back to Malawi 10 years after serving in the Peace Corps. Photos of the trip.
• Return To Africa - A travelor's journal. Read about Marlo & Andrea's trip to Malawi.

Africa & Community Service

The land where Angela was born and where Mike served in the Peace Corps. Come visit a part of our history! When Mike returned from Africa, he served in the Volunteer In Service To America program as a Small Business Consultant & Resource Developer.

• Zimbabwe - The former country of Rhodesia. Click on the map and see pictures of Angela's homeland. Angela was the Air Rhodesia poster girl when she was a child!
• Peace Corps - Senegal - Mike is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Senegal, 92-93. He served as a Small Enterprise Development agent, stationed in the Koussanar municipality.
• Pictures of Senegal - Click on a thumbnail photo to get a glimpse of the country in which Mike served.
• ASIAN Inc. - The sponsoring non-profit agency for which Mike served as a VISTA volunteer.

Outdoor Links

Mike is the El Presidente Emeritus of an informal outdoor club called CONFUSED (Commonwealth Of Nature Fanatics - Unofficial San Francisco Excursion Division). We have over 500 members and organize a number of outdoor activities every weekend. If you live in the SF Bay Area and love the outdoors, this is the club for you! Check it out!

• Confused Outdoor Club - San Francisco and South Bay Area outdoor club. Free membership!

Photography

We have many friends who share our passion for a good photo. Here are a few.

• Quang-Tuan Luong Photography - Our friend and wedding photographer. We especially like his Nat'l Parks project. Amazing!
• Hedonist Hike - Will Galloway collected evidence that can be used against people in a court of law. Check it out.
• The PCT through Hike - Matt Geis' travel log, high peaks, passes and snow, of his through hike of the ENTIRE Pacific Crest Trail.
• Pishy Potos - Potos uv pishing, by Jim Lowe.
• Sierra High Route - Cedar Grove to Yosemite Valley. Aug 15 - Sept 1 backpacking by Steve Rodrigues.

Dining

We enjoy a good meal. As San Francisco residents, the dining capital of the world, we of course have to recommend a few of our favorites!

• Hyde Street Bistro - Chef Fabrice Marcon is faboulous. Great food, better prices. Come home to his cooking!
• E&O Trading Company - Great beer, good wine, yummy East Asian dishes with a California flair. A regular hang out for us.
• Home Restaurant - On a foggy or rainy day, we like coming to this restaurant for it's affordable but great "comfort food". Just like Mum used to make!
• Watergate - One of the best deals in town. A 4 star menu prix-fix for only $25. You can't beat the fine dining, impeccable service, and value.

Fly Fishing

Since Mike was a wee lad, he fished with his father and brothers. Mike was an avid fly fisher long before he took up all other outdoor hobbies.

In fact, it was fly fishing that lead Mike to back packing, then mountaineering, then rock and ice climbing...so it is only fitting that Mike & Angela began to fall in love with one another on a fly fishing trip!

• The Pish Page - Our fly fishing partner's site. Visit the world of Jim Lowe, local fly fishing fanatic. Tips, info, etc.

Mountaineering

Mike enjoys "the art of suffering", but still has not been able to convince Angela to take up the sport...errr...stupidity?! Ha!

• Mount Sarmiento - We even have a mountain with our name! Located in the Tierra del Fuega. A mountain on Mike's tick list?
• Mike Gordan's Eastern Sierra - Required reading for the Eastern Sierra mountaineer. Gordie has it all.

• Mountaineering Pics - What exactly is mountaineering? Well, it's colder than hiking, better than rock climbing, and healthier than sitting on your arse. Here are some pictures of a ski mountaineering trip to Mt. Lassen to give you a visual.

• Tips for Beginners - Just starting out? Here are a few insights that Mike has learned from his mountaineering career.
• Gear Info - What do you need? How do you select the right gear? Mike has compiled a gear check list.
• Just Do It - Ever wonder how to organize a mountaineering trip? Read all about it.

Mike's Short Stories

Mike isn't just a stuffy public accountant! He loves to adventure in the outdoors. He has written a number of short stories that are worth reading. Check them out!

The Matterhorn Peak Series:
• He said, She said - You will laugh. Attempt with Steve Sosa, accompanied by Angela Sarmiento and Karen Schwartz. September 1998.
• The Joy of Suffering - Another attempt to climb with Gina Tan, David Alfaro, and Jim Knight. July 1999.
• Ultimate Death - The latest push up Matterhorn Peak, climb with David Alfaro. September 1999.

The Mountaineering series:
• 5 Seconds - The infamous Mt. Shasta summit 1st attempt and epic fall. A beginning mountaineer's intense experience. May 1996.
• Generals and Majors - North East Coulour of Mt Dana and multi-pitch rock climbing instruction. August 1998.

The Rock Climbing series:
• First Time - First outdoor lead climb and mini-epic. Yosemite Valley, CA. March 1996.
• Marginal Thinking - Another lead climb mini-epic. Yosemite Valley, CA. April 1996.
• Run Out on Erotica - A fictionalized version of the sprained ankle event. Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite. August 1996.
• Cojones De Noche - Climbing the Great White Book. Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite. October 1996.

The Ice Climbing series:
• Tokopah Falling - Mike's first waterfall ice climbing experience. Sequoia National Park, CA. March 1998.
• Brrrrrr! - Ice Climbing in Lee Vining, CA. January 1999

The Fly Fishing series:
• Beginner's Luck - Fly fishing expedition. East Fork, Carson River, Desolation Wilderness, CA. September 1995. The short story that started it all...
• Zero Limit - A fictionalized fly fishing trip. Upper Sacramento River, Dunsmuir, CA. November 1996.

Come visit us again later! We update whenever we have time!