Truly a Rum Weekend

So, the acceleration of social gatherings for the summer truly kicked in this weekend.

Friday evening, Jennifer and I met a group of friends at Forbidden Island in Alameda.  We ended up being there until a little after midnight.  I drove, and so got to enjoy only a small portion of the drinks.  We did share around a Virgin Sacrifice (flaming bowl for 6 with sprinkled cinnamon), and had a grand old time.  One of the couples said they were having an open house on Sunday for their new home in San Mateo, so that gave us something to do Sunday afternoon.

Saturday, I went for a bike ride, and then we headed out to the Sorrells for their annual Tiki Party.  Jennifer drove for that one, but since our hosts backed down their drink portions to match recipes from mixes, so no one overdid.  There were lots of people there from all around, and it was really great to see some of those we only see at the parties because they live so far away.

Sunday, Jennifer and I decided on going for a ride, and we planned to go to T-Rex for brunch.  We were out a little early, and thought we would ride out and hit brunch on the way back.  Then we remembered that way out at the end of our ride is the Boilerhouse Restaurant in Richmond.  So we had brunch there with bottomless mimosas.  The nice long ride burned off the alcohol and a lot of the food, so we were all set for the open house.

At the open house we met a lot of new people, and will likely see them again as some live close by, and others have invited us to events.

I'm going to need more rest if my social calendar keeps filling up.

More Catching Up

So yes, I have fallen behind again.

Friday was pretty uneventful.

Saturday I spent with Jennifer and the Sorrellians at the American Tattoo Festival in Sacramento. It was much less attended than the Body Art Expo at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Steve and Lisa both got a couple small tattoos, and then we stuck around for the show.

Jennifer got to be a part of it.

They did fire eating, and contortions, and snake dancing. But at the beginning they did sword swallowing. And they called Jennifer out of the audience to go up and pull the long sword out of the man's throat. It was pretty impressive.

Sunday, being Father's Day, I spent with my parents. We went to Fenton's in Oakland, and then went home and tasted the Laphroaig Scotch I got Dad for Father's Day.

And then it was back to work. Things are going well for our Phase I project, and I am making corrections to all of the reports. it seems that we have an over zealous geologist with the company who felt that the lawyer-speak in the reports was not grammatically correct, and so she fixed it in the first report that ended up being used as the template by everyone else for all of the other reports.

So I'm spending my days with CTRL-H replacements, and inserting phrases to correct whole sections that got mauled. Plus I'm doing formatting since I'm the most experienced with TOCs in Word.

Paul and his Motorcycle

One of the guys I met through the Sorrells is Paul. He's a computer guy, and loves his motorcycle. Every couple months he'll go to Infineon Raceway (what used to be called Sears Point) and race around the track.

Friday morning he was involved in an accident on his way to work in San Francisco. The was coming down the Fremont Street off-ramp, and hit the guardrail on one the left side and shot across to the right side and fell 40 feet to a parking lot below where he fell onto a parked SUV.

He's in ICU right now with damage to his liver and one kidney, a broekn pelvis, collar bone, the bones around his eyes, and his nose.

I'm going with Jennifer and the Sorrells to see him today. We're all trying to remain upbeat.

Keep him in your thoughts for a full and speedy recovery.

The Return from Las Vegas

Jennifer and I quickly decided we were done with the surreality of Las Vegas yesterday, and eagerly got our taxi to the airport.

Once there we were ready to wait, but the ticket agent said that we could fly standby on an earlier flight, and then connect at Long Beach and get home earlier as well.

We gratefully accepted (even more so when we found how slow the wi-fi was in the airport), and got to Long Beach two hours before originally planned.

And discovered there was only only flight to Oakland. The one we were originally scheduled for.

There was a flight to SFO available an hour before our scheduled flight to Oakland, but flying into SFO was out of the question. So we sat at Long Beach for three hours.

I got a lot of reading done though. And a bit of surfing, but mostly I read.

Today i got caught up on work, and tomorrow will be brief, and then it's another three day weekend. We'll do our New Year's celebration together, and then on new Year's day we've got a farewell party for a coworker, and then on the second, a party with the Sorrellians.

Oh Deary Deary Me

Last night, Jennifer and i went to see Zombieland. It made the night difficult to take. I too good at imagery, and was jumpy for the evening and through the night at every sound I heard. The movie was very good, and I'll see any sequels they do. But I can understand the fear of zombies overall. That kind of thing sticks with you.

Today Jennifer, Steve and Lisa, and I hiked on Mt. Diablo. We started at Rock City, and took the "Trail Through Time" to the top. Up took us two hours. We rested about half an hour at the top, and then came down in and hour and forty minutes.

Jennifer's got a sore shoulder, most likely from the backpack. My hip is giving me trouble, and I've got blisters on both feet.

But dinner tonight was was excellent. Jennifer and I went to Fins on Todos Santos Plaza in Concord. The chowder is made there. The fish and chips is amazing. Jennifer had the best mahi mahi she's ever tasted. And the wait staff is friendly and cute.

Lazy Weekend

Yesterday, Jennifer and I wandered around the area considering some needs for the home.

Today, we're going to the Scottish Games in Pleasanton with the Sorrellians.

Tomorrow is, as yet, unplanned.

Concert

Tesla.

Whitesnake.

Judas Priest.

Sorrellians.

Marysville.

Sleep.

Wheeeeeew

Not much happening today other than rest.

And preparations for the party this evening with/at the Sorrellians.

And boy, are my arms tired...

All right, not my arms.

Countdown updates tomorrow.

...

All right, later today.

Saturday's Labors

This was the first day of a three day weekend, and did we sleep in? No, Jennifer and I got up so that we could be at the Pleasanton Scottish Games when they opened. We got to see Cleopatra the golden eagle. I was one of six who named her last year. She is a victim of West Nile Disease, and can only see well between the range of 6 to 8 feet. She is about three years old, and just gorgeous.

We watched the Wicked Tinkers, and then the Sorrellians (Steve, Lisa, Paul, and Gemma) showed up.We wandered a bit, drank some good beer, and then took part in the Whisky tasting. That was fun, but then, Jennifer and I had to go. We had to get cleaned up for a surprise birthday Hornblower cruise for our friend Aileen.

Jennifer and I got dressed up, and once we got to the city were taking pictures in the building between Pier 1 and Pier 3. She had me posing, when through the windows of an office, I saw Aileen and Matt walking. My mouth is just starting to form the "O" in "Oh shit." She didn't see us, and we did our clandestine thing watching them through other windows as they approached the meeting place at Pier 3.

She was very surprised to see us and further surprised as her friends Nicole and Tracy and Bryce arrived in quick succession. The cruise was wonderful, and Matt had taken care of everything. Jennifer and I bought wine for the table, and the food was very good, not just rubber chicken.

Long Long Day

Yesterday was did not start well. We had planned to run up to Placerville to pick up our wine shipment at the Lava Cap Winery. But we had to be back down to Fairfield for a party at 5:30. We ran the times backwards, and thought if we left at noon, we would have plenty of time to get up there, taste a little, and then drive back down to the party.

Traffic on Interstate 80 was surprisingly thick for the middle of the day on a Saturday. I expected cars, but not the slow and go we had. Then as we were passing through West Sacramento, the Magellan was telling us there was a disabled vehicle in the middle to north of Sacramento. The traffic was stopped, so we got off at Jefferson Boulevard, and as we went over the interstate, we could see that less than a mile from where we got off, a CHP had the road blocked. We pulled off, and called the winery to have them ship the wine, and then had 3 hours to kill before the party.

So we went to the Nut Tree. Or the travesty it has become. The stores are the typical strip mall, and then there are the pathetic rides left over from a bygone age. It's pretty sad. On top of that was the heat that was just oppressive by California standards.

The party that night was wonderful though. Everyone grilled food they had brought (we had pork ribs, white corn on the cob, and potatoes). And we played some game that you had to get the rest of the group to guess the name of the song and the group that you had been given. We played this for at least two hours. Jennifer and I didn't get home until 2:00 AM. It turned out to be a great day.

Picture pages, picture pages...

Okay, that was insanely easy.

Here is the hike to Arch Rock.

And here is the Woodland Scottish Games.

Enjoy.

Oh, the pain, the pain...

Today was awesome.

I met with 12 other people at the Point Reyes Bear Valley visitors center, and we hiked 4 miles out to the ocean at Arch Rock.

The twelve: Nick, Mike, Maura, Andy, Karthika, Vibhav, Matt, Aileen, Brittany, Christy, Jamie, and her friend.

The hike was pretty boring with no great plants or animals, but we all had some good conversation, and it was cool how the dynamic shifted as people got more tired and fell back or moved up.

We had lunch on Arch Rock and were at least 50 feet up from the water, Nick though closer to 75. The weather was perfect, and I really didn't want it to end when we had to walk back. So we didn't let it.

There is a small trail that leads down to where the creek flows into the ocean and through the arch. So we worked our way down there, and played in the alluvium.

We being: Nick, Mike, Christy,and myself, later to be joined by Matt, Aileen, and Brittany.

Then I had to know what was on the other side of this ridge, and we climbed over it and found a beach we could see from above. Mike went into each little sea cave, and Nick hunted for the biggest sand flea. I found turbidites, showed the to Nick and Mike. Mike and I oohed and aahed as good geologists should while Nick the CAD-guy and engineer in schooling called us nerds. Then I had to know what was over the next ridge, and with Mike following close behind found tide pools with double-fist sized sea anemones, and tiny pinky-nail-sized anemones, and tadpoles (I think), and chitons, and little crabs, and hermit crabs, and snails. I took lots of pictures, but have yet to download them.

Finally Mike and I decided we should not hold up the rest of the crew, and we worked our way back to the main trail. Then we slogged our way back to the visitor's center. Nick kept saying we were almost back, and I'd say, "But we haven't gotten to the picnic area yet." "We're almost back." "Nick, we're not to the meadow yet." "We're almost back..."

Then he started on guessing distance remaining. The last restroom on the way out is 1.6 miles from the trail head. As we're returning, we see a bridge that branches off on another trail, and Nick says that that means we're almost back. We see a sign that says 0.8 miles to the trail head. Later we see another one. Nick says we're almost back, and it says we have 0.4 miles to go. Later, we We see a sign that says 0.8 miles to the trail head. Later we see yet another one. Nick says we're almost back, and it says we have 0.2 miles to go. I tell him that apparently he's hiking through Xeno's paradox and to shut up.

Finally we're back, and the drive home is another hour and a half. But Jennifer was working today, and on her way home she got my comics for me. Now I have to decide if I want to read this week's books, or finish re-reading Planetary.

I'm sore, but Golden Tiger will keep me going through the night and help me be able to go to the Woodland Scottish Games tomorrow with Steve, Lisa, Gemma, and Paul. And Jennifer of course.

And finally, tonight, I moved on in Portal from where I was stuck in Level 18. I not only beat the timing puzzle jumping from the angled pop-out wall, but got the cube, got back through the wall, and then did the extreme falling/jumping puzzle. Then I was on to Level 19. I still don't know how I go the plasma sphere into the receptacle, but I did. I got past the puzzles on the conveyor, and then I see the incinerator. I died a couple times, but got past that as well. Now I just have to get across the way. And higher.