Birthday Weekend
Finally rested enough to write this all out. ;) Still tired mind you...
The Arrival
I worked at home on Friday, so that I could get to the airport easier. I usually try to do that, so that I can leave my work computer here, etc, and I don't have to fight traffic to get home first, and all those good details. Also so I don't have to leave whatever I'm bringing to bake in the car...see previous post. ;)
I headed to the airport what I thought would be cutting it close. Luckly the remote parking is close enough to the airport, there wasn't a lot of traffic heading that way, and I drive fast. ;) Made it to the terminal, got my ticket from the kiosks right away, then went to try to find my flight. I apparently mis-read the monitor, and went to not only the wrong gate, but the wrong terminal. Luckly you can get from one to another without having to go through security again. So after sitting at the wrong gate for a little while, I realized I wasn't sitting in the right place. This was after composing a couple emails on my phone...I do love my Treo for traveling. ;) So finally I realize that I'm in the wrong terminal even. Then I start running. Still really enough time, but I just wanted to make sure. I got there, and after sitting some more, they announced that the incomming flight was delayed. The odd part was they put us leaving at about 45 after our schedule, but us getting into Oakland 15 after our schedule. I mean you can make up some time, particularly on long flights. But this is a short one! So, as I expected, we were about 30-40 minutes late. It was a decent flight. I really don't like southwest's open seating thing, but it does make them simpler and cheaper. So I get in, and I passed up the first empty seat cause it was next to a very small kid. Then the next one, I was suprised, but took right away. It was between two smallish people, clean, etc. The kind you don't mind sitting by on an airport. The only downside was that it was right across the isle from 3 little girls sitting together. *sigh*. But the woman next to me slept the whole way, and the guy and I talked some. He was asking about my treo, we talked about work, weather, etc. Apparently he's a CO at a bank (maybe I missed the E?), and he was in Phoenix getting things setup for opening a new branch.
I made it into Oakland without many problems, turned on the wireless on my phone, and gave Terry a hollar. He'd been watching my flight, so he pretty much knew when I was in. Got outside, and it was amazzing, I could breath! (again, see previous post ;) We finally managed to find each other, and headed off to begin trouble. :)
The trouble began in Berkeley, meeting Sarah at a beer garden called Jupiter. Its a pretty cool place. We sat out in the back, with the live band jamming, staring at the women walking up the stairs with just the right amount of clothing. Some would say too little clothing, but they'd be wrong. ;) The food took forever to come out, but it was good. Apparently I lucked out with seeing Sarah, cause she was headed out the next day. And I haven't seen her in a few years! Still as cute and hyper as ever though. :) I told her she needed to get a livejournal account, and apparently its in the works. :)
After dinner, we went up to somewhere, on some hill, with some whale, to see some city. :) Descriptive I know, but hey, I'm a tourist. ;) I believe it was up on a hill in Berkeley under some research building and by some educational kids thing. But it had an awesome view, although it would have been better if the damn fog wouldn't have been there. :) Stupid San Fran and its fog! ;) But there was this large whale that we climbed all over, and also some DNA that we strung from. No pictures from that, so you'll have to use your imagination, come on, it should be fun. ;)
Then Terry and I dropped off Sarah, and headed by the bookstores in Berkeley to laugh at all of the rediculous people buying the next Harry Potter book. I was just thinking that putting "the book" would be fine, then I though maybe I better clarify that for future reading. ;) After laughing one of their rediculous signs... Okay, so tanget here. It said "Its not worth going to hell". I mean really, if I'm going, that would soooo not be the first reason on my list! ;) ...we headed off to find desert. Which ended up being a local pastry shop where we aquired donuts. Donuts really are a staple for weekends like these. I mean its sugar batter, deep fried, covered in sugar...what more do you need?!?! ;) Finally we headed back to Terry's place. He pointed out some names and such that I'd recognize, signalling that indeed we were in Silicon Valley. :)
Finally, bed time. Terry has this really cool, Ikea I believe, couch. Its an L shape, where one side flips up to reveal storage, where the pillows and blankets were stored. The other side, the bottom slides out, then pops up, creating a double bed. Its not what I'd call soft, but its cool, and not bad. :) So, aquire all of the necesary items, meet the roomate (who's cute ;), and finally crash.
Saturday
After slowly waking up. Terry said he was letting me sleep in, but I think he was sleeping in himself. ;) Although I did get woken up by some odd pool noise outside, and him taping up a box. Finally got a shower and dressed, and took the bike out down the road to a nice place for breakfast. :) After we got their, the roomate decided that breakfast did indeed sound good, and choose to slowly join us. :) Man women take so long to get ready! *ducks from virtual whatevers being thrown* It was a nice breakfast, by a pool. It was a restaurant at a hotel, hence the pool. So we sat around for a while drinking juice and coffee(for him), talking about women and weather. :)
Then another nice bike ride home. Terry has added a sissy bar to the bike since I was last on it, and its a lot nicer. I just sat back against it, and didn't have to have a death grip when he went flying over bumps...this time! ;)
We got back to the house, gathered up a few articles of clothing and such, and headed southwestish in search of beach. We were originally heading to Santa Cruz, but once we got 40 miles away, and were moving 5 miles an hour (you do the math), we decided to get off the road and go find something else. :) We found maps, and managed to find our way to Half Moon Bay, which really didn't seem like a bay, but whatever. :) We found beach, got on said beach, and found freezing water! But my feet have now been in the Pacific ocean. :) Terry was amussing, cause he'd wander slowly down the beach towards the water as it was receeding, then a large wave would come towering in, and he'd come running back. He really did look like he was 5. :) I wish we had the camera, but we left it at home for this. A mistake we didn't do the rest of the weekend. :) I think eventually I need to get a smaller camera. Mine's nice, but not exactly portable. So Terry decided that I needed to get my knees wet before we headed out, so we went down, and the wave came up, and I spun around with my back to it, and not only did it get my knees wet, it also got my shorts wet all the way up. *sigh* Luckly I had brought an extra set of cloths. :) Then it was time to go back to the apt. On the way back, we called Carolyn, and arranged for her to meet us at the apt shortly.
We got back, relaxed a few while we waited for her. She came around through the porch, so I said hello, picked her up, and walked to the door and told Terry, "Look what I found." :) We went to a local mexican restaurant, where Terry apparently goes WAY too much! And he got the mariacha(sp) band to play happy birthday for me. :) No cake, I guess he figured we'd have enough fire later. :)
Then we were off to Oakland to an awesome fire show at The Crucible, The 2005 Fire Arts Festival. It was completely Burning Man lite. :) Terry saw a bunch of exibits directly from Burning Man, as well as seeing a BRC camper. :) I was hoping to see a couple people I knew out in the area, but I didn't. :( But had an awesome time anyway! At one point I disappeared from T and C, and came back with EL wire wrapped around my head strobing blue. :)
The feeling of the event was hard to describe. If you've been to these type of events, you totally get it, if you haven't, you should. :) There was always something going on, sometimes to the point of sensory overloading, usually just pure bliss. Things like shooting flames, fire tornados, jet engines roaring up, people dancing on stilts, etc. I commented to a couple people, if it was on the East coast, I'd know the people that were running it, so here I felt lost. ;) But in the best sorta way! It really was an awesome way to spend my b-day. :)
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday
Sunday was a short recovery sleep, then up early enough to head over and pick up C, aquire breakfast (Donuts of course ;), and get on the road to Big Sur. Its kinda a woodsy camping place by the coast. So we got to drive down Rt 1 for a ways, and it was really cool. There are a lot of pictures of that. :) Definately not like anything I've seen before. At one point, we were looking down onto the fog, as if we were in an airplane, looking across the field which is the top of the clouds. Terry mentioned that it was just like Scottland, so it was only a temporary substitute, cause soon I'll have the real experience. ;) At one point, we stopped, and Carolyn was a bit worried about how close Terry and I were to the edge. Okay, so it was actually...how far OVER the edge we were. ;) But come on, anyone that's been around Terry and I knows that its normal. ;) I was just wishing I had brought my harness and a rope. ;)
Once we got to Big Sur, we found some parking by the road, and walked to a libary. They were having a poetry slam(which is why were drove down there), so it was hippies in the woods, talking about how bad their life was. Poetry really isn't my thing, but I can appriciate it, and enjoy the performances. But these people... *sigh* It was basically how bad their life had always been, and that everyone else should fix it. There were one or two that weren't, that those were the ones I liked. Others, well, I like parts of those. But it was a great place, nice and relaxing sitting on a blanket in the woods, with friends. And it was a good drive. :)
We drove back to Sunnyvale, and went to a nice local Irish pub for dinner. :) A nice relaxing evening. A pub is always a good place for that. :) We talked some about Terry's experience in the UK, which lead to him talking about a pub that's right near Sharon I believe. (Terry, this is your reminder to mention it to her, and get her to get a picture ;) After dinner, we went and dropped off C, and said goodbyes. :) She really is quite adorable, and a lot of fun. :) The only strike against her is that she choose the Hippy angry poetry slam. ;) But we can forgive her for that, cause of the drive. :)
After that, back at the house, we were trying to decide what to do for the rest of the night. A movie sounded like a good idea, so we looked at the times, and decided to relax for a bit, then go to a later showing. So we went out, swam in the pool a bit, and then soaked in the hot tub. It was nice to swim in a pool. :) I had gotten some sun burn on my shoulders, so the chilled water felt nice. :) After that, we got ready, and headed to the movies. We saw Fantastic Four. I really liked it. I thought it was a little corny at times, but good. :) I want super powers...in particular, the ability to flame up. ;) That is sooooo me. :) Then it was time to go home and crash. We figured out when my flight out was, and when we needed to leave, winced, then decided we should go to bed immediately in order to get any sleep at all. :)
Monday
Four am comes REALLY early...btw. ;) By the time the sun came up, I was already sitting at the gate. *sigh* Which means that Terry probably made it into work before the sun came up. The flight wasn't too bad. It was a lot less full than the previous few I've taken. :) I got to sit against the window and attempt to catch some sleep. I say attempt, because the little boy sitting behind me apparently thought that the back of my seat was his personal jungle gym. And the grandmother who was with him didn't seem to think it was enough of a problem to stop him. *sigh* But I was too tire to care. I think I might have gotten a little bit of sleep, but atleast rest if nothing else.
After getting into PHX, I was trying to figure out where the shuttle I needed was. I knew which side of the terminal to go to, and the sign said outter curb, but there weren't any signs saying "this shuttle stops here", so it really could have stopped anywhere along the 1000 ft curb. It took so long, I was begining to wonder if I was any where near the right place. But finally it came, and I got to my car without any more problems. :) Made it home just in time to hop on my 9:30 call, and try to adjust to reality once again. :)
Of course, I ended up doing a favor for a friend, which kept me up doing work till about 11:30-12:00. *sigh* So I woke up lateish, still tired, and not wanting to put a shirt on my burnt shoulders. Still looking for some cute chick to rub sunburn lotion on me, any takers? ;)
A long post, again. Hope you enjoy the novel, volume 2. ;)
The Arrival
I worked at home on Friday, so that I could get to the airport easier. I usually try to do that, so that I can leave my work computer here, etc, and I don't have to fight traffic to get home first, and all those good details. Also so I don't have to leave whatever I'm bringing to bake in the car...see previous post. ;)
I headed to the airport what I thought would be cutting it close. Luckly the remote parking is close enough to the airport, there wasn't a lot of traffic heading that way, and I drive fast. ;) Made it to the terminal, got my ticket from the kiosks right away, then went to try to find my flight. I apparently mis-read the monitor, and went to not only the wrong gate, but the wrong terminal. Luckly you can get from one to another without having to go through security again. So after sitting at the wrong gate for a little while, I realized I wasn't sitting in the right place. This was after composing a couple emails on my phone...I do love my Treo for traveling. ;) So finally I realize that I'm in the wrong terminal even. Then I start running. Still really enough time, but I just wanted to make sure. I got there, and after sitting some more, they announced that the incomming flight was delayed. The odd part was they put us leaving at about 45 after our schedule, but us getting into Oakland 15 after our schedule. I mean you can make up some time, particularly on long flights. But this is a short one! So, as I expected, we were about 30-40 minutes late. It was a decent flight. I really don't like southwest's open seating thing, but it does make them simpler and cheaper. So I get in, and I passed up the first empty seat cause it was next to a very small kid. Then the next one, I was suprised, but took right away. It was between two smallish people, clean, etc. The kind you don't mind sitting by on an airport. The only downside was that it was right across the isle from 3 little girls sitting together. *sigh*. But the woman next to me slept the whole way, and the guy and I talked some. He was asking about my treo, we talked about work, weather, etc. Apparently he's a CO at a bank (maybe I missed the E?), and he was in Phoenix getting things setup for opening a new branch.
I made it into Oakland without many problems, turned on the wireless on my phone, and gave Terry a hollar. He'd been watching my flight, so he pretty much knew when I was in. Got outside, and it was amazzing, I could breath! (again, see previous post ;) We finally managed to find each other, and headed off to begin trouble. :)
The trouble began in Berkeley, meeting Sarah at a beer garden called Jupiter. Its a pretty cool place. We sat out in the back, with the live band jamming, staring at the women walking up the stairs with just the right amount of clothing. Some would say too little clothing, but they'd be wrong. ;) The food took forever to come out, but it was good. Apparently I lucked out with seeing Sarah, cause she was headed out the next day. And I haven't seen her in a few years! Still as cute and hyper as ever though. :) I told her she needed to get a livejournal account, and apparently its in the works. :)
After dinner, we went up to somewhere, on some hill, with some whale, to see some city. :) Descriptive I know, but hey, I'm a tourist. ;) I believe it was up on a hill in Berkeley under some research building and by some educational kids thing. But it had an awesome view, although it would have been better if the damn fog wouldn't have been there. :) Stupid San Fran and its fog! ;) But there was this large whale that we climbed all over, and also some DNA that we strung from. No pictures from that, so you'll have to use your imagination, come on, it should be fun. ;)
Then Terry and I dropped off Sarah, and headed by the bookstores in Berkeley to laugh at all of the rediculous people buying the next Harry Potter book. I was just thinking that putting "the book" would be fine, then I though maybe I better clarify that for future reading. ;) After laughing one of their rediculous signs... Okay, so tanget here. It said "Its not worth going to hell". I mean really, if I'm going, that would soooo not be the first reason on my list! ;) ...we headed off to find desert. Which ended up being a local pastry shop where we aquired donuts. Donuts really are a staple for weekends like these. I mean its sugar batter, deep fried, covered in sugar...what more do you need?!?! ;) Finally we headed back to Terry's place. He pointed out some names and such that I'd recognize, signalling that indeed we were in Silicon Valley. :)
Finally, bed time. Terry has this really cool, Ikea I believe, couch. Its an L shape, where one side flips up to reveal storage, where the pillows and blankets were stored. The other side, the bottom slides out, then pops up, creating a double bed. Its not what I'd call soft, but its cool, and not bad. :) So, aquire all of the necesary items, meet the roomate (who's cute ;), and finally crash.
Saturday
After slowly waking up. Terry said he was letting me sleep in, but I think he was sleeping in himself. ;) Although I did get woken up by some odd pool noise outside, and him taping up a box. Finally got a shower and dressed, and took the bike out down the road to a nice place for breakfast. :) After we got their, the roomate decided that breakfast did indeed sound good, and choose to slowly join us. :) Man women take so long to get ready! *ducks from virtual whatevers being thrown* It was a nice breakfast, by a pool. It was a restaurant at a hotel, hence the pool. So we sat around for a while drinking juice and coffee(for him), talking about women and weather. :)
Then another nice bike ride home. Terry has added a sissy bar to the bike since I was last on it, and its a lot nicer. I just sat back against it, and didn't have to have a death grip when he went flying over bumps...this time! ;)
We got back to the house, gathered up a few articles of clothing and such, and headed southwestish in search of beach. We were originally heading to Santa Cruz, but once we got 40 miles away, and were moving 5 miles an hour (you do the math), we decided to get off the road and go find something else. :) We found maps, and managed to find our way to Half Moon Bay, which really didn't seem like a bay, but whatever. :) We found beach, got on said beach, and found freezing water! But my feet have now been in the Pacific ocean. :) Terry was amussing, cause he'd wander slowly down the beach towards the water as it was receeding, then a large wave would come towering in, and he'd come running back. He really did look like he was 5. :) I wish we had the camera, but we left it at home for this. A mistake we didn't do the rest of the weekend. :) I think eventually I need to get a smaller camera. Mine's nice, but not exactly portable. So Terry decided that I needed to get my knees wet before we headed out, so we went down, and the wave came up, and I spun around with my back to it, and not only did it get my knees wet, it also got my shorts wet all the way up. *sigh* Luckly I had brought an extra set of cloths. :) Then it was time to go back to the apt. On the way back, we called Carolyn, and arranged for her to meet us at the apt shortly.
We got back, relaxed a few while we waited for her. She came around through the porch, so I said hello, picked her up, and walked to the door and told Terry, "Look what I found." :) We went to a local mexican restaurant, where Terry apparently goes WAY too much! And he got the mariacha(sp) band to play happy birthday for me. :) No cake, I guess he figured we'd have enough fire later. :)
Then we were off to Oakland to an awesome fire show at The Crucible, The 2005 Fire Arts Festival. It was completely Burning Man lite. :) Terry saw a bunch of exibits directly from Burning Man, as well as seeing a BRC camper. :) I was hoping to see a couple people I knew out in the area, but I didn't. :( But had an awesome time anyway! At one point I disappeared from T and C, and came back with EL wire wrapped around my head strobing blue. :)
The feeling of the event was hard to describe. If you've been to these type of events, you totally get it, if you haven't, you should. :) There was always something going on, sometimes to the point of sensory overloading, usually just pure bliss. Things like shooting flames, fire tornados, jet engines roaring up, people dancing on stilts, etc. I commented to a couple people, if it was on the East coast, I'd know the people that were running it, so here I felt lost. ;) But in the best sorta way! It really was an awesome way to spend my b-day. :)
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday
Sunday was a short recovery sleep, then up early enough to head over and pick up C, aquire breakfast (Donuts of course ;), and get on the road to Big Sur. Its kinda a woodsy camping place by the coast. So we got to drive down Rt 1 for a ways, and it was really cool. There are a lot of pictures of that. :) Definately not like anything I've seen before. At one point, we were looking down onto the fog, as if we were in an airplane, looking across the field which is the top of the clouds. Terry mentioned that it was just like Scottland, so it was only a temporary substitute, cause soon I'll have the real experience. ;) At one point, we stopped, and Carolyn was a bit worried about how close Terry and I were to the edge. Okay, so it was actually...how far OVER the edge we were. ;) But come on, anyone that's been around Terry and I knows that its normal. ;) I was just wishing I had brought my harness and a rope. ;)
Once we got to Big Sur, we found some parking by the road, and walked to a libary. They were having a poetry slam(which is why were drove down there), so it was hippies in the woods, talking about how bad their life was. Poetry really isn't my thing, but I can appriciate it, and enjoy the performances. But these people... *sigh* It was basically how bad their life had always been, and that everyone else should fix it. There were one or two that weren't, that those were the ones I liked. Others, well, I like parts of those. But it was a great place, nice and relaxing sitting on a blanket in the woods, with friends. And it was a good drive. :)
We drove back to Sunnyvale, and went to a nice local Irish pub for dinner. :) A nice relaxing evening. A pub is always a good place for that. :) We talked some about Terry's experience in the UK, which lead to him talking about a pub that's right near Sharon I believe. (Terry, this is your reminder to mention it to her, and get her to get a picture ;) After dinner, we went and dropped off C, and said goodbyes. :) She really is quite adorable, and a lot of fun. :) The only strike against her is that she choose the Hippy angry poetry slam. ;) But we can forgive her for that, cause of the drive. :)
After that, back at the house, we were trying to decide what to do for the rest of the night. A movie sounded like a good idea, so we looked at the times, and decided to relax for a bit, then go to a later showing. So we went out, swam in the pool a bit, and then soaked in the hot tub. It was nice to swim in a pool. :) I had gotten some sun burn on my shoulders, so the chilled water felt nice. :) After that, we got ready, and headed to the movies. We saw Fantastic Four. I really liked it. I thought it was a little corny at times, but good. :) I want super powers...in particular, the ability to flame up. ;) That is sooooo me. :) Then it was time to go home and crash. We figured out when my flight out was, and when we needed to leave, winced, then decided we should go to bed immediately in order to get any sleep at all. :)
Monday
Four am comes REALLY early...btw. ;) By the time the sun came up, I was already sitting at the gate. *sigh* Which means that Terry probably made it into work before the sun came up. The flight wasn't too bad. It was a lot less full than the previous few I've taken. :) I got to sit against the window and attempt to catch some sleep. I say attempt, because the little boy sitting behind me apparently thought that the back of my seat was his personal jungle gym. And the grandmother who was with him didn't seem to think it was enough of a problem to stop him. *sigh* But I was too tire to care. I think I might have gotten a little bit of sleep, but atleast rest if nothing else.
After getting into PHX, I was trying to figure out where the shuttle I needed was. I knew which side of the terminal to go to, and the sign said outter curb, but there weren't any signs saying "this shuttle stops here", so it really could have stopped anywhere along the 1000 ft curb. It took so long, I was begining to wonder if I was any where near the right place. But finally it came, and I got to my car without any more problems. :) Made it home just in time to hop on my 9:30 call, and try to adjust to reality once again. :)
Of course, I ended up doing a favor for a friend, which kept me up doing work till about 11:30-12:00. *sigh* So I woke up lateish, still tired, and not wanting to put a shirt on my burnt shoulders. Still looking for some cute chick to rub sunburn lotion on me, any takers? ;)
A long post, again. Hope you enjoy the novel, volume 2. ;)