observations
Another fine weekend. Friday night Zoe was stuck in the south bay so she came over and I made us a healthy dinner with salmon and green beans. I've been pretty good about eating well these last few weeks, watching both the quality and quantity that I eat. I've also been good about getting exercise 4+ days/week. I even tuned up my mountain bike and went for a 10 mile ride on the bay. It's too early to report any results other than I feel really good.
Saturday Z and I were going to drive the Coupe up to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. for Tracey's birthday, but the right rear tire was nearly flat so we dropped it off at the shop and took Zoomie (Z's Mini) instead. After a burger and a few killer beers (A Russian Imperial Stout and an Imperial IPA) Pam announced that it was low tide so we all went over to the tide pools near Maverick's. It reminded me of the pools at Laguna Beach back when I first moved to California. I got to drive Zoomie home - my first real drive in a Mini. It's a lot of fun to drive, but very different from the Coupe. For some reason the heavier feel of the Coupe makes me more confident about what it can do. Similar to the difference between my old Golf and Audi A4. I do think the Coupe could be a little more responsive (the Mini is really "snappy") and so I need to make an appointment with Performance Art to fine tune the upgraded suspension I installed a while back. I let Z convince me to go back up to SF Saturday night for Evil Breaks. That was fun and I danced my butt off, but there were not as many friends there as I was hoping and I find that I prefer dancing with friends than strangers. We left "early" and I was alseep by 3:30AM.
Sunday, I slept in a little and then my new friend Christina and I drove the freshly repaired Coupe up to the Ridge Winery in Cupertino (actually in the hills west of the incorperated part of Cupertino). It was a really fun drive - I need to get that car out in the hills more often! We tased the current offerings and C gave me the tour. I wasn't very familiar with Ridge before this, but they make *really good* wine. I've always liked big California red wines, with a taste for central CA (Paso Robles) since I went to school in SLO. Tobin James is a particular favorite, but I've come to realize that wine doesn't have to be huge, fruity, jammy (I'm not so good with wine adjectives) to be good. I signed up for the Ridge ATP (Advanced Tasting Program) membership and am really excited to get some limited release, single vinyard wines. It reminds me of a more "grown up" version of Bonny Doon's D.E.W.N. membership which I have belonged to on and off in the past. Anyway, Christina picked out an excellent selection of wine to bring back for SND. We took a little detour and stopped to see Whisper on the way home. Dinner was excellent as always - BBQ tri-tip, chicken, artichokes and aspargus. Anders and his Nicole were able to come and he loaned me his bass guitar so I can figure out if I have any aptitude for the real thing before getting one of my own (I'm getting really good at bass and guitar in Guitar Hero). It was also great to spend time getting to know Christina better (I have much more to say about this, but not in a public forum). SND has gotten into a nice groove recenty. The only real stress is Guitar Hero which people seem to either love or hate. I've been trying to limit play to before 7pm or after some people have left and conversations have died down which seems to be making everyone mostly happy.
Today was a lazy day. I didn't get much sleep over the weekend, and fortunately I didn't have much work to do (well, nothing time critical anyway). I had a long lunch with Nicole. It was the first time we'd had a real conversation in quite a while and I'm pleased (and still a little amazed) to find that after all we've been through, she is still my good friend and confidante. After lunch I had intended to put the rack on my car and go for a mtn bike ride at Fremont Older, but instead I fell asleep on the couch for 4 hours. At least now I'm caught up on my sleep and can get back to the regularly scheduled work week tomorrow
Saturday Z and I were going to drive the Coupe up to the Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. for Tracey's birthday, but the right rear tire was nearly flat so we dropped it off at the shop and took Zoomie (Z's Mini) instead. After a burger and a few killer beers (A Russian Imperial Stout and an Imperial IPA) Pam announced that it was low tide so we all went over to the tide pools near Maverick's. It reminded me of the pools at Laguna Beach back when I first moved to California. I got to drive Zoomie home - my first real drive in a Mini. It's a lot of fun to drive, but very different from the Coupe. For some reason the heavier feel of the Coupe makes me more confident about what it can do. Similar to the difference between my old Golf and Audi A4. I do think the Coupe could be a little more responsive (the Mini is really "snappy") and so I need to make an appointment with Performance Art to fine tune the upgraded suspension I installed a while back. I let Z convince me to go back up to SF Saturday night for Evil Breaks. That was fun and I danced my butt off, but there were not as many friends there as I was hoping and I find that I prefer dancing with friends than strangers. We left "early" and I was alseep by 3:30AM.
Sunday, I slept in a little and then my new friend Christina and I drove the freshly repaired Coupe up to the Ridge Winery in Cupertino (actually in the hills west of the incorperated part of Cupertino). It was a really fun drive - I need to get that car out in the hills more often! We tased the current offerings and C gave me the tour. I wasn't very familiar with Ridge before this, but they make *really good* wine. I've always liked big California red wines, with a taste for central CA (Paso Robles) since I went to school in SLO. Tobin James is a particular favorite, but I've come to realize that wine doesn't have to be huge, fruity, jammy (I'm not so good with wine adjectives) to be good. I signed up for the Ridge ATP (Advanced Tasting Program) membership and am really excited to get some limited release, single vinyard wines. It reminds me of a more "grown up" version of Bonny Doon's D.E.W.N. membership which I have belonged to on and off in the past. Anyway, Christina picked out an excellent selection of wine to bring back for SND. We took a little detour and stopped to see Whisper on the way home. Dinner was excellent as always - BBQ tri-tip, chicken, artichokes and aspargus. Anders and his Nicole were able to come and he loaned me his bass guitar so I can figure out if I have any aptitude for the real thing before getting one of my own (I'm getting really good at bass and guitar in Guitar Hero). It was also great to spend time getting to know Christina better (I have much more to say about this, but not in a public forum). SND has gotten into a nice groove recenty. The only real stress is Guitar Hero which people seem to either love or hate. I've been trying to limit play to before 7pm or after some people have left and conversations have died down which seems to be making everyone mostly happy.
Today was a lazy day. I didn't get much sleep over the weekend, and fortunately I didn't have much work to do (well, nothing time critical anyway). I had a long lunch with Nicole. It was the first time we'd had a real conversation in quite a while and I'm pleased (and still a little amazed) to find that after all we've been through, she is still my good friend and confidante. After lunch I had intended to put the rack on my car and go for a mtn bike ride at Fremont Older, but instead I fell asleep on the couch for 4 hours. At least now I'm caught up on my sleep and can get back to the regularly scheduled work week tomorrow