nothing like a good work week!
Class went pretty well this week. There were more experienced people than newbies, which means I modify a number of components so as not to bore them to death. It also means the discussions are usually at an entirely different level, and I learn a bit as well.
Of course, teaching in Santa Clara isn't really so much about the class hours as it is about seeing friends! As I mentioned, I had dinner Sunday with khanadasc and nstantkarma at East Ocean on Alameda. This is a great Chinese place that specializes in seafood. We had steamed pork dumplings (Jenn's fave), and hot-and-sour soup that wasn't too spicy (some Chinese places in New Orleans overdo this soup, thinking they need to compete with cajun food). I ordered baked scallops on the half-shell with a garlic sauce, Rob ordered pepper beef and an order of chow mein, and we split all that between the three of us. Dinner was just what I needed after the annoyances of getting out of SFO that afternoon.
I was a bit tired by Monday evening, so I decided to stay close to the hotel. I've been driving past various locations of "In-N-Out Burger" everytime I come out to CA, so between that and references on shows like "Studio 60," I decided I needed to finally eat there. nstantkarma advised that I get a burger regular style the first time, then go for "animal style" on another occasion. I took his advice and got a double-double (double meat, double cheese) and fries. The burger was excellent, but the fries are just so-so. I just grabbed it to go and kicked back at the hotel.
Tuesday's a weird day for my Symmetrix Business Continuity class, because the week is really two courses. The first part is Monday-Tuesday, the second runs Wednesday-Friday. So, for those who are with me all week, we're just hitting cruising altitude, and others are starting the descent. Still, the content is good stuff, so it works. This year, Tuesday has firmly become my "pizza-and-boobtoob" night, with NCIS, The Unit, and L&O-SVU replacing my classic Wednesday lineup of The West Wing and the original Law & Order. There's a place called "Round Table Pizza" just on the other side of 101 from the hotel that delivers, so I rang them up and they brought me a nice little pizza that I chased with a bottle of Merlot.
Wednesday's class builds back up after the mini wind-down of Tuesday. Most weeks, there are a few new folks in class for the second portion, so the dynamic shifts enough to keep me on my toes. Combine that with the primary purpose for me coming out to the Left Coast, and Wednedsay is a highly-charged day for me.
Wait, you ask, if the class for which I'm getting paid a very nice day rate isn't my primary reason for coming out, then what is?
Why, karaoke at Castro Valley Bowl, of course, most ably DJ'd by our own daysinger. This week was particularly special, because I met Dayna, rebellibrarian and her dh, bigmeaniejerk at Horatio's restaurant in San Leandro for dinner. I had to slog my way north on I-880 at rush hour to get there, but it was worth it, for both the food and the friends. Horatio's is a neat seafood place in the Marina at San Leandro. Dayna had shrimp, Tracey the Kobe Meatloaf (both of which were on an "early seating" menu that was cheaper), Adam the stuffed sole, and I had halibut stuffed the same way as Adam's sole (mine was a daily special). I was hesitant about having New England Clam Chowder at a restaurant in Cali (particularly since I just had some most excellent chowdah last week in Portsmouth, NH, an interesting distraction to take my mind off the fact that springflower wouldn't have sex with me, but I digress). The ladies said it was good, and I trust both of them. They were right, it was a good starter for the halibut. I would have put more garlic and cayenne to the stuffing, but that's a cultural thing, I guess. Nobody was in the mood for wine, so I had a couple of Anchor Steams. Anchor is a SF brewery, and their Steam brew is much better on tap than in the bottle. After dinner, daysinger ran back home to tell dd g'nite and get her gear, and I ran back to rebellibrarian's place where I chatted with them. bigmeaniejerk is a pretty laid-back guy, but I confirmed he's pretty cool when I saw Dayna return him a Brust novel. :-)
I took my leave of them and headed to the bowling alley, where daysinger was already rolling. It's fun to watch her dj, because she's better at that than I am at teaching. Al always talks about how I have the technical ability to sit down with the laptop at one of the restaurants and spin tunes, but it takes a real artist to read the crowd and develop a playlist that gets them moving. Doing this for a karaoke night is even trickier, because the dj needs to alternate the tunes they're singing with music that maintains the mood. I see what he means when I watch Dayna work the crowd with the tunes. All this and she can sing too. :-) Tracey came back, but left Adam decided to stay home, so the three of us talked and cut up until Tracey decided she needed to get some sleep. I stayed until "Good Night, Sweetheart," helped Dayna and her trusty assistant Gene pack her stuff up, and headed back to scenic Sunnyvale.
By lunchtime on Thursday, I was inspired to drink some beer. Not because the class was a problem, mind you, but quite the opposite. This was a bunch of talkers, so they had me pumped up all through the afternoon labs. I was all set to head back up I-880 to Buffalo Bill's in Hayward, a brewpub that Dayna turned me on to last time I came out. I made the fatal mistake of going back to the hotel to drop off my backpack, though, and the comfy sofa ensnared me. I might have been able to get up and motivated were it not for the fact that Faultline Brewery is literally around the corner from the hotel (as opposed to 25 miles north). I bopped around the corner and had a quesedilla, washed down with several pints of their stout.
Since I've revised the departure plans for Left Coast trips, I was able to do karaoke once again last night. On Wednesday, Tracey and I had these awesome plans about staying up all night after karaoke, then drive over to SFO from their house. Like all such ambitious plans, the work week caught up with both of us. I grabbed lunch at In-N-Out (so I could have the burger "animal style"), but on the way back up the Bay, I started losing it and was in desparate need of some rest. I booked a room at a Fairfield Inn that's right on the approach to the San Mateo Bridge, figuring I could go to Palomares, take a short drive and crash, then do the early-morning thang from there. I checked in around 3pm and crashed until almost 6pm! I talked to Tracey before passing out, and we decided just to catch up at the restaurant.
When I got up, I decided to go to the mall down the street to walk and people-watch. I need to get a better briefing from the locals next time, though, because it felt like I was the only white guy in Southland Mall. It's an odd feeling at first, but one that I can get over fast. Hell, I was pretty much the only white guy in just about every mall I went to in Singapore. I did that for about an hour or so, and then drove over to Palomares. I beat everyone there, so I sat at the bar, had a Guinness and watched the end of the NBA game. The Warriors won, making the hometown crowd happy. I had a Greek salad and switched from stout to Anchor Steam for the meal. Dayna arrived and we talked while she set up, but Tracey and Adam didn't come out. The week had caught up with her by that point and she wasn't really up to going out. Dayna and I both texted her "you suck" messages, but I felt her pain; I know what it's like to have a long week.
It wasn't long before snoopymikemike and lorriesworld showed up. Dayna, Lorrie, and Mike go back a long way, and you can tell when they start talking. I switched back to Guinness, and we alternated between chatting in the corner and going over to Dayna's dj booth to harass her. Dayna even sang a couple of tunes, which made me smile. The restaurant folks told her to wind it up early (more like 11:30pm than midnight), so she did just that. The four of us went over to IHOP for coffee and talked some more. I rolled back to the hotel after that, set the alarm on the phone (which is a butt-ugly obnixious ringtone) for 4am, then read until my I fell asleep for a bit.
My body clock has become very fne-tuned, since I have that fear of missing a flight ingrained in my psyche. I got up around 3:45, got re-packed, and was out of the hotel by 4:15am. I zipped over the San Mateo Bridge (which makes me a bit nervous), gassed up the rent-a-car, ditched it at Thrifty, and checked in. It wasn't long before I was aboard, and here I am, with about an hour to go before landing at ATL.
So, many thanks to my Left Coast buds for a wonderful week. I already have more fun than I should be allowed when I'm teaching, and to hang with these guys makes it all the more special.
And on that note, I'm gonna listen to Nuala Kennedy and try to take a catnap. :-)
Of course, teaching in Santa Clara isn't really so much about the class hours as it is about seeing friends! As I mentioned, I had dinner Sunday with khanadasc and nstantkarma at East Ocean on Alameda. This is a great Chinese place that specializes in seafood. We had steamed pork dumplings (Jenn's fave), and hot-and-sour soup that wasn't too spicy (some Chinese places in New Orleans overdo this soup, thinking they need to compete with cajun food). I ordered baked scallops on the half-shell with a garlic sauce, Rob ordered pepper beef and an order of chow mein, and we split all that between the three of us. Dinner was just what I needed after the annoyances of getting out of SFO that afternoon.
I was a bit tired by Monday evening, so I decided to stay close to the hotel. I've been driving past various locations of "In-N-Out Burger" everytime I come out to CA, so between that and references on shows like "Studio 60," I decided I needed to finally eat there. nstantkarma advised that I get a burger regular style the first time, then go for "animal style" on another occasion. I took his advice and got a double-double (double meat, double cheese) and fries. The burger was excellent, but the fries are just so-so. I just grabbed it to go and kicked back at the hotel.
Tuesday's a weird day for my Symmetrix Business Continuity class, because the week is really two courses. The first part is Monday-Tuesday, the second runs Wednesday-Friday. So, for those who are with me all week, we're just hitting cruising altitude, and others are starting the descent. Still, the content is good stuff, so it works. This year, Tuesday has firmly become my "pizza-and-boobtoob" night, with NCIS, The Unit, and L&O-SVU replacing my classic Wednesday lineup of The West Wing and the original Law & Order. There's a place called "Round Table Pizza" just on the other side of 101 from the hotel that delivers, so I rang them up and they brought me a nice little pizza that I chased with a bottle of Merlot.
Wednesday's class builds back up after the mini wind-down of Tuesday. Most weeks, there are a few new folks in class for the second portion, so the dynamic shifts enough to keep me on my toes. Combine that with the primary purpose for me coming out to the Left Coast, and Wednedsay is a highly-charged day for me.
Wait, you ask, if the class for which I'm getting paid a very nice day rate isn't my primary reason for coming out, then what is?
Why, karaoke at Castro Valley Bowl, of course, most ably DJ'd by our own daysinger. This week was particularly special, because I met Dayna, rebellibrarian and her dh, bigmeaniejerk at Horatio's restaurant in San Leandro for dinner. I had to slog my way north on I-880 at rush hour to get there, but it was worth it, for both the food and the friends. Horatio's is a neat seafood place in the Marina at San Leandro. Dayna had shrimp, Tracey the Kobe Meatloaf (both of which were on an "early seating" menu that was cheaper), Adam the stuffed sole, and I had halibut stuffed the same way as Adam's sole (mine was a daily special). I was hesitant about having New England Clam Chowder at a restaurant in Cali (particularly since I just had some most excellent chowdah last week in Portsmouth, NH, an interesting distraction to take my mind off the fact that springflower wouldn't have sex with me, but I digress). The ladies said it was good, and I trust both of them. They were right, it was a good starter for the halibut. I would have put more garlic and cayenne to the stuffing, but that's a cultural thing, I guess. Nobody was in the mood for wine, so I had a couple of Anchor Steams. Anchor is a SF brewery, and their Steam brew is much better on tap than in the bottle. After dinner, daysinger ran back home to tell dd g'nite and get her gear, and I ran back to rebellibrarian's place where I chatted with them. bigmeaniejerk is a pretty laid-back guy, but I confirmed he's pretty cool when I saw Dayna return him a Brust novel. :-)
I took my leave of them and headed to the bowling alley, where daysinger was already rolling. It's fun to watch her dj, because she's better at that than I am at teaching. Al always talks about how I have the technical ability to sit down with the laptop at one of the restaurants and spin tunes, but it takes a real artist to read the crowd and develop a playlist that gets them moving. Doing this for a karaoke night is even trickier, because the dj needs to alternate the tunes they're singing with music that maintains the mood. I see what he means when I watch Dayna work the crowd with the tunes. All this and she can sing too. :-) Tracey came back, but left Adam decided to stay home, so the three of us talked and cut up until Tracey decided she needed to get some sleep. I stayed until "Good Night, Sweetheart," helped Dayna and her trusty assistant Gene pack her stuff up, and headed back to scenic Sunnyvale.
By lunchtime on Thursday, I was inspired to drink some beer. Not because the class was a problem, mind you, but quite the opposite. This was a bunch of talkers, so they had me pumped up all through the afternoon labs. I was all set to head back up I-880 to Buffalo Bill's in Hayward, a brewpub that Dayna turned me on to last time I came out. I made the fatal mistake of going back to the hotel to drop off my backpack, though, and the comfy sofa ensnared me. I might have been able to get up and motivated were it not for the fact that Faultline Brewery is literally around the corner from the hotel (as opposed to 25 miles north). I bopped around the corner and had a quesedilla, washed down with several pints of their stout.
Since I've revised the departure plans for Left Coast trips, I was able to do karaoke once again last night. On Wednesday, Tracey and I had these awesome plans about staying up all night after karaoke, then drive over to SFO from their house. Like all such ambitious plans, the work week caught up with both of us. I grabbed lunch at In-N-Out (so I could have the burger "animal style"), but on the way back up the Bay, I started losing it and was in desparate need of some rest. I booked a room at a Fairfield Inn that's right on the approach to the San Mateo Bridge, figuring I could go to Palomares, take a short drive and crash, then do the early-morning thang from there. I checked in around 3pm and crashed until almost 6pm! I talked to Tracey before passing out, and we decided just to catch up at the restaurant.
When I got up, I decided to go to the mall down the street to walk and people-watch. I need to get a better briefing from the locals next time, though, because it felt like I was the only white guy in Southland Mall. It's an odd feeling at first, but one that I can get over fast. Hell, I was pretty much the only white guy in just about every mall I went to in Singapore. I did that for about an hour or so, and then drove over to Palomares. I beat everyone there, so I sat at the bar, had a Guinness and watched the end of the NBA game. The Warriors won, making the hometown crowd happy. I had a Greek salad and switched from stout to Anchor Steam for the meal. Dayna arrived and we talked while she set up, but Tracey and Adam didn't come out. The week had caught up with her by that point and she wasn't really up to going out. Dayna and I both texted her "you suck" messages, but I felt her pain; I know what it's like to have a long week.
It wasn't long before snoopymikemike and lorriesworld showed up. Dayna, Lorrie, and Mike go back a long way, and you can tell when they start talking. I switched back to Guinness, and we alternated between chatting in the corner and going over to Dayna's dj booth to harass her. Dayna even sang a couple of tunes, which made me smile. The restaurant folks told her to wind it up early (more like 11:30pm than midnight), so she did just that. The four of us went over to IHOP for coffee and talked some more. I rolled back to the hotel after that, set the alarm on the phone (which is a butt-ugly obnixious ringtone) for 4am, then read until my I fell asleep for a bit.
My body clock has become very fne-tuned, since I have that fear of missing a flight ingrained in my psyche. I got up around 3:45, got re-packed, and was out of the hotel by 4:15am. I zipped over the San Mateo Bridge (which makes me a bit nervous), gassed up the rent-a-car, ditched it at Thrifty, and checked in. It wasn't long before I was aboard, and here I am, with about an hour to go before landing at ATL.
So, many thanks to my Left Coast buds for a wonderful week. I already have more fun than I should be allowed when I'm teaching, and to hang with these guys makes it all the more special.
And on that note, I'm gonna listen to Nuala Kennedy and try to take a catnap. :-)