Jeff Stuart - Memoirs of a CPUNERD

I drove Carl to Oakland today. I still have no clue how I-880 can be so jacked up. it boggles the mind. Even at 10:30 in the morning, well after rush hour, it is still clogged near all entrances and exits. I thought Californians were supposed to be better at driving.

After work, Lee, Andrew, Fa’y, and Vani went to Giza in San Jose. We got put in the exact same spot as last time. However, with half the people, it was much more comfortable. Andrew had visited Giza several times in the past (this is his third co-op in the San Jose area). Fa’y and Vani however, had never been. Fa’y had experience elsewhere with “smoking” but Vani had none. Of course, Lee and I had already been to Giza, so it was nothing new to us.

This time we all made sure that our mouthpieces were fully functional. I got the hookah going, taking the first two hits. After another pass or two, the smoke was flowing freely, and by my third round, I took in enough to get light headed. In the meantime, Fa’y was trying to outdo me, while Vani was still trying to get the hang of inhaling properly and deep enough. Speaking of proper inhalation, we meant to order two hookahs, but apparently only ordered one. It was definitely enough though. After almost two hours in front of the hookah, all of us were sufficiently pleased with the experience. We finished up, then headed out from Giza around 12:30 AM.

Softball is being overrun by interns! We had five of eighteen players show up this time. I even got to start this time, instead of being on rotation. We didn’t get any pictures from this game though, the photographers weren’t able to show up. I wish we would’ve, I have a nice looking cut on my knee from sliding into third base while wearing shorts (not the smartest idea).

After softball, we headed back home so Carl could throw his going away party. He mentioned to the intern’s list that they should each give a $1 donation to the buy-jeff-vodka-and-v8-splash foundation… yeah, it tastes good, but I had to work out the next morning!

Sam and Roop came by first, they actually showed up early (9:15 PM, started at 9:30 PM). The reason they came early is because they thought it started at 8:30 PM, and they were going to be “fashionably late.” Carl and I said goodbye to Roop, since she was to leave the next day. They hung around for awhile longer though.

Next to show up were the Waterloo guys. After them, Vani and Andrew showed up. They said that Roma was tired and didn’t want to come, so I had to go over there and convince her to show up. Once she got over there, people spent a little more time nursing their drinks, then somehow the group started playing ERF.

It didn’t take people long to get the hang of the game, and soon it was over, with Roma claiming her bragging rights. After the game was over, people went back to talking for awhile, trying to flick cards at one another, and eventually the party finally died down. Carl did laundry while some of the guys went swimming, then we called it a night and crashed.

I don’t quite know how this happened, but our (what we thought would be) small contingent of interns making their way to the Prince of Wales pub ballooned to thirty people! I was really happy about this, perhaps the new interns are pretty cool afterall.

 

 

When we got there, I tried to convince two new interns (one of which doesn’t work at NVIDIA) to go for a Habanero burger, but neither of them would have it. I even went so far as to offer my own suffering if they would endure it. Alas though, nothing would break down their defenses (stubborn Canadians!).

Almost twenty people actually had Habanero burgers, Matt Rusiniak included. Of course… he couldn’t finish more than a third of his. For some stupid reason, I decided it would be a good trade for me if I hate the rest of his and got his sticker. Sigh… what the heck was I thinking. My eyes were watering afterwards, but I wasn’t as bad off as Dan. He was sweating bullets by the time he was done. Anyways, I did it, let’s hope I don’t regret it tomorrow.

 

That’s how long I have before I have to turn in a technical sketch to IEEE VR. Think I’ll make it? After I wrote an outline for the sketch, I took a quick nap. I then took twenty minutes to wake up. I went over and hung out with Fred for a little bit, since Carl was running a little later than expected. When Carl got back, none of us were really up for going out on the town, so we just hung out at Carl’s place, had a drink, then headed home. But not before watching two funny videos: A bunny singing TISM’s “Everybody has more sex than me” and Pikachu singing Mindless Self Indulgence’s “Bitches.”

Since last night went pretty late (Alden and I stayed at Carl’s until 4:30 AM), I kind of screwed myself. See, I have to be up tomorrow at 7:00 AM to go work out. I knew if I slept until noon or so, I wouldn’t be tired at midnight, and thus would be severely lacking sleep at the gym. Thus, I woke up at 9:00 AM, feeling thoroughly exhausted.

None the less, I got a shower and went across the street to get some breakfast. I then did some laundry while waiting for 1:00 PM to roll around, so I could go wake up Carl. Alden woke up around 12, so we decided to run to Jamba Juice and Noah’s bagels.

We got back and made Carl arise from the dead (I mean out of bed). We then went to Safeway and purchased our supplies. Next came prepping the material. We had tons of veggies to cut and meat to marinate, so we got to work. Carl especially seemed to enjoy his job, while I was busy crying over peeled onions (god, brings me back to my pizza job days).

After we got all the supplies ready, I went over to get Aaron and Simon. On the way, I met three (of several) new Waterloo interns. Aaron later remembed them from one of his classes. Small world… Even smaller valley.

Alden, Carl, Aaron, and I packed up the stuff and headed out to the park. We got there right on time at 3:00 PM, then proceeded to wait an hour until any one else showed up. We kinda expected as much, being as last time the same thing happened.

The stragglers all wandered in around 4:00 PM, making our attendance jump from four to twelve instantaneously. With people there, we got cooking. This took a lot of time and included Carl continuously having to fan the flames with his breath, and burning his lips/face in the process.

After we ate, we engaged in various american sports-like activities, including a dashing good round of pick-up-the-ball-made-of-pig-skin-and-throw-it-to-someone-near-by. Matt got the worst of one of my throws, hitting him squarely in a place where no guy wants to be hit.

In the end, everyone had a good time (with the exception of Matt, who is still recovering). After the BBQ, I took Alden home, then got something to drink before I picked Brian up from SJC. I went to sleep quite happily around 11:00 PM.