Memoirs of a CPUNERD

At least it should be after the totally crazy week I had! Most people probably had something similar in excitement, being as both Christmas and New Year’s Eve fell within the week about which I’m writing. I had a ton of fun though. It was really nice to catch up with family and hang out with friends. I also, somehow managed to get a lot of work done. I even *gasps from the crowd* threw a nice little party for New Year’s Eve. Well, at least it started little, but turned into a medium-sized fun-fest, it r0×0red.

And now for the boring part to those not trying to recall everything.

Monday was Christmas. Being as we opened gifts on Christmas Eve, I actually got to sleep in. We had more family come over for lunch and dinner, at which time we exchanged more gifts. People hung out until fairly late, watching Little Miss Sunshine and then the American football game.

Tuesday I found myself working, of course. I also arrived in Davis in a preemptive strike since I had to be to SFO at noon on Wednesday. I worked and worked and worked, and then took a break to go out to dinner and catch-up with Meike. I really wanted a steak for some reason, so we went to Applebee’s. Please, someone, if you know of a non-chain restaurant in Davis that serves steaks, LET ME KNOW! After dinner I went to Tony’s and played “Gunstar Heroes” on the Wii emulator until after midnight. Once I realized the time, I had to bolt home, again, since I had to be up early on Wednesday.

Wednesday I managed to both wake up on time and avoid traffic. What happens though you ask? Why, it’s what always happens when you manage to be on time to the airport: the flight is delayed. It was all good though. I already had taken I-680 (I was just going to take the San Mateo bridge), so I just headed down to Santa Clara. I met up with Ilan, and we went out to lunch. After lunch, I circled the terminals once and picked Rachel up. We then went out to lunch (I just had a small appetizer) in Palo Alto at Bella Luna (those from NVIDIA might remember it as the lone Italian place at which we dined), and visited the Stanford Campus. I got in touch with Shakeh, and she told me that her and her aunt were at the Stanford shopping center. Rachel and I went over to the center and hung out with Shakeh for an hour or two, then drove Shakeh back home and headed back to Davis. I dropped Rachel off, helped her with her stuff, ate some advent-calendar chocolate, then went over to Tony’s to try and finish “Gunstar Heroes.”

Thursday I pretty much worked all day. Shakeh got back into town, so we hung out for a little bit and ran some errands. Sara got back into town in the late afternoon, so I picked her up and dropped her off at her place. The girls then all went out to dinner at Crepeville and talked about plans for New Year’s Eve. After dinner, it was pretty late, so I stopped working. Shakeh came over and we watched Eurotrip and South Park for awhile.

Friday I worked yet some more. Shakeh and I went out to dinner at Bistro 33, then met Jeff Wu at Little Prague for drinks. We also ran into Sara and Miles, so we hung out with them for awhile as well. After having a drink (Irish car bomb, Sean and Carl: you are very bad people), Shakeh and I headed back to my place to watch another movie.

Saturday, Ninet, Shakeh’s cousin came into town. We picked her up from the airport, then went to Cafe Bernardo for breakfast. After breakfast, we walked to the Farmer’s Market real quick, then headed to Shakeh’s place to drop off Ninet’s stuff. We hung out there for awhile, then went to my place to watch “The Break-Up” (I ended up working while they watched it). For dinner, we met Abhi and the gang at Crepeville and talked about New Year’s Eve plans. After Crepeville, we went to downtown Sacramento to a (bad, very bad) Hookah bar called the “Kasba Lounge.” I then took Shakeh and Ninet back to Shakeh’s place.

Sunday was New Year’s Eve of course. I worked through the vast majority of it, stopping later in the night when it was decided that no one was throwing a party. I opted-in for hosting, so we got some of the gang to come over to my place for a small get-together and a movie afterwards. We watched Eurotrip. Yes again, but watching a movie like this in a group, especially a group that hails from the film’s location, is a completely different experience than watching it with two people. The party died down, and the last people left around 03:00. I grabbed all the pictures off of my camera (http://jeff.bleugris.com/photos and facebook), then went to sleep.

Like I said, “Life Is Killing Me,” or at least it should have, but I made it out alive and well, and had a blast!

Maybe something is missing in my life now. Something big, yet something I can’t place. I’m saying this, because as I write it’s Christmas Eve. Yet… something just isn’t right. Maybe it’s the lack of snow on the ground, or the indifference I have towards receiving gifts, but it doesn’t feel like Christmas is coming in just a few more minutes. Something hit me though, this isn’t the first old feeling that is missing. I thought that the quarter ending would bring a familiar sense to me, but it didn’t. Now Christmas Eve… Is it just a coincidence, or is something truly missing now? I guess time will tell. Perhaps New Years Eve will bring in a familiar feeling, though I doubt that, being that the bringing of a New Year is nothing special to me, and it never was.

Monday Lee and I recovered wonderfully from our weekend. After we cleaned ourselves up, we went to lunch at the MU with Verena, Miles, Gwen, and Simon. Lee walked back with Verena to drop her off while I ran by the bank. When I got home, I started packing up my stuff and got ready to hit the road. I got into Reno around 17:30, then spent the entire night working and restoring my mom’s computer.

Tuesday I worked basically all day, except for a few hours I took off to go out to lunch with some old IGT friends, lift weights, play racquetball, and go out to Bully’s. I lifted in a different way and still did not feel sore from it… I need to find something that will make my muscles tremble again, otherwise I’m afraid my body will start to stagnate.

Wednesday I went out to lunch with Brian from IGT. After that I went home and worked basically for the rest of the night. I was going to cook dinner for my parents, but my mom had an appointment and thus wouldn’t have been able to make it anyways.

Thursday was a lot of fun. After working all day, my mom, dad, cousin, and uncle all went out to go look at Christmas lights. While the light display this year was definitely inferior to previous years, it was still a lot of fun. Pictures are up in the usual place, I’m too tired to paste them into this post. We stopped by a Starbucks and I overdosed on sugar from the venti caramel apple cider with quintuple caramel that I ordered. After we got back from the lights, Jon and I headed out to meet Sebastian for martinis at Roxie’s. While there, we ran into Tunya and Alicia. Being as Roxie’s was on last call, we headed to the Little Waldorf Saloon (The Wal) and hung out there until 03:00.

Friday I worked again all day. At night, Bei and Kenyon came over, then Shane, Sinead, and Vicki showed up. With my parents, we played Scene it, had some dinner (I cooked!), and then hung out. Bei was leaving for China, so I would’ve liked to hang out with her more. Unfortunately, I couldn’t even keep my eyes open, so I called it a night early.

Saturday I (you guessed it) worked again. We went over to my aunt Lisa’s place at 14:00 for some games and food, and stayed there until 16:00 or so. I had to get back home to try and finish up some work. Shane, Jon, and I eventually left for downtown again around 21:30. We hit up the Brew Brothers’ at the Eldorado, then went to West Second Street to watch some wonderful karaoke. After that, I took off while Randy, Jon, and Shane stuck around. I got to sleep around 03:00…

Sunday I woke up, got ready, then called Jon and Shane to figure out what happened. Jon was home, while Shane apparently crashed at Randy’s. I went to do a little bit of shopping (spent a bit too much…) and then went to Randy’s. We played the 360 for awhile, then went out to Bully’s for lunch. After lunch, we went bowling, then to an arcade (DDR!!!!). We then went to pick up dinner and drop Randy off. When Shane and I got home, everyone was waiting for us. We ate, then watched Max open some presents. After Max was done, we did our gift exchange, then I called it a night and went to bed around midnight. Pictures of our gift exchange are up in the usual place.

This quarter has been a lot of fun, but I’m feeling something I’m not used. Well, actually I should say that I’m not feeling something I usually do; the sense of finality that comes with a quarter being finished. Now this obviously has something to do with the fact that I didn’t take any real classes, and none of my P.E. classes had any finals. I noticed this primarily because all my friends were talking about how they were so happy finals were over. I remember feeling that before, a lot actually, but alas, it seems those times are now over. Perhaps I’ll get a similar feeling whenever I finish a big paper or project.

Okay, so the weekly recap…

Monday I made a pretty decent breakthrough on my research. Now i just have to make the final push and clear it before it’s too late!

Tuesday I convinced Rachel to come to the gym and lift weights with me. After I got home, I tried to pick up my room a little bit since Joe and Sebastian were due to arrive in less than twenty-four hours.

Wednesday was an incredibly busy day. I worked out in the morning, then biked straight from the gym (still sweaty) to the lab in the Academic Surge for the research meeting. After the meeting, I had to hurry back home to shower, since I had a dentist appointment at 12:30. After the dentist appointment, Joe, Sebastian, and I went to play racquetball at the ARC.

After racquetball, I walked home to shower, being as I forgot a few essential articles of clothing. I then met back up with Joe and Sebastian, and we hung out with Monica for a little bit before her final.

After talking with Monica, we headed over to the GSA office for the CS GSA party. The party was fun. It was a potluck with karaoke and DDR. Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! I forgot how much I love DDR! I want to find a machine (perhaps while I’m in Reno). After the GSA party, we went back to my place to get my car. Joe and Sebastian went to Bistro to get some food while I went to pick up Sara, Chiara, and Sunny. As it turns out, the bar at Bistro closed at 22:30, so we didn’t have the option of going there. We though about Sudwerks because they give people wristbands when they ID them. Of course, Sudwerks proceeded to tell us that even though they gave everyone wristbands, they wouldn’t allow people under twenty-one inside (it’s okay Sunny, we forgive you… this time). With that in mind, we decided to head to Delta of Venus. Joe and Sebastian were still on foot. We got there right as they were walking out, telling us that the keepers had just made last call… ARGH!!! Joe and Sebastian decided to just hit up the corner store for some al-key-hol and Jack In The Box for some food while Chiara, Sara, Sunny, and I headed back home. We had a nice time the rest of the night, just hanging out and watching Joe entertain us all.

Thursday, Joe, Sebastian, and I went to San Francisco for the day. We parked over at Daly City, BART’ed in to Union Square, and made our way up to the House of Nanking for Chinese food. The waiters there are taught to read first-time visitors and simply get their order for them. The chef who took our order did a good job. It wasn’t what we had originally wanted, but it was good food, and it was something that we would not have ordered ourselves. After that, we wandered up to Pier 39 to the Hard Rock so Joe could get some souvenirs. In the meantime, we stopped at the sports memorabilia store, and got some… interesting… pictures. After that, we headed to the Wharf and to Ghirardelli Square. We all bought too much chocolate, then proceeded to order some awe-some-o sundays. We were all tired from the walking and racquetball of the previous day, and the walking of the current day, so we hopped the trolly back to the BART. We headed over to Lee’s place in Palo Alto. We hung out there for a little while, then met up with the NVIDIA gang on University. We went out for some delectable (but not as good as Sophia’s) Thai food, then hit up the gelato place. Joe, Sebastian, and I didn’t get back to Davis until 00:15, at which time Joe crashed immediately, while Sebastian and I headed to Delta of Venus to meet up with some friends. Luis just turned twenty-one, so we wished him happy birthday, then, Sebastian and I went back to my place. I think I fell asleep around 02:00.

Friday, I went out to lunch with Shakeh at Round Table, then we went to Arden Fair for an hour or so, so Shakeh could look for some gifts for her family. She didn’t find anything she needed, but I found some Banana Republic clothing that I liked. After we got back, I dropped her off at her place, then I went to go help Rachel run some errands. After errands we played racquetball for an hour or so, then headed home. For dinner, the girls (Shakeh, Sara, Chiara, Sunny, and yes… me) went over to Sara’s place for Tapas and fun. Chiara has these pictures, I promise I’ll put them up when I get them.

Saturday I helped Kim (Brian’s girlfriend) move from Elk Grove to Davis. The moving was such a joy… but oh well, we got a ton of free pizza for it, and I got a free couch out of it as well = ). We got done with lunch around 14:15, at which time I headed home, changed, and then went to the ARC to meet Justin and Jeff for racquetball. We played until 17:00, at which point I headed home to rest for a iittle bit. Lee got in around 18:30, so we had just enough time to drop his stuff off and chat for a few minutes before heading out to Sushi Nobu. We met Abhi, Gwen, Verena, Ziv, and Jin there. After Sushi Nobu, we went to the Little Prague bakery for dessert. Ziv had to bail, but Monti took his spot. Oh man, I have to go back there. The desserts were awesome. The dinner food there isn’t that great, but I would definitely recommend the dessert, especially the tortes. After dessert, Lee and I headed to Francesca’s to pick her up, and then over to Luis’ for his party. We stayed at Luis’ until 12:30 or so. After that, we went to Elena’s new place. I hung out there until 01:30, at which time Francesca and I departed and I dropped her off at her place. Lee stayed with Abhi and Verena, and didn’t get to sleep until 04:30…

Sunday was both a blast and a blur. At this point, I was going off of fifteen hours of sleep over the past four days. Lee was going off of two hours of sleep in general, and well, some others had it even worse. I woke up at 06:00, showered, and then woke Lee up at 06:30. We headed over to Rachel’s to pick her up, then went back to Elena’s to pick up Elena and Sara, both of whom were still up from the party. We gassed up, then made our way to SFO. We dropped Rachel off around 08:30, then went to North Beach to get some breakfast at a place called “Melt!” which I would not really recommend. Maybe their lunch and dinner is better, but their breakfast was disappointing. After breakfast, we headed over to the Golden Gate bridge so Elena could get pictures. We walked until the one-third marker on the bridge, at which point it was starting to get really cold. We turned around, then headed to Golden Gate park. We had some nice tea in the gardens, then walked around for an hour or so. By that time, we were ready to get out of their and drop off Sara and Elena. From SFO, we headed down to the South Bay to hang out with the NVIDIA people and Shakeh. Lee, Shakeh, and I went to lunch at the University Cafe in Palo Alto, then we met the NVidiots for half an hour at a local mini-golf and go-kart place. After that, Lee and I dropped Shakeh off, then headed back to Davis. We got stuck in traffic in SF for a long time. We got back into town kind of late, but went out to see a movie at the G street theatre and get some coffee before going home and getting some sleep.

So the quarter is officially over. I have been juggling so much between a social life, a non-existent love life, working out, sports, and last (perhaps least) research. I think I redefined multi-tasking over an extended period of time. You all should be envious of my context-switching speeds in other words ; ) The amazing thing is that I’ve actually managed to accomplish things this quarter. I made a ton of new friends. I learned how to play three new sports, and improved significantly in two others. I got a bunch of research done, which I figured wasn’t going to happen. Not much happened on the dating front, but that could change at any moment. All in all, I’d call this quarter a raving success.

Monday not much happened. I got some work done, watched Heroes, then went to sleep. Exciting wasn’t it?

Tuesday was about the same. I watched some Family Guy and American Dad that I had missed. I also went out to lunch at Pluto’s with Shakeh. We ran into Sara and Sunny and invited them along, but Sunny had work to do, and we didn’t know where we were actually going to eat, so Sara stuck around the library since she had to work later.

Wednesday we had our usual research meeting. We’re making pretty decent progress, but I keep running into stupid problems. Hopefully this trend changes soon.

Thursday wasn’t anything too eventful (like every other day). I had my lab meeting as usual, which got way postponed. Staadt finally seems to be cool with the GI project I’m working on. At night I went to Sudwerk’s with Sara. I talked with her about me having an interest in Shakeh, and she, being the good friend she is, was willing to help me with that.
Friday was a little more eventful. I didn’t get to play racquetball with Rachel because she was busy. Instead I just chilled at home and then went to lunch with some of the international group. I hung out at school for awhile, then went to TGIF. After TGIF, I worked at home until it was time to go to Crepeville. I met with the girls, and had a scandalous picture taken (check my facebook profile for it). After that, Shakeh walked with me back to my place, and then I drove her home.

Saturday was an entertaining day. I got breakfast with Shakeh, then went home and worked for awhile. I then got Shakeh to go out to dinner with me. It was raining like crazy though! After dinner, we drove Sara home (she was actually going to ride her bike!), then I dropped Shakeh off.

Sunday I went to Arden with Falcon. We couldn’t really find anything that either of us wanted. After I got home, I went to Crepeville with the girls for a little bit. I then went home, worked some more, and finally went to sleep and called the week good.