Memoirs of a CPUNERD

If you’ve been keeping up, I hurt my wrist a few weeks ago (as of writing this, more than two weeks ago).  So far, I’ve been getting along alright, but I am limited in my activity. I got x-rays the day after it happened, and they turned up negative on fractures. The only thought from there is that I probably have soft tissue damage, as in muscles, tendons, etc. Ugh… last time this happened, I dislocated my shoulder five times and eventually had surgery and was out for more than three months because of it. God I hate in injuries. And this wasn’t even my fault! I didn’t do something stupid like fly off a skateboard or roll an ankle. No, I got tripped by a girl while playing a co-ed game. LAME! Who knows when I’ll feel better, but I do have a doctor’s appointment coming up.

Again, I got up at 0700 on Monday morning, and got straight to work. Shakeh got in at 1000. I had a brief chat with a Microsoft recruiter at 1030, then went back to my place before going to Sacramento. We went to the Elephant Bar for lunch, then saw Bodies Revealed. It was so cool! My favorite part was the exposition where all the blood vessels were extracted from the organs, and then even from a full body. It was just so crazy. I took Shakeh to Jamba Juice once we got back to Davis. We finished out the night with laundry, more work, and then a viewing of Lord of War.

I still didn’t play indoor on Tuesday. Instead, I played three matches of squash with John, then went to tumbling a bit late. My wrist was still bad, but there were a few exercises and spots that I could do. Shakeh came over for lunch, then after that I got right to work. I finished some more stuff before my research meeting. After the meeting, I worked for a bit more, then went to Steve’s Pizza with Shakeh for dinner. I went to the last Salsa lesson, which was good. I got out from that and went to say hi to Antoine. Other people were showing up, so I took the opportunity and left there around 2145, then went home and did some more work before going to sleep. Did I mention that I did some work?

I tried playing volleyball on Wednesday, but it was useless. I couldn’t pass, and I definitely could’t set. I played doubles racquetball with some beginners, then played two matches with the advanced class before Tim and I played a full game. I got it this time… Shakeh and I went to Pluto’s for lunch, then I walked home and did some work while she was in class. We went to Thai Nakorn for dinner, then checked out the lunar eclipse. I went to Sudwerks for an hour or so, but no one brought games so I didn’t stay long.

I finally tried indoor during class on Thursday, and it went alright. I had to hold back though, I didn’t feel comfortable running all out, because my wrist was still hurting. For lunch, I met up with Antoine, Isabel, and Javi. We started at Border’s, then walked to Burgers & Brew. Javi dropped me off at the academic surge after lunch. I talked to Tony for a bit, then installed the new G92 cards in burn-2 and burn-3. At 1630, I met up with Kurt Akeley from MSR, and had a nice chat with him and John. It just so happened that as I was leaving, the Little Bang Banquet was happening. I stuck around for a bit, talked to Dave Wiley, then walked to the ARC. I saw the coed match, which we drew 4-4 after being down 1-2 at the half. Inbetween matches, I went with Tom, Alex, Emma, Jess, and Laura to Yogurt Shack. When we got back, the men’s match just started. Unfortunately we lost (2-1). The worst part was the team was bunch of disrespectful jackasses. We shrugged them off though. After another hour, I went to Little Prague with the gang, then picked Shakeh up around 2300 from her lab.

Randy came into town on Friday. I got some work done beforehand, then we walked to the Mustard Seed and discussed what needed to be done. After lunch, we headed back to my place and worked for awhile. Once we got to an acceptable point, Randy headed back to Reno. I stayed at home until 2100 or so, then went over to Shakeh’s. We ran to In ‘n Out for dinner, then went home, watched some Family Guy, and went to sleep.

I woke up to College Gameday on Saturday and got right to work. Shakeh and I went to Tucos for lunch. Yes, we indulged in cheese and wine again, and I ended up dropping $75…  but it was worth it, damn’t! I watched the Memphis-Tennessee game, then some of the SAP open semis. For dinner, Justin, Ramon, Javi, Verena, and Lee joined us at Thai Recipes. After that, all of us except Lee and Verena went to go see Charlie Bartlett. The movie turned out to be a lot better than I expected. One thing I found hard to swallow though was the lead female role. A seventeen year old girl her age rarely acts the way she does. Still though, it was such a minor blip that I didn’t even think about it until after the movie was over.

Sunday, I didn’t do much of anything besides work. Shakeh and I took a brief expedition to Chipotle for lunch, then watched the SAP-open final match between… Radek (Stepanek) and (Andy) Roddick. After tennis, we tuned in to the Oscars. I would like to say that I’m very happy that Daniel Day-Lewis won for his part in There Will Be Blood, and I’m very happy Atonement didn’t win much. Both were long, but with There Will Be Blood, I didn’t mind and was actually sad to see it over. Anyways, after the show, we went to Bistro 33 for dinner. We got back pretty late, then watched two episodes of Lost before going to bed.

It’s official! I’m going to Europe at the end of the summer. I don’t have exact dates down yet, but most likely it’s going to be from the end of August until mid-September. I face castration and other irreparable harm if I don’t visit England, Spain, Germany, and Italy. The thing is, I’m going to be in Europe for three full weeks, and being as I want to see a lot, I need some advice! Yes, I’ll have friends around as guides, but they have lived in their home countries, and as I know from experience, one rarely visits nearby tourist attractions. So… If you have suggestions for more countries, and better yet, specific cities, buildings (restaurants, bars, museums, gov’t buildings, etc), or natural landmarks (the Alps, the river Seine, etc.), I would really appreciate it = )

Cities so far (far more than I can actually do of course):

England: London, Stonehenge, probably Bath or Brighton.
Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, maybe Granada or Sevilla
Germany: Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich
Italy: Mantova, Venice, Rome (and The Vatican), Sicily
Greece: Athens, Crete
France: Paris, Grenoble, Bordeaux
Scotland: Edinburgh
Czech Republic: Prague
Ireland: Dublin, Cork
Switzerland: Zurich, Lucerne

My wrist was still hurting on Monday, so I couldn’t do more than a few lifts. All the cardio machines were taken, so Justin and I went upstairs. The elliptical machine was strangely hard. I played racquetball instead of volleyball. Later in the advanced class, I lost a game I should’ve won, but so far I’m 2-1. I had a really nice and relaxing lunch at Raja’s with Shakeh. We went to Safeway at night, got some supplies and some brocolli+cheddar soup. The recipe changed, it’s much more oily since last we had it. I had a big sweet tooth that night, so we went to Baskin Robbins later that night.

On Tuesday I was able to do a few more lifts because it was leg day. I played squash and racquetball instead of indoor, and didn’t do anything in tumbling. I went to the MU for lunch, then had a phone interview with Rambus at 1400. It went well. I didn’t get a lot of “do this problem” questions, it was more me explaining what I do for my research. For some reason, our research meeting went really long. I stuck around for a bit , then went to the Google recruitment talk. Later in the night, Shakeh and I went to see Meet the Spartans, which was really bad.

I did ladders for lifting on Wednesday, meaning I started out with a low weight and went up by small increments, but did lots of sets. I think I did seventeen sets of leg press! In racquetball, I actually pushed a guy that usually crushes me to 8-11, whereas 3-11 probably would be more accurate. I went 4-1 today. Shakeh brought chipotle for lunch, which was nice because I had my google phone interview around 1300. I won my last divisional racquetball match, then went to Pluto’s for dinner. Shakeh and I watched Hook to end the night.

A bunch of us went to Cafe Mediteranee for lunch. John had a visiting german Ph.D. student, so I talked with him about research for half an hour or so. I did another phone interview with rambus when I got home, then cooked a wonderful Valentine’s dinner for Shakeh. After we got done, I took her to see Definitely Maybe. The movie was very enjoyable, though definitely a chick flick.

I had a follow-up doctor’s appointment in the morning. Afterwards, I went to the GSA breakfast, then picked up some parts from the ECE office. I went to lunch at the MU, then rode back home and found Tony, Shubho, and Hari on the way home. I sat with them at Chipotle while they ate. Shakeh and I had leftovers for dinner before going to see Jumper. Now I know that many people are going to have problems with this movie. But seriously, I’m so sick of movies trying to over-explain and justify everything. This movie was fun just to sit back and watch. I must say that I was secretly hoping Hayden Christiansen would utter a line about how much he hates sand (Episode II anyone?), but no luck.

On Saturday, I woke up and got a bunch of work done. In the afternoon, I went to the tennis match with Martyn, then walked around downtown and ended up at Zia’s for a late lunch. I went home after that, worked a while more, watched some of the NBA all-star skills challenges, then went to pick up Martyn and Dave for dinner at Thai Nakorn. After we got done there, we went to Cold Stone, which is apparently closed! Not like a store closing would deter us, so we headed over to Ben & Jerry’s. Once we were done with our delectable treats, we dropped by Sophia’s to say hi to Dani, then I dropped the kids off at their place and went home to sleep.

I woke up at 0700 on Sunday and got straight to work. I took an interlude at Konditorei from 1100-1230 with Tina and Mauricio. I went back to work for two hours, then joined Dani, David, and Martyn for some football. After playing for an hour and a half, we went to the ARC, and Martyn and I played some squash. Right after we finished, we went to Burgers & Brew with the guys from football, including all the Italians and a Dutch guy named Taj. I went home and worked for a few more hours, then met Jay and Anna at Ciocolat. Once they finished their wine, I convinced them to go to Crepeville to get a decent sized dessert. Anna and Jay split something as well. Jay and I inadvertantely made Anna snort wine through her nose, which I’m sure burned like hell. Jay and I headed back to my place, then waited for Lindsay and Mauricio to show up so we could watch Sicko.

I know several peopl, myself included, who would be thrilled to have Premiereship games abroad, particularly in the USA. The NFL already has one regular season game played in the UK at Wembley stadium. Why not return the favor? From what I’ve heard, every team in the league would get one game abroad, and seeding would be done to ensure that two teams in the current top-five don’t play (so as not to have one team’s homefield advantage stripped away).

As I said, I’m excited at this prospect. Many Brits are not. And really, I just can’t agree with them. I understand that it would suck to not have that extra home-game, but why not finally let some real football be played in the USA and other countries. Who knows, we might even return the favor with that European NBA division. Oh, let’s just hope you don’t read the last post I wrote…

Shakeh and I ventured to Chipotle for lunch on Monday. Due to all the heavy rain Davis recently endured, my bike was showing some rust and a major lack of oil. So, I did what any reasonable bloke (wait, Rachel said I was a chap) would do and took my bike to the bike shop. While there, I also got the rear wheel adjusted.

Tuesday brought the understanding that I really just need to work on my handstand. Several things will come more naturally I think if I do that. I brought some carrot cake with me to Pluto’s and let Martyn, Alex, and Emma tryt it. Before my meeting, I read at the MU and chatted with Ita. Shakeh got home and we went to Burgers & Brew, then to Salsa.

On Wednesday, Shakeh and I tried Sam’s. The chicken shawerma was awesome.  After that, I went home and worked solid until 2300! Craziness. I did take a small break to cook and eat dinner though. Drat, I had a nice, nine-month streak going where-in I never cooked myself a single meal.

I couldn’t sleep well on Wednesday night, so early Thursday morning I noticed an email from Google EMEA. I played Justin at squash, then Priscilla at racquetball, since I didn’t feel like doing any real cardio. I figured out that I can run my ass off in indoor, and then just sub out. I tend to do much better when I do that (go figure). Tumbling was alright, then I went to hit some tennis balls with Amy, which was so good. It feels great to finally be hitting again. Funny enough, I also got an email from the US Google office. I hurt myself playing indoor at night, I got tripped and fell and used my wrist to break my fall. U played through it for racquetball (which I won), but sat out the men’s indoor game.

I decided to get my wrist checked out on Friday, so I went to health center triage. I joined Shakeh and Javi for lunch at Orange Hut.  Afterwards, I went back to health center and got some X-rays, which came up clean. I watched some of the UCD women’s tennis match, then went home. I worked some more, got another US Google email (when it rains it pours). Shakeh and I went to Thai2k for dinner, then Ciocolat for dessert.

Saturday morning brought a walk to Chipotle. Afterwards, Shakeh and I took a stroll around the neighborhood by 3rd and C. I continued icing my wrist, and watched the Nevada-Hawaii game. I’m happy to say it looks like we’re starting to pick up finally. Javi came over and I helped him with his resume for a bit. We were going to go to Sac with Lee and Verena, but neither Shakeh nor I felt up to it when the time came. We went to manna for dinner instead, then went to watch Fool’s Gold. The movie wasn’t anything special, but it was exciting and fun to watch.

We went to Starbucks and Posh Bagel on Sunday morning. For lunch, Jenny prepared some wonderful food for Lee, Verena, Shakeh, Lindsay, and I. That night, ,y heart sank as I found out that the graphics cards in burn only support compute 1.0, not 1.1. ARGH!

More precisely, why it’s so much better than pro-basketball. I was trying to fully understand how a competition with (compared to the NBA) inferior players and a smaller arena crowd could be more fun to watch than the professional counterpart. Then, it hit me. Yes, there are the obvious things, like how in the NBA regular season, few teams actually try until the final quarter. And yes, the NBA has an annoying sound system. Oh yeah, and half the time, star players just mail-in their performance and make fans pissed off that they payed $40 for a ticket.

I realized, it was for those reasons that college basketball is more fun to watch. In college basketball, players try for all forty-minutes. Highlights are equally likely from the first thirty seconds as they are from the last. There are no craptaculous sound systems in college basketball. The crowd is responsible for making noise, not a few sound engineers and massive speakers. May anyone help a college player who doesn’t go all out all the time. His coach would chew him up in a second, not to mention threaten to take away a scholarship. Let’s also not forget that at this point in their lives, college players aren’t getting paid, but they are getting scouted. They can’t afford to take a night off and disimpress a scout, otherwise their NBA-draft stock falls, and they lose out on a bunch of money if and when they turn pro. Did I miss anything?

Oh,  I do concede that with the exception of the BCS schools, the dancers are much better in the pros ; )

Volleyball on Monday was fun. The coach wasn’t there so we just played the entire time with decent people. We’re doing games to eight in racquetball right now, which I don’t like. I have a habit of coming back around ten points or so, so playing to eight takes me out of my groove. Also, my serve is definitely my strong point, and we have to give up serve after three straight points. For lunch, Shakeh and I went to Hunan. They had hot & sour soup again, my favorite! Afterwards, Martyn and I went to STA for our NYC plans. I went home and didn’t do anything exciting. I just stayed home for dinner and some excellent left overs.

I went to lunch at Manna with Martyn, Emma, and Alex. Our research meeting was okay, nothing special. My night-time Salsa lesson was good. Afterwards, I ran into Van and she let Justin and I sit in on her Zoomba class. It was great! But neither of us were dressed for it.

For some reason, I was just dead tired on Wednesday morning. I got plenty of sleep, so I don’t know what was wrong. I went to Zia’s with Shakeh for lunch, then came home and did some work. I watched the Texas-Texas A&M first half, as well as the Cincy-WVU game. Before Shakeh and I went out for dinner, I got a chance to see Kansas State knock off Kansas, and showed Shakeh how storming a court should be done. We decided to try Sudwerks for dinner. It was really good, though probably about ten-to-fifteen percent overpriced. After dinner, I met up with the others and played games until 2200.

Javi and I went to lunch at Pastaq on Thursday. The lunch special was nice, though the most expensive so far. Before our co-ed game, Bill and I got a round of squash in. He actually got a game off me, his tennis shows through. We lost the coed game 3-5 (I could only play the first half), though I won my racquetball match 15-3, 15-5 and rolled my ankle in the process. I couldn’t play the men’s game against the other international team. We ended up winning 6-5 though. Yay! I saw Spaceballs at the retro theatres, man do I love that movie. Ludicrous Speed…

On Friday, Shakeh gave me a ride to school for the SciDAC meeting. I was able to get breakfast and sit through the morning talks. I ate lunch with John and Greg Humphreys, then went to SISS to say hi. I made a quick trip to the MU to chat with Justin, Mauricio, and Tina. After that, I went home, worked, then went to dinner at Sophia’s, which got changed to Thai Recipes. Afterwards, I went to Yogurt Shack and then home for some rest.

Saturday afternoon, Shakeh and I saw There Will Be Blood at 1300. We were going to go ice skating, but Shakeh was too cold. Instead, we went to Ciocolat and drank something warm. We headed to Old Town Sac and wandered around for awhile. We ended up going to dinner at California Fat’s. Once we got home, I did some reading.

I got a head-start on the day Sunday by doing laundry and going to Safeway early in the morning. I made a carrot cake! It was great! For the Super Bowl, Shakeh and I went over to Larry and Franci’s place. We watched some Stephen Lynch afterwards, much to the delight of others around us.