Memoirs of a CPUNERD

Okay, I’m getting tired of people telling me that P.F. Chang’s is not “Chinese food.” Yes, I know that! I know that virtually no Chinese place in the U.S. is not actually “Chinese food,” I understand that authentic Chinese food is usually just rice, fish, and some sauces poured over to make things taste better. But you know what? It doesn’t matter to me. Do I call you out for referring to burritos at Chipotle or fajitas at Chevy’s Mexican food? No. Of course not, even though that food is actually New-Mexican, not Mexican. I think it is a well understood fact that when we say a food is X, we really mean the food is an American-bastardized form of X. Remember this next time you wish to be pretentious. If you don’t, you’ll probably just end up sounding sophomoric. Just some American food for thought.

I got up and got ready early Monday morning. Justin and Justine picked Amanda and me up around 0840. I got to the airport, checked in, and boarded fairly quickly. The flight was quite pleasant, I flew on an EMB-145. There was no real turbulence, and I was able to listen to XM while flying. Once landed, I headed to the rental-car pickup and made the way out. The car they gave me was a bit of a beast, a Chrysler 300. I stopped off in downtown Albuquerque for lunch at a local pizza joint, then headed to Santa Fe. I didn’t want to book any hotels in advance, so I had to drive around for a bit. Luckily the Hilton in Santa Fe had a big garage and good Wi-Fi signal. After looking up hotels, the new destination was the Old Santa Fe Inn. A quite nice place actually, fairly rustic but kept up well. The one problem was that the Wi-Fi signal there didn’t reach the room, thus I couldn’t look up any places to see or restaurants without going outside, a bit annoying. Once settled in, Santa Fe presented a new problem: being as the population is roughly that of Davis but with working professionals instead of students, everything fun to do closes at 1700. For dinner, the destination was a place on Canyon Road (the local art-gallery road) called Geronimo. The restaurant was recommended by the tennis coach. I can see why now. The food there is awesome, though definitely pricey. I think my meal was at least sixty-five dollars. Parking there was a bit silly. There was a small lot, and the attendant came up to my window and asked if we were eating there. I said yes. He then asked if we had reservations. I told him no. He informed that the parking lot was only for reservation-holding customers, so I drove off, went to the side of the road, and made a reservation for fifteen minutes in the future. Then I went straight back to the valet and had him park. Sigh… As for food, I had a wonderful salad with macadamia nuts, venison loin, and for dessert I had banana-cream pie. Yum.

Tuesday morning started with an early wake up and a short but very-scenic trip to Los Alamos. The Inn had a nice burrito bar, so that made for a good breakfast. I checked out of the Inn since I wasn’t sure I’d be back in Santa Fe that night. I met up with Pat McCormick at Los Alamos around 1000 and had a nice conversation with him and a few others. Pat showed me some of the clusters they were using, and explained some of the expansion cards he had in them. I had originally written a presentation, but it was much easier to just have a conversation and get the facts out in the beginning, then take a bunch of questions to clarify everything. We got lunch from the local cafe, then went back and talked a little more about my work. Pat dropped me off with a man named Scott Pakin who developed a small MPI for the Cell processor. I walked back to the cafe with him, then parted ways there after some discussion. After the cafe, the next stop was an old army-surplus store called The Black Hole. Nothing much was there to see, just a bunch of old-military junk (no, I was not surprised). After the store, I drove to Bandelier National Monument to do a small amount of hiking. Turns out they charged twelve dollars just to get in, pfft! Cave-dwelling Native Americans used to live there, and the bases of their structures were still around, though far from intact. Seeing the remnants was very cool, and the hike was far from strenuous. The last part of the hike actually reminded me a lot of the arboretum in Davis, except drier and no swarms of gnats. After the hike, I drove back to Santa Fe and again required the borrowing of a wireless connection. The Hilton said they were booked solid, as did El Dorado, so a place called the Hotel Plaza Real became my bed for the night. It was really nice, surprisingly so. For dinner, there was a well rated place called La Plazuela located in the interior of the downtown plaza. The food there was authentic New Mexican, and quite delicious. Of course, the meal ended with sopapillas and honey. The hotel was a warm welcome after the chilly walk back on a wonderfully-full stomach.

A local place called The Pantry Kitchen served breakfast to me on Wednesday. I had a breakfast burrito with green chiles. It was great, and the chiles were mild enough that they added flavor without hurting. After breakfast, we stopped by a place called Jackalope. It sold all manner of things, and generally came off to be a single-person-owned flea market. After Jackalope, the downtown area in Santa Fe was tempting enough to be the next stop. There wasn’t a ton to see there. Canyon road, a street somewhat far away, had a bunch of art galleries that did not get my patronage. The rest of the area was basically a bunch of shops for tourists. A nice area around which to walk, but not to spend money for me. There was one nice place, an extremely beautiful cathedral. After seeing that though, there was nothing left. Next stop, the Sandia Tramway! Up at Sandia peak, outside of Albuquerque, there exists a sky tram. At the time of construction, it was the longest tram in the world. It spanned a vertical distance of one kilometer and a horizontal distance of four kilometers. The cost to ride wasn’t that bad, so I gave it a shot. I’m somewhat afraid of heights, so being suspended so high up amidst the thirty kilometer per hour winds in a little box with twenty other people was nerve racking at times. At the peak there was still snow and people were skiing. The restaurant there was overpriced of course, but I was hungry and didn’t care. Once the descent finished, it was time to find a hotel. The choice ended up just being one near the airport. After checking in and finding local restaurants, a place called Sadie’s stood out. The place reminded me of a chain restaurant, but apparently it was the only of its kind. It served authentic New-Mexican food (again) and holy crap were the portions huge. The food was so cheap too, but it was very good. Afterwards, the malt shop I found online turned out to be closed, so no dessert.

Thursday morning saw the invasion of the Frontier Cafe and the UNM campus in Albuquerque. The cafe was awesome. Of course I got a breakfast burrito, but I also got a cinnamon roll. Oh man, that was a mistake to get both. The cinnamon roll was absolutely covered in butter and sugar instead of icing, but I ate the whole thing anyways, as well as the burrito. After breakfast, the UNM campus had to put up with me. I always feel a little strange taking pictures of everything, and I felt even more so while taking pictures on the campus. I just couldn’t help it though, every building everywhere was adobe style (well, not every building, but most). After the campus came the atomic museum and Old Town Albuquerque. The museum was really cool. There was an entire wall tracing the foundation of the atom bomb. There was of course more, but that was the most interesting part to me. Old Town Albuquerque was pretty lame. Just another shopping district, as most all Old Town areas tend to be. The downtown area of Albuquerque came next. The place was very touristy, and in all honesty, didn’t have that much to do. It seems like a happening place at night, but it felt like a less yuppy version of Santana Row. After visiting the downtown area, it was time to go to the airport. After taking forever in security, I sat down and watched the North Carolina game. I must say that I was saddened to see UNC run away the way they did, I figured Louisville would put up more of a fight. While watching the game, I had some food at the bar and sipped a caramel-apple martini. I didn’t even finish half of it. Once the game was over, it was time to board the flight and head back to Davis!

Come Friday, it was back to the grind. Luckily my brother and Brianna stopped by to provide some midday entertainment. Mike, being the picky-ass bastard he is, had a hard time finding something to eat at Cafe Mediterannee. Shakeh, Brianna and I had to order him something fairly plain. By the end of the meal, he was opening up though and trying the sides the rest of us ordered. The best part of lunch came when Mike ordered a dessert item. As it disintegrated to nothing, he would just pick up all the pieces and put it in his palm, proceeding to devour it like a horse with a carrot offering. We were all laughing at him, but he cared not. Funny enough, this is why I love the guy, always entertaining and completely unapologetic. After lunch, we all walked back to my place and I got right back to work. Shakeh continued to watch some of her shows, and I watched some basketball. We grabbed some Chipotle for dinner, then went to see 21. The movie was actually very good! Several friends were afraid the movie would ruin the book and try to be very flashy and action packed. In the end though, the movie was definitely more about the kid’s life and story then about guns and women.

On Saturday I woke up and got right back to work. Shakeh and I ended up going to Zia’s for lunch, but we had to walk back as there were no seats available. I somehow convinced Shakeh to watch Firefly, and after the second episode, she was hooked. We continued watching, and I also watched basketball, for the rest of the day. We wandered over to Pluto’s for dinner, but just took the food to go because Shakeh wanted to keep watching Firefly. By the end of the night, we were already to the third disc.

Same ol’ on Sunday. Get up, get to work. I started actually writing the paper and discovered that writing an abstract is much harder to write when the rest of the paper is not present. Sometime in the morning, we finished Firefly. Shakeh then went back to watching her shows. For lunch, we visited the 3rd and U cafe. The food was alright, and since no one else was there, the service was quite snappy. I can imagine though, based on what I witnessed, that the service during a peak time would be bad. After lunch, we went back to work. After bringing home Woodstock’s for dinner, we watched The Pianist without subtitles. Funny how the meaning of a movie or scene in a movie can be conveyed through acting, even without an understanding of the dialog.

I know this point is brought up constantly. And it’s not that I mind it, but… doesn’t it seem really funny that a secular country observes religious holidays [1, 2, 3]? Don’t try and bring up the founding fathers, just don’t. The types of observation vary, but they are indeed observed. Halloween has very little bearing on most people’s lives, but the government is still involved. Easter always falls on a Sunday, and a sizeable portion of the population, including business owners, use the day to celebrate. Christmas is actually recognized by the federal government of the United States. Just food for thought.

Like I said, don’t give me this speech about how America was founded by Christians. That is not the case[4, 5, 6]. America was founded by Freemasons [7, 8, 9, 10]. Those Freemasons did have respect for all religions but fought for a nation in which religion was not a qualifying or discriminatory factor for any person.

Halloween is an interesting holiday to examine. The celebration is largely secular now, but the history lies with Christianity. Local governments even go so far as to plan the specific night on which kids celebrate. Luckily for adults, this celebration doesn’t affect them all that much. They just have to turn on their porch light, hand out candy, and pray (yes, this word was intentional) that their house doesn’t get vandalized.

Now let’s examine the impact of Easter. Sunday comes around, ninety percent of Davis shuts down. Easter might not be a United States Federal Holiday [11], but it is a day in which the country says “I’m taking the day off.” And good for them, I whole-heartedly love the fact that people of any religion here can celebrate their holidays openly.

Christmas is a more iffy situation. It is the one religious holiday that the federal government of the United States recognizes. Fair? Don’t ask me. All I know is that if it weren’t for casinos and movie theatres, there wouldn’t be an open business in half the U.S. cities.

I know this is mainly a collection scattered thoughts, but I just figured they were worth sharing. But being as nobody ever reads these notes, it doesn’t matter. Right God? ; )

[1] - Christmas history - The origins of Christmas and related celebrations…
http://www.christmas-time.com/ct-history.htm

[2] - All Hallows Eve, All Souls and All Saints Day - Halloween’s Christian Roots…
http://www.americancatholic.org/features/halloween/

[3] - CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Easter
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05224d.htm

[4] - The U.S. NOT founded upon Christianity
http://www.nobeliefs.com/Tripoli.htm

[5] - Top 5 myths about america (sic)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/26169/Top-5-myths-about-america

[6] - Our Founding Fathers Were NOT Christians
http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

[7] - Freemasonry
http://www.freemasonry.org/

[8] - Freemasons
http://www.nobeliefs.com/freemasons.htm

[9] - Freemasonry, symbolisms of Masonry, art gallery
http://www.religion-cults.com/Secret/Freemasonry/Freemasonry.htm

[10] - Christians beware - of Freemasonry
http://bibleprobe.com/freemasonry.htm

[11] - Holidays and Other Dates in the US Secular Calendar
http://www.smart.net/~mmontes/ushols.html

On Monday, Shakeh and I went back to Jojo’s, hoping that they were actually just closed on Sundays. Turns out they were indeed out of business. What the heck? The owner of the building was there, and he told us that he’s had one hell of a time trying to find a reliable partner to lease the building. After lunch, the cast came off! I received a splint for the next few weeks, but at least I can take that thing off and air the hand out (and wash it).

Justin decided to skip the gym on Tuesday. After doing cardio, I went for a bike ride around Davis again. I visited the MU for lunch. I worked for a bit, then went to Burgers & Brew with Abhi, Shakeh, Martyn, and Sara for dinner.

On Wednesday, I lifted for half an hour, then played three and a half hours of racquetball with John and Chris. Rather intense. I picked up Amanda from the airport and then showed her the campus. Sara and I bowled with her until 1830, then we went to the Farmer’s Market. I overdid things just a bit and ordered a polish dog (good), a paneer wrap (so-so), and a bunless buck (great!). Franci, Javi, Shakeh, and Larry also joined us at the market. We left as the weather was getting cold.

Amanda and I woke up early on Thursday, got ready, picked up Sara, and headed to Posh Bagel and Starbucks. We ordered some breakfast, then headed straight to to SF. We did the usual thing, parking at Daly City and taking the BART in. We visited Union Square park first, then headed to Hyde park. After that, we circled back around to Chinatown to look around, then went to North Beach and visited the Stinking Rose. We went to Washington Square Park and then made our way to Coit Tower. We walked around and wound our way to Pier 39 and checked out the Battlin’ Sea Lions. It was funny, some of them would be in the water, trying to get back up onto a platform. However, other sea lions had opposing plans. As one sea lion would try and get onto a platform, the other sea lion would just butt it off. It was fun to watch. After that, we walked to the wharf and watched the sourdough guys work their magic at the Boudin Bakery, then laughed at all the people getting startled by the bush guy. We went to Ghiradelli Square next and enjoyed some wonderfully decadent then took the trolley back to the BART. We crossed the Golden Gate by car, then headed to Horizon’s in Sausolito. After a long day, we got home and Amanda and I just crashed.

On Friday, Amanda and I went to The Village Bakery for a quick bite, then headed to Berkeley. Amanda and I walked around the campus and checked out a few of the buildings, then headed to Telegraph street for a quick look. We went to Palo Alto along 280, then walked down University Avenue and stopped at Madison and Fifth for lunch. I had a ravioli dish that was really good, but made my stomach hurt. We didn’t get a chance to really check out Stanford because there was absolutely no parking. We went to Google and had a forty-five minute tour, courtesy of Andrew. After that, we headed back to Davis. We got in, met up with Sara, Shakeh, and Javi for dinner at Kathmandu Kitchen. We went home and tried to watch Run Fatboy Run, but ended up watching The Darwin Awards instead.

Saturday we went to breakfast with Sara at Crepeville. Said goodbye (again) = \, then headed to the airport to drop off Martyn. Shakeh, Amanda, and I then went to Old Town Sac. My parental units met up with us, then we walked around and went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. Shortly after lunch, we headed back to Davis. Amanda and I biked to “The Domes,” then another eight miles around the Davis bike loop. After we got back, we rested for a bit, then went to see Drillbit Taylor with Shakeh and Javi. We went to Sophia’s for dinner after that, then Amanda and I headed back to my place.

A lazy day was had on Easter Sunday. I worked through most of it, as did Amanda. pretty much a lazy day. Amanda and I wandered down to the 3rd and U cafe for lunch, which was closed for Easter (like most of the town apparently). We ended up going to Woodstock’s for lunch since most other things were closed and Bistro was just doing an easter brunch that was ridiculously overpriced. Later that night, Amanda and I met up with Bill, Emma, and Laura at Pluto’s for dinner around 1815, then headed to see the Bank Job.

Now that Christmas is almost here, let’s all pig out! At least, that’s what the voices in my head are screaming. Something about the constant surroundings of sugar and fat, it’s just so hard to resist! When you come back, and you see a blob-like thing slithering through the Davis campus, come by and say hello. Otherwise, I might just eat you!

I got up at a just ungodly hour on Monday. Ken’s flight departed from the Sac airport, so I had to be up at 0345 to pick him up by 0355. Alex escorted us to the airport, where we got to say our goodbyes. Ken was actually the most awake of any of us, probably due to the fact that he didn’t sleep. Alex and I headed back to Davis at that point. Though I guess I should say I headed back, since Alex was quite fast asleep in the passenger seat before we even got out of the airport. I got home around 0500 and went right back to sleep. I woke up and decided to skip the gym in favor of getting some more rest. Once I was actually up, I helped Shakeh ready her things, then took her to the airport, dropping her off around 0930. yes, that means I drove one-hundred and twenty miles in one morning. But it was worth it to be able to see people off. I got back into Davis and met up with Rachel, then we went and picked up Javi. We headed to Arden Fair Mall and got there around 1030. We walked in through Sears and proceeded directly to Cinnabon (first thing to eat for me besides a builder’s bar all morning). I ordered a cinnabon and almost ended up throwing half of it away. It was so sweet! It made the back of my throat burn from the all the sugar. The three of us went around to a bunch of shops. In Anchor Blue, I tried on a pair of jeans. The funny thing about them, they fit my waist perfectly, but when I looked in the mirror, I was wearing tights! No kidding, it was quite ridiculous. Obviously I didn’t buy them. We continued our jaunt around the mall, escorting Rachel around until 1500 or so. The three of us grabbed smoothies from Jamba Juice (so… intake for the day is tons of sugar, nothing else) on the way out. About halfway back, all three of us were starting to feel sick, sleepy, and lightheaded from the overdose of sugar and lack of any real food. We got back into town and went to Crepeville as fast as legally possible. I polished off everything on my plate at a speed of which even Mr. Hendrickson would be proud. After lunner (my word!), we went back to my place so I could send a few emails and Rachel could change, then we dropped Javi off. We headed to the basketball games, where Ish was already waiting. We ran into Dani on the way in so Rachel go to say hi. The women played the opener, and won, almost breaking the century mark. For some reason though, they chose to hold instead of hitting the number. After the game, Ish was quite tired so she left right away. The men were up next, and Javi wandered in to replace Ish just in time. I was actually quite surprised by the height of the men’s team. Eleven out of thirteen of the players were at least one-hundred and ninety centimeters (thats 6′4″ for the metrically challenged). The men’s game was good to watch as well. with luck, they’ll be competing for the conference before I graduate. After the gam, we were all tired so we just headed home and slept.

Tuesday morning came the removal of Rachel’s stitches. My apologies, but you’ll have to wander over to Facebook to view the video. It’s over nine minutes long, but most of the good stuff is in the beginning. Before going, we chatted with Verena for an hour or so while the ladies had their morning tea. Rachel made plans to hang out with Danny, so Verena and I schemed to get a few people together for lunch at Zia’s. As Rachel and I were walking out of Verena’s place, a parking attendant was parked by my car. I ran over and quietly explained that I was just picking up Rachel. He said okay, and didn’t bother writing the ticket. I was quite upset at the matter though. I know that the area outside of Verena’s complex requires a resident’s pass to park, but there was NO OTHER CAR to be seen on the block. The attendant really could’ve let that slide… I dropped Rachel off downtown to get some shoes and meet up with Danny, and then I went to run a few errands before lunch. I picked up Alex and then headed to Zia’s to meet up with Ish, Verena, Justin, and Javi. Apparently half the group hadn’t been before, and luckily they enjoyed it. While there, we had a discussion about how within virtually every country, dialects are always present. For example, I know at least fifteen people from Deutschland, and none of them speak with the same accent. At some point in the conversation, Verena showed us her lovely Prussian accent that she uses to scare her students into doing their homework. After lunch, Alex and I dropped Ish off, then headed to the MU to pick up a few things. One of those things happened to be Ken’s old bike that was given to Alex. We found it outside by the fountain, then walked it to B&L to get a basket installed. After we dropped her bike off, I dropped her off at her place and went back to mine with Javi. We watched some Family Guy and messed around on our computers for a few hours, then Rachel showed back up so we switched to watching some basketball. She headed out around 1830 for dinner with her friend, and then Javi headed to Guadalajara while I swung by Alex’s to pick her up on the way. We met up with Justin and his friend Lindsay for dinner. After some wonderful conversation about injuries from sports, we headed over to Cold Stone to partake in some dessert. Unfortunately for us, the place had just closed. Justin and Javi suggested going to Safeway right next door, so we did just that. I got some of Stephen Colbert’s flavor from Ben & Jerry’s, I think it’s called Americone Dream. The four of us took our ice cream and headed to my place for a movie. We all sat and talked on the couch for a bit and somehow got to mentioning Stephen Colbert (I think due to my ice cream) and his appearance at the White House Correspondent Dinner. We ended up going to my room to watch some Youtube clips, including the Stephen Colbert clips. Instead of watching a movie, we just did that for a few hours. I must add that I think I finally met my match in ice-cream eating. Somehow Alex finished off her pint before I did mine! Astonishing. We watched some Happy Tree Friends, Flight of the Conchords, and a few more random clips. Everyone was tired by the end, so we called it a night and people went home.

I finally went to the gym on Wednesday. Justin staggered in at the tail end of my workout so he just did some cardio with me. After the seventeen miles of biking, I walked over to meet up with Rachel, and then we walked even more to go to The Grad. We stopped off at the Starbucks at the University Mall to get her some breakfast food that wasn’t rich in fat, then we headed over to watch the Chelsea-Liverpool match. While watching the match, I took the opportunity to use my free lunch card. The match was good, though sadly Liverpool lost. They also got hit with a red card. Some guy went at someone elses knees with both feet and his spikes showing. That would have hurt. After the match, javi went home for food and Rachel and I went to the market. I didn’t have any cash, so I went to the bank first while Rachel headed to the market to meet up with Jeff. While at the bank, I realized that we had left the speakerbox on the table! Woops… I briskly walked home and then drove back to get my ID. After that, I drove and parked at the market, and then met up with Rachel, Jeff, and not much later, Alex and her shiny man-bike. There were only a handful of vendors at the market, so we stayed only long enough to get some apple juice and cookies. After that, we walked to a few bookstores looking for a “Californian” bookmark for Rachel’s mother. We had no luck with this unfortunately. So we headed back to the park and gave Alex and her manly bike a ride home. Rachel and I then went and picked up Justin and gave him a ride to the airport. And of course, what would a night be without watching some basketball = ) Later on, Abhi, Alex, Javi, and Wijnand joined Rachel and I at Thai2K, followed by some yummy Cinnabread from Woodstock’s.  I dropped Alex off at home and then met up with everyone at my place for some Family Guy.

I managed to get my lazy butt to the gym again on Thursday morning. After I got home and showered, I headed to the airport to pick up Shakeh. We dropped her stuff off at her place, then went to Habit Burger for lunch. We each went back to our places after that and did some wrapping. Rachel got back later in the afternoon, so we hung out for an hour or so, then went to Safeway for some party supplies and Dos Coyotes for Rachel’s last burrito of her trip. We went back home and got the stuff all prepped for the party. A lot of people showed up, I think fourteen in total. There was Franci and Larry, Pieter and Anne, Victor and Claudia, Matthias and Frederic, Shakeh and I, Rachel and Abhi, and Javi and Sebastian. Franci brought some wonderful pumpkin-bread, and the germans, bless them, brought some PBR ; ) The gift exchange was quite fun, and people got away with some, umm, interesting (?) gifts. Not a whole lot of stealing was going on though, at least until near the end. Once we got to the last four people or so, everyone started large chains, which made for some lovely fun.

Friday morning Shakeh and I joined Rachel and Abh at Crepeville for Rachel’s final breakfast in Davis. After that, Shakeh ran to the registrar to pay for her tuition. picked up shakeh from the campus when she was done paying her bills. When she was done, I surprised her with a full day at the movies. First, we went ot the G Street theatre to see Charlie Wilson’s War. We went to Burgers & Brew for a few minutes after that to say goodbye to Charlotte, as she was leaving the next morning. After saying goodbye, we went to Chipotle to get some lunch, and then rushed to the movie theatre to see Sweeney Todd. I needed to move my car once the movie was over, so I did that, and then came back in and we watched Walk Hard. I liked all of the movies, though the first was my favorite from the bunch. After the movies, we went home for a few hours and did some more gift-wrapping, then went to dinner at Cafe Mediteranee.

We got up early on Saturday and packed up our stuff. I headed over to pick up Javi, and then we were off to Reno! We stopped off in Auburn for gas and in Truckee to get some pictures of the landscape. Once we got in, we dropped off our stuff and talked with my parents for an hour or so. We headed to Jamba Juice and then over to the university to check out the campus. While there, I stopped off in the bookstore and bought some items for myself. We headed back home after that, and then went to Bully’s for lunch. The Nevada bowl game ws on while we were there, but they were doing terrible. By the end of the game, Nevada didn’t score a single point. After lunch, Javi and I went downtown and tried our luck at some of the Circus-Circus games. Javi had more luck than I, as he actually won something. After the games, we went to the ice-rink on First street and tried our luck. Neither of us really knew what we were doing, but by the end we were both capable of skating around without holding the railing. We headed home after that and watched Love Actually, then went to sleep.

After Javi got up on Sunday, I took him to enjoy one of the worst (for you) American things one can imagine, Krispy Kreme. After getting breakfast, we headed to Sparky’s to watch the Madrid-Barcelona match. Madrid actually won! Javi was quite pleased, being as he is from Spain, not Catalunya. After the match we headed around to Reno to check out some of the landscape and local architecture. I took Javi to Windy Hill and Grandview before we headed home. At 1730, we went to check out the Christmas lights. As a surprise for everyone, I rented a limo. The problem… The limo would only seat eight people and we had sixteen to come along. The other slight inconvenience was that even though I had requested the limo for checking out Christmas lights, the driver had never done so. He didn’t even know where Hidden Valley was. It wasn’t that big of a problem though. We got to just sit back and relax. We ended up going to Idle Wild Park, Hidden Valley, Moana and Skyline, and the Los Altos Hills.

Or so it seems. This stupid cold that started out easy just hasn’t let up. Something similar to this happened last year. I came down with a cold, it was really weak, and it went away in a few days. However, less than a week after the cold went away, it came back with a vengeance and wouldn’t let up. I think this has something to do with me not stopping my workout while sick. I’m under the belief now that this stupid cold is never going to go away. It might get a little better, but it’s not going to leave.

Monday morning I was still feeling horrible. I worked out, and the cardio was easier. I think the rest helped. Tennis was good, I’m getting the new serve down. It doesn’t have the zip my old serve had, but it has top-spin and control, two things that my old serve found in short supply. I looked for an armband for my new iPod Nano at the MU bookstore but couldn’t find one. I left lunch at the exact moment when everyone else began to arrive. After my first meeting, I went to the lab and watched The Family Guy while my machine was busy compiling code. Right before the MGI meeting, X finished compiling and was working. However, I didn’t have the NVIDIA driver downloaded… I met up with Shakeh after the meeting and then rode home. I finished the split code and began preparations to run it on the Boeing.

I didn’t feel much better on Tuesday than I did on Monday. I even had to sit out for frisbee because I just couldn’t run. Afterwards, I went home and then ran went to lunch, though I didn’t eat. I took Shakeh to health center, then went home for work. I picked shakeh up from her place before we stopped by Chipotle for dinner. We went to the fields and watched our team win the first playoff game. I was very pissed off at the other team though. The guys knew the ref, so the ref called two handballs on our team when the other team had several uncalled ones themselves. We still won 3-2 though. Ken just f***ing crushed their best player though. The guy was being a brute and a general asshole, so Ken waited for the ball to come near him, then just ran right towards the ball, crossed the guys line, lowered his head and shoulder, and just sent the guy flying. And the best part you ask? All perfectly legal. I took Ken to Safeway and then home afterwards, then went home myself.

With Wednesday came my first round of hitting with Andrea. She (of course) worked me over. Two funny things happened though. She lobbed me while I was at the net, and I smashed it right above her head. She screamed and ducked. I didn’t mean to aim at her, she just happened to be standing right in the way. We both laughed after she uncovered her head and looked up. The second funny thing was off of a rally. Andrea was standing at the T as she should have, I hit to her right, and as she was turning to go get it, she just collapsed. I was afraid at first that she twisted her ankle, and thus I actually ran and jumped the net to make sure she was okay, but when I went there she said she was fine. We both laughed at it, then continued hitting. Shakeh and I went to the Great Wall for their lunch buffet. After that, I headed to Reno. Frank and I went to see Hitman, then Bei and I went to the Circus-Circus for a bit. We went to BJ’s for dinner around 2120. We ordered pizza, but about thirty seconds after we ordered, the waitress came over and told us they were all out of pizza dough! So we took the menus back and then decided on Nachos and a Chili-cheese baked-potato. So we order, thirty seconds later, the waitress comes back and says they’re out of both of those as well! We then ask for the menu again. We didnt find anything, so we just said we wanted the check. The manager came over and apologized and offered us salads, but we politely said we understood they were just very busy that day and it was okay, and that we were fine with just paying and taking off. She said okay, but comped my OJ and gave us each $15 gift certificates.

Happy Thanksgiving! Yes, Thursday was turkey day. However, I woke up feeling really crappy. Because of that, I didn’t eat anything in the morning or for lunch. Instead I worked most of the morning. I went over to Dina’s boyfriend’s place around 1400. There was so much snack food, I just couldn’t resist. When dinner came around an hour and a half later, I was so full I barely ate anything (which sucks ’cause there was so much good stuff!). I stuck around and watched football for a bit, then went home around 1800 as I was starting to feel crappy. I fell asleep on the couch watching the USC-ASU game.

I woke up early Friday morning, packed my stuff, said goodbye to the parents, then headed back to Davis. I got in, unloaded, grabbed a blanket and pillow, then headed over to Dani’s. Apparently there was a miscommunication about the time, so I ended up waking him. Martyn showed up shortly after though, and Dani was ready really quickly. We just headed straight out, not stopping until we crossed a Subway in Santa Rosa. We continued on to Guerneville from there, meeting up with the gang at Safeway. We bought a few items, then Ita, Charlotte, Martyn and I headed back to the place to drop stuff off. We got back to Safeway, then decided to try and find a local place to eat. We went down one road and stumbled into a dive that actually allowed smoking! However, they didn’t serve food, and thus we were forced back down to the main street. We ended up going into a pizza place. The food was good, though the service was atrocious and they forced an 18% tip upon us. Afterwards, it was already 1645, so we went back to the cabin and started playing some card games (ERF Sean!). We played until about 2300, mixing ERF with king cup. afterwards, people started getting ready for bed and we eventually settled down around 0130.

I woke up Saturday (from the floor) around 0730. I was working on my laptop quietly, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw David just kinda standing there, looking at me. I was a little freaked out at first, but he was just waiting for me to notice him so he could ask where my laptop was. Over the next two hours, people started getting ready and cleaning up the place. We got out right at noon, then headed back. Bill played us some British pop, and then some JT. Emma and Charlotte enjoyed it, I’ll hold my opinion ; ) We stopped off for lunch at a Carl’s Jr. in Fairfield. Bill made the mistake of wearing jeans before ordering a Double Six-Dollar Burger. He had to change into sweats afterwards because he was so bloated and full. Some of the people decided they wanted to shop a bit in Vacaville, so we met up with Ita and the people carrier at the outlet strip mall. Emma got out and shopped while Dani and David rode back with me. I dropped everyone off, then went home and rested. Ita and the gang got back around 1800, and I went over to Ita’s place to join up with people around 1900. We had dinner, smores, enjoyed some funny youtube clips, and then I left to go home at 2100 as they were about ot watch Children of Men (an excellent movie by the way, I highly recommend it). I got home and was thinking of going to Giovanni’s goodbye party, but I just felt too crappy so I jumped right into bed and went to sleep.

On Sunday, Shakeh got back into town around noon. We watched Fantastic Four Two: Rise of the Silver Surfer, then some South Park. We went to see August Rush at 1600, then met up with my Mom and Vicky after picking up Miles and meeting up with Rawi. Mom and Vicky picked up Chipotle for us (luckily, otherwise I would have surely starved). We all got into the cars and then headed to the TSO concert. It was great as usual, though I realize now how numb one becomes from the lights, loud music, and constant snow fall. ; )

My guess is that most of my friends who read this are somewhat democratic/liberal in their thoughts. Obviously there are some exceptions, but this piece of prose is directed at those who will be voting in the democratic primary. I was talking with my brother the other day, and he related a very interesting predicament. As anyone who isn’t living under a rock knows, the two democratic front-runners are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. As far as republican front-runners go… I have no idea. My brother pointed me towards an interesting survey. Many republicans surveyed said that they are so disheartened by their party’s recent performance that they were even considering voting for a democrat. However, this came with a stipulation. Virtually every one polled also said that they are tired of government dynasties, the Bush family is an example. What they don’t want is another Clinton in the White House. What does this mean to you? Well, if you believe the poll, this means that many republicans might vote fordemocrat, unless Hillary is the democratic nominee. Now, I haven’t decided my vote for the democratic nominee, but should I take this poll seriously? Should I be bullied into blindly voting for the next best thing besides Hillary (assuming I wanted to vote for her, which right now I don’t)? Personally, I think that most polls like these are utter crap and will just vote for the candidate that I feel will do the best job. But that’s me. What about you? Would results like these sway your vote? What would the numbers have to be to sway you from voting for your favorite candidate in fears that republicans would pull another 2000 or 2004?

On Monday, I forgot my headphones. Argh! To make matters worse, I had to ride a recumbent bike since all the regular bikes were in use. I’ve now come to realize that the muscles used while riding a recumbent bike are indeed different than when riding an upright bike. After the bike, I went to tennis and continued working on my serve. It’s coming along, though I still need a lot of practice and repetition. Volleyball was also good, in that my arm wasn’t giving my any crap. I went to the MU for lunch and was joined by a few extras including Justin, Vanessa, and Miles’ girlfriend Jen. I headed to my research meeting and then to the lab to get a memtest going. While the test was running, I met with Bill for some bowling and billiards. I’m pleased to say I didn’t lose at everything = \ I headed back for our MGI meeting and found that my machine did indeed have memory problems, hurray… After the meeting, I went home and worked while watching MNF.

I tumbled again on Tuesday, and I didn’t have any problems. I played John in racquetball after I finished a squash match against Coach Clink. We had an extended football practice, even going so far as to venture to the fields at Hutchison. After practice, I went to Applebee’s with the guys. Shakeh called near the end, and I was treated to my first “bloke in a pub” treatment. I took off from the restaurant, picked her up, took her to Fuji’s, then went to B&R for some wonderful dessert.

I went to Pluto’s for lunch with Shakeh on Wednesday. I ventured to the lab afterwards to run another memtest, then went to an in-person interview with Apple. The interview went fine, and I was told I would get at least a phone interview later on. Later that night, I met up with Javi, Daniel, Justin, and Pieter for dinner. We went to Thai Recipes. The food was actually really good there, and it was hot enough for Justin (he was actually sweating). There were two girls sitting near us at another table who were both very entertaining and incredibly annoying. The sentence “like totally actually for sure” serves to sum it up quite nicely. After dinner, I quickly ran to Sophia’s to say happy birthday to Paloma, then we all went to get some yogurt at the Yogurt Shack. Paul met up with us there as daniel was leaving. After yogurt, we went back to my place and watched Snatch. I forgot how much I liked that movie. Though… will someone please explain to me why Brad Pitt was one of the four guys involved in the diamond robbery?

Holy crap! My bike’s derailer literally exploded Thursday on my way to the gym. I was riding, and my chain came off. When that happens, I usually can just keep pedaling and the chain will catch again and re-engage. However, this time, the chain got pulled very tight, then snapped loose, wrapped around itself, and formed a kink. Before I could stop, that kink went into the derailer and BAM!!! I stopped, turned around, and walked my bike back on foot. Luckily, I had my other bike. Unluckily, I practically have an ulcer whenever that bike is not parked safely indoors. Anyways, I’m looking forward to going to Reno, and not just for the conference. Working out in the morning is just killing me. I think it’s all the extra sports that I’m playing, because when I do my cardio ride in the morning, I can’t keep my heart rate up because it’s so hard on my leg muscles. In racquetball, I played four matches with John, winning one and losing three. I take consolation in the fact that two out of the three that I lost, I lost 14-15. In frisbee, we played a full game instead of two small games. When I got home, I got a call from Shakeh. She was really rushed and freaking out about her lab report, so I helped her format it. After I got back home, I showered, then took my bike to the bike shop. I got into the MU at 1345. I ate lunch and chatted with some friends, then headed with Ita and Pphelie to meet Shakeh at the Commons. We got Jamba Juice while Shakeh got Habit Burger. After that, I went back to the bike shop to sign off on my bike. Two-hundred and thirty dollars! Jesus… When I got home, I headed to pick up Ken, then we headed back to my place and watched some Family Guy. After that was over, we headed to the match. Unfortunately we were handed our first loss of the season, 2-3. It wasn’t that bad of a loss, except the guys we played against were a bunch of floppers. I’m not just saying that, and I’m not sour grapes. Several times, when one of our guys had an advantage on a ball, their guy would create contact and fall down in an attempt to draw a whistle. It was really pathetic. I really, Really, REALLY, wanted to level one or two of them, because all they would do is bitch and moan instead of actually playing. The worst part you ask? One of them spiked Bill hard, and instead of stopping play, they continued playing. I had to literally scream at them and run up and almost crash into their ball handler to get them to stop. Luckily, they had some guys who were genuinely good. They were very fast, and technically sound. Those guys I had no problem with. Afterwards, shakeh and I got ready and went to our salsa lessons. We learned the hook turn, and we were also shown two cross-body turns. We finished with that, then went to Kathmandu Kitchen to say hello to Giovanni and his group, and we also caught Anuja and Bbhi’s group. After saying hello and goodbye, we went to Woodstock’s for dinner, then to Ita’s for an after-match night cap. I was getting really tired though, so we only stayed for an hour and a half (though she was kicking everyone out at 0030 anyways).

On Friday, I went out to lunch with Shakeh at Raja’s. I dont know why I’ve been avoiding the place! It was very decent Indian food, and they have a lunch buffet! I drove from there straight to Reno. I made it over the hill and home just in time for my phone interview with Apple. For dinner, I met up with Jesse, Dye, Kenyon, and Randy at the Bully’s at the mall. We had some good old-fashioned nerd conversation for three hours, then I went home after that and hung out with the parents for an hour before going to sleep.

With Saturday came the realization that the conference was holding only something for the education program (so I came down a day early pretty much). I decided to work out early in the morning so I wouldn’t have to do that during the week. I watched College Game Day and finished my workout. The parents and I went to see Fred Claus around noon. The movie was good, though a bit too childish for my taste. I still enjoyed it though. After the movie, I went home and worked on some seismology stuff, then had dinner with the parents and Vicky. Frank cooked steaks. Holy crap! It has been so long since I’ve had a real steak, it tasted so good. For dessert, I bought some Coldstone for the first time in several months. Tasty indeed.

Sunday was the first real day of the conference. I went to the first half of the petascale storage workshop. I had to bail early so I could go to the mall and get a present for Sinead. I also took the opportunity to look for pants, but didn’t have much luck. I headed home home and worked for a while longer, before going to Lisa’s for dinner. I got to meet Adrienne’s boyfriend Eric. He seemed like a very nerdy person, so we got along great. I also got to see Michelle and Michael for the first time in several months.