Memoirs of a CPUNERD

Another year, another picnic day in Davis. This time, it so happened that the weather was wonderful. Many of us participated in the parade, and those who didn’t enjoyed it from the side. There was one small hitch, the parade was quite late and took too long. We ended up missing most of the things we wanted to see, but that’s a lesson from which we’ll learn in preparation next year. I will say that even with missing so many events, it was still a blast. Once the evening hit, we started seeing people get thrown into the drunk tank and getting arrested downtown. An interesting site, but not something I’d look to to be involved with in any way.

The big day! On Monday, my paper was finally due, and thus John would actually take a look at it and give me some advice. I woke up and got ready for the gym, but read some comments from John and Shubho before leaving. I felt like crap after racquetball, not sure why. I came home and worked until 2215, and I managed to do laundry while at it. Once my paper was finally submitted, I went over to Shakeh’s. She ate dinner, then we went to Ben & Jerrys for frozen yogurt. After we got done, I dropped her off, went home, and did nothing for the first time in ages.

Racquetball on Tuesday was fine. Tennis, not so much. Don’t even ask about frisbee, it was wiiiiiiiiiiiiindy. I talked with Martyn at the MU for a bit, then went to Cafe Mediterannee for lunch with Shakeh. Come early afternoon, Martyn and I headed to SF after a car wash and fill-up on petrol. A good seventy-five minutes later, we parked near the Fillmore, then proceeded to walk to find a Moroccan place that turned out to be Ethiopian. Luckily for me I’d never had either and was excited to try both. The food turned out to be really, really good. I found it similar to Middle-Eastern food, but the bread, called injera, was different. In my mind, if one took a crepe recipe, added water to increase the sponginess, then made the sheets much thicker, injera would be the result. Oh, did I mention no utensils? After a spectacular dinner, we walked back to the Fillmore. The two opening bands were 12 Stones and Red. Neither of which I’d ever heard before. I didn’t pay any attention to 12 Stones. Red was alright, but they seemed confused about their identity. I equate them to a metal band doing a power ballad. They had the potential, but there were times when they tried to switch genres and it just didn’t work. Of course, the band of the hour was 3 Doors Down. They were spectular in quality live. Their stage show was nothing special, and they didn’t work up the crowd (not that they needed to). I think I heard every song I hoped for, and of course a few extras they threw in there. Martyn and I took an excessive amount of time because we were making out in the car I-80 was closed right before the bridge. It took us half an hour to go half a mile, thanks to traffic. I dropped him off at 0045, then got home after saying a brief goodnight to Shakeh at 0100. A long day ahead of me…

On Wednesday I climbed up the ladder in racquetball, but was feeling really weak come time for the tennis class. I think it was from the cold I had. I sat for the last ten or fifteen minutes because I just couldn’t do anything after that. I started doing forward rolls in tumbling now, my arm seemed to be okay. I found out quickly I still couldn’t do anything else though, not even a cartwheel. I ate at the MU with Shakeh for lunch, then went to a meeting with John to talk about research ideas. Immediately after that I went to the group meeting, then headed back to my place. I scrubbed the yellow pages for some apartment listings, then went to Fuzio for dinner with Shakeh. After dinner, we went to see Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. The movie was very good. It actually felt like a movie from the forties at first, which was a bit weird I must admit. Once the movie was over, I dropped Shakeh off and went right to sleep. Man was I tired.

I finally had a good day in tennis again on Thursday. After trying one out, I’m thinking of switching to a non-oversized racquet. Racquetball also went well, as did frisbee. I got called “the buff guy” in frisbee. Shakeh was sick with a fever so I went over and tended to her while working and calling apartments. I picked up Chipotle for dinner. Shakeh was feeling better by that time. Around 1915, I went to our first outdoor football match. I actually scored! Yes, that is more an indication of the other team than me.

I had a dentist appointment early on Friday. Afterwards, I scampied over to Jamba Juice, then headed to the Bay Area with Falcon. We looked around at places for a bit, then headed to Google to have lunch with Chrisco. After lunch, we checked out the rest of the places we had in mind at Mountain View, then began the two and a half hour trek to Davis (stupid freaking traffic). When I got back, I joined Shakeh at the F Street theatres and we went to see The Forbidden Kingdom. I must say, that even in Davis, I had never seen such a high ratio of Asian people to non Asian people. After the movie, we went over to Pluto’s for dinner. I was really surprised at the number of people there. They must have all just exited the movies.

Saturday was Picnic Day! We had to get up at 0615 so Shakeh could make it to SISS on time. Of course, even when we woke up that early, she still got there ten minutes late. Once there though, we helped blow up balloons. After an hour, we headed to the parade grounds and had some fun with flags for quite some time. The parade was delayed almost an hour, so we ended up not getting started until 1100. Once it got started though, it was a lof fun. The walking took about an hour and a half. After we finished at 3rd and A, we met up with everyone and grabbed some food at the quad. Sean and Ciderman stopped by for a few minutes, but then went to sushi with Verena and Lee. After eating, a bunch of went to the Pavilion for the dachsund races, then saw Martin Yan (can cook) at the food sciences building. We were going to stay and get free ice cream, but there was a huge line. Instead, we headed to the Micro-mouse competition. Unfortunately, and this would be a common theme, we got there at 1430 and it closed at 1400. We made our way to the liquid-nitrogen ice cream, but we were again too late. So next we tried to get into the laser maze. However, it was already 1500, there was a long line, and it closed at 1600. We didn’t think we would get in, so we just left. Shakeh and I headed to get funnel cake while everyone else wandered off to go watch the dog-and-frisbee tricks. Once Shakeh and I had our wonderful funnel cake, we met up with everyone and headed to the battle of the bands. We stayed there until 1745 or so, then went home and dropped off the bikes. Right after that we met up with Sean and Ciderman at Sophia’s. The place was totally packed though, so we went to Chipotle instead. Javi and Gina joined us not long after that. Once we finished dinner, we went to get gelato at Ice Krimski Cafe, then Shakeh and I headed home and passed out immediately. I think we fell asleep before 2100.

Sundary morning we got up and headed to Napa Valley right away. Our first stop was the Mondavi winery and their tour. After that, we went to Rubicon. Shakeh really liked the grounds and the museum they had there. The wine was getting to Shakeh, so we went to the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. The food was superb as usual. Once we were done there, we hit up Beringer. We skipped the regular tasting room and went to the reserve-wine tasting room. We actually were able to try a few for free. The sauvignon blanc was really good, but we ended up skipping it. After Beringer, we went to Louis Martini. There was some crazy Japanese guy that was talking to Shakeh and trying to hit on her. The workers there were obviously annoyed, and they all breathed a sigh of relief when he left. Once we were done there, we headed to the V Sattui winery. We actually didn’t try any wine there, we instead just got a bunch of cheese and crackers. It’d been almost a year and a half since I’d had Piave, and I was excited to get to eat it again. Our last stop was at Rutherford Grove. We were going to go to Beaulieu, but we both just wanted to go home. For dinner, we went to Thai Nakorn and then saw Smart People at G street. It was really good! I liked it a lot, especially the character played by Thomas Hayden Church.

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.

Just For Fun, the auto-biography of Linus Torvalds, ghost-written by David Diamond, was all in all a good read. There is not much technical background required, and even parts that require such knowledge can be skipped without missing the point of the book. In the very beginning of the book, an interview is printed that shows how Linus would only do the book because he thinks it will be “just for fun.” The book lives up to that, being light-hearted and primarily anecdotal. There is a lot in the book about his technical achievements, but so much more of it is about his struggles as a nerd in general.

I found something in the book that didn’t sit well with me. There is one quoted line from Linus that is so unlike anything else said. Due to it’s difference, it stuck with me, and now I have a hard time discerning which voice is actually his; that single quotation I found, or the rest of the book. Yes, the book has a ghost-writer, and I’m sure much of the voice is dictated by the ghost-writer, but still. A ghost-writer, should by nature, strive to make the work appear to be in the voice of the subject. Now, we’ll never know. Then again, not knowing wouldn’t be such a huge loss, as this whole experience was “just for fun.”

As of Monday, I was still sick. Luckily my fever was drastically reduced, but it was still there, as well as the general soreness and cough. Shakeh and I went to Chipotle for lunch, since I actually had my appetite back. We watched The Nanny Diaries that night, and it was surprisingly decent. The production company did something that is often done with movies of this kind. They tried to advertise as something it was not. It was not a chick-flick, yet the main point I got from the commercials was that it would be a romantic comedy. Again, it was not. After the movie, Shakeh and I watched Serena Williams lose to Jelena Jankovic. Come on now, was anyone else aware that Serena has never defended a grand-slam title? When she repeats, it’s never the next year. And besides that, Jankovic is just bloody (I’m using that in place of a more American word) annoying. Boy do I hope she loses. After tennis, I finished reading Just For Fun.

Holy crap was it raining bad on Tuesday. I don’t know if I was still weak from the cold or what, but I was not doing good during the morning. I went to the MU for lunch, then joined Justin and visited the health center. The nurse said a  virus was going around and I probably had that. Then again, she also told Justin the exact same thing, so I am doubtful they do anything but say “There’s a virus going around, you probably got it from someone.” For dinner, I grabbed some El Mariachi to go and ate with Shakeh at her place. I went to Salsa solo since the lady was not feeling well, though Justin also showed up. Speaking of others who showed up, Marilena was there. I hadn’t seen her in such a long time (my birthday or Halloween I think). I also ran into Anna, Nina, and Andrea, all of whom were in the intermediate class being held afterwards. I didn’t get to chat much though, as I was trying to leave.

Racquetball on Wednesday was fun. I played three matches. The first match, I owned someone. Then, as karma would have it, I got owned by Andy with the exact same score. I played Chris in my third match and it was really close. I managed to pull it out though and won 16-14. I met up with Shakeh for lunch at Raja’s and then walked her to work afterwards. I thought I saw Cathy there, and it turns out I actually did, though I didn’t know until later. I picked Shakeh up from her appointment at the health center around 1630, then dropped her off at her place. I then picked up Bill around 1800 and went to Ita’s to wait for everyone. For Dave’s birthday, he chose to go to Wendy’s. His name is Dave after all. We left there around 1930, and I ran to Pluto’s to get some actual dinner. I headed to Shakeh’s, and we watched the Hantuchova-Ivanovic match. We saw the first set and a half, then I headed home and watched the rest of the match. Even though Hantuchova won the first set 6-0, she lost the match. Come on woman, what the heck?!

There were a ton of people on the cardio machines on Thursday morning. All of the exercise bikes were taken. As such, Justin and I played squash for a bit instead of biking. In gymnastics, we had a substitute. He let us do significantly more than we usually do, which was great. After I got home and showered, I went to Woodstock’s with Javi, Martyn, and Alex for lunch. Around 1600, I headed to the ARC for IMs via a ride with Javi (thanks again). The coed indoor-football game didn’t go very well. In fact, it went quite badly. We got shut out 0-7. Martyn and I decided to go upstairs and blow off some steam by playing squash. After our match, I went and signed in for racquetball, then headed down to the lobby to wait for my opponent to show up. My match started promptly at 2000. Before the match, I asked my opponent how long he’d been playing. His response was something along the lines of “I’m rusty, but I played for eight years.” Needless to say I was a bit worried. I was suddenly very glad that all my supporters had said they would turn up to watch. And luckily, chance would have it that I didn’t have a need to be worried. I ended up winning 15-3, 15-5. The points I dropped were all off of serves I chose to use to go a little easy on the poor guy. On top of the good score, I also made good time. The match finished in about ten minutes or so. Thus, I was able to go downstairs and join in on the men’s indoor action only five minutes late. Regardless of my presence, we still lost that match 2-6. After I showered, Justin gave Bill and me a ride back to my place, and then I dropped Bill off and headed to pick up Shakeh from school. We dropped her bike off, then went to Crepeville for dinner. I was fairly exhausted so we didnt stay long. After I dropped Shakeh off, I headed home and longed for some blissful rest. I fell asleep to the fourth game of the Federer-Djokovic match. Turns out I should’ve stayed up, as Djokovic won in straight sets.

Let me repeat, early Friday morning on the west-coast, Federer lost in straight sets! Damn, what is happening to the world? Luckily it was to Djokovic, who I can be quoted as saying he would be great after since the first time I saw him in July of 2007. I drove Shakeh to the health center since she was late for her appointment. Later that day, Javi, Tony, Shakeh, and I met up for lunch at Ali Baba. Even later that day I picked Shakeh up from school as it was absolutely pouring outside. We went to Sophia’s for dinner, then to the Yogurt Shack for dessert. We then went back to my place and watched the Women’s final, which Sharapova won in straight sets. After the match, we turned on the movie Mr. Woodcock, which was pretty bad. I wasn’t expecting much, and boy did it fulfill that promise of non-deliverance.

For some weird reason, when I woke up at 0700 on Saturday I was really tired. Nonetheless, I jumped in the shower, got dressed, and then headed out. I made a quick stopoff at Posh Bagel for breakfast, then drove to NASA Ames to pick up Paul. We drove to Google to print out directions, but Paul forgot his laptop so we went back to Ames one more time. Then we drove back to Google, printed directions, and proceeded in to the city. The first place we visited was in Nob Hill. Paul had to run all over the block since he didn’t have an address and the contact’s cell phone number wasn’t working. Go figure. After that, we went to a shady area in the mission to check out a flat. Luckily the owner didn’t answer the door, so Paul was able to just check that one off and say “No way in Hell.” We drove back to the south bay and checked out North Park again. Turns out that the plans to bulldoze the place and make condos went under, so Lyon sold the property to Prometheus. That means that Lyon couldn’t do leases anymore since Prometheus would take over right away, and might require a twelve-month lease. After North Park, we headed to Castro Street and stopped at the Roadhouse Bar and Grill. The food was alright. The BBQ sauce used by the restaurant wasn’t that great though, and being as the meat was covered in it, the meal was somewhat ruined. After lunch, Paul and I went to Google and watched football (the original kind) and basketball for awhile. This involved poking fun at Len Elmore and the Oklahoma State coach for a bit. At the halftime of the WVU game, I dropped Paul off and headed back to Davis. Shakeh and I got ready for Javi’s dinner and then we went off to Crepeville. An absolute TON of people showed up. Our party took up the majority of the tables at the restaurant. After dinner, Shakeh wasn’t feeling well so we went home. We tried to just go to sleep but she was having such bad fits that she was in physical pain and I was forced to stay awake. Eventually we were able to get her cough to subside so we could both sleep.

Sunday morning brought the results of the Australian Open, Djokovic beat Tsonga. He did drop a set in this game, something Federer couldn’t make happen, but his win was rather convincing. The match was really good though. We saw some highlights and a few games from it. A lot of people are saying now that Federer finally met his match and won’t win much more, but I doubt that. I think Djokovic and Tsonga will now do really well, but I bet Federer still wins three more majors and breaks the mark set by Sampras. Shakeh and I dared to try Quizno’s for lunch. The flatbread sandwiches have gotten small and not that good. After lunch, we saw 27 dresses. The movie was somewhat blah. The Devil Wears Prada was funny, entertaining, and thus obviously had an appeal to both men and women. 27 Dresses was pretty much a chick-flick with another usual story. After the movie, we went home and got some work done, then went to Giovanni’s goodbye dinner for about half an hour. We picked up some food and went home to eat, then tried to get some sleep. Shakeh was still having coughing fits though, so it took a long while for either of us to be comfortable enough to sleep.

I usually don’t do New Year resolutions, simply because I’m too unoriginal and always come up with “lose weight” or “exercise more” or some other crap like that. Well, I’ve been losing weight (minus the several I gained back from the break of course) consistenly and I exercise twenty or more hours a week, so this time there would be none of that. I did have two things I really wanted to do, and I just didn’t see myself accomplishing either without a big (and not necessarily logical) push. So, for the New Year, I have resolved to visit Europe, whether for work, pleasure, or both. I also resolved to read at least twelve novels (at least one a month). I have His Dark Materials series, which is three, and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit,  which makes seven. The other five will have to come randomly. Just For Fun and I Am America will probably work their way in there.

As for revelations, I had two large ones. The first, the female athletes sponsored by Davis are no more immune to the image of the typical jock than a typical human is to Ebola-Zaire. This was shown by the New Year’s Eve party, where half of the UC Davis Women’s Basketball team showed up, already drunk and stoned. They proceeded to act like stuck-up and self-righteous bitches to some of my friends. Sigh, I thought with Davis only recently transitioning to Division I we would still have some actual students among our athletes. Apparently not the case with the women’s team. The other revelation was that at one point, Shakeh and I had seen every film in the Davis theatres (Except AVP which doesn’t even count anyways).

Monday was a lazy day (like any day since school got out wasn’t…). We worked on the puzzle and watched another season of The Family Guy before we got ready. For dinner, we had reservations at Seasons. After dinner, we picked up Amy and headed to the New Year’s Eve party at Matthias’ place. There were a bunch of people there, but most were American and friends of Matthias’ and Frederic’s recently moved-back roommates. They were already drunk and high when they arrived, so loud, obnoxious behavior ensued. Shakeh and I weren’t having that great of a time so we left around 0030.

Being as we didn’t get to bed until amost 0200, we slept in until close to 915 on Tuesday. We finished the puzzle and watching Family Guy early in the day. I started watching the Rose Bowl game, but it wasn’t very competitive so we took off and headed down town. We went to Jamba Juice, and then Shakeh dragged me to see P.S. I Love You (which was very bad to put it nicely). After the movie, we went to Pasta for dinner and split some really good garlic red-sauce pasta.

For Wednesday, we decided to go to SF, so we woke and got out the door by 0830. Our first destination was the Exploratorium. We drove through some of the nicer neighborhoods off of Lombard Street on the way there, and actually had to go on Highway 1 for a mile before we could turn around and actually turn into the place! We stayed there for about two and a half hours, checking out all the nifty things and trying to be patient with unwatched children. After we got out, we checked out the Palace of Fine Arts. The place is very impressive. I’m constantly amazed at home something like that could be constructed. After admiring the building, we headed back to Chestnut Street to get some lunch from a local cafe. We chose a place called Belluchi’s which was superb. After lunch, we walked down Chestnut for half an hour or so, then headed to the Castro and the Mission to look at the neighborhoods and figure out why everything was so damned expensive. To kill the rest of the day, we headed to Pier 39 and wandered around. We still had at least an hour to kill, so we went on the “4D” motion rides for forty-five minutes. After that, we headed back to the parking garage and then to the south bay. Lee’s plane was a bit late, so to kill more time (and to see a friend) we stopped by Google and hung out with tibbets for half an hour or so. During that time, he told me how Google is paying for all of its employees to go to Disneyland for two days. By paying, I mean full airfare, two nights in an open bar hotel room, and the park is being rented out for one full day to just Google, as well as buying everyone a second day’s pass. Once we were thoroughly jealous of Andrew, we headed to Castro Street in Mountain View to meet up with Chief Justice and Lee at Shiva’s for dinner.  By the time we all got there, it was close to 2045, and as you can imagine, we didn’t get back to Davis until close to midnight.

Thursday was a very lazy day indeed. We had tons of leftovers, so we didn’t even need to leave the house! We did though, to get some ingredients. We made tiramisu. I would like to say it was great, but it tasted so heavily of rum. It was still good though. We watched Eastern Promises (mostly without subtitles because I’m a moron) while having some tiramisu, then went to bed.

Curse that Friday, the day the electrons were halted. Yes, that ginormous arctic storm knocked our power out. Luckily there was still enough daylight to read. We did that for about two hours, then drove downtown and went to lunch at Zia’s (most of downtown still had power). After lunch, we headed to the theatres to watch The Water Horse. After that, we went home and read some more, then went to Common Grounds to read once it got too dark and we required candlelight. After another hour of reading there, we headed to Burgers & Brew for dinner. I got Shakeh to try the turkey melt, which she of course loved. After dinner we headed to Frederic’s goodbye party. We hung out there just long enough to say goodbye, which took a little while because Frederic was playing beer pong and the game was taking forever. The same problem with the NewYear’s Eve party happened, and when combined with the whole no-power thing, our stay was significantly shortened.

While I was in the shower on Saturday morning, the power came back on (woohoo!). We didn’t change our plans much though. I worked for a bit, and we found out through three tripped breakers that Shakeh’s space heater is a huge power-hog.

Sunday brought one last stand against the coming of school and thus responsibility. I played squash with Matthias and Martyn at the ARC for an hour and a half. We stopped by Borders on the way to drop off Martyn and I picked up a copy of the final Harry Potter book for Shakeh. I went over to her place to say hi, then went home and changed before we headed to Sophia’s. Our party of six turned into a party of twenty, so we had to ditch Sophia’s and go to Kathmandu Kitchen.

By it, I am referring to that which, as a child, I could feel quite literally oozing from my pores and the pores of my peers. Christmas Spirit, the one thing that seems so unreal and yet always present as a child. Not only was it a feeling of anxiousness over presents, but also one of joy for getting to see the entire family, and seeing others around being just a little more courteous others. It seems now that those days, and more importanly those lovely feelings, are all gone now. Christmas is no longer something about which I’m excited. It still manages to hang on, by just a thread, as a time to which I can look forward. If not for the chance to see my family, I fear December twenty-fifth would quickly fade to be no more important than any other day of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still quite cheerful. I like wishing people “Merry Christmas,” looking at lights, listening to the songs, and all the other things that are involved in the Christmas season. I just don’t look forward to them.

Monday marked my rebirth. No, I’m not suddenly a born-again christian. I’m just now waking up at 0715 to go work out instead of 0630. After still getting to the gym late, I went to lunch at the MU, then to the lab for a bit. As it would turn out, the rest of the RAM in my machine got hosed. I think it had something to do with the network card or the driver. The driver is listed as experimental, but why would it be killing the RAM? We had a quick meeting for the MGI project, then I went home. I brought some Pluto’s to shakeh’s place for dinner. I ate with her for a bit, then let her get back to studying. I went home and watched MNF, then did some more work and went to sleep early (I think 2130).

Not much happened on Tuesday. I took Shakeh to Sophia’s after her final so she could relax and eat some decent food. We talked a bit about evolution and the repurcussions of the effect a large society has on evolution. In the end, we didn’t agree on much, except that Wal-Mart is bad as it allows those who would otherwise die without it to live. ; )

Justin didn’t show up for working out for some reason on Wednesday. I got to play one last match of racquetball and squash with John after I lifted. After that, I showered off and got some Zia’s for Shakeh and I for lunch. After eating, I went to frye’s and bought a new case and a new hard drive. I got home with apparently just enough time to take my old case apart. I had to leave right after that to meet up with Dave and Martyn at Safeway. They bought their supplies, and I mine. We headed over to pick up Shakeh from there, and then over to the BBQ. For some weird-o reason, the guys were having the BBQ on the outskirts of the complex, instead of on the interior. It was quite cold outside, but the company helped to warm things up a bit. We hung out by the flames for a bit, then finally got around to the Secret Santa gifts. When my turn came, I looked for my gift and it wasn’t there. As it would turn out, Abhi was not there, and he didn’t drop off his gift. I guess that tells me who was my secret santa. After the BBQ and presents, we went indoors to play billiards. After the BBQ, I dropped Shakeh off, then went home and watched Walk The Line with Martyn, Amy, and Jade.

I put most of the case together in the morning on Thursday. The one thing I couldn’t figure out was how to get the freaking hard drives into the bays. the whoel concept just didn’t make sense to me. Due to my toiling, I got into the gym late. I didn’t get a chance to play any sports, which was good because it gave me some extra time to look at my computer before I took what was left of our Sophia’s dinner over to Shakeh’s for lunch. I met up with others at the MU afterwards for half an hour or so, then went back home and finally figured out how to reassemble my case while watching the fallout from the release of the report by former senator Mitchell on the use of performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball. Shakeh and I went to Chipotle for dinner so as not to take up too much of her time, then I went to the final Salsa lesson. I learned the pretzel and the octopus. After the lesson, I picked up Ish, then Ken, Alex, and Martyn. We ended up watching Eurotrip until almost midnight

With Friday came the IDAV Christmas social. It wasn’t anything truly special. And there were more people there with whom I would rather not speak than with whom I would like to speak. Thus, I didn’t stay nearly as long as I thought I would. For dinner, Shakeh and I went to Caffe Italia for dinner. After that, I drove around to kill some time, then we went to Cold Stone for dessert. I surprised Shakeh with a trip to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. We didn’t get done until almost midnight though, and by that time we were both very ready to go to bed.

On Saturday, I woke up rather early, even for me. I picked up Verena, and then we headed to Ita’s. Ita and Emma weren’t answering the door. I tried calling to no avail. Then, right as I was about to knock again, Verena and I heard what had to be a very large explosing in the distance, followed by all the lights in the apartment complex dying and then some coming back on. Ita walked out after having just woke up, but luckily her and Emma were very quick in getting ready. We ended up having to wait for Justin, Javi, and Tina, which luckily didn’t take too long. We stopped off at Pedrick’s on the way there. When we got into the city, we ended up parking near Union Square. Somehow, the first place we went was to a Starbucks. I went there to use the restroom, though it was closed and thus I ended up getting a drink, quite the opposite of my first intentions. We proceeded through the square to Borders. At that point, the three girls besides Tina split off and headed shopping, while Tina, Justin, Javi and I headed to do some of our own shopping. I went to the Apple Store for a few things, and then stopped in at the Virgin Megastore for quite literally a few seconds. We walked to Chinatown and most of us bought some things from a few of the shops there. We got to meet up with Brian for lunch at the San Fransico Brewing Company. Brian headed out for Reno after that, while we went to another book store. Javi, Justin, and I wandered into an adult bookstore for some gag gifts. After that, it was time to head to the airport, so we all did just that. I originally thought it would just be Tina and I, but Justin and Javi decided to come along to send off Tina and (for Justing) to welcome Rachel. Rachel got in, and after the exchange of warm embraces and hello laughter, we proceeded to Ghirardelli Square. I somehow managed to spend a hundred and twenty dollars on chocolate… Everyone met up with us about an hour later and the square, and we all had some wonderful treats like coffee and sundaes. While there, I tied a few cherry stems with my mouth. Emma didn’t believe that I had actually done it. Thus, Alex gave me the stem from her sundae’s cherry and Emma watched me intently as I tied the thing into a knot. It took about ten seconds of silence, but Ita said what apparently all the girls were thinking in “Someone needs to tell Shakeh she’s a lucky woman” followed by Ken’s quiet remark that made me laugh hysterically of “Jeff you really need to stop out-manning me.” = ) I left with Rachel, Ken, and Alex. We headed to an airport hotel in San Bruno to drop Ita off and to meet up with Les and Bill, who had missed their flights by only half an hour due to the Radiers-Colts game. We stayed for a bit, just long enough to make sure everyone was okay. I headed home with Emma, Alex, Ken, and Eachel. EVERYONE slept in the car (except me). I normally would insist the person in the front passenger seat stay awake to keep my company, but I wasn’t going to do that to a freshly jet-lagged Rachel. I got home, dropped Rachel off, then went to Shakeh’s and literally passed out.

We woke up bright and early and headed over to pick up Rachel. The three of us went to Starbucks and Posh Bagel for breakfast. Shakeh had an absolutely enormous amount of laundry to do, so she brought it over to my place and we started all three loads of it at once. Shakeh headed out to do some shopping while the laundry was going. Rachel and I headed to Borders for a quick look, then went back home and finished the laundry. Shakeh, Falcon, Tony, Rachel and I went to Chipotle for Rachel’s first burrito while back in the states. After that, Falcon left, but we met up with Abhi at the theatre to see The Golden Compass. I thought the movie was quite good. Yes, the dialogue was a bit simple, but to those who say the movie “just ended,” I tell you to consider how Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ended. After the movie, we dropped by the dollar store to pick up some party supplies, then went home. Justin and Javi took charge of Rachel’s entertainment for the night, and I took Shakeh to the Outback Steackhouse for her last dinner before she was to go to LA for a few days.