Liana and Ryan joined us for a paint nite event, and it was a really good time. The venue was a little cramped, but I was able to get over to them and chat for a bit. The painting was also the best one we’ve done so far, and I got a lot of comments on mine looking good. I really enjoy the simple paintings with really colorful backgrounds.
Steph and I did a paint nite in Mountain View with Jeff and Patty. The location was Agave and the painting was a fall scene with orange leaves and a blue sky. I went a little off script with a sunset painting that turned out marginally. The nice touches I liked in mine were the two mallards I painted in the corner.
Stephanie’s was really nice, and I really liked the leaves in her painting. She also had an adorable kitty sitting in the swing.
I went skydiving again. The first time was freshman year in college, so a while ago.
We met up with some of Steph’s work buddies and headed out to near Moss Landing. The wait was a little long, and the ride a little short, but still worth it. I got a video of it, and hopefully Steph can pick that up from her coworker tomorrow. Hai, Mark, Kaijen, Erik, and Damien were there as well. It was the first time I had met Damien, and he was a really cool guy. We went to a Thai restaurant after the skydiving and had a good meal before heading home. Steph was super tired so we didn’t do anything more that day.
Stephanie and I joined her parents on a day trip to Half Moon Bay. We walked along the sea cliffs for a while, and stopped by the Ritz. We had lunch at one of the best restaurants in downtown and then walked around for a bit. There was a great olive oil bar across the street that we stopped into, and I got some garlic olive oil, and an herb vinegar. They both were very tasty.
The company did an offsite in Tahoe for a few days and it was a great time. We left Wednesday afternoon and go to Tahoe just before sunset. The first thing a few of us did was to go down to the hottub. We were then split into teams for the weekend, and I was on the Silver team (grey is boring). That night we went to the casino there, the Montbleu. I did very well, with +$25 on slots, +$50 on roulette, and +$100 on Blackjack. I was by far the biggest winner that night. There was a large group playing craps, and having some fun doing that. I didn’t join them since I’m not familiar with the way craps works. We had dinner at a nice steakhouse there, and pretty much everyone got the filet mignon. The food was delicious, the wine was tasty, and the conversation was excellent.
We got back to the house a little later, and played HOTS until very late. We managed to get a 5v5, as well as a few 4v4’s, and 3v3’s. The 3v3’s were interesting and fun, since we all went middle lane.
The next day we had a big breakfast and went to the lake. I brought my dive gear, so I was the only one able to swim for any period of time. That also made it a lot easier to do the tubing, since when I fell off I wasn’t freezing cold. We had lunch in Emerald Cove, and I swam over to the island there. I hiked to the small house on top, then swam around the base of the island looking for crayfish. I found a few, but only managed to catch one. I ended up letting the one go since he wasn’t enough for a meal.
We got back and had a big cookout, some board games, and a serious discussion. For the board games I was part of the group that played Puerto Rico. I got in a tough spot and lost pretty badly. I don’t really care for Puerto Rico anymore. It was fun at first but once we figured out that whoever sits to the left of the person who produces wins, it became a waiting game.
The next day we went up the gondolas and got a great view from the top of the mountain. I got some alone time at the peak while most everyone else was zip-lining.
Darren and I had a great couple conversations on the way home, and I look forward to future such discussions.
We went to Sonoma with Kevin, Andrew, Debby, and Lindsay. It was a great time staying at the Airbnb that Lindsay got, and we had a delicious dessert for the end of the hunger challenge. It was the brownie in a box, and cinnamon cake in a box that I added an egg to and baked. It was pretty tasty. We then played some Scattergories and some Presidents. I wasn’t doing too well at either, but got really lucky on the Presidents and ended as VP.
The next day We went to get Mani-Pedi’s The guys enjoyed it, and played MTG while waiting to start.
We also got brunch with Adam and Brian. 
The wedding itself was a ton of fun, and they had great music, great food, good drinks, and a Philz coffee truck. We danced a ton, and had a great time doing it.
The next day we had brunch again, but in downtown Sonoma, then went to the Larson Family Winery. The ladies got tastings, while the gentlemen were still recovering from the previous night. 
When we got back we had dinner with Roy and our newest roommate, Jimena.
All in all a fantastic weekend.
I did a surprise birthday weekend for Steph, we left early on Friday morning, and made it our first stop around 10am. The guy we were meeting was about 30 minutes late, but it wasn’t a big deal. We went horseback riding at Salinas River State Beach. It was an amazing ride. There were some whales right off the coast that we noticed because of all the whale watching boats around them. They were tail slapping which was cool to see. We rode through the dunes for the first third of it, then up and down the beach for the rest.
After that we went to a little restaurant in Pacific Grove called Julia’s. The food there was absolutely amazing. They had a garlic, red onion, and blue cheese pizza. It was probably the best pizza I’ve had. The strong flavors worked really well together.
We then went to the Lone Oak Lodge to check in and Steph got a good nap. We then went to the Bamboo Reef because Steph had forgotten her thermals, and she rented some there. We took a short walk to the next planned stop, which was Monterey Day Spa. We got an amazing couples massage there. We wandered along Cannery Row until we got to our next stop, Bistro Moulin. This is one of Steph’s favorite restaurants, especially for the gnocchi. It was tasty as ever, and the duck I got was phenomenal.
We then dropped down to Breakwater and went on a fun night dive. It was pretty obvious that we were both a bit rusty. The dive went really well though with a bunch of octopi out and about. There were also a lot of huge sheep’s head crabs actually active since it was night. We also saw some purple crabs that looked like they were hugging (probably mating) and another one that had a huge clutch of eggs.
We retired for the night after that, since we didn’t get back to the hotel until around 11pm. In the morning we went to the last stop, Point Lobos. This was a great dive as well. There was a juvenile harbor seal that was following us around, and was playing with Steph’s legs (although she didn’t realize it). There were also a lot of jellyfish on that dive, of several different types. We walked around a little, since we hadn’t seen the park above the water before.
We had a pretty good time in Atlanta when we went to visit family.
We got the late night Friday flight and got into Atlanta around 7am. We went over to my parents house for a nice breakfast, after which we headed downtown to the Dragon Con parade. It was decent, but not as good as the previous time I had seen it, which was probably 4 years prior. We then went to Jeff’s and Steph got a much needed nap. Jeff and I went to pick up some fruit and tried to find some dry ice for an experiment I wanted to run, but we couldn’t find any at the Safeway near his house. We eventually found some at Publix, just a little further away. We got the fruit and dry ice set up, and then hung out until Steph woke up. At that point we went to the Mexican restaurant nearby Jeff’s place and were joined by The rest of the family. We didn’t really do anything that night. The next morning, I went to church with mom and dad. The new pastor was there and he gave a sermon on the amazing powers of Jesus to heal the blind and deaf. I thought about how amazing modern medicine was to heal the blind and deaf. Steph and I went over to the Botanical Gardens after I got back from my parent’s place. It was a really nice walk around the gardens and the orchids there are gorgeous. I really liked seeing the nature lady in her full glory, since last time I’d seen her it was winter.
We went to my parents for dinner, and got a bunch of delicious food. Jeff grilled up some steak, and we tried the fruit, but it wasn’t particularly carbonated. After dinner we stopped by Publix to get some more dry ice. We put the fruits in the containers with the dry ice and this time they did well. The next morning we went to Birmingham with my parents. Fred was having an 81st birthday party for Nana, and we joined him. Tila, Coleman, Karin, Brenda, Rodger, Cindy, Ben, Jacob, and Adriane were also there. It was a really nice time, and Steph was able to show off the diving and robot. I was glad I got to see everyone, as the age is starting to show for pretty much everyone but Fred. We went back to Atlanta and worked from home the next day. The flight back was late, but otherwise uneventful.
Steph and I went to Kevin’s Birthday party and had a great time. The party was at K1 go cart racing. We got the package with 4 races, and managed to have a good time with few major crashes. Lindsay won the first race, with me getting a comfortable second. I won the second race by hanging back, and then taking a few really quick laps. The second and third races were determined by fastest lap. I got second in the third race to Andrew.
The final race was the main event, and this one was a true race, not a time trial. Andrew started in the lead since he had the fastest lap. I was second, and Steph was third. We started the race, and Andrew got a few laps without me being able to pass. Steph lost her third due to her cart not starting properly. I got a pass on the tight turn on Andrew, and the lap after that he spun out behind me, giving me a comfortable lead. Debby slowed me down on that same turn and George caught up. Steph had fought her way back to the third place spot, but couldn’t get past George for the last few laps. I managed to hold onto the lead, and got the win.
We then went to dinner at Mango Garden, and it was delicious. I especially liked the hot and spicy tofu. We of course had to get the roti with the peanut sauce, and I got a Thai ice tea.
We then headed back to Lindsay’s place and played some Poker. Debby brought over a delicious ice cream cake, and we all had a slice.
I didn’t do too well, and there were a few hands where I got a really good hand, but Andrew got a slightly better one. The worst was me hitting an ace high flush on the river, but Andrew getting his full house on the same card. Luckily at that point I was short stacked. Debby was kind enough to drop me off at home.
It's an Exciting World 