Michael and I went to Shoreline Lake on a nice bike ride. We then went to downtown Mountain View and met up with Nima. We went to a beer garden and had some tasty french fries. We all had some good conversations and waited for Steph and Caryn to be ready to meet us for dinner. We went to Shezan and got some really tasty food. Steph and I then left for other parties.
Steph and I went to Planet Granite and got some good climbing in. The routes we chose were not as hard as the ones we had done before, and Steph had her butt way off the wall on the last one. She ended up pulling her shoulder/neck doing the last climb so I helped her out a bit with the belay. We did a 5.9, 510a, 5.10c, and 5.11a. The 11a was hard, and clearly made for someone my height. I’m impressed Steph was able to do it at all.
This morning I set out for a long morning bike ride and it turned into a long early afternoon walk when I got a flat and had to walk the bike to the closest bike shop for a repair. The start of the ride was really nice and I went to shoreline lake. There I talked to my parents. They have had a very exciting week with my dad getting and signing an offer from Emory and then having their offer on a house they like accepted. It will be great to see them at Christmas in their new house. After that I went to downtown Mountain View via the Stevens Creak Trail. I was hoping to get some tea but the tea shop isn’t open Mondays. When I got back to my bike I noticed a flat tire. I’ve gotten into the habit of not carrying my repair tools with me, just the air pump. The flat I ended up getting wasn’t the slow leak that a pump will help with. After about a 45 min walk I got to the bike shop and got it fixed. Then decided to grab a late lunch at The Counter. After a quick stop by Milk Pail Market I rode back home. I am very tired and most of the day is now gone. I still enjoyed the ride.
This morning Steph and I had a great bike ride over the farmer’s market on California Avenue. It was a really sunny morning and I rushed out without putting any sunscreen on. Luckily I only got minor burns that don’t sting, but I can tell that a hot shower will make them unpleasant. I got a lamb curry naan wrap and it was delicious. I decided to try out the samosas at the place that does the naan wraps this time, and they weren’t nearly as good. I’ll probably go back to get the samosas at the smaller stand. Steph got a good supply of bolani, and I got some of the tofu. Steph also got some really high quality yogurt, that is absolutely delicious.
This past weekend I spent the entire weekend making games at the SF Indie Game Jam. It was a ton of fun, and I really enjoyed the people I was working with. I hope they thought I was as good to work with as I thought they were. I was especially impressed with Frank, one of the developers on the team. To find out more about what went on at the game jam look at my post on caduo.com.
Yesterday I played a really good set of games of squash with Nima. He had just eaten and had played a couple hours of volleyball earlier that day. Even with those extenuating circumstances he won the first game, and nearly got me on all the subsequent games. The third game was especially close, with us playing to nearly 15 in decision points before I was able to take it. Him being tired and full is certainly what made the difference. He wasn’t positioning himself nearly as well as he normally does, so I was able to get a lot more kill shots than would normally be expected. I look forward to next week when we are on more equal footing, and I can make it to games night.
Last night I gave Steph her birthday present of a Paint Nite at Willow Street Pizza in Saratoga. I was doing it as a surprise, and she was guessing what it would be until she saw the canvases in the window of the restaurant. She really enjoyed it, but I’m not sure she liked the surprise aspect. The food and drink was good, and we both decided not to just paint the basic painting. The painting that was taught was more or less what you see below, but the trees in the background weren’t given the red leaves. I also added in a bit of a sun ray coming into what I made to be a clearing. Steph and I were doing really well compared to most of the rest of the class. I also noticed that there were 3 men and 27 women at the paint nite. The painting on the left is mine and the painting on the right is Steph’s.
The morning I was going to fly back I packed everything up and waited for Jeff to come get me. We went to lunch at Moe’s and then he dropped me off at the place he gets haircuts. They gave me a good cut and I then went to the close-by Marta station. The ride to the airport and the flight back were uneventful, except that I went through the battery on my iPhone and laptop. When I got back to SFO I took Bart to Caltrain and grabbed some food at Gyros Gyros as Steph came to pick me up. We stopped by my place to say hi to the kitties and then went back to Beachhead.
Jeff took me to Yeah! Burger for dinner on Sunday since Leslie couldn’t join us. We did an order to go since I was planning on meeting up with Derick at 8pm and we only had an hour to get the food and get back. The meat and produce were really well documented for where they came from, and most of it was local farms. There was a chalkboard saying which farm each type of meat had come from. I really like that kind of food transparency. It is one of the philosophical things I’ve been working through. Jeff took great care of me throughout the week. I know he felt bad about having me come out there, but I think he had a relaxing time. I hope it is what he needed.
