Adventures

Diving Escapade

This morning Steph drove to Monterey so that we could go diving on the Escapade. It was a good 2 dives, but all sorts of things went on. We went out to stillwater cove in Carmel. The boat tried to get us to Cathedrals, but the kelp and wind made it too difficult. We ended up getting tangled in the kelp anyway, but the dive was nice. I was buddied with Mai, and she was overweighted. When we tried to surface she was too overweighted to make it up, so I had to drop her weights and help her to the surface. Steph buddied with Jason, who had the exact opposite problem. He had just enough weight to make it down, but when he was surfacing on both dives he popped right to the surface. He also didn’t know how to position himself correctly to empty the BCD, so he was having issues from that as well.

We ended up diving Erik’s Pinnacle as the second dive and it was really nice. I would really like to go back there and dive it again. Mai sat out the second dive after the weight issue and the kelp monster issue. We got to see tons of fish, sea slugs, nudibranchs, and an octopus. The octopus was sitting on a yellow sea star and trying to blend in by being yellow as well; it wasn’t working. He was really cute, and we looked up the species afterwards as the red octopus.

After the dives we went and picked up Steph’s new hood at otter bay. The cat ears look better, but not great still. I drove back and took the fast way, going back over 17. Along the way we stopped at one of the fresh produce stands and got all sorts of snack foods and fresh fruits. I got 23 avocados, 20 tiny ones, and 3 massive ones of a different type. I think we should take 17 back every time we go to Monterey, but we will just have to see whatever Waze says will be the fastest way when we are ready to head out. It was pretty accurate on this trip.

July 21, 2013 0

Monday Volleyball … ish

Yesterday after finishing work, I went to Stanford to play volleyball. Not many of the people that I wanted to play with were there. Nima was, but the other people playing volleyball were much better than him, and he is much better than me. I decided to not bother those guys too much, and let Nima play a game without me. I got a little bit more work done while he was playing and got to watch two pretty good games at the same time. We then went to Sliders in Palo Alto. We split a pitcher of Great White, which was a nice orange beer. The sweet potato fries were really tasty, and I got 2 sliders to complete the dinner. I went over to Steph’s after that and saw her finish off her Messenger bag for the Faith outfit. It was really nice.

July 16, 2013 0

Bike Ride with Nima

Nima and I went along the Steven’s Creek trail this morning, and then turned around to head out past Shoreline Lake. It was a nice 16 mile ride and I had a great time doing it. We talked about him biking to work, me getting cats, and many other things. I think I can convince Caryn to come over and possible work some from my place next week or the week after to play with the kitties and keep them company. I also showed Nima where the used bike shop in Mountain View is.

July 14, 2013 0

Saturday Around Town

Yesterday after biking back from Beachhead, I ran into Nick as he was getting up. We decided to hang out that morning, and went to the Chocolate Garage where I got the milk chocolate Momotombo. We also went by the Saturday farmer’s market in downtown Palo Alto, and got Mexican food there. We went over to the east bay to pick up Howard, and after dropping Howard off we stopped by the Palo Alto Animal Services. I played with the kittens there and had a great time. I am looking forward to getting 2 of them later this week. I’ll go back mid-week and pick 2 out based on how well they respond to being held and having their bellies rubbed. I spent the afternoon at Beachhead, and picked up some supplies for Steph to make her Faith carrier bag along the way. I also stopped by Milk Pail and picked up some dinner. I grabbed some spinach gnocci that I’m hoping to have this week. I’m not sure what sauce I’m going to put with it, but should be tasty now matter how it is prepared.

July 14, 2013 0

Working and Meeting with People in the City

I had a great time in the city today. I took Caltrain in and biked to Chris’ place. We worked on our respective items, and he was nice enough to make me some eggs with spinach, tomato, and onion. He also gave me some delicious tea. He always has the tastiest loose leaf tea. We worked until around 1:30, when I left to go meet Bo at Sightglass Coffee. The coffee was pretty good, but I still prefer tea to coffee. We talked over a lot of stuff, and he seems to be doing well with the Meteor work. Even though he isn’t working for Meteor directly he seems to be doing the next best thing. I caught the train back and stopped by Milk Pail and Safeway on the way home.

July 10, 2013 0

Squash with Nima

I had a great time playing against Nima today. It was still strongly sided towards Nima with the games going 4-1 Nima-David. I think we are both getting better, but he is outpacing me. He agrees, especially since we are having to run so much more than we used to. The long bouts of hitting it down the middle are pretty much over. I’m looking forward to all the games on Tuesdays and might try to get Chris to play with me some other day of the week and I can catch up to Nima in skill level. It would also be nice to play with Chris anyway.

July 9, 2013 0

Monday Volleyball

I played some volleyball today, but only Nima was there out of the people I know. The other people we were able to play with were really good, and I could tell that I was the worst player there. They were really nice about it and I could tell they were trying to balance the teams so that we could get some good volleys going. I had fun despite being the worst, and learned a little about how to play as well. After playing Nima got some beer and nachos for us to share, and I greatly appreciated him getting that for us. I locked myself out of the house today and didn’t have anything to eat, or my wallet, or my phone. I did have my computer, so I was able to get some work done. I wasn’t able to get as much of the game worked on as I’d like.

July 8, 2013 0

Sabercats and Firehouse

After a bike ride to Steph’s house and back I sat down for a nice pasta dinner. I decided to smother the noodles in a good helping of La Victoria’s orange sauce. It was really tasty, but before I could properly enjoy it Steph showed up saying that we needed to get out the door immediately to make it to Brian and Candice’s so that we could carpool to the Sabercats game. I ate the pasta in the car while extolling the virtues of orange sauce. When we got to their place we headed straight to San Jose for the game. On the way to the stadium we passed La Victoria, and Steph decided she had to try some of this orange sauce. She definitely understands now why I like it so much, but I’m not sure if she is quite hooked yet.

At the game we got to see the over the top entrance that we missed half of last time. It was just as outdone as last time, and fantastic. Steph and I took some strolls around the concourse for the exercise and to get away from the noise. Today was pompom day for the Sabercats, so we got some free pompoms.

They also had the family pack deal going on, which was 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 drinks, and 4 chip bags for $50, which is hard to pass up for such an entertaining sport with a good number of friends. We had Brian, Candice, and their neighbors, Jeremy B, Kerry and gf, other David, Tina, Steph, and myself. The Sabercats won by a lot, and when they were soundly ahead they tried some onside kicks. I thought the onside kicks were pretty harsh moves against a team that was already down 20 points or so, but it was still entertaining.

Afterwards we grabbed drinks at Firehouse, a bar close by the Stadium. It was a nice place to chat and I’m getting some great feedback on the kickstarter ideas from Brian.

July 7, 2013 0

Shoreline Lake

Thursday afternoon I took a ride down to Shoreline Lake to have a nice walk and listen to some of the audiobook. I sat down at one of the benches in the shade and several squirrels came up to me. One even climbed up my leg and sat on my knee.