I rode Calypso yesterday at horseback riding. It was very different from riding Smoothie. Calypso is easy to get going and I actually had to slow him down. Calypso is also more unruly. I had a really tough time doing any of the things I had gotten pretty used to doing on Smoothie, but that will happen when getting used to another horse. I didn’t make any real progress, but I think this sets me up to make a lot of progress next week.
Adam invited Stephanie, Lee, Andrew, and Lee’s gf to brunch today. It was really nice. He served some pastries with strawberry filling kind of stuff, there was jewish style french toast, and bacon. He also served a salad with strawberries, nuts, and cheese. Afterwards we played Glory to Rome about 5 times. I won once, by a landslide. The other times we played were much closer. I really enjoy the game glory to rome, as it is well paced and not that long.
Today after lunch some of the guys got together to play a round of volleyball. It was really nice to have that in the middle of the day. Today hasn’t been bad, but it is much better now that I got to play.
Today has been a very typical Sunday. It started out with some sleeping in, which means I sleep two hours later than normal and wake up on my own. Then I listen to books while messing around on the computer. The specifics for today were playing Starcraft 2 and listening to The Song of Ice and Fire, book 5. After that we went to the Farmer’s Market on California Ave. Today all the places were out, and we got a lot of really tasty stuff. I got some more of the spicy yuba strips. We got lots more of the Pumpking Bolani, and some of the taffy covered almonds. Stephanie got some more of the really tasty fresh strawberries. I of course got the customary Samosa. The Bolani guy might be starting to recognize us as one of his regulars, which is always nice. For some reason my phone has been starting itself up and playing the books on tape really loud. I think the pause button being on the home screen is the culprit. I should really get the screen replaced. The horseback riding was really nice, and I’m getting decent at the two point while trotting. I think one more lesson like this one and I’ll be able to get up to the cantor. I’m making slow progress, but it is steady.
We hiked black mountain today, which is the mountain that the PG&E trail is on. It also is the mountain that has the rancho san antonio space preserve. The hike went really well and we did it in a little over 4.5 hours. The top was really cold and in the clouds. The view wasn’t that great since it was in clouds, but it was really amazing.
The riding yesterday was fantastic. We spent the entire time working on the 2-point while trotting. This was much harder than I was expecting. The stance is easy enough and trotting is easy enough, but combined was pretty difficult. I know that once I find that sweet spot and get the stance right a couple times in a row it will become so simple and easy. I made the mistake of trotting the horse towards the barn, which apparently can make it run away with you. I could tell that Amanda was somewhat upset by it, but I had no idea it would be that big of a deal. I’ll make sure not to do anything like that from now on.
We went to the farmer’s market yesterday and got a ton of stuff. All of it so far has been tasty. I got a honeycomb there and for some reason I expected it to be crunchy. Of course it wasn’t at all crunchy it was waxy and tasted exactly like honey. I feel kinda stupid for expecting it to be otherwise, but what can you do? I got 10 avocados since they were only $1 each and served 5 of them for the game of thrones watching night. I also got some spicy yuba strips that were sooo tasty. There was a new butternut squash based sauce at bolani, and I ended up getting it. While it is really good, the tomato still goes better with the bolani bread. The pesto is still fantastic with cucumber. A lot of the stalls were missing since it was forecasted as being rainy. Two of the stalls we wanted to go to, the Miso Suke and candied nuts, were among those missing. We got a great haul and I’m looking forward to having some more of the strawberries tonight.
Nick took Stephanie and I to a place called the Chocolate Garage, which is a place for chocolate tasting in Palo Alto. The chocolate there is 60% and higher, with some special milk chocolates. I ended up getting a really good dark chocolate, Dick Taylor’s Madagascar, a good milk chocolate called The Boss, and chocolate covered almonds.
A group went to the Stanford Theater last night to see North by Northwest. I really enjoy the movie and it is such a precursor to so many other spy movies. Stephanie and I were joined by Bergfeld, Nick, Riley, and Omari. Afterwards we enjoyed some of Oren’s Hummus. It was tasty, but not as good as usual. We should have gotten the hot tomato dish with egg as that is one of the tastiest things. After that we went to the Hookah place and smoked some. The pineapple one was really strong, and the double apple wasn’t that flavorful.
It's an Exciting World 