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.
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.
Yesterday morning I took the kitties over to one of the offices Steph’s company operates out of and introduced the kitties to the robots that Steph is working on. The owner of the company wanted to get videos of the cats riding the robots. He didn’t quite understand how one interacts with cats, or how hard cats are to control. There is the phrase ‘herding cats’ after all, which is not about how easy cats are to control. Archer and Lana were doing really well with the robots, and we got them to play on/with the robots as Steph drove them around. Archer went after the pink furry tail plaything when we taped that to the robot, and when we taped on the laser pointer Lana went after the dot. They got more comfortable with the robots, but wouldn’t put up with the robots driving while they were on top. We tried putting them on top of the robots and then driving it off really quickly for a bit of video, but even that didn’t work. We stopped that when Archer had his foot run over. He was fine, but didn’t want to go close to the robot after that. One thing that I found very strange is that they weren’t interested in the treats while they were at the office. Even when I tried to make them eat a few, they wouldn’t have any of it. It was a big adventure for the kitties, and me. We cuddled a lot afterwards as I worked on the games.
This evening I joined Steph, Nick, Tina, Amit, Candice, and Brian at Rooster T Feathers for a Comedy night. The MC was pretty good, the first act (Sandy Stec) had great jokes and ok timing, and the main act (Sheng Wang) was really funny with only a few jokes that fell short. I had a really good time and will probably be going back for more comedy shows. They had a special for tonight, with $10 for 2 people, but you had to buy 2 items from the menu each as well. I got 2 drinks, since afterwards we were going to Shah. The food at Shah was a little bland, but I did really like the aloo naan (potato stuffed bread).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It's an Exciting World 