Tuesday evening I played a really great round of squash with Nima and Caryn. When they are both there I can tend to beat them both, but when I got to Nima 1 on 1 he plays differently. He knows how to use my playing style against me, and didn’t do that when we were playing the 3 way squash. Caryn is really doing well for not playing as much as either of us. She has 2 more big things to start on before she is amazing; moving after hitting, and reading the other player. She is very good at placing the ball, and possibly better than either Nima or myself at it.
Sunday night Steph and I took a bike ride to Stanford. We saw the horses there and Steph petted a few of them. After that we went to Palo Alto and stopped by Rocket Fizz. I got some of the cream filled caramels that I like. I was able to get all the bottle caps from them, and it will go well with the other ones in my collection. I’m just about ready to make the table with them, and I expect it to be a nice table. I’m most likely going to do a rainbow pattern or random pattern. I had considered making it into a compilation, somewhat like pixel art, but that didn’t appeal to me too much.
We had dinner at Umami and it was really tasty. I got the Greenbird over fries and gravy. We got the fried pickles, which were surprisingly bad. I normally like fried pickles, but these were too much pickle and too little fried. Steph got the beat salad, and we shared some truffle fries.
After Umami we biked back to my place and Steph made some japanese candy that she found at Rocket Fizz. The candy was for a tiny japanese pizza, but it wasn’t the normal kind of japanese candy that actually tastes like the item. This tasted like sugar covered toffee, and not great toffee at that. Steph still enjoyed it despite the difficulty in eating it.
I played some intense games of squash with Nima, most of which were incredibly close. He won the first one by the narrowest margin, and I won the second by an even closer amount. It was hard fought the entire way on both games. The third game he beat me out with some amazing ball placement.
Our game is collectively stepping up, and it is really fun now that it is closer. I think I have a chance to beat him next week.
I saw Amy at the gym, rock climbing. She is doing well, and I need to have her over to my new place. I’m thinking Tuesday for house warming.
I played some really amazing games of squash with Nima today. For the first time he didn’t beat me. We ended up tied for the day, and what a set of games it was. They were mostly pretty close, and all the points were incredible. I was able to run away with the last game with a series of really hard, well-placed shots, winning 10 points in a row. I saw Hardik there, and might see if he wants to play later in the week.
Today was the closest set of games yet. Nima can still outlast me, but I was able to get really good placement on the third and fourth games to take them. The overall was 2-3 in Nima’s favor. I talked to Andrew and he might play some Squash with me, and I’m still hoping to get Chris to join me.
Steph and I started the morning out well with a bike ride to Palo Alto. The ride was very pleasant, but we didn’t get to stay very long there. We went to the Chocolate Garage and I got some of the Momotombo candies. There was a big barbershop choir there and they sounded pretty good. It was different to hear the barbershop style of singing as a choir instead of a pure quartet.
A group of us got together at Adam’s today for Brunch. It was really nice of him to have us over since he had spent the last week at his new job. From what I can tell he isn’t used to working so much. It was rather tasty, with Adam providing eggs, bacon, and liquor soaked fruit. I brought the chocolates I had just picked up. We went to the movie Pacific Rim, but weren’t joined by Tina and Amit. Nick, Adam, Steph, and Andrew left from there to go to the movie. At the theatre we met up with Brian.
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.
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.
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.
It's an Exciting World 