We had a great time discussing Hyperion. It was in an odd spot since the 4th of July was the first Tuesday of the month. We instead did the second Wednesday, and Paul was able to join for the first time.
The book itself touched only lightly on a lot of subjects, but we were able to get some good discussions going and had a fun time about it. The individual stories weren’t as interesting to me as the overall world that was constructed by them.
Stephanie and I went back to the north bay this weekend. This time we went to Point Reyes and Calistoga. We had a pretty good time with both.
The drive to Point Reyes wasn’t that bad. We got there at about 11am, and started the backpacking in at 11:30 abouts. We were there with Caryn, Nima, Liana, Ryan, and some other of Liana’s friends and family. They were all a lot of fun. It was for Liana’s birthday celebration. We backpacked about 5 miles into the Glen Camp, which was nestled in a quiet valley. The day we hiked in we decided to head down to the beach.
Only Wilson and Jess got in the water all the way. A few others of us got our feet wet, but 50 degree water isn’t at all comfortable. The wind was pretty strong, so even out of the water most people were getting pretty cold. We didn’t want to stay too late as we had a 2-3 mile hike back to Glen Camp.
We got back and played some Bang! that Nima had brought. It was a good time, but I did really badly. Either way it was a good time.
The next morning 8 of us packed out, leaving Nima, Caryn, Liana, and Ryan. I really enjoyed everyone that went, and I’d certainly do it again.
From there Stephanie and I went to Calistoga, with a stop by Heydrun Meadery on the way. We had a nice dinner in a spot that Stephanie picked out, then stopped by a local brewpub on the way back to the hotel. The hotel was adorable, with an outdoor fireplace.
We roasted smores over the fire and cuddled for a bit. I went inside to listen to my book while Steph stayed out by the fire and read.
We stopped by a Spa the next day for some hot spring waters and a massage, which was nice.
Stephanie and I decided to take a class in seaweed harvesting. We had to get up to Jenner by 6am, so we instead decided to get there the night before and stayed at a cute inn. We were only there for sleeping, but I would go back.
The harvesting was interesting and there were three types of seaweed that the guide pointed out as good for harvesting. We got one bag of kombu and three bags of nori. I am trying some in a smoothie tomorrow, so we’ll see how that goes.
We were at Shell Beach and it was quite nice. We got there at 6am because that was the low tide time. We got a good bit of time out in the tidal zone. It was very slippery and I hit my shin pretty badly, but didn’t bleed that much.
After the harvesting we went to wine country and had tastings at two wineries. They were both gorgeous locations, and the wines were pretty good.
We then went to Berkeley to get pizza at the Cheeseboard. It was delicious, and I’m glad I can now say I’ve been. We then went to the cat cafe Cat Town. I got to play with two of the cats there, but most of them were napping while we were there. We headed out a little early, and got home. I was tired from all the travel. It had been less that 24 hours since I’d gotten home from visiting parents that we left on this trip.
Monday morning I headed to the airpot at 5:30 to get to SJC for the flight to the big island. I got in early so I called Kim for a bit before mom and dad came to get me.
We went into Kona and got a brunch at a really nice bakery/cafe. Then headed back to the timeshare to sit around and talk. I got some exercise in, and we went to the Kings shop for dinner to Roy’s.
Tuesday mom and I went to Pololu Valley. It was gorgeous and we had a good chat on the way there and while we were there. Surprisingly we were the only people in the Valley. There were a few leaving as we got there and getting there as we were leaving, but while in the valley we were the only people there.
After that we went to Havi and had a smoothie and I got a hat. Most of the places there weren’t open so we came right back. Dad called as we were pulling into the Waikaloa Village, so we picked him up and went back to the timeshare.
We took naps and had a relaxing afternoon. I went down to Abay and walked along the beach for a bit. I didn’t see any turtles in the area where they had usually hung out when I was there as a kid.
We went to dinner at the Four Seasons at a restaurant called Ulu. It was ok food, but the main reason we were there was for the view:
They are on the side of the island that gets the really amazing sunsets over the ocean.
The next morning we went to a state park to try to hike a cinder cone we can see from the timeshare. The distances are deceiving when looking up the mountain. When we go to the cinder cone it turned out to be a 2000ft elevation gain to hike up. We made it about 1000ft up before we turned back and took a loop near the base of it. It was still a really nice hike regardless.
We then went to a snorkling site called two steps. It was a nice dive and we got to see a lot of fish. The corals weren’t great, but from what mom said it was better than anywhere else on the island. We had lunch on the way back and decided to rest for the afternoon. We ate dinner in and played a round of cards.
The final morning we had a breakfast of all the leftover food, and I made a smoothie for while I waited at the airport. It should be a pretty easy flight back and I’m looking forward to getting home.
Steph and I went to two train stations we hadn’t visited before. We went to the San Mateo train station for dinner on Friday night. It was a great dinner of fondu at the Melting Pot there. The cheese fondu was amazing, and the other fondu was ok. If we go back we’ll just do an extra order of the cheese.
Saturday we went to the San Carlos train station and got coffee. The train station was really old, and very interesting. We went to the San Carlos Museum after that and they had pictures of the trains station, where it was the only building in view. I really enjoyed getting to spend that time with Stephanie.
I really enjoyed the discussion of Deep Work, and Stephanie has been willing to try some of the strategies at home at least. I’ve gotten a lot from the book, and the supplementary materials people submitted seem to support the concepts put forward in the book. I really enjoy these kinds of books that talk about how things are not ideal, and strategies of how to make them better.
Monday I had Nima, Caryn, Ryan, and Liana over for dinner and smores. They came over and we had some shakshuka that I had made with the peppers from our garden. It was very tasty and just the right amount. We then played a game Nima had brought that involved knocking over wooden blocks with short, thick wooden dowels. Ryan and I won all three games, but the second game was very close. We then sat around the fire and had a few smores, and chatted about life. Once it got a little too cool, we went inside and they tried out the VR game. It went over well, and I figured out a few ways that I can upgrade it. Stephanie wasn’t able to join, as she had to work late and see Riley.
I came to Vegas to meet up with two groups of people. Former coworkers, and our games group.
I got in Thursday night a little after midnight, and just grabbed a hotel near the airport. The next morning I spent working out of a Starbucks, and then went to meet up with Brian, his wife Albe, Darren, and his wife Grace. We went to an escape room, and crushed it! Albe and Brian are escape room designers, so they meta gamed it a lot. I was helpful with the pattern recognition as I usually am, but didn’t do much past that. I did cheat on the final puzzle, but we fixed that really quickly.
We then went to meet up with the rest of the Rocket crew at a sports bar so they could watch the last of the basketball game. I met the new Rocket folks, but the new artist left pretty quickly. I had a great time talking to Kate the new engineer.
We went to the Hofbrauhaus, and got drinks and food. It was a good time, but I had a little too much. They do the liters of beer there, and I had two, plus a shot and a spanking.
Many of the Rocket people went out to gamble and party afterwards, but Myk and I went back to the house and went to sleep.
The next morning I showed them what I had been working on, and they thought it was going in a good direction.
I went to hang out with the other friend group, but they were playing poker. I ended up reading a good bit of Stephan’s book while waiting for them to finish, so the time was decently well spent.
Adam, Debby, and I grabbed a drink. I got a call from Steph, so I went to meet her at the MGM, so we could check in and drop our bags off. We joined back up with Adam and Chebby. The others came down, and Andrew finished poker, so we got dinner at Five 50 pizza. It was pretty tasty. Andrew and Chebby called it a night, but the rest of us went to the Cosmopolitan to see about a speak easy. They turned Kevin away for flip flops, but he didn’t miss out on much. That had to be the loudest speak easy, and not from music. The acoustics of the place were horrific, and the chatter noise made it hard to hear the person next to you. After that we went back for the evening.
The next day we met up with Adam, Andrew, and Debby at the Wicked Spoon for brunch. Most of the dishes were good, but some were lackluster. I really enjoyed the crab and avocado, and the beat and arugula. Unfortunately those were the last dishes I found, so I only had one of each. We then went to the Venetian for a spa day. The spa was impossible to find, but with some help from a nice security guy we found it. Steph and I got a couples massage, and decided to hang out in the spa until we needed to leave for the airport.
We randomly ran into Lindsay and Kevin, and had a chat with them before their flight took off. All in all it was a pretty great trip.
As of about a week ago, I’m no longer employed. I’m not going to get into details here, but thought I’d record that. As anyone who reads this blog, you’ll know I don’t talk about work very often on it. This is an exception to that stance.
I was thankful to have worked with the people at Rocket Games/ Rocket Speed. It was an exciting experience, and I plan to stay friend with all of them. I also look forward to working with any of them again in the future. They are all absurdly good at what they do.
For me, I’ll be going off into VR land. I’ve been tinkering in VR for over a year, but it is time to get serious. I have a multiplayer FPS stood up, but it still needs a lot of work before it is ready to release. Here are some small gifs of what I’ve got so far:
It's an Exciting World 