Steph and I joined Kevin, Lindsay, Andrew, Debby, Jeremy, and Adam at Lindsay and Kevin’s place. We played a few games, some Jackbox Party Pack and three rounds of Secret Hitler. I had fun playing, but was a bit more unpredictable in playing than was helpful to everyone else. We got a really nice gift from Lindsay and Kevin of some really good turmeric, and a ton of oranges from Debby and Andrew.
Steph and I headed to Mexico for a week of cavern diving training. We got to use Steph status from her work trips for probably the last time, but use of the lounge and an upgrade was very nice.
We got to the airport in Cancun and pretty quickly got to the transfer we had booked. We got to the dive shop and Rory was willing to drive us to the grocery store that evening. We got a good amount of food and headed back to the room to crash. The next morning we started the training with a checkout dive in about 7 feet of water. It went decently well as we went through all the drills. We got out of the water and redid a good bit of the gear before debriefing. We were pretty tired so we went straight to the room and relaxed for a bit before calling it a night.
For the first trip with videos click here.
The next day we did a lot of navigation theory, and did dive plans for the Taj Mahal cavern. The dives didn’t go exactly as planned as we were going slower than expected, and I called out the first reference point in my dive incorrectly. We still got through most of the skills with minor hitches. I lost buoyancy pretty badly on the turn of my dive and hit the ceiling. That evening we again just relaxed, and I got some good cuddles from one of the cats that frequents the area, the aptly named Mustacio! He jumped into my lap and started purring, kneading, and drooling.
The next day we went to Cenote Chiken Hal. These dives didn’t go as well, and we had to repeat the first dive, focusing on the command chain: breathing, buoyancy, trip, position. These were really hard for me, and the better I was doing the more uncomfortable I was getting. The correct position had my neck, shoulders, and back hurting.
I decided that I was done with the training at that point.
I did go on a guided dive through a cavern called Dream Gate after that, which was gorgeous, but otherwise I sat at the room/shop. There wasn’t much else to do in that area, and there were limited transportation options.
Steph completed the course and is now certified in Cavern Diving and Intro to Cave Diving.
We then went to Cancun, and had some amazing food. We especially enjoyed the Benazuza restaurant, which is a course based meal. They had some great mixology to start out the dinner and amazing food throughout. It was better than some of the best dining we’ve had in the bay area and I can see why it was ranked in the top 5 in the world on trip advisor.
We went to Chichen Itza and saw most of the city. It was pretty amazing. Tikal was only slightly more impressive.
The discussion for this book was one of the best we’ve had in a long time. I think it was largely due to the change in format, allowing and requiring participation to be well thought, and minimizing the amount of rebuttal that could be done. I referred to it as the “Lord of the Flies” approach, requiring a physical object to be held in order to be allowed to speak. We will play with this style over the next few months, and see how rigid it needs to be.
The discussion itself went much deeper into the book, the author, the characters, and the world than we’ve had in a long time. The reaction to the book was lukewarm.
Tina hosted a lot of people at her place for her famous mochi waffles. She cooked up a ton of them and had a very instagram worthy spread. But I forgot to get a picture. We got a game going of a new game Steph got for Christmas called Kodama.
In the game you build trees, and score based on how much the spirits like them. The game was adorable, and we will certainly be playing it again.
We had a very chill New Years Eve with Adam, Candice, and Micah. We played a game that Candice Brought, with me crushing the first game, and Adam winning the second. It was called Letter Tycoon. We then played a round of Ascension right before midnight. We toasted at midnight and soon after everyone left to head home.
Steph and I were ready to get out after she had been sick for a week and a half, so we chatted up Kevin, Lindsay, Andrew, and Debby on hangouts and asked if they wanted to do dinner. We got the day mixed up so Steph and I got a nice dinner together at an Indian place near Kevin and Lindsay’s apartment.
The next day we got a good dinner with them at a different place and got to have some good conversations in the hot tub afterwards. Bonus pics of cats looking at cats…
Steph and I went through a dive training course for side mounted double tanks in preparation for cavern and cave diving. We ordered all the equipment through Diver Dan’s, and Mike was kind enough to walk us through the setup and pool practice for the fitting. He also lent us a good bit of his gear, which was very useful in getting things measured and set up.
We did the online course before showing up for the classroom session on the 16th of December.
We stayed in SF that night as the first pool day was the following day. We did four hours in the pool, and I was completely exhausted by the end of it. That effectively marked the end of the smoothie diet. If I was going to do four hour pool sessions for dive training I needed more energy.
The instructor Lexi was great, and very patient. She was able to walk us through all the information and was able to help us get our gear set up correctly.
We did two more four hour pool sessions, then Steph and I jumped in the pool at Diver Dan’s for a few more hours of practice time. She went back another day while I was at work and did a few hours more.
George hosted a holidays themed karaoke at his place. It was a lot of good songs, and some really good singing. George, Lindsay, and Debby had obviously prepared and practiced a few of the songs. There were a few others who were just great singers to begin with who may or may not have practiced. I sung ‘You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch’ and ‘Let it Snow.’
Lindsay organized a white elephant gift exchange for the evening. I brought a travel power strip, and Steph brought a book with a cat photoshopped into famous paintings. We had a good time. I tried to steal a light up sweater, but it was in a woman’s size and didn’t fit my arms. I then stole some Pusheen slippers, but Debby got those. I ended up with a cat Jedi/Sith calendar, which we will probably be using for 2019.
I’ve been holding steady at about 180 lbs and wanted to get down to 165. I decided that the smoothies I typically have 2 per day of would be a great diet if I had 6 a day and nothing else. They are typically comprised of flaxseed, rice protein powder, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, and strawberry. For this diet I’m adding some peanut butter and whey protein powder. I’m about 10 days in right now and it isn’t too bad. The calorie count comes to about 1200 per day, but the volume of smoothie is enough that I can eat(drink) pretty much whenever I’m hungry(most of the time). It is going well, and I’m not getting any adverse effects besides being hungry and craving foods. It is going well and I’m down to 175. I plan to stop this once I reach 170.
The ingredients work out to a bag of frozen spinach, a bag of frozen cali veggie mix, 6 spoonfuls of protein powder (3 whey, 3 rice), 2 spoonfuls of ground flaxseed, one small bag of frozen strawberries, and 3 spoonfuls of peanut butter. I mix in some other ingredients depending on how I’m feeling that day and what is available. Mostly the fruit changes: mango, pear, guava-stein, mixed berries. It only takes about 15 minutes in the morning to prep it all, and I can grab more on the way home from work since the train station is right next to the grocery store.
It's an Exciting World 