Stephanie and I went to Andrew’s place for some curry. Adam and George were also there. It was really tasty. We then watched an episode of Naked and Afraid, which was nice.
We had a lot of Facebookers come over to Games Night at Beachhead. They were mostly light gamers. Adam and I had one join us playing Caverna. It was a fun game, and I was doing great at farming. I neglected the caves and rooms to my detriment. I got a distant second. I biked there and back and it was a really nice bike ride.
Steph and I went to Kevin’s Birthday party and had a great time. The party was at K1 go cart racing. We got the package with 4 races, and managed to have a good time with few major crashes. Lindsay won the first race, with me getting a comfortable second. I won the second race by hanging back, and then taking a few really quick laps. The second and third races were determined by fastest lap. I got second in the third race to Andrew.
The final race was the main event, and this one was a true race, not a time trial. Andrew started in the lead since he had the fastest lap. I was second, and Steph was third. We started the race, and Andrew got a few laps without me being able to pass. Steph lost her third due to her cart not starting properly. I got a pass on the tight turn on Andrew, and the lap after that he spun out behind me, giving me a comfortable lead. Debby slowed me down on that same turn and George caught up. Steph had fought her way back to the third place spot, but couldn’t get past George for the last few laps. I managed to hold onto the lead, and got the win.
We then went to dinner at Mango Garden, and it was delicious. I especially liked the hot and spicy tofu. We of course had to get the roti with the peanut sauce, and I got a Thai ice tea.
We then headed back to Lindsay’s place and played some Poker. Debby brought over a delicious ice cream cake, and we all had a slice.
I didn’t do too well, and there were a few hands where I got a really good hand, but Andrew got a slightly better one. The worst was me hitting an ace high flush on the river, but Andrew getting his full house on the same card. Luckily at that point I was short stacked. Debby was kind enough to drop me off at home.
Steph was nice enough to join me for a cookout at Niko’s on Saturday. She met most everyone in the company, and got to chat with them about her robot. I got to say hi to Mike who is started today. I’m really looking forward to working with him.
Steph and I joined Lindsay, Kevin, and Debby at Yoga Belly. The class was really good, and I was able to do all the positions, with only a few stumbles. I really enjoyed the time there, and the dinner after. Andrew joined for dinner, and we went to Pho. The pho was tasty, and the perfect food for after a hot yoga session.
Steph and I went to Rong’s place for a BBQ. We made some misir wot, and Rong had a ton of really tasty food. I stayed and talked, while Steph, Nick, and Sarah went down to the hot tub. It was a really good time, but we had to head out to go to dinner with her parents at Patxi’s
The story in this was good, but there were a number of plot devices I didn’t like. The first was the trope of the ‘Woman in the Refrigerator’. This happens all over the series, with the female characters depowered to move the story arcs. This was particularly bad when the old bard was able to choose how he died, while the woman of interest was hunted down and killed to get to him. The book also had the unimportant characters die by the thousands, with the important characters miraculously living over and over again. Many of the important characters were supernaturally powerful, so it isn’t that surprising, but it is still one of my pet peeves when going through these kinds of books. Towards the end some major characters die, and it does even out in a way. The magic system in the book was also somewhat underdeveloped. There are small explanations of how it works, but I was hoping for something a bit more in depth. I might be spoiled by some of Sanderson’s universes.
We joined Jason, and one of the guys that works at the same company as him, Nathan, on a backpacking trip to Sword Lake in the Sierras.
We started out from their company parking lot at about 3pm, and the going was pretty slow due to traffic. We decided to stop in a little town called Sonora. We just happened to hit it on one of their town get together days. The town was packed, and we had trouble finding a restaurant, but managed to get a table and some tasty food. It took a lot longer than we were hoping, but eventually we got back on the road and made it to the camp ground a little before dark. Fires were allowed in this park, so we had a really nice campfire that night, and a few beers.
We got up late the next morning, and got ready to head to the trailhead. The hike in was really slow going, because we stopped for a photo shoot at a really nice view for about 30 minutes. Then we stopped for lunch at a nice rock outcropping for probably an hour. Then we climbed up a ridge next to the trail for another really nice view that we enjoyed for around 30 minutes more. When we finally got to the lake it was gorgeous. The rangers were walking around checking on permits, but it wasn’t all that crowded. There were some ‘frat guys’ or so we assumed across the lake from us, but it wasn’t too bad. We found a great campground in a grove of trees in a little depression in the rocky landscape. We gathered wood and filtered some water. I got in the lake, but didn’t go for a swim, since it was pretty cold. It was probably in the mid 60’s so certainly swimmable, but not pleasant. Nathan was the only one to get in all the way. We hung out at the campground for a while after that, but I was getting a really bad caffeine headache. I called it a night pretty early. The hike out was pretty uneventful, and just as gorgeous as the hike in. The drive back was uneventful as well, besides stopping for lunch at Sno White, a little diner with great milkshakes.
I really enjoyed it and would love to go back for a full day in the middle, or a day hike from the closer trailhead. I’ll post pictures when I get them.
We had Lindsay, Kevin, Riley, and Rong over for Taboo on Wednesday. It was a really great time! Stephanie and I won the couples round, despite her checking her email during a turn where I was giving the clues instead of trying to guess. The guys won the girls vs. guys round. We then did a round of telephone pictionary to cap it off, and that was a ton of fun. We had some good win, some tasty cookies, and I cooked a good bit of misir wot.
It's an Exciting World 