We got some tasty waffles at beachhead, and it was a great time. I liked talking with everyone, and we played a game of Dungeon Lords while Steph was at the ballet. I got some bacon, and we had some veggies, but mostly had waffles. Tina made some amazingly well spiced ones.
We played a good round of Poker at Andrew’s on Saturday night with Lindsay, Adam, Kevin, and Debby. Steph joined us for dinner, but didn’t want to hang around after that. The food was decent, but not great. The ma po tofu was the most disappointing part of the dinner. We had a great time, and I won a lot. I was making some really bold moves, and got some amazing hands. Adam was nice enough to take me home.
The next day I joined Andrew and Adam for brunch. It was pretty tasty and very filling. We then went back to Andrew’s place and met up with Lindsay and Kevin there. We played a bit of magic (dragons), where I did ok, but not great. I had a few amazing plays, but not enough that I could win. Kevin had a really fast deck, and he ended up winning the day. We decided to do dinner at Tasty Indian Pizza, and it was pretty tasty. We were hoping for something like tikka masala sauce on pizza, but it was a bit less Indian than that. We then went over to a place nearby for watching Game of Thrones, and boy was it a good episode.
I had a nice long bike ride over to Andrew’s place for a brunch, which was delicious. The ride over was about an hour and a half. The whole way there and back was sunny and the perfect temp. I wore my new helmet and got a compliment on it from another cyclist. It was interesting meeting Andrew and Haru’s mother, and I could see how a bit of their personality developed. The food was amazing, with some delicious pastries as the part I liked the most. Debby brought some she got from Alexander’s and Andrew’s mother made some herb biscuits that were phenomenal. I left when they started the fist episode of the new Naked and Afraid season.
I got a cat tree for the kitties at the new place and they are loving it. They also have been loving to play with a red rain jacket I have hanging by the front door. I decided to give up on the jacket and hang it on the cat tree as a kind of tent.
They also like going on walks, and since we are at the back of the complex it is pretty safe to let them wander a bit on their own. Lana is especially safe since she runs back inside if anyone comes near. They have been looking out the windows a lot and carrying their toys around the apartment. They’ve also been surprisingly social when we have people over; sitting close to everyone and letting the guest pet them. I’m really happy that they are adjusting well.
This book made some really good points about checklists, and it didn’t talk about them directly, but the concept of willpower comes in a lot with them. The checklist is there both to make sure you don’t forget and to allow you to not remember. I builds up the habits, and refines them, while at the same time you don’t have to think about it. Something I also noticed while building my checklists was that I could optimize them for order of operations. I could also add things in that I haven’t normally done and it makes it easier to do them. I think it is going to work out really well.
We went to BHH last night and it was strange since none of the occupants of the house were playing games with us. We had a few drinks and I played a fun game with Adam and Brian called Imperial Settlers. It is a dumbed down version of New Era which is good in many ways and not as good in many ways. I liked the theming and removal of many of the restrictions. I also didn’t feel like I was desperate for resources the whole time. I had control of the board for most of the game, but Adam had some really good early scoring cards that got him the game. I was able to destroy two of them but not in time.
We had six people over for spades and majong so we could have two games going at once. Tory, Adam, Lindsay, Kevin, Andrew, and Debby joined us. We started out the night with some open faced chinese poker. Adam destroyed us all in the last hand and won because of that. Then we played some spades, and Steph and I just couldn’t get good hands. I played to aggressively in my bidding a few times, and we got set. I choose to not play majong, as it just isn’t the kind of game I like.
Steph and I joined Jeff and Patty at paint night at the Sanoma Chicken Coop by the San Jose airport. The bike ride over from the San Jose train station was surprisingly nice, since it was along the Guadalupe River Walk. The station and the restaurant are both only a couple hundred feet from the path.
We had a really good time last time we went, and this was no different. The paintings were very similar, with both being silhouettes over a sunset with clouds. This one had pets in the foreground instead of a tree. I liked it, as it gave some nice artistic license with the pets. I had two kitties touching noses.
Jeff and Patty did a really good job on drawing their dog KC. Patty’s reminded me of the snoopy dance.
Steph and I met with Joe in Castle Rock State Park this past Sunday. We had thought about camping there, but I’m pretty glad we didn’t, it is so crowded compared to many other locations. The views from the mountain were amazing, and the sun was bright with a shady trail. The entire hike only took about 3 hours with a long stop at goat rock for lunch.
We made it back in time to cook the food for the game of thrones night. I’m really enjoying this season, with all the differences from the books.
It's an Exciting World 