my “hiking date” emailed me sunday evening, hours after we finished our hike. i guess that means it went well. he was really chatty, which i liked. we definitely had no trouble finding things to talk about. and since he has a pretty solid background in CS, i decided to hit him up to explain some techy stuff today in layman’s terms, so i don’t look stupid in front of the client. he was quite helpful.
and now he is trying to convince me to do the tour de peninsula this sunday . i am considering….
but i am managed to do some work too. it was tough, but i squeezed it in.
friday was an impromptu summer event -watching the simpsons, on opening night. it was pretty funny, and actually, a lot of the seemingly insignificant moments were extremely funny. i thought it was a bit cheesy at the end, but overall very enjoyable.
after working most of saturday, i met up with JL, who was visiting from SLO, and his friends at townhall. it was a nice, long, and leisurely dinner. the appetizers were outstanding and the entrees would have been very good if they weren’t salted as much. i hada few glasses of nice riesling as well. it was great to hang out, especially since i last saw JL at a loud bar and we had little time to catch up. but i had to forego the beach bbq and dj tiesto’s big concert on sat. that was too bad, but can’t have it all.
sunday was my outdoor activities day. started with a car wash-long over due. then my first practice with the xlinx dragon boat team. with 20 people paddling, timing is the most important aspect. and it’s much harder than it seems to get everyone to paddle in concert. the girl behind me kept on hitting my paddle with hers- which annoyed me to no end. i am pretty sure she was out of sync, not me. but given that it was our first practice, i was tolerant. good thing that i wasn’t rude-she was my friend’s gf. 
when practice was done, i went on a “hiking date” at foothill park in PA, a park apparently only for PA residents and their guests. it was definitely a less conventional date than dinner or happy hour, but it was actually pretty fun. you can learn a lot about a person on hiking trails… as long as both are not out of breath from the hike.
i arrive at WA’s bday potluck late - just couldn’t get out of work. and once i did, could not find his house. haven’t been there in years, but in my mind, i thought i knew where it was. first i did not what exit to take off the freeway; then i didn’t know how to get to his street; and once i parked, i could not find the right house, and actually, rang his neighbor’s door bell.
but the company was well worth the treacherous trip. as we sat around his kitchen, it felt like how we used to all hang out years ago. time just flew by. i was pretty good about keeping an eye on the time, and left around 11, while most others were still playing poker. i wish it hadn’t been a week night. we could have hung out much longer.
i had doubts about going to grass vball today - i just haven’t had the desire to play lately, and the last few outing, i have been sluggish. this summer vball league is so different from last year, in so many ways. for starters, the turnout has been really small this summer. the last few weeks, we have only had enough for 1 net. plus, this is where i met mr. big last summer, and it was a really fun, carefree time. he has stopped coming, but for some odd reason, his sister still does. that’s something none of us could understand-because, after all, we are not friends her directly. but she doesn’t seem to think it’s weird at all that she shows up. but seeing her is another reminder of her brother.
in any case, i had already responded “yes” to the evite, and i didn’t want to bail on JO at such last minute.
it turned out that we had enough for doubles- and had some really good games. i felt energetic, had lots of life in my legs, and was hitting well. we rotated partners every game, and everyone played well together. until the “fifth wheel” showed up, that it, but whatever. i stopped trying to figure out why she needs to show up every week.
on the way home, i remembered why i really enjoy outdoor vball.
two years i attended this event with PC- life was good then. he was around and we hung a lot. unfortunately he flew out to beijin sunday morning so he had to miss this year’s event. so CV was my “date.”
we arrive at noon, sharp, but were the last ones to arrive. the sun was intense, and we roasted on the deck over looking the winery. until a few of us decided to “wrest” away an umbrella from another group. we asked for it nicely, the group was hesitant to give it to us, even though they had another umbrella that shaded most of the table. but they did not want to say no, so instead, they asked that we get permission from the neighboring table. the neighboring table was very accomodating, and said it was fine. so of course we started taking apart the umbrella and getting ready to move it to our table. one of the guys at the table grumpily said “well, you asked us, and we said no, and you are still taking it.” i murmured under my breath: “actually, you didn’t say no, you said if we should ask the other table…” one of the summer whow as helping me with the umbrella laughed and said “stop being a lawyer!”
well, the important part was that we got the umbrella so our table was a little more comfortable, having shade from the sun. the rest of the afternoon was filled with an abundance of sparkling wine and various tapas samplers. on the way home, CV and i stopped by delfina in the city and had a tasty, light dinner. and we stopped by tartine to bring some cookies home.
by the time i got home, PC was probably almost at his destination already. i guess i will have to catch him on skype the next few months.
VH invited me to a reception at stanford friday afternoon, where she is taking a course as part of her residency. dude, there were a lot of opthamalogists/residents. the few i talked to were pretty cool - just your typical, down-to-earth, people, who enjoy a life outside of work. the timing was good, because i have been learning about OCT technology. i should have brought all my dumb questions.
after that, we met up with WA and friends for the usual dinner outing, but this time at HC dumplings. we had a small table, but managed to squeeze in 10. it was a little cramped but the more the merrier. i vehemently objected to seeing a movie afterwards- there wasn’t any that i wanted to see, and the rest could not agree on a choice anyways. so we just hung out at q-cup. like teeny-boppers. but just a bit older.
the firm’s version - of course. it was a very well planned event: each team has color-coordinated t-shirts ( i was on the cardinal team), and a backpack of supplies.
our journey through the work campus, mountain view’s shoreline park, and then downtown palo alto:
1) document review-find the “hot” documents that made up of a car’s license plate
2) find the car with that plate in our parking lot, and it had the 2nd clue
3) make free throws at the basketball court in the back of our parking lot (which i managed to throw a ball over the fence), or hula-hoop for 30 seconds
4) teammates guided me, blind-folded, through an egg-hunt in the cafeteria
5)build an egg-drop device from the sky bridge from the 2nd floor, or thr0w the egg from the second floor and a teammate must catch it safely at the bottom: we broke all three eggs, and were penalized
6) went to the kite-flying area at shoreline park and “flew” kites for 30 seconds: we had 5 people but flew 6 kites
7) canoe or paddle boat tot he middle of the lake to get the next clue: we chose the canoe; two guys paddled and i sat in the middle as the “stablizing” weight; we collided with two other canoes and almost tipped over. later we heard that one canoe with four people actually capsized.
8) a ralph emerson quote that led us to a british pub on emerson street in downtown PA
9) ran through downtown PA, including longs drugs, to get to the shoe shine station at borders
10) algebraic chess game
11) led us to a mail box in downtown with the final destination
12) blue chalk cafe-we came in second. not bad for a team with a slow start
i think we worked well as a team ( 2 litigators, 1 labor summer, 1 patent summer, and 1 corporate associate), ran pretty fast, the guys paddled very agressively(which explains why i was completed soaked since i was in the middle and got water coming from both ends.
i wasn’t even feeling that well today, but the adrenaline really kicked in once we started running. it all started with us going to our first car ride, and there was a team just before us walking to the parking lot, so we sprinted past them to get to the car first. it was really good from that point on.
i was driving home and talking to FS on the phone yesterday- he had called a few days ago and it’s been hard to call him back due to the time difference. talking to him isn’t any different from talking to him ten years ago - i still vividly remember the time when we drove back from la together and chatted non-stop for 5 hours.
anyway, right when traffic cleared up, and i finally was driving at a decent speed, i noticed a small bird walking across the freeway. i thought it was weird that it would be walking, and not flying. but then, it may have been a small duck. i really couldn’t tell. i was hoping that it was slow enough that i would be able to avoid it, but i was not about to slam on the brakes or swerve out of the way to risk my life or the lives of other drivers. but then i heard a small noise- my car definitely hit something.
i would have been content just to think that my car hit a pebble or some inanimated object on the road, but in my rear view mirror, i could see a flurry of feathers… 
monday morning, HH emailed me for my bday. it’s weird that he somehow feels like he is under some obligation to do so-he is not, we have never even celebrated a bday together. but it was nice nevertheless.
we ended up having a short discussion (over email, what else) later that night (typical!) about relationships, etc. it was rather comforting, and informative. i never thought out of all people, we could have this type of discussion. i also never thought that i could have that type of discussion with him (or anything substantive, for that matter) without eliciting any good or bad feelings on my end. i guess times really have changed. for the better, i believe.
of course all that led to another weird, yet colorful dream for me. i dreamt that HH and his wife lived in the building across from me, but they would come to my building to use the gym. so i did everything i can to spy on them, just so i can see what she looks like. and after much effort, i found out that she was, well, chunky. and then i goggled her because i found out her name but nothing interesting came up.
yeah, i have the qualities to be a good stalker.
a lot of us have been eagerly waiting for AVB’s visit to SF. it was to be a mini WMC reunion. i had long been planning taking a day off so i can fully enjoy the event on a sunday night. to make it a little more interesting, i reserved a room at the very swanky clift hotel since i have always been curious about the place, and that it would be more convenient for our pre-party. (btw, the clift hotel is in the chain as the hudson in NYC and the delano in miami. good company to be in).
MS and i barted in ( no need for a car, and parking would have been expensive), and immediately after check-in, went for a run. even though i was MS’s suggestion of running up the hill towards the fairmont was ambitious, i agreed to it. it was MUCH steeper than it looked. but what the heck, we ran up that hill. the view up there from all angles were amazing. everywhere we looked was pretty as a postcard. the latter part of the run was a bit easier, as we ran towards the embacadero and then through the financial district and back to the hotel. we had just enough time to shower and get ready for dinner.
we walked two blocks to thai osha and meet up with a few friends. osha is known as a late-night spot, but dinner is just as yummy. and cheap. we walked back to the hotel to prep for our preparty. as we stood around near the elevator, a cute, blond guy walks by, smiling, and “showing off” his signature dimples. i looked at him, smiled back (of course i would), and with some slight hesistance, said “Armin?” i have only seen him in person a few times, but he has a pretty unforgettable smile. he smiled a bit more, and verbally confirmed. i went on to say that “we will see you in a bit,” and he politely responded as well, as he walked away. MS and our other friend was, at first, confused as to who he was. i exclaimed, “that was armin, you know, the DJ that we have been dying to see!” the rest of the gang became pretty excited as well, but none more excited than i was. as i came to the realization that he was staying at the same place we were, i was going off about how cool it was, and then he walked by again. i was a little embarrassed, but he smile, again. it was so cute.
i joked that i was going to sit at the chair in front of the elvator and wait for him to come out again, since that is apparently the only way in and out. i didn’t! but it would have been funny.
more and more friends came for the pre-party, and we left for ruby skye just before 11:30. armin’s set started around midnight and at 3 am, still going strong. we would have stayed even longer but for that our feet were pretty painful by then. definitely need to wear comfortable shoes at these events. the set was really high energy, and from what i hear, a pretty energetic crowd for ruby skye. i was not that impressed. it was far from the atomsphere in miami, but i guess we will just have to look forward to the nextr WMC.
the beds at the clift hotel were super comfortable. MS and i slept it until almost noon, and managed to get up for breakfast at sears’ fine foods (home to the swedish pancakes) before heading home. it was a nice little trip, where we got to chat about everything. the timing couldn’t have been better.