No longer a teen,
But I can enjoy myself
And go crazy yet.
I had a pretty cool birthday. :] Robby, Evan, Jeff, Mehul, and I hit up SF for the evening and went to an 18+ music place where there were local bands, etc. The place was full of hipsters, coolly watching the music and enjoying its artistic significance. Evan and I danced. Good times. The City, though, is pretty lame on a Tuesday. I guess I'll have to party up next year when my birthday is instead on a (BUM BUM) Wednesday. Hahaha.
The week itself was a little dull. Evan, Mehul, and I went to see Wanted, which was awful. There was game night and Frisbee, soccer, ... Oh, Friday night Evan, Robby, Alex, Dave and I attended another silly hipster event. It was silent movies with scores provided, live and impromptu, by local bands. That was kinda neat. The films were definitely enjoyable, but a little weird for my tastes. Except for one that was a 4 minute film that basically involved a fractaly morphy thing. :D
Saturday Evan and I got a car, since we intended to go hang gliding on Sunday. That didn't happen, but, anyway, on Saturday we went to Santa Cruz. So full of tourists. But what can one expect? We did find a place a couple miles up the coastline where there was an enormous rock covered in pelicans, and a little farther up yet there was an ocean research place that was part of UC Santa Cruz. They had, like, full size whale skeletons. Whale bones don't feel like what I expected, though. We enjoyed the sun and surf. Watching the ocean waves break against the cliffs was so... not Indiana-esque.
I got to try out scuba diving on Saturday, too. In a little dive shop in Santa Clara there's a pool and a $15 try-it-out type of program. One of the interns from Apple that I met randomly on the Caltrain set up a big Google/Apple program for us all to try it. SO MUCH FUN. I totally want to get certified now.
After that, Steven, Evan, and I went to Palo Alto. I'd never seen a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie, but at the Stanford Theater they were showing "Top Hat." Most excellent. I felt pretty classy sitting in that sweet theater and watching a film from 1935. ^__^
Sunday was the day we were supposed to go hang gliding, but I guess I failed to actually set it up. It was apparently too foggy to have done it that day, anyway (according to the woman I called). So we instead wandered around the Mount Tamalpais (or something) park. It was GORGEOUS to be above the clouds, then in the clouds, looking over golden fields and evergreen forests... mmmm...
I got to spend more time with Robby, too; since Evan and I had a car we explored the North Bay and then met up with him for dinner at a(nother) hipster place. This one was faux Asian. The food was delicious! And I can't say the atmosphere didn't amuse me.
It was a full weekend, for sure. I hope that I manage to blog more than once a week, but we'll see. ;)
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
7.21.2008
7.15.2008
Another big weekend!
Fire, erupting
From metal, shooting up and
Alighting the sky.
The Fire Arts Festival happened in Oakland this weekend. It was super! I guess I can't really post pictures from it (they're kind of hard to take), but I can talk about some of the super awesome things that were there:
Fire Piano! There was a keyboard hooked up to an array of torches that would spit fire when the keys were played. Evan totally rocked Fur Elise on this.
Fire dancers! This is requisite at a festival involving fire.
Fire tornado! I don't know exactly what the fuel to this was, but there was a gas vapor or something being blown out of a vent in the ground and into cross-breezes created by a circle of industrial fans. It was then lit, and, voila! Fire tornado!
Fire Battlebots! Two guys + remote controls + ROBOTS THAT SPIT FIRE.
Fire and ice! A block of ice with a torch in the middle that would intermittently flare up and melt a little more (in a nifty pattern, mind you) on the inside of the ice.
Fire bubbles! A bubble blowing machine that put oxygen and petroleum into regular soap bubbles was encased in a plexiglass hexagon. There were a few holes in the container, and through those the organizers had stuck hot pokers for popping the bubbles with sastifying BOOMS and flareups. There were even knobs on the sides of the case for adjusting the mix of flash and bang.
Tesla coils! They shoot lightning! There was a guy dancing around underneath one of them in a Faraday suit. I'm so jealous!
That was Saturday night! During the day Saturday, Evan and I hit up the City and visited the SF MOMA, which was definitely pretty neat. The best art was on the third floor, where you aren't allowed to take pictures. Bummer.
Across from the Museum is Yerba Buena gardens, where we found a sweet tea house. We had $7 tea and a fudge brownie with green tea mousse.
Eating in the City is pretty much the best thing ever. I had a burrito in the Mission and some awesome Chinese food in China Town. :3
Kung Fu Panda took up part of my time this weekend, too. I'm not ashamed to say I enjoyed it. A lot. :D
Anyway, that was my weekend. I think. Maybe there was something else. But, regardless, it's time for me to get to work so that I can get off early and go celebrate being 20! ^_____^
From metal, shooting up and
Alighting the sky.
The Fire Arts Festival happened in Oakland this weekend. It was super! I guess I can't really post pictures from it (they're kind of hard to take), but I can talk about some of the super awesome things that were there:
Fire Piano! There was a keyboard hooked up to an array of torches that would spit fire when the keys were played. Evan totally rocked Fur Elise on this.
Fire dancers! This is requisite at a festival involving fire.
Fire tornado! I don't know exactly what the fuel to this was, but there was a gas vapor or something being blown out of a vent in the ground and into cross-breezes created by a circle of industrial fans. It was then lit, and, voila! Fire tornado!
Fire Battlebots! Two guys + remote controls + ROBOTS THAT SPIT FIRE.
Fire and ice! A block of ice with a torch in the middle that would intermittently flare up and melt a little more (in a nifty pattern, mind you) on the inside of the ice.
Fire bubbles! A bubble blowing machine that put oxygen and petroleum into regular soap bubbles was encased in a plexiglass hexagon. There were a few holes in the container, and through those the organizers had stuck hot pokers for popping the bubbles with sastifying BOOMS and flareups. There were even knobs on the sides of the case for adjusting the mix of flash and bang.
Tesla coils! They shoot lightning! There was a guy dancing around underneath one of them in a Faraday suit. I'm so jealous!
That was Saturday night! During the day Saturday, Evan and I hit up the City and visited the SF MOMA, which was definitely pretty neat. The best art was on the third floor, where you aren't allowed to take pictures. Bummer.
Across from the Museum is Yerba Buena gardens, where we found a sweet tea house. We had $7 tea and a fudge brownie with green tea mousse.
Eating in the City is pretty much the best thing ever. I had a burrito in the Mission and some awesome Chinese food in China Town. :3
Kung Fu Panda took up part of my time this weekend, too. I'm not ashamed to say I enjoyed it. A lot. :D
Anyway, that was my weekend. I think. Maybe there was something else. But, regardless, it's time for me to get to work so that I can get off early and go celebrate being 20! ^_____^
6.30.2008
Ooooof!
Swallows drop shadows
In heathery fields as I lie
And watch the river.
Today was Knol's offsite; we decided to go whitewater rafting. A few hours on a river is enough to get to know people. I was really glad for the opportunity to spend time with my team, especially since I work so far away from them.
The river involved some Class III rapids, which isn't, you know, really hardcore, but it was definitely a fun day. Some parts were a challenge. Riding in front was great.
At the stop for lunch, there was a hill unlike any I'd seen in California so far. It was covered in some kind of green and purple grass. No trees. There was a rock at the top that I had to hike up to. Seeing the river (which I guess is the busiest in America for rafting) and the surrounding hills and rocks and trees was really peaceful. :)
So my arms are dead from a full day of rafting today, but the rest of my body is dead from a full weekend of biking in San Francisco. There was a critical mass ride on Friday, and that was a good time. A slew of bikers biking wherever they please through rush hour traffic. Hahaha.
Also Friday was a visit to a jazz club for a band that played lots of awesome tuneage, including a jazzy rendition of "Spanish Castle Magic." Awesome.
Saturday was pretty chill: a visit to the Computer History Museum for a look at Babbage's Difference Engine #2 and a trip to the theater to see Wall-E. So sad.
Sunday? The Gay Pride Parade in SF! Super festive and awesome. Also, the best breakfast ever. Hunger is the best spice, and I was starving. A ride (after many wrong turns) up to Sausalito and a ferry ride back to the city rounded out the day.
And now, I need some sleep. I'll try to edit this post with pictures from the weekend sometime.
In heathery fields as I lie
And watch the river.
Today was Knol's offsite; we decided to go whitewater rafting. A few hours on a river is enough to get to know people. I was really glad for the opportunity to spend time with my team, especially since I work so far away from them.
The river involved some Class III rapids, which isn't, you know, really hardcore, but it was definitely a fun day. Some parts were a challenge. Riding in front was great.
At the stop for lunch, there was a hill unlike any I'd seen in California so far. It was covered in some kind of green and purple grass. No trees. There was a rock at the top that I had to hike up to. Seeing the river (which I guess is the busiest in America for rafting) and the surrounding hills and rocks and trees was really peaceful. :)
So my arms are dead from a full day of rafting today, but the rest of my body is dead from a full weekend of biking in San Francisco. There was a critical mass ride on Friday, and that was a good time. A slew of bikers biking wherever they please through rush hour traffic. Hahaha.
Also Friday was a visit to a jazz club for a band that played lots of awesome tuneage, including a jazzy rendition of "Spanish Castle Magic." Awesome.
Saturday was pretty chill: a visit to the Computer History Museum for a look at Babbage's Difference Engine #2 and a trip to the theater to see Wall-E. So sad.
Sunday? The Gay Pride Parade in SF! Super festive and awesome. Also, the best breakfast ever. Hunger is the best spice, and I was starving. A ride (after many wrong turns) up to Sausalito and a ferry ride back to the city rounded out the day.
And now, I need some sleep. I'll try to edit this post with pictures from the weekend sometime.
6.23.2008
Big Frickin Weekend
Free-falling to Earth,
Saved by a bright parachute,
My first time. Awesome!
I almost can't believe that I can actually cross skydiving off my list. It was an incredible experience. Seventeen of us interns went for the adventure. It was about $200/person for the whole day (including car rentals, gas, food, etc.), which is nothing for such excitement.
Honestly, the terror was a lot worse in the plane on the way up than it was actually falling. Evan was the first one out of my planeload, and he got the distinct pleasure of sitting next to the open side of the plane as we climbed to 13,000 ft. We each had altimeters on our wrists, and right at 13,000 the plane leveled off and Evan went... away.
My tandem guy (Marcus) scooted me down the bench and in front of the yawning opening at the back of the plane. I saw Evan and his instructor, now just a tiny dot, falling fast. "Dive flow," I thought to myself. I grabbed my harness, did the one-two-three rocking motion ("ready, set, dive!") with Marcus, and I was skydiving! There was so much wind, but I could still hear myself screaming, I think. Mind you: it was screams of joy, not screams of terror! Sooooooo much fun.
At 7,000 feet, Marcus tapped me on the shoulder, and I looked at my wrist. I watched it drop down to 5,5o0 feet, then reached back and pulled the golf ball that released the chute. A satisfying *funf* heralded the opening of the chute, and suddenly we were drifting happily, almost a mile above the countryside.
The canopy was almost as good as the freefall, honestly. Marcus let me steer the parachute for a while, and we spun around in impressively tight corkscrews. I didn't realize how much control there was to be had over falling!
The landing was easy. Marcus did most of it. Instead of landing undignifiedly on my butt, like all the other first-timers, I proudly landed on two feet. :)
After such an adventure, food was necessary. Evan, Taejin, Dean, and I took one of the rental cars that we'd booked for the weekend to Sacramento. I was disappointed with how empty the city was, but I didn't much care after the day's excitements. We had dinner at a delicious Italian place downtown.
All in all, I'm still completely wiped from the weekend. I'm hoping to get a proper night's sleep sometime in the near future, but we'll see whether that happens or not.
Saved by a bright parachute,
My first time. Awesome!
I almost can't believe that I can actually cross skydiving off my list. It was an incredible experience. Seventeen of us interns went for the adventure. It was about $200/person for the whole day (including car rentals, gas, food, etc.), which is nothing for such excitement.
Honestly, the terror was a lot worse in the plane on the way up than it was actually falling. Evan was the first one out of my planeload, and he got the distinct pleasure of sitting next to the open side of the plane as we climbed to 13,000 ft. We each had altimeters on our wrists, and right at 13,000 the plane leveled off and Evan went... away.
My tandem guy (Marcus) scooted me down the bench and in front of the yawning opening at the back of the plane. I saw Evan and his instructor, now just a tiny dot, falling fast. "Dive flow," I thought to myself. I grabbed my harness, did the one-two-three rocking motion ("ready, set, dive!") with Marcus, and I was skydiving! There was so much wind, but I could still hear myself screaming, I think. Mind you: it was screams of joy, not screams of terror! Sooooooo much fun.
At 7,000 feet, Marcus tapped me on the shoulder, and I looked at my wrist. I watched it drop down to 5,5o0 feet, then reached back and pulled the golf ball that released the chute. A satisfying *funf* heralded the opening of the chute, and suddenly we were drifting happily, almost a mile above the countryside.
The canopy was almost as good as the freefall, honestly. Marcus let me steer the parachute for a while, and we spun around in impressively tight corkscrews. I didn't realize how much control there was to be had over falling!
The landing was easy. Marcus did most of it. Instead of landing undignifiedly on my butt, like all the other first-timers, I proudly landed on two feet. :)
After such an adventure, food was necessary. Evan, Taejin, Dean, and I took one of the rental cars that we'd booked for the weekend to Sacramento. I was disappointed with how empty the city was, but I didn't much care after the day's excitements. We had dinner at a delicious Italian place downtown.
All in all, I'm still completely wiped from the weekend. I'm hoping to get a proper night's sleep sometime in the near future, but we'll see whether that happens or not.
6.21.2008
Hiking!
Dirt, caked into my skin,
A thousand years of redwoods,
Some burnt, most still grand.
Big Basin is only an hour from here, and the scenery there is phenomenal. I can't believe I hadn't visited there before today! Robby set up a hike for all of us through the park. It was awesome. The waterfalls, the trees... just getting back to nature after spending my week staring at a screen was pretty much the best thing ever.
It was strange to see the ravages of the fire, too. Seeing such majestic towers with dark scars like that...
I'm tired, though. 10 miles through hills was intense. We all got super dehydrated, too, because we didn't realize that we would be going on such a big hike.
Post hike, Robby, Doug, Evan, and I managed to get lost. Well, mostly me. We found Santa Clara, though. :P
For Mehul's birthday, we went out for dinner at a delicious Indian place. Mmmmmm....
A thousand years of redwoods,
Some burnt, most still grand.
Big Basin is only an hour from here, and the scenery there is phenomenal. I can't believe I hadn't visited there before today! Robby set up a hike for all of us through the park. It was awesome. The waterfalls, the trees... just getting back to nature after spending my week staring at a screen was pretty much the best thing ever.
It was strange to see the ravages of the fire, too. Seeing such majestic towers with dark scars like that...
I'm tired, though. 10 miles through hills was intense. We all got super dehydrated, too, because we didn't realize that we would be going on such a big hike.
Post hike, Robby, Doug, Evan, and I managed to get lost. Well, mostly me. We found Santa Clara, though. :P
For Mehul's birthday, we went out for dinner at a delicious Indian place. Mmmmmm....
6.19.2008
Glassy-Eyed
Hidden in gardens
Sparkles something amazing.
Google and elsewhere.
I got the special treat of listening to Dale Chihuly at a tech talk today. He showed videos of installations he's done in places like Jerusalem, which is way awesome. I wish that I knew how to blow glass...
The intern lunch was yesterday! It wasn't so much of a success as I'd hoped for, but definitely everyone seemed to have fun, and the Cool People mailing list and calendar got publicized, and I met a couple new interns. The conference bike races were AMAZING. I think the blue bike is a little faster. There's a video of the race someplace around here... Taejin (the other knol intern; he works with the team in Korea, actually) took one, I believe.
Oh! Right! Google Serve! I went to San Bruno Mountain and helped keep control of invasive plants (i.e. I pulled weeds) for an afternoon. That was a lot of fun. Plus I got another t-shirt. I think I'm up to 7 now. And one guy who I was weeding with said that I can have one of his Google shirts, which is amazing. The shirt in question? All it says is "I have root @ Google". Badass.
New interns came on Tuesday to the farm area that I work in. One of them named his host Jimi. As in Hendrix. He has very much potential to be cool. ;)
Anyway, I think that this little deviation from my regularly scheduled work has gone on long enough. There will be more to post after this weekend, for sure.
And happy 21st birthday to both Pat and Mehul this week!
Sparkles something amazing.
Google and elsewhere.
I got the special treat of listening to Dale Chihuly at a tech talk today. He showed videos of installations he's done in places like Jerusalem, which is way awesome. I wish that I knew how to blow glass...
The intern lunch was yesterday! It wasn't so much of a success as I'd hoped for, but definitely everyone seemed to have fun, and the Cool People mailing list and calendar got publicized, and I met a couple new interns. The conference bike races were AMAZING. I think the blue bike is a little faster. There's a video of the race someplace around here... Taejin (the other knol intern; he works with the team in Korea, actually) took one, I believe.
Oh! Right! Google Serve! I went to San Bruno Mountain and helped keep control of invasive plants (i.e. I pulled weeds) for an afternoon. That was a lot of fun. Plus I got another t-shirt. I think I'm up to 7 now. And one guy who I was weeding with said that I can have one of his Google shirts, which is amazing. The shirt in question? All it says is "I have root @ Google". Badass.
New interns came on Tuesday to the farm area that I work in. One of them named his host Jimi. As in Hendrix. He has very much potential to be cool. ;)
Anyway, I think that this little deviation from my regularly scheduled work has gone on long enough. There will be more to post after this weekend, for sure.
And happy 21st birthday to both Pat and Mehul this week!
6.04.2008
O______o
Whoa! Holy crap, dude!
It's as though billionaires are
People just like us!
So if playing Ultimate with Sergey wasn't enough, he actually sat down to dinner with me and the other Frisbee folk yesterday. AMAZING. I guess he's kind of a health nut, but he's also (obviously) really cool. We talked about what I'm doing this summer, and it sounds like he wrote some perl scripty stuff in grad school that might help me out. :D Standing on the shoulders of giants!
Oh, and I'm excited about today's fieldtrip to YouTube. San Bruno, whoo!
I can feel the Google 15 starting to settle in on my hips... oooooof!
It's as though billionaires are
People just like us!
So if playing Ultimate with Sergey wasn't enough, he actually sat down to dinner with me and the other Frisbee folk yesterday. AMAZING. I guess he's kind of a health nut, but he's also (obviously) really cool. We talked about what I'm doing this summer, and it sounds like he wrote some perl scripty stuff in grad school that might help me out. :D Standing on the shoulders of giants!
Oh, and I'm excited about today's fieldtrip to YouTube. San Bruno, whoo!
I can feel the Google 15 starting to settle in on my hips... oooooof!
5.15.2008
Put a Lime in the Coconut
Today at lunch they had a guy who used a power drill to put a hole in a coconut. Then he stuck a straw in and handed it to you to drink! They had already shaved off the outermost layer, so there wasn't any rough shell on it, and they made the bottoms flat so you could set them on the table. It was pretty neat. It wasn't quite the flavor I was expecting, though. It tasted almost exactly like water. I thought it would be a little sweeter.
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