last train to clarksville

I'm sleepy and should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I got my inbox down to only 30 left before vacation. Of course, a million more will come in tomorrow, but this was a valiant push. Today was mostly a slog - it didn't start quite as early as yesterday, so I was able to write before work. Then I worked all day, with a brief break or two to walk around my yard - it was a gorgeous day, so it's too bad I couldn't spend even more time outside than I did. I made up for it by making a v. tasty huevos rancheros, so at least there's that.

I was done with meetings a little after five, so I did a couple of quick mandatory trainings and then drove out to my parents' house. They had several packages for me, of course - and they also had steak and baked potatoes, which was even more exciting. So I spent a couple of hours hanging out with them, and that was all good. Then I came back to my house, unpacked some of my packages, and turned a couple of boxes into a bedside table so that I could put a lamp next to my bed. That suddenly made my bedroom light enough to do things in at night, and my bed frame got fixed yesterday - so instead of sitting on my v. uncomfortable couch, I propped myself up in bed and worked for the last two or three hours.

And now, I should sleep - tomorrow is my last day of work this year, and I would like to finish the tasks on my list so I can fully disconnect. Goodnight!

waking up to find your love's not real

I'm suddenly too tired to blog - I pushed hard today, which is not my usual 'conserve energy on Mondays' approach, so we'll see how I feel about that decision tomorrow. But I got up this morning and did some business and made coffee and wrote before work, so I felt accomplished even before opening the corporate laptop. Then I slogged from ~10 to 5 without any real breaks. At that point, I talked to my dad for awhile, and then I made dinner - I went fancier than usual for a Monday, which meant potatoes au gratin (aka Barefoot Contessa's version of scalloped potatoes) and grilled ribeye, and it was a total delight.

However, I still had a million things to do for work, and the rest of the week is looking brutal (context for why it's all brutal: I'm down two managers and so am managing a bunch of people directly + things always get brutal in the summer due to our usual planning cycles + everyone is burned out and taking breaks). So I worked from 8-11, which at least put me into slightly better shape for tomorrow, but isn't enough to get me all the way to feeling good about things.

But that's a problem for Future Sara; right now, it's time for bed. Goodnight!

oh valley of plenty

I had a v. lazy, hermity day, which is what I guess I needed. I did spend some quality time cleaning up my patio - I had enough cut-up branches and sticks to fill my compost cart (approx 30min after it got emptied this morning), so I got all of that disposed of. I still have two big yard totes full of more yard materials, but those are safely chilling near my fence until the compost cart gets emptied again. Then I used my leaf blower to clean off the patio, and all is right again.

I spent some quality time this afternoon doing nothing, although I did take a nap and a shower, which feels like an accomplishment. Then I went out and had a steak at five p.m., which was rather early, but also rather late because I didn't really eat a proper lunch. I spent an hour and a half brainstorming some stuff for the book I'm working on, and wishing I were at Des Amis instead because their steak and wine were better - but Des Amis is long gone, and I'm not in San Francisco, so I guess tonight's steak will have to suffice.

Then I came home and watched four episodes in a row of THE WITCHER - yes, it came out ages ago, and yes, I watched the first four episodes sometime around the start of the pandemic, but I had never finished it. I decided that tonight was the night, and I powered through all four hours in one go. All in all I thought it was a good series with some interesting storytelling choices, and I'm glad that the next season was able to get made during the pandemic because I'm looking forward to it.

And now, I think I should sleep - I have some tings I want to get done tomorrow, so I think it's time for bed. Goodnight!

stacking up my house of cards

Today was better than yesterday, which was a relief. I got plenty of sleep, got up, did some journaling, took a shower, and reheated some oatmeal in time for a writing date with Veronica. We didn't actually end up writing - instead we talked for ninety minutes, which was delightful and very much needed. Then I made lunch, ate lunch, and talked to [censored] for an hour or so.

After that, Katie showed up - she and her family were out for a drive and they drove past my house, so they sat on the curb and said hi. This was v. abbreviated since they didn't get out of the car and I didn't have shoes on (and the sidewalk was chilly even though it was a nice day for November), but it was nice to wave at each other. Then I messed around a bit, started some laundry, threw some potatoes in the oven to bake, and took a walk while I talked to my parents.

The potatoes were for a batch of twice-baked potatoes, which I deeply love - I've discovered the joy of having them in the freezer so that I can have one when I feel like it, but I was out of frozen ones. So I made a batch tonight, and paired it with a perfect reverse-sear ribeye - I have been eating v. well in quarantine, so at least I have that going for me.

Then I folded laundry and cleaned up my kitchen. And then I painted my toenails and gave myself a gel manicure while watching a couple of episodes of Padma Lakshmi's Taste the Nation (still great!). And now I should sleep - I have grand plans this week, and I want to get cracking. That also includes staying of twitter the whole week - I made that somewhat impromptu declaration to V today, although I was thinking it last night after binging twitter yesterday, and I'm going to stick to it, if only because that time would be better spent writing or reading or doing literally anything else. Goodnight!

but I left it way too late, are you stuck in your own ways?

It's Monday, which is never a delight in the apocalypse. However, I tried to make the best of it. I had coffee and journaled before work, which helped to set me up just a little better than otherwise. Then I slogged most of the day, with a long break around lunch to eat leftover thai food and take a walk around the neighborhood.

I took a break around 5:30 to heat up my grill, throw some brussels sprouts in the oven, and grill a ribeye. The steak turned out perfectly, which was pretty delightful (okay, I lied earlier - Mondays in the apocalypse can be a delight if there is ribeye). I also had a twice-baked potato in my freezer, which is another trick I've discovered in the apocalypse - I only have one left, so I'll have to make some new ones soon. Steak + perfectly charred brussels sprouts + twice baked potato + a glass of wine = a v. nice Monday dinner. It also fueled me to spend another three hours answering emails, which is not what I usually like to do, but it had hit the point where I felt like I needed to catch up.

Then I closed my work laptop, managed to stay off twitter, and instead read a few chapters of Padma Lakshmi's LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT WE ATE, which is fantastic so far. And now I must sleep - goodnight!

look at this graph

I had a long day of slogging, but I meditated and journaled before, so I'll take it. I also presented to my broader team, and I managed to work in a Nickelback reference (a photo from 'Photograph' where he says 'look at this photograph', but I replaced the photograph with a graph). There are no rules anymore and I'm benefitting from that.

I was done a little before six, and I messed around the kitchen and drank wine and talked to my parents. Then I made a v. tasty ribeye, which had been in my freezer - I used the reverse sear method, and with my new meat thermometer it came out perfectly. I had some twice baked potatoes in the freezer as well, so this was a super easy meal - I should probably get some more steak to put in the freezer for a rainy day (although in today's case, it was a snowy day).

Then I had a late happy hour with some coworkers, during which I ate my steak and talked about a variety of subjects and did some cross stitch. And now I must sleep - goodnight!

til there was nothin left to burn and nothin left to prove

It's my last night in southern Iowa already, although I'll be in Iowa tomorrow night as well - but that night will be spent in a hotel near the airport, since my flight back to Denver leaves at six am Monday. Today was a rather idyllic day - I woke up in time to have breakfast with my parents, and then I spent most of the day outside. It was over seventy degrees, which made it perfect for sitting on the back patio. The ground still looks like spring, since it's getting green but most of the trees haven't unfurled their leaves - but the sun and the warmth felt like May instead of April, and I'll definitely take it.

Drewbaby came down to visit this afternoon - we'd seen him at dinner on Thursday, but we didn't have a lot of time to talk, so it was really nice that he came down. We spent some quality time on the back patio, mostly talking about nothing (although Drewbaby got to hear about the paper route that my dad and his dad had as kids, as well as how it used to be totally fine to send a seven-year-old and a twelve-year-old several hundred miles unescorted on a train). We also went into town to see Gram, which was about as depressing as expected - she still recognizes me, but I look about the same as I did when I was six, so it helps that I've been remarkably consistent with my hair style over the decades.

Then Drewbaby drove home, I did a bit of writing, and my parents and [censored] and I eventually had prime rib and baked potatoes at home. And now, unfortunately, I should go to sleep - goodnight!

in all the good times i find myself longing for change

Today was a full-on onslaught of all the things that lure me fully into corporate america - money, status, prestige, fine wine, etc. My VP's boss is in town, and my VP also happened to have an all-hands today, which meant I had three hours of meetings with them - and I had to present a couple of things at my VP's all-hands, and also moderate a Q&A with the big big boss. We also had an official opening of our new space, including a ribbon cutting, and so I had to do that before scrambling to do some work for an hour since I'd ignored everything in favor of getting through all of the stuff that absolutely had to be done today.

But I left at 5:30 so I could drop my car off at home and then walk to Frasca to have dinner with my VP's boss and the rest of the Boulder site leadership team. I've been wanting to go to Frasca for awhile - it's next door to Pizzeria Locale and owned by the same people, but Frasca is super fancy and has won a whole bunch of James Beard awards. I shudder to think how much the bill ended up being - we had a four-course tasting menu in a private room, and the big big boss was in charge of ordering wine. Since he's French and v. v. vocal about his love of French food/wine and disdain for American food/wine, we started with a very nice champagne, then had at least three different, wonderful red wines throughout the meal. At some point I heard him say that he was going to be more reasonable with the next wine or else Sundar would fire him - which I doubt, but also, the first wine tasted like a gift from heaven and was served in a glass that was probably more expensive than any bottle of wine I would buy, so I would guess his expense account is far more luxurious than mine.

sssanyway. The food was perfect - I pretended for the night that I have no issues with gluten, and I don't regret that choice because their bread was amazing and the pasta was one of the best things I've tasted in awhile. Actually, that's a lie, because the wagyu steak and the amazing mashed potatoes in the next course were even better than the pasta. I also spent a lot of time talking to Michael and Mike about the good/bad old days from a million years ago, so I had a surprisingly fun time considering that it was a work dinner and I was attempting to be on good behavior.

But now I need to sleep off the wine so that I can get up early and do all the work I should have done tonight. Goodnight!

forever may not be long enough

I'm back in ye olde Iowa, a little more than a month since I last left it. I looked at my calendar today and realized that I have only spent seven business days in the Boulder office in the last six weeks - it's amazing that I'm still employed. Granted, that covered Christmas, a nearly two-week trip to California (in which I went into the MTV/SF offices every day), a massive sinus infection, and last week's vacation...but still. By the time I get back to work it will be seven days in seven weeks, which has to be some kind of record.

sssanyway, I'm avoiding my emotions by typing that. I woke up this morning and it was a mad scramble to get out the door, but I think I have appropriate clothing for the week ahead (mourning, with enough coat/hat/glove/mitten investment to get me through the next polar vortex). I made it to the airport, returned my car to the same parking lot from whence I'd picked it up last night, checked a bag, made it through security, scarfed down a burrito bowl, grabbed some coffee, and made it to my gate (at the very farthest reached of the terminal) just in time to find out that my flight was delayed by 30mins. That 30mins could have enabled me to have a margarita, but since the gate was in the farthest reaches (literally going off the end of the terminal rather than being perpendicular to the terminal like all the other gates), there was no time for margaritas. Sigh.

But the flight was otherwise fine, despite being on a tiny tiny plane (we boarded outside via walking up a ramp, and I had a window/aisle seat and had to be careful not to hit my head standing up, which should tell you something). My parents picked me up in Des Moines, and then we drove to Altoona, where my dad schmoozed with some people for a few minutes before we met up with Aunt Kathy, Drewbaby, Aunt Becky, and Uncle Brian (who now goes by 'Brian') at The Big Steer. We walked in right at five, and the place was packed shortly thereafter - understandably so, since my ribeye was the best steak I've had in forever (even better than the steak I had in Oceanside, which I thought was outstanding...and this one was half the price, which is still $10 higher than what my parents pay in our town, so as usual the economics of my life is confusing).

Of course, it was a somewhat melancholy meal; the only other time I've eaten there, Uncle Mark was there too, and he was never far from any of our thoughts. I'll be up around Des Moines quite a bit this week, but tonight my parents and I came home, where we (or at least Mom) watched the Iowa State basketball game. And now, about two hours after I'd planned to, I need to go to sleep - I'm going to do some day job stuff tomorrow so that I'm not completely AWOL, so sleep would be a good idea. Goodnight!

i only want to sing your song

I need to stop looking at screens *immediately* - which is what I told myself an hour ago. Today was chock full of meetings and talking - it started at nine a.m. and continued straight through to six, including a presentation to my team and also a presentation to the new team I got reorged under (luckily, 130 people doesn't feel like very many when most of them are on videoconference).

So, needless to say, I was wiped out by the end. I came home, tidied up my kitchen, and reheated the last of some ribeye for dinner - along with two fried eggs and some hashbrowns (maybe not totally whole30 approved, although they didn't contain any forbidden ingredients, so #yolo). This was the height of restraint on my part, since all I wanted to do was drink a bottle of wine and watch Top Chef until I passed out. Instead, I did some laundry, did some dishes, and then worked for two more hours because I'm a masochist.

But now I'm really logging off and going to bed - goodnight!

he sees you when you're sleeping

Merry Christmas! I had a fabulous day, although I should have gone to bed an hour ago (when I started falling asleep over my laptop). I successfully woke up at eight (under slight duress) so that we could open presents, which all went swimmingly (I gave and got some great stuff, yay). Then we had breakfast - Mom made some v. delish breakfast casserole that I would happily eat again, and Dad made the same ambrosia that he makes every year, which is always great.

I spent the afternoon mostly being lazy, but I left the house briefly to go into town with [censored] (an errand that probably should have been put off since it was cold as fuck outside (I think it was below 10 degrees all day), but we needed fresh air). Then we spent the evening playing a new game called Codenames, which involved a lot of word strategy, which was v. fun and frustrating. We also ate prime rib, which was perfect, and it ended up being a v. lovely evening.

But then everyone went to bed and I played Civilization for a couple of hours...but I'm so tired that I'm going to bed now even though my desire to play is strong. Goodnight!

lay your weary head to rest

I don't feel like blogging tonight - I really need to go to bed right now if I want to get eight hours of sleep tonight (which is a v. necessary endeavor). I did get lots of sleep last night, but it wasn't enough to get rid of the post-India haze. When I woke up this morning, I had to shower, pack, and get out of my hotel - and I should have just come straight south to take care of tings. But I had a quick coffee/chat with Chandlord in lieu of brunch, and then I grabbed some pens at my favorite stationery store (my hotel was two blocks from it, so it's almost like I couldn't justify *not* stopping, amirite?), and then I grabbed my bags from the hotel and took a lyft to SFO, where I picked up a rental car for my upcoming week.

Then I drove to the glorious south bay, where I grabbed some coffee at Philz and did some not-so-glorious laundry at my office (India and planes wrought havoc on my jeans). I also talked to my parents while doing laundry, which was a good break. Then I checked into my hotel and was only nine minutes late to dinner with Heather (aka dear respected madam). We went to a v. old American style place (steak and potatoes, as opposed to new American, which is all about organic chicken and pureed celery root and kale and other abominations), and it was totally delish - my ribeye was great, and Heather had some of the best ribs I've tasted in awhile, and now my hair smells like barbecue and my stomach is happy.

Of course, my soul is quite delighted too - it's always good to see Heather, and we spent 2.5 hours together, which is never enough but was at least a good attempt at getting caught up. Then I came back to my hotel and actually unpacked, and now I must sleep - goodnight!

hey shorty, it's your birthday

It's my birthday! and also a national day of mourning. and also I went back to my former place of employment today (based in the Boulder office) - and by that I mean I took a job and am going through new hire orientation in a couple of weeks for the third time.

There's way more to that story, of course, but I'm tired after a day at the office, and I need to sleep. But I had a great first day and a great birthday - I got all dressed up and Katie took my picture like it was the first day of school, and then we grabbed coffee before I headed to Boulder. When I got to the office, I discovered that my friend Natasha (whom I told all this news to on Friday) had left a bottle of champagne and some birthday balloons on my desk, which made an odd complement to my new hire decorations. I met a bunch of people, had lunch with some teammates, ran into some old friends, etc., etc....

Then I peaced out and came back to Katie's. Katie was a super friend and bought a big gluten free cake and made homemade ice cream, and James grilled up a delicious steak, and the girls jumped and screeched and sang to me, and it was all totally delightful. This was the first time in forever that I neither cooked my own birthday feast nor organized the festivities, and I have to say, it was rather awesome. Of course, past festivities involved more wine and less screeching, but on the whole, this one was a winner.

But now I'm desperate for sleep - goodnight!

love's been a little bit hard on me

Today was a highly variable day. That, in immediate retrospect, sounds a little bizarre, but let's just roll with it.

I spent most of the day in a very unvaried way, actually...I spent basically the entire day in the kitchen, talking to family members. I woke up and had coffee and breakfast with my parents, and while breakfast was happening, [censored] showed up. [Censored] was followed shortly thereafter by Aunt B, who was down to visit Gram, her bees, and us (I have no idea what order of preference she had, but in my reality she was happy to see us). So we sat around and talked until it was time for her to go back to Des Moines - I'll see her again in Denver, but it was great to see her now.

After she left, I spent some quality time hanging out in the kitchen, and eventually [censored] and I watched a lot of [censored] until it was time for supper. Mom made a super tasty dinner - a new york strip roast with the same crust as prime rib (yum), sweet corn, and potato salad - which we all enjoyed tremendously. Then we squeezed in two games of Ticket to Ride - Dad won the first and Mom won the second, and I realized that I've probably spent 200-300 hours of my life staring at an upside-down map of the US since both Rail Baron and Ticket to Ride are based on US maps and I always sit on the north side of the map. Great use of time, eh?

Then it was almost time for bed, but [censored] somehow [censored] a fucking [CENSORED] with my mesh [censored] in the [censored], which really livened things up. So now I need to somehow try and sleep without wondering whether [censored] is waiting for me outside my [censored], which may be difficult since I've gone soft from city living.

But I'll be returning to city living soon enough - I think I'm leaving for Denver on Tuesday, which means I should sleep so I can pack tomorrow. Goodnight!

i'm trying to tell you now it's sabotage

I'm inching closer and closer to San Francisco. I woke up this morning in LA, strangely not at all hungover (for perhaps the first time ever after hanging out with Irish Matt - I must be growing up!), and hurriedly showered, packed, and drove to Long Beach airport. I dropped off the rental car, checked in, and discovered that Long Beach is tiny - only ten gates inside a single terminal that was clearly constructed in the days before TSA and can't really accommodate the requirements of modern lines. But it was an easy breezy process, which I v. much appreciated.

The flight was uneventful and I read the entire way. When I arrived, it couldn't have possibly gone more smoothly - I made my way to baggage claim, texted Heather with my door info as I was grabbing my last bag off the belt, walked outdoors - and didn't even have to break stride because she pulled up as I was walking out the door. This felt like a v. baller move, even if I was wearing a hoodie and schlepping more stuff than I assume ballers do....

sssanyway. I'm staying with Heather (aka dear respected madam) and Salim tonight and tomorrow night, and we had much to catch up on. So we talked all afternoon, which I loved, until I took a break to call my parents (as usual). Then we spent the rest of the day/evening mostly eating, joking, and watching movies - Salim made steak and corn on the cob, and we watched 'Major League' (ridiculous 80s baseball movie), part of 'Zoolander' (if you don't know what that movie is, please show yourself to the exit), and all of 'Neighbors 2' (which was surprisingly hysterical despite my v. low expectations for it).

And now it's bedtime, since I have much to do tomorrow - goodnight!

empire state of mind

No blog tonight...I'm deep in the story and so have nothing interesting to report. I did, however, take a break to enjoy the first truly sunny day since I got here, and I walked to Hyde Park Corner (home of the Wellington memorial, among other things). And I got a steak (the first steak I've had in almost eight weeks, I think) and a glass of wine at a pub - but 'pub' doesn't make it sound nearly as posh as it ended up being. It felt like an underused pub when I got there at five, but by the time I left at 6:15, the bar area was packed and there were lots of men in suits loitering around outside with their drinks.

But that's all you get - I spent the rest of the day working, occasionally procrastinating, and having a lunch break with some people here (which led to me talking about tech issues with two of the company founders, which is always interesting). And now I must sleep - goodnight!

last train to clarksville

I probably should have gone to bed a couple of hours ago, but I was spending some quality time with my bullet journal and lost track of time (yes, that's incredibly dorky; no, I don't care about your opinion on this one). I have a new journal to start the new year, so I had a lot of pages to create, and I'd been putting it off while I enjoyed the holidays and the waning hours of 2016. But now that it's 2017, I want to hit the year hard.

Of course, that doesn't mean that I got up early. But I did make some coffee and a killer omelette before spending the afternoon working - no writing, but a lot of emails and other random tasks. I took a break in the evening for supper - my dad made an incredible smoked new york strip, which was to die for, and my mom made some vegetables to help with our dearth of healthy foods (brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and peppers, which were delish, along with some roasted potatoes that were also delish (especially with butter on them)). Then we played a game of Ticket to Ride, which I won handily thanks to some long routes early on.

After that, I watched some fine CBS programming, and then I talked to [censored], and then I did some journaling, and now you're all caught up. Goodnight!

cherry blossom girl

I was way more productive today than I was yesterday, at least in terms of getting my life in order. This mostly meant going to the courthouse to get passport photos taken so that I can get an international driver's license next week - one advantage of a small town is that even though I unwittingly showed up after the time window when they say they'll do passport photos, they'll kindly do it anyway. It probably helps that they know my whole family, given how often they have courthouse business (property/vehicle/political stuff, not criminal stuff) - but still, it was way more efficient than any other government transactions I've taken place in recently.

I also spent several hours trying to organize my room - fitting the layers of my adult life on top of the layers of my youth is a challenge, especially when I know that I'm unpacking only so that I can repack in a week. I'm making progress, although I'm by no means done - but hopefully by early next week, it will be in a state where I would feel happy/able to get some writing done in my room during my visits.

Of course, that doesn't mean I was entirely virtuous today - I slept way too late, and I lazed about for several hours while drinking coffee and talking to my parents and enjoying another hot ham and cheese sandwich. And I ate dinner, of course, which included one of the best ribeyes my dad has ever grilled - and everyone was in a good mood because Iowa State came back from behind in their first Big-12 game of the season, so that was delightful.

But now I need to sleep - I want to keep organizing tomorrow, but I also want to play games and drink champagne and contemplate the new year. Goodnight!

so what, i'm still a rockstar

I just fell asleep reading a book at the grand old hour of 10:15pm on a Saturday, so I think it's time to go to bed for real. I spent most of the day taking care of tings and debating whether I wanted to venture out into SF (answer: no, and this is why I need to take a break from the city). But I eventually got in my car and fled for the peninsula, where I sat at Peet's and wrote for a little bit before meeting Heather (aka dear respected madam) for a v. early dinner. 5pm is exactly when I like to eat sometimes, though, and tonight it was perfect.

We went to Town in San Carlos, which I've been to before with the Shedletskys; it's a steakhouse, and we each had two great glasses of wine, and we had an amazing fried cauliflower appetizer that was beyond delicious (it had this nice spicy sauce and some goat cheese, and all together it was perfect). We also split the special, which was a perfectly aged, perfectly cooked porterhouse steak. The porterhouse, for those of you not in the know, is basically a T-bone - meat on one side of the bone is typically cut into a New York strip, and meat on the other side is the tenderloin. The porterhouse was so fucking delicious, and it was perfect for the two of us - and I brought home just a little bit that was left over, and I'm already happily contemplating leftover steak and eggs for the morning. Now the only question is whether to reheat the steak and make eggs over easy, or whether to chop the steak up and make a scramble with steak, onion, jack cheese, and salsa. Decisions, decisions....

sssanyway, we had one of our usual long, rambling, delightful conversations, and we continued it by going back to Peet's and having tea until they kicked us out at nine. Then we parted ways, and I came home and started reading a book, but had to 'rest my eyes' because I'm becoming an octogenarian, and I only woke up to take my contacts out because I'd left the lights blazing and realized I should probably take care of my toilette before sleeping through the night.

But now I've taken care of everything I need to take care of, and this blog post will have to be enough for the night - goodnight!

no reservations

I've stayed up past my bedtime, but today was worth it. I got quite a bit done this morning, thanks to turning off the internet before waking up - it's a tactic that I'm probably just going to have to continue. So if there's major news, call or text me rather than expecting that I'll see an email or social post...I feel a lot happier when I can bury my head in my work for a few hours before reality comes knocking again.

But I had to stop working before I was ready to this morning - I had lunch plans with some of my writer friends, since we're all ladies who can do such things. My friend Tina was supposed to go to Tahoe with us, but she was too sick to join, so we had lunch with her to catch her up on what she missed. Grace, Anne, Barbara, Tina and I met at the Cliff House, where we had possibly the most perfect table with an amazing view of the ocean (made even more amazing by the fact that it was actually sunny). I never go out to the ocean, but every time I do, I'm reminded of how incredible it is...but driving twenty minutes across town to get there is just not something I do all that often.

Lunch was great - I had a glass of champagne so that Tina could have the experience she missed of watching me drink (Tina doesn't really drink, but if you know me at all, you know champagne is my weakness - and they had Gloria Ferrer by the glass, so I couldn't resist). I also had a great steak frites with perfect truffle fries, so that was blissful. And we had a great time chatting and catching up and filling Tina in on everything - hopefully we can go there again sometime, since it was great and relatively convenient for all parties.

Then I came home, procrastinated, did some stuff around the house, and hung out with Vidya, who came over to do Chandlord-y stuff. I plied her with salad and heard about her upcoming trip to Burma (Myanmar?), and that was all great.

But she had to go pack, and I had to go the opera house to see Anthony Bourdain speak. It was a bit of a strange experience - the bro behind me was waaaaaay too excited about Bourdain (his girlfriend kept shushing him), and a protestor got up early on and started yelling at Bourdain about puppies and animals and vegetarianism (he humored her for awhile, but then threatened to go out and shoot a puppy in the head if she didn't stop talking, and eventually security took her out). The rest of the talk was funny and uneventful - it was almost like watching a standup routine by a guy who isn't a comedian, but who still have interesting and often funny things to say.

Then I came home, did some internet stuff, and accidentally fell asleep in the middle of writing this, so I think it's time for bed. Goodnight!