Farewell, Interns

I feel as if I myself have gone through a transformation as my interns have. At the beginning of the summer, we were young, naive and shining with bright shiny optimism. I don't think any of that actually changed, but we sure had a heck of a time and made some fantastic memories together. There were problems with bizarro roommates, lessons on "creepiness factors," movie marathons, vibrant outings on whitewater and baywater and poolwater, and lots and lots of episodes of the British sitcom "Coupling" (and of course the hot new action-drama "Burn Notice").

Thanks for a great summer, folks! I hope our paths can cross once more; maybe twice. But that's it - then I'm done.

<3 the token white girl

My Second Visitor

Mr. Joe made the journey out to visit me during his summer vacation. Notable trips:

-Mountain Grandview Restaurant - San Jose - I took Joe here the night he flew in. I got lost in the mountains, so we didn't get to dinner at sunset for the "romantic" meal I planned, but it was still pretty neat. This was my first of many personal experiences this week with mountain driving in the bay area. This restaurant is tucked up in the middle of a remote affluent middle-of-nowhere mansion area up in the Mount Hamilton area. It looked very much like a ski lodge, but the food was quite delicious. Apparently there are a lot of regulars there because the chef herself came out to say hello to them. I noticed a bizarre man standing outside the window on the hill taking photographs of all of us inside. He then came inside and was talking to some of the restaurant patrons and the chef. When he left, the chef came over to me, put her hand on my shoulder and said, "That guy is a real weirdo."

-Monte Bello Open Space Preserve - we hiked the Stevens Creek Nature Trail. There were lots of little lizards, though the Wildcat trail in Rancho San Antonio (which I went on earlier this summer) had a lot more wildlife. The neatest part was walking along parts of the San Andreas fault where the earth had cracked open and let groundwater seep up and create marshes in the middle of this very dry park. The drive to Monte Bello from San Jose is not for the feint of heart. Curvy one-lane roads for two-way traffic along hundred feet dropoffs - something that will haunt my nightmares for years to come. I took a more roundabout, but much less frightening way back.


-Hakone Gardens - Japanese garden in Saratoga. Pretty, but didn't take very much time to get through the whole thing.

-Winchester Mystery House - The historic San Jose home of the eccentric hier to the Winchester Rifle "throne." Rumor has it, a psychic convinced her that the death of her husband and child were caused by the furious spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifles. The only way to make the spirits happy was to continuously build her home. The front 30 rooms were damaged by a 1906 earthquake; she took that as a sign that she had spent too much time on the front part of the house and boarded it up, but kept building backward. We took the grand estate tour - it was awesome.

-San Francisco - I had to book a tour of Alcatraz well in advance, and it was well worth it. We rode with Alcatraz Cruises which is apparently the only way you can actually get ON the island. Then I took Joe on the obligatory SanFran sights tour - Ghiradelli Square, trolley cars, Union Square, China Town, Lombard Street & Russian Hill. We drove over the Golden Gate bridge, but it was too foggy to see much. The drive through the intense fog and blasting winds was an unforgettable experience all of its own.

-Big Basin Redwoods Park - Boulder Creek - The drive to Boulder Creek from San Jose is ALSO not for the feint of heart. Curvy one-lane roads for two-way traffic along hundred feet dropoffs - something that will haunt my nightmares for years to come. This was on the way to our next trip, however, and it was a cool little stop. We took the 45-minute walk on the Redwood Loop Trail, which took us by some of the park's coolest trees: Mother, Father & Chimney tree. Chimney tree was my favorite. It was completely burnt out on the inside from forest fires so much that it actually supposedly expelled smoke through the top, but redwoods are so resilient, it continues to grow without its heartwood.

-Santa Cruz - The end of Joe's stay was also the last full weekend in town for my intern friends, so we made a nice go of it. We rented out a little beach house in Santa Cruz. While the oceanside house was not really a beach house so much as a right-by-a-rocky-cliff house, we could get sufficiently close to the water just the same. The waves were incredible. We were "within" "walking distance" to the boardwalk, and took the trek. Most of our time was spent at the arcade on the boardwalk. I used my tickets to buy a beach ball, and a "plug pal" (whatever that is - it was shaped like a turtle).

206 picture-slide show is below. I recommend you check out the actual album for the Full Effect.

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The Intel LollerCoaster

I couldn't make this up if I tried.

"The Intel Sean Kingston Music Video program won three awards at the 29th annual Telly Awards, taking honors in the Non-Broadcast Production-Entertainment, Internet/Online Program-Entertainment, and Internet/Online Program - Music Video/Concert categories.
The video program included a song and music video titled Gotta Move Faster that highlights how the benefits of a PC powered by Intel® Centrino® processor technology fits a busy “hip-hop” lifestyle."

It also has the Best Lyrics Ever:

"Everytime I hit the net
Get a thousand friend requests
Stay up all night
Showing all my fans respect
Ain’t what u look like girl, it’s more about what u got inside
And if you rock the Intel baby, then holla at me online"

Gotta Move Faster

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Great Times at Great America

Mike, Wendy & I enjoyed a day reliving our childhoods at Great America. It's literally blocks from our office, but I hadn't been yet. They had season passes, which end up paying off themselves if you visit just even just twice. Well played, Great America.

We spent the majority of the time in Boomerang Bay, the water park. The water slides & wave pool were fit for many hours of entertainment, and early in the day, the crowds weren't bad at all.

Two Months In - West Coast Living

Now that I'm done with college, I have time for something I'd always heard so much about: Hobbies.

1.) Hiking
I'm sure that you could tell I like doing this, because you saw my pictures from Rancho San Antonio earlier this summer

2.) Trying to Do One Hundred Pushups
Inspired by some coworkers, I'm in week 2 of the 6-week program at HundredPushups.com which trains you to get up to - you guessed it - 100 good-form pushups.

3.) World of Warcraft
On the less physical side of the spectrum - I play the popular MMORPG known as World of Warcraft. I am a level 60 Blood Elf Paladin named Sheepia.

4.) One very special project near and dear to my heart that will be ready for viewing within the next week or so.