Quick Movie Reviews

After the excitement of last weekend, my buddies and I decided to tone things down a bit for this weekend and saw a LOT of movies.

The Dark Knight
I have grown up with the Batman franchise. One of my fondest childhood memories was getting my big brother's hand-me-down of Batman pajamas with FOOTIES. Oh, and I'm also a name dropper. Burt Ward, who played Robin in the original Batman TV series, is one of my great-uncles or something down the line. Fact is, we're related. Can't you tell the family resemblance? (I'm the one on top - it's hard to tell)
Anyway, like 99.9% of the US, I loved the movie. The Batman, however, was very boring in this installment. I kind of wanted the Joker and Two-Face to win, or at least go a little further... because Batman was just so boring.

Hancock
Will Smith, I want to hate you for making so much money, but you make it so hard with movies like this. Good movie!

Step Brothers
Normally I'm a big Will Ferrell fan... er, well, let me clarify, I loved him on SNL and in Old School. I even saw Kicking and Screaming. This movie was bad. Really bad. I still laughed sometimes though, because I just love Will Ferrell.

Hellboy 2
I haven't seen HB1, but this was still a cool movie to see in theaters. They did great things with computers in this movie, I must say.

Sex and the City
In my downtime since I've moved out to Cali, I've watched all six seasons of the Sex and the City television series, and since I just finally finished it last week, I was ready to see the movie at last (months after every TRUE Cosmo girl, of course). Conclusion? Those women are insane, except for the brunette - Charlotte. She's just crazy.

Whitewater Rafting!!

You can tell from the title that I'm stoked. Yesterday, I went on the "mixer" event with my company's interns. It was fun!

I've been whitewater rafting twice before on the New River in Hico, West Virginia with the North American River Runners company. My university offered a 1-credit hour pass/fail class for white-water rafting, and I took the trip twice. The first year, it *snowed* (in April, nonetheless), although the adrenaline kept us warm until nighttime. The second year, it was just really really cold (and I went in the fall, when the rapids aren't quite as thrilling).

I'm happy to say, however, that this time, the weather couldn't have been more gorgeous. It was warm and sunny, and the water of the American River was clear and fit for swimming. I even had the chance to SWIM one of the smaller rapids. On the previous trips, we'd had to wear wetsuits since it was so cold. This trip, I could wear just my swimsuit - it was divine.

The American River, as you may not know, was where gold was first discovered in California and started the California Gold Rush. In fact, we still saw people panning for gold along the way. The more advanced had little boats with complex vacuum-and-filter systems that could separate the gold from the sand and rocks.

The company we rafted with on the South Fork of the American River was the American River Rafting company. Our guide, Dave, was very knowledgeable and encouraging and friendly. He's definitely my favorite guide I've had. We didn't lose anybody, didn't flip, and only got stuck on one rock for just a moment. My raft-mates weren't half-bad either :-)

I didn't take my camera with me for fear of the water, but I did find a video on YouTube of another company's white-water rafting trip on the South Fork of the American River, the same stretch that we took. Of course, it's fast-forwarded. Our trip took about 6 hours.

The Yellow Roses of Oregon

And red and pink and orange of course. I just got back from an almost-week training in Portland, Oregon and it was a lot of fun. My mentor took me out for a night on the town last night. First, we visited the International Rose Test Garden which is a beautiful (and free) attraction. I had no idea there were so many different varieties of roses. My favorite kinds were those dubbed "hybrid teas" because they smelled so good I wanted to *eat* them. There were many people there poking around, including a book club. In the middle of the garden, there was a large stage on which they have weekly performances; this week, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was being performed.

After that, we went to a great seafood restaurant that floats on the Willamette (pronounced Will-'am'-ett) River in downtown Portland called the Marina Fish House. I'm a spinach-artichoke dip addict, and theirs had crab in it, which made it even better somehow.

After dinner, we took a trip to the Oregon Health & Science University (a teaching hospital) which had implemented an Aerial Tram to connect its buildings on the Willamette River with the hospital way up on Marquam Hill. We took a ride on it; the cars were really high tech-looking. You can read more about it here. I believe students get to ride free of charge, but it's open to the public (i.e., tourists) for the low fee of $4/round trip (you can also buy an annual membership for $100 - not bad if you've seen the hill(s) you'd have to drive up otherwise).

Next, it was time for dessert, and what better place than the hippest and most famously delicious place to get dessert in downtown Portland (and perhaps beyond): Papa Haydn's. They had the largest and most decadent desert menu I've ever seen in my life. I had trouble choosing, but ended up getting the Bourbon Ball - a ball of rich dark chocolate cake soaked in Jim Beam whiskey, coated with a rich chocolate ganache and topped with a chocolate and GOLD coated coffee bean.

My only regret is that I did not have the opportunity to drink many new craft beers. Oregon is well-known for its delicious craft beers.

I recommend you click on the slideshow and check out the Picasa album, but here's a nice preview:

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Half Moon Baying

Since the California wildfires have shut down many portions of Highway 1, we headed northward to Half Moon Bay for our first beach outing of the summer. I accompanied my ever-faithful interns, and we were pleasantly joined by my long-time friend Brian, who had taken a detour from a business trip to visit me.












Brian and I spent our evenings at a fine Mexican establishment which is tucked upstairs to a restaurant attached to a Super 8 motel. It's actually really good.

This week, I'm going to Portland for training. I'm looking forward to seeing The Dark Knight when I return late Thursday night.

Next weekend intern adventure: Whitewater rafting on the South Fork River.

Independence Day Weekend

Berkeley & San Francisco!

We took one of the 1-hour bay cruises on a random little boat for $15, and it was quite delightful.

Oakland A's vs. San Francisco Giants

It was one of my new friends' birthdays, so they got a huge group together for the Giants vs the A's game last weekend. The A's are actually the "Athletics" but I think they shortened it because it is a very dumb and uncreative name for a baseball team.

This weekend, I'm out on the town with some of my favorite interns in Berkeley and San Francisco. Of course, those shenanigans will be posted later. Happy 4th of July weekend!