Binarynomad

This Sunday I was invited along with Shannon to brunch in the city at this great cafe called Ti Couz. We met up with Diane, Maria, Tara, Istvan, David, and Annette and then dove into the yumminess that started with the best Bloody Mary’s I’ve ever had and progressed into crepe heaven (spanish sausage, cheese and mushroom sauce), (roasted red pepper with corn and an avocado cream sauce), after which we finished up with dessert crepes of (nutella and chocolate gelato) and (coconut and vanilla gelato flambe). Oh how happy my tummy was. What a way to start the day, wonderful company and tasty food. 🙂

After much merriment, it was time to continue on with the day, Shannon and I were off to Golden Gate park to go an play in the Japanese Tea Gardens. I’ve always heard about them and was interested in visiting, but never had an opportunity. It was a bright an beautiful sunny day as we wandered through the park, into the Japanese Gardens, across the park, and then over into the Botanical Gardens. Lots of people were out, the weather was perfect, and we got to explore for quite a few hours. I need more days like this.

Ok, so I’ve been a (VERY) lazy monkey lately and have seriously neglected my blog. Time to saddle up the keyboard again and start typing.

Friday was not-so-quiet. It started off with me finally getting my ficticious business name up and running. I registered it with the clerks office, newspaper and banks. I got my domain purchased and setup with my hosting provider, and now I’m working on the website.

About midafternoon I hooked up with Morgan and her friend Bryan from San Luis Obispo, and we headed out to the city for some late shopping and then over to Vodas for their great happy hour deals. Sarah hooked up with us and we trotted over to Cafe Tiramisu for a delicious dinner. Then back over to Vodas for a few more drinks while waiting for some other people to show up (beware of the cucumber vodka, oh so good) Morgan (being the socal butterfly that she is) met Sherri (the owners wife) and then Bryan Davis the bouncer with the awesomely (lickable) race bike. Ritasha showed up and joined us for a few drinks before suggesting we take Bryan over to The EndUp. We all headed over and much fun and dancing was had by all before finally crashing for the night at Ritashas.

The next morning we woke up (way to early) and headed back into Alameda where we freshened up a bit, and then had breakfast with Morgan’s mom, before taking her out to BigLots for some shopping (while we crashed on the display couches). 🙂

(So this was supposed to have gone up Jan 1st, but I took too long editing all the photos that it’s a bit late, just roll with it 🙂 )

Happy New Year!!! This one of the best new year celebrations I’ve ever had.

It sort of started earlier on in the week, when Morgan asked if I was going to be joining her and some friends to Sea of Dreams, which is this huge costume party that happens in downtown San Francisco on new years eve. Lots of music, shows, dancing, performers, etc. I wanted to go, but having no experience in building a costume, and it only being 3 days until the event, I felt like a deer caught in headlights. Luckily, Morgan (being the amazing person that she is) offered to help out. We talked about some possible ideas, and then as we were shopping for pieces of her costume on the Haight in SF, she came across this really great fabric that gave her an idea of a quick Greenman(asque) costume. We grabbed the fabric, some pants at a indian/hindu store, and then a blank mask and some decorations at a hobby store. That night Morgan painted and built a mask with vines and leaves flowing along it, accented with tree bits we picked up while walking Cooper (I did mention how amazing she is right?). The mask looked great and the only thing left was the floor length vest that needed to be built out of the fabric. For that she contacted her friend Josh (who was flying in from Canada on Saturday) to help out.

On Saturday, I got to meet Josh, Ariel and Ryan. Josh proceeded to take my measurements and then whipped up a long vest/coat out of the material we purchased before heading onto his own costume (this man has skills). Then on Sunday, I headed on over to Morgan’s house, since my costume was pretty much done, I watched everyone as they all threw together their outfits. Josh was working his magic on both Morgan and himself, while I mostly played the photographer for the night. After some final touchup makeup for Ryan, we were all ready to head out the door. We stopped off at Morgan’s parents to show off the costumes and pose for a photo-op before rushing off again into the city.

Getting into Sea of Dreams was an experience, the main entrance was flooded by hundreds of people packed shoulder to shoulder (entering and exiting), the only way we stuck together was by grabbing on to each other and training our way through until we got inside. Luckily, the human mass eased to a comfortable level within the building. We had gotten there around 11:30’ish, so there wasn’t much time to drop off our coats and grab some drinks before finding one of the main arenas to celebrate the New Year celebrations at. Somehow they were running a bit behind, so we ended up ringing in the New Year about 10 minutes late 🙂 but it was all good. The rest of the night was spent, dancing, drinking, meeting new people, exploring the different stages and shows, checking out the artwork (people included), and just having fun.

Things started winding down around 3:30am so we headed out, and made our way back to Alameda (thanks for driving Josh), searched for any open places for food but eventually gave up and headed home. There, we made mac-n-cheese (of which Josh, Morgan, and Ryan attacked with much ferocity) before we ended up crashing.

The next morning (or I should say “early afternoon”), we crawled out of bed, cleaned up the place, drank tons of water, and showered. Later on John and Carolyn came by to visit and we all (sans Ryan and Ariel) headed out to Jim’s diner for a (much needed) late breakfast.

I had a blast and really look forward to going again next year.

We all have those feelings, at one time or another, that we may not be getting what we pay for. In this news segment, we find out how (5 of 9) Jiffy Lube stations stiffed their customers.

Here is the video:
http://mfile.akamai.com/12924/wmv/vod.ibsys.com/2006/0503/9152183.200k.asx

I just saw Pixar’s “Cars” and it was a great movie. I originally didn’t think I was going to find it that entertaining (too many of those Chevron car commercials) but decided to give in after hearing a number of rave reviews about it. The characters loveable, a good plot and keeps you interested, and the only negative was that it seems to get a little slow in the middle (but that passes pretty quickly). If you haven’t seen it yet, give it a shot.

As with most Pixar’s movies, you get a nice mini-cartoon in the beginning, and lots of fun clips during the credits.

On a last note, one of the previews I saw was for “Ratatouille“, which looks hilarious (can’t wait for it).

Wow, I just got to see [Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest][1], and it was a great followup to the original movie, almost picking up a month or two after the previous movie. They kept the life of the characters, introduced a few new ones, (I really liked Davy Jones and his legend), and kept you intrested through out the movie.

This next section has spoilers, so it is hidden behind a “More” button. If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t continue.

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I was making my way through an article on food, and discovered this cute snippet: “… in Argentina, a vegetarian is something you eat.”

I saw one of those personallity tests on a friends blog, so I decided to take it:

(behind a “more” link for those uninterested)

(more…)

This past weekend was pretty fun:

Friday was a blast, Toby, Alicia, Kristen, Bryan, Bill, Marilyn and myself all joined Friday Night Waltz being held in at the Alameda Veterans Hall. The coordinators were running late because of car troubles, and the person who had the key to the main dance hall was missing in action. It turns out that he was in the hospital and would not be able to make it, but luckly enough someone found a large gym under the building that allowed us all to dance. I loved the mix of music the DJ was playing, it turns out there are (4) sets of dances, a mix of (waltz, tango, polka, etc). We waltzed to Metallica and Pirates of The Caribbean, watched polkas to Hotel California, all sorts of mixes. I think next time I want to take a portable hard drive and get a copy of all the music 🙂 We closed out the night at Kristens by playing May I, a fun card game (that I am quickly getting addicted to).

Saturday we all met up, grabbed some sandwiches and coffee, and went to play in the Exploratorium, it had been a while since I had been there and as always had a great time (though I wish either 1: there were less children OR 2: they were trained in manners) We also had reservations for the Tactile Dome, where we all crawled, fumbled, slid, groped, and scared each other with impunity 🙂 Afterwards we attacked Warakubune and gorged on sushi before closing out the the night with May I (This time I actually won, woot!)

Sunday was a mixed bag, I finally got off my butt and started packing on Sunday only to discover 1: I have way too much junk 2: I don’t have nearly enough boxes. Where did I put all this stuff?!? Later on, Scott dropped by and I found a home for more things while I’m gone.

• http://www.fridaynightwaltz.com/
• http://www.exploratorium.edu/
• http://www.yelp.com/biz/OZAZSQnvAGeETvoKRSEbuQ