Up really early; hopped into the car bound for Detroit.
Emily and I attended a memorial service for a friend’s father who passed away recently. I never met him but he seems like my kind of guy… there were Coney dogs at the service because that’s what he would have wanted.
We stopped over at the DIA to check out some art and kill some time. They apparently opened a new wing recently which makes the place far too big to see in just a couple of hours. Still, lots of fascinating stuff there. I’m looking forward to going back.
Headed to another friend’s house in the suburbs of Detroit to catch up, be entertained by their toddler, and talk late into the night. Lots of great conversation.
After work I made spaghetti with ground turkey sauce for dinner. Not bad, if I do say so myself.
Finally watched Citizen Kane from Netflix. I say “finally” both because I had until tonight lived over 28 years without having seen it, and because it’s been sitting on my mantle for three or so weeks. I think it would be tough after 70 years to come up with anything original or profound to say about this movie, so I’ll just say that I enjoyed it and that it belongs on all of those “Best Movies Ever” lists that constantly place it at or near the top.
Started testing bip out as a replacement for my long-time SSH+screen+irssi always-on IRC solution. I’ve been using XChat with the irssi proxy module since I joined Canonical because with IRC being the primary means of communication with my coworkers I wanted to have desktop notifications to make sure I knew when someone wanted my attention. However irssi’s proxy module doesn’t provide a backlog of messages received while you aren’t connected so I would end up connecting to my screen (actually byobu) session to read the old messages anyway. Now I can just connect with whatever client I wish and I have both my missed messages and fancypants notifications with a single step.
Up early; long walk before work. Really long walk actually, since I got lost in my own neighborhood. Not exactly my proudest moment, but I did eventually find my way home.
After work met up with Greg and Emily at Blue Dust for dinner and a quick beer before heading across the street to see the new Captain America movie. I really enjoyed it. The style they adopted for the scenes in the ’40s (most of the movie) worked really well and helped create a feel that was a mix between old war serials and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (which I’ll admit to enjoying). The post-credits teaser was a bit of a disappointment compared to the other recent Marvel films, as it was just a commercial for the Avengers movie coming out next summer.
The last couple of weeks full of travel and eating out having taken their toll on my waistline, I decided to join Emily at the gym this evening. It seems like forever since I’ve gone and I certainly paid the price for being too lazy busy to go for the last month or two.
Home for some putzing around on the computer. Finally uploaded pictures from the San Luis Obispo trip to Flickr for all to enjoy.
Had some trouble keeping focused. I’ll just go ahead and blame the jet lag.
For dinner Emily made a tasty meal of pork loin and quinoa with dried cherries. I believe this was in celebration of Ramadan.
Emily’s really gotten into Dragon Age 2 recently so we have to use the Playstation in shifts. She took the first shift this evening and I took the second for Mass Effect. I’m so close to finishing this game that I can taste it.
Up early; one last free breakfast before checking out.
Returned our rental car and passed through the cutest little security gate at the cutest little airport for our flight back.
Passed through Phoenix again, mostly without incident. Our layover was quite short, however, and we had to resort to dinner at the airport Burger King, which we actually had to eat on the plane.
Got to about halfway through A Clash of Kings on the flight, but got a bit tired of reading by the third hour. I switched on my phone (in airplane mode, of course!) and fired up ScummVM and played The Secret of Monkey Island (one of my favorite PC games as a kid, which now and then I think about how crazy it is that I can play it on my phone) for the last 40 minutes or so of the flight.
We collected our bags and headed home, ready to deal with a messed up sleep schedule for the next few days.
Up early. Another made-to-order omelette. I could get used to this.
Mostly relaxing day. Headed to Buellton, CA and met up with Emily’s Aunt An and cousin Jacqui at Andersen’s Pea Soup where they are famous for their salads. The pea soup looked vaguely like it had previously visited someone’s stomach, but it was pretty tasty. They also have the weirdest gift shop I have ever seen. Not that I expect them to build a gift shop around pea soup but where exactly do the old model cars come in?
We scooted a few miles down the road to Solvang, which is a cute little Danish town near Santa Barbara. The architecture is mostly inspired by real Danish buildings and there are tons of little shops and bakeries all over the town. One shop was full of cuckoo clocks; more varieties than I thought possible. Another shop did the same for socks. On our way back to the car we stopped in a bakery for tea and Danishes (of course).
Back at the hotel we attempted to visit the pool and hot tub but found them fully occupied. The jacuzzi was listed as seating four but the two who were in it when we arrived had to sit uncomfortably close to each other as it was, so we figured we’d wait. Once it became clear that there was an unofficial queue for the hot tub and we were at the end of it, we gave up and went back to the room to enjoy our last night of cable for a while and rest up for the trip home.
Up early; made-to-order omelette for breakfast. Yum.
Changed into my (mostly) fitting tux and headed to the chapel with Greg, Mike, and Ted.
After the usual photographic shenanigans we (the groomsmen) ushered all the guests inside and watched Ted and Sara get married. It was a very nice ceremony with Sara’s grandfather presiding. All that practice seemed to pay off, as everyone was able to walk and stand in place as instructed. Sara’s father did flub a line, but he recovered gracefully and the rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch.
After the happy couple was married there were more pictures, including some of us waving Terrible Towels. There was one setup of the group walking casually toward the camera down a long street. I can only hope that the photographer adds a large explosion behind us in Photoshop.
The reception was fun. Ted’s sister and I waved our Terrible Towels as we were introduced. Greg’s best man speech was well received (he wrote it as if Ted had written it for him to read. If you know Ted, you likely know the hilarity that ensued). There was much dancing, with Sara’s father taking home the Twinkle Toes Trophy™ (which I just made up). Mike attempted to lead a large group of us in the choreography of Thriller, but we failed to keep up, with what I’m sure were amusing results.
After we sent the happy couple on their way we returned to the hotel to change back into civilian clothes and sped off toward Pismo Beach. Cristine had never seen the Pacific Ocean, and we all relished the chance to freeze our toesies off in the chill waters.
We grabbed a late dinner at a nearby crab shack, where I couldn’t resist trying a calamari burger. The burger is a misnomer, as it was really just a couple of pieces of squid on a bun. A bit chewy but still delicious.
Back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep.
Emily looks lovely... but who's the bozo in the tie?Not All of These Men are Steelers FansMmm... CakeThree AmigosSunset on the Pacific
Emily and I went out to explore downtown San Luis Obispo. We toured the Mission and walked around some of the shops. There were quite a few kitschy souvenir shops and (of course) an Apple store, but the highlight for me was two-story toy store full of LEGO sets, puzzles, games, and anything else you can imagine. It also had the most bizarre window display I’ve ever seen. The setup was an Iron Chef style cooking show but the chefs were sock monkeys and the secret ingredient was Smurfs. There was also a little bit where Kirk, Sulu, and McCoy from Star Trek apparently beamed into various inconvenient situations (Kirk in a boiling “hot tub” with some Smurfs, Sulu half sticking out of an Easy Bake Oven, and McCoy materializing in a monkey’s butt. No lie).
Another intriguing find was an alley completely covered in old chewed gum. The walls (and sadly the ground) were lined with it. People had made shapes and messages with it. It was at the same time really gross and really fun. Pity we didn’t have any gum to add to the collection.
Mike, his girlfriend Cristine, and Greg met up with us as we were finishing lunch and we went through the Mission again then walked along the creek before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal.
The rehearsal went, as they are wont to do, with many repetitions of complicated operations such as “finding your escort”, “standing in line” “walking” and “standing still”. It was surprising how many tries it took us to successfully walk down the aisle with a partner but eventually we nailed it and were dismissed to dinner.
After making the mistake of listening to Ted and ending up at the wrong restaurant we made our way to the right place: F. McLintocks in Pismo Beach. Dinner was another steak and I treated myself to another Firestone DBA (never seen it before but they were all over the place in SLO). Emily and I sat with Ted’s father and stepmother and Mike and Cristine. I found out that Cristine is a Pats fan (I had dared to hope otherwise despite her being from Boston) but with much internal struggle I managed to forgive her.
Once the usual merrymaking was finished we were treated to a delightful parlor trick. The tall waiter who’d been doing tricks with his water pitcher all night strapped on a blindfold, climbed onto a chair, placed a cup on Ted’s head, and filled the cup from the pitcher he held a few feet above. It was a sight to behold, even though Ted claims some water made it down his back.
Headed back to the hotel, Ted in tow as he was to crash in Greg’s room tonight. We gathered in Mike and Cristine’s frankly obscenely large suite (the kind that’s so big they have to give it a name and a plaque. Damn Mike and his Hilton Points!) and shot the shit for a few hours before heading to bed.
Kirk and Smurfs Hot TubGum AlleyMcLintock's Blindfolded High Water Head Pour
Up early; to the airport! Headed to San Luis Obispo, CA for Ted and Sara’s wedding.
Breakfast in TGI Friday’s. Pretty decent Western omelette.
Flight to Phoenix was uneventful. Read through about a quarter of A Clash of Kings.
Flight from Phoenix to San Luis Obispo was delayed about an hour. Probably because the air conditioning unit melted in the 110°F heat. They said they fixed it. They lied.
Arrived in beautiful San Luis Obispo. The weather was sunny but not too hot, and the airport was the cutest little thing I ever saw. They have a gate (there is a second one marked, but it doesn’t seem to go anywhere). They also have a cute little metal detector and a cute little rental car desk.
Acquired a car at the cute little rental car desk and drove into SLO. Stopped at Men’s Wearhouse to pick up my tux then drove an absurdly short distance to the hotel. We checked in and dropped off our bags, then met up with Greg at the free cocktail hour in the lobby. Tried a Firestone DBA, which I’d never heard of before. Pretty good and locally made!
Later in the evening Ted joined us and we went out to a nearby steak house (after Google Maps lied to us about the existence of a different restaurant). My sirloin was excellent and I thought I was starving but perhaps due to the time difference my stomach would not take more than half.
