Catch-up

I've been a slacker about this, so I'm going to try to slowly catch up to the present. On my way home from Angel Island in April, my car hit a milestone (not literally! - although I do not know what a literal milestone is.) Here it is:

I didn't know at the time, but this marks the beginning of the era in my car's life in which most everything falls apart. I guess you could think of it as a time for a re-commitment to my car. Time to re-invest the purchase price.

Buying a 1992 used VW Cabriolet: $2000.
Keeping the car running for the next 100,000 miles: at least $2000 (I'm afraid to add it all up.)
Getting out of Davis whenever I want to: priceless

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Angel Island

Angel Island is in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. Last Saturday, with a pretty big group of people (most of whom I had never met,) I took the ferry from Tiburon to go hiking there. It was a really spectacular day for the bay, which is frequently foggy and cold. We hiked around and up to the highest peak (~1500ft). All along the hike, you're treated with views of the north and east bay (Mount Tamalpais, Oakland/Berkely Hills, even Mount Diablo) and the city (San Francisco.) Click on the link to see some pictures from the hike.

Leaving Tiburon on the ferry
Aproaching Angel Island

View of the dock

a wild iris

view of Mt. Tamalpais (but we just say "Mount Tam")

at the top of Mt. Livermore, we stop for lunch and take in the view of the Golden Gate Bridge

more GG Bridge.

It was a little hazy, which makes the pictures not turn out so great,
but it was really a spectacular day!

these flowers were everywhere

typical California coastline (on a very small scale!)

this rock crusher was used to produce gravel for the roads on the island

you can ride your bike all the way around the island on these roads

one of many nice views

just thought this looked cool

after the hike we relaxed with beers in this outdoor seating area while we waited for the ferry

jellyfish!

leaving Angel Island

seagull in Tiburon

We had dinner at Guayamas. The food was pretty good, but the company was better.

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Retiring the Penny

I saw this guy, Jeff Gore, on the Colbert Report tonight talking about this little issue. I thought he was witty and charming (and it can be tough to come off as witty and charming on that show!) I said to my roommate, "He sounds like a Stanford guy." I checked him out. He's an "MIT undergrad, Berkeley PhD, MIT postdoc" guy. Somehow, I felt like I was still right. Does MIT+Berkeley=Stanford?


I totally have a crush on this guy.

For real.

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A Dope April Fool's Joke

Here's my little contribution to Jonathan's April Fool's Joke. (So you don't have to wade through hiking pics)

Fooled ya! No more here! (Not really, that link is just part of my template - it's easier that way.)

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More hiking?

Yep! I think I'll be doing lots of hiking this summer. Yesterday, I hiked to the top of Mt. St. Helena (pronounced hell-EEN-uh for those not from around here.) I was worried about this hike because I thought I would be too much of a wuss to handle it, but as it's the day after and I'm still walking around (and most importantly, my knees didn't hurt yesterday!) I must be tougher than I thought. It was 10 miles, about 2100' elevation gain.

Hey, it's Napa Valley!


Views like this all the way up.
Yep, like this.
View from the top. Only a single cloud in the sky.

Manzanita
I was diggin the Manzanita. It's red.
Like good Californians, we went wine tasting after the hike.
I didn't like the wine, but I liked this sign.

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