Your Mileage May Vary

Uni... ew.

Background Noise: BNL
Last Visited: monday morning rounds
Random Thought: i like this coat so much better at $40 than i did at $128
Mood: trying to ignore the headache

Our story begins midstream; I'm sitting at a Japanese restaurant with Nicolai and Zach after seeing the engrossing No Country For Old Men. We have ordered a random assortment of sushi for the table; when it is delivered, there is the standard assortment of raw fish perched atop rice, a mini roll, then the not so standard raw quail egg, roe roll, and... a sea urchin roll.

From the moment the plate was placed on our table i was distressingly drawn to the sea urchin; mainly because i honestly couldn't tell you what it was when it arrived. It looked, well, it looked like a piece of tongue that had sat in formaldehyde too long, to be honest; it was brown, it looked smushy, and well, pretty darn gross. Even as I ate around this... pile of brown goo atop rice surrounded by seaweed... i couldn't help but look at it; stare, really. I thought of many things that it looked like; tongue, brains, cat vomit, mushy worms... nothing really appetizing. I tried to convince myself it looked like plum pudding without the raisins, but that didn't work so well.

I settled with convincing myself that I wouldn't actually be the one who had to eat it - certainly Nicolai or Zach, they who eat sushi all the time, who speak a little Japanese, who are going to Japan in a few months, certainly one of them would find that piece of urchin delectable. Or something. Certainly at the very least it wouldn't be going in my mouth. Never. No way. Leave it on the plate worse case.

... yeah....

So, i must pay Nicolai back for making me laugh while the urchin was in my mouth thus preventing me from swallowing it quickly and forcing me not only to taste it but to become quite quite aware of it's "interesting" texture. I'm open to suggestions.

Expression:

Something Not Bacon Based

Background Noise: Opaline
Last Visited: quiznos
Random Thought: is there a scaling function for the proper payoff amount of cookies to get out of a meeting? I just "paid" 2 batches of cookies to get out of a 3 hour long slugfest... does that scale? Because if it does, i'm willing to become a semi-professional baker to negate some of my meeting schedule.
Mood: headache approaching

We're going to Tahoe! Yeay! A smattering of us will be piling into various cars in early February and hanging out in the very adorable house in the pictures above. Apple Tahoe will be established for 2 or 3 days as several of us work from our laptops lounging in front of the fire. Then there will be skiing. And snowboarding. And time in the hot tub. And napping. Oh, and a good amount of food and alcohol.

... I cannot even begin to describe how much i'm looking forward to this; i can feel the relaxing side effects here from two months away - brilliant.

I just had to share; ok, back to work i go.

Expression:

Best BBQ Ever

Background Noise: Hallelujah
Last Visited: Katherine Kennedy Winery
Random Thought: Amazing Girls^TM
Mood: ... and every breath we drew was Hallelujah

The Guy in front of me checking out of Whole Foods this Saturday night had the best bbq ever. How do i know? By what he was buying, of course:

• 8 Bottles of Katherine Kennedy Reserve Wine
• 1 4 pack of Pomegranate Izzies (speaking of which, i must now try the blueberry)
• 1 bag of hamburger buns
• 12 top of the top hamburger meat

He spent $253 on wine, meat, and buns: that's all. And a good $200 of that was the wine. He said it was a beautiful night for a bbq; of course, it was.

But oh, that must have been one heck of a party.

Expression:

You'll Always Be the Top

Background Noise: You know you made me love you
Last Visited: the "story" of final cut
Random Thought: What? You were expecting a paper clip?
Mood: alright Princess, welcome to real life: you want this hot air machine? You carry it!

So if you've ever been curious, here's how you drive from Apple in Cupertino, CA to London. No, not the one in Texas. Amusingly enough, i've actually driven steps 1 through 27; sadly i haven't had a chance to do number 33, though i am surprised that they have you going through La Havre - interesting call.

So well done, google maps; though i'm still annoyed at you for getting me lost in downtown Oakland last weekend.

Oh right, because i hadn't mentioned that: Dave, Liz, Mike, Steve, Nina & co & I visited the St. George Distillery (a.k.a where they make Hangar One Vodka). We did a tasting ($10 = a glass, and a generous tasting shot of every. alcohol. they. make.) took the very entertaining tour, and i personally dropped more money on liquor than i have... probably ever. I bought three things: their Single Malt Whiskey, the Qi White and Qi Black.

... and while i meant to write more, Dave is now whisking me off to test drive bmw's (335s) because he wants one and needs to determine the value of active steering. Or he just needs to leave the office, either way.

But! Ellen is taking me up on my offer to "do nyc right" this spring which is basically giving me the excuse i needed to go back to nyc for the weekend i wanted... which is exciting. Now just to figure out when. Hey, B, do you still think we can go that weekend after NAB? we probably wouldn't be able to catch all 12 hours but... worth a shot maybe?

Anyways. El's timing was perfect, and i'm grateful. And thrilled. And now i'm leaving, which is wonderful.

Expression:

Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Bad Beer

Background Noise: Suddenly I See
Last Visited: Jat Bar :: Rose and Crown Pub
Random Thought: Ashley's taught me well
Mood: fighting the fog

I knew there had to be a pub with decent beer on tap in Palo Alto - how could there not be? Thankfully, JatBar was there to point me in the right direction, namely the Rose and Crown Pub right around the corner from the Standford Theater.

I've seen the building before - it's hard to miss, the walls are painted trump l'oiel style to look like a medieval house - but I never stoped in. Apparently i should have, because with rumors of a great list of beers on tap, excellent fish and chips, football on the telly and honest to goodness darts, this pub sounds like a ton of fun (especially after a movie).

All i can say? Bring on the Boddingtons, baby.

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