Day 212: double rainbow!

What does it mean??

Day 211: bam

Emeril, you make a damn good (albeit, really really expensive) ribeye.

Day 210: can't escape it

Came all this way to Florida just to see San Francisco again...

And I didn't want to see the re-creation of this BART station while on vacation! I work here everyday already!

be cool

So I'm sitting alone at Bahama Breeze, a Jamaican themed restaurant smack dab in the middle of this tourist district in Orlando. While waiting for my take-out to be prepared, I decide to head on over to the bar and order a beer for myself. A live calypso one-man-band is playing bad covers of Jimmy Buffet songs while tiki torches that look like they could've been bought from Big Lots burn in the background. To avoid looking strange and lonely while outdoors in the still warm and muggy evening, I start checking my phone, browsing twitter, facebook, and eventually my work email.

I stop myself short when I realize what I'm doing. I don't need to be tethered to the details of my reality at home. No need to stay plugged into what's going on 2,444 miles away. I put the phone away and decide to just sit there, relax and enjoy my beer. I'm on vacation, dammit.

"food...dude. no, I love to eat...food. yeah, food is good. you need it to live."
-KV

Day 209: expelliarmus

Day one of this here vacation brought us to Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios Orlando's sister park. This park focused more on roller coasters, rides, and other methods to try and get you wet and/or nauseous, as opposed to the shows and sets that dominate the actual Universal Studios theme park.

The main attraction here of course (and the reason why 90% of the tourists visiting Orlando were here) was the recently opened "Wizarding World of Harry Potter," a recreation of some important elements of the books and films, with actual locations described in the books...

...the actual Hogwarts Express train...

...shops where you can buy actual products from the films, like chocolate frogs, "butterbeer," and (grossly overpriced) wizard robes and wands...

overpriced or not, I still looked damn good in them.

...and of course, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

If you've never read the books or watched the films, most of this will mean nothing to you. And alot of it probably wouldn't have meant anything to me either had I not began my attempt to read the books these past few months.

Day 208: day and night

Exhausted from the mundaneness of my desk job(s), I finally decided to take advantage of my accrued comp leave hours and took the longest vacation I've had since my second leap into the real world (the first leap being my first job out of college...also at a desk. Huh. Seems to be my destiny).

The big baby and I took the red eye flight to Orlando with a stopover in Memphis. As such, I was able to catch a glimpse of what it feels like to fly into the sunrise.

But have you ever seen the sky in three contrasting colors at once?

I've only seen something like that once before, but back then it was looking across to the skyline of Los Angeles, with a brown layer of smog sitting below a layer of gray and blue sky. ::shudders::

Day 207: christmas in july

Someone either decided to clean out the storage space here at SamTrans or really really really wants to celebrate Christmas early this year.

mm6

Ever since Yacketeeyakking decided to continually prove to me that she is the undisputed queen of this song on Guitar Hero III, I've had this song stuck in my head for at least the past few weeks. Sure, this is just a note-for-note cover, but you know me, I'm always down to hear how songs would be interpreted using different instrumentation (take this, for example)

"...I especially hate having to adjust my contacts when playing Call of Duty, cause I had to one time and got killed by a german"
-YK

Day 206: that's frowned upon in the scouts

Week 2 of our Sunday training hikes in preparation for the 7 mile incline that is Half Dome.

Today brought us to the Marin Headlands, a very picturesque trail that took us along the coast. Wasn't nearly as challenging as last week's, but still got to see some oh so pretty scenery.

Day 205: waiting for the bus

Was doing my daily run/walk when I passed by this at the local bus stop today:

Looks like bears gotta get around somehow too.

Day 204: ninja, ninja (bubble) wrap! pt. 2

If you've kept up with my blog this year, then you should have a pretty good idea of what my workspace in my cubicle looks like. If not, you can just look at this and this.

I would've thought that finally putting this baby to use packing up my desk contents (and discovering that I have alot of candy and snacks in there) would have spurred a bit more nostalgia...but I'm not sure I'll miss these blue walls.

Goodbye cubicle life!...(Until Monday. When I go to my other cubicle at SamTrans).

Day 203: that new office smell

This doesn't look like much from the picture, but if you saw it in person...it's HUGE. (yeah yeah, go and snicker...I said it on purpose)

Checked out our new offices today. Maybe it's just because there's no furniture yet, but I must say that my new office is lookin pretty roomy. Sure, I'm sharing it with two other people, but hey, we're the only ones in our office who are sharing a space. This pretty much only means that in addition to being able to work more productively and proactively as a team, the growth of the incidence of prank wars will also rise sharply this quarter.

Day 202: I'll just push the button for the stimulator -- I mean, elevator.

Thanks to the "internship enrichment program," we were given a tour of the maintenance and training facilities for SamTrans. A part of this tour included the sheer awesomeness that is the bus simulator. Bus simulator? Exactly what it sounds like.

Given that this baby already simulates exactly what it feels like to be behind the wheel of a bus, I asked the supervisor to throw me all the simulator's got. So I got driving in the rain, on a freeway, in a crowded bus with a fire in the back (not pictured...unfortunately.)

The result? I flipped the bus over on a freeway exit. I would.

Day 201: vino roja roja

Whuzzat? Oh, just another picture of the wine collection again, today now joined by 26.5 new bottles of cabernet merlot.

Day 200: use a pen, sideshow bob

Ever have a pen-pal? Postcards are one thing and emails are commonplace, but when's the last time you made correspondence with someone strictly through the mail? Unfortunately, since receiving the first letter, I've been dragging on responding. It's been 4 months, but better late than never, right?

Such a form of communication is scarce nowadays.

Try this. Think of a friend of yours, randomly. If you know their address, send them something. A postcard, a letter, a bottle of wine, a pizza? I'm sure it'll make their day (and give you an excuse to demand a pizza in return, if you do so choose).

mm5

I don't think I need to say much about this track (except maybe, in the words of a youtube commenter, 'I'm straight but I'll make an exception for Robert Plant') This is my favorite live rendition, taken from their "How The West Was Won" album, which contained the live recordings from their 1972 concerts at the LA Forum and the Long Beach Arena.

"I don't understand how they can market 'free range' chickens. I mean, who would want to eat a happy chicken?"
-JRT

Day 199: uphill

Decided to hike this today in preparation for the hike up Half Dome in Yosemite this coming month. Though this was only 3.5 miles uphill (Half Dome is going to be 7.1 miles uphill), my legs are still burning as I type this.

Should I start getting worried?

Day 198: like a boss

My work decided to have a "team building BBQ" today, and so I made the trek all the way to San Ramon (an hour drive) to go spend my Saturday afternoon with people I normally see on an everyday basis anyway.

At least my boss had a really really nice house.

Day 197: the dream is real

Have you guys seen Inception yet? Well, lemme tell ya, you better believe the hype. Just think of the way you first felt when you saw the Matrix (one word: whoa). Or at least, that's how I felt. Well, watching Inception is kinda like that, except on so many more levels.

In other words, I think my mind just had a one night stand.

I can't go into any of the plot details without giving away too much of it. So, do go see it for yourselves so I can finally talk about it with you all.

Day 196: churn churn churn

So, what do I learn at my internship? Site suitability analysis, community involvement and outreach, and of course, ice cream making.

You know, the important stuff.

Day 195: it's pronounced "foil-age"

Passed by this inconspicuous looking tree on the way to lunch today when I realized that this tree was in fact the inspiration for the City of Oakland's logo:

Huh. The more you know.

Day 194: wheels on the bus

In transit, there's nary a more depressing scene than an empty bus or train running past you (especially if it's the middle of rush hour).

Another thing I noticed is the cleanliness of these buses, namely the lack of grafitti, old gum, scratches and vomit stains you'd normally find on city buses. Then again, this was a SamTrans bus, an agency that is facing a $28.4 million budget deficit that can be partially attributed to the fact that no one even utilizes their services.

But they still pay me, so it's all good.

Day 193: hot time, summer in the city

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
-Mark Twain

Spotted this lurking over the hill on my run today.

Isn't it the middle of July?

mm4

Mashups tend to flirt on a thin line that separates "downright amazing" (see this) to "what the hell were they thinking??" (see that). I've taken a fancy to this one, but some youtube commenters seem to disagree with me.

Your thoughts?

"I gotta get back to sleep. I need to finish this dream. There might be trouble"
-BS

Day 192: highway 5 sightings

What're those little black things near the garbage can? Rocks? Woodchips? Chocolate? Really big hamster droppings?

Upon closer inspection...

Please make sure I never find myself living in Central California.

Day 191: LBC

Summertime in the LBC. Weather wasn't screaming "summer" and I don't see what's so "long" about this beach.

The important thing though, of course, is that we had ribs:

Day 190: on the road again

Meet the Markmobile. On its 137th drive to and from LA and the Bay Area in the past 5 years.

And that's my friend Joan Rose in the background. She's not as bashful as she comes off in this picture. And now she'll now have the joy of the fame that comes with being in my 365 project.

Day 189: door to nowhere

This is my new workspace...

::picture::
Now, I'm no city planner (yet), but I know damn well that this cubicle placement doesn't make a lick of sense.

It's the equivalent of laminating a newspaper before you finish the crossword.

Day 188: mehserle

Security is a bit more tight around downtown Oakland these days. There aren't usually 4 police cars parked in a row across from my building, let alone 4 Department of Homeland Security cars parked in a row here.

The reason why there's heightened security this week is because of the pending verdict on the trial of BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. If you're not from the Bay Area, you probably don't know the background of the story. So, long story short, on New Year's Eve/New Year's day 2009, a BART police officer detained Oscar Grant, who had apparently been causing disturbance on the train. Mehserle had Grant detained, handcuffed, and face down on the ground where he claims to reached for his taser. He had in fact took out his gun and shot and killed Grant in the back.

The incident caused an unrest of Rodney King proportions. Rioters took the streets in downtown Oakland where the shooting had occurred, claimed that this was a race-fueled murder and demanded that Mehserle be brought to trial.

Fast forward to today, the trial has finished and the verdict is in the hands of the jury. Hoping to avoid destruction and unrest that would rival the LA riots of 1992, businesses, residents, and now the police are taking all precautions in the event that the resulting verdict would unleash this ever growing public fury.

And my office is in the heart of where these riots are supposed to take place. So, uh...let's hope I'm safe in the building when all the collective shit possibly hits the fan.

I'll keep you updated!

Day 187: zune

Lesson learned: When running, use headphones with a shorter cord, tuck them under your shirt, or better yet, just invest in a smaller mp3 player.

Gotta say though, Microsoft sure makes these babies pretty durable. It doesn't affect things too badly, right?

Eh, maybe.

Day 186: of the taco

On the long, holiday trafficky road back home from an eventful holiday weekend in SoCal, my parents and I stopped off at a Del Taco for dinner. It's today that I made a few realizations:
1) Every Del Taco, no matter what part of the state you're in (cause they're only in California so far, I think) has the same decor: multi colored chairs and walls that look like they were painted by elementary school kids who only know how to dab paint with a sponge
2) This place is only decent on Tuesday nights because...

...my friends and I once had a ritual of heading over to the local Del Taco every Tuesday night for their "Taco Tuesday" special. That is, 3 regular tacos for a buck. As starving students (and later, starving professionals), this was a decently priced and relatively tasty meal. Then one day, they raised the price to $1.09 for 3 tacos, and it was all downhill after that (plus, we all started moving away, so I guess that didn't help).

Anything else on their menu is gonna cause some serious indigestion and an unpleasant amount of gas (not a good mix for long car rides).

mm3

The Heavy has another more well known track, as made famous by that Kia commercial that aired during the Superbowl. And while that track ("How you like me now") is awesome in it's own right, I've taken a liking to another track off the same album, "Sixteen." While the song is clearly styled off of Screamin Jay Hawkins's "I put a spell on you," a track with no shortage of variations, I particularly enjoy this version.

The band's take on the track claims that "Sixteen asks the question: how much can you learn in sixteen years? The answer is, a hell of a lot, but none of it good. The story of a girl who wants to grow up too fast, taking in dancing with the devil, nightclubbing, drinking and piping on the magic whistle."

"I wouldn't trust her with the groceries. I asked her once to get me a lemon and she came back with a grapefruit. Granted, it was a very small grapefruit..."
-JR

Day 185: happy 4th!

Happy birthday, America! From the beautiful Newport Coast!

Day 184: newport coast

Every year, my family from Orange County check into their timeshare resort at the Marriot Newport Coast Villas in Newport Beach as a celebration for the 4th of July weekend and to "get away" for a while (though it's hardly getting away...they live 15 minutes away).

It's become an annual celebration and brings together family and friends for a smorgasbord of beer and barbeque that is enjoyed by all (and gives me the reason to use the word smorgasbord in a sentence). The beach is a short 15 minute walk away and the pool gives free towels, so what more could you ask for?

Day 183: cha cha cha

"Decadent tapas, stellar sangria and a lively crowd keep this Upper Haight spot alive and kicking."

Unfortunately, we never made it in tonight after waiting over an hour in the blistering wind. If you do find yourself in San Francisco, be sure to visit! The sangria is awesome and the food is tasty. The only downside is the wait (though I've come on a Saturday afternoon with practically no crowd.)

Day 182: commuter rail

Instead of my usual BART ride, I took this to work today. Sure they only run once an hour and still spew carbon monoxide into the air, but hey, the trains are quieter and the insides cleaner than their subway cousin. It'd be alot more appealing to ride this thing if it was cheaper and extended out further than it does now. But unfortunately the agency is running a $17 million deficit at the moment, so things are only gonna get worse.

Of course, all these problems stem from fare evaders like myself. I'm still not willing to pay $5 a ride, though, especially since my employee ID badge gives me the right to ride for free (I think...they never really discussed that with us).