The last month and a half have been hectic to say the least. Now that I've got a moment to catch my breath, I'd like to catch you all up on things starting with my trip to Chicago. Check it out!
Things started on Halloween with my flight to ORD being canceled. Jason & Susanna also had their flight delayed and then canceled. Between the rain in SFO and the wind/snow in ORD, our travel prospects did not look good. After some pleading discussion with the gate agent, Susanna got us all on the same flight to ORD, which departed at the same time as my original flight. So, fortunately, we all got a flight and sat beside each other to boot. Off we go!
Welcome to Chicago O'Hare!
And, welcome to Chicago! The moment we stepped out of the "L" station, we got assaulted by some fairly aggressive wind (which, luckily for us, had died down somewhat from the 50 mph gusts that contributed to the flight cancellations we experienced) and sleet/hail (hooray ~30˚F!) that you can see accumulating on my jacket.
After all the delays and the extended travel time, we made it to Scott & Lisa's where they had some Chicago Deep Dish pizza waiting for us. Meat combo on the left, chicken on the right. So delicious!
After dinner, we settled in for a good night's sleep before an action packed Saturday. After a few of us woke up by hitting the gym, we traveled to XOCO for some splendid Mexican cuisine. Pictured: our gracious hosts Lisa & Scott!
My carnitas torta (Mexican sandwich) in the foreground and a chocolate covered churro in the background. Yum yum!
After lunch and a pit stop back at the apartment our group split up for our respective activities for the day. My day involved a trip to the hallowed sports ground of Soldier Field.
Greg practicing passing rugby balls at the Fanzone in front of the stadium.
Scott, myself and Greg got tickets to watch the All Blacks v. USA Eagles rugby match! Can you tell how excited I am to see my favourite sports team make the trip to the States to play?
Scott & Greg also took advantage of the USA Rugby temporary tattoo station to apply some patriotic tattoos to their faces. Nothing says "Go Eagles" quite like a Star Spangled Banner mustache...
We then finally entered the stadium about an hour before kickoff and got to see the stadium slowly fill up as the teams finished their warm up.
Our seats about 7 rows away from the very back. The more perceptive of you may also notice: 1) Other than Scott's cheek tattoo, the temporary tattoos didn't stay on particularly well. 2) The sun, behind us to the west, looks like it will shortly set below the edge of the stadium, which will leave us in the shade (and therefore the cold) for the rest of the game. 3) The blankets we brought (e.g. the green one in Greg's lap) were a lifesaver!
At long last, with the national anthems over and the stadium nearly full to its 60,000+ capacity, we get to the Haka! If you must know, they performed Ka Mate.
With pleasantries exchanged, we moved onto the kickoff! International rugby in the States!
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After some early, resolute American defense, the All Blacks broke through (again and again) and won the match impressively 74 - 6. Ouch. After the match, many of the non-playing All Blacks squad members were put through their paces in an entertaining post-match practice session (consistent mainly of touch rugby with some sprinting afterwards). We stuck around a bit, along with a sizable contingent of NZ fans, hoping for some contact with their sporting idols. Alas, they wrapped up their training with some running and then returned to the locker rooms. Darn.
Our walk back to the apartment from Soldier Field gave us a great view of the city during dusk. Truly remarkable.
We met up with Lisa back at the apartment, then walked across the river to dinner and got this spectacular view of the architecture along the way.
We walked around looking for a place to eat that wouldn't require a lengthy wait and ended up at Sable Kitchen & Bar. A sampling of the dishes we enjoyed:
Wisconsin Fried Cheese Curds and Soft pretzels.
Fried Chicken & Waffles and Short Rib Sliders
Turkey Confit Poutine (with sweet potato fries).
Very good food indeed. And then we headed home to the apartment for a good nightʻs rest after a long day out and about.
Our second full (and final) day in Chicago began again with a trip to the gym. This time, I brought my phone to capture the stunning view from the rooftop (and indoor) facilities! From near to far, you can clearly see Millennium Park, the Art Institute, the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium and even Soldier Field.
The view of the lovely pool. What a wonderful way to wake up in the morning.
We walked across the street to get a group picture in front of Cloud Gate (or "The Bean" as most people call it).
Then, onward to the Field Museum! I mistakenly thought this museum would be free admission for the group on the account of it being BoAʻs free museum weekend. However, they did not participate in the program. I popped in on my own (using my complimentary admission as an Abbott employee) to see a few things while the rest of the group continued to the Shedd.
First up, a T. Rex fossil named Sue.
Finally, the Ruatepupuke II marae or traditional Maori meeting house. Built in 1881, then subsequently moved, it represents one of only three examples of these buildings to exist outside of New Zealand.
The city of Chicago as seen by the lake, beside the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium.
After our quick trip to the museum/aquarium, we promptly headed to Quartinoʻs Italian Restaurant for a hearty lunch:
Burrata and beet root salad.
Veal Meatball Sliders.
Hungry lunch-goers.
Braised beef short rib and roasted fennel pizza.
Cavatelli pasta (with tomato, basil and fresh ricotta).
Polenta Fries.
Duck prosciutto pizza.
After all that food, we could eat no more.
We decided to walk off the meal and we headed over to the Hancock Center where we decided to hit the Signature Room on the 95th floor for afternoon tea and a great view of the city.
The view north of the building with Lincoln Park at the center and Lake Michigan to the right.
After tea, the group headed back to the apartment where some folks chose to rest. Interested in squeezing one more activity in before departing Chicago later that evening, Susanna and I headed to the Art Institute to view their collection in the two hours we had before they closed. As Iʻve mentioned on this blog before, Iʻm quite a fan of Impressionist art and I took a moment to really enjoy this large format work: Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877 by Gustave Caillebotte.
Another great example of Impressionist work, Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint Lazare, 1877 by Claude Monet also struck me.
We moved onward and next encountered the Contemporary art section where I saw Alexander Calderʻs Streetcar, 1951. Always great seeing one of his distinctive mobiles moving about gracefully in the space of the gallery.
Frustratingly, I canʻt find information on the name of this piece or the artist. I do like how it works with the space and, in particular, the amazing view of the city outside the window.
Susanna and I in the midst of Jesús Rafael Soto's Pénétrable de Chicago.
Very cool to have a chance to see René Magritte's Time Transfixed (or La Durée poignardé) since it represents such great example of surrealism.
Brâncuși! Also cool to recognize the works of an artist with a distinct style (in particular, White Negress II - on the left - since I've seen La Négresse blonde from the SFMOMA collection a number of times).
I spent a bit of time looking at Fernand Léger's works in this gallery. I wanted to take a closer look at his Composition in Blue but this couple beat me to it.
Deryck's favorite cubist artist: Piet Mondrian (owing to his artwork being a topic of BBC's TV Show Hustle - Season 1, Episode 3).
Marcel Duchamp's Hat Rack caught my eye as I reached the end of my tour of the Modern Gallery. I particularly enjoyed the insect/squid looking shadow it cast on the wall.
It has been a while since I've seen Marc Chagall's stained glass (the first opportunity being the Musée Marc Chagall in Nice, France back in 2004). We ran quickly over to see American Windows just in time before the museum closed promptly at 5pm.
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Another picture of "The Bean", this time at dusk.
We had unsuccessfully tried to eat at the Purple Pig the night before but they always have an unreasonably long line. We found out that they do take out and got a pretty delicious spread of food to enjoy from the comfort of the apartment before we had to pack up and head to ORD.
And then we headed back to SFO. Jason & Susanna, while scheduled for a later flight (plane shown above) actually departed slightly earlier due to a delay with my plane. Go figure that this trip would end roughly the same way it started...
An overall amazing first trip to Chicago complete with the All Blacks, art, food and friends. I can't really ask for more in such a short period of time. Thanks to Greg, Jason, Susanna most importantly, Scott & Lisa for their hospitality! Until the next blog!
Last month featured a couple of really cool open houses that I had the great fortune of being able to attend. Check them out!
First up, I got to attend this year's United Family Day at the SFO Maintenance facilities. This year, I brought along Brent & Mary to see things too!
A pic of the Pratt & Whitney engine used in the Boeing 777 undergoing some maintenance (random person on the left for scale).
The tail rudder of a United aircraft getting painted after maintenance.
The mechanics here did a demonstration of the "reversers" on engines which allow thrust to be redirected forwards (rather than backwards) in order to help slow the plane down during landing. Very cool.
Brent agreed that this area of the facility has an impressive safety record.
For the first time I've visited this event, they had a FedEx B757 cargo plane opened up and I got to hop onboard to see the cavernous cargo hold. You actually have a lot of room in those planes when you take out all the seats!
As always, they do a plane pull event for groups to compete. In previous years, I hadn't ever hung around to watch this happen, but this year we stuck around to watch a group of Scouts do the pull. Nice job! By the way, we had exceptionally warm weather that day...so awesome...except for when we had to line-up and wait for things on the tarmac.
Secondly, I had the privilege of attending the NASA Ames 75th Anniversary Open House. This marked the first time in 17 years that they opened up parts of the facility to the public. Somewhat surprisingly, an extraordinary number of people decided to attend, thus crowding up many of the booths and displays.
An impressive side view of the wind tunnel at the Full Scale Aerodynamics Complex. The opening to the right spans 80 feet by 120 feet and is the largest wind tunnel in the world.
A model mockup of a V-22 Osprey that they used for testing within the wind tunnel. Above, you can see people walking along the walkway, which gives you an idea of the size of the wind tunnel!
We kept on walking and saw this Roverscape testing area (the size of 2 football fields) where they have terrain that simulates surfaces that rovers may encounter during their mission (e.g. lunar craters and Martian hills).
The Prometheus crew with the frame of Hangar One behind us. Thanks so much to Liz for the event tickets and for showing us around your workplace!
An interior look at Hangar One. Constructed in the 1930's to house the USS Macon (a large, helium filled dirigible/airship), it covers 8 acres.
Finally, they had a few military planes on display as well and while we go the chance to walk around the exterior of this C-130, we got there too late and couldn't tour the interior. Still yet, a very cool experience to get up close to this giant plane that I occasionally see circling the skies in Mountain View and dropping paratroopers.
All in all, two great events where I got up close to some really cool commercial, scientific and military sites and equipment!
Okay, so we've come to the end of Summer. That of course means one last heat wave to go along with the shortening days. I've gotten up to quite a bit since returning from the Cabo trip so let's take a look at the last few months.
I returned from Cabo after just a few days because I had a ticket to the Pink Martini & von Trapps concert at Davies Symphony Hall! I've managed to see them precisely every 2 years and my streak continues! Thanks so much to Chrysbe for the tickets. Though you and Curtis couldn't attend, we (Wendy, Juhn, Babu & I) had a great time on your behalf! Having recently recorded an album with the von Trapps (descendants from the actual "Sound of Music" family), we got to hear a number of amazing songs blending the two groups into melodiously beautiful music.
After the show, the band (as they often do) met the fans to chat and sign memorabilia. Such talented and kind people! At the front of the table, you can see Thomas Lauderdale (pianist and band leader) and Storm Large (the co-lead singer).
On the 4th of July proper, we headed over to Ed's for a bbq. We also had, at Susanna's insistence, a watermelon eating competition (my team vs. Ed's team). Such fun (and messy) entertainment!
We then went to a parking lot in Newark where we could light some of the sparklers and fireworks to celebrate the birth of nation. In that same lot, we actually got treated to a number of illegal, aerial fireworks as well. I don't think I've ever been as up close and personal with as powerful an explosive...
In case you wanted to see what they look like, I asked the friendly folks if I could take a pic of their most exciting box. Slipper shown for scale.
Thanks to Daniel for giving me your old Kona mountain bike. I feel slightly silly that the first time I took it out on the trail, I forgot your warning that the hydraulic brakes didn't function fully. I had a great time at Fremont Older with Troy & Lori and somehow managed to survive. I, however, will never forget how bad brakes and downhill trails don't work well with each other. Let that be a lesson to you all...
Had a very brief day trip down to LA to visit a vendor for work. On the return flight to San Jose, I snapped this pic of us departing Burbank. Hasta luego So Cal!
Scott came to town briefly and we had arranged to do some shotgun shooting. Daniel came along and here you see him taking aim at some clay birds flying through the air. Lots of fun, though we visited during a busy day which meant additional waits for some of the stations to open up.
A bunch of us surprised Liz for her b-day by having a nice, evening shindig at the Savannah-Chanelle Vineyard in Saratoga (nestled beautifully in the Santa Cruz mountains). Great summer evening filled with food, friends and live music (on a side note, the band, Redwood, coincidentally featured a familiar face and voice from USC!).
The following day, some of us headed to Pacifica to catch some waves. Stellar day at the beach and lots of fun being out in the water with the Prometheus gang (+Kevin).
Justin, Troy and I decided it would be great to take sailing lessons so we signed up for a weekend class at Shoreline Lake. After a brief hour or two of classroom instruction, we got thrown onto two-man boats to figure things out. Apologies for the blurriness, but I took this pic through a ziploc bag in order to protect my phone from potential water damage.
Good fun all around. We even had a moment where Troy and his sailing buddy got stuck in the shallows without much wind and had to be towed back to the dock!
So Judy & Grant came to town for a visit and we decided we should eat some delicious food in the city. First stop: Burma Superstar in the Richmond for some Burmese cuisine.
The highlight of the meal: Tea Leaf salad, which mixes together nuts, garlic and lentils with lettuce and the magical, fermented tea leaves. Delicious! I need to figure out how to make this!
For dinner, we (+Brian & Kevin) ended up in Berkeley at Great China to sample their excellent Peking Duck (pictured). Would most certainly eat again.
Not content just to play along with Troy, Lori, Bernie, Cindy & Co., I got an opportunity to play with Daniel, Karen and Karen's family. Though they've played mahjong before, I introduced them to the "Standard Mahjong" (aka Guobiao Majiang") rules I've been playing the past several months.
On a beautiful afternoon, I went to Stanford Stadium to cheer on the Trojans against the Cardinal. Fortunately, we got great tickets last minute!
I'm glad I got to see the game with Allan who came all the way up from So Cal. Proud day for the team and fans to upset a strong Stanford team on the road! You can also see in the picture how close we sat to the Trojan Marching Band!
On an otherwise quiet Saturday, I decided it would be nice to visit the Asian Art Museum to see what new exhibits they had. I particularly enjoyed the gallery featuring works by Arnold Chang and Michael Cherney. As you can see in the pic, the two artists combine their respective talents (Chang's Chinese ink skills with Cherney's granular photography) to create a beautiful work enhanced by the union of the different art forms.
On an evening after work, I also got to see some more art at the Pace Gallery's newest exhibition: "A Brief History of Pace" featuring a survey of works from 12 artists who have an extensive history with the Gallery. They displayed the smaller Chuck Close works I spotted in the office during a previous visit.
Some of us from work signed up to participate in a Statewide Beach Clean-up and joined a sizable gathering of folks to help tidy up Linda Mar Beach (my usual surf spot in Pacifica). While the beach didn't look that dirty at first glance, we all filled our buckets with lots of plastic and cigarette butts. Koji, Me, Curtis, Chrysbe, Adam & Michael represented Abbott well at the event. And after, Koji and I went surfing.
The following week, Me, Troy & Brooks headed out to Linda Mar yet again. We encountered some of the biggest waves we've ever faced. I think it took about 20 minutes just to paddle out through the whitewash. A challenging day due to the size of the surf, but any day in the water (injury-free) can be counted as a good day.
Thanks to Troy, I had a chance to catch the 49ers v Eagles game at the new Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. I can confirm it makes the 'Stick look pretty disappointing in comparison (comfort and amenity wise). Very happy to have witnessed the Niners win despite that outcome being in doubt for most of the game.
I tried one of the concessions offering: steamed pork buns. Tasty little treats, but the high price of stadium food might dissuade me from repeat purchases in the future. Besides, you can get tastier and cheaper ones from the Chairman food truck!
Got to celebrate Nicolette's B-day this past weekend with a Carnival themed party complete with a piñata, cotton candy machine and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bouncy castle (the thing behind us in the pic). Nic, me, Jas & Harman representing current (and former) AVSH folks.
Hope you all enjoyed the photos. Onward to Autumn!
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