June came and went with a wide variety of fun activity. Let me recap some of highlights.
As evidenced by the many pictures of mahjong over the last several months, you can tell it has become a big part of the weekly routine amongst our group. Above, you can see an example of one big hand I managed to put together consisting of the 4-5-6 pattern repeated in all the suits. Woo hop!
The World Cup (of soccer) started up and the Abbott R&D group became slightly less productive for about a month. In the pic above, we hid in a conference room to watch the opening game (Brazil v. Croatia).
Sadly, our dear friend James (at the center of the above pic) moved away from the Bay Area to start a new job (and new life) up in Washington State. The goodbye celebration began on a Thursday night with burgers/baos/beers at Buffalo, then migrated onto Honeycreek where we ate the pictured "honey toast" dessert (giant piece of toast with ice cream, oreos, fruit and chocolate sauce). Susanna, Justin, Steph and I round out the rest of the crew in the "dessert selfie".
After the significant number of steps I took during the trip to Yosemite the previous week, I regained the coveted 1st Place trophy for the week. So proud I made it back to the top of the mountain as my coworkers have been setting the bar so high that I've otherwise struggled to stay in touch of their lofty step totals.
The weekend marked an important milestone for a number of friends: Stanford graduation! First up, Susanna got her degrees (MS and PhD). Lisa, Scott, Me, Jason, Imran & Chandana dropped by to watch the ceremony and show our support (by screaming & applauding when she walked across the stage).
After the midday ceremony, I hustled on home to host some friends for a big World Cup clash between England & Italy. While not terribly high scoring, it featured quite a bit of back and forth action. Deryck even joined us via FaceTime to watch the game since he couldn't find a good way to watch the game in HK.
After that exciting game, the party moved to James' place for a final farewell dinner shindig. We'll miss you dearly James! Hope to visit you up in WA sometime!
Then the next day, the commencement action continued and this time we celebrated Scott being conferred his PhD!
My 10 yr old French Football jersey looked a bit dated so I decided to grab the latest one to show my support for the team at this year's World Cup. Though Adidas doesn't make them anymore, Nike did a nice job making a simple, yet very sharp design. Allez Les Bleus!
A monthly occurrence in the summer, the San Jose Bike Party draws large crowds of cyclists together for a nighttime ride in SJ (with frequent stops for food and fellowship). Some crazy folks in the picture above lit fireworks which drew some unwanted attention from the local authorities. So much excitement!
The Menlo Park Pace Gallery's second show featured works by Tara Donovan who creates large scale sculptures made out of everyday objects. Check out what they had on display!
Colony, 2004. The full work to the left (Susanna shown for scale) and an inset close-up of the pencils used to create the sculpture.
Bluffs, 2013. The full view on the left and a close-up on the right showing the glued together buttons which form this work.
Haze, 2003. Probably my favorite work on display, this cloud like sculpture (top) gets its form from a large number of plastic drinking straws stacked together (bottom). So simple, yet so beautiful. I might be inspired to do a bit of arts and crafts at home one of these days. I'll post a pic of my efforts...
Dueling close-ups of Haze (Susanna vs. Me).
They had a small room with some other works, including the carryover Calder sculpture from the previous exhibition. Jason and I admire the works as I skim through the catalog showing most of the Tara Donovan works that we saw (including the ones I've shown in this blog entry) have been valued > US$100,000. Amazing.
While respectfully admiring the artwork (no touching), we decided to have a bit of fun with the Untitled, 2000 cubes (from top to bottom: straight pins, tempered glass and toothpicks). Amazingly, these 3 foot cubes don't rely on any adhesive to stick together other. Just friction and gravity.
Last but not least, a picture of Me taking a selfie with Untitled (Mylar), 2010.
The Tara Donovan show got extended and, despite originally being scheduled to end in June, now will be at the Pace Gallery till August. Go see it if you haven't yet! Hope you enjoyed the pics. Stay tuned for the next post in which I vacation in a country I haven't previously ever visited!
Hi there folks. It has been a while, but I'm back for another update. Today, I've got some pics from an early June trip to Yosemite National Park.
The trip began with an early Saturday morning departure from SF. We (Andrew, Brian, Grant and I) arrived in the park and immediately hit the trail. Our target for the day: Mount Hoffmann. Here I am at our first landmark along the hike: May Lake.
After a bit more climbing, we got this lovely view looking back down towards May Lake.
Grant, Andrew & I continuing the ascent. I should've brought a hat.
After more elevation gain, we passed the tree line.
We stopped momentarily for a snack before pushing onward and after a few hours of vertical progress (which didn't feel like much progress at all no thanks to the high altitude), we got to an exposed area leading up to the final ascent.
Getting oh so close to the top! Looking back towards the valley, you can see how Mt. Hoffmann compares to the other major landmarks in the valley (Cloud's Rest left of center and Half Dome right of center).
We made it to the summit!
The nifty watch confirms that shortly after 1pm, we got to ~10,600 feet (or so). That sort of elevation really gets to your head!
Grant & Brian at the top (with Cloud's Rest and Half Dome in the background).
Shortly after we took that picture, we noticed this little critter running around. We spent a few minutes wondering whether it might be an "alpine squirrel" or something along those lines before a fellow hiker politely (and correctly) suggested it could be a Marmot.
After all the picture taking and marmot watching, we sat down and busted out lunch. Here you can see Brian cutting up some avocado to put onto our turkey sandwiches.
And then we rested a bit before our hike back down to the trailhead. Grant even stretched out for a brief nap.
When we got back down to the car, we drove into the valley and settled into our accommodations in Curry Village prior to seeking out dinner. We started out eating burgers, but that didn't quite satisfy our hunger. So, we ordered a pizza. We opted for a plain cheese pizza because toppings cost a whopping $2 each and we didn't deem it worth the high price. Instead, we cut up the leftover turkey from our lunch.
And we put it on the cheese pizza. Delicious.
We got a good night's sleep and then the next day, hit up the Mist Trail. The name of the trail (presumably) comes from the proximity to waterfalls (mainly Vernal Falls) which cause a great deal of water vapor (aka mist) to spray all over the trail. It not only helps to cool hikers along the grueling elevation gain, but also offers plenty of chances to see beautiful rainbows.
Vernal Falls in all its glory.
The squirrels aggressively approached hikers in search of food and many of them wandered close to us as we rested near Emerald Pool. Grant dared me to pet a squirrel and you can see me as I attempt to do so. I got as far as brushing its tail before it decided that it didn't really like that and bolted off.
After the Mist Trail, we packed our gear and headed on out of the park. Before we left the valley, we stopped briefly for this photo opportunity. You can see El Capitan on the left, Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Falls on the right and the Merced River flowing down the middle.
And there you have our brief but sweet trip to Yosemite! Definitely one of the best places in the state to visit and always a location that never disappoints. Thanks to my hiking buddies, Andrew, Brian and Grant for the pleasant company. Hopefully we'll get back out there sooner rather than later! Until next time, adieu!
This May really flew by quickly and I must say it has been one of the more enjoyable months we've had so far this year. Take a look at some of the special moments.
Wednesday night dinners sometimes become impromptu jam sessions. Troy on the guitar, Justin on the cello and Randy on the ukulele (couldn't get him in frame, but you can see a bit in the bottom right).
The Palo Alto Philharmonic playing their last concert of the season. Being the more casual of their concerts, they played popular music from Movie soundtracks (e.g. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc) and invited children on the stage for one of the songs. Justin even got to be Principal Cellist!
Not sure why we didn't think of this earlier: mahjong outside so we could enjoy the warm afternoon weather.
The cake must be good if Cindy made it for her own birthday. My verdict: DELICIOUS!!!
Another Wednesday dinner, more mahjong. Dad, Evan, Troy & Bernie shake some tiles while the rest of us continue eating in the other room.
Thanks very much for the cake Justin. Your baking skills always impress no matter what we say. Lori popped into the picture prior to us lighting the candles.
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Troy wandered over to make sure he got a bit of dessert (and to make sure Steph, Justin and I hadn't eaten it all).
I'm honored I got a "Birthday WOD". Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to participate.
Instead, I had a dinner to get to. Thanks to Daniel & Karen for 'George the terra-cotta soldier' and Jason & Susanna for the games (wrapped).
We had a lovely dinner at the newly opened Cooking Papa in Mountain View. Great company and great conversation. I'm very fortunate to have you all (Brad, Daniel & Karen, Nick & Jessie, Susanna & Jason - taking the pic - and Mum & Dad) around to make my life that much more memorable and enjoyable.
Lastly, farewell to my venerable apartment in Redwood City. We had an amazing 6+ years together and I'll always miss this cozy place I called home.
Onward to new adventures in my new neighborhood. I've finally moved down to Mt View though Nick and Mari, you both left long ago.
After the exciting, whirlwind trip to HK, life managed to settle down to a much more easy-going pace. Check it out.
I had heard about Takenoko from Deryck, and finally got an opportunity to play it myself. Interesting game where you strategize bamboo garden arrangement, growth and consumption by giant, cute panda. Would play again.
I'm not sure if I've yet mentioned how much I adore my local Costco. In addition to being recently renovated (including a Gas station), they've set up a regularly recurring Poke Bar. So ono!
I'd seen this bread pudding shop quite a few times while passing through Hayes Valley in SF, and finally had an opportunity to give it a try. I opted for a tasty apricot one that they served up like you might do a scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt (even with topping options). Yummy, but I think it would've been so much better served warm.
Did my first night hike in the Bay Area up to Hill 88 in the Marin Headlands with Susanna, Jason and a few of his co-workers. Quite a bit of uphill action and kind of a bad idea (for the legs) after having done the CF Open 14.5 WOD earlier that day. With that said, we had a beautiful view at the top! Photo cred: Susanna.
Archie, Liz & I headed over to Santa Cruz to meet up with other Prometheus folks for a post-Santa Cruz Half Marathon brunch. Way to go Steph, Noelle, Mark and Brooks!
Another week and another Foodie Friday event. We had dinner at Gott's in PA (meh), but had some excellent ice cream at the Tin Pot Creamery afterwards. I'm a sucker for the Earl Grey stuff (pictured above).
Easter Sunday Hike in the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve (in Portola Valley) with Brent, Mary & Luke. As the picture shows, we saw a lot of beautiful California poppies.
After the hike, I began preparing my dish for the Easter Potluck at Troy & Lori's.
Salmon Poke of course. Being a big fan of salmon, I'm partial to this type of Poke. Onolicious.
Met up with Kevin for dinner in Mountain View to catch up and discuss his upcoming trip to Costa Rica with Phil. On my way to the restaurant, I caught a glimpse of this sweet Audi R8 with a silver fern decal. Gotta love seeing a fellow, proud Kiwi in the area!
You can find Pace Galleries in New York, London, HK, Beijing and Switzerland where they showcase some great contemporary art. Now, they've got a gallery in Menlo Park and I dropped in to check out the inaugural exhibition featuring some works by Alexander Calder. Thanks to Amy for coming along.
You may recognize Calder as the sculptor who originated mobiles like the one shown above. I'm quite fond of the mechanical nature of the work and how the pieces hang delicately from the wire and move about in response to air currents in the surrounding environment. I also appreciate that Calder studied engineering and creatively used that education for artistic pursuits.
The gallery also featured a few random works by other artists. Tim Hawkinson's Fu Dog caught my eye. Who knew eggshells and superglue could take such a fascinating form.
Next week, Pace Gallery Menlo Park will open up their next exhibition featuring works by Tara Donovan. They had a couple of her works in the space (not sure if they'll also be in the new exhibition or not) beside all the Calders. You probably can't tell from the image, but countless steel pins form the work, Drawing (Pins), above. So cool to contrast the view up close from the view from a bit farther back.
Untitled (Mylar) sat nearby. Unprompted, the security guard walked up and described this as a favorite of his due to the way it caught the lighting. He noted that it looked most fetching when daylight shone into the gallery and gave the work even more brilliance.
A peek into one of the gallery's storage closets revealed a few more things including these little Chuck Close ones (prints perhaps?).
The Inverness Post office. How quaint. We rode up to Inverness from Stinson Beach on a lovely Saturday. Pleasant temperature for a ride, though a bit windier than I might've liked.
50 odd miles later,after riding back to Stinson Beach, we (me, Brooks, Amy & Cortney...and a bit of my thumb) got a nice snack and hung out at the beach for a bit to let our legs rest.
Again, a lovely day to be outside.
Lastly, a shot of me at the gym (icing my knee no less). I think I need a haircut. Photo cred: Jonathan.
I can't quite believe we've made it to May. This year just continues to fly by so quickly! What will I get up to next?
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