Last night while wiping down the kitchen, Jennifer moved the microwave from one counter to another. Next thing she knew, it was upside down, door cracked, and one of the legs bent in. Not wanted to risk having microwaves spewed in every direction, we decided it was safer to just get another one. I hopped onto Craigslist and found someone selling a used Emerson, less than two years old, for $40 in Mountain View. A few e-mails and phone calls later, we’re back in business. Now we just need to figure out how to dispose of the old one properly.

After a 2 week hiatus, Eric and I did another 9 mile run last night. Yay!Oddly enough, when when we start from my apartment one of my feet inevitably falls asleep. My right foot fell asleep this time at about mile 3.5. After walking for about 1 minute to regain circulation, it was fine for the rest of the run. It’s never happened when when we start from his apartment. Weird.

This weekend allowed me little time to sit idle. Not that I can complain, after all, it was because I was enjoying life to the fullest: a Pink Floyd tribute band concert, the Sunnyvale farmers’ market, an Art Car show, a bachelor party for a good friend, surfing with friends, a video conference with my parents, and a game night with friends. Continue reading →

Jennifer and I were driving home late Friday night when we pulled into the left-turn lane at the intersection just south of our apartment. There was another car ahead of us waiting for the light to change. The only problem was they had stopped so far back that they hadn’t crossed over the light trigger embedded in the pavement. Of course, considering how aloof the second largest demographic in this area is when it comes to driving (and maybe I’m stereotyping a bit, but I’m just calling it how I’ve seen it… and I’ve got friends in that demographic that back that statement up), the driver neglected to realize that at least 2 signal cycles had gone by without getting the green left turn arrow. We started honking and motioning with our arms to move forward but the car in front didn’t budge. Finally after another 2 cycles of the signal and our repeated “hints”, the driver decided to creep up about a foot and a half. I was about to get out of the car and show them the error of their ways, but apparently this was enough to put the nose of their car over the induction loop and trigger the light change almost immediately. *sheesh* Anyway, it was a pretty amusing situation, though a tad frustrating at the time.On a related note, here’s an interesting take on car horns.

Last night Eric and I ran 9.25 miles, 2.25 miles more than my previous personal record! We ran 6 miles a few days ago, but I was feeling pretty tired and wasn’t up to running much further. Last night, however, I felt good the whole way. In fact, by the end of the run I still wasn’t all that tired but my knees were starting to feel sore. Regardless, we stepped up the pace a bit in that last quarter mile and sprinted for a strong finish!We haven’t been running super fast… perhaps just under a 10 minute mile… but we keep a surprisingly steady pace. My heart rate usually goes up to around 185 and stays there during the majority of the run.

Eric and I ran 7 miles tonight!… a personal record for both of us. We’ve been running together since approximately the end of March, doing anywhere between 3 to 5 miles per night, twice a week, schedules permitting. We ran 5.6 miles a few months back, but had not done more than 5 miles in a given night since then. Tonight we were at 4.6 miles and I was feeling pretty good so I suggested that we do about a mile more. Near the end of that mile, I was still feeling pretty good, so I suggested we try for an even 6. Then Eric suggested that we may as well try a route that would probably put us at 7 miles… if we couldn’t make it the whole way we could just walk. Well, sure enough we kept chugging and made it all the way to the 7 mile mark (according to his GPS receiver).Eric has participated in a few triathlons this summer, but the running segment for those is about 6.2 miles. He also did the Bay to Breakers, which is approximately 7.4 miles, but walked a portion of that race.It definitely helps to have a running partner to keep my mind distracted from the physical exhaustion and to push me to my limits. I’m sure I couldn’t have gotten this far without his help!

Jennifer and I had a great dinner tonight. I was planning on grilling some salmon from the Sunnyvale Farmer’s market but quickly realized that that wasn’t going to happen when barely a flame could muster itself. We were out of propane. Plan B: we decided to broil it. I smothered it with olive oil and put it flesh side down on foil wrapped over the broiler pan. Three minutes later I flipped it so the scales were on the bottom. Another three minutes later I cut it open down the middle only to find that it was still a raw in the middle. Yet another three minutes later and I pulled it out. Perfect. I think it was the best salmon I’ve had ever. The outside was just slightly crunchy and the inside was nice and tender, not undercooked, overcooked or dry at all. This piece of salmon happened to be from the end near the tail. This end tends to be thinner than the rest of the body. We purposely chose this cut because we often have problems with the middle not cooking all the way through on the grill yet the outside becomes charred. Not this time. Delicious. To add to it, we also had corn on the cob and green beans boiled and steamed to perfection. I love home cooked meals.

What was supposed to be two days of surfing lessons in Santa Cruz ended up being one afternoon of sun burning and another of sea kayaking. The surf was vitually non-existant so our classes were canceled. After applying Sooth-a-caine to the areas of flesh that we neglected to apply sunscreen to at the beach, we ate dinner at The Acapulco in downtown Santa Cruz. On our way home Sunday, we stopped at Marianne’s on Ocean Avenue to treat ourselves to some ice cream. Yum!

I took Friday off and headed to Las Vegas last Thursday night for Defcon. It’s a hacker convention that is more networking opportunity and party than convention. The talks are usually pretty good, though most people go to just meet up with birds of the same feather and have a good time. Though the conference itself was a little disappointing due to over-attendance, it was still great to meet up with friends I haven’t seen in a few years. Continue reading →

Today was a long day. The alarm went off at 4:30am. I slapped the snooze button a few times and rolled out of bed a little before 5am. Two eggs hit the skillet, the orange juice was poured and I ate as I prepared for the first phone conference of the day.It’s production roll-out time for my project and we get to deal with all of the little issues that of course had no interest in showing their ugly head while in the testing and user acceptance environments. Oh, no. They had to wait until we moved into the production environment.So today was a busy day. I stayed at home due to the frequency of the phone conferences. The last call ended at 8:15pm. The craziness was only interrupted by a short nap in the late morning (hey, I couldn’t concentrate, okay… I wasn’t doing anybody good), answering the door in my boxers and t-shirt to sign for a package, and a shower and haircut in the late afternoon. The night was topped off with a dose of “Dude, Where’s My Car?” in the presence of friends. Just what the doctor ordered for a long, stressful day: a mindless, stupid comedy and good company.