Well, this past weekend, my b'day weekend was absolutely busy and totally fun. Friday kicked off (after con calls in the a.m.) with lunch at Google - Charlie's cafe - which was beyond amazing. It was like walking into a fresh street market with a smorgasbord of fresh seafood, fusion noodles and rice, italian, mexican, indian and amazing buffets of endless culinary fantasy. And then, Barbara made me try the dessert since it was the b'day. Too good. Mmmmmm! Anyway, during lunch, my friend - former colleague Afotey from the East Coast called and let me know his flight had arrived and he was taking the trains up to Mtn View. Now, interesting thing (I am sure his blog will likely tell the story), probably a lack of sleep and poor eating over the week along with cabin air pressure and he was in the aisles, fainted to the floor! When he regained consciousness, people had oxygen masks on him, and were interviewing him about the year, the date and the president. Poor guy was way embarrassed, but medical events on a plane aren't so uncommon. According to Marketwatch, "Last year, MedAire fielded 17,310 calls from airborne planes, or about 1,450 a month, said Heidi Giles, vice president of global response services for MedAire's MedLink. " (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/sick-plane-airlines-look-ground/story.aspx?guid=%7BC1B7041A%2D2D1C%2D4FB9%2DB16B%2D659921E0C2CA%7D). 

 

Anyway, Barb and I finished lunch and she gave me a bag of such amazing treats, most wonderfully, a bottle of some really crisp, sweet Whitehall Moscato, and then I headed over to the Caltrain station to pick him up. I took him back to Microsoft and walked him around. He met Syed and freaked out over Syed's Transformers collection in his office. Then we went to the Company store where Tey was like a kid in a candy shop. I finished up some work and we went over to make paper cranes in honor of one of my colleagues. Afotey was really intrigued by the paper engineering and Turner and Julie were awesome with their instruction. He said he's going to teach his daughter Athena to make paper cranes too. I think its so beautiful that Sadako's tradition has continued through the decades and is passing down generationally now. Following crane making, Leo took me to Cascal to celebrate the B'day.... with Ramnita and Tey, and we had white and red sangria, and lots of wonderful finger foods which Leo so graiciously treated us to (as he took his hi-pri phone call, while we drank). It was a great evening, and the second b'day celebrated with/by Leo. He is so amazing and I am deeply grateful to have a friend/twin/mentor/colleague like him in my world.

 

I still remember Leo answering me when I texted him like this:

V: I wanna go home

L: This is your home now.

And so at that instant, I attained enlightenment about my new home, and Leo became part of my local family.

 

Ramnita was awesome to hang out with too. Her husband is a speed metal musician and she was talking about how he cooks so well too. She recently taught her kids to knit and rejoined the knitting world, so I can't wait to see some of her creations soon.

OK, so the next day (Saturday) I went to my favorite bookstores (the East-West, and the used bookshop) on Castro, and then walked around Mtn View early morning. Then I took Tey around town for a tech company tour, where he joyfully posed in front of the exciting signage, and reminded me of how I felt when I first moved here. We then went downtown for the Anime Convention going on in downtown SJ, and it was so cool. The whole city was dotted with handdrawn characters-come-to-3D life via creative fan costuming. It was surreal walking into McDonalds and bumping into characters from Japanese videos. Very very cool. Then we went over to the Tech, and then took the light rail up to Cisco to walk around. Returning back into SJ, I had been wanting to go back through  the Winchester Mystery House, because I love history and creepy things, so it was cool that Tey wanted to do the same thing, and we had a blast! Finally, we had some drinks in Santana Row at V bar and at the Tequila Bar (where I was exposed to the Mariachi version of "Hotel California"). And then I headed over to Beefy's to cap off my celebratory Saturday night with some singing and hanging with my girls Gina and Jodie.

Sunday, I did something I have wanted to do ever since I moved here... drove up the 4200' Mt. Hamilton in the Diablo range to go to the Lick Observatory. (http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/) and look at the great Lick refractor telescope in the 36" historically relevant dome.  Both the drive in my Miata with the top down on a sunny day, and the tour at the top were as wonderful as I had expected them to be.

And then it was time for LOBSTER!!!!

 

My 1st Lobster Dinner by Vidya Shaker.

To celebrate my 1st non-veg b'day, my dear friends Ainsley and III, both part of the Bay APLN board (www.bayapln.org) decided to treat me to a lobster dinner at Fish Market in San Mateo. Now, it turns out (as described when I talked about the wonderful sushi lunch that the Hotmail OPMs took me to) that Dave Rusconi's father in law is a buyer for the Fish Market restaurant group, and so I expected it to be amazing. They steam the lobster there, and then III taught me to crack the shell and to pull the meat out. So, lobster meat tasted creamy and kind of like eggs to me, but bore no taste-resemblance to chicken. I loved it, but it was huge so I only really got through the claws and the tail. The middle did taste a little like monkfish liver to me, but I couldn't even taste too much of it. And happily, there was creme brulee to complete the fabulous evening, which Ainsley, III, Tey and I just scarfed up.

 

Ok Monday...

Monday started with a trip to Fry's (i know, i know... what can i say? Geeks must play) and then we ventured out to Golden Gate Bridge and to the park there. Then I showed Afotey Lombard Street ( where he was overjoyed that he was visiting a world record site with a world record holder - and he's sure that III must have a world record for his Roman Numeral name), before heading to the Wharf and grabbing drinks and a bite at Bourdin's. An airport trip followed with hugs, and I headed back to log on and catch up with ooodles of work!

 

Its been an exciting week at work too. We have a new GPM, Margaret Butler, who is awesome and has a terrific charisma. And being in the middle of pre-audit is a very juicy time for my brain.

 

Still with all of this going on, my heart was still thrilled by a few simple things I am deeply grateful for:

 

1) A string of sweet texts from a far-away someone who matters saying he's been thinking of me

2) the phone call songs from those I love

3)  my friends Leo, Barb, Tey, Ainsley and III spending valuable time with me.

4) bouquet and lovely messages from Mom, Ammsy and my sisters and brother

5) the energy I feel from the heavens as I breathe each day and live one more jam-packed experiential juicy day, and my big bed with my big stuffed animal doggy where I can curl up, read and sleep to recharge my batteries for the next day's adventure.

 

So let me ask you this: Are you living the Ferris Bueller day each day you're alive?