the evolution of dance guy was on the today show today!

Footloose! Dance medley becomes Internet hit – Lifestyle – MSNBC.com

so i did some cleaning today… anyway… while i was vacuuming i saw
this dark black thing on the rug…i thought it was a stick and reached
out to pick it up…. as i looked closer it was a stick with arms and
legs sticking out….  and i freaked, mainly b/c a huge (NOT daddy
long legs) spider came out of nowhere… anyway… here’s some pix of
what looks like a small lizard… it’s still there…i think it’s
probably been hiding behind some bag… must have gotten squished and
it’s most likely dried up….

on a totally unrelated topic….ahi poke rocks!

so for the long weekend we decided to go camping with sheila! it all
started about a few months ago, pat went to go get a haircut and while
i was waiting i came across national geographic adventure magazine…it
listed a bunch of pretty neat place to go and one of them was carrizo
plain… so after doing a little research online and checking things
out we decided we’d go there… we seriously did not really know what
to expect…so we didn’t do much planning… just a few days before we
set up a meeting point and back up meeting point….

FRIDAY…we packed up my car
and headed out…. decided to take a short cut which was fun…to avoid
the long weekend traffic and it was like a usual drive to la… but we
turned off the 5… it was a bit weird b/c i was driving on a two-lane
road and we’d never been through here…but it definitely was an
interesting experience… it was windy and we drove up higher and
higher and the animals started to come out… all sorts of animals were
running across, up, down, any which way on the road…. and there was
definitely a WIDE range of animals…small field mice, kangaroo rats,
jack rabbits, deer, owls, and a coyote….the owls and coyote came out
of nowhere…and freaked me out but luckily no crashing into them…
the jack rabbits were so abundant it totally reminded me of the ones in
summer field that were just laying on the road… although these ones
weren’t…but at least one or two didn’t make it…r.i.p. bunny…
anyway…after almost all the animals in the plain we made it to the
campsite where we were meeting up with sheila… this was at about
midnight… luckily we found her car…and ended up crashing with her
and patch in her HUGE tent….


SATURDAY…headed over to the
Goodwin Education Center…found out we couldn’t go to painted
rock…but decided to follow the field guide sheila found on a
website… we drove past soda lake and went to wallace creek where
there’s about 430 feet of offset from the san andreas fault…

while hiking up to wallace creek… almost ran into this guy… yikes!

wallace creek and the offset… sheila’s WAY over like at the bottom of
the hill in the background and pat’s at the top….i’ll see if i can
post a better picture pat took of the offset…

headed out of the national monument to get some gas for sheila’s car
and extra propane for the camping stove…. on the way there we had a
nice lunch break overlooking the central valley…passed by a lots of
oil fields…and got the stuff we needed in taft, “the best of places”….and seriously
that’s what the sign said…

moo…a bunch of cows greeted us as we went back to carrizo plain…

poking around the caliente range….

walked around the camground a bit… and took pictures of and with the kcl campground sign and wagon…

walking back to the campsite…and sheila carrying patch over the cattle guard….

made some chicken fajitas and chilled….with patch…

we were invited by a large group of campers across the way (that sheila
befriended the night before) to enjoy the warmth of their campfire….

SUNDAY…woke up to the sound
of johnny cash, made some yummy breakfast and  did nothing… at
one point we all just napped for a bit and packed everything up, said
bye-bye to carrizo plain and were on our way to santa
barbara….stopped at a turn-off  and had some yummy lunch… then
gas and milkshake break over in ojai and finally made it to santa
barbara

nerds break… ended up turning our tongues blue and green

the view from our lunch break

showered and then headed over to the mission where there were various
chalk drawings for a fundraiser…and there was a giant chalk mural
with stories from japan and mexico’s sister cities…

then sheila gave us a driving tour of santa barbara…then we went to
ralph’s and grabbed some food to bbq…and came across $6.86 top
sirloin steak!  talk about great deal… and it sure was yummy!
along with corn and salad…mmmmmm…

MONDAY…
woke up early and sheila prepared us some tea and toast…and we just
chilled for a bit…then she took us to ucsb to show us her office and
around…. the views were beautiful… and yummy nachos from freebirds
were delicious! after packing up we said our goodbyes and we were off
back up north on the 101…. made a quick stop at mission san luis obispo but it was closed…and finally made it home safely…

i hope i’m not forgetting anything…but i took SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many
pictures…. i wish i could have post them all but it’d take too
long… but it was defintely a nice, relaxing, fun, etc. trip! here’s to random camping with sheila…woohoo!

last, last weekend was quite hectic!  one of my dear friends who
i’ve known since 1st grade got married!  we were good friends in
first and second grade but she moved (not too far) and ended up going
to a different school….but we met up back again in high school and i
guess we started back up where we had left off!  anyway…. it was
a beautiful wedding…. with 9 groomsmen and 8 bridespeople…. the
ceremony was at stanford university’s memorial church….it was just
beautiful… i don’t know quite what the ceremony looked like on the
outside b/c i was part of the bridal party…but it was extra nice to
be a part of it b/c we were up close and personal with the bride and
groom…. at one part of the ceremony all 17 people were in a circle
and we could all see them… it was quite intimate…but it think it
must have looked nicely choreographed…. after the ceremony… picture
time!

the picture of the newlyweds and bridal party with wedding photographers and bystander…(taken by pat)

me and pat…. i bought him a tie so he could match my bridesmaid dress

the reception followed at her parents house… and the food was
delicious… the backyard looked beautiful and it was really nice
to  be a part of this special day for a dear friend…

our table….

CONGRATULATIONS KAREN SARAH & JASON!!!

Silent Library 3 on Transbuddha

most sundays consist of grocery shopping and random errands… this
past sunday was that plus some field trips in between different
markets…



Hayward Fault

first we headed over to fremont to check out the hayward fault…. the
usgs had dug a trench out… it was pretty cool….info about the site,
the hayward fault exposed

it got a bit crowded down there but i was able to maneuver my way to a
nice corner to get up close and personal with the fault….

here we have the direct line of the fault… pat’s at one end of the
trench and i’m on the other… and people checking out the information
about seismology, etc…

and as we were leaving it continues through the parking lot….. the
slight displacement of the curb that they spray painted yellow….



B-17

next on our field trip, we headed over to moffett field… of all the
years growing up in the bay area, i’ve finally visited…. anyway, i
heard on the news that you could come and check out the B-17 bomber
from WWII… i thought it’d be cool and it sure was!!!  people
could pay $300-400 to go up and fly in it earlier that day… but we
just wanted to pay the $5 to check it out…

walking around the plane….

we walked around the whole plane and it was pretty neat… and they had
the doors open where the bombs were so we stuck our heads up there…
that was pretty cool too….



and then we got to go INTO the plane (that’s what the $10 for both of
us was for)… so first you climb up the ladder and you’re in the plane
and the first thing you see as you’re settled is this…



that’s through the front of the plane where all the guns were sticking
out…. and then you crawl up to the controls…and here we have pat
coming up… and the controls…

we then headed through that narrow strip looking towards the tail of
the plane and passed by where we stuck our heads up to check out the
bombs….continued through and stuck my head up….

went on through to the end and that round thing is the hatch for the lower part where they had someone shooting guns too…

decided to take a quick rest and take some pictures of their ammo..

and yeah… that was our “field trip” and errand day… but it was definitely cool…

i was just cleaning and was showing my mom some stuff when i got caught
and started watching IFC with her… i had missed quite a bit of the
beginning of the first movie… ‘east is east’… it was
hilarious….but also serious at the same time… anyway… i really
wish i could see it from the beginning!!! 

and then i decided to watch the next one… ‘el hijo de la novia’/'son
of the bride’…. about his this restaurant owner and how he realizes
what he’s missing in life…. but this one made me cry!  i haven’t
cried in a movie in a long time… well if it’s a tear jerker i usually
cry… but still… this movie touched me…

which reminds me… i still have to catch up on my movies *sigh*

today’s the centennial of the 1906 earthquake…. so much stuff is
going on in sf… documentaries, books, events… etc…. due to so
much rain… they’ve postponed this one event where they dig a trench
exposing the hayward fault… pat and i were looking forward to this
one…. so hopefully we can get to see it when it opens… it’d be
pretty cool… anyway…. happy earthquake day!!