santa cruz!

I'm finally able to take some time and blog about our visit to Santa Cruz, yaaaay!

Day 1, Friday February 16

As soon as we got in the Lyft to go to the airport, we discovered that our flight was delayed for an hour. We didn't want to turn around and go back and pay for 2 rides, so we decided just to make the best of our wait at LGB. They have a nice, sunny outdoor seating area away from all the super loud PA announcements, so we got some breakfast tacos and some wine and lounged around quietly for a bit.

9:30am wine! How European of us.
Except I'm not even sure if the Europeans are into breakfast wine.

In case any of you youngins (Lil Sis) need a reference for the Professor's shirt, here you go.

Joe and Mary picked us up at the San Jose airport in their new Chevy Bolt, which I have to say I'm pretty impressed with. I didn't realize electric cars could have so much pep - I thought it would be sort of sluggish like a hybrid, but it is definitely not.

Anyway, they took us on a scenic drive through the mountains and we stopped at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park to take a walk among the giants. Joe and Mary are both teachers and story tellers, so we learned a lot on our walk, natch, and so did pretty much every group of passersby.

After our walk, we stopped by the beautiful UCSC campus to take in some views.

There is a grove of eucalyptus trees very close to J&M's house, where the monarch butterflies come and stay for a few months each year as they migrate south. This year, a nesting pair of great horned owls is also calling the eucalyptus grove home. So we went down to see them wake up for the evening. This is the best picture I could get of either of them, and I don't know why it's so off-center. I have plenty of perfectly-centered pictures of this owl with its face turned studiously and determinedly away from me.

We had to hurry away from the owls at sunset though, because if you know anything about Uncle Joe, you know that he has to see the sunset everyday. So we rushed away, hurriedly parked the car about 3 feet from the curb (5 feet, if you measured from the back tire) (which is to say, it was an extremely crooked parking job, and basically in the middle of the road), and ran up to a path by the beach to watch the sun go down. We saw a faint green flash! It was the first time I've seen one. 

if you zoom in, you can kind of see a faint, greenish tint
to the little nub of light sitting on top of the sun.

We watched Venus come out, and then the tiniest, faintest sliver of moon - like an eyelash. 

After that, we went wine tasting at one of  J&M's favorite places, and bought a bottle of Chardonnay. There was some sort of spaniel type doggie there who helped keep an eye on all the comings and goings.

Afterwards, we went to dinner at a really good Indian place.

We stayed at the Mission Inn, which I recommend if you're ever in the neighborhood. Nice place, relatively affordable, clean, no bed bugs, which is always a bonus.

Day 2, Saturday February 17

We walked over to Joe and Mary's house from our hotel in the morning, and got to hang out with Sarah and the chickens for a bit. They have a super cute house with a really pretty back yard filled with all sorts of fruit trees and veggie gardens and stuff. Since it's winter, most of them aren't doing much, but it was still super beautiful.

This is Butterscotch.

Henny Penny laid these - I guess green eggs and ham are a real thing!

Here's Sarah. She's a good doggo.

Our plan for the day was to try to get in on a tour to see some elephant seals, but first we had to drive around and look at all the things. We stopped at a farmer's market and got some snacks:

We looked at some ocean views:

We got some vegan soup at a little place on the side of the road where everything was on the honor system. We also sampled jellies that I've never tried, like ollaliberry and something else that I can't remember. And we got pie for dessert. It was a super cute and cozy place.

We happened upon an old jail that was being restored by some fellows who seemed like they (and their dog) were enjoying a significant number of adult beverages. They put up this plaque:

Finally we made it to Año Nuevo Coast Natural Preserve, where we went on a tour to see some elephant seals! It was very very cool.

there was fightin'

there was fussin'

there was scratchin'

and then there was this lineup

It was a really great experience. We learned a lot about their life cycle and this particular population's history (which was pretty precarious at one point), and spent lots of time just enjoying their noisy and cantankerous company.

Afterwards, we went to a seafood place for dinner called Duarte's, which was nice. We stopped at lodge and Joe showed some randos the stars for awhile. Then we stopped at square dance that happens every month or so, just to look at it, and looked at the stars some more. They were really bright and starry, and the Professor had not seen that many stars before, so I'm very glad we did that.

We were absolutely exhausted when we got back to the hotel, and fell asleep instantaneously.

Day 3, Sunday February 18

Our plan for the day was to go on a whale watching trip, but the captain of the boat canceled it because of high winds and choppy seas. We were ok with that, since some chilly weather had come in and we were afraid we'd be super cold. It's better to go in the fall anyway.

So instead, J&M drove us all around and showed us all the things.

Sarah got a Greenie before we left for the day

a view of the wharf

prettiness

We ate our weight in food at a little diner place where we stopped for breakfast, and talked about politics. Afterwards, we went to watch Joe do his radio show!

Joe co-hosts a radio show called Planet Watch radio, which you can also get in podcast form. From their About page: Joe and Rachel interview scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs on the front lines and in the back waters who are creating solutions to the big problems facing our world today. “Cosmic Joe” adds fun tidbits on astronomy, weather, earth and sky phenomena, and “cosmic relief”. 

So that was a pretty cool experience - I've never been in a radio studio before so it was neat to see how that works. And also it's a great show, if you're interested at all in the fate of our planet (which you should be). It can skew a little toward California-based topics, but it has lots of value for everyone, and offers great ideas on what we should be thinking about in terms of mitigating and possibly reversing the damage we're causing. Plus, my uncle is the co-host!

After the show, Tommy the intern came to a wine tasting with us at another place where Joe and Mary are members. The owner, Phil, is a chemist by day, and wine maker by...also day. He is so talented that he also made us some flat breads.

a very backlit Phil making us some flat breads, surrounded by barrels of wine

It was really fun! I like Phil - he's very California.

We went to see the owls again, but it was a bit dark so I couldn't get good pictures of them. But I recorded some stuff:

I have no idea what that second one is about, but we googled raccoon noises and it sounds kind of the same, so.

Anyway, after visiting with all the woodland creatures, we went and met J&M's lovely friends Jim and Linda, and two of their kids, and their cat. They're all very nice folks, and they showed us some candy cap mushrooms that their son found, which kind of blew our minds - they smell very sweet, and almost like maple syrup. Mushrooms!

We stopped by to see Sarah for a little bit before heading out for dinner.

she looks like she just smoked something really good

She and the Professor had a pretty good conversation about this and that.

For dinner, we went to a pretty great Italian place, but I was feeling a little queasy, so I just had tea and soup. But I tasted everyone else's food and it was all delicious.

Day 4, Monday February 19

After we packed up all our stuff at the hotel in the morning, we went to J&M's in the morning to say goodbye to Sarah and the chickens and enjoy their back yard one more time before heading back to Long Beach.

here is Henny Penny with her pretty feathers

We stopped to see the monarchs, who are hanging out in a different eucalyptus grove this year, but I only had my phone with me so you will have to do some major zooming in to see their blurry little selves.

there's orange in them thar trees (I swear there are really a lot of monarchs in this tree)

From there, it was a bit of a rush. We went to a breakfast spot on this long pier, and had really a very tasty breakfast, but we had to kind of inhale it to get out of there in time to get on the road to the airport. There were a bunch of sea lions hanging out under the pier, so that was cute.

We rushed to the airport and made it in time to check our bag, flew home, and spent the evening getting ready for the week.

Here are all of our pictures on Flickr. Some of them are a bit repetitive, sorry.

It was an awesome trip, and we are looking forward to going back in the fall for attempt #2 at whale watching.

black panther and other things

We still are pretty discombobulated over here. Buying a car is kind of like a major endeavor, and we are still trying to get back to normal. On Sunday we spent some time setting up all the fancy bits of the car, and I'm super happy that the Professor has Bluetooth now! No more listening to podcasts with his headphones! So exciting!

We also went to his department chair's house for dinner, and another colleague of his was there with her husband and 2 kids. It was really nice - she has a nice house with a nice yard, and we sat outside for a bit with some hors d'oeuvres and wine and listened to the wind chimes and watched the hummingbirds and the 2 kids kick their soccer ball into the garden and the bird bath and each other.

They were really interesting boys though, I liked talking to them and hearing their ideas about things. Sometimes I suppose it's kinda nice to be around kids.

I do have to mention that the chair had a DAY before we came over. She had been planning to cook something in the oven for us, so she turned it on to preheat but had forgotten that something spilled in the oven the day before. So when she opened the oven, the house filled with smoke - it was apparently bad enough that she called somebody to come out sometime this week and fix the oven. Plan A having failed, she moved on to Plan B, which was to grill something for us. She picked up her bottle of lighter fluid, which had been sitting outside for a year or two, and squirted it into the charcoal, but the bottle apparently had some little holes in the bottom of it...so she also squirted it all over her clothes and her face and her eyes. So she had to spend a significant portion of her day rinsing her eyes out, and I have to say they were still pretty red when we got there. Anyway, Plans A and B having failed, she ordered takeout.

I felt so so bad for her, but dinner was delicious. So was the cheesecake that she made, despite her disappointment with it (on top of all her other trials and tribulations).  We had lots of nice conversations, and the kids were very good, and it was all in all a wonderful evening and I'm glad we went.

Today we went to see Black Panther. I have so much I want to say about it. My expectations were fairly high going in. Many people I've talked to said it was their favorite Marvel movie. I love Marvel movies*, so I was kind of excited - not just because so many people love the movie, but also because it's a whole super hero movie with black actors, many of whom are female!

But then after Meana saw it, she said that it wasn't as cheesy as the others, and I was a little worried it might not have a sense of humor. I like the Marvel movies because they're just pure, fun, entertainment. They aren't important, and they appeal to my occasional need for escapism.

SPOILERS:

So anyway, we saw it today, and I liked it. It wasn't definitively my favorite Marvel movie, and also, I liked it for different reasons than I like most Marvel movies. There are a few moments of levity, but in general the movie deals with real issues that matter in the real world. And it's basically a sad, yet hopeful story with much more substance than your run-of-the-mill Marvel movie.

I had seen several headlines on Facebook and elsewhere, lauding the movie's inclusion of and treatment of women. For sure, the women are great. They put their own passions before love interests, which is pretty unusual for any movie ever. Nakia isn't interested (at least, at first) in marrying Prince Charming because she feels that it's more important to help her fellow Africans than to stay home and be T'Challa's little woman. Okoye, the General, is an absolute badass, and also chose her country over her dumb man. And Shuri is a scientific genius, which is not a role you see a lot of women playing. So these are all great things.

But. They still serve a king. And why is he king? Because his dad was king, and because he can win a fight. They don't address why Shuri doesn't have a chance at ruling - maybe it has to do with the test for leadership in Wakanda: hand-to-hand combat. Which is the dumbest test for a leader ever. Obviously, as it went really badly the second time around. Wakanda's leader doesn't have to be rational, level-headed, a good strategist, or even remotely intelligent. He doesn't have to care in any way about his own people or the welfare of his country as long as he can physically best whoever challenges him to a fight. They're lucky T'Challa doesn't suck as a human being. I would advocate for democracy here, but look at the state of our country - who am I to criticize?

So I have major beef with that aspect of the story, as well as with the situation these women find themselves in where they are still holding up and supporting and elevating this man, around whom their lives and well-being revolve.

The other thing is Killmonger. He was a great villain, no doubt. He was sympathetic, and he was right, in a much too violent and radical way. But the thing is, Nakia was also right. She also had this idea of helping other people in the world, and no one would listen to her! The man who loved her wanted her to fundamentally change who she was and give up her passion so she could marry him! (Like, wtf? Why can't you be married to someone who has interests outside of being your wife?!) So along comes Killmonger with a super militant approach to essentially the same underlying idea, and now T'Challa listens? I mean, that right there is real life, people. That's how it goes, and it is no less frustrating on the big screen. Picture me pulling out my hair.

So, yeah, it's a good movie with strong female characters; black characters with diverse ideas and personalities; real, actual, important concepts to mull over; and a token white guy. I liked it, but it wasn't perfect. I feel like this movie should be a baseline, you know? I want Marvel to do more and do better. I want an origin story about a female super hero of color who doesn't make any of her decisions based on her feelings about a man, and who is surrounded by super diverse supporters and sidekicks, none of whom overtly want to sleep with her. So, already, I'm disappointed in Captain Marvel. I have never heard of this lady, I don't know her story, but I know she's white. Seriously, don't we have enough white super heroes? Marvel is really missing out on a great opportunity here - she's new to the movies! Why not give other kids a role model? I really want them to pay attention to the success of Black Panther and use it to inform future decisions.

Ok, I guess that's all I have to say about it for now. Except that I really enjoyed the direct rebuke of Trump and his stupid wall at the end.


*Guardians of the Galaxy movies are not included in the list of Marvel movies that I love.

rising from the ashes

The Professor bought a new car today.

He likes it, and it's an upgrade over the ol' Mazda 3. He's thinking of naming it Fawkes, after Dumbledore's phoenix.

It's been an exhausting couple of days, and we are looking forward to getting back to normal. We've been neglecting everything, so the apartment kind of looks like a bomb went off in it. Maybe tomorrow we'll do some dishes and some laundry and stuff. For now, it's bed time.

73

close call

Well. We spent the long weekend in Santa Cruz with Uncle Joe and Mary, but we were way too busy to blog about it while we were there so I was planning to post some pictures yesterday and do some blog posts.

But then The Professor got into a car accident on his way to work. He's ok! He's perfectly fine, except for a bit of muscle strain in his neck/shoulder/back, but he's otherwise completely unhurt and ok.

His car isn't though.

not looking great

airbag :-(

So, since the car is 14 years old, and the airbag deployed, and the engine is kind of...dislodged, we are guessing the insurance company will call it a total loss. We weren't ready to buy a new car, but I think we can maybe do it? We'll see this weekend I guess. 

For what it's worth, it wasn't the Professor's fault. The accident was caused by someone trying to be nice and waving another driver (who couldn't see around a truck) through an intersection. Unfortunately, that "nice" person wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, or the fact that the other lanes had people driving in them. The other driver trusted him, and turned left into traffic, and the Professor didn't have time to stop. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. Thank God.

The takeaway: don't trust people who wave you through intersections if you can't see what's going on in the other lanes. This same thing also happened to Lil Sis.

Also the takeaway: don't be "nice" and wave people through intersections when there are other lanes of traffic that you're not in control of.

So the car was towed away, and the Professor went to the doctor and got some muscle relaxants and a clean bill of spinal health, and then had a long conversation with the insurance assessor on the phone. Afterwards, we went to drop off his prescription, and while we waited for it to be filled, we picked up some stuff at the Tuesday night farmer's market and then went to a diner for dinner and had ALL THE FOOD and then pie to celebrate life and love and togetherness.

It's just another reminder to hold your loved ones close and be thankful for the time we have together.

weekend adventures

The end of the week wasn't super exciting... we worked, I uploaded a ton of stuff to Flickr, and I watched the first couple days of Olympics.

We did go out to lunch on Friday, at a place that has tables in the sunshine by the sidewalk, so that was nice.

We had a pretty great Saturday though. The Professor made pancakes!

I ate 7 of them!

in my defense, they were pretty small.

I talked to Andrea for awhile on the phone - she is busy killing it in school, studying to be a Physician's Assistant.

In the afternoon, we drove to San Pedro and found 3 parks to explore. 

the Korean Friendship Bell (kinda apropos, considering the Olympics)

Point Fermin Lighthouse

View from the Lighthouse park

view of the Point Fermin area from a park called "Wilder's Addition"

All of our pics from the San Pedro parks are here.

We met up with Long Beach Matt for dinner at the sushi place and then we went downtown and had pie afterwards. We came home and watched the Wizards game (they won), and then went to bed.

Yesterday was pretty low key. The Professor was working all day, so I occupied myself with going through more old pictures and uploading stuff to Flickr. We tried to go for a walk on the beach but my ears started to hurt - I have this weird thing where if the air is even remotely chilly, and it's windy, the insides of my ears start to ache really badly. Like, in my ear canal. It gets to be unbearable, so we had to turn back after about 10 minutes. So that was a bummer. I took a couple of lame pics.

just some flowers in the parking lot

I wish I'd had the real camera. The sun looked huge behind the cranes in the port.

This morning, the Professor made another big breakfast for us because we still had some pancakes left over from the other day.

I chatted with Uncle Joe and Mary about our upcoming visit with them, which we are pretty stoked for. After work, we went to Target and spent all of our money on a bunch of cold weather gear because we are not expecting it to be particularly balmy in Northern CA. I definitely got a headband/ear cover thing.

I'm watching snowboarding tonight and remembering how unimpressed I used to be with the sport when it first showed up in the Olympics - it's so much more advanced (and amazing) now!

fog, flower, sauce, etc.

Today we woke up to lots of fog. 

I did my pomegranate tea flower.

Nothing exciting has really happened. Just doing work and stuff. The days when the Professor is on campus are long - he doesn't get home till 8 or 9, so I find myself watching a lot of TV and finding other ways to keep myself occupied in the evening - working on the blog, doing Ancestry stuff, uploading old pictures to Flickr - today I did all the photos from Fall of 2016.

By the way, Jo sent us home with this stuff:

I don't know if it exists outside of San Diego, but that's the only place I've ever seen it. This is the "Bombay" flavor, which means it has curry and stuff in it. It's so so so yum. If you ever see it, buy it.

tax advice

We came back home to Long Beach today, and had perfectly fine traffic on the way up again. What is going on?

This morning we walked to Starbucks again, and Ted and Jo came with us. I snuck this picture of them, which I like a lot.

Ted is a CPA, so we talked to him for a bit about taxes, and how this "tax cut" is going to come back to bite us. ugh. His advice: if, by March, your paychecks are still higher than they were last year, call your finance department and tell them to go back to withholding the same amount in taxes as they did before--especially if you itemize.

We unpacked and watched some TV, and later I Face Timed with Lil Sis from the couch. We ate ALL THE SWEETS that we had left over from the weekend, and now I have that icky burned-off tastebuds feeling that I sometimes get when I eat a lot of sugar. 

a new friend

This morning we woke up to a bright sparkly sunshiny beautiful perfect San Diego day, so we decided to walk to Starbucks and get an iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

us!

the sky was preposterously blue

We came back to the house and watched Thor Ragnarok, which Ted inexplicably didn't like. I mean, he did explain it, but his explanation was unsatisfactory.

Their friends, whose names I cannot remember to save my life, brought their lil doggie over. He is a rescued maltipoo, and his name is Alfie, and he is one of my favorite people.

he is wearing a tiny hoodie

he likes the butt scratchinz

will you please look at his ears

As a sideshow to Alfie, there was a Superbowl party. There were 12 people there: Ted, Jo, Me, The Professor, the younger Ngo brother, Sam, Phu, Jenn, Alfie's parents, and 2 other dudes whose names I can't remember. Every one of us comes from the DC area. Kinda funny.

peoples

carnage

Jenn snuggling with Alfie

Also, every one of us was super stoked that the Patriots lost. We don't really need to talk about who won, but anyone is better than those cheaters.