...(so far).
This weekend was really amazing and I get the feeling that while it was the best weekend so far, there are other, even better weekends ahead.
First of all, this was the first weekend I actually earned and was allowed to celebrate since May. I am once again a proud member of the "OMG Is It Five 'O Clock Yet Association" as well as the "Oh Thank Goodness Friday is Finally Here Group (Local 500)" and it feels great.
Friday night, Traci and I decided to try something different for dinner (since we have so many choices at our disposal now). I found a kebab place on Yelp that had very favorable reviews and several mentions of its authenticity. We tried it out and were delighted. It was a tiny hole in the wall called De Afghanan Kebab House in Fremont. Delicious skewered meats (lamb, chicken, beef and ground sirloin) along with some onion, tomato, cilantro mixture (I know that describes salsa, but it seems wrong to call it that) as well as a cold garbanzo bean salad. On the advice of another Yelper, we also tried the potato bolani. It's basically a flat naan type thing stuffed with mashed potato and leeks. They make it right there by hand, then throw it on the big griddle before cutting it into rectangles and sliding it into a pizza box. It was delicious and a great end to my first official work week.
On Saturday, we walked down to the dog park again. The dogs are loving the fact that we're so close and actually take them to slobber and new and excitingly different dogs every week. We're loving it too as it gives them (and us) a nice long walk and an opportunity for them to burn off some energy - necessary now that they're apartment dwellers with no yard of their own. A couple of hours later we were all back at the house and panting heavily.
Saturday afternoon, Traci went with our friends Joshua and Emily who are currently house hunting, to an open house while I stayed home to wait for our new cable guy. That's right, many of you will be sad to know that we had to ditch AT&T Uverse which was pretty awesome, for Comcast. The change came about because AT&T could not provide solid signal for our cable or Internet because of the configuration of the cable and telephone termination points in our complex. Luckily, we won't be paying anything for our short-lived Uverse experience. Also, it was just enough time with cable, which we have chosen to be without for more than six months, to remind me why we got rid of it in the first place. So we're back to Internet only and will stream our entertainment from the same sources we had in Florida. Also, there is a special running right now so that the middle tier of Comcast Internet service is only $29/month for the first 6 months so - score!
Once the house hunting crew got back to our place, the cable guy was gone and we started pondering dinner. Joshua and Emily had some local grass-fed beef thawing at their house which they offered to share with us. So they retrieved their meat and we provided the veggies and mac n cheese. It was a great dinner shared with friends, and it was followed by an even better event - Traci and Emily's inaugural Magic: The Gathering games!
Traci has been a long-standing hold out on the M:TG front. Joshua learned to play and Emily showed interest and Traci was the last one to grudgingly give in and try it. We watched Joshua and Emily duel and Traci studied the cards in the simple deck I built for her. The Chiets went home and then Traci and I dueled. She said she liked it, but between you and me I think the jury is still out. Hopefully we'll get to play a few more times this week to see if the bug bites her. If not, J, E, and I will definitely be playing more in the future so either way I get to play and that makes me happy.
Sunday was another amazing weather day in the bay area. Upper sixties, sunny, breezy, and generally amazing. Josh and Emily took me to a place called Hellyer Park to play my first California game of disc golf (this also makes me incredibly happy). The course was super hilly and we had to travel up and down the same hills several times to get to all the holes. It's a nine-hole course and you just play it twice if you want a full 18. It's not the best course I ever played, but man was it great. Not too challenging (we played from the pro tees), but challenging enough so that it wasn't boring. We had one disc stuck in a tree which we were able to dislodge using a crappy disc that was bleeding its blue coloring off on our hands. Hobart's Law of Equal Exchange was in full effect and we gladly left the newly lodged disc in its new home so it could bleed on someone else. We left the course slightly tired, slightly sweaty, and completely sated on the disc golf tip. Can it get any better!?...
Yes, yes it can. While the three of us were playing disc golf, Traci got to have her inaugural yoga class in Fremont (apparently she should be teaching them, but she'll just lead by example... like she does)! Since I got home later in the afternoon, she had had plenty of time to relax after her class before we began the next awesome thing we did this weekend. We took my Mustang for a ride to the big 'ol city of San Francisco. It was our first time into the city together since we moved here and it was super cool. We decided to take a ride across the Golden Gate Bridge - cuz we could. It's WAY out of our way. I'm sure for some people it's the perfect way to get somewhere, but for us, it's not on our way anywhere. This was a Sunday drive though so it was perfect. We drove across the Bay Bridge to get to the Golden Gate, and it was nearing sunset as we drove across. We took the first exit before the big tunnel and stopped at a vista point. We walked around a bit, took a couple of pictures, and mostly failed miserably at trying to get our heads into a self portrait with the city and bridge behind us.
The vista area was loaded with tourists and it was fascinating to hear all the different languages of people visiting this landmark. Knowing we can come back whenever we like, we didn't spend a ton of time there and got back in the car for the return trip.
After going back across the bridge to the city, we drove to my workplace which has a parking garage conveniently located right next door. Parking on the weekends is only $7 which is nice. We walked around the Mission area so Traci could get some shots of my building at night and just see where I reside during the week. Then we walked down to The Cravery. If you've read previous posts you know that this is a little shop that makes handheld, gourmet pot pies. They were pretty short on supplies and only had their tiny ones available and in only two flavors. We took that as a snack alert and were able to try the chicken and mushroom and the beef curry pot pies without being stuffed. The crust was flaky and delicious as were the ingredients. I would definitely go back and since it is in walking distance of my building, I feel certain that a full-sized pie is in my future.
After our snack, we wandered around a bit more. I showed Traci the path I walk to and from the BART every day and then we walked over to Market Street where they turn around the streetcars. I had a pretty satisfying moment when a guy came up to us asking if we were planning to ride the street car today. I said that we weren't and he asked if we might in the future. I happily said, "No, we live here" which ended all haggling. It was pretty great. We left that area and did a little impromptu shopping along the way back to the car. On the way home, we stopped and picked up some excellent Mexican food from La Pinata in Fremont. Super burrito + beer = perfect ending to our amazing weekend.
