Tag: dining

Margarita, Margarita (Santa Monica Day 4)

No comments

Just back from a Mexican restaurant in Santa Monica called El Cholo. I had dinner there with Pam and Eric Webb. Pam introduced me to a something-or-other Cadillac margarita, of which I had two, which was more than enough. The room is still spinning as I type this (back in the hotel, in bed). I was invited to play in a softball game tonight, but dinner went on and on. The game started at 9 PM and we didn’t leave the restaurant until 9:15 PM.

The clinical analysis: I am more buzzed than I was Sunday when I had the two Coronas and 2 Mai Tais, but less so than in Hawaii the night I had three Mai Tais. Right now, I’m feeling pretty good overall.

Jim is concerned that I am reliving all of the things I “missed” in high school and college. I disagree: if i never lived it the first time, I cannot be reliving it. Secondly, I am well aware of what I am doing, experimenting, pushing my boundaries to just to see what it is like. I am hyper-conscious of this. But I am having fun, and so far, no harm to anyone, least of all, me.

I had lunch with Beth today, and we had some time to catch up. Class again today, this time, we started on the Crystal Reports Business Reports class. It is a very good class.

I am meeting Tammy for breakfast at 8 AM tomorrow. I’ll probably go into work at 6:30 AM as I have all week so far, and then come back to the hotel just before 8 AM to meet her here.

Santa Monica, Day 2

No comments

Long day today, and another night filled with crazy and intense dreams. I couldn’t remember the dream I had last night until dinner this evening when something Jim said triggered a memory of what the dream was about.

Today was the first day of the Crystal Reports training class and I think it went very well. We have a great instructor and the comments I’ve been hearing about the class so far are all positive.

In addition to that, other people, not me, were busy at work today because the email server in Washington was down all day. It is still down and from what I understand, will be back online around midnight. I was not fully effected by this because I can still read my email in UNIX (I’ve always been able to do this as a backup) but it was a pretty frantic place today even so.

Had lunch with Jason Allen and Enrique today, and had dinner this evening with Jim and Janet. We ended up at Wolfgang Puck Express on Third Street and afterward, did our ritual of looking at framed art on sale at–the name of the place slips my mind right now–oh, wait, Gallerie. We’ve done this three or four times in the past and it’s become a kind of tradition. Jim and Janet just dropped me off at the hotel and I’m writing this in bed. I’m beat.

I was planning to do some more writing tonight but I don’t think I could keep my eyes open. I was hoping to watch House but, fortunately, it’s not on tonight. The State of the Union address is being broadcast instead. I’m too tired to stay up and watch, and besides, I don’t expect that the President is going to say anything that will surprise me, although I could be wrong here.

Lisa invited me to play in a pickup game of kickball tomorrow after work, so I’m going to do that.

27 push-ups this morning. Still not willing to admit how many sit-ups I’m doing.

This journal entry marks the first full month of blogging for me–so far, so good.

Dinner with Mom and Dad

No comments

Mom and Dad got to the hotel right on time, at almost precisely 5:30 PM. We headed over to Ocean Avenue Seafood shortly thereafter. I got to see (and ride in) Dad’s new Acura, which I think is the same color as Norm’s Acura, and the same model, too, minus the navigation unit. While Norm’s car has a name (Samantha), I don’t know if Dad has given a name to his car yet. He didn’t mention one and I forgot to ask.

The food was good. Not quite as good as the last time I was there (no Copper River salmon), but I did have the New Zeland king salmon and that was prepared in a similar fashion and was very good. Dad had the red snapper with something with an unusual name hidden beneath the fish. Mom had a crab salad which looked good. I had two mai-tai’s while I was there and those, combined with the two Corona’s I had with Andy and Joel have me feeling pretty good at this point.

I am also tired, however. I’ve gotten into bed (it’s 8 PM here on the West Coast) and I’m going to do a little bit of writing on a new story inspired by Lisa which I’m calling “Blind Date”, and then read a little more of The Best of Barry N. Malzberg, and then I’m off to sleep. When I’m here in Santa Monica, the hotel in which I am staying is virtually across the street from where I work so I can actually sleep in a little later than usual.

For some reason, I can’t seem to stop giggling to myself. Does this ever happen to anyone else after 2 Coronas and 2 Mai Tai’s?

First night in Albany

No comments

Eric and Ryane took me to this Indian food place in Albany called Ghandi. It was the first time I ever knowingly tried Indian food and it was all delicious. We ordered a bunch of stuff and I tried some of everything: chicken Mahkani, saag (sometimes called palak paneer), which is a spinich and cheese mix; mixed grilled tandori with chicken, fish and lamb; garlic naan (a kind of bread); and briyani rice.

I got a tour of Eric and Ryane’ house, which seems large on the inside. I also met their dog, Cali, who just turned two years old. What a cute dog! I forgot my camera–something I didn’t realize until I was already on the train–or I would have posted some pictures to go along with this. We took Cali for a walk, and then spent some time chatting.

Later, we went upstairs and played the old game “Operation”. This was the Homer Simson variant. Eric is a huge Simson’s fan and has a whole cabinet dedicated to Simson’s memorabilia. I lost by the way–I managed to earn a total of $300. Compare that to Ryane who raked in $4,000.

Eric and I closed out the evening with a game of ESPN 2005 baseball: Yankees at St. Louis. Yankees lost the game something like 14-3. A lot of it had to do with the fact that I couldn’t seem to master the pitching controls. It was fun regardless.