A pirate story

So there we were, cruising across the ocean (well, kayaking across a protected harbor), minding our own business (a.k.a., staring at all the boats and wondering at the names), when the pirate ship rushed in, ready to Pillage (or was it Burn? I never quite remember). We, of course, defended our ships successfully, tho' not without cost. One lucky pirate - the captain, of course - managed to get in a lucky hit, leaving me with a long cut across my forehead which bled forever and stung like the dickens.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. I do have the scratch to prove it, and never mind the innocent-looking kitties over in the corner who would probably tell you that Kipling was messing with Blake at 3-in-the-frickin'-morning and when leaping to get away, Blake managed to catch me with one of his sharper claws right across my forehead.

We had to spend Sunday recovering (can you just imagine a 3" cut like that in salt water? I can, so we took a rain check on kayaking that day), and Monday we drove around the Bay area looking for other places we might want to rent kayaks.

Damn pirates. They sure can change one's plans!

a week of good food and good company

It's a darn good thing I'm trying to put on a bit of weight to help me with the increase in physical activity, 'cause this week has been a Week Of Food. Food food food food. First it was Francis Coppolla's restaurant, 3 courses including some really good wine and some ice wine to finish off. I could hardly move for being full. Then it was sushi in San Francisco followed by beer at The Thirsty Bear. Mmmm, beeeeer. Their brown ale was tasty. I got the stout, which was good,but the brown ale was better. Tonight, it's Thai food at my favorite Thai restaurant, where I always eat myself silly.

And what's the occasion, you might ask? (Ask! Ask!) I've got friends in town! Yay for east coast visitors!!! So, while the food has been lovely, getting to see folks I haven't encountered in months is even better. There has been oodles of lovely gossip, tech talk, and just plain ol' catching up. I'll miss these folks when they go back home.

This weekend we're going to meet with our kayak instructor from last weekend after we have a day on the water around the Oakland Estuary. Guess what we'll do when we meet up? Eat! Being in the Bay area, catching up over good food is just too darn easy.

So, if you haven't come out to visit, whoever you are, can I interest you in some blackberry cabernet sorbet soon? Or perhaps some red curry prawns with pumpkin and coconut milk? What about some amazingly fresh sea food? You know you want to visit... ;-)

Starting a new hobby

A few friends of mine tell me I'm rather odd in how I go about picking new hobbies. Rather than just sort of acquiring them, or knowing someone who does whatever it is, I research. I think about what I want to do (get out more, get in more, get more fit, relax, and so on and so forth) and then I start looking at what activities meet my needs. This time, I decided I wanted a hobby my sweetheart and I could learn together, that would get us outside a bit more, and would get us both more physically active. Caveats include bad knees for both of us, and the fact he has more experience doing a variety of things than I do, so finding something he'd be _learning_ was no small criteria.

So, after some study (and mind you this was back in late fall 2006 that I started looking in to it) I decided sea kayaking would be just the thing to try. It met all the criteria and would definitely be different. My sweetie liked the idea too, but then we got side-tracked with the new job offer, the moving, the settling in...

But FINALLY, after dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, my sweetie and I took our first sea kayaking lesson. It was GREAT! We went to Half Moon Bay and ended up being the only people in the class. The instructor, a gent by the name of Matt, was wonderful, and we all had a lovely time. We even had some harbor seal supervision! We learned how to move forward, backward, sideways, and in small and big circles. We learned how to rescue ourselves if and when we flip over, and how to rescue each other.

The kayaking community is a particularly friendly crowd, so I think we've managed to find another thing I was looking for out here - a group of friends not associated with work. I very much like the people I work with, but it's hard not to talk shop with them after hours.

If you have any interest in trying sea kayaking, I definitely recommend it! Get some training in first before you just go out and see what you can do - you'll be more confident and less of a danger to yourself. :-)

Next on the kayaking road to nirvana, a dry suit for my birthday! Yay for me!