Thriller

Scene: Last night, driving back from dinner in Point Reyes Station. HD is telling me about his upcoming trip to visit his brother on the East Coast.

HD: So my brother asked me, um... <LONG AWKWARD PAUSE> ... what time I'm getting in on Friday.
Me: Uh, what did he really ask you?
HD: Nothing.
Me: He did not ask you when you're getting in on Friday, so out with it.
HD: Well, he asked me if I'm bringing my new camera, but I didn't think you'd be interested in that.
Me: Let me tell you, that's way more interesting than what time you're getting in on Friday.
HD: Touche.

Just south of Nonsense and east of WTF

Scene: It's after lunch, and I'm reassigning some defects to my friend Britt. We're discussing the matter over IM.

Britt: I actually knew you meant defects, I was playing dumb
Britt: I'm good at that
Britt: If I may toot my own horn
Me: I'm confused why you would play dumb about something like that, but who am I to judge? We must get our jollies where we can.
Me: In these turbulent economic times.
Britt: EXACTLY. Turbulent
Me: Tempestual, even.
Britt: Turbulencia
Me: I went there for Spring Break my sophomore year of college.
Me: Good times.
Britt: What did it smell like?
Me: Napalm, predominantly.
Me: And shame.
Britt: I love the smell of napalm and shame in the morning.
Me: The two are pretty much synonymous.
Britt: Agent orange and shame
Me: One begat the other.
Britt: The chicken or the egg?
Me: The world may never know.

Just can't get enough

I got an iTunes gift card for Christmas from my aunt and uncle. It was a much-needed drink after a long musical drought. Here's what I've been listening to lately.

Cat Power - Dark End of the Street [EP]

I started to appreciate Cat Power after her cover of Sea of Love for the Juno soundtrack. Her latest EP is 6 more covers, all of which just make me want to put on a black feather boa, turn the lights down, and lipsynch into my round hairbrush. The only bad thing about this album is that it's only 6 tracks.

Mates of State - Rearrange Us

You'll find that I usually discover music after listening to it overhead in a store, or on an episode of Grey's Anatomy, or in a Target commercial. This discovery was slightly more highbrow - my major discovery of Mates of State was during a fantastic episode of This American Life (they were the musical accompaniment to the episode What I Learned from Television; their cover of the theme to the television show The OC was amazing). I've found that I can listen to this whole album happily while on a walk; most of the tracks keep my step up so that my heart rate stays at an acceptable aerobic level. The voices are really raw and crisp, they remind me a lot of Tegan and Sara.

Joshua Radin - Simple Times

I've loved Joshua Radin for a few years now, I don't know how I discovered him. Probably a TV show. This is his latest album, and it's a little more upbeat than some of his other stuff (like Vegetable Car - such a happy, different song; any guy who thinks "Lisa Loeb glasses" are sexy is alright in my book). If you like Joshua Radin, give Joe Purdy a try.

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

I'm obsessed with this one. I just clicked on it on iTunes one day a couple of weeks ago, and I haven't stopped listening since. This is pretty haunting music that at first listen might sound very melancholy from start to finish, but my very picky and sophisticated music categorizing system has Tracks 2 and 3 (Lump Sum and Skinny Love) in a different category from the rest of the album. They're slightly more upbeat. Apparently, the artist holed himself up in a cabin in Wisconsin for a few months to write this album. I would love to know where his mind went during that time, because these tracks seem so personal.

Cookin'

We're having an Inaugural Potluck at work tomorrow (my instigation). I'm bringing quiches.

HD got a new camera, so he was playing with it while I cooked. Here are a couple of shots. I'll post the recipe tomorrow, if I find out it turned out well.

Gratuitous hiking shots

So, my group at work has an annual summit to discuss what we're going to work on in the coming year. We brainstorm, we laugh, we get to see a couple of our remote employees who work at home in other timezones, we compliment the size of each others' dictionaries. It's a geeky good time. I look forward to it every year.

Well, we do this summit for 3 days, with the 3rd day set aside for an "offsite", which is just a teambuilding day. In the past we've taken a cooking class, taken a merlot blending course in the wine caves at Rutherford Hill, and had a generally drunken hilarious time playing Hyperbowl in the arcade at the Metreon (sadly, this great arcade has been replaced with I don't know what, but it sure ain't what it used to be).

Given the economic climate, we decided it might be a better idea to do some volunteer work and then have lunch together. I contacted the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and we're going to be doing some trail maintenance at Muir Woods, followed by lunch at a restaurant not yet determined because seriously, have you ever tried to get 13 people to agree on somewhere to eat a lunch they're not paying for?

Well. This is turning out to be a long story.

So, after I arranged that, I started clicking around on the GGNPC website. The page for Muir Woods listed another suggested place to hike that has redwoods and is nowhere near as congested as Muir Woods: the Phleger Estate in San Mateo County.

The Phleger Estate is in Woodside, actually, home of Neil Young and Steve Jobs. The house itself is still a private residence, so you can't go there. However, the woods around it are absolutely wildly beautiful. You enter the national park from a hiking trail in Huddart County Park, which is really cool as well.

Anyway, here are some shots from the iPhone.