Before I could leave on my trip, we had to pay homage to Joe for
6 wonderful years as dean, so we gathered the old and new
and the staff
and I tried to appear wise
as Joe appeared relaxed
and the staff looked on
until the ceremony began
and the cover was removed
to acknowledge his good work
as refreshments were served
though I had to leave in time to get to the airport
so I could board this plane
and be served this meal
that looked only slightly better when opened
and tasted no better.
On the other side, I walked through the airport
followed the directional signs
got my baggage
and spoke to this Avis lady
who put me in this car
for the trip to the hotel.
Once at the hotel, I admired the view of the pond
and my neighbor's patio
and the pigeons
before coming back to my room
to begin the drive past Stanford
to Susan Goldman's house.
My dinner began with this salad
from the menu
and then the main course
which engaged Tyler Goldman
Peter Potrebic
and Susan Goldman
in conversation. Before the evening ended, I got a picture
of Pauline the cook along with Peter
but somehow I forgot to get a picture of Sydney and Josephine.
Next morning, I woke up and went to the front of the hotel
to wait for Jacobo for the ride to the beach. He arrived and en route
got a phone call
about the Spanish elections. So, I recorded his dash
but missed the clock that said 10:13 and took a picture of this cone
but missed the lizard who was there. As a peace offering, he showed me
the materials for the internal (blue) gaskets
that I know are being machined right now. We looked at the water
saw some beautiful flowers
walked through the woods
looked down at the ocean
and after these flowers
promised to follow the rules
as we headed down to the beach for the trip home.
The buoy
was a photo op
for each of us as was the shore where Jacobo
and I
posed for a handful of pictures each. After the obligatory
coast scenes
we headed to Half Moon Bay for lunch. This was Jacobo's sandwich
and this was mine
which made Jacobo happy
as I took this self portrait
and he demonstrated this statuesque pose
from which he was able to take profiles
a skill I'm still working on.
Next we asked this waitress
what to order from the menu
and the help posed with me
as the manager posed with Jacobo
and asked how to see his pictures on line.
Our coffees
looked better
sans flash.
All of this made us want to drive on to more beach, so we
found this offering
and a log
and then noted that structures
even structures where you could live
but maybe not over night had been built
with pieces from this forest
even as I recorded birds
who got closer
and closer
until they were at hand
and could be taken easily.
On the way back, we passed the house of hundreds (count them) of pink flamingos
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and the last few
before seeing the panoramic views of the valley
that were striking.
Dinner was at El Paso where I had the vegetarian
made special and took pictures of Jacobo and Barbara
Barabara and Camila
and then the whole Valdes family
who were there. After demonstrating how Sandra's yoyo
works
we called it a night.
Thursday morning, I started with a walk and noted the high
cost of fuel
the the colonel
before seeing the Stanford team
which may not make the finals after all. I stopped at Hobbee's
and tried the Valdes profile method
but decided that Jesus
would have to take the good picture of me
as I consumed my fluids
and the tofu scramble
to start the day.
Once I was ready to go to the city, I tried to get a good profile shot
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after which I got closer
and finally perfected the technique
so that I was ready to go to the city.
Somehow I forgot to take a picture of Henry Wendt '55 (what
kind of spell came over me??) but did get a picture of Liz Ebel
and our wonderful parking spot.
For dinner, I went to Sto'a
and had this main course
to the amusement of Mel Goldman
and then this dessert
and decided to call it a day and watch basketball.
Friday began with some word processing
where one stupid mistake meant that I had to recreate the story
of the previous pictures I took. I had lunch with Sharon Long
who comes closest to being my counterpart at Stanford and then headed off
to Google
where the buildings were a little surreal
on the former SGI campus and the signage
led me to the lobby
where I was met and met Mike Boddicker '00
on the way to meet with Eric Schmidt
shown here with his assistant who came with him from Novell (and Sun)
until we met Pam Shore
who has also been with Eric along the way. After seeing this spiffy demo
of where queries come from, we discussed the company, the University,
children, etc. until it was time for me to make my way to the Avis
place
and return my car to this woman
who thanked me for taking her picture.
On the other side, I took a shuttle ride that
necessetated having some wine, so I was offered a choice of
the house white
or the house red
along with some elegant nuts
as Sylvia
and Dan
sat to visit with me.
We went upstairs for dinner where I had salad
pasta
and vegetables
as Sylvia ate chicken
and Dan had the rib eye steak.
I sprung for the tiramisu
at dessert and then captured Dan
and tried
with the occasional successful picture
and others less so
and a good one
and some bad ones
before a better one
to capture Sylvia who seemed to look better
next to David, our waiter. Gentle viewer, you are invited to offer
your opinion about which was the best of the pictures.
Saturday morning, we claimed the car
from the garage for the trek to the pancake house
which was truly the original member of the chain. While waiting
we decided not to enlist
and that these gas prices
demanding a trip to CostCo. I made a few attempts at capturing my profile
but even though the coffee waitress
was amused, my self portrait
and those of Dan
and Sylvia
came out better even as the second coffee waitress
and our main waitress
came to look out for us. At her suggestion, I sprung for the
chocolate chip pancakes with Whipped cream
and Dan got the omelette
while Sylvia had these eggs
and I started to wonder if I knew what I was doing and so
took a second picture
of the many calories I was about to ingest even as Dan tried to break
the stringy parts of his omelette. All of this eating put us in good stead for
CostCo where the hot dogs sold here
are world class and the gas prices
are lower. So, we made our way in
and through to the napkins
and then found Jason
who checked us out.
After the meal, we still needed another excursion and so we drove to the
cove and parked
above the juggler
who was keeping even more balls in the air. A walk down to the beach
led us to overlook the seals, some of whom slept
some of whom tried to get in the water
and many of whom
formed their own colony as the sign
advised us. After getting a sign for Jane's Armani collection
we went to Mrs. Fields
noted the time
and had latte
decaf with skimmed milk to pass the afternoon.
I tried a few more profile pictures
that were slightly better while watching Alabama
get ready to pull off a highly unlikely upset of Stanford. After anotehr
profile try
and a self portrait
we drove through traffic
to see gas prices in San Clemente
as we parked by the book exchange and Cowabanga
and headed into the restaurant where Gregory
Erin
and Larry
were joined by Dan
as the waiter from Peekskil via Monmouth College
tried not to spill on Larry. The menu
suggested that I needed anoth jalapeno, pineapple and
black olive pizza
as Erin had her grilled cheese sandwich
Larry had his tacos (for the first half of the meal)
Dansyl split the pasta
Gregory warmed up Larry's meatball sandwich
and Janet
had stirfry for the first of 2 days in a row. After a few bad tries at
getting my profile
and a reasonable self portrait
we began the self-profile contest (JTS would be proud) with Janet
Sylvia
Dan
Larry
Gregory
and Erin
each giving it their best shot before I took this
errant self-profile to show that I hadn't learned much.
After dinner, we went to the book store where I took 3 pictures
with too much flash and four pictures
with too little flash before we ended the evening with this collection
of group pictures.