i <3 g33k5

less occasional

on friday natalie and i ate burgers and watched "sexy beast", which was great. ben kingsley was fantastic as a completely insane guy, and ian mcshane (who i recognized from the old "lovejoy" series) was also good in a supporting role.

saturday morning i headed over to marin with jeremy and denise to run the dipsea trail. we decided to start from muir woods instead of mill valley because 10 miles sounded better than 14.
it was sunny when we left the mission, but we drove into the fog on our way across the bridge, and stayed there. we parked and headed up the trail in the mist, and as we climbed it gradually got lighter, until we came out of the trees into the open, and found ourselves above the fog. the view was fantastic; the entire bay area spread out around us, blanketed in fog, with tree-covered hills poking up above it. once we headed down towards stinson beach we encountered the fog again, but it had mostly cleared by the time we reached the top of the climb on our way back.

when i got home natalie helped me install a roof-rack and bicycle attachments on the car, and then we tried to round up some folks to go down to zeitgeist for some beers, but everyone was busy, so instead we took the dog to the park and sat on the grass and people-watched and drank beer there.

on sunday i rode over to marin and did 4 laps around the headlands loop, and by the fourth time up that hill i was so tired i didn't think i would make it. when i got home i was a zombie, and all i felt capable of was sitting on the couch like a lump, which was rewarding in its own way.

random update

i chose the title of this blog for a reason.

lessee, on friday i took natalie to see "movin' out", a musical based on the music of billy joel. i hate billy joel. a lot.

natalie really likes him though, so i got tickets as a surprise for her. despite hating billy joel, and an incredibly weak story, i had a pretty good time, the choreography (by twyla tharp) was great, and the dancers were really good. it's rarely a completely bad thing to see attractive, incredibly fit people running, and jumping, around in skimpy clothing.

one thing that was weird about the show was a. there was no dialog, and b. none of the dancers sang. all the music came from a band, and all the vocals came from the leader of the band, who also played piano, a la billy joel. which kind of makes sense i guess.

saturday we took my grandmother to lunch, which was fun. she told us about moving to san francisco in 1946.

on sunday i ran the san francisco marathon, which was a lot of fun. i ran with max, jeremy, and joha, and none of us were running for time, which made it pretty low key, at least for me. it was joha's first marathon, and the rest of us were just there to provide moral support. we finished in 4:07:28, which is a pretty respectable time (the winner finished in about 2:33).

after i showered and ate the entire output of a small farm, we jumped in the car and headed down to santa cruz. natalie had made an appointment for us at the tea house spa, so we went and sat in the hot tub and the sauna for an hour. it's a nice place, with private rooms that look out on a squeaky bamboo forest. if you're ever in santa cruz i recommend it, and if you have to wait for your room you can hang out on the patio at cafe pergolesi across the street.