AUGUST, 2004

2005: JULY, JUNE, MAY, APRIL, MARCH, FEBRUARY, JANUARY,
2004: DECEMBER, NOVEMBER, OCTOBER, SEPTEMBER, JULY, JUNE

8/31/04 - I didn't think that there were 31 days in August, but alas, there are. A GGT bus took me into Mill Valley where I met up with Lisa and went for a hike. She's got an awesome house on Tennessee Valley, so we headed up to a peak on the hills between her and the Pacific. It's got a great view of the Bay, Pacific, a bit of San Francisco and the G.G. Bridge, as well as Tam. Back at Casa de la Castagna we cooked up a gourmet lunch - blackened salmon with a mango chutney sauce, baby broccoli in a dijon cream sauce, roasted red potatoes with rosemary, and a salad with roasted walnuts, blue cheese, and pears from her front yard. Dining with Lisa is always a gourmet experience. I worked out of her office a bit, then started drinking some Red School Syrah, which is the fine state I currently find myself in now.

8/30/04 - Relaxed at Scott's pad, setting up some employment, then went into the City for a soccer game. The seahen's won an exciting, boring 1-0 match. I ran around the Polo field once. Exercising my consumer confidence, I bought eggs and juice at a Chinese market on Polk. Another day in full.

8/29/04 - I motivated out of Hood River around 8:30am, driving into Portland. I met up with Brent and Steph for a boutique breakfast and a walk down 23rd St - a mirror of Union St in SF, though 23rd may be a bit more upscale, if that is possible. I drove to Andy's and met his buddy Ben, then met up with Nayree and Joe. We began the long drive down, stopping in Medford again for lunch. This time we filled up on Chinese food. I tried to request chopsticks again, but got another blank stare. The drive took nearly 12 hours all in all, as we continued through Berkeley to drop Joe off in Hayward. He had to be in Livermore to teach a 4th/5th grade combo at 7:30. I didn't envy him. Slept very well.

8/28/04 - Not much occurred until 5pm when I arrived at the Columbia River Gorge Hotel for the wedding. Shortly after 5:30 Pam and Grant were married in a simple but tasteful wedding. Strange to see Pammy in a wedding dress - the second dress in two days. Records were set. Its a beautiful location, and the brunch is supposed to be one of the best in Oregon.The hotel has a great view of the Columbia and a waterfall descending directly in front (or back?) of the hotel. I talked with Gina Wilson, someone I have not talked to since high school. She is living in San Francisco at a rehab clinic, I believe and was good conversation (but absent on the dance floor). I sat next to her and we chatted about china, politics, and whether or not its ok to give your dog ecstasy if he is sad. The food was delicious - ham, roast beef, turkey and lots of sides. The wedding band played some decent tunes, and some guy named Steve sat in on drums for Play the funky music white boy. He used to play for Miami Sound Machine, I was told, and he had the skillz. It's no C&C Music Factory, but Gloria Estefan can still hold a tune. Around 11 we reconvened at the house for round two of after hours. There was lots to drink and good tunes. Pam danced on the counter island with her loyal minions cheering around her in a circle. The music was Turn Around, Bright Eyes, a fitting wedding night song. A good time was had by all.

8/27/04 - I had intended to meet up with Pam and her crew to get a ride out to Hood River, but I arrived at Pam's place about ten minutes late. It wasn't my fault, entirely, I got a wee bit lost. Andy was nice enough to let me borrow his car, so I was able to drive out to Hood River. It's a beautiful hour drive along tree-lined Highway 84. I've been out in that part of Oregon before, exploring the Columbia Gorge and Multnomah Falls with Pam and Grant. I arrived into Hood River and tried to get a hold of anyone who might have rafting information, without luck. I called all the rafting companies in the book, again without luck. Half an hour after the designated arrival time I checked my email at the White Salmon Public Library, across the Columbia in Washington. I got the number and got a hold of Zoller's. For the price of another rafter, they were willing to forgoe the safety seminar formalities and put me in a boat. It was a good ride, two hours down a cold river in Class 3, 4 and 5 rapids. We finished up around 4pm and made tracks back to Hood River to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. I cleaned up and drove out with Hayden, J and Prince Paul to the winery formerly known as Fleichinger. It was a beautiful winery, as wineries tend to be. Not huge, but there were only 40 or so at the rehearsal dinner. I tried to get a glass of wine, but did not have my id. I'm 28, but I look young - don't I look young girls? - so the nice lady was being perfectly reasonable thinking I might be 19 or 20 and that the cops might crash the party and id everyone. We ate a delicious BBQ dinner and listened to a few speeches, then headed back to Casa de la Fiest with a good wine buzz. The party didn't last too long there that night - people took off around midnight - but J, Prince Paul, Hayden and I hung out with the groom to be, listening to 80's rock.

8/26/04 - On the road a little after 8am, though Nayree and I stopped at the dry cleaners and a coffee shop. She tried to order two coffees, but the coffee guy (or barista as he probably tells people) kept wanting to know what kind. "Not decaf" she replied, though he still could not fill the order. He tried to pitch her a fair trade organic blend, but he finally sensed her frustration and gave her a drip coffee. I don't know what is so hard about ordering a cup of coffee, but this is Berkeley. The drive was uneventful until our lunch in Medford at Casa de la Siesta. Nayree ordered a veggie burrito, and we both agreed it was the biggest veggie burrito we've ever seen. It was at least two pounds, plus another half pound of sauteed green peppers and onions on top. I had two meals of food as well. I like getting a big meal taken care of in the middle of the day. I siesta'd a bit after lunch. We got into Portland around 7pm and stopped by Andy's place. Nayree continued on to Pam's while Andy and I went out for dinner. He supped while I sipped. A bit later we headed over to a bar to meet up with Pam and her friends. They were liquored up, predictably, and no abatement was in sight. I ordered LSD Nitro and Pam drank duck farts. Long gone are the days of pitchers of Bud. I should have called Brent to stop by, as we were in his neighborhood, but I am a fair weather friend and did not.

8/25/04 - I headed out to Scott's to set up his computer system and make good use of another precious day in my life. Primo came over with his dad and played video games. Scott and I made delicious steak sandwiches for lunch, then headed out to play volleyball with Sarah Pretty Woman and Haley. Around 8:30 we met up with J.J. and Nikki-nicolicious and ordered some pizza. A day in full.

8/24/04 - Woke at 7:45am, which seemed obscenely early. Got a ride to BART, then walked to Scott's. Waiting at Rockridge BART for a train into the City. There is wireless access on the platform here. I dined at House of Nanking in Chinatown with. I asked for chopsticks - qing kuaizi! - but they stared blankly at me. I'm very suspicious of Chinese restaurants that don't give you chopsticks unless you ask, but the House's reputation precedes itself. The food was pretty good. We browsed in City Lights for a little while, then walked to Cafe Trieste. In City Lights I had read that the Gioto or Giota family had run Cafe Trieste since they opened it in 1956. I asked the coffee guy if the family still owned it, and he gave me an enthusiastic "oh yeah, in fact, there's one of them back there now." I had a delicious hot chocolate. We walked through North Beach and Chinatown up into Russian and Nob Hill.

8/23/04 - Around 11am I departed Redondo Beach after some cold cereal and more playtime with Kyle. I drove up to Fresno and met up with my other sister Meg at her new college scene. She's in good shape there, her horse not far away and frat houses even closer. Dud roommate, but so it goes. Ate a monster burger and half of the biggest basket of fries I've seen in a long time. Continued on to Danville, almost ran out of gas, crashed there.

8/22/04 - I woke late, watched some Olympics and tried to beat a persistant hangover. Around noon I drove to Torrance to drop off my tux, then headed down south towards San Diego. I talked to Lisa K., a friend I was intending on visiting. She told me she was hungover and didn't want any visitors and didn't even want to rent a movie that night. Don't need to drop more than one hint to me. I tried to get Adam Glimme's number, but his twin was not available. I re-evaluated my decision to drive down to S.D., and quickly turned around. I returned to my sister Jen's place and played with Kyle the rest of the afternoon. We had a barbeque picnic with bratwursts, turkey burgers grilled veggies, fries, beans, veggies and The Simpsons. Good Stuff.

8/21/04 - I drove over to James' parent's house at ten and had a bit to eat, a shower and got into my tux. We went over to the chapel around noon and shot some pictures before people started arriving around 2pm. The ceremony was nice. We continued on to the Marina Hotel in San Pedro. Angela was unable to attend, so I was able to use her hotel room. I cleaned up a bit, hit the cocktail hour, then the reception. It was interesting. Craig Wuchner and I went out with some people to some really bad bars and clubs. Came home unceremoniously at 2.

8/20/04 - Lauren was an excellent hostess for me. Coffee, bagel, the paper, wireless internet, good conversation... I encouraged her with her brand new state of [un]employment. Tis a great thing to be newly unemployed. I stayed around until noon or so, then took off to meet my sister for lunch. Jen and I dined at Baja Fresh at her mall in Redondo Beach. She treated me to burrito supreme. I continued on from there, more time in the car, working the clutch in the awful Los Angeles traffic. I realized many times that I cannot live in Los Angeles. I simply cannot deal with the traffic, the billboards, the radio stations that seem to play 45 minutes of bad commercials, ten minutes of obnoxious DJ's complaining about LA type things, then five minutes of the latest song from whoever sings "I feel so alive, for the very first time". LA has a few good things going for it, and to be fair, San Francisco, New York, and most of the big cities in the US have the same problems. LA is just so sprawling. You can drive for hours and hours, cover several dozen miles, and things look exactly the same. Put me on a street corner in SF and there's a damn good chance I can tell you what district I'm in. LA looks the same from Magic Mountain Parkway to wherever Sepulveda ends, somewhere south of Mission Viejo. So I finally found Friar Tux and dropped another c-note for rental threadz, then continued on to a Catholic Church for the rehearsal. I met up with Jason, Matt, Kristen's friend Brian and Craig Wuchner, who I called Chris when I first saw him. I knew his name was Craig, there wasn't even an ounce of doubt, I don't know where Chris came from. All apologies. We went through the motions and then adjourned to James' sister's place in Manhattan Beach. Molly and Jon Baumer live in an extremely nice place near the beach. The lot behind their house was for sale, so they bought that and extended their property back a bit. They have a very nice pool, jacuzzi and pool house. Their spread should be on cribs, but I suppose there are a lot of nice places in Manhattan Beach. We ate a nice Mexican buffet dinner and imbibed some margaritas while listening to the mariachi band that James had scored a few days earlier. Kristen and James made some speeches and handed out their wedding party gifts. I got a great flask with my initials engraved. After the excellent rehearsal dinner festivities, we kidnapped James and took him out to Hennessy's, a pub in Redondo Beach, at the end of Catalina St. We grilled him about his past, bringing up all his old flings and retelling our favorite stories about him. I think that should be a tradition for grooms the night before their wedding. It wasn't too bad, and if anything its nice to get those stories out to make the process of sealing the deal the following day a bit easier. After a beer or two I returned to my sister's place to get a night's sleep before the main event.

8/19/04 - I woke at Scott's early and stopped by Noah's for bagels and coffee, then went by my parent's place in Danville for some forgotten supplies, then began the uneventful drive down to LA. I'm glad I stopped before the Grapevine to check under the hood, as the radiator coolant was empty. I've spent an afternoon hitchhiking out of the Grapevine after burning up a car, and I'd advise against it. Continued on into LA and supped at In N Out. I gave Brian Dieter a call and negotiated a rendesvous with him for later. After an hour of stop and go traffic (sister's stick shift Mustang is not built for that) I made it to the Manhattan Beach Gap where my older sister Jennifer was working. Always interesting to see what well-adjusted clothes my sister is pushing. Though there is a lack of options for men, my sister contends, but there are some Urban Outfitter options of surf scenes and other subculture looks. For those that care. They're going to be selling prayer flags soon for $18. I continued on to their place in Redondo Beach and met up with Kyle and his dad, my brother-in-law. Kyle, a little over two years old now, did a double-take when he saw me and started crying. I have that effect on a lot of people now, from contenders on the pick-up basketball court to old girlfriends. He warmed up to me as he always does and shared a bagel bite with me. I had another burger, this time a buffalo burger. Around 8pm I drove up to North Hollywood/Toluca Lake and met up with Brian Dieter, his wife Lauren, and Jason Fischer. We had a beer then headed over to The Fox and the Hound and then another more LA "hotspot" sort of place - No Bar - on Magnolia that was actually pretty cool. I wouldn't want to be there on a Friday or Saturday night, as it would be packed and more of a scene. The place would have carved out more of a niche if they had cooler trip-hop music playing as opposed to jukebox tunes. After a few Budweisers Brian and Lauren returned home, as one of us had to be out of the house at 8:30am to go to work...

8/18/04 - Baseball Day. I met up with Swanny at the Willie Mays statue at 12:15. We had good club level tickets directly behind home plate. It's great to be lined up so you can actually see if the pitches are strikes or balls. We started off with a couple of beers - for FIFTEEN dollars - how do regular people afford to have a few drinks? Cathy Meyer gave us a call in the second or third inning. She was in the Yahoo! suite with lots of beer, wine and food. We tried to get in at one of the suite level entrances, but got 86'd. We returned to our club level and bought some lunch, then got another call from Cathy - just minutes after we'd spent $20 on more food and beverages. She got us in a different entrance this time, and we were in great shape. The suite is definately the way to see baseball at this ballpark (whatever phone company name it has now). Tom Sipple was there and I caught up with him a bit while eating another dog and having another drink. The once-seared tuna salad was delectable as well. The Giants lost the first game 6-2, but you care a bit less when you're in good seats. The second game started 25 minutes later... to be continued

8/11 - 8/17/04 - drunk

8/10/04 - I ventured up to Napa Valley with Gary, Irene, Emma and JJ today to do some wine tasting. We stopped first at Homewood and talked to Leo about the bad state of politics these daze. Mr. Homewood was there and told us that his old roommate made the original labels for Homewood wine. The story goes that this designer could not afford the phone and electrical bill, so instead of moving out, Mr. Homewood offered to pay his bills in exchange for some labels. And the song remains the same. We continued on to Napa Valley Wine Company and got sandwiches at a boutique market there. It was a good turkey and cheese and pesto and lots of other stuff sandwich, except they forgot the cheese and pesto. I went back in and they built me a new sandwich from scratch and gave me one of their big boutique $1.89 cookies as well. Alls well that ends well. We met up with Ryan and his mom and dad. They drove down a few miles from St. Helena. We tried a few wines at Napa Wine Co., then drove on to Niebaum-Coppola. This place is so nice they have security guards roaming the grounds and parking lot to make sure you don't eat or drink anything you didn't buy there. We wandered around upstairs and looked at Coppola's Oscar's and other awards for movies like, the Godfather, the Conversation, Apocalypse Now, Dracula, among others. There was a large Tucker automobile, presumably from the movie Tucker, which he also directed. We made it downstairs and tasted some wines, but for $12 for five sips, I didn't taste much. I pay $12 for a bottle of wine, not five sips. We illegally ate our sandwiches in the parking lot, said goodbye to Ryan - who would leave for Kazakhstan the following morning - and drove on to V. Sattui. We ate and drank a bit more there - illegally as well - this place much more heavily posted. They also had a sign that said the sprinklers would go on promptly at 6:30pm. We got some free tastings there, from George Sattui, a seasoned Italian. I think he was saying he came out from Italy to work at the winery. V. Sattui is legit in my book. We closed out the winery, one of the few open until 6pm, and laid down on the grass. It had been a tough day - we needed to decompress. The sprinkers did not come on at 6:30. We drove back to San Francisco and went on the Capricorn. After a little wine and snacks we walked over to Kennedy's Curry House and had a delicious meal of Indian food and $7 pitchers of Kingfisher beer. Gary and I drank a pint of Guinness while he beat me two games to none at air hockey. I suck at air hockey, apparently, but it's a streaky game. The girls went back to get Emma an id, and I bought Gary a Kennedy's shirt since he bought dinner. We all got a cab and went up to Spec's for pitchers with Sean, a Dubliner, then went across the street to close out Vesuvio's. A good day, a good night.

8/09/04 - I didn't fly out until Monday evening at 8, so I was able to take the bus down to see Ken and get my teef cleaned. We're talking about a grill, but as he pointed out, I have enough bling these days without adding teef jewelry, but we'll see. I took his car and bought some Quizno's for us, as I monopolozed his lunch hour. I ran a few errands then packed and cleaned a little before picking him at work around 5. He dropped me off at the bus stop (not the ill repute one) and I bussed to DIA, then had an uneventful flight flight to SFO. I met up with JJ, some Irish lads and some soccer peeps at Yancey's on Irving for drinks.

8/08/04 - Not too much happened until noon or so, when we went down the street to get a good greasy spoon breakfast. We ate slowly and intently, fueled by coffee and shielded from the harsh sun by sunglasses. We ventured over to Jon's place to bid him a fond farewell and congratulations again. Jon and Laura were departing for British Columbia in a few hours and were making final arrangements. We went back home and met up with Ken's parents. Ken took them out to see his new practice which will be opening in October while I watched Fight Club on my computer with Sarah. When they returned home, we went down to the Maya Terrace for a good lunch. Around seven or so I took Ken's truck to pick up Beth while he went to Blockbuster to pick out a movie. We ended up watching Bubba Hotep, a movie about a Texas retirement community hijinks. I didn't enjoy it much, but Beth's commentary made it a bit more entertaining. Finally got a decent night's sleep that night.

8/07/04 - We were able to sleep in a bit - until noon or so - but knew that the groomsmen crew were coming over to Ken's around 2pm. I cooked up another mess of eggs, then got into character. I cleaned up my goatee and beard a bit and decided to shave it into a handlebar, or fu manchu moustache. It was not very thick, but it was effective. I was anxious to get Jon's reaction, only hours before wedding pictures. He liked it, though he was tentative. I left the decision up to him, though I did not expect him to let me keep it. He did, though he wanted me to bring along a razor to the wedding in case Laura pu-pu'd the idea. We got into taxis and journeyed up to the wedding location in the hills above Boulder. It was at the Red Lion Inn, a beautiful restaurant set next to a stream and backing up to the hills. We drank some shambles - red bull and champagne - a concotion that Evan came up with. It's a good idea in theory, but it tasted a bit suspicious, and smelled something foul. Still, I'll give it another shot. We finished getting ready and took some informal pictures, then went down to where the ceremony would be held and began the photo shoot. We took a lot of pictures, then hung back and let the bride and groom take more shots. Normally the bride and groom don't take pictures until after the ceremony, as tradition dictates that they shouldn't see each other that morning or even before the ceremony. I'm not sure why this is, but there are too many traditions connected to weddings for me to keep track of. Not my deal right now anyways. Finally it was time for the ceremony. Jon was cool, even though there was a taxi outside waiting when we were lining up for the procession. I chose not to remind Jon that we could be in Mexico or Canada at this time tomorrow. I like Laura. The ceremony was awesome. Jon and Laura went through the ceremony confidently. Both father's gave a short speech following the ceremony, and all 180 guests toasted the new Mr. and Mrs. Johnston (I'm pretty sure he took her name). We spent 45 minutes or so imbibing cocktails before sitting down to dinner. I got a chance to talk with Brock Tessman, an old high school friend of mine living in Boulder now. He is defending his dissertation soon, but didn't want to talk about it. We ate a delicious dinner of chicken, steak and trout with lots of sides. Only the fathers had delivered speeches, so I wanted to say a few words without saying too many. I was sitting next to the beautiful maid of honor, Laura's sister (and now Jon's sister-in-law) and she had not said any words. I kept trying to talk her into saying a few words, or at least making a simple toast. She was drunk and didn't want to get up in front of everyone, but I stood up and congratulated the new married couple. Beth followed and said something like - tonight I lost a friend but gained a brother. Short, but probably better than nothing.
After dinner the band started up and we watched Laura and Jon cut the cakes. The band played some great salsa music and I got in a song or two with the maid of honor. Laura sang a song to Jon - Landslide - which stopped the show and teared up some eyes. Many of us tried to get Jon up on the stage to sing a song - some Eazy E or Whitesnake, but he apparently wasn't prepared. We drank and rocked out until midnight or so, when we boarded buses heading downtown. We drank at a rooftop bar downtown, but stayed only for a drink, as it was crowded and expensive. Ken, his girlfriend Sarah, his sister Becky, Andy, Chris, Evan and I taxi'd back home and dropped Jill off at the University Hotel. We were a sorry lot back at Ken's Love Shack, making crude references to our 7th grade math teacher - Mrs. Steineke - and some of her students present around the round table.

8/06/04 - Friday morning started very early. Jon Sargent, in typical fashion, arranged a large-scale assault on the third flatiron. There were 12 of us, so we organized into 4 teams. Jon was nervous that we were going to be late getting to the rehearsal dinner, and it didn't help that Chris, Andy, Becky Ken and I arrived 45 minutes late at 8:45. Jon was running around like a chicken with his head cut off, explaining how important it was that he got to the rehearsal dinner on time. What he didn't realize is that he was one of the two guests of honor, and things wouldn't really start up until he got there. This reminder did not pacify him too much. We drank some coffee and ate some bagels and then ascended up to the flatiron and assembled into our teams. I went up with Matt Walker and his very attractive wife Liz. We all could have probably free-soloed the climb, but I think Jon did not want any deaths souring his wedding, so we roped up and made the climb a six pitch effort. We assembled at the top, took some pictures and read The Onion. We rapped down on two ropes and began the descent down to the parking lot.
After showers and red bulls at Ken's, Ken and I madewe made our way over to Jon's place in South Boulder. We went through a few of the motions that we would do on Saturday in the ceremony. Jon gave his groomsmen Spyderco knives that would serve as my money clip since I was sans wallet. Soon we went down to a Greek restaurant on Pearl Street for the rehearsal dinner festivities. I forget the name of the restaurant, but the food was very good and the open bar was very nice. There were no speeches during dinner, but Jon and Laura made the rounds to the 80+ guests in attendance. Around 11 or so we took off and ventured out to some of the bars in downtown Pearl Street. We drank and slummed and eventually taxid to Ken's place. Andy, Ken Chris and I left the girls and went to The Bus Stop. We only lasted an hour there, as they had stopped serving alcohol and the talent was non-existent. Pancake and snaggle-tooth convinced us not to spend any more money and beeline back to Ken's condo.

8/05/04 - I cooked up a mess of eggs and bacon for breakfast, then we slowly motivated out to Chatauqua Park to go for a hike. Becky, Ken's sister, had joined us from California. Jon was competing in another Flatirons race, which we were excited to watch. We hiked up to Royal Arches, then up to the third flatiron and waited for the 5:45 start. It was a brutal climb up at least 1500 feet to the beginning of the free solo. The third flatiron has been called the greatest beginner's climb in the world, which translates to an excellent free solo for those with skills. Jon arrived fourth behind some strong runners in a field of 13 or 14. We were able to watch them scramble up the featured rock and disappear over the top, where they would rappel down the back. They raced down a very dangerous tallus field, then returned to the trail they ran up. It's hard to catch someone on the trail downhill, so for the most part the runners maintained the places they were in at the beginning of the free climb. I ran down a mile or so and caught up with Harvey Sargent. I chatted with him a bit, but wanted to get down to the finish line to berate Jon for his fourth place finish. No, actually, it was the strongest group that has been fielded thus far. Jon took a minute and a half off his time, which is very impressive. Not many people would be considering to run and climb dangerous races like this two days before their wedding, but Jonny Smoke is invincible.
We had sushi reservations in Boulder at 7:30, but we arrived at 8pm after showers and a change of clothes. Andy Varcak had arrived from Portland, as had Matt Walker and his wife Liz from Seattle. We had a good group of 12 or so around the lowered sushi table but still had a hard time putting away the 3 boats of assorted sushi. It was damn good though; I don't think I've ever eaten as much sushi in my life. We went out afterwards to a bar that had a jam band playing. I bought $2 Coors and $3 Irish Car Bombs and nodded my head to the music. As far as I know, the band only played one song while we were there. It might not have even been a song, as they might have just been "jamming". We left around midnight or 1am and picked up Chris Zaloumis, who had arrived from Wisconsin. We returned to Ken's where we could play bad rap very loud and drink strong Meyer's and Coke.

8/04/04 - Had a short trip to the aeropuerto from San Mateo after a bowl of Special K with freeze dried strawberries and very strong coffee. Now awaiting UAL flight 386 at SFO at the ungodly hour of 7:35am. Who would have thought so many people would be up and about at this hour?! I can't tell if it is past sunrise, as the omniscient marine layer has socked in SFO and most of the Bay Aria with a pea soup fog. Summer in San Francisco. Ken picked me up at DIA and gave me half a Quizno's sandwich to eat. I happily obliged. We drove by his future dental practice office. He's going into business with a partner as of October 1, 2004, and informed me that his usual friends and family discount will be reduced from 10% to 5% off the total cost. Good thing I don't have dental insurance. We drove on into Boulder and stopped by Jon Sargent's house. Jon and Laura were working on the wedding arrangements with Laura's sister Beth and their mother. I helped out a bit so I could say I did something other than lend star power. Jon, Ken and I drove to one of the government run liquor emporiums and stocked up on a galaxy of liquors, beers, mixers and energy drinks. The cashier asked us if this was all we needed as Ken paid the $177 total. Ken, Jon and I drove to his condo in North Boulder (or Nobo in Starbuckspeak). He moved into a very nice place at the northern edge of town a block from the Bus Stop Gentleman's Club. It's new and backs up to open space and mountains. After he goes down in a malpractice suit I'm cooking up, I plan to move into his condo with his girlfriend while he gets aquainted with the Boulder Homeless Shelter, next door to the Bus Stop. We took off shortly thereafter to drive out to Eldorado Canyon and take a dip in Eldo Springs. I left my bathing suit at the condo, but still managed to come in second to Ken in the underwater distance swim in my baggy shorts and boxers.That's a little something called desire. Jon came in last and left the pool shouting doping allegations. I don't think I'll respect another breakaway attempt again.
Ken and I returned back to his condo and cooked up some turkey burgers and sausages for dinner. We were under the impression that Evan and Jill were getting in around nine or ten, but they didn't end up arriving in Boulder until one am. Ken and I drank and rambled with his neighbor Charlie, who regaled us with stories of his pimp friends in Texas...

8/03/04 - I overnighted at Pam and Shawn's again after the fete at Scotties. My sister Lauren came to pick me up and give me a ride back to Danville. We made some more plans for the rendesvous in Asia. I made some breakfast and read the CCC Times. My dad came home shortly after my arrival and told me that I had not finished the work I had promised to do, at some time I don't remember. I also had 20 minutes until he was leaving and could take me to BART. I through some stuff in a bag and got dropped off at the WC BART. I was carrying Jonny Smoke's wedding present, Scott's sleeping bag, my computer bag and a backpacking backpack when I went through the turnstile. Somewhere after this point and before I arrived back at Pam and Shawn's place I lost my wallet. Yes, after 18 years of faithful service the venerable maroon velcro wallet may finally be gone. Lost forever may be $1.82, 155 Chinese yuan, and a Malibu Grand Prix license worth millions on the black market or EBay. I got back on BART and dropped my shoulder for the City. After swapping some clothes on the Capricorn I drove down to San Mateo with JJ. We dined on Gorden Biersch garlic fries and TJ's pirogis for dinner and watched half of Hitchcock's Notorious.

8/02/04 - Today was a near worthless day, wasted to online boredom and daytime television. Finally, around six, I managed to get out and go to Safeway with Scott to shop for a dinner party he was throwing for his friend Liz. We bought a lot of stuff from each aisle. Back at his pad Liz prepared a three cheese (Gruyere, Emmenthaler and Brie) fondue with champagne. I chopped a panoply of vegetables for the shish-kebabs while Scott worked on the chicken (marinated in Chaka) and tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, which was pretty good except for the tomatoes of course. The dinner was delicious, one of the best home cooked meals I've had in a little while, especially after I whipped up some chocolate fondue with strawberries, shortcake, blueberries and bananas. Ted and Drew arrived after a losing a non-critical volleyball match in Alameda.

8/1/04 - I slept in late at Pam and Shawn's place in Oakland, made some pancakes and watched Old School, in addition to their tivo'd selections - Simpsons, Chapelle Show, Daily Show. I got in touch with Kathy that afternoon and she offered to come pick me up. We went by her place and I dined on some delicious Bangladeshi food that she cooked up with a Bengladeshi friend. It was delicious, especiallly for a vagabond like myself. We went out to a bar in Alameda where she thought she could get a Hoegarden beer. They were out, but the bartender was quite nice. She jumped in the conversation when we were talking about back-handed compliments - "I'm so glad that you are nice now - you were such a bitch in college!". We went on to Ben and Nick's for another drink. Despite the excellent selection of beers there, I ordered a PBR, much to the respect of the bartender and a barfly. "And its quite popular in Tibet as well!", I couldn't help adding. She stopped by Pam and Shawn's place to take in a Simpson's and Chapelle show episode before heading back home.