Force of Nature

Hello again. This entry is somewhat special as it is my entry to celebrate the 6th year I have been blogging (well to be technical August 7th) and also to announce that I adding this entry from my apartment in Mt. View using my newly installed DSL. It is nice having internet access at home again. Make things (like looking up directions and movie times) a whole lot easier. But back to the six years of blogging. It is sometimes cool to look back and see what I wrote back then (unfortunately due to a diaryland error, all my entries prior to 2003 turn up as mangled error messages). Needless to say, I didn't think I would end up like I am today based on what I wrote just even three years ago. But I am truly appreciated of where I am now and thankful to those who provided me with support and caring on way. But most of all, I would like thank myself. I couldn't have done without me! Booyah! In all seriousness, it has been an interesting six years documenting details of my life online (unlike some people who have short, blase, and unrevealing entries).

So what has been going on as of late? Last weekend, I did take advantage along with several other people of Camille's kickass friends and family discount at the Gap and Banana Republic. Not that I needed to have a fancy smanzy wardrobe to compete with all the programmers who show up in shirts and sandles at Google. Jinah tells me and of course it make sense, wearing nice clothes makes you feel nicer. The day after that, I went to Kenny's BBQ in Tilden park. A fun time was had by all which include several games of volleyball. Work went by as usual I suppose (well as usual as it can be). I ran my first usability tests and I got to both the Google Dance (well I don't think you can call it that seeing that it was mostly like a big party for the closing of some big search engine marketing conference) and the employee summer picnic. Both events were much fun.

Which brings us to this past weekend. CWP$ and DJ organized a biking trip to Tahoe. Which actually involved going to Kirkwood, which is not actually in Tahoe but about 45 minutes away and involved mostly going downhill on the bike, not actual pedaling. You see, you rent a bike and a lift ticket and basically ride the chair lifts (usually used for skiing in the winter months) up the hill/mountain. You then basically ride your bike downhill along some trails. Unfortunately, these trails tend to have some steep parts plus some loose gravelly areas with rocks. Thus when you are flying down the hill on your bike and you lose control, then go up against mother nature. And she usually wins. Right now I am typing this entry with bandaged cuts all along my left leg plus custs on my left elbow, shoulder, and on my right thumb due to two falls I took off my bike. The first was on an apparently low difficulty trail called Snowdrift which had many rocks and gravel you had to ride over. Unfortunately I lost control and bailed. The second time I fell (which was the worst one) was on a trail I had gone down twice before. Basically there is this sharp turn going around this downhill that includes rocks and sand. I took the downhill, in retrospect, much faster than I should of and lost control and plowed into the ground on my left side. The lift operator who was operating the other lift that I didn't take up apparently thought I had crashed pretty hard and thought he needed to call the EMTs. Fortunately I was relatively alright. So for the rest of the weekend, including right now, I have been hobbling around like a gimp. You win again gravity!

So it has been yet another eventful and jam-packed weekend for me. Next weekend looks like it is going to be jam-packed too. Hopefully my gimpy knee can take it. Until next time, peace.