Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Janelle Monae and a Great Weekend!

Thornton Beach Overlook hike
This past weekend was a mix of study and play as I worked on a paper for my "Strategy and War" class but also did several fun things with SMS.

Friday night, we headed out to Antolian Kitchen, a Turkish/Kurdish cuisine restaurant.  I had the broiled whole fish, which was really delicious.  I'm on the tail end of a Whole 30 month so I'm trying to go to places that fit within those strict parameters.  I'm sure I've inadvertently broke the rules with a tiny bit of added sugar, butter and oils but nothing major.  SMS had a baked meat-stuffed tomato eggplant dish that was awesome.  I think we'll be back, even off of a diet!

Saturday was a study/paper-writing day.  SMS and I started the day with the I'm taking my course through the Naval War College Distance Learning program and it's interesting to learn more about military history.  Some of the books are very dry so focusing is tough, but that's what blog entry writing breaks are for!

Hanging out!

The next day was Sunday Fun Day.  SMS and I went up to San Francisco to the Stern Grove Festival.  It was opening day and Janelle Monae was the headliner.  I saw her at Coachella a few years ago and she was fantastic.  We were supposed to go with friends but their son was sick so they bailed.  The show was amazing with a great setlist:
  • Suite IV Electric Overture
  • Dance Apocalyptic
  • Sincerely, Jane.
  • Q.U.E.E.N.
  • Electric Lady
  • One Fine Day
  • I Got You (I Feel Good)
  • I Want You Back
  • Cold War
  • Tightrope
  • Yoga
  • Let's Go Crazy Come Alive (The War of the Roses)

  • Sitting on the stump!
    Our concert seats were...interesting.  The place was packed!  We arrived at 1:15, 45 minutes before the start of the show.  We climbed up the hill and found an awesome tree stump.  We stayed there through the opening act Midtown Social and then headed down the hill for most of Monae's set.  The sound was better and the energy level higher.  It was great!

    Thornton Beach
    Afterwards, we went out for sushi at a place with a TV so we could watch the first half of the Warrior/Cavs game.  It was Game 7 and I think most of the Bay Area was watching!  It was a great game- very competitive.  We didn't want to stay for the whole game so we headed back home and listened to it on the radio.  I even streamed the last few minutes on Periscope with mixed success.

    Thornton Beach
    On the way home, we stopped at Thornton Beach Overlook and hiked down to the beach cliffs.  It was so beautiful and a good impromptu hike along the Pacific.

    Sunday, June 12, 2016

    Mozart Foundation Museum Tour

    Oh my goodness!  SMS and I had the best luck on Saturday.  Due to serendipity and SMS' love of racing cars, we were able to take a tour of a private car museum owned by a local developer (who clearly has done very poorly for himself)!

    Let me back up.  On Saturday, I got up early and went to the old apartment to straighten up before the movers came later in the day.  I headed back to the new place to pick SMS up for our Saturday morning run club.  We semi-regularly attend the Mountain View Runner's Club Saturday morning session, which is a 3.5 mile loop on Steven's Creek trail.  It's a really nice group of people and afterward, we hang out at the Starbucks for a little coffee-fueled socializing.

    Not too different from some parking lots in Silicon Valley...


    As SMS and I were getting ready to leave, he said he wanted to check out the Corvettes down the street.  I hadn't noticed but apparently, a lot of Corvettes had been driving by including two with racing modifications and vinyl appliques.  We said goodbye to everyone and walked down the street.  Inside an open gate, there was a mini-auto show in the parking lot that was filled with Corvettes!  I estimate there were about 30-40, which was very cool.  We wandered around and talked to a few people.  We didn't really know what was going on but then I started talking to a woman who had just pulled up in a more classic car with her husband.  I complimented her on her shirt, which was a gray t-shirt with a silver and light blue rhinestone Corvette.  She invited us to join them on their group tour of the Auto Museum.  I initially declined (what a moron!) because the movers were supposed to come between 11-1, but I fortunately came to my senses.  SMS and I each paid our $20 to the Corvette Club of Santa Clara President and with that, we were on the list!
    Anteros also avenges unrequited love so maybe he'll help me get this car?!?!
    While we were waiting to get in, we talked to a guy who had extensively modified two Corvettes about 10 years ago as a side project.  He had majored in auto design in college but spent his working years designing video games in Silicon Valley.  [Aside: We never exchanged names and I suspect that he is really well-known in certain circles but hey, we were there to talk about the cars.  Plus, SMS and I are just not super-in-the-know about that industry.  But he did mention that he was good friends with the guy who programmed Pong and the guy who hired Steve Jobs at Atari.]  Anyway, he had added a Super Charger to the engine to bring it up to 550 hP.  He had also taken off most of the panels and replaced them with carbon fiber elements so the car was about 100 pounds lighter than a normal Corvette.   He had the tooling done and panels made in a factory in San Diego.  He had 14 orders for the car but the factory went out of business so only two were made.  What was incredible to me was that the two cars were already committed so he had to deliver both of them; aka, he couldn't even keep the car he made!!  But, alls well that ends well.  He bought the car back from one of the purchasers about 7 years later so he now has Production #0001 in his possession now.  Incredible.  What a feat of design and a display of integrity to keep your word on delivering a product you promise! The car is called Anteros, after the Greek god of requited love I'm guessing.  It was absolutely beautiful.
    Amazing supercharged engine!
    At 1000, it was time for the tour!  We went inside the understated, but beautiful building.  The outside landscaping was very zen.  Inside, the docent gave a brief introduction.  They asked for no photography and everyone was very respectful of that request.  I did take one picture by accident as I silenced my phone, but it was of the floor so I think it's ok to display my masterpiece.
    I am so funny and bad with my phone!  Photo taken accidentally while silencing my phone.
    The cars on display were incredible.  There were many early cars, like three 1910-1913 Simplexes.  There were several Pullmans, Ferraris and Porsches.  Most of the cars were one of two/three known to be in existence.  My favorite car was a 1934 Bugatti with a deep mustard yellow alligator interior.  It was a breathtakingly beautiful car...the informational sign near it said that it drew such crowds, it was once hard for the then-owner to approach it and drive it away at the end of a car show!

    Very few pictures can be found on the internet but here's one from the kitchen cabinet designers.  The gray Cadillac
    in the middle/left center was in the museum and is a beautiful focal point with the interior design. Credit
    Alas, all dreams must end and ours ended abruptly with a call from our neighbor that the movers there a few minutes before 11.  Argh!  When are movers ever early!?!?  Anyway, we rushed off and left, but felt incredibly lucky to have experience such an amazing museum.

    Sunday, June 5, 2016

    Summer Begins!

    Our second moving truck!
    Phew!  At first glance, June seems like it will be more mellow than May, which was filled with lots of great trips.  I think, though, that finishing up fellowship and moving will bring its own version of excitement to the month.

    SMS and I got a lot done over Memorial Day weekend.  His parents had cancelled a trip to visit us so we decided to move instead.  Bad tradeoff!  But it was nice to get the moving done.  We rented a truck and moved the furniture that he's keeping.  Some of the smaller items were moved via a few car loads.  The process was fairly painless and our new place is shaping up really nicely.

    Main course at Madera
    We also went out for a great dinner on Friday night.  SMS had a great week at work so we decided to celebrate by going to Madera.  It's at a very fancypants hotel in Silicon Valley and since he's been doing so well here, we decided to dine among the high-rollers!  The food was really good.  One of the highlights was the pre-dinner bread basket- great focaccia and light scones.  I got a lamb dish that was quite tasty and SMS had a halibut carpaccio that was awesome.  Our dessert was pretty amazing and the plating was very artistic. The service was a little on the hands-off side but I think they're used to people wanting to be left alone.  Maybe it's kinder to say the service was inconspicuous.
    Dessert- very impressive!
    The short workweek was pretty uneventful.  We met up with friends on Thursday night and had dinner by the pool.  It was a lot of fun.  It's pretty funny how fearless kids are.  Their kid can't swim but that didn't stop him from sprinting repeatedly to the pool to jump back in.  Self-preservation does not necessarily seem like the greatest strength of the 0-5 years old set.

    Pastry Counter
    This weekend, we headed down to Newport Beach for some family time.  We stayed at the condo with Linda and Rip and hung out with both of SMS' grandfathers.  The weather was in June Gloom-mode but we had a great time.  We hung out with family, walked on the beach and had a really nice dinner at home.  Yesterday, we had a great lunch at Xanadu Cafe, a newly opened cafe about two miles from the house.

    More desserts
    I'm about to go for a run and then I think we're going jeans shopping later.  We're leaving tonight but stopping at the Blue Water Grill first on our way to the airport with Pam and Marty.