This past weekend, I returned to Northern California to visit some friends. The primary reason for the trip was to go to Peggy’s Christmas Party and see all of my UCD Co-workers. I was sort of a surprise guest and it was super-nice to catch up with everyone. I ended up staying until the bitter end with Brad and his wife, and the four of us learned a valuable way to get rid of the hiccups (stick a knife in a tall glass and let the handle of the knife hit your forehead as you drink – apparently it helps adjust your throat in a particular way that aids in the restoration of normal diaphragm function).
With my new digicam, I took just a few pictures of campus. The first one was of my namesake lake on the west side of campus and another was the former site of my work. They tore down the old HA2 building that I worked in back in the 90’s. it was the old foreman’s college and along with central receiving and a few other temp buildings, were tore down this year to make way for a new Physics-Geology expansion.
I also managed to visit Coder in his new home of Rohnert Park. It was great to see what he has been up to as well as enjoy the scenic drive between Santa Rosa and Davis via the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. It was so clear and crisp out when I was driving, it made me want to move back to Northern California ASAP.
Sunday on my way home, I enjoyed a nice breakfast at Cafe Bernardo in Sacramento with Matt and Steve. It was my first time being to this Bernardo, and despite being uber-popular (20-30 min wait for food – but at least they were up front with it) had a great time. Matt keeps trying to convince me that he is not racing to 100 countries, but I don’t know he seems pretty keen on hitting some good ones soon. On the way back to their place, we stopped in an open house. It is so hard for me to believe that 3 bedroom 1 bath homes in Land Park are going for 600K. My goodness I remember them being so cheap! The house we walked through had a super neat guest cottage in the back with a pool, but I still like Matt and Steve’s house better.
Another funny note: I did a lot of driving this weekend but enjoyed every moment of it. I just wish I received BBC Radio 1 and I would have felt like I was back in Scotland.
Overall, it was a great weekend. I need to upload the photos to Flickr so you can all see how great the new camera is.