entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

Two weeks ago, 2wanda and i traveled to see my family in Florida, which i hadn't seen since i moved to California in mid-1995, and therefore she'd never met.  On the way there, we stopped in Las Vegas for a couple of days to visit her dad; we managed to find a very nice Peruvian restaurant in Henderson.  Once we were in Miami, the weather was rather nice (and we managed to dodge a very rainy week back at home) until our day of departure, when the humidity tried to let us know it hadn't really gone anywhere.  We visited the Everglades, did the Fort Lauderdale water taxi tour (which covered a vast amount of wretched excess in houses and yachts), and saw as many of my family members as we could, and yes, i had my fill of Colombian and Cuban food, including an Oregon pinot named Cubanisimo (which, other than the name, was unremarkable).

Kim and i are heading to Ecuador on Saturday.  The original impetus was attending my 20-year high school reunion; then i got miffed because it was classmates-only (i.e., no spouses), so i was no longer interested in going.  But then i got over it because, hell, i'm going to be there and i might as well go; in all likelihood, it's the last reunion i'll attend, so i should make the best of it.  The timing is dicey because the World Cup's starting on Friday (and i will be missing USA-England while on the plane, damn it); some of us asked the organizers to reconsider the party for July but they ignored us so... whatever.

It's been almost four years since we last visited Ecuador, which really is way too long.  I'd really like to go every two years, at most.  I hope that i can keep that up in 2012.

2wanda and i went to Las Vegas last weekend for our 12th anniversary.  We visited her dad, who cooked us some marvelous meals, as he always does when we visit.  Their tortoise likes to come into the house once in a while.

We saw Zumanity and, boy howdy, that was a titillatingly good time.  My only complaint was that it was shorter than your typical Cirque du Soleil show, at 90 minutes.  We also went to Death Valley to try out Kim's new camera (i'm sure she'll write about it soon), and while driving over the mountain pass between Las Vegas and Pahrump, it snowed.  It frickin' snowed a week from June.  Crazy-ass shit.

But enough about the good stuff... god, i hate Las Vegas so much.  It seems to me sometimes as if it's a practical experiment in how unfettered capitalism fails society.  It's an affront to civilization, the greatest karma sink in the nation.  We stayed at the Mandalay Bay and it was the first and, in all likelihood, last time we'll ever stay at a Strip casino hotel.  Mediocre service, a dirty tub, damaged furniture, and one insanely crowded pool that was really making me stabby.  And on the way back, our plane was delayed an hour, so we missed our connecting flight at Mormon Central (don't ask why we got a flight from SJC to Vegas with a stop at SLC; i know that it's stupid, but that's all that we could find), and ended up snagging a flight to SFO so i wouldn't have to try to catch some sleep at the SLC airport and end up going straight from home to work.

Two weekends ago, Kim and i ran away to Calistoga for restoration via mud bath and massage at Golden Haven Hot Springs.  On our way there, we stopped at our favorite wineries, Summers and Ehlers Estate; on the way back, we stopped at Heitz, whose Grignolino wine and port i've admired for some time.

Last weekend, i nerded it up, as ever, at DunDraCon, but i did not neglect my sweet Kimmy on Valentine's Day, and brought her flowers and a card, and then took her out to sushi. DDC was fun as always; although i missed seeing some of the usual suspects, i did get to see vanmojo and dr_strych9, albeit in passing through the LARP in which they were participating (not judging you, guys... well, not too much).

Tonight, Kim and i drove to San Francisco to spend a little time with old Macromedia coworkers.  It's obvious that we're a bunch of nostalgic romantics, and that's fine with me.  I wish we'd've been able to get there earlier and stay later, but an hour-long drive home is always rough.

2wanda and i flew to Seattle on Friday to attend the nuptials of rimrunner and the darkly funny Mr. Darcy.  We caught up with her relatives Gary and Marguerite (who are friends of Bill Rieflin, and i just had to drop that name because i think it's pretty damn cool), who happened to feel unwell enough to skip the Mariners-Athletics game that night, so we went in their stead.  Not the best of games, but it was close until the end.

On Saturday, we spent the morning shopping.  I'd had an idle interest in a Utilikilt for some time, but i never wanted to spend that much money until recently.  The trip to Seattle came at a good time, because the kilts are made there, so we went to the store in Pioneer Square and were enthusiastically helped.  After that, we went to the John Fluevog store and Kimmy bought a pair of red shoes.  With my kilt instead of pants, and her sandals instead of boots, we managed to stay cool on a sunny afternoon where the ceremony was wonderful, the couple was beautiful, and the guests were all well dressed.  I was far from the only bekilted attendee (rwx also wore one), and it was, all in all, a wonderful event to wear a skirt in public for the first time.  The kilt really is everything they promised it would be. It's a hefty garment that is very comfortable and i was a little disappointed the next day when i put my jeans on.

At the reception, we shared a table with xythen and cor_tenebrarum, who were delightful people and a delightful couple.  In lieu of champagne for toasts, Tokaji Aszú was served, which idea i heartily endorsed (up to and including drinking the Tokaji left behind by the other guests at my table... whoo!).

I still feel quite at home in Seattle, despite not having lived there in over 14 years.  I realized that part of it is probably the sight of Mount Rainier to the south echoing the sight of Cotopaxi (see icon) to the south of Quito.  I wish drivers in Seattle used their turn signals, though.

I regret not being able to see more of my Seattle friends.  I hope to correct this soon.

Mom and Aunt Martha flew in last week to visit, and Kim and i brought them along on our 10th anniversary trip to the Santa Ynez Valley, which we've been wanting to visit ever since we saw Sideways.  It's absolutely beautiful down here, and so is Santa Barbara, which we visited today.  Today we also had tasty æbleskiver for breakfast (i also had medisterpølse and eggs).

Yesterday in Los Olivos, we went to taste at this one room that collects wine from vineyards that don't have their own tasting room.  It was run by a man whom i dubbed the Pinot Noir Nazi, perhaps like Sideways's Miles but gruffer and without the somehow charming dysfunction.  He declared that cabernet franc was a blending grape and was wasted when vinified on its own, and the same went for merlot, dolcetto, and tempranillo.  I just nodded and said, "I see."  He did pour us an absolutely fabulous pinot noir from Fiddlehead Cellars, and i passed his snob test by correctly pronouncing Meritage and Lompoc.

I believe that i've reached a point in my life where i have to have Internet access wherever i am.  I fear that i'll have to purchase a hiptop or palmtop computer doohickey soon because whipping out the laptop and the broadband wireless card will prove to be too cumbersome.

Kim and i will attend her longtime friend Judy's wedding tomorrow.  The interesting breaks in today's drive have included sharing a decent spicy chicken sandwich from Jack in the Box, enjoying a very nice meal at Lily's Restaurant in scenic and snowy City of Mount Shasta, and a rest area where there were so many chattering birds that their noise, reflected off the walls of the picnic area, sounded like a boom box playing terrible pop music at a volume beyond what its cheap speakers could support.  It was a bizarre illusion that i dispelled when i walked over, looking for the offending device, and many of the birds flew away, taking their chatter with them.

Last weekend was DunDraCon, festival nonpareil of nerdliness.  In addition to seeing the usual suspects (palecur [who ran his first LARP, but i love him anyway], amywithani, racerxmachina, roseembolism, tinellaq, teawiththecheat, dancingshaman, deirdremoon, lurkingowl, changinganswers, crisper, and anotherdave), i picked up elmuchacho and Brendan from the Dublin BART station, and also saw two old Best Internet comrades, Aaron and Carl.  Once again, i got into Bruce Mattos's game (so did Aaron, except he sent Carl in his stead) and had a good time, and the other game i crashed was quite entertaining, despite the fact that one guy (who happened to have an unbalanced munchkin character) essentially screwed the entire party and then left the room.  Sadly, despite our best intentions, neither David nor i submitted games.  But next year for sure!  Pinky swear!

I never could relate to people who really got into the badness of certain forms of art, like Mystery Science Theater 3000 or the cult of Rocky Horror Picture Show.  But that changed once i watched a few episodes of the epically bad CSI: Miami.  The writing is sub-mediocre, even for Hollywood; the main characters not only have an extremely narrow set of behavior, but they are only allowed one or two facial expressions (David Caruso's two facial expressions are with and without sunglasses, if that counts as two); the non-recurring characters are acted with the care you'd see in your typical high school play.  And this lily is gilt with the choice of an H2 as the official crime lab vehicle.  I can't recommend this show to anyone; however, for those of you who revel in experiencing awful stuff, it might just be up your alley.

wacky_hijinx informed me some time ago that Kevin O'Neill would be signing yesterday, so i dropped by and picked up a copy of O'Neill's and Alan Moore's latest League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel, Black Dossier.  O'Neill was very kind and drew something on the first page for all comers.  He asked me what i wanted, and i said, "Surprise me," and i got a really nice Miss Murray.  I'm still reading BD; it is, well... it's mad.  It includes a set of 3-D glasses.  That's all i'll say for now.

Week 6: still not king employed.  Now that we're essentially in holiday season, it would be too optimistic to hope for a job before 2008.

palecur and i will be leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to Los Angeles to see Soda Stereo.  I believe that it's fair to say that they're the band i've been wanting to see play for the longest time.  We'll be back in time for Thanksgiving.

Kim and i took a flight early this morning to Marion Morrison Airport to drive to Riverside (yes, i know Ontario's closer, but we couldn't get any decent fares) for the wedding of my old college friend Dave Zuckerman.  The traffic in Southern California is an obnoxious endemic feature, a daily hazard for travelers; besides, SoCal is so big, it takes a long time to get anywhere anyway.

For the first time since the early `90s, "we" were all together at the same time: Brian Dailey, Eugene Hsu, Ron Swain, and the aforementioned DZ.  We had a blast, of course, cracking wise during the wedding rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner, and at the après-ceremony dinner at Café Sevilla (which reminded me of the Current Music).  Except for Brian, who also works in the IT dungeons (albeit for academia instead of the dread world of startups), we've all settled into different careers, all of which have little to do with the degrees we achieved (and by "we" i mean "they", as i never completed my curriculum).  The food and wine at Sevilla were excellent, despite a few hitches (how does a Spanish restaurant run out of Spanish wine, i ask you?)

This afternoon's ceremony was elegant and succinct.  Dave and Julia radiate passion, love, and good humor.  I liked what i saw, and i had a great time.

This morning, we had brunch at Plums with jkcohen and his better half Beth, and it was delightful to spend a few hours with them (alas, not nearly as much time as we'd've liked), and the food was excellent.

Now i must go to bed, as we must get up before the crack of dawn to make an 06:45 flight.  I just didn't want to take Monday off...

I took the day off today to go wine tasting with 2wanda and elmuchacho (captain_nesky was supposed to come but couldn't).  We didn't make a decision whether our destination would be the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles, or Sonoma; at the last minute, we chose Sonoma so i could drop by Lambert Bridge and say hello to my winemaking class instructor, who is Lambert Bridge's winemaker.

Kim and i have never made a trip with Sonoma as our destination; we've often been to Calistoga, and from there jetted down Highway 128 through Knights Valley and Alexander Valley to hit Dry Creek Valley, where Preston and Ferrari-Carano are favorite destinations.  So, this time, i wanted to hit Russian River and Sonoma Valley.  But as Lambert Bridge is in Dry Creek, and we did want to hit Preston... hello Dry Creek!  Again!  But before we hit the wineries, we had lunch at Sake'O, which consisted of good sashimi and a very tasty tempura banana with a scoop of the best vanilla ice cream i've ever had.

We hit Lambert Bridge first and said hello to Jill, who generously gave us a thorough tour, and we got to talk a bit of shop (or, at least in my case, future shop).  Then we went on to Preston, and then Pedroncelli, Geyser Peak, and finally Meeker.  We were greeted and served cheerfully everywhere, but as always, i spent way too much money; this is why i can't take a trip to wine country more than once, maybe twice, a year.  Also, the generosity at Pedroncelli and Geyser Peak made our tasting at Meeker a bit suspect due to tongue fatigue (not that i'm saying that they were stingy at LB or Preston, mind you).

The sushi didn't stick with us, so we stopped at the Healdsburg Bar & Grill for dinner.  David got a beef rib dish which was just amazingly delicious and made me wish i'd gotten it.  And then, we drove home the end.