Trip report thus far

We got up at oh-dark-thirty on Thursday, to make it to Detroit Metro in time for a 7:45am flight. We had a layover in Dallas, during which we grabbed lunch and chilled a little before heading to the gate for the second leg of the trip. The second flight was oversold, and American called for volunteers to give up their seat. They started out offering $500 vouchers, which is a lot for an initial offering. CJ and I looked at each other, asked "Do you want to?" and I headed up to the counter.

A quick Facebook posting taught me that some of my friends are not aware how often I've been flying in the last few years (possibly because I don't always post about trips), and others are not familiar with how vouchers work.

Our replacement flight was 6 hours later (not the 5 I claimed on Facebook, because timezone math is hard, especially when you're doing math for a timezone you didn't expect to be in long enough to bother updating your electronics), so we made use of the charging stations near the gate and then set ourselves up in the little food court, so we could have tables for our laptops. This worked out in our favor, as the flight's gate got changed from "halfway across this terminal" to "right next to the first gate, which is right across from the food court we're sitting in." The voucher was definitely worth it, but by the end of the six hours I was ready to just get there already.

Enterprise gave us an Impala, which I did not like. The car was slightly too large, and the steering felt kinda loose. Unfortunately, I didn't really realize that until we were already on our way to Cari's, where we are staying, and my initial reaction was just that it's an unfamiliar car and we'd get used to it.

After a couple of minor hiccups, we collapsed into the daybed and trundle bed that Cari provided, and thus ends Thursday.

Friday, we were up first, becuase we were still not 100% adjusted to the time zone change, despite the long day and late night on Thursday. Eventually, CJ went to take a shower, and after a whoosh of water, we heard a rather plaintive "a little help here?" The house is older, and the plumbing is original, so when CJ turned the handle, it came off in his hand. After a brief fuss, Cari turned off the water main to the house and called a plumber. The two hours that the plumber quoted turned into more like four hours, and my whining prompted Cari to walk across the street and fill a pitcher with water so I could at least brush my teeth.

Then, the plans was a walk up Windy Hill with Cari's mother-in-law. Since I don't walk well to begin with, and even less so when the path is up a hill, I opted to stay at the house while CJ and Cari and the dogs went off to meet up with Cari's MIL. I was assured they'd be home in a few hours, and then we'd go to dinner. At 8pm, I called CJ to ask for a status update, and discovered that one of the dogs had gotten lost, and they were hunting for him. They finally got back just before 9pm, at which point we hied ourselves off to the restaurant of choice (Afghani House) so we could get their before they closed (at 9:30). The food was yummy, but we were a little pressured time-wise, because we were the very last people to leave and the staff wanted to go home. That put us back home by 10:30pm, and whatever we did after that, it wasn't all that memorable. (Netflix'd Sons of Anarchy because Cari loves it and wants us to see it, I think.) Thus endeth Friday.

Saturday, we split up. I went to Tif and Peter's while CJ went to hang out with other people. Tif and Peter indulged my love of Hobee's for brunch, then we repaired back to their house for conversation. Conversation led to discussion about various tv shows and movies and pretty pretty men, which led to discussion about Johnathan Rhys-Meyers, which led to watching Velvet Goldmine, which might have been more understandable if I'd had any background knowledge about the Glam Rock era but it had some very nice eye candy. Also, Ewan MacGregor's naughty bits. I will never look at baby oil the same way again. Or glitter. Then it was time for CJ to meet back up with us, and we all went off to Ethiopian (yummy) and a play in Berkeley.

The play was Of Dice and Men, and it was awesome. Funny as hell. Chock-full of swearing and male-genitalia jokes, which means I'll probably never see it in any of the theaters by us, and that makes me so very sad.

Driving up to Berkeley sucked, because we did NOT "get used" to the car. We got slightly lost on the way back because there's no setting for "I'm driving a car that is too large and that I don't feel like I have full control over, so please don't send me down narrow or winding roads" option on Google Maps. We remedied this by stopping for dessert at a Frozen Yogurt place (it was the only thing open, and once again, they locked the doors behind us because we snuck in juuuuust before closing) and determining what the longer but not terrifying route should be. By the time we got back to Tif and Peter's, it was very late, so after a round of hugs goodbye, CJ and I went back to Cari's to bring Saturday to an end.

This morning was brunch at Baji's, which is CJ's favoritist diner ever (it's just down the street from where he used to live), just CJ and myself and 9 of his closest friends. (Where "closest" is redefined to mean "available for breakfast in Mountain View on that particular Sunday morning.") It was a little overwhelming for those of us who didn't know most of the people at the table, but CJ has good taste in friends so it all worked out in the end. Plus, I got to see Madeline, who I *do* know and like, and Alex, who I've met several times and quite enjoy his company. Leigh Ann gave us directions to Fry's (I wanted to pick up some Rip Wrap, which I haven't ever found anywhere else, and which frys.com wants a small fortune to ship to me) and then to the Winchester Mansion so that I could take pictures of CJ-- he gets to be a background character in an indie game he's been an ardent supporter of, but they want some in-character pictures to base the artwork on.

Other than a small crazy-driver moment when Fry's driveway was not on the road I thought it was, the drive was uneventful, but the car was really getting on my nerves, so CJ called Enterprise and left a message telling them that we would like to swap out the car and asking for a call back. Then he asked "Where did my iPod end up?" and I answered "I have no idea, did you maybe put it in your bag?" (He carries a purse/rucksack/whatever-you-want-to-call-it.) He said "Probably. Where did my purse end up?" A quick phone call confirmed that he left it at Baji's. He told them he'd be back sometime that afternoon to get it, and I asked after he hung up if that meant we were driving back to Baji's after we were done at Fry's. He said he figured not; we were very near Winchester Mansion and it's not like he was going to need the purse right this second. The plan became "Head to Winchester Mansion and get some pictures, then go to Baji's to pick up his purse."

The call back from Enterprise was prompt; we were still in Fry's. We revised our plan to be "head back to the airport, swap out the car, Winchester mansion, Baji's." CJ remembered that Baji's is only open until 2pm on Sundays, and it was already 2:15. He called them again to see if anyone was even still there, and then apologized and explained that we were at San Jose airport and probably wouldn't be able to get their until 3pm. Surprisingly, they said "No problem, we'll wait for you."

Enterprise was awesome, as they always are (which is why I always rent from them). CJ asked if the new car had an aux jack, which led to a lot of people searching for the stupid thing and not finding it. The guy handling the paperwork offered to go get a different car, but while he was gone two other Enterprise people continued poking around and eventually found the aux jack in the top of the glove compartment despite the owner's manual saying it was in the center console. I kinda felt bad about sending the poor guy who had gone to get yet another car out to put the replacement-replacement car back. After sorting the car features out, we took off for Baji's to get CJ's purse so they could close up and go home. Then we finally headed back to Winchester Mansion to get CJ's pictures, which came out very nearly awesome. (The "very nearly" part is frustrating, and I've threatened to drag him back there again tomorrow or next week when we come back from Ashland to fly home. And this time, I'm taking that damned charm on the hat's headband off, so it will stop dangling in front of his face in the pictures.)

Getting back into the car after leaving it to sit in the parking lot for 45 minutes or so, there was a weirdish odor. This led to a supposition that it was dead hooker, and a comment from CJ that we hadn't had the car long enough for a freshly-killed hooker to start decomposing. Let that type of play-off-each-other bullshitting continue for a line or two, and you get today's Quote of the Day: "Of COURSE I bought [a dead hooker]. We're on vacation, I don't have time to kill one myself." (The odor went away later, which just adds to the mystery really.)

Dinner was Satsuma sushi, another of CJ's favorite, which has all-you-can-eat sushi on Sundays. Despite his open invitation to everyone he's ever met, it was just the two of us for dinner-- apparently, everyone's free time today was in the morning. I can't complain, though, because Satsuma's AYCE menu includes some very interesting options (grilled chicken sushi rolls, gyoza (aka small potstickers) rolls... omg awesome), and I didn't have to share them or try to grab them as they were being passed around.

Bedtime is whenever our laundry is dry and I haul my butt up from in front of the computer to put my pajamas on. Tomorrow is lunch at Thai City (which has the orange Tom Ka Gai that I crave, and an owner that is happy to give CJ a hard time), and then driving up to Ashland, unless you happen to be from Enterprise, in which case we are only going up to Napa and certainly wouldn't leave the state without telling you even though you'll charge us for mileage if we do tell you. So it's best that we're just going up to Napa. We wouldn't want to have to lie to you.

Trip report thus far

We got up at oh-dark-thirty on Thursday, to make it to Detroit Metro in time for a 7:45am flight. We had a layover in Dallas, during which we grabbed lunch and chilled a little before heading to the gate for the second leg of the trip. The second flight was oversold, and American called for volunteers to give up their seat. They started out offering $500 vouchers, which is a lot for an initial offering. CJ and I looked at each other, asked "Do you want to?" and I headed up to the counter.

A quick Facebook posting taught me that some of my friends are not aware how often I've been flying in the last few years (possibly because I don't always post about trips), and others are not familiar with how vouchers work.

Our replacement flight was 6 hours later (not the 5 I claimed on Facebook, because timezone math is hard, especially when you're doing math for a timezone you didn't expect to be in long enough to bother updating your electronics), so we made use of the charging stations near the gate and then set ourselves up in the little food court, so we could have tables for our laptops. This worked out in our favor, as the flight's gate got changed from "halfway across this terminal" to "right next to the first gate, which is right across from the food court we're sitting in." The voucher was definitely worth it, but by the end of the six hours I was ready to just get there already.

Enterprise gave us an Impala, which I did not like. The car was slightly too large, and the steering felt kinda loose. Unfortunately, I didn't really realize that until we were already on our way to Cari's, where we are staying, and my initial reaction was just that it's an unfamiliar car and we'd get used to it.

After a couple of minor hiccups, we collapsed into the daybed and trundle bed that Cari provided, and thus ends Thursday.

Friday, we were up first, becuase we were still not 100% adjusted to the time zone change, despite the long day and late night on Thursday. Eventually, CJ went to take a shower, and after a whoosh of water, we heard a rather plaintive "a little help here?" The house is older, and the plumbing is original, so when CJ turned the handle, it came off in his hand. After a brief fuss, Cari turned off the water main to the house and called a plumber. The two hours that the plumber quoted turned into more like four hours, and my whining prompted Cari to walk across the street and fill a pitcher with water so I could at least brush my teeth.

Then, the plans was a walk up Windy Hill with Cari's mother-in-law. Since I don't walk well to begin with, and even less so when the path is up a hill, I opted to stay at the house while CJ and Cari and the dogs went off to meet up with Cari's MIL. I was assured they'd be home in a few hours, and then we'd go to dinner. At 8pm, I called CJ to ask for a status update, and discovered that one of the dogs had gotten lost, and they were hunting for him. They finally got back just before 9pm, at which point we hied ourselves off to the restaurant of choice (Afghani House) so we could get their before they closed (at 9:30). The food was yummy, but we were a little pressured time-wise, because we were the very last people to leave and the staff wanted to go home. That put us back home by 10:30pm, and whatever we did after that, it wasn't all that memorable. (Netflix'd Sons of Anarchy because Cari loves it and wants us to see it, I think.) Thus endeth Friday.

Saturday, we split up. I went to Tif and Peter's while CJ went to hang out with other people. Tif and Peter indulged my love of Hobee's for brunch, then we repaired back to their house for conversation. Conversation led to discussion about various tv shows and movies and pretty pretty men, which led to discussion about Johnathan Rhys-Meyers, which led to watching Velvet Goldmine, which might have been more understandable if I'd had any background knowledge about the Glam Rock era but it had some very nice eye candy. Also, Ewan MacGregor's naughty bits. I will never look at baby oil the same way again. Or glitter. Then it was time for CJ to meet back up with us, and we all went off to Ethiopian (yummy) and a play in Berkeley.

The play was Of Dice and Men, and it was awesome. Funny as hell. Chock-full of swearing and male-genitalia jokes, which means I'll probably never see it in any of the theaters by us, and that makes me so very sad.

Driving up to Berkeley sucked, because we did NOT "get used" to the car. We got slightly lost on the way back because there's no setting for "I'm driving a car that is too large and that I don't feel like I have full control over, so please don't send me down narrow or winding roads" option on Google Maps. We remedied this by stopping for dessert at a Frozen Yogurt place (it was the only thing open, and once again, they locked the doors behind us because we snuck in juuuuust before closing) and determining what the longer but not terrifying route should be. By the time we got back to Tif and Peter's, it was very late, so after a round of hugs goodbye, CJ and I went back to Cari's to bring Saturday to an end.

This morning was brunch at Baji's, which is CJ's favoritist diner ever (it's just down the street from where he used to live), just CJ and myself and 9 of his closest friends. (Where "closest" is redefined to mean "available for breakfast in Mountain View on that particular Sunday morning.") It was a little overwhelming for those of us who didn't know most of the people at the table, but CJ has good taste in friends so it all worked out in the end. Plus, I got to see Madeline, who I *do* know and like, and Alex, who I've met several times and quite enjoy his company. Leigh Ann gave us directions to Fry's (I wanted to pick up some Rip Wrap, which I haven't ever found anywhere else, and which frys.com wants a small fortune to ship to me) and then to the Winchester Mansion so that I could take pictures of CJ-- he gets to be a background character in an indie game he's been an ardent supporter of, but they want some in-character pictures to base the artwork on.

Other than a small crazy-driver moment when Fry's driveway was not on the road I thought it was, the drive was uneventful, but the car was really getting on my nerves, so CJ called Enterprise and left a message telling them that we would like to swap out the car and asking for a call back. Then he asked "Where did my iPod end up?" and I answered "I have no idea, did you maybe put it in your bag?" (He carries a purse/rucksack/whatever-you-want-to-call-it.) He said "Probably. Where did my purse end up?" A quick phone call confirmed that he left it at Baji's. He told them he'd be back sometime that afternoon to get it, and I asked after he hung up if that meant we were driving back to Baji's after we were done at Fry's. He said he figured not; we were very near Winchester Mansion and it's not like he was going to need the purse right this second. The plan became "Head to Winchester Mansion and get some pictures, then go to Baji's to pick up his purse."

The call back from Enterprise was prompt; we were still in Fry's. We revised our plan to be "head back to the airport, swap out the car, Winchester mansion, Baji's." CJ remembered that Baji's is only open until 2pm on Sundays, and it was already 2:15. He called them again to see if anyone was even still there, and then apologized and explained that we were at San Jose airport and probably wouldn't be able to get their until 3pm. Surprisingly, they said "No problem, we'll wait for you."

Enterprise was awesome, as they always are (which is why I always rent from them). CJ asked if the new car had an aux jack, which led to a lot of people searching for the stupid thing and not finding it. The guy handling the paperwork offered to go get a different car, but while he was gone two other Enterprise people continued poking around and eventually found the aux jack in the top of the glove compartment despite the owner's manual saying it was in the center console. I kinda felt bad about sending the poor guy who had gone to get yet another car out to put the replacement-replacement car back. After sorting the car features out, we took off for Baji's to get CJ's purse so they could close up and go home. Then we finally headed back to Winchester Mansion to get CJ's pictures, which came out very nearly awesome. (The "very nearly" part is frustrating, and I've threatened to drag him back there again tomorrow or next week when we come back from Ashland to fly home. And this time, I'm taking that damned charm on the hat's headband off, so it will stop dangling in front of his face in the pictures.)

Getting back into the car after leaving it to sit in the parking lot for 45 minutes or so, there was a weirdish odor. This led to a supposition that it was dead hooker, and a comment from CJ that we hadn't had the car long enough for a freshly-killed hooker to start decomposing. Let that type of play-off-each-other bullshitting continue for a line or two, and you get today's Quote of the Day: "Of COURSE I bought [a dead hooker]. We're on vacation, I don't have time to kill one myself." (The odor went away later, which just adds to the mystery really.)

Dinner was Satsuma sushi, another of CJ's favorite, which has all-you-can-eat sushi on Sundays. Despite his open invitation to everyone he's ever met, it was just the two of us for dinner-- apparently, everyone's free time today was in the morning. I can't complain, though, because Satsuma's AYCE menu includes some very interesting options (grilled chicken sushi rolls, gyoza (aka small potstickers) rolls... omg awesome), and I didn't have to share them or try to grab them as they were being passed around.

Bedtime is whenever our laundry is dry and I haul my butt up from in front of the computer to put my pajamas on. Tomorrow is lunch at Thai City (which has the orange Tom Ka Gai that I crave, and an owner that is happy to give CJ a hard time), and then driving up to Ashland, unless you happen to be from Enterprise, in which case we are only going up to Napa and certainly wouldn't leave the state without telling you even though you'll charge us for mileage if we do tell you. So it's best that we're just going up to Napa. We wouldn't want to have to lie to you.