Back from California, Packing/Moving Madness Ensues

After a week in sunny California’s Bay Area/Silicon Valley, I’m back! I spent the week mainly in Cupertino, with some side excursions to San Francisco and San Jose. Although there wasn’t much time for sightseeing/exploration, I covered pretty much all the main sites in SanFran, got to hang out with my cousin, and met a lot of cool people at Apple. I’ll do my best to recount some of the highlights of my trip, but be forewarned that madness ensued as soon as I got back, and I’m still a little jetlagged.

San Francisco
I arrived at SFO around 2 AM on Saturday morning (Friday night?), completely disoriented and disheveled thanks to a dose of Tylenol Simply Sleep. I don’t sleep well on planes; this flight was no exception. My cousin dutifully awaited me at the baggage claim, and we made the 30-ish minute drive back to his duplex in Mountain View. First thoughts as soon as I stepped out of the car: BRRRR! I figured that it was just the night air and prayed that I wouldn’t need to buy more clothes (I was still in the 100 degree Washington humidity mindset while packing).

When we woke up around 10 AM, we stopped by a Panera on the way in to SF. I momentarily thought that I had been transported to China, until I realized all of the Chinese people in the cafe were speaking English. Not the fobby, accented English that we hear so much of in the Maryland (read: Rockville) area, but white-people proper English. I guess I knew that the Chinese community was pretty extensive in Cali, but forgot the extent to which this would include third and fourth generation Chinese.

Drove and then BARTed (equivalent of the subway or Metro) our way to Union Square and from there to Chinatown. Hello shopping and dim sum! Not quite the craziness that characterizes NYC’s Chinatown, but pretty close in terms of size. From there we proceeded to walk around, running into a food festival, Pier 39 (saw the sea lions, cute/smelly!), Fisherman’s Wharf, and a brief hiatus in Ghiradelli Square. Ordered a Gold Rush sundae, devoured it (along with about a pound of peanut butter) with the cuzzo, and swooned from the sugar rush and food coma that ensued. Decided that it was way too cold and stopped back in Union Square on the way home to do a little shopping for a sweater. Xiaolongbao for dinner (YUMMY) and shanghai you fan (oil rice, and boy was it oily). Mmm! Another stop at Target on the way home to pick up a hoodie- also missing in my luggage.

Sunday- drove to the Golden Gate Bridge, snapped some shots, and then off to Muir Woods (redwood forest). Holy crap those trees were tall! Took a nice little scenic hike (I would say more of a moderate walk, if even) and then back to Cupertino to check in to the hotel. The decor at the Cypress looks like someone went on an acid trip before they decorated. Polka dot walls and a crazy tiger print bathrobe/boxers/camis that you could purchase in the closet. Nonetheless, I did appreciate the gigantic king size bed and 1000 count sheets. I know nice when I see it (or sleep in it)!

Monday- orientation...zzz...err, I mean, nice. I would say 80% of the people in that room were from Stanford or CalTech; I was definitely the only person from the Washington DC area...but in the Valley I guess it’s pretty normal. Of course the highlight was eating at Caffe Macs, which boasted an impressive variety of food. The best part though, was seeing a HUGE syrup pump of sweetened condensed milk at the coffee bar. I spotted some salmon in the center of the room and stood next to some guy in Levis and a black turtleneck. Wait a second...Steve Jobs? I went through a small panic attack and decided to remove myself before I became the starstruck employee staring at our CEO and founder. Chicken instead of salmon. *sigh*

The rest of the week was characterized by long, albeit interesting meetings at the hotel, periodically interrupted by moments from the World Cup. There were people from almost every continent present, so let’s just say that there was a range of emotions regarding the games. Flew back Friday morning, arrived 7pm. The time difference thing takes up so much time...it’s like I lost 3 hours of my life!

This weekend: Erin & Ryan’s wedding in Frederick. As with all weddings, lots of merrymaking- I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy it, but the weekend turned out to be surprisingly fun. That was actually the first wedding I’ve attended as a guest since I was in the fourth grade...and still I looked for the big chunks of icing in the wedding cake (I used to cry at weddings until my parents brought me the biggest piece of cake with the most icing and fruit. What can I say...I want only the best!) Returned on Sunday to my apt, caught some sun at the pool with bf, and then began the moving madness. Luckily, I found a bunch of NICE fedex moving boxes in the dumpster outside of my apartment! Yes, I scavenged through the dumpster...but saved myself the hassle of going round finding boxes =] Whatever family moved into Crystal City this past weekend...thank you!

Anyway, I made reservations for my U-Haul (did you know it’s cheaper to move Sunday-Thursday, at least for other truck companies?), finally got in touch to transfer my Comcast (the second Verizon comes to my neighborhood, I am jumping on that ship) services, and am meeting with Freddy later today to go buy some apartment stuff. Things are falling into place. And so- if you are around the area this weekend, come to my housewarming! Msg for details =]

exhausted

awesome weekend- 5 year high school alumni concert. great to see everyone, catch up, and make music. not much room for sleep though, and consequently, it's a monday... or rather, one of THOSE mondays.
need to get groceries and do laundry tonight...ahh i need more free time!