Ryan's Journal

Today marked the last day of the family vacation, and the beginning of two solo days on the island. Aaron and I lounged around through the morning, making our daily Starbucks run, debating the merits of several chicken chases, and eventually heading off towards the Beach House for another snorkel. Ma & Pa decided not to join us, and while there weren’t any further turtle sightings we managed to check off most of the fish on the “fishes of Hawaii” brochure. Lunch consisted of delicious ahi tuna and pulled pork from the Koloa Fish Market, and the afternoon almost exactly mirrored the morning with an additional snorkel, aborted chicken chases, and a dinner consisting of more ahi tuna and pulled pork. One pina colada and a sunset later and we bid adieu to Ma & Pa, and having just dropped Aaron at the airport I’m settling in for two days at the Kauai Beach Resort before it’s time to head back to a land where morning snorkels and drinks at sunset aren’t the norm.

After a breakfast with swans, delicious coffee, and $17 pancakes at the Hyatt we finally found the dope spot for snorkeling later in the morning. Amidst myriad fish we hit the jackpot while watching an eel when Aaron pointed and exclaimed “dude, turtle”. We then spent fifteen minutes swimming next to a four foot long sea turtle who didn’t seem to care at all that two pinkish-red humans were floating along with him. The Skipper had disappeared during this episode (something about a grouper) while Sally didn’t join us for the snorkel, so the Holliday brothers were the only two who got to spend quality time with a marine reptile this morning.

The snorkel was followed by the world’s best fish tacos, some napping, and a second snorkel during which Aaron and I worked on our sunburns and Skip finally found some turtles and spent some quality alone time with them. Aaron is returning to the mainland tomorrow, so it’s the final day for any Holliday family adventures.

We somehow slept until 6:45 this morning – investigative panels will be launched – and got a late start to the day. Ma & Pa made their arrival yesterday, so our first order of business was to drop in on them unannounced at 8AM, find out their plans, leave some luggage, and then retreat hastily. They stood up well to this onslaught, and we headed off to Waimea Canyon leaving two confused & bemused parents in our wake. Waimea Canyon is an impressive site – they call it the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and with its vertical drops and deep colors it lives up to the billing. Our main focus, however, was the Awa’awapuhi trail, a trail that had been recommended by our large-eyed hotel guide Pearl. This trail led us through three miles of jungle to an impressive overlook of the Na Pali coast from 2000 feet above the waterline. The return trip involved 1500 feet of elevation gain and an unsuccessful search for mouse-rabbits that Aaron claimed to have seen, making for a good little adventure. Some snorkeling, ahi tuna, and drinks on the beach with Ma & Pa completed the day.

I’ve escaped from work to Kauai for our first family vacation since the days when Clinton was in office, “the Google” was still just “the Yahoo”, and Michael Jordan was finishing his second run with the Bulls. Aaron and I arrived yesterday, and we’ll be joining Ma & Pa tomorrow for a couple of days. I should then have two days on my own at the end of the trip, during which time I suspect the camera may see some usage.

To start the trip Aaron and I continued our long-running series of romantic getaways by booking two nights in a nice resort on Poipu Beach on the south side of Kauai. Upon arrival we found a lovely card addressed to “Mr. & Mrs. William Holliday”; Aaron was none too happy about having to be “Mrs.”, but he’ll survive. Still running on mainland time (three hours ahead) we went to bed at 8:30 last night and awoke at 5:30 this morning. A walk on the beach turned up a playful Hawaiian monk seal, one of only 1500 left in the world. He’s apparently a regular in these parts and there were “marine mammal protection” warnings lying further up the beach and waiting to be deployed, but I managed to keep Aaron off of seal-roping duty and he settled for just making boisterous announcements to the non-existent crowds to “step away from the seal”.

The chicken chasing started slightly after our seal visit. An anomaly of this island is that there are chickens everywhere – by the road, on the golf course, on the beach, and even in line at the car rental place. Following the morning’s seal encounter, and inspired by Rocky 2, I set off to chase one down; they are elusive, and a partial video of the debacle will probably be posted soon. Following that we hopped in the car, took a tour around the island, saw some impressive bird colonies, hiked along some impressive cliffs, and are now hopefully heading off to an impressive dinner. Vacation is a good thing, and I’m very glad to once again be on one.

For those not familiar with the great moment in cinematic history referenced above:

Mickey: Now here’s what I want you to do… I want you to chase this little chicken.
Rocky Balboa: Hey yo, Mick, what do I got to chase a chicken for?
Mickey: First, because I said so. And second, is because chicken-chasing is how we used to train back in the old days. If you can catch this thing, you can catch greased lighting.
Rocky Balboa: Well, I’ll do it if you say so, but it ain’t very mature.
Mickey: Yeah, well neither are you very mature!

Ma & Pa Holliday were in town for a few days, so Audrey and I met them for lunch and an evening out. My lack of enthusiasm for many things LA is well-documented, but this city has more than its share of memorable activities, and a visit from Ma & Pa was a good excuse to indulge in a couple of them. Lunch was at the bizarre and unique Encounter Restaurant located in the quadripod in the middle of LAX. Being in a science-fiction themed quadripod with airplanes all around is totally OK by me.

Following lunch, and after a long and losing battle with LA rush-hour traffic, we limped into Laguna Beach for the evening’s entertainment. Every summer Laguna Beach holds the Pageant of the Masters Festival, which is one of those you-really-need-to-see-it-to-understand type of events. The high-level description is that it’s a presentation of several dozen famous works of art, reproduced on stage with live actors as models, which sounds like complete yawnsville. However, being there in person with 2700 spectators while an orchestra plays, a narrator explains the artwork, and the curtain goes up on what appear to be huge, 2-D reproductions of famous works of art, all the while knowing that through some magic of lighting, make-up, and perspective it’s actually 3-D canvases with real people on them, is a pretty surreal experience. Even Pa, who can be notoriously stingy with his praise, admitted that it was “pretty cool”. Ma was more effusive, stating “I love it I love it I love it” on more than one occasion. From a slightly different perspective, the two old ladies in heavy costume jewelry that were sitting behind us frequently chimed in to let their neighbors know “that’s not people, it’s just a painting”; one might suggest they bring binoculars to next year’s performance so that they can see the “paintings” blink from time-to-time.

Eight years and one week ago, when I was 26, the first entry in this journal was made. The original purpose of what was then titled “Blowin’ in the Wind” was to chronicle an adventure to Alaska that began after I left the job that I’d held since graduating from college. That job at Anderson Consulting started in September 1998, just at the tail end of the Asian Financial Crisis. As a result of the slowdown in business overseas the San Francisco office was filled with new hires sitting around waiting for work and trying to figure out how to start their lives in the Bay Area. Since there weren’t any projects to go out on I decided to spend those days teaching myself the new “Java” programming language; little did I know this would be something I was reasonably good at, and one dotcom bubble later I had been involved with creating companies, working overseas, and designing systems for some of the world’s most recognizable corporations. However, after four years and too many 100+ hour weeks burnout made change inevitable, and I set out in the Subaru for Alaska with no real idea of what the future held.

When the journal started, and still to this day, the idea of putting these updates online seemed a bit presumptuous – why should anyone care about day-to-day details of what I’m up to? – but in retrospect it’s nice to have a personal chronicle that records the path that I’ve followed, and it’s also kind of cathartic to sit down and go through the exercise of putting together entries whose goals are to give a status of where things stand and how they got there. Eight years ago I wouldn’t have guessed that this journal would last as long as it has, but today I’m glad it did and hope it’s still going strong for many years to come.

When the Backcountry job started in January it was initially scheduled to last until May 1. That date later became June 1 before mysteriously morphing into October 1. Because of the short initial project duration I didn’t schedule any vacation, and through the first half of the year had managed only two days off – Memorial Day and one day of hiking and heat stroke with Aaron. With burnout building the little men in the brain were screaming for a long weekend, so the July Fourth holiday became a five day affair, with two days of lounging at home, a night at the new LA Ritz Carlton, and then a visit on the Fourth from my enigmatic brother.

While I’m still a fan of sleeping in the Subaru and living the grungy backpacker lifestyle, the passage of time has made a few additional options possible, and a night at the Ritz clearly has its appeal. Audrey and I had a ridiculous dinner of crab and dim sum on the 24th floor overlooking downtown, and the following day I enjoyed my second-ever massage from a masseuse who looked like Britney Spears (circa 2001) and would have made a lesser man cry as she attacked any trace of non-relaxation in my back and shoulders. After the short drive home we hosted my brother, who arrived late in the evening, and the next day turned into a Fourth of July grill-fest and wine-drinking event highlighted by New Zealand’s finest $10 wine and a cornucopia of seared veggies.

While these events may not end up as epic memories in the way that a trip to Antarctica or the Galapagos might, they’re nevertheless one more page in the future autobiography (“Ryan Holliday: A Cautionary Tale”) to be released at some point 40-70 years hence.

With the retirement from DirecTV back in December there was a brief window of opportunity to travel and work on side projects, but the Backcountry.com job fell immediately into my lap and the window was quickly closed. The new project has had its up and down moments, but it would be unreasonable to complain about a job that allows working in pajamas at home (and occasionally from Utah), so despite some slight burnout no such utterances will be made. As of last week the job has been extended through October 1, which unfortunately means that June is yet another month in which the journal updates are essentially “got up, worked, ran, worked a bit more, slept, repeated”; with luck the last three months of this year will be more eventful.

One item of note from the past month that likely no one but me will find interesting is that JAMWiki 0.9.0 was released on June 21 after over seven months of development. While those in my immediate circle tend to stare blankly back at me when I introduce JAMWiki as something I spend my free time on, it’s still been a really rewarding side project, and with more than 36,000 downloads since the project started it’s actually been something that has been of use to a number of individuals and (increasingly larger) organizations. Although some of the more ambitious plans for the project have been slowed due to working full-time, I’ll make the prediction that before the end of the year there will be news to report that will be of interest even to those folks who typically see JAMWiki and enthusiastically state “It looks really cool! What’s it for?”

The job with Backcountry.com has again brought me to Utah for a week, and since this time there was talk of working over the weekend I flew out on Friday night. The work didn’t materialize, so the time was instead spent roaming around the Wasatch Front. Rainy weather and lengthy naps limited exploration, but never being one to ignore a green dot on the map I made my way to Timpanogos Cave National Monument this afternoon. Unbeknownst to me Utah apparently has some fairly impressive caves, and after a hike to the cave entrance that was a mile-and-a-half long and involved 1100′ of elevation gain I was treated to the most enjoyable caving experience since a visit to El Malpais National Monument five years ago.

Lost finale party, May 23, 2010. We are dorks.

Two more photos from my “who are the people in your neighborhood” series. Now that spring is moving on to summer it seems that LA is becoming slightly less attractive to the wild animal population, so these might be the last photos until the critters return in the fall.

Two weekends ago Aaron and I met in Phoenix to hike the Grand Canyon. After making the acquaintance of the poop-eating dog and watching a stranger blow up Aaron’s ego by telling her friend “Look, it’s Chris Daughtry” we headed north to the park. My all-time record for rim-to-river-and-back hikes stood at something like 4-2 when we started (hiking in the heat is not my strong point), but we set off on the 16-mile round-trip with tons of Gatorade and confidence brimming.

Before continuing the story, for anyone visiting the Grand Canyon don’t try to hike down and back in a single day. The park warns against doing this hike for a reason, but Aaron and I are both in pretty good physical condition, and more relevant, we’re both stupid people.

The route we chose took us down the Kaibob Trail to the Colorado River and then along the river before we started back up the Bright Angel trail. This is where things got interesting. Nature decided that ascending five thousand vertical feet wasn’t enough of a challenge, so she threw temperatures at us that were twenty degrees above normal. Hiking through the desert, uphill, when it’s 105 degrees in the sun isn’t an ideal scenario for someone who likes to vacation in Alaska and the Antarctic. Aaron and I were both suffering by the time we got back to the top, but sadly I was the one in worse shape. Despite having to stop frequently to rest my spasming quads this one will go into the books as a draw, which puts the current all-time record at 4-2-1. Next time, however, we’ll go in March when it’s guaranteed to be cooler, hike it twice, and put two more ticks in the win column.

I’m off to Arizona to go hiking in the Grand Canyon with Aaron, but before I head off there are two items from the past month that need recording:

First, the final standings in the NCAA basketball tournament pool. After the disastrous 2006 showing I had nowhere to go but up, and despite a somewhat terrifying late charge by Audrey (who chose Duke because it sounded like a tough name, as in “put your dukes up”) the final standings were as follows:

1. Ryan: 720 points (percentile: 81.2%)
2. Audrey: 680 points (percentile: 75.9%)
3. Lebron James: 630 points (percentile: 64.7%)
4. President Obama: 590 points (percentile: 51.1%)
5. Dick Vitale (world famous basketball analyst): 500 points (percentile: 21.1%)

Second, after living full-time in LA for five years the payoff finally came: Audrey took me, her friend Lauren, and Lauren’s boyfriend Neil to the invitation-only Magic Castle in Hollywood. Her friend Lou Serrano is a magician, and getting in requires an invitation from a club member, so this one has been a hard night out to schedule. For anyone not already in awe of the place based solely on the fact that it’s called the “Magic Castle”, the night was very much like it sounds: there is a strict dress code (jacket and tie), you eat a nice dinner, and then you’re free to explore a castle-like building with roaming magicians and several theaters ranging in size from 20 to 200 seats. Yeah, I know, pretty much what every person on the planet has dreamed of since they were two years old.

Apparently the Magic Castle is something like a Hall of Fame for magicians, and being asked to perform is a pretty big honor, so the quality of magic was unreal – Lou was talking to us after his show, and during the conversation handed me five singles, and literally when I handed them back they were hundreds. Not a clue how it happened, although my operating theory is that he can stop time, take out his wallet, switch the bills, and then start time up again. On another occasion we were waiting in line to get into a show and a roaming magician did a card trick where he shuffled a deck, pulled out ten random cards, and the numbers on the cards corresponded to the cell phone number of the guy watching the trick. Again, no clue, but my money is on time warps. The evening ended well after midnight with the Japanese guy from Heroes snaking me in the valet line, but the joke was on him when my car still showed up first. Yet another memorable Audrey-arranged evening.

Despite being located in the midst of a sprawling megalopolis, our neighborhood is still a pretty good one for nature. The past month in particular has been great for variety, although most of the buggers won’t sit still long enough to allow photographs. While I’ve heard this hawk dozens of times, and seen him several more, tonight was the first night where he was feeling photogenic. The photo below was taken about seventy-five feet from our front door.

It’s been far too long since the camera has been out of its case, so below are today’s results from putting a mediocre photographer in a pretty neighborhood with a giant lens:

Here are the bracket prediction standings after the first day of the NCAA Tournament:

• Barack Obama (President of the United States of America): 120 points – overall rank: 96.9%.
• Lebron James (NBA Superstar): 90 points – overall rank: 38.3%.
• Ryan Holliday (34 year-old bald man): 110 points – overall rank: 87.4%.

Barry and I were tied until Wake Forest hit a last-second shot over Texas, meanwhile Lebron can start making up lost ground on both of us if fourth-ranked Purdue beats 13th-ranked Siena tomorrow.

I convinced Audrey, who watches no sports whatsoever, to fill out a bracket, and she currently has 80 points, tying her with legendary basketball analyst Dick Vitale (overall rank: 13.2%) despite the fact her rationale for making picks included “I have a cousin named Siena” and “Wofford is a really funny name for a college”. If she beats me the shame will not be bearable.

Since putting a bird feeder outside several months ago the house has become a bit of a Disney movie – finches gather by the dozen, ducks hang out looking for spilled seeds, and increasingly-round squirrels discover surprising ways of invading the feeder. After our third feeder became a victim of the squirrels – they somehow managed to chew off a metal perch – the sad decision was made to move to a more squirrel-proof feeder. The Squirrel Buster 9000 arrived a few days ago, and this picture (by Audrey) does a decent job of capturing the frustration of our furry little friends.

Many moons ago Audrey and I were watching one of those odd shows on Discovery Channel – the ones that follow documentaries like “Impaled!” – and they had a bit about a restaurant where you eat in complete pitch darkness with a waiter who is legally blind. While, in the past, I have disparaged LA, one of the very good things about this city is that when you see something odd on TV there’s a high probability that it was either filmed here or has since been copied by someone in this vast metropolis. As it turns out, Opaque operates in Santa Monica, and thus it was that for Valentine’s Day 2010 Audrey ate in complete darkness while I secretly stole her silverware and wine glass.

For those willing to spend a lot of money on a meal that you’ll probably end up eating with your hands, there are locations elsewhere including San Francisco. Note that if your date wants you to “dress nice” since it’s a fancy place, bear in mind that you’ll more than likely discover that you’re wearing some of your meal by the time you leave, unless of course you’re a pro like me. Also, relax your eyes as soon as you sit down; it’s too dark to see anything, and after a half hour I was getting a headache from inadvertently trying to focus. Finally, careful when reaching for the bread bowl – there’s a cup of butter in the middle of it. Here’s a YouTube video that somewhat captures the experience.

There haven’t been any pictures posted in a while. Here are three favorites.

After a truly dreadful job of making predictions for 2009, here’s the 2010 version. A psychic I’m clearly not, but they say even a monkey at a typewriter would eventually bang out a beautiful sonnet if he stuck with it long enough, so here goes:

1. SpaceX will launch their Falcon 9 rocket successfully in March or April. This prediction comes from the fact that a) I want them to succeed, and 2) they’ve already put two smaller rockets in orbit so hopefully they’ve got the hang of it. They’ve got five Falcon 9 launches on their manifest for 2010, but I’m gonna guess that two will be all that make it up this year.
2. Despite Democrats losing their 60th Senate seat in the Massachusetts special election there will still be some sort of health care bill passed this year. With control of Congress and the White House it seems supremely foolish that the Democrats would campaign without having passed any major legislation. “Re-elect me, even though I didn’t do much” just isn’t that catchy of a slogan.
3. Tiger Woods will be golfing again in time for the Masters, will win at least one major championship, and at least five tournaments.
4. The iPhone is going to be available from carriers besides AT&T by mid-year. Apple is able to charge higher prices because they offer a great product with great service, and based on my own experience AT&T’s network isn’t up to their standards.
5. The stock market will end the year around 11,500. It’s at 10,200 today, and while I wouldn’t be surprised to see it drop, the economy can’t stay bad forever.
6. NASA’s ARES rocket program will be canceled or scaled back to the point where it will no longer be a shuttle replacement. I’m a big space dork, but with budget issues and private companies now offering space transport I think NASA is going to be redefined as a research and robotic exploration organization, and not an agency that puts people and cargo in space.
7. The Beatles and Garth Brooks will start selling their music on iTunes. I’m gonna make this prediction every year until it eventually happens. And if Kid Rock and AC/DC are reading this, call Steve Jobs and tell him to make the magic happen ’cause I’m not buying CDs anymore.
8. The Browns will finish at .500 or better. I may be the only person on Earth who likes Eric Mangini, but I think the guy just needs some time to get the team he wants. I suspect Brady Quinn will remain the quarterback, but that one isn’t going on record as a prediction.
9. I’m going to run a marathon. There is absolutely no reason to believe that I’ll actually sack-up and do this other than the fact that I’d like to get it crossed off of the to-do list.
10. The 2010 elections won’t change Congress significantly. After the recent special election in Massachusetts this prediction may be a spectacular failure, but ten months is a long time in politics and I’m betting things may have bottomed out. I’ll say the Democrats will have 57 Senate seats (plus-or-minus one) and 240 House members (plus-or-minus five) when it’s all over.
11. Tesla will IPO and announce the opening of a plant in Downey. The plant will break ground, but full Model-S production will slip from 2011 to 2012.
12. Despite recent protests, the political situation in Iran won’t change in 2010.
13. Google will partner with someone to ship a low-cost, Google branded PC running Google apps and the Google operating system. This prediction might be premature, but I suspect that’s something they’re eventually trying to do.
14. Apple will be on the verge of announcing an Apple television product. They sell movies through iTunes and games for the iPod, so it seems like only a matter of time before they launch an all-in-one device that is a TV / video game / media center. I am going to want one when it does get announced.
15. China will announce plans to sell cars abroad. They seem to be following the exact same roadmap as Japan, first developing manufacturing infrastructure, then improving quality, then become industry leaders. Given the fact that fire extinguishers are supposedly included in most domestic cars sold in China, this is another prediction that might be a few years early.
16. It will be another bad hurricane year. There were five category five hurricanes in 2005, but there have only been two since. With El Nino supposedly back, this looks like another year for big storms.
17. Finally, I will make at least two journal entries a month. It’s gonna happen in 2010, really.

Check back this time next year to mock me for being completely wrong about all things 2010. For those who can’t wait a year to begin the mocking, the comments link below is there for your immediate gratification.

About one year ago I made some predictions for 2009, first because it seemed like it might be fun if I got any right, and second because it seemed like it might be amusing how wrong I would inevitably be. Here’s the scorecard:

1. The stock market will be close to 10,000 at the end of the year.
   The year closed at about 10,400 after opening around 9,000 and hitting a low of around 6,600, so this scores as one of my few correct predictions.
2. By the end of 2009 everyone will know what the smart grid is.
   Failed that one. No one ever accused me of being a smart man.
3. There will be at least two new national parks or monuments created.
   Failed again. Too bad, national parks are good things.
4. I will schedule another big expedition-style trip.
   The whale trip was a pretty big deal, but not on the scale of something like South Georgia. Half points for this one.
5. Chrysler is going to go out of business or be purchased; GM and Ford will keep chugging along. Another major bank will fail or be purchased.
   Chrysler was split up and is now sort of part of Fiat, so let’s say that’s three out of four. Not bad.
6. Obama’s approval rating will drop from its current 80% levels but still remain over 60%.
   Oops. I still like him.
7. I will run a marathon or some similar endurance race.
   Nope.
8. The “buzz” in energy will be all about bio fuels and concentrated solar.
   Didn’t get the dorky prediction either.
9. The Beatles and Garth Brooks will finally get released on iTunes. Kid Rock will not.
   Along with AC/DC these guys are all iTunes no-shows. The prediction batting average continues to drop…
10. The Boeing 787 will not face any further delays – two years is late enough. The 747-8 will move into production on schedule.
    There were six additional months of delay for the 787. The prediction game is clearly not one of my talents…
11. The Indians will not make the World Series. The Browns will not make the Super Bowl but will win at least seven games. The Cavs… will not be jinxed by me.
    Five wins for the Browns. That is a terribly small number.
12. Tesla Motors will still be in business, although the Model S will be delayed until the end of 2011.
    Tesla is going strong, which is great. There’s been no recent updates on the Model S, but 2011 seems likely. I finally get another prediction right.
13. I will still be working at DIRECTV.
    I made it through the full year before moving on to greener pastures, and since I’m doing the scoring that one counts as a correct prediction.
14. Yahoo will be purchased or merge with someone like AOL.
    They made a deal with Microsoft, but it wasn’t a merger. Didn’t get that one.
15. Lance Armstrong will finish in the top ten in the Tour de France but won’t be on the podium.
    He got third; I was half right.
16. I will manage to make at least two journal entries a month, doubling my pitiful performance of 2008.
    Clearly I’m bad at more than just making predictions.

It was fun making the (wrong) guesses. Predictions for 2010 will follow soon.

New year, new format for the journal. I think everything got converted over properly, although work still needs to be done to group together old trip journals and update links – if anyone notices any issues please leave a comment pointing out whatever obvious blunder has been made. With luck it should now be easier to make at least two posts a month, but that remains to be seen…

December was an extremely eventful month, although sadly I failed completely in capturing everything in a timely manner…

Vegas, Dave, Tim, and Audrey

The first weekend of the month saw Audrey and I off to Vegas to see Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, something that I would do on a weekly basis if possible. Tim Reynolds did some utterly ridiculous things with a guitar – I don’t know what an echoplex is, but it is clearly awesome. Dave started the concert by revealing that any bubbling noises were not a stylistic choice but were instead the result of mucous, and followed that up with a discussion of how Las Vegas is a weird place and proof that something has gone off kilter in the human evolutionary chain. They played for three hours, and afterwards Audrey and I returned home happy despite making the acquaintance of a drunk woman who decided that pressing every button in the elevator would be terrific comedy.

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

December 23 saw an end to my tenure at DIRECTV after three years and nineteen days. My co-workers there were a lot of fun and the work was interesting, but it was time to move on to new things. I had expected a lengthy retirement, but a new offer came along that may be too good to pass up, and, being a fan of things like eating and paying rent, it looks like I’ll be working from home starting January 11.

Holliday Family Christmas

Christmas came up fast this year, and while I managed the gold in getting Audrey a membership to Zingerman’s bacon-of-the-month club, I failed utterly with everyone else’s gifts and headed to San Francisco with only gift certificates. Sally came through with “Holliday Family Recipe” books for Aaron and I, and a two hour game of Quiddler ended with disastrous results. Aaron, Ryan Sutherland and I also started coming up with bizarre “what if” scenarios at some point during the trip, and people’s answers made for revealing insights into what was most important to each individual:

• There are eight planes, and all of them are going to fly across the country. One will crash. You can either choose a plane and take the flight, and if you don’t crash you get to choose any three houses in the world when you land, or, if you choose not to fly, your thumbs will be surgically removed. What do you do?
• You get to be the richest person in the world, but you have to live in a hot-air balloon that must stay at least 100 feet off the ground at all times, otherwise you explode. You can modify the balloon in any way, but it can’t be tethered to the ground for more than two hours a day. Do you take the offer?
• You get $40 million today, but at some point between age 65 and 80 you will be killed by a sword to the stomach. Death may take as long as two hours. Deal or no deal?

There were many more, but not all of them were appropriate for a public web site. Needless to say, Ma & Pa weren’t huge fans, but everyone else involved seemed to enjoy the thought-exercise.

After four days at home Aaron and I were getting a bit stir-crazy so we headed out to a fancy hotel in Avila Beach, ten miles outside of San Luis Obispo. Apparently the place caters almost exclusively to couples, so the lady at the desk gave us a funny look when we checked in, but at this point we’re pretty used to embarassment and it was well worth it to have a jacuzzi in the room and a wine reception in the lobby.

My two-entries-a-month goal has failed miserably. Here’s the summary for November:

Thanksgiving in the Bay Area was filled with the usual uncontrollable laughter, including the revelation that the Skipper and Aaron once had a pickle-eating contest that ended disastrously. Audrey joined us for the first time this year and confessed to a sore stomach after the multi-hour laughfest. Even Ryan Sutherland got in on the act, filling us all in on the Infomercial marketing wonder that is Booty Pops. In less interesting news the latest major version of JAMWiki was released on November 3, and surprisingly there haven’t been any reports that it caused some poor user’s computer to burst into flaming wreckage. And in news that is in no way related to me, SpaceX may be able to launch their new Falcon 9 rocket as early as next February, although March is probably a safer bet.

Posted partly because it’s awesome, and partly because I’m trying to do at least two entries a month, here is the list of the nine manliest names in the world. Magnus Ver Magnusson only got third, which I think is a travesty, although in fairness I wouldn’t want to face off against “Staff Sergeant Max Fightmaster”.