Recently we had a birthday around these parts.

There was strawberry rhubarb pie to be eaten!

And wishes to be made

birthday cards with corgis on them!! (from e’s mom… lol!)

I made breakfast in bed which consisted of baked eggs with Irish bangers from this chowhound recipe

We went to the computer history museum in Mountainview, where E contemplated some logarithms.

This is the calculating machine designed by Charles Babbage in 1845. It is one of two in the world- on lend to the museum from one of the first executives at microsoft.

Watch the hand-cranked machine in action- extremely beautiful. Truly a work of art.

The world’s first computer mouse! A block of wood with a button

This is one of the first computers in existence, from the 1950s. Check out the “monitor” (giant thing on right) and the “printer” (typewriter!) in the middle:

Here’s the first computer game ever invented. Looks fun

There was an entire section on computer chess, where I could have happily hung around for a few days. You could play other people at the museum, various versions of chess computer games, and people over the internet.

After the museum, we went to “Weird Stuff” which is a computer part supply warehouse. It’s basically a museum in and of itself. Aisles and aisles of old computer parts!

Mid day pizza refueling

And then we went scotch tasting. I treated Earl to “whatever bottle of scotch he desired” in the store. Thankfully, he did not chose one of these two (yiesh!):

I don’t know if you can see it, but I love how the label on those bottles underneath the 8k price tag reads “Everyday Low Prices.” heh.

We whiled away the afternoon and into the evening sipping coffee and reading at a cafe (one of E’s very favorite activities) and then caught a late dinner at The Mountain House, which was romantic and wonderful. We had a candlelit corner table overlooking the redwoods- it was so gorgeous!

Cartoon Earl

In honor of my nerdlove’s 30th birthday today, here are
30 Things I Love about Earl!

1. If I was going to sum up Earl’s personality in four adjectives, they would “integrity, kindness, intelligence and quiet strength.” What’s amazing is that so many people who meet him always mention the “integrity” and “quiet strength” descriptors as well. They truly do shine through.
2. He reads advanced calculus on the beach, for fun.
3. Occasionally, he sings, and when he does it always surprises and delights me.
4. Devout loyalty to his friends and loved ones.
5. Extremely disciplined about working out.
6. That slightly crazy, oh so frumply hair.
7. Lover of animals
8. He’s great with my family- everyone from my nieces to aunts and uncles adores him.
9. Intelligence, intelligence, intelligence.  Did you know Earl has a patent?  It’s for something he developed at his company last year called “The Algorithm.”
10. He tries all the wacky food when I drag him on culinary adventures, although his absolute favorite foods remain apples and vanilla ice cream!
11. Loves sitting in coffeeshops reading- this is one our of favorite ways to spend a lazy afternoon.
12. He’s the biggest supporter of all my dreams.  He comes and reads and snoozes in the car while I trail run, came out to visit me twice when I was at EMT school, and encouraged me to pursue my  career change.
13. He believes in me. For example, it was his idea that I pursue med school.
14. Extremely hardworking- he works 13 hour days without complaint and also lately has been working weekends.
15. I don’t know what the trait would be called, but he’s very persistent and always stands up for things that are wrong. Earl is one of the only people I know who will take time out of his day to actually write his senators and congresspeople.  He also is that person who fights for the $2.48 rebate.
16. He always volunteers to brush Linus’ teeth and cut Linus’ nails!
17. That scent on the back of his neck.  I love to stick my nose in there, give him kisses and take a big inhale.
18. The size of his hands. Earl has enormous hands and they are great to hold.
19. His embrace.  He’s so tall that he completely envelopes me.
20. Little things he does to surprise me.  For example, when I was away at EMT school and my phone charger died, he ordered and sent me a new one without ever telling me.
21. The way he gets roped into helping EVERYONE move.  It’s SO funny.  I think it’s because he’s so big and tall, and also nice.  He says yes to everyone who asks!  Normally I then get roped into helping, too.
22. His best friends.   They say if you can tell a man by the company he keeps; Earl’s friends are smart, interesting, loyal and fun.
23. Nerd hot.  He’s got it.
24. How when i first met him, I took my laptop (with his pictures on it) into my neighbor’s apartment and showed them the photos “Check out this guy! Look how hot he is.   He’s 6′3 and gorgeous.   Do you really think a MATHEMATICIAN could really be this good looking?  I can’t believe it!”  My former neighbors tease me about this to this day.
25. The sheer quantity of food he eats never ceases to amaze me.   I’ve never seen a human being consume that much food.
26. He makes my body sing, and I still feel my heart race when we kiss.
27. Earl supported me through an enormous change in my life and unfailingly stayed at my side during many dark hours of self doubt.
28. No matter how pointless and mundane, he always manages to feign interest every morning (or sometimes halfway through the night) when I ramble on filling him in on the senseless dreams I’m having.
29. He’s fun to cook with, and he makes the perfect taste tester.
30. I love taking Linus for walks together- the crook of his arm is perfect to hold as we amble along arm in arm.

Happy, Happy Birthday Earl

Superhero Earl

This morning I dragged Earl out of bed to come “explore the neighborhood” and also lend me moral support while I ran hill repeats on the Vulcan Staircase. He brought a book, and Linus, and they cheered me on while I huffed my way up and down the stairs five times.

Now that I’m back here at the comfort of my desk, five times doesn’t sound like all that much, but by the time I had ascended my fifth trip, man those quads were burning!

The Vulcan Stairs are one of those unique-to-San-Francisco types of neighborhood gems.  There are lots of little hidden streets and alleys in the city, and the ones on Vulcan Stairway have no street access.   This means the people who live there must trudge all of their stuff up and down the stairs every day. Now, I’m not sure why this amazes me so much, particularly because I’ve lived on the top of a fifth floor walkup in Manhattan for three years, but still. Shesh.

After I finished my running we spent the afternoon- as my parents would say- “bopping around the neighborhood” which consisted of exploring, taking photos, holding hands, and of course letting Linus make friends with every single dog we passed.

Some photos from today:

Earl and Linus coming down the Vulcan Staircase

This photo does NOT give the Vulcan Stairs justice. They are quite a bit longer than this and actually turn, split, and have many other landings proceeding out of the bottom of this photo.

View from the top looking down

Who can resist a cheesy celebratory “Vulcan” pose on top of the Vulcan Staircase after running repeats? Not me!

Please pardon the sweat and fatigue shown here.

Celebratory "vulcan" shot

Eagle-eyed Earl spotted this striking blue bird hiding in one of the gardens off the stairs. I wonder what kind it is? We were amazed that Linus didn’t scare it away.

what kind of bird is this?

Whereas the Vulcan stairs are surrounded by private gardens and have a bit of a secretive, enclosed feeling, the nearby Saturn Stairs afford expansive views. I guess you could say I really ran 5.5 lengths of the stairs, because when we finished the Vulcan stairs, we walked around the corner and spotted the Saturn Stairs down the street, and I decided to run up them just for fun and to check out what was at the top. The Saturn Stairs aren’t as long as Vulcan- only 1 block compared to 2, but they did boast this lovely view of the Castro and out to the bay:

view from the Saturn Street Stairs

Done with stair-mania, we refueled with some scrumptious fresh-squeezed juices from here. Earl had mango/apple and I had watermelon. As the moniker justly implies, they were stupendous

love the name

Earl loves the look and styling of this yellow home on Lower Terrace. And check out their view!

cool house

We came across this monument in the middle of the turn-around on Upper Terrace.  The monument wasn’t labled as to what it represents, however when we got home I googled and learned it represents the exact geographic midpoint of San Francisco. This conflicts what I had previously been told- that Buena Vista Park was the exact center of the city. However, venture that fancy official-looking monument trumps zen-like park when it comes to official midpoints.

Monument on Upper Terrace

Here’s a cool plant from the corner of Ord Court. What kind is it? Some sort of aloe vera?

what kind of plant is this?

Speaking of cool plants, how neat is this lemon tree? Must be because I am from New England, but I am just flabbergasted that it’s warm enough to grow a LEMON TREE on the sidewalk out front of your house here. By the way, it was 67* out today and gorgeous.

test

Take down your Christmas decorations, people! Here were some crazy ones in the Castro district:

crazy christmas decorations

We made a stop at the Seward Street Slides. How fun! There were little kids playing, so we grabbed some cardboard and just did ONE quick slide, as not to interrupt them. It was super fast and we even saw some of the kids getting air off the dips. Amazing how these slides still exist in today’s litigious world.

the Seward Street Slides

We grabbed lunch at Ike’s Place. It was disgustingly crowded, even at 3:30 in the afternoon. The place was packed to the gill with people pouring out onto the sidewalk and even eating sitting on the ground outside because there were no tables. Fortunately we snagged two seats and Earl enjoyed a #5 while I feasted on a #25. Yu-hum. We will be back!

Finally, we let Linus run around and play in Duboce Park. He held his own with the big dogs.

Duboce Park

But he was pretty tuckered (so was I at this point) when it came to that last final climb back over Buena Vista Hill to our apartment.

tuckered out on Duboce Ave

leaving the windows open on cool San Francisco nights.  Reading together in bed for hours, engrossed in our respective books*, while snuggled under a blanket, with our feet touching under the sheets.

Just a quick hello and an update. I got my laptop back from HP! And it is refurbished, (for free!), with a new motherboard (WHY did it need a new motherboard when it was only a month old?).  I also got a new phone from Verizon, also covered, that needed new “software.”  The verizon store was PACKED with people all crazed to buy the new Storm.

We put up our Christmas tree and it looks wonderful in the big window, I will put up some photos tomorrow.  I have some many pics on my camera which aren’t uploaded that the memory card is completely full.  Ack!  Very behind on blogging.

In the meantime, I have been learning the city in the style of a tentative housecat… slowly exploring, venturing out into our neighborhood further and further each day.

*me- Elizabeth, a bio of Elizabeth Taylor, E- Finite-Dimensional Vector Spaces…heh, my reading seems quite the fluff piece held up to linear algebra.

I’m letting Linus in the bed with me while he is flying back to NYC to get our cat.

heeheehee.

huggled

But, I’m allowed to break the rules today, because I’m really sick.

snuggled

I’ve been out of commission all day. This nasty cold/sinus infection with lots of snuffy, headaches, nose blowing and lethargy. Most likely a product of too much running around, throwing nutrition out the window during the roadtrip ( !! ), lots of changing climates as we drove around the USA, and things having been pretty hectic since we’ve arrived here in Cali. So, I know I did this to myself.
Oh well, a day in bed to recoup. Poor Earl flew out at 6:30am to pick up the cat and is flying back right now with her. His flight’s already been delayed twice so he should get in around 2:30 or 3am! Aye!

Part of the reason I couldn’t get going yesterday is because I am just overwhelmed with the sheer amount of things that need to be done in order to move across the entire country. Pair this with planning a crazy fun three-week roadtrip/tour of the country adventure, my obsession with researching a zillion guidebooks and learning about EVERYTHING before we go see it, and you have Ceej going nuts.

Here’s the schedule for the next few days:

• Tuesday: delete files off my old laptop, de-authorize itunes, pick up trial contacts, pick up ordered contact lenses, do laundry, clean apartment so it is not gross for tenant and computer tech coming over, meet computer tech who is installing/preparing my new laptop at 4:30, swing dance, meet tenant to sign sublet and give keys, respond to emails, confirm going away party at Carlyle, install new printer to new computer and E’s computer.
• Wednesday – 12:15 hair appointment to get my roots done and haircut, 3:00 meet Lauralea for our “last” matinée at Lincoln Center and martinis at Vince & Eddies (ie- our final girltime hangout in NYC!)
• Thursday - pack! Also have friends from Miami who may be crashing with us (haven’t run this by E yet)
• Friday - pack! Go out to dinner with our friends from Miami
• Saturday- Linus’s Herding Aptitude Test on a sheep farm in New Jersey. We are THRILLED about this! I don’t care how busy we are, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. It’s two hours away, and he goes on at 9:30am. We’ll probably want to stick around and watch all the other corgis have their herding tryouts as well.
• Sunday - finish packing?? 1-3:00, Dog Park Halloween Howl at Carl Schurz Park. I have mentioned before, I have something really special planned for this year’s Halloween, so I am completely psyched for this. Then Sunday night we are meeting my brother in law and sister who insist on taking us out to dinner “one last time” and “sending us off in style” at my bro-in-law’s brother’s restaurant, the Redding Roadhouse. It will be great seeing them and honestly I have been very sad about leaving my nieces and nephew on the right coast, so I turn into a basketcase thinking this will be the last time I see them for a while. When we get back from dinner, probably drunk knowing them but most likely will be pulling an all-nighter finishing packing because the movers are coming first thing Monday morning!
• Monday- Movers coming first thing in the morning! We have to get all our posessions into two 5×7x8 crates which will be shipped across the country. I have to say, using Door to Door has been a great experience thus far. They are helpful and responsive and hopefully this moving debacle will continue to be painless. Also packing up the Jeep for our roadtrip. Then Monday evening we have our NYC-based going away party at Bemelman’s Bar in Carlyle Hotel. It’s dressy and we have to look smashing, which will be a bit of a task after feeling disgusting and moving boxes all morning!
• Tuesday- we’re out of here! Heading to DC on the first leg of our roadtrip, with Linus and Lucy in the car. Lucy will be being dropped off in DC and then flying out to meet us in SF when we’re done with the trip.

And here’s the “To Do” List of items which haven’t been added to the schedule yet:

• change of address form online
• change address with the bank
• join triple A
• print out all the directions for the roadtrip
• confirm all of our places to stay during the roadtrip
• get absentee ballots
• vote
• finish reading all the roadtrip books and planning the roadtrip route
• take photos of all the furniture we are not taking and post them in the FREE section of craigslist

So, tonight, when Earl and I realized we have a shit-ton of stuff to get done, I asked him if he wanted to skip dance. This is how it went:

earl: agh

fucking printer is huge

Sent at 10:10 AM on Tuesday

me: oh yeah?

YAY! printer!

do you need help getting it home?

why don’t we skip dance tonight? since we are just so busy?

earl: no

me: i will call margaret and tell her

earl: I want to go dancing

no

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

me: okay okay okay

Sent at 10:13 AM on Tuesday

is cuddling for spontaneous naps on the couch!

Hey is there room for me on there too? Shortly after this photo was taken, I squeezed my way up onto the couch as well. My poor $600 LazyBoy cannot take all this abuse!

1. run the entire Long Path- not all at once, but in sections (status: have run the first 12 miles)
2. run 50 miles
3. get to an advanced level of swing dancing
4. learn to do aerials in swing dance
5. finish all of my tattoos- buffalo, dragon, De la Vega, Ironman
6. volunteer at a 100-mile race
7. double Century road bike
8. out and out own an apartment in NYC w. no mortgage
9. have permanent cedar planters surrounding our patio
10. paint a cute scene on the bathtub planter
11. get birds to live in a birdhouse on my property
12. learn about Manhattan flora and fauna, be able to name trees and flowers while walking around the parks
13. go on a Central Park Nature Walk
14. ride on a double decker bus tour
15. take Earl to Babbo
16. have my nieces visit us in NYC
17. go on a long weekend to visit my parents in New Hampshire
18. maintain yoga classes 4x per week
19. weigh under 125lbs again!
20. patch up a few waybegone friendships
21. hike the Appalachian Trail
22. heli ski in the Chugach Range
23. visit Kellie in AK.
24. own a farm in Argentina, perhaps near Bariloche or Mendoza
25. become and ophthalmologist or a nurse practicioner
26. go on a scaffold in NYC cleaning windows, be up over the 50th story
27. Do not kill Herman, my very first potted plant! (Accomplished: he is alive and thriving on our patio after 5 years of living with me in NYC).
    
28. Own a corgi (Accomplished: we now have Linus the rescue dog who lights up our lives!)
    
29. have a professional photoshoot with Earl on a fall day at the beach
30. Do something anonymously nice for two of my friends who are having a rough time (status: 1/2 accomplished thus far).
31. track down my Japanese exchange student, Akiko Minoche, who I lost contact with when she moved to Tokyo and her parents left Nagano
32. build a birdhouse
33. run the Badwater 135
34. run 100 miles
    
35. Own TWO corgis! (status: 1/2 accomplished)
36. have alpacas on the farm in Argentina, teach the corgis how to herd them
37. have 500 readers/day for Dances with Corgis
38. meet Gala Darling in person!
39. be a Big Sister with Big Brothers/Big Sisters (status: applied and denied because they have too many volunteer mentors and not enough students in need of Big Sisters, will revisit in 6 months)
40. write a bunch of wishes on pieces of paper, fold them up into paper airplanes and throw them off the roof of a building in NYC all at once
41. cook 250 meals from the NYC cookbook by Molly O’Neal (status: have done 2/250, oy)
42. learn more about gardening
43. grow plants from seeds
44. go dogsledding
45. shop mostly or entirely with locally grown products
46. volunteer for a week or two on an organic farm
47. ace all of my post baccalaureate classes
48. gogo dance at a NYC club
49. take an intermediate level hiphop dance class with Luam
50. take a hiphop dance class with Eric J
51. stay on top of my reading, read a lot
52. Read the NYTimes most Sundays (accomplished!)
53. stay on top of writing in my journal
54. own a sex swing
55. teach kids to play chess/work with a Chess in the Schools program
56. start playing competitive chess again
57. make sure my parents are taken care of and happy in their golden years
58. love Earl! (status: ongoing!)
59. grow old with my beloved
60. get married and have it be a fantastic party
61. road trip on The Blues Highway, New Orleans to Chicago via Memphis and Nashville
62. write a book
63. ski at Taos
64. climb a tree and take photographs in it
65. camp on the beach for a week again
66. Take my mom to a broadway show (Accomplished, took her to Phantom)
67. be an old lady and wear lots of crazy hats all the time
68. do a running race in the desert
69. go to antartica
70. travel in South America from Mexico to Argentina on the PanAm highway either via roadbike or car
    
71. huck a 15 ft cliff while skiing (status: at about 6ft but have yet to really stomp a landing)
72. do Nurses or Doctors without Borders
73. have Linus train for and pass the Canine Good Citizens Test
74. do a race or join the NYC Harriers
75. go on a hot air balloon ride! (status: bought a gift certificate for Letchworth State Park balloons but have yet to make it up there for the weekend)
76. play chess for $$$ in Washington Square Park
77. play masters level Go (status: attended classes at NYC Go Center but am still on the small/training level)
78. see otters in the wild!!!!!
79. stomp grapes for wine
80. throw my parents a fabulous 50th anniversary party
81. be in a food-eating contest, could be for anything
82. eat a giant burger in Pennsylvania with Steve
    
83. do something really special to remember Nils other than drink PBR and tell stories about him with friends
84. do a few more alleycat races with the NYC Bike Messengers (we did Cranksgiving last year and it was so fun!)
85. have a Progressive Dinner with friends in NYC
86. Design a nice website for Danceswithcorgis.com (accomplished!)
87. write thank-you notes consistently. Forever. (status: accomplished, but ongoing)
88. never lose my sense of wonder
89. do a long ocean swim (status: registered for the 5k sea swim with Wendy, Brent and Jenny)
90. take Earl marlin fishing
91. hogtie Earl and tickle him mercilessly
92. take an across the USA food roadtrip, taking cue from Roadfood by Jane and Michael Stern
93. take a ride on Famous Fat Dave’s Wheels of Steel
94. continue the annual Apple Orchard Ride tradition!
95. check off more restaurants in my NYC-eatery checklist
96. go to Blue Hill at Stone Barn
97. pace my friend Nick at Leadville 100
98. visit 1 new country per year
99. skydive NOT tandem
    
100. make a tradition of going Bemelmans after every NYC black tie event (status: ongoing, but accomplished thus far!)
101. make my own pickles
102. ride the tractor on Earls parents’ farm
103. make more wreaths to hang up in the apartment
104. make pasta from scratch
105. go to Russia
106. take Earl on a date in the back of my old Tacoma
107. own a videocamera and learn how to edit (status: 1/2 accomplished)
108. keep working on these and checking them off as I go!