travel plans?

well, the results are in... i'm trying to plan our Galapagos trip. amit and i were talking about vacations the other day, and we realized that it's been 3, maybe even 4 years since we took an extended (more than a week) vacation where it was just the 2 of us. alaska was the last one. sure - there have been other trips - vegas, tahoe, east coast, sedona, canada, local road trips... but those were short 3 or 4 day getaways. we're ready for a nice long vacation... so we're thinking galapagos, chile, brazil & some other south american hot spots will be a great way to spend a couple of weeks. now let's see if the travel gods will help us find a good deal. otherwise, we'll have to come up with Plan B.

today's topic: when bad days happen to good people

have you ever had one of those days when you realize that you should never have left the house that morning? today has been that kind of day for me...and it's only 4pm so i'm a little worried about what's still to come!

i had a normal morning. brushed my teeth and took a shower - no problems. got through breakfast without spilling my tea anywhere. left for work and was pleasantly surprised that there was no traffic. the day was off to a good start!

unfortunately, about 3 minutes after I thought that, i got pulled over for expired registration. the cop asked to see my license and insurance. as i was digging around in the glove compartment, i noticed that the current registration was in there. so i handed it to him to show him that i had it after all. he said "Yup - that explains it" so i thought he'd realize it was all just a silly little oversight and that i'd be on my way in a jiffy. instead, he gave me a ticket and said have a nice day. ughh... if i didn't think cops were so cool, i would have been highly annoyed.

strikes two & three happened when i got to work and found myself in two unpleasant and sticky situations. you might be bursting with curiosity, but i really can't / shouldn't mention them here. some of you will undoubtedly be getting the updates from me in person!

hopefully I'm done dodging bullets today. thankfully, i had a fantastic weekend so i'm seemingly unfazed by the randomness that has plagued me today.

why was my weekend so great, you ask? well let's see...friday i left work at 2 and got a head start on the weekend. that night we went to dinner at Amici's and had some pasta to help us fuel up for our run at Sawyer Camp the next morning.

saturday morning we got to Sawyer Camp at 7am where Amit and the rest of the relay team were going to do a 7-mile run. i'm having fun joining them for runs when i can...i managed to run 6.0 miles that day! it was really tough, but it felt good and i'm glad that i'm pushing myself. after the run, we went to Dosa Place for lunch. that night Samir & Manisha came over for dinner - we hadn't seen them in months so it was great to catch up!

sunday morning i went for a short "cool down" run...mostly just to stretch and loosen up my legs. then i went to lunch at Krung Thai for Sam's baby shower. that night we went up to SF and hung out in Castro. Dinner at Nirvana was fabulous and the couple of bars we went to were really good, too.

monday was President's Day so Amit had the day off. i took PTO so i could be home, too. we went on a morning hike to Mission Peak. we all met there around 8:30 and started hiking just before 9. i didn't go all the way up - i hiked up about 1 hr 20 mins, which is about how long it took the others to go all the way to the peak, and then turned around to head back at the same time they did (amit called me from the top to let me know they were heading back). i was totally wiped out the rest of the day. my legs are pretty sore today, but it felt good. if everyone goes back for a 2nd hike, i'm hoping to make it all the way to the top next time...or given a constrained amount of time, at least farther than i did yesterday (i *think* i got 2/3 of the way there).

so that's what's going on with me. i'm looking forward to a slow week - need some recovery time from the fun, but totally exhausting weekend.

Weekend Update

we had a fun weekend. it was amit's birthday on saturday. friday night amit and i went out on a date to kick off his birthday weekend. we had dinner at The Basin in los gatos. we shared a bottle of wine, and just enjoyed having some time together without the pressure of having to be somewhere or having something to do. it was nice.

saturday morning we had to be at the Sawyer Camp trail in san mateo by 7am. amit and the rest of the running team ran 6 miles, i ran 4 miles with them. i ran 2 miles, walked 1/2 a mile, then ran another 1.5 miles. i'm making decent progress - that was the longest i've been able to run without stopping so far, so it felt great. i'm trying to push myself a little harder each week, so this week's looking a bit daunting right now! by the way, the trail was gorgeous! here's a picture from the run. and....here's the link on Bay Area Hiker http://www.bahiker.com/southbayhikes/sawyercamp.html

in the afternoon i took amit to Watercourse Way in palo alto where we had reserved a private hot tub & sauna for an hour. he loved it! we got to spend an hour in the tub room, and after the long run in the morning, it felt great. we were so relaxed afterwards - as soon as we got home, we fell asleep.

that night we went to Antonio's Nut House with some friends to party it up. sunday was all about the superbowl - went to a party at Dumma & Leena's house. it was a really great weekend - somehow i felt like i was on vacation the whole the weekend. i'll post some pictures from amit's birthday and the superbowl party later this week.

i want to be an anthropologist

it's been a brutal week at work. dare i say that today is shaping up to be tolerable so far... i've tried to take the afternoon off every day this week, but without fail, i keep getting pulled into a fire drills that keep me at work late. yesterday, i got as far as clicking on "shutdown" on my computer when my phone rang. sighh... it all went downhill from there. so i finally just blocked off my calendar to be out of the office after 1pm tomorrow...this time i mean it!

with work taking so much time away from "other" things i could be doing, i've been doing a lot of reflecting (ok, i guess daydreaming) about what other fabulous jobs i could have:

Fabulous Job #1: Anthropologist
Why I'm qualified:
(a) I took an anthropology class in college;
(b) I like to shop at Anthropologie; and
(c) I think it would sound cool to tell people that I'm an anthropologist
Obstacle: I don't like scientific things :-)

Fabulous Job #2: President of the US
Why I'm qualified: I like to decide things
Obstacle: Do I really need to tell you the obstacle here??

Fabulous Job #3: The person who decides all the street names
Why I'm qualified: I want to save the world, or at least the Bay Area, from the plight of random, unpronounceable, or just plain annoying street names.
Obstacle: None...I think I might really apply for this.

Check back next week to see if any of my dream careers have come true.

Welcome to 2008!

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's 2008 already! What a year it's been! Let's recap:

January: I turned 30. It was fun. That's all I remember.
February: Amit's bday (also the same as Groundhog Day)
March: ummm...
April: Barbados trip
May-August: Softball season. And...my parents were here. They got an apartment at Northpark for 3 months. It was great - I don't think I had to cook even once during those 3 months. And we took some local trips - Mendocino, Monterey, Sonoma wine tasting... Amit's mom came for a visit in August, too.
Sept-Oct: a total blur. We were both swamped at work, and while it was only a couple of months ago, I'm ashamed to say that I can't really even describe anything of significance that we did in those two months. Bahh...
Nov: Busy, busy...then we went to Ohio for Thanksgiving
Decemeber: more busy, busy, then off to Puerto Vallarta. One thing that I'm happy we did accomplish in December is some volunteer work for a family that we adopted for the Holidays. It was really rewarding to get to know them and focus on someone else. We were matched up with them through Habitat for Humanity...we're definitely planning to participate next year.

Somehow each year seems to go by faster and faster. I wish we could find a way to slow down time. I always remember that episode of The Twilight Zone where that guy gets a stop watch that can actually stop time. How amazing would that be - to be able to make the great moments in your life last longer. We have so many experiences every day, and sometimes it's the wonderful things that seem so brief.

Chethan & Srivalli hosted an 80's theme New Years party last night. It was a blast. Everyone got totally into it, and I had so much fun shopping for all that totally 80's jewellery! Amit's at the Sugar Bowl so he missed the party. I missed him there, but I know he's having a blast at the game - can't wait to see him on Thursday!

PV Day 5: The Countdown

On Thursday, reality set in that it was our last day. We planted ourselves on the beach and resisted all urges to get sucked into activities. One activity that we couldn't resist was pottery painting. Leena and I flexed our creative muscles...she painted a fish, and I painted a turtle. It was super fun and our final products turned out really great! Meanwhile Ricky and Amit took the bartending class and the guys spent some time hanging out in the pool.

That night we had dinner in the Mediterranean restaurant. We went to bed pretty early - it was a fun-filled, relaxing week, but boy were we tired!

The next day we'd be heading home. It was a memorable week...good times. Soon we'll be saying hello to 2008, hopefully a year filled with new and exciting things!

PV Day 4: A Visit to Centro and a Massage

On Wednesday, Dumma, Leena & I went to downtown (aka Centro) for some shopping. Leena and I bought some cool jewellery which we've decided will be community property between us since we both liked the same things...nice :) Dumma was really nice and unbelievably patient with us while we stopped at every jewellery place we saw. At the end of the shopping excursion, we enjoyed the best margarita of the week at one of the downtown restaurants. Yummm....

Meanwhile, back at the resort....

Amit and Ricky finally decided they were ready for some activities. They spent the day swimming and enjoying some of the activities.

We all met back up around 3pm. Just in time for our massages. Dumma/Leena and Amit/I had scheduled a pair of couples massages at 4pm. It was great...so relaxing. Afterwards, we took a dip in the pool before getting cleaned up for dinner. That night we had some martinis at the M&M bar, then enjoyed some flaming shots at the Italian restaurant, and finally ended up at the Living Room bar. The guys were tired and went to bed around midnight, so Leena & I ended up having an impromptu Girls Night Out and continued our night for a couple more hours.

It was a fantastic day.

PV Days 2 & 3

Finally, there we were, in Puerto Vallarta. It took 2 days to get there, and we were eager to get to the beach. Amit, Leena and Ricky spent the first day lounging around and napping at the beach, the pool, and in the hotel room. Perhaps Dumma and I should have done the same...instead, we went to the gym, played tennis and ran around doing every activity in sight! Dumma even made friends with the old ladies in the Water Aerobics class. We were wiped out!








The second day we all joined Dumma and his new friends for Water Aerobics. It was much harder than it looked. We had a fabulous day - swimming, lounging at the beach, sampling the Mai Tais & Pina Coladas... Now this was a vacation!

PV Day 1 delayed

Our flight out of Phoenix was supposed to be at 10am. When we arrived at the ticket counter for US Air, they had no record of United Airlines having booked us on their PHX -> PV flight. So the uncertainty continued. For a couple of hours that morning, they shuffled us back and forth between terminals 2 and 4, both airlines denying responsibility for the mixup. Amit and Dumma took turns arguing our case with each airline representative we were passed on to. The whole situation was frustrating beyond words. One airline agent told us we'd have to go back to SFO to get a flight to PV. Another agent wanted us to stay in Phoenix till Wednesday, then go to Gaudalajara and then on to PV on Thurs...just in time to spend 1 night there before flying back on Friday! We finally ended up on a standby list for the 10am flight, then the 11am flight. Miraculously, we made it onto the 11am flight - all 5 of us. Although Amit's visible frustration (maybe it was the pen he snapped in half while talking to the ticket agent) landed him in Leena's boat - with the cursed 4 S's that sent them to the extra security line.

Finally, after 36 hours of travelling, we arrived in Puerto Vallarta. We were frustrated, pissed off at the airlines, grateful to the few helpful people we encountered at both airlines, tired, and more than ready to be on vacation.

I'm happy to say that none of us lost our cool with each other. We all went with the flow, despite our frustration with the situation. I think the way we handled it definitely made the situation more bearable. We were all in this together and we stuck together through all the frustrations.

The first night in PV we settled in at the hotel, had dinner, and calmed our nerves with some drinks at the bar. We'd all be ready for some R&R after a good night's sleep and a shower.

PV Day 1: Mr. Phillips and Curse of the 4 S's

It all started off great. we arrived at the airport earlier than schedule and we were all set to jet off to puerto vallarta. we should have known there'd be trouble when things started going less than perfectly from there. nothing disastrous, of course, but little things, when given the opportunity to go wrong, they did.

first, when we tried to check in at the kiosk, everyone's passports went through the reader without any problems...everyone, that is, except for Leena. for some reason the card reader didn't recognize her passport. so we shook it off and stood in the regular check-in line. dozens of minutes later we finally got to the front of the line. we got our boarding passes and were on our way to the security line when we noticed that we were missing a boarding pass for Leena. So...back to the check-in agent. Now we're ready to go! So we're standing in the security line, when the agent comes over and asks of any of our boarding passes are marked "SSSS". Sure enough, one of ours was. Guess who....Leena. And so Leena was exiled to the "extra" security line along with some 90 year old woman and her 100 year old husband. It would be a long time before we'd see Leena again, but at least *then* we'd be on our way.

Aaah, but this trip would not be so easy. United Airlines decided to downgrade the plane so 27 passengers (including us) were out of luck. Uh-oh. So, here it was, 9:30 am, an hour and a half before our scheduled flight, and we had no seats. The next thing we knew, the hours were passing by, and we were at the mercy of Mr. Phillips at the United counter. He scheduled us on a 7pm flight to Phoenix, where we'd have to stay overnight, and then fly out the next morning to PV. So this is how our day went, 9am to 7pm we sat and sat and sat...

Finally around 10:30pm we landed in Phoenix with no luggage, no toothbrushes, and no idea that our bad luck would follow us to the next day.