January and February in a (Cacao) Nutshell

The weeks of 2008 are flying by, which is good. The less time I spend writing in my blog, the less time you have to spend reading it. At some point in January, Leo visited and we started our career as rock stars. I still have a lot of practice to do before I can play in the same room as Josh, but we just got the game for my team at work, so I will be training until my fingers are worn and blistered. Shortly after Leo left, Will visited from Calgary. Will, Peter, and I drove down to Joshua Tree for some southern California sun. We did one day of climbing, one night in LA, one morning in Venice beach, then dropped Will off at LAX and drove back to Mountain View. Meder was supposed to join us on the trip, but a series of canceled flights kept him in London. After a short stop in D.C., he eventually did make it to California to play. One night we watched his favorite movie while eating chips, guacamole, pizza, and beer, followed the next morning by a stop for donuts on the way to play video games; you know, the typical way we entertain in America.

More recently, I went to Disneyland on a company trip. There were no lines since we went midweek in the middle of winter, but the park was closed for Google after 8pm, which meant we were only limited by our stomach's tolerance for rides. The rides are more tame than those at Great America, but Disneyland just has this amazing fluid fantasy feel throughout the whole park that can't be matched.

A few days later, Dawn visited. Among other lazy activities, we toured the Sharffen Berger chocolate factory in Berkeley. The one hour tour was free and included tastes of their different lines of chocolates, the main reason we were attracted. I actually learned a lot about how chocolate was made and would definitely recommend the tour for anyone looking to entertain or waste some time on a Saturday. Plus, walking around a factory where all of the rubble, dust, and debris comes from some part of a cacao nut is awesome - I want my own chocolate factory now.

And now pictures to prove that some of that happened and I'm not making it all up.