The Year in Review
I could count on two hands the number of posts I made this year. That is extremely disappointing to know how far I have fallen from my height of blogging. Anyway, to make up for lost time, I will do a quick recap.
January
I attended Yves’ 9th Annual Xmas White Elefunt Party. I gave him a Banana Republic gift card and he gave me a “ferrous” wheel t-shirt to go along with a PS3 (my other one was stolen). Good trade! The following week, a bunch of us went up to Tahoe, where I learned that Keiko’s a better skier than me, even though it’s her first time. And the first of many business trips for the year brought me to an imaging company in Temecula, CA.
February
I briefly owned and then promptly sold my DNA stock, which unbeknownst to me at the time, was the last time that I would ever do that, since Roche acquired Genentech the following month. Gilead tried hard to recruit me to their formulation group, but I spurned their crappy offer. Again. Keiko and I spent a marvelous Valentine’s Day weekend in Monterey, where we saw some otters at the aquarium and had sushi at Crystal Fish and chowdah at Old Fisherman’s Grotto. Both those reviews (out of a total of nine) can be read from my Yelp account, which never really got started in the first place.
March
I went to Philadelphia for a prefilled syringe conference, and thankfully Denis agreed to come down from New Jersey so that we could lick the Liberty Bell a la How I Met Your Mother. The bell never really got licked, but it did provide me with an inspirational name for my fantasy baseball team -- Freedom Lickers. Note to self: never pass up Albert Pujols for Jose Reyes ever again. In fact, don’t pass him up, period. On a whim, I bought a super expensive ping pong paddle to hone my playing skills since Mike started a league in his garage. I also attended my first hockey game ever!
April
I went to St. Louis for the first time on a red-eye flight that routed through Chicago and went back home within 24 hours. That was pretty miserable, and no amount of first class domestic bribery would encourage me to want to do that again. I also attended my first Giants game of the year!
May
I went to Giants Photo Day so that I could take a picture with Tim Lincecum and the rest of the 2009 team. The game itself wasn’t that great though, as Cain got knocked around by the Rockies. That and it was rainy. Later that month, I made my second business trip to St. Louis and this time, I stopped by and went up the Gateway Arch. I also touched the Mississippi river, but it didn’t like it.
June
Keiko and I had our one-year anniversary! To celebrate, we went to Alexander’s Steakhouse and they brought us this cutesy little dessert with a candle! I also made my first ever trip to Europe -- to London and Oxford, to be exact. This was again for business, but I did get a chance to roam around for a night and soak up the history. The latter part of the month had me and six of my friends on a trip to Southern California, where amongst the highlights were theme parks galore, the right way to make s’mores, and dueling pianos.
July
I celebrated my birthday with some good company who were all nice enough to comply with my demand to wear red, white, and blue. The following week had me go from traditional American festivities to traditional Japanese festivities, as I went down to San Jose to see Keiko and her family perform in the Obon festival.
August
Too bad the full day beach trip couldn’t have been at the end of the month instead of the beginning, because I could have used it after spending a full weekend in Vegas and then some for my mom’s vitrectomy. She recovered (thankfully!) with better vision than before, but the whole ordeal pretty much incapacitated her for a couple of weeks. I did get a chance one night to run around Stanford to play capture the flag, and it made me realize just how much I miss that place.
September
What do you get with a houseboat on Shasta Lake and 12 of your closest friends? A pie in Diana’s face captured on video, that’s what! An all week work conference in Asilomar brought me back to the Monterey Bay area, and this time, an after-hours party had me eating seafood *in* the aquarium! The surgery revolving door continued, and this time, another trip to Vegas was necessary for me to see my dad through his thyroidectomy. No matter how well-prepared one is, dealing with cancer does not get easier. He’s fine now, by the way. The month and a half time off from work helped.
October
Two more trips to St. Louis had me out for about half the month, but that was well before the big night when the softball team I play on made it to the championship game! I then took on the leadership role of managing my own softball team for the following season. A late October trip with Keiko capped off a great birthday week for her and we got to hang out at Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli Square for a night, and then go wine tasting in Napa and visit the Charles Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa. A team of Diana, Keiko, and me also carved Mike’s face onto a pumpkin in his own pumpkin carving contest and I dressed as creepy Timmy with long yarn hair!
November
The first of many holiday parties started with a bang as Eric and Karen hosted an early Thanksgiving potluck where each individual attendee had to bring a dish that started with the first letter of the contributor’s name! I brought a fruit platter (I know, lame..), but the others stepped up where I failed. The real Thanksgiving surprise came when my dad and brother decided to come up to the Bay Area for a visit. I don’t think I’ve ever had dim sum that many days in a row.
December
Two more holiday parties occupied back to back weekends: the first a white elephant party complete with games involving a pie fairy and hula hoops and the second a company holiday party in SF where Gin Blossoms (one of my favorite bands growing up) performed. And after having caught up on some much-needed rest, that pretty much leaves me to today, where I am about to get on a plane for the last time this year to visit the family.
So despite what I thought was a pretty routine year, a lot had actually happened! I mean, I didn’t just sit around playing MLB 09 The Show or Dragon Age, although I did do quite a bit of that too. Anyway, I think I’ll change my answer to whenever anyone asks me what I have been up to. Instead of just saying work and stuff, maybe I’ll just have them go read my blog.
January
I attended Yves’ 9th Annual Xmas White Elefunt Party. I gave him a Banana Republic gift card and he gave me a “ferrous” wheel t-shirt to go along with a PS3 (my other one was stolen). Good trade! The following week, a bunch of us went up to Tahoe, where I learned that Keiko’s a better skier than me, even though it’s her first time. And the first of many business trips for the year brought me to an imaging company in Temecula, CA.
February
I briefly owned and then promptly sold my DNA stock, which unbeknownst to me at the time, was the last time that I would ever do that, since Roche acquired Genentech the following month. Gilead tried hard to recruit me to their formulation group, but I spurned their crappy offer. Again. Keiko and I spent a marvelous Valentine’s Day weekend in Monterey, where we saw some otters at the aquarium and had sushi at Crystal Fish and chowdah at Old Fisherman’s Grotto. Both those reviews (out of a total of nine) can be read from my Yelp account, which never really got started in the first place.
March
I went to Philadelphia for a prefilled syringe conference, and thankfully Denis agreed to come down from New Jersey so that we could lick the Liberty Bell a la How I Met Your Mother. The bell never really got licked, but it did provide me with an inspirational name for my fantasy baseball team -- Freedom Lickers. Note to self: never pass up Albert Pujols for Jose Reyes ever again. In fact, don’t pass him up, period. On a whim, I bought a super expensive ping pong paddle to hone my playing skills since Mike started a league in his garage. I also attended my first hockey game ever!
April
I went to St. Louis for the first time on a red-eye flight that routed through Chicago and went back home within 24 hours. That was pretty miserable, and no amount of first class domestic bribery would encourage me to want to do that again. I also attended my first Giants game of the year!
May
I went to Giants Photo Day so that I could take a picture with Tim Lincecum and the rest of the 2009 team. The game itself wasn’t that great though, as Cain got knocked around by the Rockies. That and it was rainy. Later that month, I made my second business trip to St. Louis and this time, I stopped by and went up the Gateway Arch. I also touched the Mississippi river, but it didn’t like it.
June
Keiko and I had our one-year anniversary! To celebrate, we went to Alexander’s Steakhouse and they brought us this cutesy little dessert with a candle! I also made my first ever trip to Europe -- to London and Oxford, to be exact. This was again for business, but I did get a chance to roam around for a night and soak up the history. The latter part of the month had me and six of my friends on a trip to Southern California, where amongst the highlights were theme parks galore, the right way to make s’mores, and dueling pianos.
July
I celebrated my birthday with some good company who were all nice enough to comply with my demand to wear red, white, and blue. The following week had me go from traditional American festivities to traditional Japanese festivities, as I went down to San Jose to see Keiko and her family perform in the Obon festival.
August
Too bad the full day beach trip couldn’t have been at the end of the month instead of the beginning, because I could have used it after spending a full weekend in Vegas and then some for my mom’s vitrectomy. She recovered (thankfully!) with better vision than before, but the whole ordeal pretty much incapacitated her for a couple of weeks. I did get a chance one night to run around Stanford to play capture the flag, and it made me realize just how much I miss that place.
September
What do you get with a houseboat on Shasta Lake and 12 of your closest friends? A pie in Diana’s face captured on video, that’s what! An all week work conference in Asilomar brought me back to the Monterey Bay area, and this time, an after-hours party had me eating seafood *in* the aquarium! The surgery revolving door continued, and this time, another trip to Vegas was necessary for me to see my dad through his thyroidectomy. No matter how well-prepared one is, dealing with cancer does not get easier. He’s fine now, by the way. The month and a half time off from work helped.
October
Two more trips to St. Louis had me out for about half the month, but that was well before the big night when the softball team I play on made it to the championship game! I then took on the leadership role of managing my own softball team for the following season. A late October trip with Keiko capped off a great birthday week for her and we got to hang out at Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli Square for a night, and then go wine tasting in Napa and visit the Charles Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa. A team of Diana, Keiko, and me also carved Mike’s face onto a pumpkin in his own pumpkin carving contest and I dressed as creepy Timmy with long yarn hair!
November
The first of many holiday parties started with a bang as Eric and Karen hosted an early Thanksgiving potluck where each individual attendee had to bring a dish that started with the first letter of the contributor’s name! I brought a fruit platter (I know, lame..), but the others stepped up where I failed. The real Thanksgiving surprise came when my dad and brother decided to come up to the Bay Area for a visit. I don’t think I’ve ever had dim sum that many days in a row.
December
Two more holiday parties occupied back to back weekends: the first a white elephant party complete with games involving a pie fairy and hula hoops and the second a company holiday party in SF where Gin Blossoms (one of my favorite bands growing up) performed. And after having caught up on some much-needed rest, that pretty much leaves me to today, where I am about to get on a plane for the last time this year to visit the family.
So despite what I thought was a pretty routine year, a lot had actually happened! I mean, I didn’t just sit around playing MLB 09 The Show or Dragon Age, although I did do quite a bit of that too. Anyway, I think I’ll change my answer to whenever anyone asks me what I have been up to. Instead of just saying work and stuff, maybe I’ll just have them go read my blog.
Labels: birthday, blog, food, games, holiday, life, sports, vacation, work
