March 30 - Client entertaining

I was fortunate enough to get a dinner invite to join some Nike clients who were in town at Oola. I was finally able to put faces to names and shared some good stories/laughs. The food was pretty good. I enjoyed the appetizers more than the main course. The burrata (young mozarella) and the foie gras and chicken ravioli (I just realized what I ate) were both great. I had the bacon-wrapped monk fish. Anyway, it was a fun night, but the 10 pm bike ride home was exhausting.

March 31 - Speed Dating

Speed dating at Kelley’s Tavern. Yes, I went by myself but somehow, I looked over at the next table and knew another girl there. Small world. 13 guys, 5 minutes each. Here are the highlight quotes:

“yeah, there’s this depression going on but my business has only gotten better”

“but that’s not interesting at all so let’s not talk about that” (6 times in 5 minutes)

“well i’m not going to put on pants if i don’t have to. you feel me, right?”

Actually, I got an invite from one of the guys before the event even started. He was really nice & perfectly sane. We talked 20 min prior to the event and somehow ended up at the first table together, but I’m a jerk and marked “no” on him. The one guy I marked “yes” on, marked “yes” on me, too. However, it’s been a full week since I emailed him (we’re given email addresses after a mutual match), and there’s been no sign of him emailing or calling. C’est la vie. (That’s funnier because he’s French.) Oh well, I suppose I’ll never know the in’s & out’s of beekeeping.

It was an amazingly hilarious night, though. The guys were basically a sampler platter of Silicon Valley. For the most part, they were all just a bit too nerdy, but at least with my background I was able to hold a sensible conversation with them. I highly recommend the experience, though. It made me feel like a champion dater, if nothing else.

April 2 - Night in Marina

With the help of my new friend, Alexi, I finally hung out in my own neighborhood. She introduced me to 3 single guy friends. No magic. We kicked off with drinks at Bin 38, which had a great & cozy outdoor patio. Dinner followed at The Tipsy Pig, also with a great outdoor space. The fried chicken was amazing. We spent the last 15 minutes of the night at Balboa Cafe. When they told me there was an older crowd, it was the understatement of the year. Half the crowd had white hair. Sadly, I don’t have *those* kinds of daddy issues to sort out.

I was so worn out from this week that I skipped the symphony Saturday night. Oh well.

April 10 - Level 42

I joined in Ryan’s birthday party celebration, a party that was totally at my speed. I should make friends with all people 10+ years older than me. We played Buzz! and Singstar on Playstation, and just hung out. I was glad I worked up the motivation to join (I was seriously knocked out from a week of late nights at work…Tyler called at 1 PM and woke me up!). It was a totally mixed crowd, but everyone was really nice. I battled Ryan’s young friend from Texas, who was visiting, at Spice Girls’ “Wanna Be”. Some moments are only possible in the gay world. It was a really fun night. There was also an adorable little chihuahua who rested her sleepy head on my leg for a part of the night. She totally would have fit in my coat to sneak home. I so look forward to the day I can have a dog again.

Everything else

I’ve had 2 weekend video chats in a row with Adam (hopefully a third later today with Amy), and that’s been amazing. It’s kind of like hanging out for a little bit.

Eric & Liz had their baby! Now the wait is on for Amy to deliver. Also, found out this week that a 3rd friend of mine is pregnant. Three reasons I have to go back to Indy this year at some point.

San Francisco is on the MINI Takes the States map this year, so I’m planning to sign up and join in the drive from SF to Denver. Hopefully, I’ll be bringing an entourage.

I *might* have an internal video project at work, if resourcing gets sorted out. One year after my discussions, I’m finally getting some traction (I hope).

Oh, and I’m in love with She & Him’s new album Volume Two. “Thieves” is amazing.

I also love riding my bike. I still like it less in the evenings, but I conquered hills this week, just as people told me I would. I can only conquer them late at night when there’s no traffic, though. I also liked biking less this week when I got 1/3 of the way to work, only to suddenly realize I forgot to pack pants. So there was a U-turn uphill, immediately following a shout of “fuck!”. It was not pretty and made me 10 min late to a meeting. I’m enjoying the exercise, though.

Lastly, my hair is officially beyond my shoulders. Crazy!