So it wasn't all sitting in the car cramping our legs. We took pictures. Herewith, a few more of those pictures.

The first night in the car when we're all still fresh and slightly giddy:

Clockwise from top left: Naomi, Shelley, Justin, James. James should learn to smile more.

In fact, he was accused of being too happy by a gentleman in San Francisco who just wanted our attention long enough to sell us opportunity to give $$$ to a just cause. This man's attention getter: "Excuse me, sir. I'm going to have to fine you... for smiling too much." If you find yourself down by the WWII submarine at Fisherman's Wharf, beware the guy with the "I heart San Francisco" stickers.

Windmills near Stockton, CA:

Some people got tired walking up all those San Francisco Hills (photo by Naomi):

The traffic cop at the base of Lombard Street wasn't enjoying his job this day. Even the flowers couldn't cheer him (photo by Justin):

The Engrish on this awning cracks me up (photo by Justin):

From left to right: Girl, Good Friend, Girl, Girl

One more of the bridge (photo by Justin):

This is the Siltcoos Beach on the Oregon coast, Monday, July 3rd, at about 7 am. Check out how I look all introspective (photo by Justin):

From a Starbucks paper cup, The Way I See It #89:

Recipe for happiness: an insatiable curiosity, a joy of discovery, quick to forgive, hold no grudges, love without condition, stay loyal to the  death, see the best and ignore the rest -- wow, we can learn a lot from man's best friend!
    -- Nick Bolletieri, Tennis coach and founder of the Nick Bolletieri Tennis Academy

Nice try, but I'm not completely buying it.

How about the negative examples of "man's best friend"?

• drinking from the toilet
• butt-sniffing
• face-licking

To these I prefer sipping a frothy pint, a smile and a hearty handshake, and a big bear hug or a gentle caress from someone I love, respectively.

I'm sure that if I were in to face-licking that my Match.com profile would get more action. But sacrifices must be made, people.

• 2040 total miles
• 36 hours driving
• 6 tanks of gas
• 3 states
• 2 golf discs lost in the water
• 1 cool hostess

We left Friday night just after 6 pm. Even though it was sunny and nice, and we get that combination in the Pacific Northwest about 5 days a year, we were determined to coup ourselves up in a car for the whole night. But what a payoff. Here's a not-so-brief summary:

Final Destination: Dublin, CA. We didn't have the luxury to take our time, so we stayed on the major freeways for the entire trip down. Total travel time, including gas stops: 16 hours. We arrived at Jana's place Saturday morning just before 10 am. We made good time, no?

Justin and I made a special trip to play disc golf in Berkeley. The score was tied going in to the final hole. When I laid up my second shot next to the basket, Justin made a play for the win. And instead of putting me in my rightful second place, his missed the pin and nailed the water. Double bummer.

We followed the Saturday evening church service with a most tasty trip to In-N-Out Burger. Praise the Lord and pass the ketchup! Get a #2 with a chocolate shake. Onions? Yes, please.

We let ourselves sleep in Sunday morning. (We really needed that.) It was then off to SFO to see the Wharf area, Lombard Street, China Town and parts of Little Italy (now at the top of my gastronomic experimentation TODO list: cannoli). Dinner at The House of Nanking included the best calamari ever along with a gloat-filled phone call to Bob.

We drove to the city so that we could start our trek home via the Golden Gate. The air was clear; the sun was waning; the photo ops were plentiful. Did I mention that the air was clear? :)

We arrived back home (in one piece! still as friends!) 19 hours later via the Oregon coast (Note to sociophobes: the beach is empty at 6 am). I think I got a total of 90 minutes of sleep that night and then another 120 minutes or so between Vancouver, WA and Bellingham.

The trip was a lot of driving. We averaged more than $3 per gallon for gas. Despite the tales here, we subsisted mostly on breakfast bars and peanut butter. The car wasn't spacious; we all suffered from sleep deprivation.

Would I do it again?

Just tell me when and where and hand me the keys. I'm ready.

It’s official... we’re actually doing it.

Justin, Naomi, Shelley, and I are heading to, at the very least, Dublin, CA to see Naomi’s friend Jana. We’ve got lots of cool things planned, including (chinese) food, (disc) golf, (old) friends, and general road trip shenanigans. Dig it.

We leave Friday after work. Boy, am I giddy.

[Update 05 July 2006: fixed destination city]

This morning, as I am wont to do, I weighed myself. I am 4 pounds lighter this morning than I was yesterday morning.

It's not all that surprising. I rode by bike to work (4-ish miles), rode to an Ultimate game (3 miles and a huge hill), then played in the Ultimate game, rode home (another 4.72 miles, apparently). Combine the activity with the warmer weather and a fairly active personal cooling system (um... I sweat a lot), and, as Gus Portokolos would say, "There you go."

I used to be boring.

Some people (shuddap!) would still say I am. Sing it with me now: “I am one of them... and so are you...” But it’s not because I’m doing nothing anymore. This past weekend, I stayed busy:

-- Axis and Allies marathon game
-- drove to Canada specifically for an 18-hole round of disc golf. I lost a disc and totally “Mickelson”ed the lead on the 14th and never looked back at anyone (because he was in front of me) again.
-- went on an hour-and-a-half bike ride
-- church
-- barbecue party
-- long nap

All in all, a reasonably good weekend. No TV, but lots more internet than normal.
 
Weekends like this are the coolest--just full enough with a friend, but not so full that I’m worn out afterwards. I even road my bike to work today in the heat (80 degrees! So I’m getting soft. Leave me alone) and didn’t feel a hint of weekend lag. Man, I dig that.

Coming up this week: Superman III (IMAX), Brandi Carlile (maybe), 4th of July road trip (likely).

Yep, it’s a blog. Up and running. Yippee. And so it begins.

Already you are now asking yourself:

1. What’s this blog for?
2. Do we really need another blog?
3. Who is this guy?
4. If a blog remains unread, does it still suck?

The answers are:

1. I don’t know.
2. No.
3. Some schmoe.
4. Yes.

OK, ok... the real answers are:

1. I really don’t know. You’re such a peach for asking so nicely. If I had to guess, though... maybe it has something to do with my trying something new, or maybe it’s a way for me be social in a geeky way. There may be techincal content. Or maybe it’s just a way to expose my own thoughts that I should keep to myself. Let’s shed some light on ‘em and see if they don’t scurry away, shall we?
2. No, but we don’t need most of the others, either. There’s a lot of junk out there. Most blogs are self-serving, self-involved, personal props. There must be a balance somewhere. I have a poor sense of balance.
3. My name is James. I believe in Jesus; I attend church. I write code, and I vote. I love my family and friends; I like frothy pints; I like sharing frothy pints with friends. I ride a bicycle; I hike; I play Ultimate and Disc Golf; I love football. I read some; I am not a writer (yet). I like good music, and I seek it out, though I am not much of a musician. Most of my thoughts are jumbled messes (yearning to be organized).
4. Look, I’m trying here. Or, I will try. Or, at least, I will try better than I tried before. The easiest thing in the world to do is to suck at something. And I have lots of suck-cess. Oh, yes, there will be grammatical mistakes, typos-a-plenty, and disjoint thoughts or arguments that seemed like a good idea at the time. But it’s just practice, people. Bear with me.