Ain't It Good, Part II

Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh Yea! Alcatraz. So, the national park service runs Alcatraz. It certainly shows its age and it is sad to think that it won't be there forever! So anyway, Alcatraz was first a military base, then a federal maximum security prison. It closed its doors in 1963, owing to the gigundo cost to run it...being off shore they had logistical issues with waste, supplies, etc etc.

So, it is about a 20 minute boat ride across the (very windy and cold bay) to get there. See below:



Windy!

They call it "the rock" for a reason:


So, when you approach the island to dock, one of the first things you see is a large sign identifying the place, but someone has spray painted "Indians Welcome". I'm not 100% sure on the story, but Alcatraz was occupied by Native Americans for nearly two years, and the proposed to turn it into an ecology center, etc, but they were forced out, and it was during this period that many fires took place. Here is the wikipedia article should you want to read more about it!

Here is a photo:



You get off the boat and hike up a gently sloping hill that is supposedly about 13 stories when you get to the prison at the top, but didn't seem to bad to me, then you go in the main cell block area and start an audio tour. I have to say, I felt like a giant nerd walking around with that orange string around my neck with a player attached to it, but it did end up being cool. The park service went and found prisoners and guard from Alcatraz and interview them for the tour, and it was nice to hear some history first hand.

I'll walk you through a bit of it here.

First stop: in take showers. This is where the tour started. Not terribly private, hey?



Welcome to Alcatraz, here is your cell! (Very similar to my 1k per month apartment!)



Block of cells on C-D Street.


The inmates had plenty of time to knit!


Solitary Confinement was not a friendly place. This is where "The Bird Man" spent a great deal of his time.



Where inmates had visitors.

There's Jennie in front of the city skyline from Alcatraz. Could be worse for a federal penn, right? CHHHYEA!


Three inmates escaped from Alcatraz by burrowing holes from their cells air vents into the exhaust system and out. Somehow, they managed to make life like masks of themselves and place them in their beds, so the guards didn't notice that they were gone until long after they had left the island. No one knows if they made it to the city or the Angel Island (the "Ellis Island" of the west) to this day. They were never heard from again. They may have made it to safety, they also may have drown int the cold waters of the bay. It is up to your imagination as to what happened to them. I imagine that they made it to San Fran and got the hell out of dodge so fast no one could find them. The above photo is one of the dug-out air vents.

And finally, one of the things I found strangest about Alcatraz was that the menu board hung with the breakfast menu from the day they moved the prisoners. Granted, someone may have re-created it, but in my world it has remained intact, kind of like a snapshot in history. I found it fascinating that a detail like that would be left intact, even during the Native occupation and almost 50 years. Here's a photo:


There is your brief tour of Alcatraz. :-P I recommend the full one to anyone in the area!

The rest of the time, Jen and I took a tour of the city (sorry, not too many pics, too fast) and then we went back to Livermore for the 4th, watched some fireworks, drove around the valley a bit, and just laid low after several days of jamming.

The 5th came and I dropped her off at the airport, and was sad for a while, but, owing to my very generous mother, was able to go drown my sorrows in retail therapy. I needed new sneakers very badly, and I got them. Did you know you're supposed to switch out your sneakers every 300 miles? Well, I had long since bypassed that mark, but now I have a bright pair of brand new Nike's. I will be honest and say I had never been able to fit in Nike's before, but these are awesome. Thanks Mom!

Next, I was off to my coworker Debbie's place for dinner, but first she had agreed to take me to a movie. I love going to the movies, but I so rarely do it, so it was so very nice of Debbie to take me! We saw Public Enemies, which was a bit long, but still very bad ass. Then she had me over for dinner, and her oldest son Eric and his GF Sarah surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of lillies and peonies, which made my kitchen smell wonderful for a week. Sweet birthday, right? I had dinner at Debbie's, he SO, Ron, made kebabs of chicken and lamb. I had one bite of just about everything on the table...risotto, kebab, fresh tomatoes and cheese, yum yum! It was a birthday feast for sure. Debbie and her fam even got an angel food cake with lots of fresh fruit and sung to me! I didn't have much, but it was so delicious. I took a photo of my glowing cake (I know it's bright, 25 whole candles!). Here it is:



Aren't I lucky?

As if that wasn't enough, the party continued Monday! Plenty of well wishes from my coworkers. My Claude, the SLW winemaker, had myself and Monika and her family over for yet another amazing meal. We had venison...it went very good. Best I've had, probably. And bonus, I got to see Monika's adorable daughter! My supervisor, Chris, made me real buttermilk pancakes too, and he even made them tiny sized for me. Perfect. I will admit, I am spoiled. I had a FANTASTIC birthday. Thank you to everyone for making it so special!

PHEW. Lots of adventures. And the summer of fun continues: this weekend I am off to Seattle to be in Anna Sweet's wedding. Heck yes! I am psyched. Weddings are very exciting. I get to see my room mate Chris, from crush in WA, for the first time a while too. You all will hear about that soon!

PS-- Home in NY in just under a month! Can you say...excited?!!?!?

Cheers!

Ain't It Good?

Song: Ain't It Good, Children of Eden, Original Cast Recording

Long time, no update. Call it an unfortunate case of a very long to-do list. My birthday has come and gone, and I can say with absolute certainty that I have gotten a lot accomplished in my 24th year. Surgery, school, working, keeping my head above water. I gave myself a nice pat on the back and a few of my favorite potato chips in celebration. Yes, sour cream and cheddar ruffles. Yes, they are unfortunately just as delicious post-op as they were pre. Drat. Since I can't have birthday cake really, they are my choice of stand-in. :-P

Anyway, for my birthday and the 4th, my best friend Jennie came out from Washington DC. Can you say AWESOME! Well, we got up to quite a few things while she was here. She had a series of requests for places to visit, most of which I had never visited, so I was happy to oblige.

Our first stop was to spend the night in Monterey, CA. Monterey is a beautiful coastal town about 40 miles south of Santa Cruz on the extremely scenic Route 1. We drove down on a Wednesday after a delicious break fast at Zorn's, my favorite breakfast place in the area, who makes killer avocado, tomato, bacon and cheddar omelettes. Jennie discovered the magic of traveling with a gastric bypass patient...we're cheap dates. One omelette, two cups of coffee, and two satisfied customers.

We were on our way, sponsored by my Aunt Deb who had picked up some free passes, to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. OH.MY.GOD. It was AMAZING. It narrowly beat out the Sydney Aquarium because they had so little space and did so much with it! I highly recommend it to all who visit the bay area. My favorite exhibit was the jellyfish, Jennie's was the otters, I think. They also had an entire exhibit dedicated to seahorses. Here are some photos:



Beautiful jellyfish.



Yes, ESers, those are Emerita. Not talpoida though. Could have fooled me!



Some sea anemones.


Jen's favorite, the very endearing otters



Entrance to the Aquarium



These jellyfish are currently the background on my computer. Aren't the colors awesome?

After spending the night and awaking to the sound of the ocean outside of our room, we headed out to drive south on Route 1 to Big Sur, which was quite a ways down the coast.

We did a portion of 17 mile drive, which is famed, evidently, but gave up before the end because it was boring. Ha! Sorry, but, you're better off to stay on Route 1 and skip the 9$ fee. But, we did get to see the lone Cypress, which is a very famed image of a single Cyprus tree rising up from a rock formation in the sea. Here is a photo.


On the way from Monterey to Big Sur, we stopped in Carmel, dictated by our empty stomachs. As luck would have it, Carmel is home to a historic mission! Jennie and I both love visiting missions. We're not altogether sure why, considering she and I are both not terribly religious, let alone history buffs or Catholic. But, as I mentioned in a previous entry, something about them really strikes me. So, we stopped, browsed the rosaries in the gift shop and went to check out the mission. We met a very nice padre there, he seemed very humble and kind, exactly what I like to think of when I picture holy men.


Beautiful day behind the bell tower, don't you think?




Inside the main sanctuary...don't worry, it's cool to take pics, I made sure.



Older graves marked out by rather large abalone shells.



Fountains and Gardens.



Bell Tower and Sanctuary Building

We drove southward until we reached Big Sur, then we turned around and came back up. It was beautiful. However, it was a very windy and frustrating drive, with lots of shifting and breaking, it was tough on my little CRV. But, I always make sure my CRV gets to see all of the sights. It deserves it, after all, carrying me around! Below is a photo of Jennie and my CRV enjoying the scenery near Big Sur.



See? The CRV needs love too!

And here are two shots of the scenery at the coast. It was breath taking, really.


The biker on the right side of this pic was REALLY GRUMPY!!!




Next stop was Santa Cruz for dinner...for the BEST fish tacos in the universe. I mean, they are amazing. Fresh, of course. Let's see if I can remember them all: scallop, snapper, shrimp...oh, I can't. But I will tell you, none of them are deep fried and they are all delicious. They are from a little taco bar in the back of the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasters called El Palomar. Just for all of you, I took some photos! I had one bite of each...yum!



PS- Don't be scared, one of the tacos pictured is asada (beef), for those who noticed.

Alright, I unfortunately need to go to bed. I have to work tomorrow, sheesh! I will finish vacation round two including Alcatraz and a San Fran city tour and my week long birthday mania tomorrow night!!

Stay Tuned!

Cheers Big Ears

Don't Stop Til You Get Enough

Song: Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Michael Jackson

I don't think any of us can believe Little Michael died yesterday. Despite his personal choices, the guy did make some rocking music. As evidence, I took a screen shot of my iTunes library sorted to his music (this excluded Janet, which is another lengthy collection!). Almost 200 MB! Thanks for the music, Michael.



Onward, I had quite an action packed weekend. I spent the day Friday studying, which was not so action packed, but necessary. Then Saturday I went scouting in San Francisco for some people's upcoming visits, and it got me out walking (uphill) in new scenery and away from the gym! I got off of BART at 16th Street, in the middle of the Mission District. Below is a photo of a beautiful mission there. Missions are quite frequent in California, and I find them so beautiful. In the future, I'd like to visit them more often.


The next stop was the Castro to see 1)where it was and 2) Harvey Milk's place at 575 Castro Street. (Castro Camera) It is obviously no longer Castro Camera, but Harvey is remembered herein. I stopped in, snapped a picture, paid my respects, gave my thanks, and continued around the neighborhood. There was a show at the Castro Theatre that afternoon and the place was a buzz. I encountered a few friendly people that pointed me in the right direction to my next destination. Nice place.



And where Harvey Milk lived:




My next destination was "The Haight"...AKA the home base during "The Summer of Love" in 1967. Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead resided in the area during what history writes as quite the summer! Anyway, I don't know if they intentionally scent the air to smell like sweet, sweet marijuana, but it appeared that they did. A nice place now, mostly owing to that smell, but mostly tourist-y now. I'm pretty sure that's not what Janis, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead had in mind...but, it is consumerism at its best.


Not bad for my little point and shoot, huh?



Building on the corner of Haight and Ashbury



The next stop was one for my cousin, Miranda. I was within a mile or so of the Painted Ladies, so I decided to go and "complete" Miranda's honeymoon photos, because we had been too late and it was too dark for her to get any good photos of them when they were out here. The Painted Ladies are a group of elaborately painted Victorian Houses in Alamo Square in SF. I thought they were the same houses as feature on 'Full House", and they are similar, but these are NOT where Danny Tanner lived. Here are some pics, be sure to notice the city's CBD in the background...they are up quite a hill!!









My next step was to get back to BART, as I was a few miles from it. So, I walked down into the CBD...through the Civic Center Area and City Hall. City Hall is very lavish!
From the outside, anyway. Didn't hang around too long here, I was chasing daylight.





On Sunday, I went to the Giants Game (interleague play, vs the Texas Rangers) with Debbie's significant other's, Ron, family. I had never been to Giants stadium, so I jumped at the opportunity. It is a beautiful stadium, it overlooks the Bay! Sometimes, if a homerun is hit hard enough, it will splash! It was a good game, the Giants won. I also got myself quite a nice sunburn, despite my frequent sunblock use.






Notice the Bay Bridge in the Background!


In other news, I had a great week and am about to start on my growing pile of homework.

I know a lot of you probably have questions Re: gastric bypass, I know I did! The most common question I've been getting is some variant of: Do what are you allowed to eat? I intially did this so my nutritionist could spy on me when I had questions, but I'm cool with it, so I will make it public. I track me food daily, mostly to keep an eye on my grams of protein (I'm supposed to be getting 80-100). So, here you go guys, have at it: http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/diary/who/cnorth84/

Maybe this will help disperse some of the thoughts that I eat nothing but yogurt and babyfood. :-P

More adventures coming soon!

Cheers

Long Time Coming

Song: Long Time Coming, Lil Wayne

Hello All. I know it's 2009, half way through!, but for some reason I've been bitten by the blogging bug again. Unexplained...totally! I've been exercising, working, laying in bed...and blog entry ideas have been popping into my head. I kind of still hold the view that blogging is a bit narcissist, but, for those whom I know that are not on facebook, they have no means of knowing what I am up to. So, pictures, stories, the occasional rambling...we'll see how this goes.

You know I hate catch up entries, so this is going to be a quick brief so every one is on the same page in the life of me. Okay, so, I came to California one November day in 2007 with very clear objectives:

1) To get experience in the wine industry (in progress)
2) To go to school for a professional certificate program in both enology and viticulture (check, I will be finished at Washington State University by Christmas 2010)
3) To have gastric bypass (completed, May 7, 2009)

So, I had been pretty tight lipped about the whole gastric bypass thing, mostly because I didn't want to jinx it. I will leave it at it was a years worth of doctor visits and further shame and embarrassment that is now coming to a close. Why did I do it? Simple. My health. Quality of life. It is that simple. My lifestyle has completely changed since May 7th and I couldn't be happier, truly. I have a bit of a complicated relationship with food, as I am suddenly completely disinterested in consuming it, but, I am feeling great. Food has never been my friend, never will be. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I don't love good food...especially when shared with good friends!! So, you may occasionally get the ramblings of someone with a re-routed digestive system, but hopefully my weight isn't the most interesting thing about me. ;-)

School. School is tough! It is mostly online work, but I have to appear in Washington State 6 times (3 times for each program) before the close of the program. I am learning a heap, but it is expensive in both time and money. But worth it, I hope.

Otherwise, still working at Wente. I've been there 1.5 years!!! I love them though, they are my California family. My heart still feels the love when I think about all of the love I received after surgery. You Wente folks are awesome! :-D

Okay, so, the dreaded catch up entry is over. On to bigger and better things.

Cheers

Pablo!

Wente has brought in a Chilean intern to work for the year. His name is Pablo, and he is very entertaining. I found out that he takes videos with his digital camera to show things going on in the states to his family, and then he posts them all on youTube. (good idea, no?) They're in Spanish (obviously), but I want to share this one with you all. He's in the winery standing over a fermenting bin of red wine. He is so funny!

Please also note the loud Mexican music that is blaring in the background of the video...and still blares everyday.




Cheers

Going to California

Arhhhhhnold ;-)


You know what?? There are a lot of songs about California. Heaps of songs about the state. There are a few about New York, even fewer about Washington or Pennsylvania. And by some of my favorite artists. Tupac, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Led Zeppelin.

It only makes sense that I would have to live there to see if all of the songs are true, right? Feel the "California Love"?

Okay, so it wasn't exactly for that reason, but I am taking my current living situation as a good excuse to listen to an obscene amount of Tupac and Led Zeppelin. (For those who are unaware of my musical tastes, I do have a preference for some pretty ridiculous rap music.)

Here's the annotated story. Vintage in WA finished in early November. I had been looking for a job anywhere, but had made up my mind that I would stay on the west coast if that meant that I got to working in the wine industry. That being said, most of my opportunities were bound to exist in California. I got a cal about a week after vintage finished for an interview in Napa. Being that I had a place to stay in Napa, with My Aunt Deb and Uncle Ed, I told the woman I could be there Monday. In true rockstar fashion, I threw all of my shit in my car, had my cable cut, called Chris (my room mate in Wenatchee), and drove to California.

I arrived in Napa and had not only a place to stay, but a kick ass place to stay! I got an opportunity to know a few people that I wouldn't have normally know and had a fantastic time. Plenty of gin and tonics (and wine!) were consumed and I, quite frankly, wish I could stay in the Napa area. Napa is the perfect sized place for me. ~75k people, nice weather, green, lots of dogs, plenty of stuff to do, and san fran within reach. And lots of wine! And wine people! Hell, the street names are wine related. Hello! Amazing! And, of course, if I was able to stay in Napa, I would have been much closer to the people who took care of me, that I have come to love dearly, and that I enjoy very much!

As fate and my luck would have it, I got a job in the wine industry, but not in the Napa Valley. I took a lab tech job in a small city called Livermore, which is down bay from Napa by about 1.25 hours (in no traffic, of course). After about 1.5 months of feeling broke, helpless, and hopeless, I interviewed at Wente Family Estates and bam, job offer, which I took. In a whurlwind, Deb and I went to Livermore and got me an apartment. A few days later, thanks mostly to the help of Deb and Ed, the majority of my stuff was moved in Livermore.

So, I haven't started work yet, but I start tomorrow. 4 days a week, 10 hour shifts. The salary is not quite what I had hoped, so I'll have to get a job or two to supplement my income, but that's nothing new for me.

Definitely going to be a new experience. A New Yorker in Cali, living alone, working at an 800k case/ year winery (!?). I'm looking forward to it.

If you're wondering about Australia, that dream will have to be deferred for a while. Mostly due to financial problems! No surprise there. I will, at the very least, go back to Australia for a vintage. After I get my ducks in a row and my shit straightened out.

So, that's the short version. Now I am caught up and can blog at will. I will try to do so regularly.

Cheers

I know I suck.

I know I know, It's October first and I've left you hanging by a thread since the beginning of August. I really HATE writing review entries, and I knew my life was destined to be one big review blog entry when I left Australia on 3 August.

So, let's start there. I left Australia in a blur. Thanks to some good friends, I was able to enjoy my last night in Wagga and was felt a great deal of sorrow to see the place go. When I stepped on the train to go to Sydney, it all went wrong. The guy that I was assigned to sit next to me was a total douchebag, so I got no sleep from midnight until 730 am. I got to the airport and United that they had lost (or "deleted") my reservations, then they claimed I owed them money when I definitely did not. This made me swear out against United and hate all things around me. And probably cause more of a scene than I should have. (Lots of luggage makes me testy.) But, I didn't learn my lesson because I ended up getting an upgrade because they knew that they had fucked up. It was only an upgrade to their economy plus section, but you're not going to catch me being ungrateful.

I arrive home like 36 hours later, still on August the third. I came into DC and spent a few enjoyable days with Jen in Frederick, before braving another plane to get to Rochester. After having a good sleep, I realized that I looked, sounded, and felt like an alien in my own country. And, that feeling as stuck with me some of the way until now, but frankly, I'm just too exhausted to honor any feelings except tired these days.

I spent a therapeutic two or so weeks at home, seeing the family and friends that I had spent months longing to see...and for good reason! They're fantastic! My life blood!

All the while, I missed Australia. It's like a constant dull ache. Forgettable sometimes, but not usually. I've kept in contact with a few of my mates there pretty steadily, and I miss them dearly. I miss the whole bloody thing, and I didn't think I would!

Anyway, the next part of my journey was to drive across the country with my Mom. It was an amazing experience. Mom and I knew it was going to be ridiculous when we drove through a tornado on day one coming through Toledo. (Fuckin' Ohio, it figures!) The journey flew east of the Mississipi, but as soon as we crossed over, life slowed down a bit. We saw towns with a posted population of 10 (Emblem, WY) and stayed in towns where we ate our first buffalo roast and stood out as definite city slickers. (Are you freaking kidding me?) Yellowstone, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, Bighorn National Forest...that's a limited list of what we saw! I fear that the journey will never get proper ode in my blog because it has all ready past, but I will do my best to recount its tales as I can.

Our journey ended in Wenatchee, WA, my current place of residence. (Actually Seattle, where Mom flew out of.) So far the internship has been going well. I am beat. I am sore. I have never been so tired in my life. But, I'm making wine god damnit, and I couldn't dream of doing anything else.

The picture is the view from my place. Yes, that is the Columbia River. It also over looks a drive in. Cheers to free movies on the weekends, although I don't really remember what a weekend is, per se. :-P Pretty sweet, right?

Cheers