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No, really! This is an honest-to-goodness, real, actual post! I figured I should probably write an actual update, since my last post consisted solely of song lyrics (it seems not everyone enjoyed them as much as I did. Bah.)

As usual, my lack of posting hasn’t been the result of a lack of time, or even a lack of things to write. No, once again, my lack of updates is the result of sheer laziness, of not actually sitting down to write. I still maintain that if I could easily blog anywhere, anytime, that I’d be a much more prolific blogger. The problem, of course, is how to accomplish that. A smart/PDA-phone would go a long ways to this end, as at least I wouldn’t be constrained to posting only when I’m at my computer. I can blog from my cell phone, but there’s no way that I’m writing posts anywhere near my normal length using a standard phone keyboard. Even with a PDA-phone, I’d still be limited by time (it’s not like I can actually take time during the work day to blog, even if I could do it without using my work PC).

I’ve thought that what I really need is a way to dictate by thought, by simply thinking the words. At first glance, it seems like an ideal solution. Usually the things I wish I could blog are monologues that run through my head when I’m not doing anything else. The problem, of course, is twofold. For one, the technology doesn’t exist yet. So that’s a problem. (Speaking of technology that doesn’t exist yet, hopefully Kelsey is still working on her transporter technology. Flying is just too expensive and takes too long.) The second problem is that even during these (brilliant) monologues, my brain just doesn’t stay focused. I have a tendency to repeat myself, and to wander completely off topic. At the very least, any writing done this way would have to be extensively proofread. Let’s face it, we’re all glad that no one else can hear our thoughts (and, in turn, we’re glad we can’t hear theirs).

So, basically, there’s not perfect solution, and I really just need to sit down and write, and stop making excuses.

(Insert two day break in writing this post. Part of the problem is also that I always feel like posts need to be large, comprehensive, and talk about everything that’s been going on. Clearly that is not the case, but I haven’t learned to love short posts yet, despite I think people’s eyes glaze over when I write epic posts.)

Two weeks ago I got a message from Ranjan saying that he was going to be in San Francisco for two weeks on travel for work, and that I should try to make it up there to hang out. Since I hadn’t seen him since last Labor Day when I visited him in Austin, and I hadn’t really talked to him since then either (we’re both really bad about picking up the phone), I decided this sounded like a great idea.

The downside was I couldn’t get one of the cheap Southwest flights from San Diego to San Francisco (actually San Jose or Oakland, $49 each way), because you have to buy tickets at least 14 days in advance. Since that following weekend was the only one he was going to be in town, there was clearly no way to get the cheap tickets. It’s really too bad, because I easily spent $100 on gas driving up there and back (Regular Unleaded is currently sitting around $3.20/gallon out here on the left coast.)

So, despite the distance involved, I decided to take Friday afternoon and Monday off from work, and drive up there for the weekend. Due to poor planning on my part, I managed to hit LA right at rush hour (it appears people leave early on Fridays. Duh…) I’ve been told it’s like that pretty much all day Friday, unless you go really late. Total time: 8:30. Stops: 2.

Saturday we (me, Ranjan, and his co-worker Tony) drove up to Napa. We only got lost a couple of times. Napa is gorgeous. The vines haven’t started leafing out yet, so there were rows upon rows of what were basically stumps. It’s still a beautiful area. Rolling hills, and lots of green this time of year. We took a couple of winery tours, which were pretty cool. One of the wineries we visited, Cakebread Cellars, is a small, family run winery. It’s a middle-of-the-road winery, with current vintage wines selling between $22 and $60 per bottle. They have a few wines in their reserve collections that sell for up to $100 per bottle. As a smaller winery, it’s fascinating how their wine making process differs from the larger, mass market wineries, like the second one we visited. Realistically, it’s simply a matter of production scale, but it’s still interesting.

The second winery we visited was the Robert Mondavi Winery. Unlike Cakebread, the Robert Mondavi Winery is definitely a mass-market winery. That’s not to say it’s cheap wine, though it is less expensive, and they produce many more bottles per year (though they do have some expensive wines in their reserve collection).

The winery tours were very educational, more so than I could have imagined. For example, I had no idea that the French barrel industry was still so active. Many (most?) wineries still use barrels that are hand crafted from French oak, in the traditional manner. No adhesives or glues are used, so the staves must be precisely selected so that the barrels seal properly. (Here’s an interesting article on cooperage, or barrel making)

Another thing I didn’t know was that egg whites or other substances are used to clarify each barrel of wine and remove impurities (don’t worry, it’s removed prior to bottling). Evidently, the wine industry in Napa has fostered the development of a significant egg industry in the area.

Saturday night we headed into the city (San Francisco that is), but we were really too tired to do it justice (at least we didn’t have to deal with traffic and parking since we took the BART in). We walked around a bit and looked at the shops, then we took the trolley down to the wharf. Unfortunately, it was after dark by the time we got there, but it was still kind of cool. We played some games at the Musee Mecanique at Pier 45, then we had dinner at the Franciscan Crab Restaurant (where I don’t believe any of us actually had crab, sadly). Finally, we caught a cab back to the BART station, and headed home for the evening.

On Sunday, we drove down to Monterey, to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was definitely worth the drive (and probably the $25 admission fee as well). They have exhibits of everything from tide pools to the deep ocean, though probably the coolest exhibit is the Kelp Forest exhibit, which mimics the environment of the kelp forest which is in the Monterey Bay. It really brings home that these environments are right off our coast, and not only in some remote, far off region of the world.

Of course, the sea otters were pretty cool too. Who doesn’t love otters?

Finally, bright and early Monday morning, I left to drive home. This time I hit LA around 11AM, and managed to cut my trip time down to around 6:15 or so, with stops. (Not bad for a drive that Google lists as approximately 7 hours ).

Since then, things haven’t been too busy. I’ve been running around as usual, working, hanging out with friends, and doing church stuff. Things at church are still going really well; I’m continually encouraged by the teaching and the people. I’ve taken over as the head of our ushering team, which is an amazing service opportunity, and I’ll also be helping out with coordinating our community meal on the third Sunday of the month.

This Sunday is Easter Sunday, and every year my church does a sunrise service at the Carlsbad Flower Fields. It’s probably our biggest endeavor of the year, and one that I’ve yet to experience (since I moved here at the end of May last year). I’m pretty excited about it.

Wow, that’s a long post. No skimming. (If you do, then you can’t complain that I never post!)