Thursday, May 29, 2008

Be a Tiger


Nothing says it's a rainy 3 day weekend like some quality time with your PS-2. On Memorial Day Weekend we picked up a new game: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008. This game rocks! The graphics are ridiculous. You can alter everything from the wrinkles on your face to changing the size of your head. Since Peter has really taken on mastering his skills, the size of his actual head has become quite large as well. Stay tuned for continuing coverage on the links.....

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Rough Commute

I happened to catch Peter on the ferry after he was heading home from a meeting in the city. My new lens is really sweet, but he is still pretty hard to see. I think by the way his hair is blowing in the wind, you can still tell it is him.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

So Long Sydney.....

Sadly, director Sydney Pollack died yesterday at the young age of 73.  I always enjoyed Sydney whether he was on camera, or behind it, thus the brief tribute.  I was first introduced to him in the early 80s in "Tootsie" as it is one of my Mom's favorite films, and soon became one of mine.  He was involved in so many great films from "The Firm" to "Michael Clayton,"  but this scene will always remain one of my favorites.....

Sunday, May 25, 2008

China Camp State Park


On the morning drive home from Petaluma (okay, so it was afternoon by the time we pulled it together) we decided to do a little exploring and stumbled upon China Camp State Park.  It is a beautiful park with many hiking and biking trails, marshlands, and even a Chinese fishing village that is maintained by the Park Service.  Also worth mentioning were the pristine bathroom facilities complete with flushable toilets and running water.  You've gotta love Marin County!  

Beautiful, beautiful....

Aforementioned Chinese fishing village.  
Supposedly a descendant of one of the original residents also helps maintain the village.  

P. taking it in.  

Saturday, May 24, 2008

More fun in P-town

A few highlights from another attempt at taking on P-town with the Van Emsts. Some pizza, car racing, and then a game of pool at the Buckhorn Tavern, which was a great little place that reminded us of Smittys. (Sadly, it was also discovered that I am really bad at pool.) Definitely a good time complete with a waffle bar in the morning. No pictures were taken of the fantastic waffle footage since we inhaled them as soon as they were hot off the grill. I am not sure how they are going to top that one! Until next time....

First, Pinky's Pizza...great crust, and would be willing to try sausage and mushroom next time.
(especially if they leave it in the oven just a few more minutes)

P. feeling pretty good about beating Brett, just before his championship tiara was taken away from him by EP.  Nicely done Eeps!

No amount of chalk was going to help me improve my game.  

The 'A-Team' getting ready to show me how it's done.
  
A quick look at 'I Don't Like You in That Way'. 
 Some light junk reading that puts Perez Hilton to shame.  

Friday, May 23, 2008

Casa de Fruta


So, with the changes in my job, I will be covering a new territory, which means I no longer have to dread the long haul to the hotspots of Stockton and Fresno. Woohoo! It is about a 3.5 to 4 hour drive to Fresno (depending on traffic) and I usually take the scenic route over Pacheco Pass through Gilroy, home to the Gilroy Garlic Festival, on Hwy 152. With that said, I decided to make a few stops on the way home.

I always see multiple signs along the highway to check out Casa de Fruta, making an attempt to entice you with their homemade pies, garlic or fresh cherries.  I blow by this place everytime, but with this being the last time I would be making this journey, I decided to stop.  It turns out it is the mother of all fruit stands.  Amazing produce, garlic as big as your head, and hands down the best apple pie I have ever tasted!  

I was talking to some of the locals, and they said this place started out as a small cherry stand on the side of the road.  This year marks the 100th anniversary.  

Note: Unfortunately I found myself without my camera on this unexpected stop.  Poor picture quality due to use of  camera phone.






Another fruit stand that I always pass on the way home is the Merry Cherry Fruit Stand.  I thought I would finally stop and check it out.  I got an entire box o' peaches for $5 bucks. Deelish!


Thursday, May 22, 2008

Happy Birthday Kristen!

Birthday greetings to one of my favorite chicas!  Hope you are having a fantastic festival! Cheers!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Indy Sighting in San Francisco

So, I realize we are all excited for the release of the latetest installment of Indiana Jones, (some of us more than others....you know who you are!) but these guys have taken it to the next level. They made a boulder out of 5 million legos, had their friend dress up as Indy and run down the hill in San Francisco. If you look closely, you can even see the Swedish flag in the boulder. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull coming to a theater near you on May 22.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

What's Wrong with this Picture??


Game night just isn't the same without our pal Brett.
We miss you buddy.....

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

On the Road to Sac-City....

Another fun-filled day behind the windshield on the road to Sacramento, home to the Governator, trash film orgy, and fine dining establishments such as Suzie Burger. I came across this sign with the mileage to Ocean City, MD. Apparently this sign marks the begining of US Route 50, one of the longest highways in the US, and if you keep going, you will eventually find yourself in Ocean City. Who knew??

Flight of the Conchords

Here is the new video from Flight of the Conchords, one of our favorite shows on HBO last year. Yes, I know this may not be a relevant posting to Monkey and The Frog activities, but I was getting tired of me in Tracy's t-shirt being the lead picture on the blog. Enjoy.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day!

Greetings to our fabulous Moms from the fruits of your loins.....

Peter showing his enthusiasm for Moms everywhere.  


Friday, May 9, 2008

I 'heart' the North Shore

A fun filled day on the North Shore....soaking up the sun at Sunset Beach, a quick stop at Kua 'Aina, one of our favorite burger joints ever, topped off with hands down, the best shaved ice at Matsumotos.  I know I mentioned this last time we made a stop in Hale'iwa, but this time I actually opted for the ice cream to be put in the bottom of the cone.  As my combo of watermelon, tangerine, and peach flavored shaved ice began to melt, and the ice cream became soft it was pure heaven in a paper cup!  It actually reminded me of when I used to serve up Mr. Misty floats at Dairy Queen back in the day.  But I digress.....

Tomorrow we make the journey home, but it is always a treat to come out to the islands for a little work and a little play.  Until next time, Aloha.....  

The aftermath of a delicious summertime treat!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Aloha !!!

This week we are in Hawaii, Waikiki Beach to be exact, for a little business :) Tracy is here to meet with some clients and I am here hoping to gain a new one by recruiting the local Volvo dealer to the EVOLVE family. Well, the real truth is that we are here for a little beach, sun and surf action.....we just needed a good excuse to get out here. After all it has been a full 3 weeks since we were in Playa del Carmen in Mexico so we thought we were due for some more beach time. I have attached a short vid showing the awesome view from our room so that you all can enjoy it with us this week.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Monkey and the Frog take P-town

So on Friday evening Monkey and The Frog went up to Petaluma for their first evening out with their pals Brett and EP. It was a complete evening filled with drinks, dinner (video of the Monkey enjoying dinner can be found below), bar-hopping and games. The bar-hopping part was a bit of a culture-shock for all of us. Not since college have we collected such an impressive amount of bar-entry stamps on wrists, hands and arms. Then there was the whole age thing......the average age of the patrons of all the bars we went to was somewhere around 21, which I thoroughly enjoyed as it made me feel 21 again (getting ID'd at every place helped too as well as the eye-candy), but apparently the young surroundings made everyone else feel old....go figure. We also enjoyed our very first evening on the inflatable mattress in the guest room and were unpleasantly surprised by the 7am garbage pick-up right outside our window. However, it was all made good by a delicious breakfast, complete with a juice-bar, cupcakes and a fantastic potato-egg-cheese-bacon thingamajig courtesy of Chef Brett. Good times, good times. Below are some moments capturing the essence of the evening.


Warming up with some drinks on the living room floor


Extreme balancing talents being demonstrated



P enjoying EPs famous Taco Salad with some Absolut Red Bull

This is not a GAP ad, we are just on our way out to the bars

This however, is an actual GAP ad

Evidence of the path of destruction we left in P-town

T getting comfy for some gaming action

EP showing us how its done....notice the look of superiority

This is what a night in Petaluma does to your hair

Brett treats us to a goodnight pose

Breakfast!!!!

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Trackday at Thunderhill again

On Thursday May 1st I was at yet another trackday event (seems like that is all I do nowadays). This time at one of my favorite tracks, Thunderhill. It's quite a technical track with 15 corners (many of them, off-camber) over 3 miles (4.8km). Most of the corners are taken in 2nd or 3rd gear and on the main straight I usually see speeds a little over 120mph (192kmh) in 4th gear before diving into corner 1 at about 90mph. Good times indeed. I had a new software tune for the car this time so it was quite a monster with nothing else out there being quite as quick. Even though this was a Volvo Club event the track was littered with Porsches, Corvettes and EVO's which made it so much more satisfying. Unfortunately, I didn't have anyone with me this time so I was not able to capture any footage of myself out there, however I am working on an in-camera set-up for next time.
Caution to all non-car enthusiasts: This short video will be extremely boring to you so please refrain from leaving comments to that effect below. All others: Please enjoy!

Friday, May 2, 2008

No Pants Day!!

Get out your favorite pair of panties, today is No Pants Day! Another good reason to listen to your Mother when she told you to always wear clean underwear! If you already came to work wearing pants, it's not too late! Go into the bathroom, remove your pants, and come out a little cooler...in more ways than one!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Facebook Live

I have still not completely got on board this whole Facebook train. I thought I was being pretty hip to the scene tapping into the blogosphere, but perhaps not so much. So, I opened an account, got myself a measly 20+ friends, and check my page every once in awhile. (Peter is all over that thing, has hundreds of "friends", tells people 'what he is doing right now', changes his profile picture all the time, but he will never admit it!)

So I find myself touching base with a few people from high school, old friends, and even people that are just down the road. It also involves taking ridiculous quizzes that tell me I was Joan of Arc in a past life, or proudly displaying my favorite bars in the Bay Area, or even receiving a gift in the form of a virtual can of PBR. My favorite is the option to 'poke' someone, or even 'throw a sheep' at someone. Seriously?

Check out the interpretation by Idiots of Ants, who are a London based comedy sketch group.

LOL!