Excercise

Today we had planned to go to Rancho San Antonio for a hike which we haven't done for a very long time. Gina was looking forward to walking up the hill. I was looking forward to the excercise. However, the rain changed our plans. It looked pretty wet all morning, though I was hoping it would still be okay for the hike. But as I was getting the kids into the car, it was definitely raining. And then Noemi called with the suggestion that we meet at the Y instead. So I did get my excercise, 45 minutes on the treadmill. The kids got to try out the childwatch, which they seemed to enjoy. So it may make sense to join the Y, especially for these rainy days.

The previous two days were spent celebrating birthdays. My moms birthday was on Tuesday, Jan 2. Vic and I went to Los Gatos to buy a present and cake. The present was no problem, but the bakeries downtown were closed, the problem with having a birthday after New Years. However, we did make it to The Prolific Oven in Saratoga and got a very nice cake. My Dad and brother also came over for dinner for a crab feast. Having cracked crab is supposed to be a very easy dinner to put together, but somehow it seemed to take awhile to get everything on the table. In the end though, everything turned out very good.

Last night was the birthday of my boss David. He had invited all of us to join him for dinner at Duarte's Tavern in Pescadero at 7pm. I had planned on leaving the house around 6pm but of course we didn't get out until 20 minutes after. I did look at a map the night before, but hadn't counted on driving the route in the dark. So I managed to miss a turn and it took a lot longer. When we were almost to the coast, we took the turn for Stage Road which was a lot longer and windier than I had thought. A nice drive on a nice day, a not so nice drive on a dark, rainy night. But we did make to the restaurant, though an hour late. Dinner was great, with artichoke soup to start with and finished with ollalieberry pie. It was great seeing everyone from the lab and I think Vic enjoyed talking with everyone as well. David received a beautiful Persian rug from the visiting Iranian doctor. He also received a razor shaped like a vacuum cleaner (made in santa cruz). Ironically, he had decided to shave his beard that morning, so he will probably get a lot of use out of the razor.