Travel Marathon

Posted on March 2, 2013 by djnpub

I managed to survive the travel marathon I’ve been on for two months. Nine states, 37 days traveling, 7 rental cars, 1763 miles driven, 4 taxis, 8 limos, 10 flights, 15,000 air miles, 14 hotels, 11 banquets, temperature extremes ranging from a snowy -13 chill factor to a balmy +80, and 1 case of the flu. I met a lot of interesting people and heard a lot of interesting information, going from one corner of the country to the other, and from top to bottom, and the only thing that made it tough was the grind of having so many places to go with such a compressed time schedule.

Posted in Journal

Dinner Dance

Posted on December 1, 2012 by djnpub

We attended the Lab Director’s Dinner Dance this year. This is the first time I ever went. It was held at the Blackhawk Auto Museum that was full of amazing classic cars. Gayle and I ended up sitting at the table with Monya and Joel B. After the dinner, there was lots of dancing by the attendees. It was a very fun evening.

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Pt. Lobos, San Fancisco

Posted on October 28, 2012 by djnpub

Today I went over with Gayle to Lands End in San Francisco, by the Sutro Baths, Pt. Lobos, and the Cliff House. The recreation area had received lots of upgrades from what I remember of when I used to go over there many years ago. There are now lots of nice trails. and overlooks.

We went out to to the end and climbed up to the summit of an overlook, then went down to the beach and explored around. It was a nice sunny day. Afterwards we went over by the Sutro Baths, and down to the Cliff House, by which time the evening fog had really rolled in. It wasn’t that cold, but it looked very foreboding. But it was nice. It was a great little adventure.

We capped off the day’s activities by finding a nice Italian restaurant in San Francisco for dinner. All in all a very nice day.

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Classic Cars

Posted on September 30, 2012 by djnpub

On the way to breakfast, I noticed the streets were closed off downtown for some event. Later in the afternoon, I walked down to check it out. It was the Nostalgia Day 2012 Car Show. They closed off 1st, 2nd, and 3rd streets for several blocks, so it is a big event. There were lots of cool classic renovated cars.

The only mistake I made was missing the fact that it was over 100° out when I walked downtown. By the time I was making my way home after walking up and down all the streets, I was feeling pretty sick. I was not feeling great for a day or two, but I don’t know if it was just the heat, or something else.

Posted in Events

Hamlet in an empty swimming pool

Posted on September 27, 2012 by djnpub

Tonight I saw the last CalShakes play of the season, Hamlet. It was a very interesting production. The set was basically a rundown abandoned swimming pool, that I subsequently learned probably symbolized the decrepit state of a formerly glorious kingdom. It took a while for the pacing to get going, but it turned out to be pretty powerful. It was a very modernized version, starting for example with the final summary speech, perhaps meaning to make the entire storyline of the play be a memory. Hamlet is of course a classic tragedy where it ends with basically everybody dead, but they conveyed the ghostly nature of that, and emphasized the tragedy of it by having the dead characters return as ghosts. At the end, you actually see everybody who has died, not just those of the final scene, and it’s quite moving.

The acting was excellent, and the lead who played Hamlet particularly conveyed the emotional anguish he was going through. There was a sometimes odd use of modern pop music at various places, but overall it worked. There was lots of actor movement in the aisles, the first of which startled me when a guy came with a big gun right in front of us. Overall a fun evening and good end to the 2012 season.

This capped off a busy day, since we had our graduation ceremony from the UC Berkely leadership institute at 4:00 at an event center in one of the wineries. So I had to zoom up there right after. It looks like the group may be disintegrating. Bill and Andy had to switch nights due to scheduling conflicts, and Rita never showed, so I was there on my own. I may have to revisit continuing to hold down the six seat row next year.

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Morgan Territory Regional Preserve

Posted on September 2, 2012 by djnpub

As a very minor outing for the Labor Day weekend, I made my way up to Morgan Territory Regional Preserve for a little hiking and photography. I’d been thinking of going there for a while, but never seemed to get there.

It’s really not that far from home, but the last 5 miles up Morgan Territory Road are on a single lane, very windy road that on a few points goes along a very steep hillside. It makes for an adventuresome drive, but there are some nice views. This is probably not the optimal time of year as the hillsides are all dried out brown, but it give a very stark contrast against the sparse green trees.

I looped around along several of the trails going along rolling hills, through grasslands and tree covered paths. There were some cows grazing and a few horseback riders. It is kind of remote so I only crossed paths with a few people while hiking. When I stopped walking and listened, it was amazingly quiet and peaceful. I should try this again after some rains when the hills are green.

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Blithe Spirit

Posted on August 16, 2012 by djnpub

Tonight I saw a production of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit at CalShakes. It was a light humorous play that was really well executed. The stage was fixed in a English household interior, and the actors did an excellent job of creating the mood.

This was the first play this year where we got the full crew together. A nice relaxing evening in a great setting.

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Spunk

Posted on July 12, 2012 by djnpub

Nice. A great evening of theater at the Bruns. Tonight I saw CalShakes production of Spunk, a fairly modern play adapted by George C. Wolfe from three stories by Zora Neale Hurston. The all African-American cast was outstanding, including a great performance by the always solid L. Peter Callander. The three separate stories were accompanied by a sound track of blues music (accompanied by a live guitarist), singing, and juke-type dancing. The guitarist played a couple of songs before the play in lieu of the grove talk.

The three different stories all dealt with the relationship between men and women. There was a very interesting way in which theatrical physicality was used to convey emotions, and violence. The middle story was fun, carried out in very colorful zoot suits, with the men striking very exaggerated poses full of meaning. I had no preconceptions as to what to expect with this play, and I was extremely pleasantly surprised.

The Winters had to switch nights, so it was just Rita and I, another group of two-only. A very pleasant evening with a great play.

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Berkeley revisited

Posted on June 9, 2012 by djnpub

Today I met up with Mike and Tina in Berkeley, who were visiting his parents in the bay area. Originally we planned to meet for lunch at Juan’s Place, where I haven’t been in about 20 years, but it wasn’t yet open. We ended up in the new shopping zone on 4th street and found a little cafe for lunch. Afterwards, we ventured up to campus to visit some of our old haunts. We managed to get into Etcheverry Hall and do a little exploring. Then we walked around campus. It was a perfect time since most of the students were gone and it was pretty vacant.

After that we went up and drove through Tilden park, going past some of our favorite picnicking spots of old. Finally, we took a ride on the steam trains, which was a nice relaxing end to a fun day.

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The Tempest

Posted on June 7, 2012 by djnpub

Tonight I finally restarted my Shakespeare diet of the year with CalShakes production of The Tempest. Due to some sickness and travel, only two of us were there, Bill W and me. But it was a good start to the season.

The staging was nice, a basic shipwreck motif. The acting was good. Some of it dragged a bit, but there were a few particularly dramatic scenes that were well executed. An interesting twist was that the role of Prospero was played by the same actor that played the crusty mayor on Gilmore Girls. All in all an enjoyable evening, and a decent way to end my Shakespeare drought.

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