Back in Black!

Well, this last week has been fantastic. Going to the Intuit campus was really cool. They have an entire wing of one of their buildings devoted to usability labs. My schedule was pretty insane. I had to go back and forth from building 1 to building 5 so I could watch a card sorting exercise from behind a one-way mirror, and interview some stakeholders for the project. Somewhere in there, I managed to breathe, and have some surprisingly good food from the Intuit café.

Once Friday hit, I was wiped out, but I went into the city to meet up with Tom and Morgan for food. I also got to see kitchenbeard, and the four of us left to eat at Nirvana. The company was better than the food, but it was edible. The prior night, notdefined and I went to a great Vietnamese place, whose name escapes me, but it's new, and in the Castro district. I expect Tom to know more of the history of the location. I had the Pho, and Tom had some totally unpronounceable dish. Not the best Pho I've had, but the best I've had in SF. If it survives long enough, I'd put that on my list of good, cheap places to eat in SF. After dinner, sleep was the name of the game. When we got home, I collapsed, and woke up the next day.

Saturday was a real day off. Tom wasn't feeling well, so he cancelled his voice lesson, and I was still aching from my back workout, so I didn't feel the need to run all the way down to Gold's at 7am. We did manage to get to the city for a little Chow, meeting up with Stephen again. I so enjoy having meals with Stephen, as we can geek out on food-stuff. It also helps that he's easy on the eyes ;-). After dinner, Stephen had to go off to get stuff at Bed Bath and Beyond, and the three of us went to Samovar Tea Lounge, by route of Joseph Schmidt and his deadly creations made of the purest, unadulterated WIN. I *highly* recommend the Mexican chocolate truffles. Wow! They worked very well with the Ryukucha (a cloudy green tea with notes of toasted brown rice). I love tea houses. They really allow you to chill out, and slow down, which isn't something I get to do very often.

During the tea, I messaged wet_in_sf to see if he was around. Soon, his warm smile was joining us at the table. W00t! Next up was hitting Stompers Boots to finally get properly sized and to try on a bit of their stock. Of course, my size wasn't in stock for the Chippewa high-shines I've been trying to get since prior to my birthday, but I was able to order it through them, and have the boots dropped shipped from the factory. They arrive Tuesday. Yay! Shortly thereafter, we found our way to The Lone Star where we knocked back a few. I also got to meet dhpbear, if only briefly. Tom also found a few fans, and even more when he decided he was a bit too warm to keep his shirt on. I know *I* had trouble not pawing him. Oddly, he didn't seem to mind.

We had dinner at home that night. Tom cooked a wonderful Jambalaya, then watched the very cute "Friends and Family". Yes, it hits some stereotypes, and some of the acting and dialogue was bad, but I was really looking forward to something light and fluffy, and it worked *very* well! After the flick, I went right to bed, as I had to catch a 9am flight back to NYC.

And now I am back (from outer space).

Back in Black!

Well, this last week has been fantastic. Going to the Intuit campus was really cool. They have an entire wing of one of their buildings devoted to usability labs. My schedule was pretty insane. I had to go back and forth from building 1 to building 5 so I could watch a card sorting exercise from behind a one-way mirror, and interview some stakeholders for the project. Somewhere in there, I managed to breathe, and have some surprisingly good food from the Intuit café.

Once Friday hit, I was wiped out, but I went into the city to meet up with Tom and Morgan for food. I also got to see kitchenbeard, and the four of us left to eat at Nirvana. The company was better than the food, but it was edible. The prior night, notdefined and I went to a great Vietnamese place, whose name escapes me, but it's new, and in the Castro district. I expect Tom to know more of the history of the location. I had the Pho, and Tom had some totally unpronounceable dish. Not the best Pho I've had, but the best I've had in SF. If it survives long enough, I'd put that on my list of good, cheap places to eat in SF. After dinner, sleep was the name of the game. When we got home, I collapsed, and woke up the next day.

Saturday was a real day off. Tom wasn't feeling well, so he cancelled his voice lesson, and I was still aching from my back workout, so I didn't feel the need to run all the way down to Gold's at 7am. We did manage to get to the city for a little Chow, meeting up with Stephen again. I so enjoy having meals with Stephen, as we can geek out on food-stuff. It also helps that he's easy on the eyes ;-). After dinner, Stephen had to go off to get stuff at Bed Bath and Beyond, and the three of us went to Samovar Tea Lounge, by route of Joseph Schmidt and his deadly creations made of the purest, unadulterated WIN. I *highly* recommend the Mexican chocolate truffles. Wow! They worked very well with the Ryukucha (a cloudy green tea with notes of toasted brown rice). I love tea houses. They really allow you to chill out, and slow down, which isn't something I get to do very often.

During the tea, I messaged wet_in_sf to see if he was around. Soon, his warm smile was joining us at the table. W00t! Next up was hitting Stompers Boots to finally get properly sized and to try on a bit of their stock. Of course, my size wasn't in stock for the Chippewa high-shines I've been trying to get since prior to my birthday, but I was able to order it through them, and have the boots dropped shipped from the factory. They arrive Tuesday. Yay! Shortly thereafter, we found our way to The Lone Star where we knocked back a few. I also got to meet dhpbear, if only briefly. Tom also found a few fans, and even more when he decided he was a bit too warm to keep his shirt on. I know *I* had trouble not pawing him. Oddly, he didn't seem to mind.

We had dinner at home that night. Tom cooked a wonderful Jambalaya, then watched the very cute "Friends and Family". Yes, it hits some stereotypes, and some of the acting and dialogue was bad, but I was really looking forward to something light and fluffy, and it worked *very* well! After the flick, I went right to bed, as I had to catch a 9am flight back to NYC.

And now I am back (from outer space).