The good music continues

Last night we attended a concert by a band named Threadspinner in an intimate venue just on the other side of the mountains. The lead guitarist is one of R's coworkers, and his wife is the lead singer. I mentioned them in my previous entry and how we have similar tastes in music. "Homesick rock for moonlit walks" is how they describe their style. It fits. The steady, entrancing build of their songs to a swirling ocean of noise made for an atmosphere I won't soon forget. And what a great place for a concert -- an old stage coach stop on the side of the mountain, ten miles out of town, with good beer on tap. When we stepped outside afterwards, the stars were brighter than usual, and the people were in good spirits being that it was the middle of a long weekend. I had a great time.

Tonight we saw another concert of sorts, both bigger and smaller. It was the film U2 3D, now playing at the Arlington theater. I know a film can't compare to a live concert, but this was close. It may not have been as entertaining as being next to the stage at an actual U2 show, but seeing a performance in 3D from many different camera angles with amazingly crisp audio was pretty close... and probably a step up from seeing the band from the upper level at the Target Center (in the Twin Cities). No, I couldn't sing along, or even clap, being that I was in a movie theater, but this was easily the best recorded representation of the band I've experienced. I have quite a history with them -- a lot of memories tied to the music -- so it's always a treat to see them play. Plus, wearing 3D glasses is fun.

Fitter, happier, more productive

Our title today comes from a Radiohead song. They played the final show of their current tour last night at the Santa Barbara Bowl. I took a walk up on a windy road called the Alameda Padre Serra, through the lower foothills, with flashlight in hand, to see what I could hear. I joined a collecting group of upper teens in a dip off the side of the road where we could see some green and violet lights coming off the stage. After a while I realized there more people hidden in the woods and others hopping the walls of a nearby school to get a better view. The music carried pretty well up the hill. I was content with the performance, considering it was free, and then the cops came and broke up the group, saying we were on private property. I walked home to drifting bass and drum, got on my computer, and turned on the live webcast instead.

R's work hours have been shifted later (and some days even later), so it's been quiet around here. I've been working more too as a result. Life as an Oracle employee can be quite hectic, but it's rather refreshing to not have the crunch that comes from trying to leave on time to get to dinner. The tables have turned. Working from home definitely puts me at an advantage over R for getting to places on time... but it's surprising how stressful the days can still be.

I almost titled this blog entry "Rude Awakenings" because there's been a lot happening in the early mornings this week. For instance, on Wednesday I received a phone call from work at 1:00AM and then another one at 6:00 that same morning, which isn't that odd because 6:00 is 9:00 out east, but it's so difficult to talk about importing insurance data that early. People usually give me an extra hour to wake up, and I've come to expect it. The next morning our internet connection was down, so I had to run angrily out the door to Kinkos at 6:00 in order to respond to some email I knew I had waiting for me. And then the morning after that we had a fire alarm go off for no apparent reason, again at 6:00. Our ceiling is too high to reach, even on a chair, so our landlord had to get out of bed and bring a ladder in order to get the thing to stop blaring. Next time I'd rather drink a cup of coffee to get my eyes open.

Last weekend was meant to be laid-back and uneventful, but it filled up on us and didn't provide the expected downtime. That, by no means, makes it a bad weekend, just one with a lot to write about. Let's get to it.

Last Friday, we signed a purchase agreement for a condo. You'll have to come back here in a few more days to get the details -- they will require their own entry. We also took a hike, this time from the cold springs trail head. It was an up-hill effort with a rewarding view at the top. Darkness is settling earlier these days, so we could have used a flashlight (or R's beloved headlamp) for the walk down. Next time. The other notable occurrence from Friday is that we went out with the hiking club afterwards. We've been doing our own thing after the hikes, but this time we joined the group. Taking steps toward making new friends was sort of a recurring theme for the weekend.

I took some pictures at the farmer's market on Saturday morning. Check them out here.

After buying a bunch of colorful fruit and veggies, we drove north into the Santa Ynez Valley (aka wine country - hence the photo of the grapes). This is the area where much of Sideways was filmed. We drove by some restaurants and wineries made famous by that movie but decided to save stopping at them for another time (I'd like to see the movie again first). We did stop in the small Danish-looking town of Solvang to walk around and glance at a car show happening there. Next we dropped in the town of Buelton for Andersen's apparently famous pea soup. It was pretty good, especially with bacon, ham, cheese, onions, and croutons added on. Our trip wouldn't have been complete without a stop at a winery, so we did at the place for which we had 2-for-1 coupon, Sunstone. We did a tasting, liked it just fine, but didn't buy any bottles because it's cheaper at the grocery store. (Notice how we're looking out for good deals these days? That's probably because of the house we're buying.) Pictures from our mini road trip have been added to the end of this gallery.

But Saturday didn't end there. Next we went to a coworker of R's house for a barbeque back in the SB. This was a fun time. We met some new people there... people who like similar music to me. I had a good chat with somebody about how awesome Boxer is. This guy and his wife are in a band themselves, and we're planning to see them play this Saturday night. Showing up at this barbeque was a little awkward at first, but in the end I'm glad we went. We're putting ourselves out there. Young people around here keep saying how they keep running into the same people every where they go because it's such a small town. Well, we are new people.

Sunday -- church, groceries, and a bike ride that turned out to be about three times longer than we expected. We wanted to find the best route to R's office, which is about 7 miles away. It wouldn't have been so bad if we hadn't taken a round-about way back. We took some detours, and there was a lot of pedaling involved, pedaling up quite a few hills. The good news is that we found a great secluded beach. It wasn't exactly empty, but a lack of parking, a long trail, and a cliff makes it not terribly accessible. That has to keep some people away. We'll have to go back and explore again. Next time I'll try to bring a camera.

The last thing we did on Sunday was go out to dinner with a group of younger folks from the Newcomers group we belong to. I had the blackened filet mignon at this Cajun place called the Palace Grill. Sometimes I need a good steak, and Sunday was one of those times. The opportunity also presented some potential friends. A couple of people we met oddly reminded us of people we know back in Delaware. That was strange, but it was good to meet them, and it looks like we'll be seeing them again soon.

Whew. This entry is probably laden with typos, but I need to post it and get away from here. Maybe I'll proof-read it over the long weekend that has now officially begun. We're expecting this one to be laid-back and uneventful.

Happy wedding day, Chili!

It's not a new video, but it has my old pal Chili in it. The dude is getting married today. He's a long time reader of Jeblog, so maybe he'll see this post once the dust from a busy weekend settles.

Congrats, dude! Wish I could be there to shake your hand in person.

A beach home companion

I'm falling a little behind on my weekend recaps. I probably have more free time now than I did in Delaware -- actually, I'm sure I do -- but it's still getting away from me. I have been putting in a few extra hours of work here and there, but that's doing little more than making up for the commute I no longer have. Maybe it's because I no longer leave the apartment to go to work that I don't have it in me to blog or edit as much from the same seat when the day ends, especially when the weather is nice every evening (although it is getting dark earlier these days). We've also been concentrating on the house hunt. However, that should be ending soon. You can expect an elaboration on that tease in the coming weeks.

Let's get to the recap.

We did a Friday night hike to some old hotel ruins located near the hot springs, but it wasn't as scenic as you may think. (Even the picture above is from the hike the week before.) The spring water came trickling down the rocks but nowhere near enough of it to pool up. This is mainly attributed to the big pipes running through the area. Supposedly the people of Montecito, down the hill, use it for their waste water or something like that. I tell you... those filthy rich. The hike wasn't bad; I just didn't get any blog-worthy photos out of it. Sometimes it's more about the exercise than the awe. It makes us feel better about chowing on tacos and beer afterwards.

On Saturday we had some errands to run and some shopping to do. I found me some new sunglasses. R found her some clothes. The day got more interesting as it progressed. Our early evening was spent at a Newcomers meeting. This is a club of people who have lived in Santa Barbara for less than two years. We joined for the networking and to make friends. Saturday's event included hors d'oeuvres and wine at a house in the hills, with an amazing view of the hills. One interesting woman we met wrote the theme song to the TV series Eight is Enough. Her website also claims she won an Oscar for writing the score to a short film, but I wasn't able to verify this one on the IMDB. There is a lack of information available about short films from the 80s. This woman recently moved into town from Santa Monica, which also fits the story. Anyway, maybe "buying" friends by joining a club is the easy way out, but the club is probably a good idea for us. R's coworkers don't hang out much after work, and my coworkers live on the other end of the country, so making friends the old-fashioned way is off to a slow start. At least we have each other :-)

After the get-together on Saturday, R and I went up to the Santa Barbara Bowl to watch a live Prairie Home Companion show. What a great place to watch a concert/show! A full moon was rising above us and there were fireflies abound. I wish we could catch Radiohead when they play the venue later this month, but that one sold out fast before we even moved here. Garrison Keillor and company put on a good show, one that made us a bit nostalgic for life in Minnesota. I truly envy that guy's storytelling skills. How do you put on a radio show for 30 years and avoid being totally redundant? It takes creative genius. This blog could use some of that.

Sunday was pretty laid back. We went to church in the morning and took advantage of a free trial at a gym in the afternoon. I also had some time to read -- a true luxury in life. I finished, and enjoyed, the sleek piece of entertainment that is The Da Vinci Code. Up next is one by David Sedaris. Then it's back to the Lord of the Rings. I'm definitely reading more these days while the DVD player is in storage.

That's the news from Santa Barbara, where the coffee is strong, the hikes are good looking, and the weather is well above average.

Yellow watermelon

Feeling adventurous, we left for Los Angeles on Saturday morning without so much as a map (although we did stop at a tourism office along the way and picked up a stack of maps and guidebooks, so that's probably cheating). We've met a number of people who "escaped" LA and moved to Santa Barbara for the slower pace and others who claim the trip down to the City of Angels is more bother than it's worth. Even Mason Jennings warns he "will stay away from LA" in a favorite song of ours. Nonsense. If the center of the world's entertainment industry is just down the freeway from us, we're going to see it. We've been in Santa Barbara for going on two months now and hadn't gone more than 10 miles out of town. It was time to explore.

As you may notice in our photos from the trip, we took the coastal highway down through Malibu and then cut up through Beverly Hills and into West Hollywood. We saw the Walk of Fame, ate lunch at a Polish place in Atwater Village (which has another story behind it), drove by Paramount Studios, took in the view from Mulholland Drive, walked a pier in Newport Beach, and had a milkshake during sunset in Laguna Beach. We drove the Sunset Strip, Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica Blvd... all kinds of iconic streets. LA, at least the parts of it we visited, seems to be much more accessible of a city than New York was from Wilmington. We didn't even have to pay for parking the whole day.

Some quick observations: Hollywood is a little more run-down than I expected; Laguna Beach, a little more posh; Newport, a little more wild. The LA area as a whole seemed oddly smaller than it appears on camera and in my imagination and memories from 13 years ago (when I made a trip with my parents). And contrary to popular belief, there are not famous people walking all over the place. Rather, there are simply people all over the place. Yeah, we weren't the only tourists in town.

I'd definitely go back. Maybe next time we can see some TV show tapings or check Venice Beach off our list.

Our final destination on Saturday was actually Carlsbad, CA, which is about halfway between LA and San Diego. This is where R's uncle, aunt, and niece live. They were at a wedding on Saturday afternoon, so we met up with them later that night and spent it at their house. R's grandparents from Jersey and another uncle from Alaska were in town for the wedding too, so we were able to visit with the whole bunch on Sunday while we ate some excellent food, most memorably some king salmon straight from Alaska, Lee's amazing homemade pies, and, lastly, some bright yellow watermelon. Have you ever heard of such a thing? When you cut it open, it doesn't look how you'd expect watermelon to look, but it tastes great all the same.

Drawn to the fiesta

Does that look like us? We don't think so, but who are we to tell.

The people of Santa Barbara were celebrating what they lovingly call Fiesta last week. It's a celebration of the town's heritage. We checked out some Flamenco dancing at the courthouse lawn on Thursday night and went down to the market in De la Guerra Plaza on Friday. The town was hopping. This annual event will probably be like Point-to-Point was for us in Wilmington. It will likely get better each year as we make friends and become more comfortable around with the local culture. We didn't know what to expect this year and felt a little out of place. Confetti eggs--yikes! Get this: we ran into some nice Minnesotan folk on the trolley ride home on Friday. They mistook us for locals. Imagine that.

On Saturday we attended R's company picnic. We ate some BBQ, played a water balloon toss, and had the caricature drawn (notice how R is the one holding the camera -- see, it does belong to her). Good times. After that we went for a hike in Rattlesnake Canyon. Yeah, the name freaked us out a little at first, but our hiking book ensured us it was just a name. The trail followed a creek through the woods and ended, at least for us, in a little meadow. The impending sunset kept us from continuing on any further. The scenery may not have been as breathtaking as on some of our hikes with the Sierra Club, but it was fun exploring on our own this time. It was such a nice evening for being out in the woods. I sure don't miss mosquitoes.

Our house hunt is coming along. For those of you who don't know, we finally sold our townhouse in Delaware. It's a relief to have that behind us. The other big news is that we put in an offer on a cool, but small, condo. Being that it is bank-owned, well-updated, and located even closer to downtown than our current rental, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to place a bid. However, it sounds like we weren't the only ones: there were quite a few offers made. It should be about a week before we hear if ours was accepted. We're trying not to get our hopes up too high.

Gotta run (literally, I've been meaning to take a jog). Later, dudes.