Love (for wine) is blind

Last Saturday R and I drove up to Lompoc, CA for a wine tasting event with the younger subset of the Newcomers group. What made this tasting unique was that we didn't know what was being poured into our glass. We sampled seven chardonnays and rated each of them without knowing how much each bottle cost, what the label looked like, or what flavors we were expected to taste. It was an interesting experiment, and for the most part, the better bottles rose to the top of the results.

I'm still learning how to distinguish good wine, but it was easy, even for me, to identify the one that was spoiled due to a defective cork. And Trader Joe's "Three Buck Chuck" didn't rate much higher. After that there was some variation in the group's rankings due to personal opinion, except for the top wine, which won by a long shot. It just so happened to be the one R and I contributed. It was a $22 bottle of 2006 Lafond Chardonnay purchased and given to us by R's mom during her recent visit to Santa Barbara. I guess Linda has some good taste!

We have another bottle of the same wine in our rack at home; it came in the latest shipment from the club we belong to. I'm looking forward to taking a closer examination of it sometime soon. Does anybody else get the impression that living out here is going to turn us into a couple of wine snobs?

Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody. No, I'm not Irish. I just listen to a lot of U2... and visit an occasional Irish pub. On Saturday afternoon we hit 5 of them during a crawl with the younger members of the local Newcomers group. I took a few pictures but lost focus (literally -- quite a few turned out blurry) and dedication after the first two beers, so the gallery isn't anything too impressive. The outing was a good time with a group of people who are still relatively new in town, like us. We probably drank too much, but that's one way to get to know each other better.

Stomping the divots

I had big plans for this entry. I was going to break from my format, post a series of unusual photos, ramble on about a lucid dream I had... in other words, it was going to be great. But here we go again instead, trying to cram in a rather standard weekend recap before another weekend starts. The opportunity to blog just didn't present itself all week. My ground-breaking entry will have to wait for another time.

Chances are when someone says a hike is going to be "fun" and you're not starting it until 6:30PM, you won't be reaching the end of it until after dark. Such was the case last Friday. After a strenuous and constant climb, we arrived at a dried up waterfall at dusk and required the assistance of our flashlights for the entire hike back. It was indeed fun. I'm not opposed to an occasional night hike.

On Saturday, after getting some coffee and hitting the farmers' market, R brought me to my first ever yoga session. One of the studios around here was holding free classes for the day, so we figured this was my opportunity to try it. It was a good stretch and very calming, welcomed qualities after a stressful week of desk work. After that I wrote a blog entry about the condo we are purchasing (am I getting into too much detail here?) and then we had some ecletic California cuisine at a restaurant called Opal.

On Sunday we tailgated at a polo match with the Newcomers group. Yes, this is the sport where they basically play hockey on horses. R helped stomp the divots. We continue to meet interesting people at these events. In some ways I wish I was looking for a new job because I've been surrounded by networking opportunities lately.

After that another week started, one that was surprisingly stressful considering I barely left the house. Remind me to tell you about my lucid dream sometime. The vividness is waning... but I took notes.

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.

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.