Browse Author: beakatude

My Apologies

I got a complaint from one of my loyal readers today:

“Do you know how many times I’ve been to beakatude only to be greeted with Monterey Weekend?!  I’m over it.  Let’s get an update already.”

Sorry dude…update coming tonight!!!

Monterey Weekend

We went to Monterey this past weekend and had a nice relaxing time.  We arrived pretty late on Friday night and were pleasantly surprised by the free upgrade to a full ocean view room.  The room was complete with binoculars for me to spy on the otters below.

On Saturday morning, I got up early and went for a run along the water.  The tide was really high and the waves were crashing on the shore.  Fun!

For the day, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was perfect for a gloomy, sprinkly day.  They had a new seahorse exhibit and a cool tank filled with little sea turtles!!  Oh joy!  This shrimp was staring right at me in one of the tanks as if he was waiting for me to take a photo of him.  I couldn’t resist.

By the end of the afternoon the sun came out and we actually got some blue sky.

We always seem to have fun in the gift shop even though we never buy anything.

Before dinner, I got a massage at the spa upstairs while Jes worked out in their gym.  For dinner, we went to a cute little French restaurant called Bistro Moulin.  We had the most amazing spinach gnocchi and my mussels with pommes frites were delicious.

The next day on our way home, we stopped at the outlets to shop for work clothes.  I made a killing that afternoon!

Here are the rest of the photos.

It’s a Giant party out here!

The San Francisco Giants actually won the 2010 World Series today.  I’m amazed.  When we moved here over 3 years ago, they were suckin’ and had Barry Bonds hitting lots of homeruns.  Now this team of misfits with long hair and beards have gone all the way and won the Championship.

As soon as it happened, the volume outside went through the roof and the party began outside the condo on King between 2nd and 3rd.  The cops were out in full force and had the street closed to accommodate for all the people spilling out of the bars nearby.

After dinner, we went outside to check out the action and the crowd was surprisingly peaceful and joyous.  Jes, the orange ninja, wore orange to blend in.  It seemed to work since he got a big hug from a very happy fan.  It was pretty humorous.

Here’s a video of the celebration. Pretty wild, huh?

Here are photos from our neighborhood experience.  The energy is certainly contagious.  Congrats, Giants.

Happy Halloween!

I spent this Halloween at the Oakland Museum of Art to check out the Pixar exhibit featuring artwork from the past 25 years.  It was so cool to see all the drawings and models that go into making a movie or short film.  Made me want to watch all the earlier films again like the first Toy Story and A Bug’s Life. Cameras and cell phones weren’t allowed in the exhibit so this is the only photo I got while I was in the gift shop.

On Friday, the Rehab therapists all dressed up like the Muppets.  I managed to put together a Beaker mask to wear on my head complete with buggy eyes, a big egg-shaped nose, and fluffy orange hair.  I borrowed one of the doctor’s lab coats and had to walk around wearing Jes’ work shirt and tie too. Teresa was Fozzie Bear.  I don’t have a group photo of everyone yet but I’ll post one as soon as I get a copy from my friend who took one.  We had Miss Piggy, Kermit, Animal, the Sweedish Chef, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear, and even Rizzo the Rat.

Here’s a photo of the mask close-up.  Too bad I didn’t have time to figure out how to make a draw bridge mouth.