Monday, May 25, 2015

Memorial Day weekend report: Napa County day trip and more

I went to Napa County with my parents during the Memorial Day long weekend. It was definitely pretty fun.

Saturday

The day began with a drive to St. Helena. The plan was to go there with the Tangs, but they sadly couldn't join us due to Eileen not feeling well. We stopped at their house in El Cerrito anyway as my mother really wanted to see them.

One reason for the trip was to visit the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. The adjacent vineyard was the perfect spot for a picnic lunch. The museum was small but had many exhibits dedicated to the author. I admittedly had no idea Stevenson wrote so many books. The admission was free, although we made a donation.

Downtown St. Helena awaited us later in the afternoon. The restaurants and snack shops immediately caught my attention. It's too bad everything was so expensive. There was some free time, during which we went to three nearby wineries. This was pretty fun even though we had visited them on our trip to Napa and Carson City several years ago.

The next stop was WinCo Foods in Fairfield for groceries. WinCo has always been one of my favorite places to shop. The last stop on the way home was a Thai restaurant in Fremont for dinner. The food was spicy as hell but otherwise delicious.

Our original itinerary included Bodega Bay as well, but the overhead was too high. However, that's not a problem as we're still planning to go there in the near future. In the meantime, feel free to check out my pictures from the day trip.

Sunday and Monday

Having done so much, the three of us decided to relax at home for the rest of the weekend. I spent most of Sunday studying PHP programming but did find time to play RuneScape during breaks.

Monday was mostly uneventful. Our plan was to watch the Danish film The Hunt for Henry's film club, but the DVD turned out to be damaged. I listened to online lectures instead but later completed a few quests and the medium Arduogne tasks in RuneScape during my free time. So yeah, the long weekend was nice.

Currently playing: RuneScape

Thursday, May 21, 2015

2,100 skill total in RuneScape

I just hit 2,100 skill total in RuneScape a few moments ago. Here is a screenshot of me leveling up Herblore. This probably isn't a big deal in today's standards as the game has become so much easier, but at least it gives me bragging rights. :-)

Currently playing: RuneScape

Monday, May 11, 2015

an amazing Mother's Day weekend

I had a great weekend as we went to Pacifica with the Tangs and did lots of other things!

Saturday

The morning began with a trip to the Gate of Heaven Cemetery to pay respects to my late maternal grandmother Pi-Tan. This was long overdue as I hadn't visited her grave in well over a year. We then made a quick stop at Trader Joe's before picking up George and Eileen at the BART station in Millbrae.

The main stop of the day was Pacifica. I treated my parents and the Tangs to lunch at a Peruvian restaurant called El Toro Loco as an early Mother's Day celebration. Because it wasn't open yet when we arrived, the five of us took a short stroll around the area. The nice thing about arriving early is being the first to be seated. The servings were huge and more than enough for everyone. It was truly a wonderful experience.

We went for a walk at the nearby Sharp Park Beach afterwards to burn some calories. There was a dead whale that had beached a few days ago. I had never seen a whale so close before, although the carcass smelled absolutely awful. Mom and I took a few pictures before getting the hell out of there.

Dad then took us to the nearby Frontierland Park for an afternoon picnic. The older folks mostly discussed philosophy and the arts - topics I didn't understand. After everything was said and done, my parents dropped George and Eileen off at the BART station before heading home. Here are some pictures from the day trip.

Mom and I went to Henry's film club in the evening with Jeff and Sheila. This was our first time going there in several months. Though Dad was caught up with work and didn't come, I enjoyed discussing the 1978 film Days of Heaven with everyone. It was a busy day for sure.

Sunday

Having enjoyed their company so much, my mother decided to invite Jeff and Sheila over for dinner. I offered to help out with the cooking - this was Mother's Day after all - but she had already made most of the food. On the other hand, she did ask me to harvest goji berries from our backyard. This was hard work and took several hours, although I found time to play RuneScape during breaks. I actually bought a bond because the RuneScape Road Trip looked really fun.

The dinner with Jeff and Sheila was quite enjoyable. This was another highlight of the weekend. All in all, things couldn't have been better.

Currently playing: RuneScape

Sunday, May 3, 2015

level 85 Smithing in RuneScape

I just got 85 Smithing in RuneScape a few moments ago. You can view the screenshot here. This probably isn't terribly impressive in today's standards, but the ability to smith the best metal in the free game is nonetheless useful.

While Smithing is an expensive skill, the limited-time XP boost for the Artisans Workshop halved the costs. On the other hand, standing there hitting metal bars for two hours straight does get repetitive. The only real issue was the lag due to my crappy Internet connection. It was definitely annoying at times.

Currently playing: RuneScape