Globetrotter Journeys

So Thursday and Friday, I left work to ‘telecommute’ and headed for the hills in Yosemite.

Joe and I started off the morning getting our stuff together ready for the trip–and everything was going as planned, except Joe locked the keys in the car! So we headed over to the Honda dealership and got another key made and came back to use it. We got in, but since that pushed our departure back, we figured we might as well have lunch at the good Italian Deli down in Little Italy. After lunch, we moseyed on our way toward Gilroy, where there are a lot of factory outlets. Here, we went to look for some cheap hiking boots for our trip to Yosemite. But, alas, as it’s factory outlet, we ended up finding some good bargains on clothing as well :)

We then spent more time than expected there, pushing our arrival into the Tenaya Lodge back til late evening. On our drive up through the winding roads, we saw some leftover snow, but mostly drizzly rain.

Today I had to go over to Rockridge to pick up my keys from Rebecca. While walking to her salon, I stopped in a shoppe that sold some trinket type things. A lot of the things were Japanese, so I assumed the owner, who was Asian, was Japanese as well. So we started speaking in Japanese, and she was so stunned about how well I spoke, that she asked if I was half Japanese. Which, is now the second time I’ve been asked if I’m half–of course I made the obvious joke of being half and having blue eyes and blondish/brown hair, but I guess they were just too impressed ;)

Today, I went up to the Napa Valley for a day at a spa, all with a mud bath, blanket wrap, massage, and swim in natural spring water. After the drive to Napa, we had lunch in Calistoga, where the spa was located. After a great lunch, we headed in for our treatments.. The mud was fascinating! You seap down into this bath full of peatmoss and mud and it’s really hot, but it was such a great feeling because you’re completely suspended, yet engulfed by this warm sensation. It was so nice. We then went to a tub of mineral water to soak before our blanket wrap. After resting there, we headed for our hour massage! It was a great massage that I actually fell asleep during it! After the massage, we headed for the pool filled with spring water along with the hot tub. It was such a relaxing great day!

Today, I headed down on the train to meet my buddy Chad for a drive down to Capitola, then on to Monterey. I figured it’s about time for me to take more opportunities to see the coastline, and Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. We drove down on 101 to Capitola, listening to the soundtrack of the OC. It was at the moment that the theme song, Califonrnia came on, that I felt like I was starring in the drama driving along the coast with the windows down looking out over the Pacific Ocean as we winded our way to the little beach town. This tiny little town was like something from a magazine–situated on the coast, colorful little shops, quaint restaurants, and an air of relaxation drifted in the air. We had lunch overlooking the ocean, then walked around the town. After that we headed on down the coast to Monterey.

In Monterey, we ventured around the shops and walkways leading to the aquarium. We, well, my nose and I, made our b-line straight for the Ghiradeli shoppe overlooking the beach for an ice cream cone. After hanging out in Monterey for a while, we headed back up the coast back to the city. That’s what I love about California. You have so many day trips that you can go to with such different terrain and scenery!
Continue reading “Day in Monterey”

Just the other day, I was speaking with someone and they started talking about Hawaii. It then snapped in my mind about a dream I had just had that night about meeting an old woman who lived in Hawaii. During that conversation with the woman, she alluded to an ‘exclusive’ area of Hawaii named River Crest or something. Now, having never been to Hawaii, I wondered, where did my mind come up with this ritzy area? Which then made me think about all the dreams I’ve had in Japanese where I’ll be speaking with someone, they say a word that I don’t understand, and I ‘learn’ a new word–only I can’t remember what I learned when I wake up. In the case that I did remember that new Japanese word, or the name of that ritzy area, would those places/words actually exist?

Going through some of my things in my closet, I randomly came across an old invitation to my University Graduation in 2002. I actually didn’t attend my graduation, mainly because my school was so large, and I only knew maybe 2 or 3 friends in the ceremony.. Plus, I hopped off to Europe for the following two months to backpack and figured, I’m ready to see more of what’s outside Tennessee :)

So after years of my return from Japan, I rediscovered my rice paper and calligraphy set–For those of you who didn’t know, I took a calligraphy class while studying in Tokyo.

I decided to write a nice sentence to a good friend of mine and it turned out well — Guess I still got it ;)

Last night I went to see a movie called the Wedding Date. It was really quite good. It jumps right into the movie just in the first 5 minutes! Anyhow, it’s one of those feel good movies that you can pretty much predict the ending, but the characters were fun to watch. There was one phrase in the movie that I thought was really nice —

Even if I hadn’t met you, I think I’d still miss you

It’s phrases like that, that really make you smile :)

So Monday night, I had an information session that I presented some stuff on our Management Trainee Program, the program I came on board with when I started work out of school. As the students shuffled in, I couldn’t help but flash back to when I was doing the same thing just 3 years ago. The thing I didn’t imagine would be so real in this flashback is that there would actually still be some of my peers at school after 3 years. I recognized two guys in the information session from previous classwork, and one of them we both said, how do we know each other? I couldn’t remember exactly, but in any case, I wondered what could he be doing here 3 years later.

The next morning, we had 13 back to back interviews with a break for lunch. After I met up with my good buddy Rich for lunch, we parted and I went back to the next set of interviews. It was such a cool experience to be on the other side listening to how the students would answer the questions, and then discussing their answers coming to an agreement whether or not to push them to the next round.

Then in came the guy that I had recognized. He did ok on his answers but then, as he got up to leave and put his jacket on, he said, I remembered how we know each other! I said, oh really? How? I didn’t know if I should say anything or not, but I was in your Statistics 201 class and you booted me out your group project. Ohhhhh right, Now I remember! I looked over to my colleague to see his expression and he seemed confused. The student then proceeded in saying, yah, after that class I got a D, and had to retake it as a senior but then I got an A, and I ended up doing the project alone cause everyone else was a sophomore. I said, well glad you did well, and thanks for your time.

Right when the door shut, my colleague looked over and said, Did he say what I think he said? You booted him out??

“Yes, I’ve only kicked one person out of my group in my entire college career.”

“What did he do?”

“He did nothing–and that was it. He expected to be put on the title page after he emailed us his part which was incomplete and bad work–so I ended up having to do his work.”

“Well that sure wasn’t a smart thing to bring up, now was it?”

“Ha–that’s an understatement!”

After the consideration of this candidate, I think we wanted to pursue some other candidates instead.. :D

So this weekend I set off for a surprise visit back to Tennessee. I left San Francisco in the morning and arrived in Atlanta in the evening, to then board another flight to Knoxville. Once in Knoxville, my good Japanese friend Eri was outside waiting. We went into her apartment and there were so many friends there to surprise me in my visit. I couldn’t believe how many people I hadn’t seen in so long that they’re still in Knoxville! We had a huge sushi platter for dinner and played darts and such. It was really fun to see everyone.

The next morning, I headed for Chattanooga to surprise Mom and Dad. I had a valentine chocolate for them saying: To Mom & Dad, From Benjamin. PS> I’m in the garage. You can imagine how excited they were for this surprise! It’s so nice to be home to see really where I grew up. I’ve had a lot of time to think and reflect about how far I’ve come and I can definitely say I’m happy to know where I’ve been, where I am, and where I’m headed.

Tomorrow I’ll return to Knoxville to help my company with their recruiting activities. It should be yet another cool experience to be on campus again and see how everything’s changed.