Last day of work

Sad times. We have a group hug scheduled for 4:15.

I'm really, really going to miss this place.

Laid off

It's starting to sound repetitive more than anything else. The whole country is being laid off. So while I want to feel sorry for myself, bitter toward my company or concerned for my future. The feeling that comes up first is unoriginality. Can you not even give me that, stupid economy?

I don’t blame my company for shutting down my department, nor myself for not seeing this coming, nor my friends that still have their jobs.

I blame Bush. Because, well, why not?

Everyone says now is a good time to travel. But have you looked outside in San Francisco recently? It's gorgeous. 70 degrees and sunny. The park is calling me more than a plane. I just need a few freelance gigs to get by for the next months (year?) till the economy picks up. So hire me.

Weekend in LA

I spent last weekend in LA, looking at beautiful views...



And beautiful babies...



The weather was so clear in LA, it was shocking. Hiking up Runyan Canyon, I could see clear out to Long Beach. I have to admit, I miss living in LA sometimes. The city gets a bad rep, especially here in these Northern California parts. But it can be lovely on summery January days (weather was in the 80s/90s).

Plus, I got to meet Leia, the newest member of the girlie clan, and the most well-behaved baby, second to her brother, Noah. I don't know how Bronwyn keeps lucking out with perfect children. But she does.

Only the beginning.

The best thing about inauguration day is this: even after the excitement has died down. After the streamers have been cleaned up and the news stations have stopped analyzing the speech. After the party has stopped and your hangover has set in. We STILL have Obama as president. And will for the next four (eight?) years. Hooray for America!

Kermit does Costa Rica

I know you've been waiting for it. Frankly, it's not my favorite in the bunch compared to Japan, or South East Asia. Mostly because all we did in Costa Rica (we being me and Kermit) was go to beach, waterfalls and rain forests. An awesome vacation, but not so exciting in the photo department. Anyway, enough preamble, here is Kermit does Costa Rica, a video by Audrey.

Do you make the collage or does the collage make you?

Last Sunday, my roomies and I attended a Pizza and Visionary Collage-Making party at the local artists’ collective (have I mentioned how happy I am to be back in San Francisco?). It was just your run-of-the-mill visionary collage party – magazines, scissors, glue sticks, and hope. Really, it was awesome – a couple dozen people hunched over on the floor cutting and pasting their goals and aspirations for 2009.

I flipped through magazines from Times to Vanity Fair to Maxim to National Geographic and cut out all kinds of words and images. One of my favorites was a clip that said “Love Life” and as I set it next to my collage to start gluing, I knocked over my can of Tecate. It soaked through my jeans but thankfully missed most of my magazine cut-outs, all except for my Love Life, which was ruined by the beer. Typical.

Molly had found a great clip in San Francisco magazine that said “Brilliant Career,” an appropriate aspiration as she’s been tempting for the last couple months and is trying to figure out what kind of job she wants longterm. But she also found lots of other great images and words. As she positioned and glued, she kept pushing her “Brilliant Career” off to the right, until she realized there was no room for it left on the collage.

I don't know if you believe in the power of a visionary collage, but I think those too occurrences were just a little too real to be coincidences.

Good to be back.

Traveling is fun – exploring new places, meeting new people, eating new food. I love it.

However on Thursday, the day after I got home from Costa Rica, I rode my bike to Elixir, a local Mission hole in the wall, to hang with a number of old friends. Everyone knew my name. Everyone was happy to see me and bought me beer.

I parted ways and walked over to my favorite burrito place in that area for my very favorite burrito – the Super Baby (con pollo asado). And as I walked down Valencia street eating my Super Baby under the full San Francisco moon I thought to myself, “It is damn good to be home.”

Last sunset of '08

Here's a favorite shot from my trip to Costa Rica. (Thanks for snapping the shot, Eli.)



Check out all my pics (well, 400 narrowed down to 50).

Narrow escape

It's times like these when I have to stop and be grateful for the simple concept of timing.

I'm not sure how many of you have heard about the 6.1 earthquake that rocked Costa Rica the day after I left. But it sounds pretty scary. I hope that they've been able to rescue the people stranded and that none of the people I met on my trip were put in any danger.

I never actually made it to the Poas volcano, nor to the La Paz waterfall, but I went to every other waterfall and volcano in Costa Rica. I'm so thankful that this earthquake waited until I was safely home.

Adios Costa Rica

It was sad to leave Monteverde. The cloud forest there is amazing – I spent hours just walking through the trees and marveling at all the plants and birds. And I’m not even that into plants and birds. That’s how cool it was.



But alas, I had to take the bus back to San Jose to fly home. But Monteverde sent me off with a wonderful farewell present. I was listening to my iPod, staring out the window, when at the same time – my favorite song came on and a giant rainbow spanned across the already amazing view. It was pretty unforgettable.

Vegas, baby.

I took this picture on a bus ride through central Costa Rica. Cracks me up.

Costa Rica after dark

The cool things come out at night in Costa Rica. No, I don't mean the nightclubs and drunk Ticos. I mean the naturally cool things, like hot lava at Volcano Arenal.



(This blurry picture doesn't do it justice, but you have to picture car-sized firey hot rocks being spewed out of a nearby volcano.) Here it is after the sunset:




And in the jungle, the tree frogs wait till dark.



And in Montezuma, bioluminesence. I don't have a picture of this one. You'll have to just imagine it. Montezuma is a laid back beachtown at the tip of the Nicoya peninsula. After the moon set last night, we could look up and see every star in the sky. More than I had ever seen, including the whispy band of the Milkyway across the sky. Then, we looked down at the sand under our feet. Every time we stepped, sparkles would radiate across the sand. Stars above and below. It was unreal.

Mad monkey love

Two years ago, in New Zealand, I saw many amazing things. But the most exciting thing I had the fortune to encounter was dolphins doing it. Today, in the Manuel Antonio national park, in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, I thought I had similar luck. I turned the corner of my hike to see this...



A monkey orgy! Thought I. However, I am sad to report that it turns out they were just wrestling. Nothing dirty going on here.

Still, it was fun to watch them play. I also saw sloths, iguanas, racoons, bats and lots of bugs and birds. Good day.