Week of February 7th 2011: Bindi Indian Restaurant

Almost everyday on the bus I pass Bindi Indian restaurant. I love Indian food and really wanted to check it out. The only problem was that it was a little far from my office so I knew I would need a special reason to make the trek over there on my lunch break... and that was just about the time that my friend, Anna, was back from her stint in the Peace Corps and had some time to reconnect with her friends. Since our last meal had been Indian food, I thought it was fitting that the first time we saw each other again would also be over an Indian meal.

I could tell you about how good the food was, or that it ended up being a buffet, and I could tell you that the waitress was pretty unresponsive, but that's not really what mattered about this lunch. This lunch was about coming full circle.

Although Anna and I took very different life courses after college, it's kind of surprising how much our lives have mirrored each other.... when she left for Africa, we were both starting a new - leaving behind old relationships and starting new jobs. Now that she's back, I find that once again we are facing similar issues. I won't say more on it in order to respect both of our privacy, but it just shows that whether you spend a few years in an office that's a short drive from your college, or in Africa teaching English - you still have the same touch choices to make, the same concerns. We all make different choices in our lives, but we're not so different really...

Seeing Anna again really meant a lot to me. She is one of the best conversationalists I've ever met, and just a truly unbelievable person. Although I know she was doing a lot of great things in the Peace Corps, I'm really glad to have her back in the Bay Area.

Week of January 31st 2011: Giant's Fan Appreciation Day

I know every third post is about how I need to post more, so I'm just going to give you a two month warning - Between now and the beginning of June I probably won't be posting too much. I know, I'm very behind and I have a lot of posts from the month of March to put up, but I have a New Year's Resolution to keep (one down, one almost done, and so many in progress - hate to just give up on one of them at this point...). So, until mid-June, I won't complain about how much I suck at writing posts and you won't wonder why a blog that has enough material to write a post once a week (or more), doesn't. Writing these are great study breaks though, so maybe we can make a little compromise...

It's funny how winning the World Series brings everyone together... almost 4 months after the fact, when AT&T park held their Giant's Fan Appreciation Day, the park was absolutely packed with fans trying to get an opportunity to get an autograph of a player, take a picture with the trophy, or just walk onto the field of that park that gave them so many good memories the year before.

I arrived at Fan Appreciation Day shortly before it was about to start, only to find the longest lines I had ever seen. Luckily, some of my friends had gotten there early and staked out a good spot in the trophy line. I gladly joined them (thanks again for letting me cut!!!) as we began our long wait to see the trophy.

I try to be pretty positive and put a good spin on things in this blog, but I do have to say, this event was pretty poorly run. We waited in line for two hours (and we weren't terribly far from the front of the line) in the sun because the park couldn't manage the crowds. They kept letting people into the stadium after they got a picture with the trophy so when the stadium reached capacity, they stopped the line. They didn't think to let people get their picture with the trophy and then leave until about 1 hour and 45 minutes into our wait.

All in all though, we got a little reward for our wait when Andres Torres walked by...

And of course we got our picture with the trophy!