Wednesday Jan. 28th 2009 -- Day one of our trip was primarily the flight from Minneapolis to San Jose. We flew to San Jose instead of SFO because it was much cheaper and allowed us to take a 1-1.5 hour Caltrain ride through Silicon Valley. On the train ride I was happy to see a Tesla location with at least 30 Roadsters, the SmugMug office, and familiar tech towns like Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Cupertino. After arriving in the city, we headed towards the Best Western Tuscan Inn hotel where we stayed 2 nights. We had lunch at the Sea Lion cafe at Pier 39 where we watched the sea lions lounge in the sun, and checked out some shops in the tourist pier area. After lunch we walked along the Embarcadero towards Chinatown, where we stopped for some bubble tea. Sara browsed a bit in some Chinatown shops. We walked in the Nob Hill and Russian Hill areas and stopped for photos at Lombard street, along with lots of other tourists. We eventually ended up at Ghirardelli Square where we sampled some chocolate, before walking back towards the hotel, completing a tiring walking loop for the day. For dinner we headed to North Beach and ate at Trattoria Pinocchio. On the walk back I recognized someone I know from Minnesota that now lives in San Francisco, getting into a cab. The chances of seeing her were really low, which made it fun, though we didn't get a chance to chat. Sara and I stopped at Safeway near our hotel to pick up some snacks and supplies before crashing for the night.

Trips, milestones, things to do

• Short vacation to Chicago in June - Sara and I celebrated 4 years of dating
• Played ultimate frisbee with a group of medical students a few times on Sundays
• Saw "Rent" at Ordway in St. Paul, watched live taping of Daily Show covering Republican National Convention (simulcast)
• Grand Old Day (St. Paul), Irish Fair (Harriet Island St. Paul), family reunion June (Rochester)

Movies, Music, Games, Books

• Lots of documentaries (variety!) on Netflix Watch Instantly: Planet B-Boy, Frontline: Sick Around the World, Revolution OS
• Movies: Iron Man, Batman: The Dark Knight, Once, Primer -
• Music: Hotel Cafe Tour, Rage Against the Machine (Republican National Convention) at Target Center Minneapolis, Sara's brother's band "Sue City" at 400 Bar and The Rock (Maplewood)
• (Xbox 360) Lego Star Wars and American Idol (w/ Sara), Call of Duty 4, Grand Theft Auto 4, Portal, Gears of War 2
• Programming books! (mostly Ruby/Rails), Design of Everyday Things (Norman), Snow Crash (Stephenson)

Food and Drink

• Restaurants (Minneapolis and St. Paul): Cafe Ena, 112 Eatery, Salsa a la Salsa, Holy Land, Neighborhood Cafe, Longfellow Grill, D'Amico, Cosi (Eden Prairie)
• Kitty Cat Klub, Sweeney's Saloon
• Midtown and Mill City Farmers Markets

August seemed to go by very quickly, due in part to more rainy weather than usual, which meant less time outdoors enjoying summer. Sara completed two summer medical school programs in CA and PA, and returned the first weekend of the month. I had a housewarming party on the first weekend and that turned out well. The next weekend a neighbor had a party in the building on a Saturday evening as well, where I met a few more neighbors. During the day on that Saturday, Sara and I attended part of the 2007 Pizza Luce block party at their Uptown location, where Heatbox and other local artists performed.

The third weekend brought family visits: cousins from WI and Washington D.C.. The second day was rainy when my family was visiting, so we went to the Walker Art Museum for the traveling Picasso art exhibit, then to the Midtown Global Market to check it out. During the week that followed this visit, Sara and I prepared for our road trip down to Alpine Valley to see the unification of Rage Against the Machine for an amazing outdoor concert. In the final week of August, I had some more family visiting from St. Louis this time, on their way to WI, so Sara and I gave them a brief Minneapolis driving tour and had lunch with them. The final days of summer spent at the State Fair, where the highlight was meeting and getting an autograph from local weatherman Paul Douglas, who for some reason has always charmed Sara. More quickie highlights: 12-13 foot tall plastic dancing and singing robot, turkey pita, footlong hot dog, sweet corn and Sweet Martha's. Next was helping Sara move to a new neighborhood and apartment in St. Paul. We spent Labor Day weekend (perfect weather) hiking at Minnehaha park, grilling hot dogs/pork chops/corn on the cob for a couple lunches, and soaking up a little sun on the North beach at Lake Calhoun.