Bike Rides, Vodka & The Ivy Room

I wanted to let a few of my boys know that I'm in good hands down here. I have recently found out that the little produce and specialty market less than a block from my front door has a wide range of Guayaki Yerba Mate. Cody and Ian can rest easy now, knowing that I won’t have to rely on them to partake of this delicious beverage.

Saturday was an amazing day. It definitely started off right too. I woke up around 7AM to get ready for a short shift at work and my lovely girlfriend, Kendra made me an outstanding omelete.

After work I hurried home cause Kendra and I wanted enjoy the outstanding weather on our bikes. We ended up riding all the way through the Berkeley campus and realized how much it was not like the University of Oregon. In fact, I’m sure it is double the size of the U of O at the very least. Lot’s of up hill streets on the way to the campus, and I’m not sure I’ve ever heard more whining from one person, but Kendra made it just fine. (insert winky-face icon here)

We weren’t terribly sure what we were going to be doing for our evening but my co-worker, Roger suggested we come to his place and have a few drinks. While at Roger’s apartment, I came to the realization that I am seriously allergic to cats. I’m already not a fan of cats, with the exception of a few select felines, but I seriously had snot running out of my nose constantly and my eyes felt like someone poured jalapeno garlic sauce in them. Honestly, not a pretty sight, but we still had fun. I knew later on we were going to head out somewhere, so I took it easy on the drinking, but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t entertained. Kendra was definitely the life of our pre-bar party. She kept telling story after story, keeping Roger and I very amused with how animated she was. Amazing what a couple healthy shots of vodka will do to a girl with an empty stomach. (eww, that sounded like the beginning of a date rape story... sorry, but you guys know what I mean.)

Roger suggested we alleviate my waterfall of mucus and head to a bar up the street called The Ivy Room. At the door I had to use my pass port for an ID and proof that I was at least 21 years of age which reminded me of how ticked I was that my drivers license was gone. Anyway, the bar was awesome, big plush leather couches, lots of baroque-esk wall hangings and lighting fixtures. Also, there was a live DJ set up on top of a cool old dresser.

After a while of Kendra spilling almost every drop of her drink and mine and Roger’s sides hurting from laughing so hard, we made the group decision that we needed some Taco Bell. Lucky for us, the nearest Taco Bell was 2 blocks north and apparently able to withstand a missile strike. The drive through was equipped with a one and half inch bomb proof plexi-glass food delivery mechanism pictured here just below. Regardless, our $20 order of delicious mexican cuisine was delivered to us without error. And if you know anything about Taco Bell, you’ll know that $20 worth of Taco Bell is a feast of epic proportions.

Needless to say, we had a glorious night and can’t wait to have friends and family to come visit us so we can share these great bars and restaurants with them.

The last thing I must inform everyone about is another quick story about my wayward identification as mentioned in the previous post. Today we met up with one of Kendra’s college friends, Melissa, who also lives in the bay area. We decided to check out Ici, a local ice cream shop that, from the moment it opens to the moment it closes, always has a line of people out the door no less than 20 deep. After we finally got our delectable frozen dairy products, we started our journey back to our apartment. Just about 30 yards from our front door, I caught something out of the corner of my eye sitting in a little tree on the sidewalk. I instantly snatched it out of the tree, realizing it was my drivers license. So it seems, that there are good people in the world and that somewhere out there is a very unlucky underaged Pete Wentz look alike that won’t ever have my ID.

Hope everyone had an awesome Super Bowl Sunday and enjoyed all the commercials. Sorry for the mindless plug here, but if you are interested in a first generation iPhone, I'm selling one on eBay right now. Click HERE to see the auction.

Wayward Identity

It seems, as of late, I have been misplacing my personal items. Most recently, my drivers license. In the process of photo copying and faxing my identification, it has seems to have vanished. Best part about this situation is that I actually never had a chance to photo copy or fax it to the people who need it. I’m sure it’ll turn up. Or at least I hope so, because I’m almost certain that I do not qualify for residency in California yet, to get an ID.

Perhaps, for some strange karmic reason, someone will send it back to Oregon, to the address that’s on the license and my boys there will let me know... or keep it and sell it for $50 bucks to some underaged, Pete Wentz look alike.

Lately, the weather here has been outstanding, mid 60’s to mid 70’s. I really don’t have any complaints other than for some reason, my body thinks, “Hey, it’s nice outside. Perhaps now is a good time for me to make Jesse sneeze all the time and make him want to scratch his eyes out.” Right now, my body is in a full fledged allergy season mode. Which I find very strange, seeing as how there isn’t a single leaf on any of the trees and not one god damned flower in bloom.

Yesterday I didn’t have to work until 4:30 PM so I decided to go check out the local indoor climbing gym. Berkeley Iron Works is an outstanding facility and if i was a million billionaire, I would probably have a membership there. Maybe I haven’t completely adjusted to the fact that everything here in California costs more than it should. Regardless, I went climbing by myself and had so much fun. Unfortunately, my forearms and hands are so sore today, that I was having a hard time lifting my RedBull without trembling.

Last and certainly not least, I miss my family. I could use a hug from my dad, some encouraging words from my mom, a healthy pat on the bum from my brother, and a solid eye roll from my little sister.Photo taken by Kolby Schnelli Photography. (Check out Kolby's Flickr Photo Stream HERE)