Woof

And to think I've gone this long without having posted about Porter...

Tonga farewell

Last night was the final hurrah for the German GSE team as they will be flying out to Frankfurt later today. We thought, as the hosting GSE team, what better way to say goodbye to SF but to take them too see some pseudo-Polynesian entertainment in a swanky hotel!

Definitely not my idea but it was definitely a good starting point. They were able to drink the fine beverages of the Tonga room...overpriced but ridiculously large and saturated with a multitude of alcohol. Can't leave the US until you've had at least one community pull off a bowl full of their Paradise Punch...all through a two-foot straw, mind you.

After getting kicked out at 11 (yes that's 11pm, my friends) due to the bar closing, we stumbled over to Polk Street. Here we managed to do things SF style: dancing ourselves stupid in a seedy bar with a theme that reflected their beloved Saquatch statue which stood in the middle of the dive.

It was a sad farewell at the end of the night, saying good-bye to my new deutsche Freunde. Fortunately the high jinks will continue in just a few short weeks as we make our way across the Atlantic.

Creepy Crawlers

Apparently it's caterpillar season in Palo Alto. I've lived in the Bay Area for almost 5 years, spending much of my time in the peninsula and I've never even heard of such a thing. Apparently, it's such an important thing that they've announced it on Stanford's intranet! They are the larvae of the Western Tussock moth and have evidently found substantial breeding opportunites in the Bay.

So yeah, I deal with pretty disgusting things in my day to day work life but it would never have prepared me for caterpillar season. There are literally thousands of these creepy crawlers all over the Stanford campus, swinging from trees on their invisible silk threads just waiting to hit you in your face when you least suspect it. And if that wasn't enough, it is virtually impossible to navigate your way around campus without stepping on at least 100 of them. Ugh.

So you can imagine my disgust, that while in the sanctuary of my own workplace (often thought of as a sterile environment and safe enough to take your 3-month old baby to), finding one of these fuzzy wuzzys...on my patient's husband! How am I supposed to update him on his wife while he has this monster crawling around his shoulder NEAR HIS MOUTH! I can't work in these conditions.

Poor me

Yes, that's right. POOR ME! While my new and amazing friends from the GSE inbound and outbound teams are off frolicking through the wonderful firs and granite and waterfalls of the majestic Yosemite valley, I managed to muster some restraint and instead have holed myself up in the hotel room, writing page after monotonous page on my end-of-semester grad papers. At least I have a nice view of a parking lot...surrounded by firs, granite and waterfalls.

Debauchery

While all the club members were in panel discussions all day, our team leader was kind enough to give us flexibility with our time, which we constructively used to make a massive wine and cheese run for our late-night activities. But boy, I never expected what was to come. Simply stated: drunken, pseudo-skinny dipping with an acoustic guitar and clarinet duo in the background to set the mood. Let me just start off by saying I did not partake in any of what's listed, but I sure enjoyed being a spectator. Some may view me as "lame" or a "party-pooper" when in reality I am the most clever one in the group! Why submerge myself in chlorine ridden water and run the risk of getting water up my nose when I could stay on deck and keep all the brie and wine to myself! Muah ha ha ha.

Long and winding road

Yeah, thanks a lot, Google Maps. You really helped us out a lot. Not only were the road names actually numbers, but you got me stuck in the middle of vast cell phone dead zone. What were you thinking? Even the employee at Tanaya Lodge was completely taken aback when I told her where we were. Only squirrels travel the path we traveled.

Nonetheless, we made it. We survived Google Maps' treacherous path to Yosemite but were rewarded with a valley hike to Vernal Falls followed by a tasty gnocchi lunch at the Awahnee. And as if to apologize for all the trouble we went through, snowflakes began to blanket the valley on our drive back to the lodge, and it was one of the most spectacular things I've seen in a long time. I love that places like this still exist.