(1) Mon Sep 19 08:05:34 PST monday, monday la laaaa la la la laa:

Had a great weekend. Friday night we stayed in. We started the evening by going for a long run in the Santa Monica mountains. There are so many different trails and ways to get on them that it's hard to get bored. There are also mountain lions, and they help you stay not bored as well. Also helping you is your huffing and puffing as you run straight up for 30 minutes. But I'm a wuss. Then we went to the Reel Inn on PCH (very close by)_for fish. They're a fresh fish restaurant where you tell them at the counter what you want and then they grill it and give it to you... like a cross between fast food and red lobster or something. Fans or owners of the Reel Inn would probably be mortified by the comparison but I promise I mean that in a good way (and I recognize that it's a poor description). It's also a lot like the Southern California Fish Market version of Moody's Pub from Chicago. Really chill atmosphere, super good food, not too expensive, considering.

Then we went home and watched both episodes of The Office's "Christmas Special". For those of you who don't know, The Office was the british "mockumentary" that inspired the American show (also called The Office). We're not big fans of the American show, but that's no surprise I guess. The British show is, IMO, probably one of the greatest things ever made for the small screen. It's BBC so it's not G-rated television (just warning you). Anyway, they only made two seasons of the show because that's all they had to say... mostly. Almost 3 years later, they went back and did a "where are they now" show to tie up some loose ends and revisit the characters in two episodes centering around the office Christmas Party. Brilliant.

Then Saturday we slept in and kind of lazed around. Anna did some homework, I worked on some hacking projects, and then Saturday night our friends Laura and Jon came over and we just hung out and chatted.

Sunday Anna went for a run with her trail-running club; then we made eggs florentine (benedict with sauteed spinach instead of ham) -- hollandaise sauce is not nearly as high-maintenance as I expected it to be, it's basically an egg yolk, some lemon juice, and butter -- and then we just worked on stuff around here. Sunday night we went out for sushi at this place in Santa Monica called Wabi Sabi... instead of ordering for ourselves we just asked the chef to make a big plate for the table. It was awesome. I feel like people (or maybe just me as a kid) have this aversion to the idea of sushi because it's "raw fish" and that idea is foreign to western tastebuds (unless you like steak tartar). But really, the idea is foreign but the flavor is not -- good sushi tastes so good on it's own that you don't even think about the fact that you're eating raw fish (in a negative way -- I think about the fact that it's raw fish but I like that now), it could just be some kind of "thing" the chef made in the kitchen. Another part of that is the kind of fish and the way they cut it makes it so delicious and melt-in-your-mouthey that it's really nothing like what we would normally think taking a bite out of a salmon filet would be like. Without that knowledge, the idea of sushi does seem kind of weird to a Westerner. So my recommendation to you is that you try a good sushi restaurant, and just don't think of it as raw fish. Or do, but get over it -- sushi is good!

I have a job in the works, but the people actually doing the hiring are in Britain right now and won't be back until next week, so I'm going to keep looking just in case this other job falls through. But I'm very excited for this opportunity!