christi and i went to muir beach today to scout out the location for a future photo shoot that i was thinking about doing for a friend’s engagement photos. i’ve never been to muir beach before and i very rarely head up anywhere north of san francisco.

originally, we were planning to head up there on sunday, but it turned out that the forecast was for rain so we headed up saturday instead. the day was just gorgeous. i was amazed at how beautiful the weather was in san francisco, blue skies, warm weather, it was hard to imagine that it would rain the following day.

i found this thai restaurant called thep lela thai restaurant while i was looking for places to eat on the trip. when we got there it looked pretty nice. the food was a little different than i had expected. i got my usual panang curry, which was good, but different. the larb gai was also good, but also different. i’m not sure how exactly to describe it. the dishes just weren’t what i had expected. but still, it was fun to try out a new place since we were uncharted territory anyway.

the beach itself was equally gorgeous. great weather, great sand, and many people just enjoying the day. i brought out two of my cameras today, one for each of us. i gave christi the 20D and shot with the 10D myself. i had forgotten what the 10D had felt like and though i know that the 20D is a better camera, the 10D was still very, very usable. i don’t think that i missed anything from the 20D that much in the bright conditions.

the beach had some nice terrain, sandy spots, rocky spots, and a little hike that you can take to overlook the beach from above, as well. if you have never gone to muir beach, check it out, it’s quite cute.

sometimes when i’m taking pictures, i look too hard to look for picture taking opportunities that i just don’t soak in what’s around me. i really enjoyed muir beach and after i had taken about 50 photos or so, i sat down at a log and just watched the waves crash onto the shore. there was just something peaceful and mesmerizing about it.

probably about 50 pictures later, i hiked up the side of this cliff to a bench that overlooked the ocean. i sat there for a while too just watching the ebb and flow of the waves and enjoying where i was. it was nice.

we headed back towards home and we had planned to go check out stowe lake in golden gate park, but through some kind of bizarre traffic and direction marvel, we managed to miss golden gate park…twice! i don’t know how we did it, but i thought it was pretty funny. i elected to just head back home because it was getting late and i was getting hungry.

we stopped off at san carlos where i ate at what used to be my favorite chimichanga place. i think that they have changed their frying ways, though, because they no longer use lard in their cooking. this is particularly distressing because the secret to their cooking was that they would put a bit of lard INSIDE the chimichanga and then deep fry it in lard. man, that was the best chimichanga i’ve ever had. and now they’ve ruined it with vegetable oil. poo on you.

i STILL haven’t had a chance to take too many pictures with the lensbaby. i’ll eventually do it. here’s one though that i took on my way to lunch today. it looks like learning how to use it will be quite the challenge.

paul’s birthday was over the weekend. there was 7 courses of beef to be had and a wonderful cake.

who could ask for anything more?

my lensbaby came in the mail today. awesome! of course this is the only day that i don’t bring my camera with me, so i won’t be able to play with my lensbaby until later this evening, but i’m very excited.

from what i understand, you either love it or hate it, so we’ll have to see which one it ends up being for me.

so for warren’s wedding i decided to try a more casual look and i think that it can be described as the jake in progress look. it’s basically a french cuff shirt from banana republic, no tie, and a sportscoat. i wish i took a picture earlier in the evening instead of at the end of the evening, but oh well.

warren gave me a strange look and had a funny reaction to the shirt. i thought it was funny, but no one else at the wedding went without a tie. i didn’t feel out of place, though.

warren got married!

early sunday morning i did a load of laundry before heading out to meet up with paul, mike, and greg to go fishing in half moon bay.

i left after a few hours because it was getting cold and i needed to do some more laundry. the apartment is a complete mess, and i’ve been trying to get it cleaned up with no success. my roommate is currently in china for work and so it’s just me in the apartment. i don’t know why, but i go through cups like toilet paper. as i was cleaning the apartment, i could not figure out how i went through 5 cups in one day. i mean, they are all mine, and they are all full of water.

later in the evening i went to the jacl mixer night and played some volleyball. it was a lot of fun and i was one of the setters for the evening. i think that i do enjoy being a setter, but i wish i was more consistent.

there were cream puffs at the mixer. man, i think i ate about 10 of those things inbetween games. i took a bunch of pictures too and i spotted someone else with a canon 20D there. next weekend is playoffs, i’m looking forward to it.

this weekend was a busy weekend for me. it was a lot of fun, though. saturday started with some lazying about the apartment, but i finally got myself out and about for a bike ride. i think i did a quick 8 mile ride before i decided it was time to head back home. nothing too strenuous, but i realized that i really do need to bike more often to get back into biking shape.

while biking, i found a new tapioca express. there are now two tapioca expresses and a q-cup within 6 blocks of me. i cannot possibly ask for more, can i?

after biking, i sat down and started to watch harold and kumar go to white castle but then leeya asked me if i wanted to have dinner with her and some friends so i decided to stop the movie and headed over there.

dinner was most excellent, as always. paul really brought out the steak that night and i was going to make steak that evening, but i guess i didn’t have to.

after dinner we played this game called mexican train dominoes. it was a lot of fun and i’d like to play it again. it’s almost fun enough that i’m considering getting the dominoes set with tiles that have up to 12 dots per half.

i was walking around oakland the other day running some errands and i had my camera with me. downtown oakland is under constant construction. why is it that oakland always seems dingy and dirty?

still, i do love working there.

the first picture was a random picture. i don’t like it, but someone once told me that you have to take pictures that you don’t like so that you’ll know better what pictures you really like.

the second picture is of some constructin vehicle. apparently they fill the tires with foam, not air. how bizarre.

the third picture is of the fountain in the plaza in chinatown. it’s an interesting fountain that’s right next to the sweet booth.

shot with close to no available light. man, i do love this camera of mine. it had trouble getting a focus lock because there was not enough light in the scene, so i had to switch to manual. sure, there’s a little noise, but man, i never thought that i could do this.