It’s almost like an unwritten rule of nature, or a law of physics that no one speaks about. The exact moment school started last Wednesday was the first time that we have seen blue skies in these parts of San Francisco since early June.

And it has been absolutely clear every day since! Not a cloud in the sky. The moment school begins and I no longer have time to take advantage of it, the weather clears up. Wonderful! At the moment, I can see the lights of the Sunset District going all the way out to the ocean (usually they are hidden in fog).

I took a photo this weekend out my bedroom window as the sun was setting. This is seriously the first time there’s been sunlight here in over 2 months. It feels great. 🙂

In other news, my roommate Kasi and I decided to venture into Golden Gate Park last week to verify a rumor. When you think of New York’s Central Park (and maybe Tracy can attest to this), what kind of animals do you think of? A few squirrels? Some pigeons maybe? (Of course there is the occasional alligator, but whatever, Los Angeles has that too. 😛 )

I’m willing to bet there are no BUFFALO in Central Park! However, you can find them in Golden Gate Park! Oh yes my friends. And I have the pictures to prove it.

There is a full on herd of buffalo in Golden Gate Park. It ranks as one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen. And it’s pretty random. You’re just driving/walking/running through the park and all of the sudden you come across this paddock full of buffalo.

Lastly, I was actually able to knock off two books on my list before school started! East of Eden and The Monkey Wrench Gang. I’m nearly done with A Walk in the Woods, but that might take awhile thanks to the amount of reading I must do for school now.

School begins tomorrow. Since I don’t have “priority registration,” many of the classes that I wanted to take are now full. Ugh! So I have to fight and try to add them.

Regardless, the semester has some HARD classes, but I have a lot of time available to study. The classes I need/want to take this semester are Chemistry II, Physics III, Environmental Solutions and Problems, Swimming, and an independent research class for my senior thesis.

Providing I get into everything I want, I’ll have the following school schedule.

M: 10AM – 10PM
T: 9:30AM – 5PM
W: 10AM – 11AM
Th: 9:30AM – 5PM
F: No Class

So I have one particularly brutal day (at the beginning of the week… go figure), but it has about 3 hours in between each class (3 total classes that day). Sounds good to me! Here’s to hoping I get it.

Part of me kind of wants to not try and take a swim class… then I wouldn’t have to go to school on Wednesdays AT ALL. We’ll see what the next two weeks is like. Perhaps I won’t care much for it and I’ll decide to drop it.

Courtesy of my room mates, I went to Lake Tahoe last weekend. Despite it being relatively close to San Francisco (roughly 3 hours with no traffic), I hadn’t had the chance to go there. The clear blue water and overwhelming size of the lake were amazing things to behold. The water temperature was almost perfect as well! All five of us in the house ended up going. It was basically the first “field trip” that we’ve all done since we have lived together. It was an absolute blast.

After returning Sunday night, I left on Monday and flew back to So Cal for a few days to visit my parents. My sister was also down here, so it was the first time we’ve all been together as a family since last Christmas. Michelle flew back to the Bay Area last night and I’m leaving early tomorrow morning.

Among the things I accomplished on this trip: A surprise visit to the dentist that my Mom had quickly scheduled. Wonderful! Luckily, it was a good report for my teeth. Usually I don’t like going because I feel berated for the fact that I don’t floss as often as the dentist wants me too. I’ve been doing better though and she said there is a definite improvement! Yes!

School starts again next week. This should be my last serious semester of school. If everything works out, I am set to graduate in May! It’s about time. 6 years to complete my undergraduate work is embarrasing. Of course once that is done, I’m going straight into grad school, so no big deal ultimately.

Lastly, in the last week, I’ve added 2 new In N’ Out locations to my list (which hasn’t yet been updated). That includes the In N’ Out near Studio City that Tracy reminded me of in a previous post. That brings the total to 24!

I present to you yet another example of time wasting techniques, perfected by yours truly! Many have heard of the infamous map that lists the locations of all the In-N-Out Burgers that I have ever been to, but few have actually seen it.

How do I remember all of these? I really have no clue. People have reminded me about the time I went somewhere with them or a random thought will appear. Anyway, I decided to map out every location of what I consider one of the most awesome burger joints around.

Enjoy!

I don’t read much during the school year since I feel guilty when I read for pleasure, knowing full well that I have some sort of reading I should be doing instead for classes that I’m taking. That’s why every summer I amass this insanely large reading list.

For example, this is my current reading list of books that I’ve found through various means (friend’s recommendations, reviews, or curiosity of similar subjects):

• The Whole Shebang by Timothy Ferris
• A Walk In The Woods – Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
• The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
• Salam Pax – The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• The Math Gene by Keith Devlin
• The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

So the summer is quickly flying by and you might ask, “How many of those have you finished?” Exactly zero! Oh yes. Maybe that has to do with me reading quite a few of them at the same time. It would be nice to finish at least one by the time school starts in a few weeks. We’ll see how that goes!

Anyway, my apologies for the lack of updates. I’ve been quite busy with the outreach program the past 2 weeks. It’s a lot of fun and we’re taking the kids to a lot of really neat places too, such as Capitola (Santa Cruz), Point Reyes, Menlo Park to see the USGS and mueseums as well.

I have mastered the art of cloning. This will definitely help with the upcoming year.

Ah yes. San Francisco. Among the many benefits of living in this fine city is that our streets are cleaned once a week. Some grumble at the fact that they have to remember what day street cleaning is so that they can move their cars.

Not I. In fact, I totally forget when street cleaning is so that I fail to move my car. It’s a great thing to wake up to a parking ticket in the morning in front of your own house! I opted not to buy a MUNI fast pass this month ($45) so that I could save money. I figured I wouldn’t be taking the bus much this month.

Nope! Instead of saving money, I will now be sending a check in the sum of $40 to the D.P.T. (I swear it stands for “Department of Parking Tickets”). Thank you!

That said, it’s totally my fault. But that sure does sting… your wallet AND your ego.

This past weekend, Michelle was able to hook me up with a membership at the YMCA. Apparently this is good at any YMCA throughout the world (hey, maybe I could use it in New Zealand?). Anyway, I’ve been taking advantage of this by going to one of the Y’s located down by my school.

I went to go run on a treadmill last night and accidentally typed in 30 minutes for the run time. Oh well, I shrugged and decided to see how far I could run anyway. I DID IT! I ran the entire time and covered a distance of 3.3 miles. That’s the longest I’ve ever run in one session without stopping.

Amazingly, I feel pretty good today too. 😉 I have to say that I kind of like running on a treadmill better than running outside. There are no cars to worry about, pot holes to pay attention to or any other inconvenient obstacle. On the treadmill you can just bring your iPod and go… and then get lost in your thoughts (and not have to worry about tripping over a log you didn’t see).

Well I didn’t come away from that back packing trip unscathed. Evidentially, my pack caused my shirt to crinkle up, exposing my back. My skin was now in direct contact with the rubbing pack as I walked. It wasn’t until I got home later that I realized I had a rug burn of epic proportions. Oh yes! Check out that nasty picture. (It’s now a week and a half later and the thing is still with me and hurts whenever I move. Yay for Neosporin!)

Anyway, back in town after visiting Southern California. That was nice to see the parents again and check out how much is being accomplished on cleaning up our yard, but as usual, I have to say it’s great to be back up here in clean air (and hey! There hasn’t been much fog lately).

Dan was up here this weekend and I want to wish him luck. He begins his climb of Mount Shasta tomorrow. He’ll be back in San Francisco on Saturday before he heads back to So Cal. I’m definitely envious of him. Hopefully he takes a lot of pictures!

We returned home from our back packing trip last night at about 10 PM. It was a blast. We spent four days in the Trinity Alps (located in Northern California) and it was my first time hiking through them. I’ve previously gone on a trip to Trinity Lake with my cousin in high school, but we spent the whole week on the lake. I do remember seeing the mountains off in the distance though.

Our trip began on Friday. Hiking into camp wasn’t too bad, though my feet were getting real sore towards to end of the day. I guess it makes a difference since I haven’t done any serious backpacking in nearly two years. We setup camp roughly 9 miles from the trailhead, along a large creek called the Stuart Fork (which flows into Trinity Lake).

On Saturday, I decided to have a moment of insanity by attempting to hike a “small” trail called the Caribou Scramble. It was only 2 miles long, but according to some literature that a few people brought on the trip, it gained over 2,500 feet of elevation and contained over 100 switchbacks. Some people expressed surprise and doubt that I could/would attempt such a thing. I figured the view would be amazing and I like hiking anyway. So I set out and did it. Finished it in just over an hour and a half (and I only counted 86 switchbacks). I did get some great photos though.

The picture above was taken on top of Sawtooth Ridge, after I completed the Caribou Scramble. That is the valley we hiked up and we were camping in a group of trees north of the meadow (the camera view is facing roughly south). Factoring all the day hikes and hiking in and out of the Trinity Alps in the first place, I put at least another 32 miles on these boots. Excellent!

Of course I am now completely sore and stiff from this weekend and am just having an easy/lazy day. Amazingly, the only blister I received this weekend was on my right thumb, from my treking poles, after I completed the Caribou Scramble.

Anyway, it’s good to be back. Though being back in the fog isn’t the greatest thing in the world. I am thinking of driving home for a few days. I may try to leave tomorrow night (though it may be hectic, since BART workers are planning to go on strike tonight at midnight, which will throw the whole Bay Area into pandemonium).