ahh, what a week off will do to refresh the soul... especially when you get to spend a good part of it in tahoe and part of it with people you really care about. i'm really dreading going back to work and having to dive back into the project meetings, abstracts, stupid office politics, and impending frustrations with how little my company cares about me. (yes, it even got bad while i was gone! i knew i shouldn't have checked my email while on vacation.) anyway, back to the good stuff:

--spending four days in tahoe with my parents and my brother's godparents (magdi neni and huba bacsi) swimming, hiking, kayaking, eating out, and talking a lot of politics. i loved being able to kayak on salmon lake (up in the lakes basin, north of tahoe) and on tahoe itself. we hiked some of the rubicon trail, which was a pretty mellow trek along the lakeshore. it was nice to not be the slowpoke for once! :) i talked to huba bacsi a lot about goals, personal visions, and how to achieve the kinds of things we want to. it was... interesting. it was good to see both huba and magdi-- it's been some time since i'd seen them, and they are good people to be around.

--being away from work for a week. yay!

--going to the niners-raiders game at candlestick with heather, jessica, and george. they were liz's tickets, but she couldn't go because she and marla were taking anne and kyle out to yosemite for a birthday camping trip for kyle. fun for them to go camping, but bummer that they couldn't go to the game :( niners lost, sadly, on a field goal with four seconds remaining. there wasn't much defense (on either side) for most of the game, but it was fun to be there. i love football, and i don't get to go to niners games much because of the cost. heather was razzing me all game (she's a chiefs fan-- she became a chiefs fan when joe montana left the niners for kansas city in 1993) but it was fun having the rivalry. i haven't had much of that since i moved out from living with teddie... jess of course is as much of a niners fan as me, and the niners-raiders game is always a fun bay rivalry. yay!

--seeing marianne, who is visiting from london along with ayleen (and they've got rings now... aww! :)), gania, and other camp people that i hadn't seen in some time. interesting to relive some of the camplife stuff, but i'm also glad that i'm able to put that where it belongs-- in the past.

--watching the olympics. i like the olympics! the u.s. women's soccer team is doing well so far, two wins and on their way to more (i hope).

--hanging out with heather. that's been something good for me, something i definitely needed.

--getting two new cds. yes, this is a big deal for me. i don't buy cds very often.

and now, i must sleep.