what a week! i should have taken the whole week off, considering how hard it's been for me to get back in the swing of things at work the past day and a half. where to begin...

weekend sports update to start things off: zephyr beat the hated saltamontes 1-0, but it was really rough game. we always have trouble with the conduct of this team-- they play dirty soccer. one of my teammates got thrown badly twice, the second time knocking her unconscious briefly. several others of us (including myself, if you can believe it) got thrown around a bit during the game too, but fortunately for us the ref wasn't having any of it. the earthquakes didn't fare quite as well-- they played a tough game but couldn't put anything in the net to save their lives. they ended in a 0-0 tie, with one game (and the fate of the season) remaining. the niners actually won! (in overtime, but i'll take it.) ucla also kept up their winning streak, which i hope will continue tomorrow when i am in attendance.

sunday, heather and i left for a few days of relaxation in south lake tahoe. it was beautiful weather; slightly brisk, but sunny the entire time we were there (very nice for october). we both needed some down time so it was nice to be out in a place we both love, being able to enjoy nature and do as we pleased with no real agenda. we found the roulette tables, which is a fun upgrade from my usual slot-playing, and won a bit on the first night (lost it again, but hey...). we went down to the lake for a while, drove out to fallen leaf lake and enjoyed the wildlife, walked around the casinos and the shops, saw a few movies, ate at a buffet, slept late, enjoyed pizza and beer at the brewery (with a fun flirty waiter-- hopefully he'll still be there when we come back in november!)... all good things.

we went up to visit deer lake, which is the sf bay girl scout resident camp that both heather and julia worked at for several years. i'd never been up there (although i wanted to go there as a camper), so it was fun to walk around a bit. it's far more remote than the santa clara camps i know and love, but it was interesting to hear some of heather's camp stories and how they somewhat parallel mine. it's also strange to be in an empty camp, when you associate so much of it so closely with the people, the activities, etc... especially since everything was all boarded up or folded down for the impending cold weather. but it was fun to be up there and connect more with that part of heather's life.

on the way back down, we stopped off on the side of the road to do some rock climbing... the place we stopped had forest service-sanctioned bolts at the tops of the climbs, so tying in and setting up climbs was much easier (and safer too, anyu :)). there was a family climbing next to us, who were pretty cool (and had an adorable 7-month-old golden retriever puppy!). the rock was pretty craggy so it was reasonably easy to climb the first few times-- until heather started challenging me and making sure i was climbing more difficult routes and refining my technique. the last two climbs i ended up doing some face climbing, which freaked me out some but i did it! the last climb i was a bit more confident in my footing so i didn't get as scared, but it's always a little more daunting to have to use the little bumps in the rock rather than having big solid handholds. but, as heather reminded me several times, your hands are mainly supposed to be used for balance-- so i shouldn't need the big handholds. i'm getting slightly better at it, i think... and it also really reconfirms how much better i like outdoor climbing than gym climbing. i'm glad i have a good climber (with gear!) that i can go with...

yesterday was my interview, which sadly i think i bombed. i wore my brand new power suit (expensive power suit, thanks to the willing credit card of my lovely mother), but i was way more nervous than i expected to be. i answered some of the questions well, but i answer one and a half questions badly. the one question i struggled with (and struggled obviously enough that one of the panelists had to lead me) was the one that most pertained to the specific experience necessary for the job. arrrgghhhh... i was able to talk my way around it after i stumbled for about thirty seconds, but i could tell that several of the folks were not impressed. *sigh* what a disappointment. but hey, i guess it's practice, right?

tomorrow is the big UCLA-Cal football game and tailgate... which i'm looking forward to but i'm also looking forward to the work part of it being over. i think some folks i know from LA are going to be in town for the game, so it should be fun in that regard too. GO BRUINS!!