A damp journey.

On Thursday, December 1 2005, at about noon, I went to lunch with my cowokers. This is the record of the event.

Thu Dec 1 20:55:17 2005: Santa Cruz High School
First we drove there. I caught this shot from the back of Nick's Volvo as we streaked past the local high school, Santa Cruz High, home of the Cardinal.
Yeah, like Stanford. Little punks. Their basketball team won the state championship last year.

Santa Cruz High School

Fri Dec 2 00:55:20 2005: Damn brakelights!
Nick is a bit of an agro driver. Not as bad as Scotty, but he definitely drives with opinion. Apparantly he almost murdered some old man for taking his parking spot (same scenario as with George's parallel park in Seinfeld) last week.

Nick's car is an older Volvo station wagon. He sort of lunges it around in traffic, as the engine takes a bit of effort to haul the large mass, and the shocks are bad.

Here he is lamenting a slow truck that had pulled in front of us and braked as we headed down a steep hill in the rain in a residential neighborhood 50ft from a school and in front of a day care.

Damn brakelights!

Fri Dec 2 00:50:45 2005: Vintage lunch circuit.
This is a cool shot of the guys walking from our parking spot to Pizza My Heart. Or Pizza My Ass as Chunker calls it--because no phrase is complete without a curse.

I use a sepia effect on the camera phone, and I should have kept in that mode for the duration of my lunch break.

Vintage lunch circuit.

Fri Dec 2 00:45:39 2005: Aqua Who?
On the way there, a breathless lady with a fallen potted plant at her feet asked one of us to help her carry it a short way to a new restaraunt she was opening, Aqua Bleu its going to be wonderful when it opens thank you so much, this gentleman is helping me Rebecah you can go to the car and fetch some other thing ah! you must be Enrique I'm so pleased to meet you thank you for your help etc, etc.

Three out of four of us lunged to help her with the plant (guess who just looked at her disdainfully--hint: don't call him Juan Carlos), but Goof was nearest. I took it from him when I saw he was passing our destination so he could save his spot in line. I did not intend to eat.

I followed the lady to her new restaraunt and dropped off the plant. The site has been home to several failed restaraunts in recent days. The longest-lasting was the King and I, a Tai place with a stupid name. Tai places and barber shops tend to have the worst names for small businesses.

I never got what kind of food they will serve, but it probably doesn't matter. If they can get a liquor license (which admittedly is highly unlikely in Santa Cruz) they can serve dog food and stay in business by selling $20 martinis. With Hanger 1 vodka, to give a shout out to a friend who has to hock the stuff for a living.

In this shot you can see the patched stucco from where they yanked out the sign for the last joint.

Aqua Who?

Fri Dec 2 00:36:33 2005: Step one in restarauteuring: bring plants.
Here are the plants mentioned. While we ate, somebody joked she'll be schlepping them back to her car before too long.

Step one in restarauteuring: bring plants.

Thu Dec 1 23:51:59 2005: About to eat.
My coworkers placed their orders and made their way back to a booth I had staked out. Then they were recalled to the counter to pick up their slices.
This is inside world-famouse Pizza My Heart on Pacific in Santa Cruz.

About to eat.

Thu Dec 1 23:38:49 2005: The bounty.
Nick applies a generous helping of Parmesan cheese to his Canadian bacon and Mexican pineapple while chunker enjoys a dollop of pilfered raunch dressing with his peperoni and sausage. Giancarlo is supposed to be reducing his intake of horrible food.
I ate nothing, for I had leftover pasta waiting in my cube.

The bounty.

Thu Dec 1 23:33:23 2005: Stormy seas.
The sea was angry as we made our way back to work. This shot was managed by rolling down the rear passenger-side window. Earlier, better views of the thrashing waves proved impossible to capture under the circumstances. I'm pretty happy with this one, though, since you can't see shit.

Stormy seas.

Thu Dec 1 20:55:17 2005: Santa Cruz High School First we drove there. I caught this shot from the back of Nick's Volvo as we streaked past the local high school, Santa Cruz High, home of the Cardinal. Yeah, like Stanford. Little punks. Their basketball team won the state championship last year.	Santa Cruz High School
Fri Dec 2 00:55:20 2005: Damn brakelights! Nick is a bit of an agro driver. Not as bad as Scotty, but he definitely drives with opinion. Apparantly he almost murdered some old man for taking his parking spot (same scenario as with George's parallel park in Seinfeld) last week. Nick's car is an older Volvo station wagon. He sort of lunges it around in traffic, as the engine takes a bit of effort to haul the large mass, and the shocks are bad. Here he is lamenting a slow truck that had pulled in front of us and braked as we headed down a steep hill in the rain in a residential neighborhood 50ft from a school and in front of a day care.	Damn brakelights!
Fri Dec 2 00:50:45 2005: Vintage lunch circuit. This is a cool shot of the guys walking from our parking spot to Pizza My Heart. Or Pizza My Ass as Chunker calls it--because no phrase is complete without a curse. I use a sepia effect on the camera phone, and I should have kept in that mode for the duration of my lunch break.	Vintage lunch circuit.
Fri Dec 2 00:45:39 2005: Aqua Who? On the way there, a breathless lady with a fallen potted plant at her feet asked one of us to help her carry it a short way to a new restaraunt she was opening, Aqua Bleu its going to be wonderful when it opens thank you so much, this gentleman is helping me Rebecah you can go to the car and fetch some other thing ah! you must be Enrique I'm so pleased to meet you thank you for your help etc, etc. Three out of four of us lunged to help her with the plant (guess who just looked at her disdainfully--hint: don't call him Juan Carlos), but Goof was nearest. I took it from him when I saw he was passing our destination so he could save his spot in line. I did not intend to eat. I followed the lady to her new restaraunt and dropped off the plant. The site has been home to several failed restaraunts in recent days. The longest-lasting was the King and I, a Tai place with a stupid name. Tai places and barber shops tend to have the worst names for small businesses. I never got what kind of food they will serve, but it probably doesn't matter. If they can get a liquor license (which admittedly is highly unlikely in Santa Cruz) they can serve dog food and stay in business by selling $20 martinis. With Hanger 1 vodka, to give a shout out to a friend who has to hock the stuff for a living. In this shot you can see the patched stucco from where they yanked out the sign for the last joint.	Aqua Who?
Fri Dec 2 00:36:33 2005: Step one in restarauteuring: bring plants. Here are the plants mentioned. While we ate, somebody joked she'll be schlepping them back to her car before too long.	Step one in restarauteuring: bring plants.
Thu Dec 1 23:51:59 2005: About to eat. My coworkers placed their orders and made their way back to a booth I had staked out. Then they were recalled to the counter to pick up their slices. This is inside world-famouse Pizza My Heart on Pacific in Santa Cruz.	About to eat.
Thu Dec 1 23:38:49 2005: The bounty. Nick applies a generous helping of Parmesan cheese to his Canadian bacon and Mexican pineapple while chunker enjoys a dollop of pilfered raunch dressing with his peperoni and sausage. Giancarlo is supposed to be reducing his intake of horrible food. I ate nothing, for I had leftover pasta waiting in my cube.	The bounty.
Thu Dec 1 23:33:23 2005: Stormy seas. The sea was angry as we made our way back to work. This shot was managed by rolling down the rear passenger-side window. Earlier, better views of the thrashing waves proved impossible to capture under the circumstances. I'm pretty happy with this one, though, since you can't see shit.	Stormy seas.