The much delayed China post

Apologies for my tardiness... I returned from China a week ago last monday, and am just now getting a post up on our much-neglected blog. In my defense, I was holding out hope that I would get pictures from my fellow travelers (still hoping). I do have a few shots that I took with my camera, and I thought I would share those along with my thoughts on China, chopsticks, the Olympics, and more...

China yesterday

China is a country of such a long and amazing history. I find it interesting that their language does not have tenses for when events occured. To the best of my understanding, when people speaking Mandarin describe events in the past, they say (roughly) "Chinese emperors rule huge kingdoms in the past."

In short, past and present seem to coexist in China in a way that I've never really experienced.

Adventures in Chop Sticks

Eating in China was a lot of fun. Very communal and very sociable. The Chinese use little plates and lots of shared dishes on a lazy susan-style rotating table. Dining is all about grabbing food off plates with chop sticks as it spins by. Very indicative of the nation's communal culture.

I especially loved the "homestyle" breakfast place that our Chinese hosts took us to. For about 40 cents, I could get an egg, tray of steamed pork buns, and a bowl of tofu soup. Nice!

China for the future


Beijing is BOOMING. The Olympics are everywhere, including the cute little figures who will mascot the games. While I don't agree with all of China's policies, especially as it regards to freedom of religion, I definitely grieve for them with the turbulent first days of the torch's transit. China is SOOOOOO excited about the Olympics, and they are pouring so much into it.

Anyhow, the growth in China is pretty specatular. We visited a number of companies in a variety of industries, and all were very excited China's prospects. Not sure what I think about it all. I feel conflicted about China's record on human rights and oppression, but I am excited about their rapid rise out of poverty and isolation.

Ultimately, I hope the confluence of east and west will be good for all... Such is my general optimism. We'll see...

The trip that... wasn't

This past weekend we were supposed to travel to Ohio and meet our new little nephew, along with his parents, my sister and brother-in-law, and my parents. We had flights booked, hotel rooms reserved, rides arranged, all set to go...


And then good old-fashioned Midwestern winter showed up, and we were once again reminded of the fact that we may choose our paths, but the Lord determines our steps.


In this case, he chose to send a huge blizzard to not only Cleveland, but Dallas as well. Now, I am wagering that to people living in a huge swath of the country, this is not exactly breaking news... But to Californians, the thought that weather could interfere with plans? Huh?


We attempted to make the best of it... Bags packed, work taken care of, mail stopped... We did the next best thing: Head up to Palm Springs! Land of sun, octogenarians in big caddies, and more restaurants than you would shake a stick at.

So while certainly better than being stranded in O'Hare or DFW, we missed our family tremendously. Hopefully we can reschedule soon... Or maybe, THEY would want to come out to Palm Springs....

Texas - Part 2 through a bunch

Ahhh, memories of those days gone by from... last Saturday. How I long for those days when life was simpler... *sigh*

Yes, folks, we're back in Cali again (there are certainly worse places to be) after our lovely jaunt through the big state of Texas. We came back from Texas with a few extra pounds from an endless procession of cakes, cookies, and glorious dinners that began with the words "chicken fried..." We also came back with a 37 lb stone carved in the outline of Texas (more on that story later.)


But MOST importantly, we came back with wonderful memories of friends and family... and absoulutely no armadillo statues dressed as wild west sherrifs. None! Kat whined a lot, but I had to say no!

Part 2 - New Braunfels: After our time in Ft. Worth, we drove down to New Braunfels to see Kat's grandmother, who the family always calls Omie. Omie is the best. She is a huge Spurs fan, visciously competitive at all board games, a pretty good mini golfer, and a provider of great cookies and hugs. We checked out the sites, took walks, and just had a grand time!





Part 3 - Austin: After Omie's, we spent one night in Austin. We have been thinking that Austin might be a good potential home for us someday, as it is known as a tech-friendly, science-friendly, creative sort of place. We stayed downtown and went to a really nice dinner at the Driskill... But on the whole, the place just left us feeling like it was really... gritty

Now, don't get me wrong! It's got some great stuff. We loved the Bob Bulloch State Museu, the State Capital, and the LBJ Library on the campus of UT...



But 6th street was all bikers and hippies and wierdness... I know I sound so much like Hank Hill right now, but we just never felt really settled in the downtown. Though we did get to see an Alfred Hitchcock thriller in a classic movie house, which was a plus. Ah, I'm just too conservative, I guess...

So Austin is not out of consideration, but its previous lustre has been dampened considerably.

Part 4: Sherman, TX: In order to ensure we would enjoy the true Dallas Metroplex experience, we left Austin at just the right time to hit Dallas at 5:00 rush hour on Friday. Loved watching the heat waves rise up off the asphalt as we inch forward... But we made it to Sherman (12 miles south of Oklahoma) by nightfall to see Kathryn's friends Jenn and Micah, and their baby Noel, at her Mom's place.



I'll say this much about the trip: I have no complaints about the level of cuteness of the babies we met! Great fun catching up with old friends and making new ones. Felt like a real Texan tooling around with Jenn's Mom's husband, Randy, in his 4wd buggie in their cow pasture. Sitting outside at night watching the lightning bugs and listening to the night sounds is such a treat after California, though I think I lost a pint of blood to the mosquitos.

All in all, this part of our visit was short but oh so very sweet! Before too long we found ourselves packing up to go... and faced with the dilemma of trying to figure out how to transport this 37 lb souvenier we had bought (for 10 bucks at Home Depot, so we weren't super-worried).

In the end, we wrapped it in bubble wrap, put it in a flimsy quilting bag, and I hand-carried it on the plane. Nobody even looked twice at me! Feel safe, fellow travelers! I've got this huge rock under my arm, but I surrendered my toothpaste at the gate! *grin*

But who am I to complain?... The rock has made it back to california... and so have we! Cheers!

Texas, Part 1

Kat and I are in Fort Worth, Texas, with her sister, brother-in-law, and incredibly adorable nephew. We've enjoyed a weekend full of family, play time with the baby, not an insignificant amount of thunderstorms, really good barbecue, and that famous southern hospitality.





Today we are off to New Braunfels, TX to see Kat's grandmother... I have to say that I really do feel at home here in Texas. The people, the accents, the wide open spaces... It just warms my heart to be here! Cali is home for awhile, but this place definitely has an appeal that seems to defy logic or explanation. Cheers!

Of Birthdays, Beaches, and Borders

This past weekend, Kathyrn and I celebrated her birthday. In keeping with the newly-minted Applegate tradition of "mystery" birthdays, I concocted a weekend of "firsts" for us.

First... Kat had told me awhile back that she would want to go horseback riding "more than anything else" - Being the ever eager husband, I tucked that info away for later. I found this place in Imperial Beach called Beach Horse Rentals . It was such a trip - It's like 10 feet from Mexico, as far south as you can get, and its run by these two European girls. Really small scale kind of operation, but neat, as they guide you out on a 3 hour trail ride that ends on the beach where you can trot your horse through the surf!







Next, since we were so close to Mexico, we did another "first" and crossed over the border on foot to check out Tijuana. We went to a really great restaurant called Cien Anos, checked out the Tijuana Cultural Center (which is about the history of Baja California... Talk about "European-ancestry Guilt" though) , and went to the Arts and Crafts Market.





The crossing home was smooth ~ Only slightly trepidatious part of the trip was the van taxi that we unwisely took from the museum to the market. We got in and I had that "bad feeling" - It was packed with an entire family, and this boisterous guy who looked a little bit sketch started talking with me immediately ~ The close confines, the shady character, two naieve gringos... I had visions of "Traffic" going through my head.

But they got us there, and only 2 dollars the poorer we were. It was a great weekend, and a wonderful way to celebrate Kat's birthday

Arizona Adventure

We've faced down Mother Nature... and lived to blog the story about it!



Over the President's Day Weekend, Kat and I got out of town to see our good friends Terri and Derek over in Tucson.


This was a weekend of firsts for us - First camping trip together, first road trip to leave the state of California together (It's a REALY big state), and first chance to see a desert monsoon... More on that in a minute.

We left on Friday, and drove out to Yuma, AZ, along with 10-gazillion of our fellow SoCal brethren. Kinda slow going, and my misguided decision to pull off the freeway in El Cajon led to twilight-zoneish drama as we struggled for what felt like 30 minutes to get back on the freeway at rush hour. Still, we got to the rather plush though thin-walled Holiday Inn, Yuma, and our spirits were significantly revived by our discovery of a Barbecue place that was actually open at 10 pm when we were looking for dinner.



Saturday woke up sunny and nice. We enjoyed a great, albeit fattening, start at the Cracker Barrel (Mmmmm... Oh, heavenly realm of grits, pecan pancakes, and gravy... where have you been for so long???) and then headed off to Tucson to see Terri and Derek. Crystal clear skies and a pretty good book on CD called Prep, by Curtis Sittenfield, and we were there before we knew it!


Amazing advances in the art of talking plastic animals at the Cracker Barrel gift shop




Dateland Arizona - Famous for dates... and the most ridden plastic pony in 3 counties

Saturday night and Sunday we were with Terri and Derek in Tucson. They have a great property on the edge of Tucson, out in the desert. We hiked around, admired the cows that are on the open range, and met an eccentric neighbor who is an heir to the Procter and Gamble fortune... He has the company logo tatooed on his shoulder! He showed us...

On sunday we headed east again to the Painted Petrogylphs state park for some tent camping. Its a pretty cool area where teenage deviants since 4000 BC have been leaving graffitti... I guess after a certain amount of time it becomes art, but I'm sure at the time that these prehistoric taggers were considered a menace.





We camped one night in said tents, though everybody else in the park was in a comfy RV. The wind HOWLED that night, but thankfully the rain held off until Monday afternoon as we were driving out. It was great to see the rain pound down in the desert as we drove out.

All in all, a great weekend, and hopefully the first of many such adventures... Now, where to next?

A Woolly-Bully Time

This past weekend, Kat and I went opposite ways - She to the (presumable) warmth of the South (Texas, Arkansas) and I to the cold and snow of Mammoth Mountain. Fortunately for me, we had plenty of snow and not too much cold up in Mammoth. Unfortunately for Kat, it was just about as cold in Texas and Arkansas as in Mammoth.

Anyways, I went skiing with my buddies from work on Friday-Sunday.

Mammoth got on the order of 2-3 feet of snow while we were up there, which it SORELY needed.


Now, I know that scenes like this are all too familiar for most of the country right about now, but for us out in California, it is definitely amazing! The snow made for some fun challenges on the mountain, though unfortunately we weren't able to ski off the peak runs at Mammoth ~ Fog and high winds kept it socked in.

The best moment on the trip was when the four of us, 20-something guys, all wearing jeans and boots and stuff, walked into what we thought was a modest-priced Thai restaurant. We walked up the stairs and into the restaurant, and I thought to myself, "Man, this is really nice?" but my brain was on autopilot, so I wasn't thinking too hard. The place had just a few tables occupied, but the girl took one quick look at us and said, "Uh, we don't have any tables free" - Turns out the cheap Thai place was downstairs. The snooty expensive place is upstairs. I had this flash of the scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts walks into the expensive store and the girl immediately says, "We don't have what you are looking for..."

My 10 dollar Thai food downstairs never tasted better. Guess in this world there's top shelf and all the rest... Me? I'm all the rest - :-)

Spa-rise me on my birthday

My oh so crafty wife pulled a fast one on me for my birthday. I was in Portland through Friday, and she told me to keep Saturday, Feb. 3rd, before my birthday on Sunday free. The morning of, I got up only to find that she had been bustling around for an hour or so preparing things.

We got in the car to go in the morning, and started heading... out into the middle of nowhere. I mean, like scrubbrush city. The whole drive I was just scratching my head and trying to figure out WHAT we were going to do. Finally, after about an hour of driving she pulled off the freeway and started heading out on a little backroad. Things were looking pretty "earthy" out there, I thought I heard that banjo refrain from deliverance somewhere in the distance, and I was just starting to get nervous when an oasis of green grass, palm trees, and mini-coopers opened up in front of us: Glen Ivey Day Spa.

Yes, my wife arranged for me to spend a day with her at the spa.

Mud baths, hot tubs, massages, facials, the WORKS! It's a pretty amazing place. You can really appreciate the joy of spending an entire day in your bathrobe by the pool... Something Hugh Heffner has known for YEARS!

I told Kat it was the perfect gift... The kind of thing that I would probably never in a million years actually ASK for as a birthday present, but an incredibly great way to celebrate with the woman I love. And my skin? You just don't KNOW how well exfoliated it is!

Objects in mirror may be grander than they appear

2007-02-01 MtHood (2)
Originally uploaded by agate157.

I'm back from the Pacific Northwest. The weather was AMAZING and the views of Hood, as this picture barely oes justice, were spectacular.

I am totally ashamed that the closest I got to mountains was a few rear-view mirror trick shots while driving away from the HP site. Busy week doing a lot of meeting facilitation ~ That stuff wears you out ~ Its like running a day care for 40 year olds!

Anyways... Good trip, but definitely glad to be home!

Would you like roasted shallot-whipped potatoes with that?

While the San Diegoans are slogging through the muck of one of our 5 days of rain a year, I have been enjoying myself this week up in the sunny Pacific Northwest. Clear but cold, it has been, with AMAZING views of the snow-capped peaks that are usually shrouded in fog and mist this time of year.

I facilitated a workshop today at HP ~ Something along the lines of an excercise in Survivor-like mayhem where we trap a group of 12-14 professionals of radically different background, and coax them into working together as a cross-functional team while not killing each other. I used a lot of skills I've picked up over my numerous visits to the Wild Animal Park about how to maintain stable animal dynamics on the wild African savannah.

The best part of the trip, by far, has been the FOOD! I've stored up my appetite with humble breakfasts and lunches these past three days for scrumptious dinners at the restaurant at my hotel - http://www.heathmanlodge.com/ Stuffed cedar-plank salmon, roasted venison, Draper valley chicken breast... Just the best of the Northwest... Still, a guy could really do well with some home cooked Salsa Chicken, ya know? I will be very happy to head back down to San Diego on Friday...