Fudge from Buc-ee's: apparently nobody likes the white pieces.
Leaning back = cool.
This paint is similar the Jeep's; there's like glitter in it, so it's really pretty in the sun.
While waiting for the Jeep to get a part replaced at the dealership, I wandered over to IKEA.
Ah, feels like I'm back home at my away-from home home.
Still can't stand having to walk through the entire store to get out, though.
Love the cheap food, though.
Explaining to Americans why they should clean their own tables.
Peanut butter plus jelly seems like a good idea until you pull it out of the fridge and the super-hard peanut butter is impossible to spread, and while doing so you put holes in your toast.
At the post office. Well, what happens if I have to wait in line for more than 15 minutes? That'd actually happen in Berkeley. I'd put in the max of an hour's worth of coins into a parking meter, but I'd be in line for over an hour, so I'd have to run out and put more money in the meter. =/
This visa place is so frustrating. First I waited in this line for 20 minutes. The man in front of me didn't have any cash, so when they told him he needed to pay $4 for copies in only cash, no credit cards or checks, I lent him $4. But then they told him he had to pay for everything in cash, so he had to leave to get more anyway. When I got to the front, she said I had to go to the other line.
So I went and stood in the other line for 30 minutes. When I got to the front of that line, she said I needed the receipt or else only the original person could pick it up. Hey, thanks for not telling me that, cashier in the first line. Grr. Then they said visa pickup is only 4:30-6pm, but then when Jenny went back the next day at 9am, she picked her visa up and the lady said she wouldn't even be there in the afternoon. Maybe it's just because we were dealing with the Russian visa section rather than the Indian, but I was pretty annoyed.
Why you don't want to merge at the last second.
Aw, the windows blew out of his truck and some of them broke.
Part 1 of my present scavenger hunt for Jenny: "Snore, I'm so tired."
Part 2: "Brr, I'm so cold."
Part 3: "Ick, I'm so dirty."
Part 4: last present.
"Maybe I should drive it in for you. You are an Asian female, after all." ;)
Jenny with her presents.
Oh, come on! We're already a little late for Fast Five; now this train is making us even later. At least it only took a few minutes to go by.
Eating at Kona Grill. Yum yum.
Tennis shoes?
Jenny likes to wear dresses, so I said wear shorts or jeans for today. Apparently she thought we'd be playing soccer or something instead of what the real secret plan was.
Which was riding horses.
Lots of horses.
Neat house.
Interesting front yard.
Jenny looking at the stables.
Aww, so cute.
They had some little logs to help get on the horses.
And she's up!
Before she figured out how to control it, the horse decided to go over here for some grass and water.
Learning how to work the reins.
Cute little girl.
And we're off!
Most of the trail was along this little creek.
Around a bend.
Out into the open.
Back into the trees.
A couple of dogs came along, too.
Pretty view of the creek.
And another view.
Big vine.
Lots of mushrooms.
Over some small branches. There were also a few bigger logs we had to go over.
Headed back.
View of the creek.
And another one.
Over some more logs.
Out of focus, but this was kind of creepy. A stuffed bear in a tree wrapped up in a spider web.
Some bamboo.
If we ever stopped, the horses would immediately start eating.
Jenny's horse eating, too.
Pretty flower.
The creek through some trees.
More flowers.
Big spider web.
Jenny's having fun.
Back at the ranch.
Me on my horse.
And we're done!
We went to Discovery Green at night. First stop, Mist Tree.
Synchronicity of Color
Listening Vessels
Monument au Fantóme by Jean Dubuffet
Pretty lake at night.
The moon between some buildings.
Then we went to Joystix for Pac-Man Fever. This game is a ton of fun, except for Jenny whining when I'd take all the grenades. ;)
She was fearless, I was elite.
Back to our favorite game.
Someone's happy about catching a big fish. ^_^
Uh oh, gotta kick it in the next round.
That's right, baby! Monster!
Aw, Jenny is having a really bad round.
I did pretty well.
Ooh, even won a special lure.
I'm on top now. One more day to go.
Nice, a lunker!
My cast was so good it even showed a replay. Unfortunately the fish broke my line as I was pulling it in. :(
Man, she's getting a lot of these things. Not good.
We both won special lures this time. :)
Wow, close game.
At first she thought this was the original two-player Mario Bros.
Jenny: "Hey, that's cheating!" Me: "Hey, it's in the game."
Warp zone.
Jenny again: "Hey, no fair!" Apparently someone didn't play this as much as I did as a kid. ;)
Bonus.
Aw, I died.
This arcade Quake machine has been here forever, and it's never worked correctly.
I've always liked San Francisco Rush.
Especially because from Alcatraz I can see the building I used to work in. :)
Aw yeah, the four-player X-Men arcade game. With four guys drinking and playing.
Ooh, Karate Champ. Another game I used to rock at.
Just gotta remember the moves.
We were much better at Paperboy this time than the last time.
Lots of games.
Lots more.
They have two Guitar Hero games, and this one near the front is much louder. Although Jenny accidentally set her guitar to Lefty and freaked out, so we switched guitars.
Gotta love the Zoltar machine. And the air hockey, and the sit-down airplane game and the find-the-difference bar game and the pinball games and everything, heh.
Yeaaaaaaah! My favorite pinball game that I'd play for hours back in undergrad.
Kicking some monster butt.
Gotta love getting the mode named after the game.
Some little kid was on this game the whole time, but finally he left and I could try it out.
Oh, man, one whack away from the high score.
This is cool; Pac-Man Battle Royale, a four-player Pac-Man game where you can eat the other players, too. Jenny: "Hey, stop eating me!"
That's right, Jenny vandalizing a car. ;) Actually, we noticed this car before we went in; the wheels were painted funny. Then as we were walking out, we smelled spray paint, and came across these guys painting up their car even more. They invited us to join them, although perhaps they'll regret it in the morning, because now in addition to their cool pictures, they have a smiley face and a "Hi!" that Jenny wrote, haha.
I show up at 2pm and a bunch of people are already leaving? Ah, they started at 10am.
It's a good thing Michael brought hoses because the sand was insanely hot.
One of the most annoying things about Washington Ave: cars parking in the right lane. Honestly, even if it's common practice, isn't it still illegal?
Even more annoying: a bicycler. My rule is if you can't go the speed limit, you shouldn't be on that road. If you can keep up with the rest of traffic, fine, but if not, go find a side road somewhere where you're not endangering yourself and everyone around you.
Dumb Kroger. Why would I ever want 1.25 lbs of beef? Every recipe I have is 1 lb or multiples of it. Maybe they're trying to make you think you're getting a deal because they're giving you more, but they're not giving that extra 1/4 lb for free or a discount. I still have to pay the same price for it, so why bother?