Doozy of a Day - Drysuit Certification Dives

I must really love diving. Inspite of it being quite a doozy of a day (boat issues, equipment issues, bad conditions), I had a good time.

First off, we had boat issues. Every time we go out on the water with instructor Kevin, we have problem after problem on the zodiac. This particular day:

• One of two engines wasn't working, so we barely crawled over the water at 7 mph.
• The bow of the boat folded backwards when hit headon by a medium sized wave. Later, we learned that the keel wasn't thoroughly inflated, which explained the lack of ridigity.
• The interior of the boat was a mess with the anchor line entangled with the dive equipment.
• Kevin's GPS and depth gage were precariously balanced and threatened to fall into the leaky boat bottom.
• Kevin's depth gage also ran out of batteries...

Secondly, I had equipment issues. To complete my drysuit certification, I had to don the BCD unit in the water. First of all, I was wearing a drysuit (limitations in flexibility). Layer upon that the pitching waves of the seas. Compound that with my brand new, expensive (and heavy!) weightbelt sliding off my hips, and you have a near panic situation. I am so glad I had to practice the weightbelt ditch and replace exercise in the pool for my Divemaster training because the operation was second nature. Thanks Dan!

To complicate matters, Kevin was teaching several different classes all in the same weekend, and even on the same day. One of the other divers on the boat was completing his AOW Deep Dive. He was wearing a brand new Mares drysuit and couldn't figure out how to use the drysuit inflator and had to sit out the first dive, growing ever more nauseaus on the pitching waves.

Dive #1: Sandflats off of Lover's Point (Cumulative #155)
Max Depth: 109 feet
Time: 0:26 minutes
Buddies: Mark, Kevin D.
Temperature: Oceanic Computer 43 deg. F (49 deg. F)
Visibility: 20-30 feet
Weight: 24 lbs with an HP steel 80 low slung

Observations: This dive is what makes me convinced that I must really love diving. There was nothing to see but sand and clumps of sea stars (I saw an interesting starfish burrowing into the sand). But I was blissfully hovering, frog kicking 3-4 feet above the bottom, revelling in being warm and not kicking up the fine sand.

Also, I noticed Kevin as he geared up on the surface. He looks very comfortable in the water and was steadfast despite the imperfect conditions. He clearly shows the mark of a very experienced and skilled diver.

Dive #2: End of Breakwater (Cumulative #156)
Max Depth: 47 feet
Time: 0:33 minutes
Buddies: Mark, Kevin D.
Temperature: Oceanic Computer 44 deg. F (50 deg. F)
Visibility: 10-15 feet

Observations: Noone felt comfortable to venture far from shore with our myriad of boat problems and with the white capped waves growing in the distance. So we opted to anchor at the end of the Breakwater to see if any sea lions would dive bomb us there (there's a small colony of sea lions that live here). Small shrimp made the water cloudy. I saw a couple of kelp greenlings. The usual nudibranchs, including one that looked like a Aeolidia Papillosa. Mark saw a sea lion posing above a rock, checking him out. I was concerned about Mark's one bare hand, and whether his hand might be freezing, so I decided to end the dive early. I saw a sea lion circling us at our safety stop before it gyrated away into the haze.

Afterthoughts:
This day of diving was the perfect example of trying to accomplish too many things at once. To Kevin's credit, he treated each problem with utmost calm, which is a fine quality for the technical diver that he is. But at the same time, he had too many classes and gear problems to handle, and it all could have easily gone awry.

Catalina Scuba Diving Mini-Vacation

After my meditation retreat at Esalen (which I wrote about here, and here), I headed down the coast to Catalina Island. I was trying to do as much wedding planning as possible (wedding in Catalina) and wanted to meet wedding vendors face to face. During my stay, I also did a couple of days of diving.

While in Catalina, I stayed with my friend, Dr. Bill, who is the "ambassador" to diving in Catalina Island. Dr. Bill has been featured on the Weather Channel, and was also written about in Diver's Alert magazine. A Harvard and UCSB educated marine biologist, Dr. Bill is also a weekly columnist, hosts a public access TV show called "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill". He also produces a series of underwater educational DVD's, also entitled "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill". These DVD's are about the marine life around Catalina Island and the Channel Islands, but also of marine life elsewhere around the world.

Bill was my dive buddy on all listed dives below. All photographs are courtesy of Dr. Bill. All diving was conducted on the King Neptune Boat, owned by Catalina Scuba Luv.

Dive #1: Hen Rock (cumulative dive #150)
Max Depth: 48'
Time: 0:43
Temperature: 56-58 deg. F
Tank: AL 80
Weight: 26 lbs on weight belt
Vis: 20-30'

Observations: I lost my buddy, Bill within 5 minutes of descending the anchor line (I am so used to having people follow me, that I assumed he was right behind me as I swam) so the rest of the dive was conducted solo. I was pretty focussed on using my drysuit for only my second time in the ocean so I didn't observe anything. However, I did reacquaint myself with the usual Catalina suspects: bright orange Garibaldi fish, spiny lobsters, senoritas and wrasses.

Later, after I boarded the boat, Bill told me that when he lost me, he had surfaced to look for me. He had followed the PADI procedure, but I had not! He figured I was a hardy diver, so the boat didn't panic when Bill had surfaced and I had not. I felt guilty, but not too guilty.

Dive #2: Torqua Springs (Cumulative dive #151)
Max Depth: 53'
Time: 0:57
Temp: 56-58 deg F
Tank: AL 80
Weight: 30 lbs (20 lbs in weight belt, rest in BCD)
Vis: 20-30 feet

Observations: The boat arrived to the sight of a bait ball being attacked. Fish were flying out of the water. A bald eagle swooped down from an overhead cliff to snatch one of the fish. It was like a scene from Blue Planet (a BBC documentary series). Underwater, I got a chance to see these bait fish.

This time I had no problem descending with the extra weight (30 lbs in all!), however I did feel there was an enormous air bubble in my drysuit. This time, I did not lose my buddy. Bill spent quite a long time videotaping a juvenile horn shark (see below). Later on that dive, I saw a mature horn shark swimming at the outskirts of the kelp forest. I also saw a swell shark egg and left it out in the open as I had found it. There were hundreds of bait fish swimming about as happy as could be. The kelp forest was thick and dark.

Juvenile horn shark

(photo courtesy of Bill Bushing, www.Starthrower.org)

Dive #3: Garibaldi Reef (cumulative dive #152)
Max Depth: 98'
Time: 0:56
Temp: 56-58 deg. F

Observations: Bill and I dove deeper to the sand flats covered by deep water kelp. There were many nudibranchs at this depth. Bill filmed some yellow and orange Peltodoris Nobilis, whose color is determined by their diet. I saw a couple of Hudson nudibranchs (Acanthadoris Hudsoni). I don't really know the names of these species off the top of my head, since I don't yet have an underwater camera. There were also various fist sized whelks (underwater snails) that were gathered in small groups, mating.

Dive #4: Little Gibraltar (cumulative dive #153)
Max Depth: 103'
Time: 0:48
Temp: 56-58 deg. F
Tank: AL80
Weight: 28 lbs (20 lbs on weight belt, rest in BCD pockets)

Observations: This was a pinnacle dive that reminded me of Monterey. There was an octopus hiding beneath the deep kelp. Also, there were numerous fragile rainbow sea stars (see below). There was a plaque in memorium of a diver. Bill and I got separated, so we continued our dives solo. Since Bill lost his wet suit vest, he tended to get cold earlier and would surface first, leaving me to complete all the dives myself. Although I tended to surface after about 50 minutes, it wasn't due to getting cold. Temperaturewise, I could have continued for another 30 minutes or more. But I tended to want to surface to use the restroom facilities.

Fragile Rainbow Star Fish

(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, http://www.starthrower.org/)

Dive #5: Pirate's Cove (cumulative dive #154)
Max Depth: 77'
Time: 0:52
Temp: 56-58 deg. F

Observations: This was my favorite dive during my stay in Catalina. First, I saw a 2 foot long giant sea hare (see picture of me petting it below).

Mina petting the giant sea hare

(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, http://www.starthrower.org/)

Bill threw the sea hare at me... As it fell through the water towards me, I got a good look at the suction foot underneath the sea hare, and it was clogged with stones, and I freaked out. I have always had a fear of slugs and worms, and to me, this was a gigantic version of a worm.

Sea Hare Eating

(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, www.starthrower.org)

A few minutes later, the sea hare relaxed enough to continue feeding on sea vegetation (see above). On this dive site I also saw:

• sheep crabs
• navanax slug
• a large mound of sea hare eggs, the result of a sea hare orgy where as many as 17 sea hares have been observed to mate
• a small halibut on the sand

Bill saw some interesting kelp at this dive site that was not local to Catalina waters the previous week. He managed to get the captain to dive this site again. He spent the entire rest of the dive filming the kelp in order to document it and to figure out what it was. After some research, he found out that it is a highly invasive Asian species of kelp, the Undaria pinnatifida, also found in miso soup. To read more on the ecological implications of the presence of this species in our local California waters, read Dr. Bill's column.

Invasive Asian Kelp -- Undaria pinnatifida

(photo courtesy of Dr. Bill, http://www.starthrower.org/)

Drysuit Diving Afterthoughts

Diving in a drysuit is a little like learning to dive again. I noticed that I couldn't stay still in trying to control the airbubble in my drysuit. When Bill tried to show me the octopus hiding underneath the kelp, I couldn't stay still enough to observe. However, after my 5th dive in the drysuit, I was able to stay still enough to observe individual creatures.

I noticed that my center of buoyancy was close enough (no floaty feet) with the low slung AL80 tank, and the hig hugging weight belt. I noticed, too, that if I bent my knees, I could constrain the air bubble in my drysuit to my torso. Once again, I found myself naturally gravitating towards the frog kick.

Catalina is a few degrees warmer than Monterey this time of year. I could have done 90 minute dives in Catalina without getting significantly chilled, which means I should be able to do 60 minute dives in Monterey easily. Drysuit diving also offered a benefit over wetsuit diving: surface intervals were warm and toasty while my buddies were shivering in their seats.

Mindfulness Meditation - hippies, and naked hot tubbing

Soaking in Esalen's Famous Hot Tubs

(photo courtesy of Lezlie Sterling / Zuma Press file)

This blog is continued from a previous blog entry.

I had some initial fears arriving at the Esalen Institute for my weekend meditation worshop. I had heard that Esalen was pretty experimental, and was forewarned of their clothing-optional policies. So, when I arrived at the Esalen as a lone female traveller, I was a little on edge.

My fears weren't dispelled upon arrival. 99.5% of the guests and residents I encountered upon my arrival at the Esalen were white. And everywhere I looked, I saw the familiar dreadlocks, Ugg boots, "North Face" gear and flowing scarves characteristic of the well-off, stereotypical hippie. I wished that there was more racial diversity, and I wished there were more of the moderate "engineering-types" that I was accustomed to in the Silicon Valley.

Did I mention Esalen's clothing optional policies? Before coming, I was forewarned by the person answering the phones that people soaking in the natural hot springs would be nude. That didn't surprise me. The Esalen hot springs are famous for being situated on a spectacularly beautiful stretch of Big Sur coastline. Esalen also spent $17 million dollars to update their hot baths, and they had recently earned a top ten listing as one of the "sexiest spas in the world". Nudity had been mentioned in that article. I asked the woman on the phone whether I could wear a bathing suit, and she said, yes.

I was also warned me that I would be sleeping in a common meeting room with a mixed gender group. Furthermore, I was warned that people usually took their showers at the bath house, which was coed. I couldn't believe that there weren't any single sex showers anywhere on the premises, so I blindly went forward with my plans.

After wandering around the rest of the premises, I decided to check out the famous baths. Meandering down the path , I was stopped in my tracks. 100 yards away was a wall of pink flesh (not unlike the photo below). The bodies came in all shapes and sizes. Mentally, I was unprepared by that sight. So I decided to turn around and get dinner...

A Wall of Pink Flesh

(photo courtesy of dearcity.blogspot.com)

Dinner at Esalen

Dinner, as were all meals, was an all-you-can eat buffet held at a common dining hall. People had the option of sitting inside, our outside on the deck (above). The organic food, some of which came from the Esalen gardens, was fairly good. Although I was not a big fan of the grain intensive, granola-ey food, I found myself eating a lot, despite not doing much activity other than meditating. On my first evening, I ate dinner with a couple of other lone female travellers, and had some pretty delightful conversation (more on this later). I was convinced that although the people around me may be crazy enough to go naked in front of others, they were still pretty well-meaning human beings.

To be Continued...

Mindful Meditation at the Esalen Institute

Esalen "Art Barn"

I'm always wondering how I can become a happier person. The past two years of my life were spent rather unhappily striving for a work goal that ended up not being attainable. I have also observed that my mind never ceases to chatter, and the endless stream of thoughts that I am subjected to makes me a tenser, more negative person. The tension that I feel and the negativity inside of me are sensed by those around me which in turn makes their lives more miserable.

Having left my previous job, and getting ready to start a new job, I was thinking, a job is just a job: "Isn't there more to life than just endlessly striving at work or in life? Is that all there is? And who cares anyway?"

Since I was going to utilize my time off to work on my wedding, and since part of that involved driving down to Catalina (the site of the wedding) down in Southern California, I thought I would make a personal retreat to the Esalen Institute, which being in Big Sur, is on the way down the California coast. The Esalen Institute is a non-profit education center in psychology, philosophy, and generally anything do with the mind-body connection. It also serves as a spa retreat for those interested in soaking in natural hot springs, or receiving massages. Coincidentally, there was a weekend meditation workshop being held at the Esalen that interested me very much. The course name was: "Being Present for Your Life: Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation". I thought that the class might give me some insight on how I could approach my life more mindfully.

History of Esalen

Wikipedia provides an illuminating article on The Esalen Institute, which you can find here. However, I will provide a quick summary of Esalen's famous past. Two former Stanford alumni, Dick Price, and Michael Murphy founded the Esalen Institute in 1962. Dick Price did his continuing studies in psychology at Harvard. While Michael Murphy moved on to study at an ashram in India.

At the suggestion of their Stanford "comparative religions" professor, the two met and founded a center in Big Sur, CA where people could discuss and explore schools of thoughts that were outside of mainstream academia. I get the sense from talking to other Esalen guests that the Institute back in the 1960's was a highly "experimental" time.

Past Luminaries at Esalen

There were a number of influential artists and thinkers who have taught at Esalen:

• Linus Pauling (science)
• Richard Feynman (science)
• Abraham Maslow (psychology)
• Deepak Chopra (spiritual)
• Ansel Adams (art)
• Joan Baez (art)
• Ida Rolf (body work)
• Moshe Feldenkrais (mind-body)
• others...

Although these days, the Esalen serves more as a spa retreat then a center for cutting edge theory, there are still interesting workshops and seminars to attend taught by good teachers in their fields.

Meditation Lodge at Esalen Institute

To be continued...

Wedding Goals update

A lot of wedding tasks were accomplished since I last wrote. Here is an update for my own reference:

Original Wedding To-Do List:

(1) buy my wedding dress (it's chosen, I just need to buy it)

DONE. I slipped up and bought on the wrong dress. After a
couple of days of buyer's remorse, I returned the dress and got another one. The
dress I finally got is more beautiful than the dress I returned. I have some
internal conflict with having eyes on me... and the more beautiful dress, I feel
would draw too much attention... But then again, it IS my wedding day.

(2) finish the wedding website and post to all invitees.

I still need to complete the map section.

(3) finish the wedding invitation and wedding RSVP.

These are completed, but I need to complete the map
before sending these out.

(4) choose a wedding officiant

This will probably be Annie Marshall, who does all of the
wedding officiating on the island. But as far as what will be said at the
ceremony, I have no clue, and don't really care, so long as God isn't
mentioned.

(5) talk to Colleen at Metropole about decorations

DONE. I pinned down a florist for the centerpieces,
which will be the extent of the wedding decorations. I settled on floating
flower and votive candle centerpieces that will really set the contemporary tone
for the wedding. I think the florist got excited by the wedding style and color
theme, which is contemporary, and literally, rainbow hued. I also met with
Colleen, the wedding coordinator, and we talked in greater detail about
sequence of events, and did a walk through of the Beach House (wedding ceremony
and reception area).

(6) Attend an appointment with hairstylist and makeup artist

DONE. I chose Chelly at Island Breeze Salon, considered to be one of the best hairstylists and makeup artists on the island. She is very fast at the hair (which looked good), and I think she is a superb makeup artist. Everytime I looked at my face in the mirror, my jaw dropped in surprise at how she transformed my face. I don't think my face had ever looked that good.

(7) Choose caterer

DONE. We are choosing Ristorante Villa Portofino, considered to be one of the finest restaurants on Catalina Island. Chef Greg, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, helped me bang out a menu that I think will accommodate both the Americans and the Chinese people who will be attending. Also there will be plenty of vegetarian fare for the vegetarians attending.

New goals:

(8) E-mail Tim, who works at Catalina Scuba Luv, if he would DM and officiate over the underwater wedding.

(9) Begin thinking about the ceremony.

(10) Narrow down the attendee list.

(11) Reserve blocks of hotel rooms and houses.

Alcatraz -- playing the tourist

Boat Landing at Alcatraz

I've really been enjoying my life of unemployment. Yesterday, I behaved like a tourist, and visited Alcatraz Island for the first time.

I had heard from friends that this is a very interesting tourist attraction, despite it's "touristy" reputation. I must agree, but mostly because the audio tour was so entertaining, not necessarily resulting from the site's inherent historical significance.

A 45 minute audio tour is provided to all visitors who purchase a ferry ticket. This audio tour won an award and is considered to be one of the best in the U.S. It was certainly one of the most dramatic audio tours I've ever taken, and I have listened to some very good ones (my favorites include the audio tour at the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and the audio tour at the Santa Croce in Florence. Thanks, Melissa, for the heads up).

Alcatraz's Broadway

After being ushered past the area where you get your jail uniform, you are led down the main aisle of the jail. As you walk down "Broadway" you hear raucaus catcalls and heckling from a million imaginary prisoners all around you. This was the tune to which which all new prisoners were greeted with upon arrival. The heckling sounds so real, except that the three stories of jail cells surrounding you are completely empty, which made for a jarring experience.

Later, you are lead to the recreational yard, where prisoners receive a glimpse of San Francisco, so close, yet so far away. It is here that you feel the cold, bay wind gusting all around you, and you realize the feeling of hopelessness and desolation that the prisoners must feel

The scariest part for me was the solitary confinement cell, called, "The Hole". The Hole was occupied by Al Capone, Alcatraz's most famous resident, 3 times. The room is completely bare, except for a hole in the ground in which you do your business. Prisoners were isolated in this cell, in the dark, for days at a time. The audio tour is then narrated by a former prisoner, the tapping of a button bouncing on the floor serving as the background. When placed in solitary confinement, this prisoner used to turn around three times and drop a button onto the ground. He would then search everywhere in the cell for his button, until he found it, whereupon he would repeat the proces, ad infinitum

Even more creepy was the story of another prisoner. When placed in the "Hole" he would concentrate on seeing a bright light over the period of hours and days, until it finally became a TV. He would then go inside of the TV and take trips. The audio tour invites one to step in to The Hole, which I opted not to do after hearing these haunting stories.

All in all, I enjoyed Alcatraz. I would recommend it to anyone visiting San Francisco. Or to Bay Area residents who have never had the inclination to visit before.

Turkey Saga, and Relaxing Sunday on the Peninsula

This Sunday was all about relaxing with Mark. Unlike me, he has to work tomorrow, so I made sure he had time to relax after his less-than-ideal dive on Saturday.

The morning started with grocery shopping at the Mountain View Farmer's Market, where we bumped into our friend Joann and her sister, which was a welcome surprise.

I then embarked on a 17 mile bike ride with Eddie and Mark, more for exercise rather than for fun. Also, it was a statement of doing things that Mark enjoys, because he suffered through the scuba diving yesterday, which I enjoy. But I had fun inspite of myself, it was such a beautiful day.

While waiting for the guys at Peets Coffee, I submerged myself in newspapers, pretending I was one of those politically savvy types who read multiple newspapers a day. I realize that I had stopped avidly reading the news since Bush Jr. ascended to the presidency. Why read news, when all news is bad news? Now that we will have a much better president (Republican or Democrat), I vow to read the news more frequently.

In other news, the 3 year old frozen turkey turned out well. Next time, I would like to brine the turkey longer (overnight instead of 6 hours) so that it tastes more salty and is more moist, also, I think I will roast the turkey for 1h45 breast side down, and only 30 min breast side up so that the meat is more tender, or at least until the center of the thigh is 120 deg F.

Right now, utilizing the turkey leftovers in creative ways has been occupying my brain. The Moroccan turkey stew that I created the other night was quite the success. (Next time, I would like to use less water, use golden raisins instead of the yam, use green Middle-Eastern olives instead of the black Kalamatas I used, and eliminate the chickpeas.)

Moroccan Turkey Stew Ingredients:

1 Turkey carcass

1/4-1/2 cup golden raisins

3-4 carrots, sliced in 1/4" pieces

4 celery spears, sliced in 1/4" pieces

3-4 handfuls of turkey meat, chopped in 1" pieces

1 cinnamon stick

2 tbs cumin

2 tbs of curry powder

1 tbs of cardamom

sugar and salt to taste

2 cups of cooked couscous

1-2 cups of halved, pitted Mediterranean, preferably Middle Eastern green olives

2 medium onions, cut into 1" slices

3 cloves of garlic, diced

1 handful of chopped Italian parsley

Moroccan Turkey Stew Instructions:

(1) Place turkey carcass, or large turkey thigh in large stock pot. Fill stock pot with water, maybe 8 inches deep. Cut carcass into smaller pieces if necessary. Boil vigorously, and then lower temperature to simmering. Leave on simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Remove carcass and bones. Skim fat off of soup surface if it exists.

(2) Over medium-high heat, fry the onions, garlic and cinnamon stick for 5 minutes or until soft. Pour onions into soup stock. Let stock simmer for another 10 minutes.

(3) Place chopped celery, and turkey meat into stock pot. Let stock simmer for another 10 minutes.

(4) Place raisins and carrots into stock pot. Simmer until carrots are done. Season to taste with sugar and salt. In parallel, make two cups of couscous according to couscous cooking instructions.

(5) Place 1-2 inches of couscous at bottom of bowls.

(6) Ladle over with the Moroccan turkey stew. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Drysuit Adventure at Breakwater

Goal of the Dive:
My goal for this dive was to get acquainted with drysuit diving in the ocean before I head down to Catalina next week. Unfortunately, we have not yet completed our ocean drysuit dives with our instructor because he has been on a business trip. So my goal for this dive was to familiarize myself with drysuit diving without any instruction.

We chose the Breakwater as our dive spot, because we know Breakwater well, and because it is shallow enough so that an uncontrolled ascent due to drysuit diving would not be as dangerous. As usual, we dove along the wall.

Details of the Dive:
Dive #: 149
Dive Buddy: Mark
Exposure Suit: Drysuit, Bare Hi-Loft undergarment, with fleece undershirt and yoga pants
Weight: 20lbs, all in weight integrated pockets
Max Depth: 44 feet
Visibility: 20 feet
Temperature: Oceanic 48 deg. F
Time: 50 minutes
Tank: High Pressure Steel 80 cu. ft (PST)

Moon Jelly

Sealife:

Everytime I go to the Breakwater, I see a different story unfolding. This time, there were numerous dead or dying moon jellies in the water, often being consumed by sea stars. This could mean that we are in the midst of the moon jelly breeding season. It is believed that the moon jelly dies after reproducing.

While looking closely at a cabezon, we were briefly inspected by a couple of juvenile sea lions, curious to see what we were looking at.

Later, a harbor seal (similar to the one pictured above) glided by. These are some of my favorite species, because they are so incredibly cute, and fat. This one was quite large, probably about as long as me, but 5 times as big around, of course.

Mina's Observations of Drysuit Diving:
(1) I exerted way too much energy preventing my feet from floating up. I am extremely reluctant to wear ankle weights due to the extra effort this gives to kicking, but this may be my only resort, other than getting an expensive DUI weight harness. Why hasn't someone figured out a better solution for this? Floaty feet seems to afflict everyone moving from wetsuit to drysuit.
(2) I am slightly underweighted at 20 lbs. Adding one pounders on each foot may do it. I will be 8 pounds heavier than what I am used to diving with a wetsuit.
(3) I was toasty warm. Okay, maybe toasty is exaggerating. I did not register temperature either cold or warm even after almost an hour underwater. The temperature at Breakwater is usually 54 deg. F. This means when I do more exposed boat dives at 50 deg. F, I should feel fairly comfortable!
(4) Feeling an urge to pee was not an issue.

Mark's Observations of Drysuit Diving:
Mark had a much less positive experience with his first open water drysuit dive:
(1) He had a severe leak in his wrist seal and felt wetness all the way down to his knees.
(2) He was also underweighted, and his integrated weight pouch was barely hanging on to his BCD by a single rivet.
(3) He was slightly cold in his drysuit. This was most likely due to the fact that his drysuit was leaking, and because he was shrinkwrapped in his suit.

With Mark's equipment issues, we thought it wise not to continue with a second dive.

Kooza (3rd Day of Unemployment)

Wheel of Death

My friend had an extra ticket to see the latest Cirque du Soleil piece, Kooza this evening. This ticket was free, courtesy of her company. Because my friend's husband couldn't make it, and since I am currently between jobs, I filled in at the last minute.

For the lack of anything intelligent to say, I will just summarize and say that Kooza is: innovative, heart-pounding, stylish, and poignant, all at the same time. My friend thought that the set design was amazing. I don't think I noticed the set as much, as I was in fear that the circus performers would hurt themselves at every moment.

The circus acts were based on old-time circus acts: unicycles, high-wire, trapeze, juggling and clowning - but with innovative twists. By far and away my favorite was the "Wheel of Death" act (above). You know how you feel when you are in free fall, and your heart is in your throat? Well that's how I felt during the entire act. I was gasping with every whirl of the wheel, and at one point, even screamed out loud, "Be Careful!" at the acrobats. Basically, these hunky guys with spikey pants would jump, timing the trajectory of their landing with the trajectory of the wheel. It was physics in action. If the acrobats fell of the wheel, it was certain death...

Kooza was more than just a welcome distraction from my bill paying/wedding planning earlier in the day... it was a piece of art.

Last Day at Work

All Four Female Engineers Together for the Last Time

(from Left: Marsha, Hila, Mina and Cherie)

On my last day at work, I made sure to make my rounds and say goodbye to everyone, and tell them honestly how much I appreciated everyone. Above, you can see all four female engineers together for the last time. Coincidentally, Hila's first day back from her long break corresponded to my last day! For the first and last time, all four women engineers would have their cubicles all in a row. I am really going to miss having such confident, intelligent and strong female company.

Dim sum at East Ocean Restaurant with some of the lunchtime Gang (From Left: Johnny, Daniel, Javier, Marsha, Mina, Kurt, Vin, Ahmad, Carolina, Kelvin, Georgie)

For lunch, we went to East Ocean Restaurant for some dimsum. Above were some of the original Friday lunch gang, minus some who had to attend meetings. The people at my company were some of the nicest people you could ever meet. It's what makes this company tolerable. I don't think most companies have such well-intentioned employees. I have never been back-stabbed, and for the most part, people are humble and team players. I hope that we can all keep track of one another and stay in touch.

Second Day of Unemployment

Gothic Purple Toe Nails,

Traditional Scarlet Nails

Today was my second day of unemployment. After my 45 minute jog, I headed out to Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto to read (I am currently reading Bill Clinton's autobiography, "My Life"). Then I got a manicure/pedicure, which was decadently enjoyable. Finally, I discovered a cute little shop called Tea Time on Ramona street where I had a pot of "Melange Russe" tea. The interior of this place is tres chic. It was nice to enjoy the peace and quiet inside this tea lounge, unlike at Coupa Cafe, which is always crowded. It was here that I worked on my wedding invitations on my laptop.

Also, today I am attempting to bake a turkey for the first time. This turkey has been sitting in our freezer for 3 years! Mark wanted to throw it out, but I argued that it was vacuum packed and therefore could not get freezer burn. I brined the turkey because the brined turkeys I've tasted were the tastiest and most moist. Also, I'm making an interesting asparagus dish which I invented. It has sage, chopped up proscuitto and will have smoked mozarella on top. Mark just came back from his bicycle ride, and has already taken over the kitchen making homemade stuffing. We also opened up a bottle of Merlot which I bought on my birthday while bike riding in Sausalito.

So far, I'm really enjoying my time of unemployment. But I need to get productive some time soon...

Gratefulness Journal, 2/Mar/2008

Tomorrow will be my last day of work. Everything that I am living through is being seen through that prism. In a way, everything seems more vivid. Today, I was grateful for:

(1) Almost falling asleep during the meditation section in yoga today.

(2) I enjoyed the sunshine beaming down on me as I motored around in my Mini Cooper with the top down. You can't beat the weather in California, given that it is still winter. (Gee, I do appreciate my car a lot, since I've already mentioned it in another Gratefulness Journal.)

(3) I struck up a nice conversation with a stranger while studying at Coupa Caffe in Palo Alto. This stranger looked really familiar to me. Turns out he was a former coworker who I had attended kickboxing class with. He is at an even more dramatic cross road than I am. He is leaving his job of 7 years to go back to learn architecture.

(4) I had a very nice conversation with Hila on the phone. I was able to tell her honestly how sad I was to leave her behind.

(5) Sitting down at this small, French style creperie for the first time, I discovered that Bistro Maxine, in downtown Palo Alto has good french style lattes. They also serve Barefoot Coffee Roasters coffee, which is consdered to be some of the best in the bay area.

(6) Despite being much much older than the Stanford students surrounding me, I was able to blend in with the crowd quite well. Perhaps, I can consider myself to be one of the "hip" crowd.

Quick Jot on Goals for my Break

I am about to embark on a 2.5 week break between jobs. Here's a quick jot down of my thoughts and goals:

On my last day of work, tomorrow, I will make sure I speak to everyone and give everyone my personal information, and receive personal information from them. I will then make sure that the key people are entered into my e-mail account.

On my break, I will:
(a) study, for maybe a few hours...
(b) clean house
(c) exercise
(d) plan to go down to Catalina
(e) make plans to stay at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur... there's a meditation retreat I might be interested in attending.
(f) figure out what I want to accomplish wedding wise:

Here are my wedding planning goals:
(1) buy my wedding dress (it's chosen, I just need to buy it)
(2) finish the wedding website and post to all invitees
(3) finish the wedding invitation and wedding RSVP
(4) choose a wedding officiant
(5) talk to Colleen at Metropole about decorations
(6) Attend an appointment with hairstylist and makeup artist
(7) Choose caterer