Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

A few months ago... or maybe it was a year+ at this point, I'm not sure... Hawk and I were straightening the pile of shoes in our hall closet, and I found a pair of footwear I didn't even remember buying.



They're hiking shoes. Not hiking boots, but hiking shoes. When did I buy these? I wondered. I couldn't remember! So I stuffed them back in the closet— except in a more orderly fashion than the pile of shoes that was in there, because that's what we were cleaning up— and promptly forgot about them again. 🤣 Until today.

Today, for whatever reason, I remembered these shoes were in the hall closet, sitting there almost certainly never used for who-knows-how-many years. So when Hawk was feeling well enough to want to do a light hike today (she's still not fully over traveler's diarrhea after two weeks!) I figured it would be a great opportunity to try out these hiking shoes. That's because while the trail we picked, at Bxybee Park on the bay in Palo Alto, is too easy to want to wear hiking boots, the gravel paths made me want to wear something a bit more protective than my Keen sport sandals. Even with their toe cap the sandals still pick up small rocks on gravelly trails.

"I don't even remember when I bought these," I mused out loud as I laced them up in the hallway. "Maybe a few years ago at REI when I saw them on a clearance sale and figured, 'Why not try them?'"

"I think you bought them fifteen years ago, at Footwear Etc.," Hawk countered, name-checking a store that used to be around the corner from us but closed up years ago.

Well, regardless of when or where I bought them I could easily surmise why I'd bought them. While I've never bought hiking shoes before, always preferring either the sturdiness of hiking boots or the light weight and breathability of hiking sandals, for the right price I would've taken a chance on trying hiking shoes. And today, finally, is the time to try them!

Update: By the second time I'd worn them they fell apart! 😡

Yesterday Hawk sold most of her comicbook collection. For years it has been occuping a few dozen long boxes in our "Hobbit Hole" behind the garage. We don't have an exact before picture of the collection, but here's a photo from when were were doing some cleaning in the Hobbit Hole a few years ago:



The longboxes were piled 3 high (and I think 9 across) on the left side in the picture.

Hawk sold just over 6,000 issues. They filled 23 longboxes.



A dealer came to buy them on Monday.

And here's the money shot:



Hawk now has a stack of Benjamins instead of a wall of boxes in the Hobbit Hole. ...Well, she still has a small wall of boxes. She kept about 1,200 issues of her collection. They fill 9 shortboxes.

Some weekends are busy, others are slow. This weekend brought some of each. Sunday was the slow day when I finally had time to relax. Among other things I caught up (mostly) on my blog backlog. The things I posted Sunday tell the story:

• Playing my D&D game on Friday night
• Having our joint 102nd birthday party on Saturday
• My retrospective on the year 2023— which had been in the queue for 3 weeks!

So, what did I do Sunday? For starters I slept in... though not as much as I expected after being up past midnight both Friday and Saturday. I did allow myself to take a nap late afternoon to catch up.

Hawk and I had lunch on Sunday with two of our friends who couldn't make it to our party Saturday. Well, I guess they could make it but they chose not to. They are hyper-vigilant about Covid and won't take a chance on indoors things like parties, even among groups of known friends who are all vaxxed. Sadly part of the new normal is some people are still in crisis mode with no exit criteria defined. Anyway, we met at a restaurant that has outdoor dining. The weather isn't the greatest for eating outdoors this time of year, but at least it wasn't raining at lunchtime.

A Home Office Move Out and Back

In the evening I decided to tame the mess that had taken over my desk. Last week I moved my work area downstairs to Hawk's crafting table. I did it because she needed to work at home all week, and we conflict too much over talking needs when we work in the office together for more than a few hours. I did a similar move in Sept. 2022 during a heat wave. My office setup is smaller than hers (she's got more external monitors) so I made the move. And now, like in 2022, I moved back after a week.

The thing was, while my computer and extra monitor were off my desk last week, the piles of stuff that have been growing around them got worse. And with cleanup for the party on Saturday, stuff wound up all over the desk. I knew if I didn't clean it up Sunday evening it would be an agonizing mess to deal with while trying to start work Monday morning.

I could have just cleared up the space in the middle of my desk. Indeed, that's what I did first, so I could set up my laptop and reconnect it to the external monitor. But I figured as long as I was in cleaning-things-up mode I might as well sort through the pile of papers in what I call the "landing zone" on the corner of my desk. It's basically an unlabelled inbox.

Desktop Archaeology

As I worked my way down through the pile of papers, sorting them into three piles— to keep, to trash, to shred— I felt like an archaeologist working a dig site. I was scraping my way down through older and older history.

In the top layer were a few things I tossed atop the pile in the last month or two: a primary election re-registration card and a few financial/medical statements. Then there was a layer of stuff from 3-4 months ago. Then June 2023. Then March 2023. February 2023. When I got to paperwork from January 2023 I mused how I'd just reached stuff that had been buried for a literal year. And there was still more below!

My desktop dig reached all the way back into 2022. I found an insurance card... issued for 2023. We have a different insurer in 2024. Oops, I guess I didn't need that. I had a receipt from a hotel stay in October 2022. That was the oldest thing on my desk. 15 months old! Why did I even have that?

All the stuff I wanted to actually keep I sorted off into appropriate folders. That meant, of course, creating some new folders for things. And by "creating" I mean repurposing old manila folders and hanging folders with new labels and putting them in my file drawers.

Oh, but putting new stuff in the file drawers in the office means having to take old stuff out. There's only so much space in the office. What's old, in this case? For one, I pulled out a folder of maintenance records for a car we sold in 2022. That goes to the industrial shred bin. (It's too much for our home shredder.) Then there are taxes from a few years ago. Those we keep, but down in the Hobbit Hole.

I thought about leaving the 2017-2021 tax folders in a neat pile on my desk to take downstairs later but then decided that if I didn't move them immediately they'd simply wind up on the bottom of the next archaeological dig. So I tucked them in one of our storage bins down in the Hobbit Hole where there's paperwork dating back to the 1990s. And now my desk is clean! Well, at least that one corner of it is clean. 🤣

How did I spend my three day weekend? I basically squandered it. I say that because I like to use holiday weekends to travel. Vacation allotments are meager enough in the US (compared to Europe especially) that I strive to maximize the value of every day of paid time off I get. Yet all I did this weekend is be a slug around home.

• Friday night we took it easy and stayed in. Though we did at least go out to eat at a favorite casual pizzeria.


• Saturday I barely left these four walls. The farthest I went was the mailbox. Disappointingly there was nothing worthwhile in it.


• Sunday I did basically nothing.


• Monday I did basically nothing— except for the hour I spent assisting local police as they discovered there's a dead guy in the condo next to mine.

What else could I have done? Three things:

1. Like I said at the top, my usual plan for holiday weekends is to travel somewhere. The MLK Day holiday comes at a not-great time of year for that, though. It's hot on the heels of Christmas and New Years, when we usually take a longer trip— like Australia a few weeks ago. Often we feel "traveled-out" and prefer time to relax.


2. If we don't travel we could at least do outdoorsy stuff locally. We love the outdoors and there are so many options within, say, a 45 minutes to 1 hour drive. But the weather sucks for it right now. It's not unseasonably cold like earlier this week but it's still gloomy, cool, and raining on and off.


3. Knowing that we weren't really going anywhere I set for myself a goal of doing some cleaning around the house. I managed to do about 30 minutes of cleaning on Sunday, but other than that procrastinated doing it until next weekend— when we have to do it because we're having a house party for our joint birthday celebration!

Well, the positive side of not doing, or barely doing, any of the above is that I relaxed. Relaxation doesn't suck. Resting up for the coming week at work has been pleasant. Though at the same time I know I need that rest because this coming week all hell is likely to break loose. Yes, I said that about last week... and last week was busy, just not hell-breaks-loose busy. Hell's walls held. And now this week is likely to be the one all hell breaks loose. 😣

I had a great plan for today. I would get up early-ish, do some multiple of 20 minutes of housecleaning, then we'd drive over the mountains early enough to beat the traffic, and walk the ocean bluffs in Santa Cruz. It would be a great day even though summer weather hasn't arrived yet. It only feels like late April. But it doesn't have to be hot to enjoy West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz (in fact it's better if it's not), and It's been over a year since we were last there in Feb 2022.

Well, by about 9:00 this morning that plan was shot to shit. I did get up early, but I was too tired to do housework. I vegged for a while. Hawk got up later and also was tired. Together we decided we'd punt on Santa Cruz with needing an early start and instead hike somewhere else, after lunch. We were thinking our favorite trail at Las Trampas.

Then 11:30 rolled around, time to pick where to go to lunch, and again the plan fell apart. We did still go to lunch, but Hawk was too tired to want to hike right after, and I was tired enough not to disagree. Instead we went for donuts after lunch.

But we did get a walk in today. At lunch I overheard someone mention the Art & Wine festival is in town this weekend. We went after donuts.



The Art & Wine show comes to town maybe twice a year. We don't always go, though enough times we catch the same show when it rotates through another town in the area. Sometimes we hit it in Mountain View, Santa Clara, or even Fremont instead of Sunnyvale.

So, what about that housecleaning? Well, after the art & wine show I got busy with it!



One of the tasks I set for myself today was to clean all three of our balconies/patios. The scuzziest is the kitchen balcony, shown in the photo above. First I swept it, then hosed it down, then decided it still needed more cleaning. I mixed some bleach water, scrubbed the surface with a shop broom, and hosed it down again.



The result is pretty good if I do say so myself.

In addition to cleaning this balcony I also swept our bedroom balcony and our back patio. And I vacuumed the dining room and kitchen. Then, going back to the outdoors, I set out our patio chairs.



It's a great time to get the patio and balcony into shape to enjoy, as summer is just around the corner— both officially and weather-wise. Normally we'd be well into summer weather by now but it's been April-ish the past week or so. Still, that's an improvement from 10 days ago when our weather still resembled late March. Today provided a glimpse of summer, with the high temperature topping out at a beautiful 82°. And after working up quite a sweat from all that cleaning I was 110% ready to enjoy that beer in the shade.

I've been taking it easy this weekend. I know it may not seem like that.... It may seem like I'm gallivanting about the eastern Sierra Nevada, crawling through volcanic crevices, hiking to 11,000' high lakes, and various other adventures. Alas, no, that's stuff I did ten weekends ago. It got buried in my backlog and I'm only just now getting back to it. This weekend I'm taking it easy at home.

Here's an itinerary of how things have gone so far this weekend:

Friday night: stayed home. Watched The Batman with Hawk. It stank. F+.

Saturday morning: woke up, took it easy for a few hours, went out for lunch and a few light errands starting around 11.

Saturday afternoon: finished running errands, went out to the pool for an hour to 90 minutes.

Saturday evening: walked downtown with Hawk for a light errand. Met an old friend and colleague on the way; shared the walk for 5 minutes or so. Tried a new restaurant for dinner. It rocked. Walked home and relaxed the rest of the night, nursing a beer.

Sunday morning: work up, took it easy for an hour or two, did some vacuuming. I'd feel satisfied for having done the vacuuming but it's a chore I set out for myself at least twice recently on staying-home weekends and put it off.

Sunday afternoon: went out for lunch and errands with Hawk. Came home and used the pool (and hot tub and sun deck) for 90 minutes with a gin cocktail.

Sunday evening: TBD, but my plan is to grill a hamburger and enjoy a beer or two with it, probably sitting outside on the patio. If the weather stays warm I might sit outside longer and enjoy another beer... or another gin cocktail. And I'll post another blog about my adventures 10 weeks ago!

Once again I succeeded with my plans to do (mostly) nothing for a weekend. The reason I qualify it as mostly nothing is that while I didn't go out and do anything big (like hike at Pinnacles National Park) I did do a few things within a few miles of home. Friday evening I met a friend for drinks and food at a local taproom. Saturday I... can't really remember anything I did other than walk out to the hot tub during a sunny break in the weather. Oh, and ran a few errands with Hawk. And treated ourselves to donuts. Errands earn donuts.

Unfortunately the weather hasn't been great the past few days. It's been 15 degrees below normal during the day. And Sunday the sun disappeared and it actually threatened to rain on and off during the day. My plans to lounge around outside on the patio and in the hot tub enjoying warm weather evaporated. But hey, when life hands you lemons, make a shandy, right? 

I used the not-worth-going-outdoors time on Sunday morning to clean up around the house. I tackled scrubbing in the bathrooms and washed the dishes in the kitchen. After lunch we went grocery shopping. Then once back home we didn't leave the house again... except for a late night walk to the hot tub.

Edited to add: After now two weekends of taking it easy I'm ready to... uh, get hard?... next weekend. It's time for another adventure! I've just got to figure out what to do.

Hawk and I had big plans for today. We were going to get up early-ish and drive out to Pinnacles National Park, 2 hours south, for a hike to the peaks. Well, we woke up around 7:30-7:45 feeling meh and thought otherwise. Oh, we could have gone. We were both feeling better by 9am. But we're both also drained from the past week.

Speaking just for myself, I had solid blocks of work pretty much all day every day. Several times I had to cover for people who weren't present— who were physically present but not mentally present. That was really frustrating. In addition to being tiring. And on top that, all my free time and energy outside of work since Tuesday was consumed by T-Mobile fucking liars, with help from Verizon cheating bastards and just a touch of goddammit now the car's broken, too. At least the car repair was quick. T-Mobile still has delivered on a damn thing they've promised, and Verizon is still charging us way more than we wanted.

So, around 9 this morning, we made a change of plans. We're staying (around) home and taking it easy. Again, speaking just for myself, my new priorities this weekend are:


Edited to add: It's reasonable we take it easy this weekend as we were out all last weekend— on a hiking road trip I haven't even had time to finish up writing about! And this coming weekend we're leaving for... a week in Hawaii! Sometimes the days are packed; other times the days are just packed.

It's something little that feels big. Or is it something big that feels little? Hawk and I are seeing a couple of friends today... in our house!

The four of us haven't totally been strangers over the past year. We've met several times for hiking and picnics— oh, and one wedding— but always outdoors and with masks and 6' distancing as much as possible. But now that we've finished our Coronavirus vaccinations, and at least two weeks have passed for maximum effectiveness, it's safe for us to gather indoors & unmasked again.

Having friends over to the house means... housecleaning! With nobody but ourselves entering our house for the past 13½ months we've let a lot of tidying slide. Oh, the house is hardly a pigsty. We don't want to live like that. But there's a lot of clutter, and a few cleaning tasks have been neglected because they just haven't been that important to us. The foyer and the lower stairs, for example. I vacuumed and mopped them yesterday. I don't think I've done that for 13½ months!