Berkeley Visit

My trip to California was jam packed, and no pictures!  After my day visiting in San Francisco I was at Berkeley for a special industry event.  I thought I might know one or two people but was surprised how many people I actually knew.  It was strange visiting Berkeley too.  I got off at the BART stop and couldn’t quite connect Shattuck Ave in my memory, but by the second day, it was all coming back.  Remembering the first bar I had gone too and had to use my passport since I was still waiting for my license.  The area was pretty much unchanged.  Walking on campus to the Faculty Club for dinner I was amazed at exactly how much had stayed exactly the same for a decade plus.  It was surreal. 

It was like my younger self and older self were converging.  I was staying at a hotel that was right across from the campus art gallery, and Friday when I was waiting for the van shuttle to take me to the airport (BART strike finally happened), I was flashed back to when I was parked across the street and had had to climb into the trunk through the back seat to get my spare umbrella - it was pouring down raining.  I can’t remember if it made a difference, having an umbrella.  I did have a half hour before dinner one night and stumbled upon a Half Price Bookstore in downtown Berkeley.  That brought back memories working there (although not the same store, the layout was fairly similar).  I was good and only walked away with 6 books, including one by an author of a book I had read when I was visiting in Paris and then gave away and forgot the author’s name.  And it was on clearance!

Wednesday night I was invited to break bread with some of the professors from Berkeley and got to sit next to a small legend in the industry.  Turns out we knew quite a few mutual acquaintances.  I’m just reminded how small the industry is and how putting in the years pays off.  My younger self would have probably stayed quiet and not mingled much.  By the end of Thursday I knew most people and had already had some bonding sessions with several other folks in similar roles as mine (it’s a challenging role - we should have a support group).

I’m glad I went, but it was ridiculous trying to juggle work emails and stay focused on the purpose of the visits.  At one point I was trying to juggle a meeting between London and Korea while on west coast time - nearly impossible.  Due to the time difference, I was often up early (4 am) and cranking on emails, then would be socializing until about 10 pm.  I was surprised I wasn’t crashing but went with the flow.  It was so nice to get home Friday night and collapse with no more work demands on my time until Monday.  Instead of trying to catch up on emails, I gave myself a proper rejuvenation weekend.  Saturday I spend sleeping in, napping, cooking and more napping.

Sunday was much more productive.  I finally made it back up to my loft project.  I had stripped out about 80% of the carpet this summer but still had a lot more work to do before I could even start the prep-work.  I realized I had put off the project some, since the space reminded me a lot of Walter, who passed away in August.  He would be the only one to come up and hang-out with me up there, trying to sneak into my lap anytime I took a break, or just hang out and keep me company.  Once I got into the swing of things I made great progress pulling up all the staples and carpet wood tacking strips.  Still not quite done with the demo work - turns out the railing was installed on top of the carpet, so not quite sure what to do there (don’t want to take the railing down).  I also pulled out any non-hard surface and send the pillows, fabric, etc downstairs to be bagged up. 

Last night I realized I need to make my place a sterile place.  Well, I’m using that term loosely.  I found that any place that accumulates dust, the little critters can survive.  So I’m bagging up all soft items and am slowly cleaning every single surface.  I’m tempted to box up some of the books in the bedroom since I seem to shed the most dander in the bedroom for some reason.  I keep looking on the bright side.  I’ve never been an uber-cleaner.  When I was in the mid-west I was amazed to find people vacuum daily.  I just clean when I have company coming over or the place gets dirty (and my standards are low).  This is a good reason to get me to do a big spring cleaning (in the fall) and really scrub everything down.  No cobwebs in the vaulted ceiling (I think I need to invest in another in-door ladder) and I may have to say farewell to my spider friends.  I keep thinking I’ve finally eradicated the bugs and then a month later I’ll see a moth fly by.  On the upside I’m good at catching them with my bare hands now, granted they are slow flyers.  One day I will have a moth-free house.  I just hope it’s in 2014 and not later!