Today, Search had a morale event. We went to Denny Creek east on I90. There were trail snacks (jerky, water). The hike was fine, 5.5 miles. We went under I90 which was raised several hundred feed in the air, and then went to a flat rock plateau where we paused for a bit. Then we went on the second part which was supposed to be harder (we didn't know it was the 2nd part until near the end) After several miles and some decent switchbacks we arrived at the lake and chilled there for a bit. We headed back to the bus, and from there to Red West.

 

Check the pictures under Denny Creek!

Last night we went to Helen's place for a get together. It was half a dance party, half a Beirut venue. Learned new some exercises, danced a bit, took photos, had some drinks, and just chilled. Their place was nice and spacious. I'll link to some of the photos if I see them again.

 

Perhaps one of the cooler things was watching 5 of the 12 installments of R Kelly's music video/soap opera Coming out of the Closet. R Kelly sings the soap opera involving a lot of trust, affairs, relationships, and events. He is doing some form-defining experiments there, crafting the music video into a narrative. This was one of the most engaging crossovers between music, movie, and TV I have seen.  I hope that this becomes a trend in the media industry.

I really need to create a regimen of exercise at school and follow it. I came across an interesting overview of factors contributing to why people lose focus in the middle of exercise regimes: <a href="http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9219/exercise.htm">Exercise Adherence</a>

 

I went to the Pro Club today. i went yesterday and i will go tomorrow. This health club is a great experience and is a definite plus to the internship. So far, I've been going almost every morning before work. Even though I am not pushing myself, I feel better and I'm becoming slightly more conditioned. I hope that I can continue my gym adventures at the MAC next year. I just need a partner to go with on a regular basis and I will be fine.

 

Pro Club features
Whirlpool	Steam	Sauna
Four humongous weight rooms	Bistro cafe	Cardio Theater with 4 wall TVs with FM sound
Towels before coming in	High-pressure warm showers	Multiple Swimming Pools
Mouthwash, shaving cream, deodorant, hairspray, hairdryers	Water fountains with cold fountains	And more...

I might as well be a Pro Club evangelist

Tonight we went to Wild Ginger, a Seattle downtown Asian fusion restaurant. Unfortunately, I had partially spoiled my appetite before I arrived, having food at my team's biweekly beer bash. The restaurant was immense--maybe four or so disparate seating areas. The satay-bar was decent: I ordered the lamb satay with peanut sauce which was exquisitely spiced and moist inside. The peanut sauce was good, but nothing unique. My main course was a 7 flavor beef, which wasn't as tasty as I had hoped for. We shared a few dishes family style, which I only partially partook in: the only thing that was unique was the Peking duck (especially because they had extracted the fat which often ruins the flavor of the sandwiches). Dessert was ginger ice cream, which I liked mainly because I have an appetite for 'weird' ice cream flavors (i.e. my favorite ice cream ever has been the home-made mint & hot pepper ice cream at the Taj West End in Bangalore). We were seated near an artery for waiters and waitresses: food was bussed next to our table to be delivered to the section. The area immediately next to our table was a holding area for dirty dishes before they were returned to the kitchen. It was also quite  a noisy place, not relaxing or intimate like Brasa, Tosoni's or Campagne.

 

Afterwards we went back to Pat's and Chrix's place to watch Anchorman, which I slept through because I was worn from the gym this morning and I had never been a big fan of the movie. (it seemed like a movie that was more fun to make than to watch). I'm going to bed now to hopefully go to the gym tomorrow morning. I will probably work in the office as well as I finish the presentation of something.

Nick Hornby's newest book A Long Way Down is tedious a long way through. He employs the plot device of having 4 narrators come together as they ponder jumping to their death and switches through their voices as they ponder their own lives and also others' lives in this group. However the characters are caricatures in some regards, such as the rambunctious teen who offends most of the time and feels bad about it repeatedly and the disgraced TV talk show host who is uncaring throughout the book. However, it's not that these characters are boring, it's that Hornby takes a superficial approach to analyzing them. The characters only discuss their actions on the surface and rarely follows up on the inner workings to why they are (for one rare example, consider JJ, the american small-time rock-obsessed musician, who realizes that his association of intellectualism and literature is motivated by rebellion against his uneducated parents)

 

Overall, I found it hard to get through. I much prefer the authenticity of the voice in 'Fever Pitch'. I still will check out 'How to be Good' or 'Like a Boy'.