On Friday, July 6, 2001, I covered two events: a developer lunch at the Milpitas Market and a party at Michael Yeh’s house in San Francisco. Along the way, I met up with David Simon, one of my best friends from high school in San Diego.
Santa Clara
We had our first developer lunch in a number of weeks at Palm. Normally, we’re so heads-down on work that we don’t get the opportunity to chat with each other over lunch or dinner. It was nice to get out into the sunlight over some good cuisine. We went to the Thai Town Restaurant in Milpitas Square, home of the famous Ranch 99 Market. I’m not a big fan of Thai food, mainly because all of the Thai restaurants that I’ve been too haven’t been all that good. This one certainly didn’t change my mind on Thai food, but it didn’t make me swear off of Thai food for the rest of my life. If it doesn’t have too much cilantro, it’s okay. I hate that herb, cilantro! Fortunately, everyone else didn’t share my aversion to cilantro, and enjoyed their meals.
Among those who were present were Lisa Chow, Niraj Bali, Vinay Badami, Trevor Porter, Vijay Dodd, Ryan Dugan, and Fanny Wong. Brian Cao came over a bit late with his young daughter, Karen. We all talked about the relative ages of everybody’s children (for those who had them). Fatherhood is something I’m definitely not thinking about right now… many of my friends are getting married, and the usual results of that are babies! For me, that’s still a big leap, one that I’m not willing or wanting to take. I wonder what triggers the flipping of that switch, when the biological clock goes, “Ring, ring, ring!”
San Francisco
Driving up Highway 280, I remembered that the Bay Area climate varies depending on where you are. If you’re down the Peninsula like in Santa Clara or San Jose, it’s warm. If you’re in the East Bay like Danville or Pleasanton, it’s likely to be boiling hot. Finally, if you’re living in San Francisco, it’s cold and foggy! This extreme variance in climates reminds me of the Genesis Planet from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock! Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about the Bay Area blowing up, just falling into the Pacific Ocean as a result of a gigantic earthquake!
Dave Simon (and Eldrick/Howard)
“Your hate has made you powerful.” “Oota toota, Solo?” “Take your Jedi weapon. Strike me down. I am unarmed.” These were the classic lines that Dave and I recited to each other when we were in high school. After 10 years, we were still in good form! It’s certainly been a while since we last saw each other, but we were able to pick off where we last left off very easily. Dave and I met up with his college friend, Howard, whom I last met years ago at the Islands Restaurant in San Diego! We walked around the Castro for awhile before settling down at a Mexican Cantina for a “light” dinner. Mexican food is most definitely not light fare, and I have to admit that I overate just a little bit.
Dave was ribbing me for having such an old picture of him on my web site. No longer, as I had my trusty D30 with me to take some updated circa-2001 pictures of Mr. Simon. “Now, his failure is complete!”
Howard, from certain angles, looks a lot like Tiger Woods. Dave and Howard were talking a bit about golf, which I have no knowledge of from a playing perspective. I like to watch golf, or rather Tiger cleaning house, but I have yet to play the game. I don’t quite count putt putt (miniature golf, as some call it) as being representative of golf! Dave was telling us that he was going to be playing golf with his uncle over at the Stanford Golf Course on Saturday, which left Howard drooling in jealousy. Since Howard could pass as Tiger, he might just walk up and ask to play a round. After all, we didn’t think that any golf course in America, even the “race-challenged” ones in the South, would object to that!
After around 9:00 pm, we decided to pack up our bags from the Cantina, and take the 3 minute walk over to Mike’s house.
A Midsummer Night’s Party at Michael’s
What a place! Mike definitely had a great pad up in the City. I briefly thought about how cool it would be to live in the City if I had a place like this. It certainly would be a change of pace from my life here in the suburbs. For some reason, though, I don’t have the same attraction to San Francisco as many of my friends do. I can see myself living in Paris, France, probably because I did it, but I just can’t envision myself living in the City, at least not yet. Time changes everything. Maybe one day, I’ll like cilantro? Uh, maybe not!
Mike certainly knows how to throw a party. With help from friends like Derek, he dished out delectable hor d’oeuvres for his partygoers, from coconut-fried shrimp to chicken satay! It was definitely yummy, and I partook in the food even though my stomach was rather full from the Mexican and Thai food I had earlier in the day. There’s always room for thirds, after all!
The rest of the partygoers were having fun drinking the various beverage concoctions, all the while meeting each other and figuring out how in the world they know each other through Michael. Some people knew him through sports, like water rafting and Ultimate Frisbee (which is how I know him). Other people knew him from his days at Stanford or from medical school. And, others knew him through their friends. Regardless, everyone had some kind of connection to Michael, who was a great host. Seeing Mike host a party at his place made me thinking about having more people over at mine in the future. I doubt that I’d be able to host as many people in my small place, but a little party between 10 guests wouldn’t be that bad.
Here are some more photos of the mirth at Mike’s party in San Francisco.
tow.com 