guys like dolls

I’ve started using Papers to complement EndNote for keeping track of research papers that I’ve read. Think iPhoto for papers. In the past I’ve manually named papers that I’ve downloaded and tried to file them away. Except folders aren’t very good metadata containers, because a paper will often need multiple tags. Papers handles all of the metadata for you and stores the files away on your disk. It has a built-in fulls screen view and uses PubMed to lookup random PDF files that you give it.

Why not just use EndNote? Its interface, file management and metadata capabilities are like a blast from the past circa MacOS 9. The programmers have probably been too busy rolling around in their money to actually make it decent.

Papers still needs some work though. It can’t export to Word, which is why I still use both Papers and EndNote. It would be nice if it automatically pulled the paper title and looked it up in PubMed for you for identification. Speaking of which, they should hook it up with something like Google Scholar that is used by everyone. PubMed is pretty broad but definitely isn’t used by the math and physics people. So Papers shows some promise and I’m using it for about 75% of my needs right now so stay tuned.

I’ve been brewing beer on a very irregular basis since the summer of 2002 and have made 7 batches thus far. Everything that I’ve learned has been based upon a few used books, friends and family and keeping meticulous records.

Why Brew Beer?

Jordan and I started brewing beer for two reasons. First, we had just graduated from high school and were not of legal drinking age yet. Second, good beer is expensive. A 12-pack of Sierra Nevada will set you back about the same amount in dollars and brewing seemed like a reasonable way to make any flavor of beer for the price of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

A more recent motivation to learn more about the basic processes involved is that (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is the probably most intensely studied eucaryotic cell in history. It’s genome composed of about 6000 genes was completely mapped in 1997 and there is plenty of information out there. There’s also plenty of information about the yeast life cycle and ideal growth conditions. Brewing beer is just a practical application of insanely complicated biochemistry to create a tasty beverage and reduce your chance of scurvy.

Fermentation Temperature Control

Bottling

Bottling has a much lower initial cost and time investment than kegging, however it will quickly become apparent that the investment in a good kegging system will pay for itself very quickly. Between the 2-4 hours required to setup and bottle 5 gallons of beer and the ongoing cost of replacement bottles for the ones that grew all kinds of interesting things, kegging is cheaper in the long run.

With that said, you will need the following to bottle one 5-gallon batch of homebrew:

• (60) Relatively clean 12 oz. glass bottles (no screw-on caps)
• (60) Bottle caps
• (1) Hand-held bottle capper
• (1) Beer filled glass carboy
• (8 feet) 1/4″ ID clear hose
• (1) Bottling Tube
• (1) Bottle scrubbing brush
• (1 cup) Corn sugar

1. Make the priming solution
   • Bring the corn sugar and 16 ounces of water to a boil. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Cover, remove from heat and let cool until needed again.
2. Sanitize the bottles, caps, bottling tube and clear hose
   • Fill a sink with cold water and iodine cleaning solution per the instructions on the bottle
   • Quickly scrub the insides of the bottles with your scrubbing brush to remove any grime
   • Place them upside down on paper towels and allow to dry as long as possible.
3. Prepare for bottling
   • Place the carboy on a very high surface to generate enough surface for racking to the bottles.
   • Add the priming solution to the carboy. It will diffuse fairly uniformly by the time that you fill the bottles.
   • Place the clear tube in the carboy and lower to within 1-2″ of the yeast sediment line
   • Attach the bottling tube to the clear hose, hold it above the carboy. Insert the valve side into your mouth and press with your tongue. Suck until enough beer is in the tube to start a siphon
   • Gather as many bottles as is convenient on the ground for easy access. Sit with them.
4. Bottle!
   • Press the bottling tube to the bottom of a bottle and fill until the beer is at the very top of the bottle. The displacement of the bottling tube will correct the apparent fill level (Be sure to fill the bottles with enough beer, or else there will be excess oxygen in the bottles that will allow hearty aerobic bacteria to grow quickly and take over your beer more quickly than normal)
   • Bottle until all of the bottles are full or you run out of beer. Don’t be afraid to leave a small amount of good beer in the carboy to minimize the amount of yeast that ends up in each bottle.
5. Cap!
   • Carefully place the bottle caps on all of your bottles and then cap them. Once you get the technique down it should go fairly quickly.

Kegs

Keeping it cold: Building a kegerator on the cheap.

to be continued…

Our friend Andrew performed the ceremony at our wedding. We wrote up the script together beforehand while he was in L.A. and we were in Mountain View using Writely. We wanted something to the point and the ceremony lasted about 7 minutes I think. Without further ado, here’s the script:

Introduction

Minister: Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together today to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony. We are here to celebrate their union and to honor their commitment to one another. Today, Joey and Cassie proclaim their love to the world and we rejoice with them.

In marriage, we give ourselves freely and generously into the hands of the one we love, and in doing so, each of us receives the love and trust of the other as our most precious gift. But even as that gift is shared by two people who are in love, it also touches the friends and family members who in various ways support and contribute to the relationship. All of you are Joey’s and Cassie’s community, and each of you has played some part in bringing them to this moment. This is why gathering as a community is such an important part of a wedding ceremony. Joseph and Cassandra are now taking a new form as a married couple, and in this form, they become part of our community in a new way.

I’m proud to say that i am part of Joey and Cassie’s community, and have had the privilege of witnessing these two interact over the last three years. From the beginning it was evident that their relationship was somehow different than those of their peers; something about how they looked at each other, or the care and compassion that they showed for each other from the very beginning.

I recall one particular incident when the three of us were driving in a car together. It was after their second year in college and summer was just beginning. Cassie was moving to her new apartment, and we were helping her move. I asked, why aren’t you living together? It seemed like an obvious question. They both looked at each other and didn’t have an answer for me. It seemed like they just hadn’t thought about it. At that point, it was already obvious to me and probably many of you that they were meant for each other. And sure enough, they moved in together one year later. the following year they went to Yosemite for Cassie’s birthday and returned newly engaged. Hearing of their engagment was much the same as hearing that they had moved in together, it just seemed like it was inevitable

A vast, unknown future stretches out before you. The future, with its hopes and disappointments, its joys and its sorrows, is hidden from your eyes. But it is a great tribute to your belief in each other that you are willing to face those uncertainties together. May the pure, simple love with which you join hearts and hands today never fail, but grow deeper and surer with every year you spend together.

The Marriage Vows

Joseph and Cassandra, we are here to remember and rejoice with you and to recount with one another that it is love that guides us on our path, and to celebrate as you begin this journey together. It is in this spirit that you have come here to today to exchange these vows.

Minister: (To the groom) Joseph, do you take this woman to be thy wedded wife? To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day on so long as you both shall live?

Groom: I do.

Minister: (To the bride) Cassandra, do you take this man to be thy wedded husband? To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day on so long as you both shall live?

Bride: I do.

The Rings

Minister: The wedding ring is an unbroken circle symbolizing unending and everlasting love.

Joseph, have you a token of your love for Cassandra?

(Ameet hands Joey the ring)

Minister: Cassandra, have you a token of your love for Joseph?

(Mandy hands Cassie the ring)

Minister: Traditionally, the passage to the status of husband and wife is marked by the exchange of rings. These rings are a symbol of the unbroken circle of love. Love freely given has no beginning and no end. Love freely given has no giver and no receiver – for each is the giver and each is the receiver. May these rings remind you always of the vows you have taken here today.

Minister: Joseph place this ring on Cassandra’s finger and repeat after me:

This ring, a gift for you, symbolizes my desire that you be my wife from this day forward.

Groom: (repeats)

Minister: Cassandra place this ring on Joseph’s finger and repeat after me:
This ring, a gift for you, symbolizes my wish that you be my husband from this day forward.

Bride: (repeats)

Ending

Minister: Joseph and Casssandra, you have given and pledged your promises to each other, and have declared your everlasting love by giving and receiving rings. By the authority vested in me by the State of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife.

(To the groom) You may kiss the bride.

(cheering)

Minister: Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Carl Doll.

What is Dogully you ask?

Dogully is a type of lake. One that is filled with huge seacreatures that are called bobs. These bobs are very dangerous. You have probably seen a Dogully without even knowing it, especially if you know Joey or Cassie personally.

Speculations are abound. Here are just a few that we’ve received via email:

• My brother was eaten by a bob. I’ll never be the same. I’m so cold… please hold me.
• You know the chocolate river in Willy Wonka? It’s nothing like that, but it would be awesome to go swimming in there.

Where’d the logo come from?

The tree is located in Dillon Beach, CA and you will see it right by the last bit of road as you are heading to the beach. I took a photo of it some time ago and a few years later Cassie got me to stick it in Illustrator and trace it. Four versions of the tree ended up on my last site, The Lost Coast, and the autumn tree was my favorite, so it ended up here.

(Update: The tree is no longer here but can be found at my school site)

Here are old archived versions as my website has developed over the years.

• Go Banana!
• The Lost Coast

Flea Medicine

The flea medicine business is kind’ve funny. Medicine for your 10 pound cat costs as much as for your 150 pound wildabeast even though the only difference is the volume of the dose. Here’s the info on Frontline plus for the dog medicine.

So what we do is buy the big dog dose, transfer it to a small glass bottle and store it in the fridge. When it’s time to give the cats their medicine we use a syringe (no needle!) to dispense the medicine. For two cats at 0.5 ml per dose, 4.5 ml will last 5 months, so you’re talking about $1 per dose rather than $10 per dose.

Costs/Reviews

Our cat sherlock had an endoscopy to remove a needle that he swallowed. It was performed in Capitola, CA at Pacific Veterinary Specialists Emergency Services on a Saturday night and cost about $1000.

In July 2007 Sherlock started having trouble urinating and we saw that he had blood in his urine. We took him to Adobe Pet Hospital because they were nearby and had drop-in appointments. They had to insert a catheter and kept him for two nights. The overall cost was about $1300. Overall it was pretty poor service and it didn’t seem like the veterinarians or staff cared about how our cat did. It was in stark contrast with our previous encounter at PVES (see above). I wouldn’t go there again.

Later in July, Sherlock had serious trouble going to the bathroom again. They weren’t able to get the catheter in because it was so clogged, so he ended up going into surgery (perineal urethrostomy) to open up his urethra. The surgery went great and he has been doing really well since. It was expensive, but it worked out to be close to the same cost of the prior hospital stays when he had to have a catheter (~$3000) and the fact that he can go to the bathroom is infinitely worth it.

Doggy Daycare

We take Lola (our dog) to Klub K9 Pet Center in Sunnyvale and highly recommend it. It’s a little over $20/day if you buy a 20-pack, otherwise it’s about $40 per day. Their staff is great, they have four huge play areas for the dogs, and they do cage-free boarding.

Joey’s Books

I keep track of the books I’ve read at aNobii, which I highly recommend. The short stuff is just below.

Shorts

Interviews, short articles and speeches that I have found particularly insightful.

•  You and Your Researce Richard Hamming, Talk from 1986. Read in November 2005.
  • Interesting perspectives about how good science is performed and why you should do what you love.
• Applying to Ph.D. Programs in Computer Science Mor Harchol-Balter, 2003. Read in November 2005.
  • If you are thinking about going to graduate school you should really read this. It is a great help.
• Applying for Fellowships and then some Philip Guo, 2006. Read in December 2006.
  • Various writings about graduate school and applying to them from a PhD student.
• Cargo Cult Science Richard Feynman, 1974. Read in January 2006.
  • Why bad science is done and how our expectations can cloud results.
• Steve Jobs commencement at Stanford in 2005. Read in January 2006.
• An interview with Steven Chu
  • The integrated circuit, optical optical trap, and probably many others were both discovered when everyone went away from the office for one reason or another. Weird.

Cassie’s Books

I’m not as good as Joey about keeping this up to date (also on aNobii), but the books below are ones that I have been working on.

• David Allen’s Getting Things Done
  • This book is very informative. It’s all about getting all the things you need to do in your life out of your head and on to paper. Although it is written for middle aged businessmen, it has a lot of good ideas about how to make your life more organized. It was definitely a good read and helped both Joey and I become much more productive.
• Robert Jordan’s ”The Wheel of Time” series
  • This series is incredibly addicting. It’s sci-fi, 12 books long. He passed away recently but the final book is in the works.
• Christopher Paolini’s Eragon” and Eldest
  • Much better than the movie leads you to believe
• Orson Scott Card’s Wyrms
  • A lot like Ender’s Game but a little heavier on the religion. I think it is one of his best
• Lots and lots of girly books

January 6 -15, 2006

Friday

We left our house in Oakland at 9:15 and took a 10 min walk to the Rockridge BART station. Unfortunately we just missed a train so we had to wait until 9:45 for the next one to the airport. Little did we know that it takes more than an hour to get to SFO, so we didn’t arrive there until after 11pm. After remembering that all airlines are not as cool as Southwest we waited in line for an hour to get our boarding passes. A lady and her husband were in front of us in line who were going on an anniversary trip and they were both pretty drunk, so at least we had some entertainment. An hour later we checked in, got on TACA flight 561 and were off to Costa Rica.

Saturday

Flying all night was good in that we had a full day ahead of us once we got there. Unfortunately, we had a full day ahead of us. We got some restless sleep and saw lots of interesting lights outside of the airplane window, and when we arrived in Costa Rica at 10am (8 hours of travel + 2 hour time difference) we were exhausted. We made our first of many exchanges from dollars to colones and stepped out of the airport to a mob of taxi drivers. After standing there for a while digging through our books we realized that a bus wouldn’t be coming for awhile and that we should take one. So, we haggled one down to $12 and drove off to the first place we were staying, a hostel called Costa Rica Backpackers. The hostel is on the southeast side of town near a bunch of tall court buildings. It’s much quieter and less crowded than downtown San Jose.

We checked in, got ourselves a private room for $22 a night and dropped off our stuff. By that time we were starving so we walked to central San Jose and came across the Mercado Central. This place had really good cheap food. Joey had arroz con mariscones (rice and seafood), and Cassie has arroz con pollo (rice and chicken) for only about $6. We each had a bottle of water with lunch and managed to drink only bottled water the entire trip. It isn’t so much that the water is bad there, but you never know how your body is going to react to brand new types of bacteria that don’t need to wrestle with the fluorinated water at home.

After lunch we wandered around San Jose for an hour or two and got a feel for the layout until we were tired. Then we sat on a bench on Avenida Central for about 20 minutes and listened to a guy offer “te-le-foi-cas” which Cassie translated to “te-le-phone-cards” which was actually close to what he meant, “telefonicas”, telephone cards. We wandered over to the Teatro Nacional and tried to tell them we wanted to see a show but they laughed at us and told us to come back in March. By then we were pretty tired, so we went back to the hostel and took a nap.

When we woke up it was dark, raining and time to eat again. We walked around the neighborhood, saw a movie theatre that was playing “King Kong” and “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (which had both come out at home just a few weeks earlier, which was impressive), and eventually came across a pizzeria. We split pizza con pollo and fettucine alfredo con jamon (ham) for about $16. Then we went back to bed.

Sunday

Our plan was to wake up super early and go to Volcan Irazu but the bus to go there was an hour and a half, and you only got to be at the Volcan for 2 hours… so Saturday night we decided to go to the ruins in Cartago instead. So we set Joey’s cellphone as our alarm for 9am figuring that was pretty reasonable. Then in the morning we hit the snooze a couple times and finally got out of bed at 10am. After a shower and packing up a backpack we thought we were ready to go at 11. Unfortunately, we forgot about a little thing called time difference and it was actually 1pm.

So we decided to go to Cartago anyway because it has buses running to and from San Jose all day. We stopped at a Musanni pastry shop on the way to the bus stop and picked up some breakfast and we caught a bus to Cartago for $1 for both of us around 1:30. When we got off the bus in what we hoped was Cartago we had no idea where we were. We wandered around for a while trying to find either the ruins or the basillica, got some bad directions, and finally ended up catching a taxi to the basillica. The church was beautiful and we sat inside for a while to get out of the rain but what we really wanted to see were the ruins.

We knew they were on the east side of town and relatively close to the basillica so we set out walking east. By this time it was raining pretty hard. So we were walking along a sidewalk that headed nowhere in the rain for a good 30min. At that point we realized we didn’t know where we were going and the ruins didn’t seem to be close by. So we turned around and headed back to the church to get out of the rain. While we were inside we opened up the guidebook and realized that we couldn’t get into the ruins anyway (or something like that?) so we decided just to head back to San Jose.

We caught another $1 bus back to San Jose and ate Hamburgers and Fries for lunch. Then we headed back to the hotel and had Imperial beers in their restuarant while doing Sudoku and watching Anaconda with a bunch of the other hostel guests. And then it was time for bed.

Monday

We finally managed to get up early on Monday and were out the door by 5:30am. Our plan was to make it to the Rain Forest Tram which is about 1 1/2 hours from San Jose. So we walked over to Gran Terminal del Caribe to catch a bus to Gualipes. We got there at about 6:20 bought tickets, and managed to just miss the 6:30 bus (which we didn’t know existed, so it wasn’t so bad). Joey ate 2 flautas for breakfast and Cassie had a pizza and then we played Sudoku while waiting for the next bus at 7:00. By 8:30 we had made it to the Rain Forest Tram and we got off the bus to buy our tickets.

They told us to wait a while for the truck that would take us down to the main area, so we sat and waited and saw this huge bus pull up. Out of the bus pours all these middle-aged tourists in bright clothing, laden with cameras, and talking loudly in English. Then they all started getting on the truck, so we decided we could blend in and hopped on too. The truck took us down to the main area and we hopped off with the rest if of the tourists. Then this guide came up to us and started speaking in Spanish, we say Hola and Bueno, and Joey says Si, and I ask him what he said yes to. Joey had no idea so we stood around for a while and the finally the guide comes back and says “hey, are you coming?”. So, we follow him to this video showing area and watch about how they constructed the Rain Forest Tram in such a way that they didn’t hurt any of the plants or animals.

Finally the wonderful movie ended and our guide came back. Then we realized that he had singled us out from all the crazy tourist people and we were going to get to take the tram by ourseleves. The actual tram was really pretty cool. Our guide Guillermo was about our age and talked about all the plants and we actually learned a lot about the rain forest.

When it was over he asked us if we wanted to take the walking tour, we said yes, so the 3 of us walked around on some paths and he told us some more crazy rain forest things.

After we were done, we hopped back on the truck to the begining of the park. Then all we had to do was hail our bus from the side of the road. Fortunately, I think they expect foreigners to be waiting by the side of the road near the park, and as soon as the bus driver saw us he pulled right over. When we got on the bus it was pretty full so we ended up standing in the aisle near the front for the entire 1 1/2 hour trip. What made it so memorable is that our bus driver was pretty crazy and was driving down the winding mountain roads at about 70 mph.

When we finally got back to San Jose we were hungry again so we went back to the Mercado Central where Cassie got Arroz con Pollo again and Joey ordered a Ceviche and a Tamale (which he didn’t like at all). Then we grabbed 2 copas de helados from a little shop in the Mercado that the book recommended and they were delicious. We even got cookie straws to drink from.

After all that excitement we were pretty tired again so it was off to the hostel for another nap. When we woke up with hung out in the hostel’s common area in some hammock chairs and then ate at their restaurant. Cassie had Spaghetti Carbonara and Joey had Chicken Curry. Instead of Anaconda, that night they had some prerecorded electic tape that played over and over again. We proceeded to watch that tape until we got tired and headed off to bed.

Tuesday

Because it was going to take 4 1/2 hours to get to La Fortuna we wanted to get an early start on our day. So we woke up 5:30 and got out the door and to the bus terminal at 6:30. Unfortunately the next bus for La Fortuna wasn’t going to leave until 8:45, which is what the guidebook had said, but we were just hoping it might be wrong like it was the day before.

So our first attempt at killing some time was to eat breakfast. So we went to the resturant next door to the terminal and ordered gallo pinto con carne en salsa for Joey, and gallo pinto con huevos for Cassie. At the time, we didn’t quite know what gallo pinto was, and Cassie wasn’t quite prepared for the rice and beans that showed up. So, she proceeded to pick through hers for a while to try to uncontaminate the rice.

Even after all that work spent eating it was still only about 7:15 and the ticket window wasn’t even open. So we bought some pastries for the bus ride and stood in line for an hour. Finally, the ticket window opened we bought 2 fares for La Fortuna and we hopped on the bus.

The bus ride was uneventful except for the fact that it kept getting hotter the closer we got to our destination. By the time we actually got to La Fortuna it was extremely hot and humid. When we got off the bus all we wanted to do was get out of the heat and drop our bags off at our hotel. So we started the trek out of town and down a dirt road to Cabinas La Rivera. (The family that runs the place was very nice but this hotel was by far the worst one we stayed at for the money.)

When we got there we checked in, and they handed us a bunch of brochures. We got to our room, dumped off all of our stuff and then tried to figure out what we wanted to do. After a while we decided that one of the tourist things on one of the brochures they gave us didn’t look so bad. So we signed up for the night hike and hot springs trip for $35 each. Considering that admission to the hot springs was $25, the price was pretty reasonable.

So by 3pm a tourist bus came down to our hotel to pick us up and it gathered 8 other people before taking us to a trail near volcano. The trail was pretty nice and the rain forest was beautiful but the people we were with were so loud that it’s no wonder we didn’t see many animals. The guide we had was pretty useless because he said all the same stuff as last one but not as well, but we still had fun. Near the end of the walk Joey even spotted a monkey, and Cassie got it on tape. Then we ended the trail near a lookout point for the volcano, saw some lava flowing down the side, got in tourist van again and we went to other side of the volcano to get a better view. Then we saw more crazy lava and tried to get some on tape but by that time it was too dark.

After all the lava viewing was over we hopped back into the tourist van and they dropped us off at the Baldi Hot Springs. The springs were really nice; the water was very warm and relaxing and the place was pretty empty, so we even got one of the pools to ourselves for a while.

After awhile we ate dinner there because we were starving and we split fettucine alfredo and fajitas con carne en salsa. Then we hopped back in the springs for a while, went back on tourist bus, and had them drop us off in town near a liquor store. We went in and bought some new and exciting alcohol: a 6 pack of Ron con Cola, Rock Ice con Limon, and Bavaria Light.

Then we walked back to hotel and proceeded to drink. The Ron con Cola (rum and coke) was fantastic and the Rock Ice con Limon was the worst thing we have ever tasted. Bavaria Light was good except its alcohol percentage is really low.

Wednesday

Slept in till 8:30 and ate free breakfast at the hotel where we saw a bunch of birds and a lizard eating pieces of watermelon. Then we went back to bed and woke up around 12. At that point we got ready and started our hike to the La Fortuna waterfall. However, before we got out of town we decided we needed to eat again and had lunch at a little restaurant. Cassie had penne pomodoro and Joey had a hamburger and fries. Then we were ready to resume our hike. The guidebook said it would only take about 45 minutes to get there so we thought it would be a pretty nice walk.

Along the way we saw this dog and pet it a little because it was so friendly. Little did we know it was going to follow us all the way to the waterfall.

By the time we actually got to our destination we had walked for 2 hours, much longer than 45 minutes, and it was already 4pm. So we bought our tickets and walked down to the waterfall on a crazy path. After cooling off for a while and taking a lot of pictures, Cassie waded in the water around the waterfall, and Joey touched it and then it was time to start back up the crazy path. By the time we got out of the park it was already 5pm and we still had the walk back in to town. This time most of the path was downhill but it still took us 1hr 15min and it was pretty dark by the time we reached our room.

After a quick change of clothes we went back to the center of town and found a place to eat for dinner. We sat down in a restaurant that was playing some futbol playoffs and Joey ate a casado while Cassie ate fettucine alfredo. We walked around a little longer and then headed back to our room for some more drinking. Joey fell asleep pretty early, but Cassie stayed up and solved logic puzzles while drinking.

Thursday

Woke up early for our taxi-boat-tax ride to Monteverde had free breakfast at the Rivera again. We saw some more birds and thanked the family before we got on another tourist van. This time we went around to many other hotels gathering people into the van before we got dropped off at the boat. The boat ride took about 40 minutes and was beautiful and very relaxing. After we got off we borded another tourist van and began the long ride to Monteverde. This trip wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact that we had to take dirt roads the entire way which is extremely bumpy after about 2 hours.

We finally got to our new hotel, the La Colina Lodge, and checked in. This place was really nice but the couple running the place always made us feel like we were intruding on their private lives whenever we asked them for anything. We did have a really nice balcony though.

After we got to the lodge we immediately got a taxi to Santa Elena so we could go to Selvatura to zip line through the rainforest. That part of the trip was incredible. The views were amazing and gliding through all of the trees was just awesome. Joey also got to go on the did this tarzan swing thing which he loved. We basically just had a great time.

When we got back to Santa Elena, we decided we didn’t want to take any more cars because the roads were all so bad. So, we decided to walk to dinner and we found this good pizza place where Joey got a casado and Cassie ate a salami pizza.

Then we decided to walk the rest of the way to lodge because we were nice and full and happy, but we didn’t realize quite how far away we were. We walked forever, but we did come across a good pastry shop, Stella’s, and we bought some stuff to eat for the next day. We finally got to the lodge and decided we needed water and more alcohol. However, we were told that the closest market was in Santa Elena. So, we got a taxi back to Santa Elena, bought Smirnoff Ice in a can, which isn’t the girly stuff we have in the US, it is actually vodka mixed with sprite tasting stuff, and some Imperial and water.

We had the taxi guys wait for us, and got back to the lodge, sat out on our balcony, and drank for a long time.

Friday

Free breakfast at La Colina Lodge. Listened to George Ferguson while eating banana pancakes. Went to the Cheesefactory tour at 9am for an hour. (You don’t need reservations) Went home and took a nap then gave dirty laundry to hotel people to wash. Headed to the Monteverde Cloud Forest at around noon. Walked there, hiked around for about 4 hours, stood directly on the Continental Divide and saw the Nicoya Bay about 30 miles away. Cleared up right when we got there and then became cloudy again; good timing. Saw lots of insects, birds, crazy trees, chicken looking things crossing the walkway.

Walked super far to the second italian food restaurant because the first one was closed until 5:30. Had hawaiian pizza and spaghetti carbonera. Went home, finally got our clean clothes at around 10.

Saturday

Went to the Cheese Factory bus stop at 5:30, a guy told us to catch the bus to downtown Santa Elena and then barely managed to catch the 6am bus to Puntarenas, got there around 9am.

When we arrived, we decided we were tired of buses and that we weren’t going go to Jaco which was our original plan and instead we were just going to stay in Puntarenas. So we began a long walk down the main road to Hotel Tioga a place we had looked up in the guidebook. This was definitely the most expensive hotel we had stayed at but it had air conditioning and a pool which was all that mattered at the time.

So we checked in went to our room and cooled off by watching Care Bears in Spanish, and then headed downstairs for a quick swim in the pool. After we had conquered the heat we decided we were hungry so we walked along the beach until we found this place that looked good. They had a big menu on the wall so we figured out what we wanted and went up to the counter and started to place our order. At the time but one of the waitresses kept trying to give us a menu and we kept saying “Si, si”. Finally we finished telling the person at the counter what we wanted and we went and sat down at a table to wait for our food.

Later, we realized that the person at the counter was actually the chef and that the waitress was trying to tell us to sit down with the menus and that you weren’t supposed to go up to the counter at all. Americans. Geeze. Anyway the food was pretty good, Joey had a crazy fruit juice drink and arroz con shrimp while Cassie had a vanilla milkshake and a hamburger.

After we were full we continued our walk down the main street that lined the beach. There were all sorts of vendors selling food and clothing and we bought Joey an Imperial t-shirt (the main Costa Rican beer) and really cheap sandals for both of us. By then we were tired again so we went back to the hotel and took a nap after playing some Sudoku.

When we woke up we went out to one of the hotel’s balconies for some pictures and drinking before heading down to the beach. Then Joey swam in the ocean for a while and we wandered around until it was time for dinner. We ats at the first restaurant that didn’t have extremely lous music and had fries with beef and onions for Joey and marinated chicken strips for Cassie.

Then we went back to hotel to drink and celebrate our last night in Costa Rica by finishing our alcohol and watching Anonymous Rex, a classic movie.

Sunday

We woke up around 7:30 and ate breakfast at the hotel, eggs, rolls, and gallo pinto for Joey, and eggs, rolls, and fruit for Cassie. Then we packed up all of our stuff for the last time and checked out. After a 20 minute walk to the bus station we bought tickets for a bus back to San Jose. The plan was to take the first bus to San Jose for about 1 1/2 hours, then eat lunch in Mercado Central, hang out until it was time to go to the airport, and then catch a taxi to the airport.

However, while Joey was looking out of the window on the bus, he realized we were at the airport already, so we got off the bus early and skipped the whole middle part of our trek. This was great, except for the fact that we were at the airport 6 hours before our flight left.

So we paid the aiport tax, stood in line and asked if they had any earlier flights… and they didn’t, so we still had 5 hours to go in the airport. We ate quality airport food for lunch from Burger King and Papa Johns, bought an overpriced David Sedaris book from one of the shops, and took turns reading and playing sudoku for the rest of the time.

Then, after our waiting was finally up we boarded the plane, just to have another 7 1/2 hours of time to kill until we got back home.

When the plane landed we still had to catch the BART back home, and it was already 11:25. So we got to customs as fast as possible, picked the wrong line, and waited while we had people who had been out of the country for 6 months and green cards at one time in front of us. Then we made another quick walk to the exit of the baggage claim area. At that point the two security guards looked at us really strangely for not having any baggage debated over something between themselves, but they finally decided to let us go without any trouble.

After some more running around to find the BART, we finally got there, bought tickets, and got on the train just in time. Then it was just one transfer and 1 1/2 hours later and we were home at last.

Here’s a backpacking list that I originally got from my dad.

See Camping and Backpacking for packing checklists and other information.

Conquered

• San Diego and Healdsburg
• Costa Rica
• Yosemite National Park, CA
• Switzerland

Unexplored

Near Home

*Hawaii
*Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
*Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
*Niagara Falls, ON, Canada
*New York, New York
*Boston, Massachusetts
*The Arch, St Louis, Missouri
*New Orleans, Louisiana
*Mammoth Cave, Kentucky

Proposed Trips

*Southwestern Extravaganza
**Yosemite, CA
**King’s Canyon
**Bryce
**Zion
**Las Vegas, Nevada
**Hoover Dam, Boulder City, Nevada
**Grand Canyon, AZ
**Meteor Crater, AZ
**Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, AZ
*Honneymoon in the Bahamas

I wrote an RSVP program for our wedding in Ruby on Rails. It includes live search and editing using AJAX which was ridiculously easy with Rails. It also has a shadow table to which all changes are written in case one of your guests gets all drunk and uppity while signing up. Here is the source code, including the pretty graphics. Feel free to use it for anything and let me know if you find it useful.

Schema

The database schema is included. You can import it with: mysql -u username dbname < schema.mysql

RSVP rails code and schema