Crazy Weekend

Friday

We had dinner with Steve and the kids on Friday night. We decided to try to swing by Zachary's pizza in San Ramon to check it out, since it had just opened. For those not in the know - Zachary's is supposed to be the best pizza in Berkeley. I never went there for some reason (I think because everytime I felt like pizza, Fat Slice was my choice). Anyways, we drove by, and it was insane. There was a line then went out the door to the parking lot, and it was totally packed inside. I couldn't believe it. So we ended up eating at Chipotle instead.

When we went out to dinner, Marc and I discovered that we had yet another nail in one of the Rav4's tires. This was the third one I'd had in like, 2 months. The tire was pretty low, and after dinner we drove to a gas station to fill it up. Well, by the time we got to the station, the tire was nearly flat. So to be safe, we decided to change the tire. Marc ended up jacking up the car in the wrong spot, and we didn't get the rear suspension high enough off the ground. At this point, we had taken off the bad tire, and couldn't get the spare tire on, and we didn't have another jack.

Finally, per the suggestion of a tanker truck driver there, we put one of the tires/wheels under the side of the car, and lowered it back down so that it was resting on it. We were then able to move the jack to the proper spot on the suspension, re-jack the car up, and get the spare on. It was quite an ordeal!

Saturday

Saturday we got up early and dropped the bad tire off at the shop, and then went to Lowe's to buy some more wood for the fish tank. Marc also bought a leaf blower. He thinks we need one for some reason, I don't really know.

On our way back home, driving on 580, there was an accident on the side of the road. Some SUV had gotten hit on the side, but it looked like everyone was okay. As we drove by, I saw that the SUV had a "Cal" sticker on it, and another sticker that said "Hicks 2." I knew we had a player named Bernard Hicks, and I was pretty sure his number was 2. It looked like maybe his family driving up for the game, and I found out later that he was from Fresno. Hopefully they were all okay and made it to the game, because he ended up having an interception!

After that I took Bandit sheep herding. We were sharing time with a couple other people, and at one point one of the students had just finished up with his dog. I know the guy, and I know his dog, and we all know to keep our dogs out of his dog's way, because his dog is pretty aggressive with other dogs and people. During lessons he actually keeps his dog in the barn so that it stays out of trouble.

So at one point he's walking his dog out, and Jan tells me to go ahead and swap out the sheep for fresh ones. So I get up and start heading to the gate. I thought the guy had his dog leashed at this point, and he was a distance away from me and to the side, but the next thing I know, he's yelling his dog's name, I see the dog run over to me and grab a big chunk of my thigh, and bite down.

I don't even know if I tried to get away - mostly I knew not to run or dart off, and I think I figured better my thigh than to try to bat him away and get bit on the hands. So I pretty much just stood there and took it, haha.

It didn't break the skin, but holy shit it hurt. He asked if I was okay, and I said it seemed okay, mostly just a scrape. Good thing I wasn't wearing shorts!

I knew I was going to have a good bruise, but it wasn't until later that night that I actually got a good look at my leg, that I saw just how impressive it was. Keep in mind that this is my thigh. That's how big the bruise is.

Marc wasn't there to see it happen, because he was picking up the tire and picking up lunch, but when he saw the bruise, he was pretty pissed. I wasn't really mad about it, especially because I know what it's like to have a dog with aggression problems, although I do think he should've been more careful.

After sheep herding, we took BART up to the Cal-Oregon game. My brothers caught the train from Fremont, and we ended up meeting up at the Bay Fair stop. We got to the stadium about an hour before the game, and there were already a good number of people there. Kenny wanted us to all sit in the same order that we did for the last game (where we won). It's funny how superstitious we all are about sports. The three of us all wore the same clothes we wore the last time too (down to the underwear!).

The team came out in this LOUD yellow jerseys (first time I think Cal has ever worn yellow tops). At first they looked garish, but I actually kind of like them.

You could tell the crowd was pretty pumped up. Jeff Tedford (Cal coach) had asked the fans to be loud this game, since it was a huge game for us. The game was sold out, with 72,516 fans in attendance.

Cal absolutely whipped Oregon. It wasn't even close. The final score was 45-24. And the atmosphere at the game was electric, I've never seen or heard it like that at Memorial before. Crazy. I yelled my lungs out on every down, it practically felt like we could just will Oregon to lose. Normally I just yell on third downs, but this time we yelled on every down, and everyone around us did the same. It was great, and I think it really helped to disconcert the Oregon offense.

At one point they introduced the Nobel Prize winner in Physics, George Smoot, and they even had him lead a "GO BEARS" cheer. Just awesome.

The only annoying thing was the couple who sat next to me - they were both dressed in all blue, and it wasn't until a few minutes into the game that I realized they were both Oregon fans (their colors are green and yellow). If you're gonna show up at a game, dress in your team's colors, you pansies. I hate when people show up in the home team's colors to try to hide themselves. WTF is that all about. The husband was kind of rude too. At one point I accidently stepped on his foot when I started jumping up to cheer after we scored a TD, and I didn't feel bad about it.

Oh, it was great. Easily the best game I've been to there. So much fun.

Sunday

My dad came over on Sunday to help us with the fish tank stand. I had done a bit of work last week, and the plan was to finish out the framing, which we did! It looks pretty good, and I think it's pretty darn sturdy. All that's left now is to finish the plywood skinning, and to paint it. We pretty much worked all afternoon, while Marc watched the 49er game during breaks.

Here's a couple of pics:

I can't wait until it's all finished!

And that was it for the weekend! Hope everyone had a good one. :)