When the Wifey's away....

Jess went to Tennessee this weekend for a friend's wedding. Since I'd worked the previous weekend I had an extra long weekend to myself... I stayed here and enjoyed the Oakland scene. It started with a bbq on Saturday afternoon. The folks throwing said shin-dig were a couple whose fish tank I take care of. Afterwords I set out for Berkeley to see the Cal Bears kill the Maryland Terps in the first football game of the college season with one of my musician buddies, Brian (without a "y"). After watching the marching band do their Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute show at half-time and putting Bryan (with a "y") on the phone with one of the Maryland cheerleaders, Brian (without a "y") and I walked the streets of Berkeley for a while and took in some college town air... that special Berkeley air is nothing like the air at USC (the one down in South Carolina), unless your name is Michael Phelps...

Sunday I headed up to Sausalito with Jess' coworker Caitlin to visit one of my coworkers, Kevin, who met his girlfriend Keli while working for the National Parks Service together. The big Sausalito Art Festival was going on, and so the streets were really crowded and parking was impossible. We swung by Jill and Steve's place (Jess' cousins) and landed a sweet parking spot blocking their driveway. It took a few tries to parallel park squeezed between Jill's Mini and the neighbor's Porsche. Steve wasn't around, but I did get to say hi to Jill and their 9-year-old son Robbie.

Our last visit to see Steve, Jill, and Robbie in Sausalito was when Mama Mann was in town and we went to a neat French restaurant (on Bastille Day, who knew?!). Robbie and I ran around the piers looking at sea slugs and fish and crabs and other critters, and after dinner he showed me a cool claymation movie he'd made as a school project. He was also working on building a Godzilla replica to use for a new movie. It was really inspiring, and brought about this wacky idea for my own video to share with him... After seeing him again this weekend I had to post it for him! On Monday I added the sounds and "floating drumsticks")... Here it is Robbie!!