North Maple Rag

According to my calculations, the last time I had a weekend that didn't involve studying or long-distance travel was when I was home at Christmas. Weekends rock.

Yesterday morning, one of my roommates showed me a great running path in Berkeley and then I took care of a few necessary errands and shopping during the afternoon. I joined up with my other roommate (SeaAPea) for an impromptu trip to Alameda. Why Alameda? No particular reason other than it was listed in a book of fun East Bay hikes that she'd bought. We watched the windsurfers and parasailors for a while before heading back to Berkeley.

Once here, we went to Berkeley Bowl (Best. Produce. Ever.). We BBQ'd on our patio and then headed up the street to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Good times. The movie wasn't that bad, but the best part, by far, was when the entire theater (filled with sassy young women like ourselves) started laughing uproariously during the overly dramatic tearjerker scene.

This morning, the same roommate who took me running yesterday came with me to run a 10K in Sacramento. The drive up there was refreshingly short; a nice surprise since I think I'll be headed up there a couple more times this summer to see family. I managed to finish the race despite being terribly unprepared, but my time was disappointing, at best. I think I'll look for another 10K to run in late-June.

After the race, I had lunch with a friend from NYU (Neo Tokyo Times). It seems that a lot of my time in California has been spent with friends that I've met and gotten to know in entirely different contexts. It's fun to see people in new places. Last weekend, when I returned from SoDak, I ran into one of my former Senate co-workers at the airport. It was entirely unexpected, but I suspect we'll now stay in touch (we exchanged email addresses and have since exchanged emails). I also ran into an NYU classmate after work on Wednesday and then spent the evening hanging out at a beach bonfire with a friend from high school. The Bay Area is winning me over by feeling more and more like a small town.

Late this afternoon, I returned to Berkeley and bought a winter coat. The good people at the North Face Outlet Store win the "North Maple's Helpful People of the Day" award for not getting angry while my roommate and I tried on about 50 coats each before finally making our selections after the store had officially closed (hey, the sale ended today). We ended up getting great deals . . . and the same coat. We'll both be in NYC next fall, so keep an eye out for the dorky girls dressed like twins.

Hmm . . . this post has ended up being just a rambly itinerary of my weekend. Sorry 'bout that. As a bonus, here's some tips for next time you visit California's fine capital city:

• Nearly every street is a one-way (at least near the Capitol and downtown). It's very easy (shockingly easy, in fact) to end up going the wrong way down one of them. Not that I'd know from experience or anything . . .
• The American River is very pretty. It has a big gold bridge. If you should ever decide to run near it in the summer, though, bring buckets of mosquito repellent. Towards the end of the race, the only thing that kept me running was the swarm of mosquitos after my blood.
• The Tower Cafe serves huge salads. Did you know that Tower Records started in Sacramento? Neither did I.
• There are two Macy's stores at the downtown mall. One has men's clothing and home furnishings. The other has women's and children's clothing and, I assume, housewares. If you agree to meet someone at Macy's, make sure you specify which one. If you don't, confusion will ensue.