The apartment goes gourmet! Just wanted to share a quick recipe I made up this evening, which turned out pretty well. I'd change a few things about it for next time, but all-in-all, it wasn't bad.

We start with some white potatoes -- just zap 'em for 8 minutes (4 minutes per side). Also, grab some ham (or turkey, or chicken) slices, some slaw veggies, some mushrooms, BBQ sauce, and balsamic vinegar. When the potatoes come out, carve out the centers, making the potato halves into little cups.



Warm your skillet to medium heat, and add the BBQ sauce and balsamic vinegar. When it starts to simmer, throw in the mushrooms and slaw vegetables. Throw the carved out potato bits into the skillet.


It will start to smell very good at this point.

When it's about done, turn off heat, mix in some feta cheese, and pour the mix back into the potato cups.


Yum. You can also add cheese on top, if desired:


Actually, I forgot to add feta, and added this mozzarella as an afterthought. It was good, but in hindsight, feta would have been the better choice (as it would better complement the vinegar). I'm sure that you, dear reader, will do better.

We'll call this dish "Papas Berkelinos." Bon apetit!

Class begins! Boalt hall is as wonderful and prestigious an academic institution as can possibly be imagined. The campus is beautiful, hilly, and filled with bright minds. Updates to this blog have been lacking, because I'm trying to focus on studies at the moment. But I did manage to take a couple pictures recently.

At orientation, the admissions office did a great job of introducing all the transfer students to one another, and getting us integrated into the 2L class.


I think most of us really feel like we're Berkeley natives already. Can you spot the old 2L's and the transfers in this picture?

The buildings on campus have a much more "college-like" feel than do those in Arizona. The architecture is classical, with big white columns everywhere.


This building (not Boalt) is in the Student Center area, right outside the bookstore, on my way to class.


This is one of Boalt's courtyards, being bathed in some soft afternoon light.


And, of course, what tour of Boalt would be complete without a shot of the library's main reading room? I'm told our Robbins Collection (one section of the library) has some extremeley rare volumes, like an ORIGINAL copy of Hobbes' Leviathan, or Locke's Two Treatises on Government, that law students can access. Awesome, huh?

Oh yeah, and then there's Bar Review, the lawlerly play on words that just means Happy Hour. Last night, it was at Jupiter's, a bar just a two-minute walk from my apartment. Leif and I went to check it out. Now, at Arizona, there'd be maybe 10-15 people who would attend bar review. Last night, the place was PACKED with at least 150 law students. Pretty impressive.


The bartender was not happy about me buying a single drink (for Leif), a water (for me), paying on a credit card, and closing the tab immediately. Sorry guy, marathon training means no alcohol!

School's going very well, and I got into all the classes I wanted. I'm taking IP like it's my job. Actually, I'm hoping it WILL be my job pretty soon.

Don't hold your breath on the next post, dear readers ... the treacheries of this week's mad OCIP job-hunt might leave you without an update for some time. My love to all.

Your post comments are great -- someone posted as "nicksdaddy," but it can't be Dad, who claims not to be able to post. It also can't be Dad because the poster called me a tool, but Dad's not familiar with that turn of phrase.

Anyway, yesterday was the Law School Picnic for new students. Laura, in true buddy style, accompanied me so I wouldn't have to feel alone and awkward among the multitude of married couples that saturate the law schools these days. What a good friend!


The picnic was well-attended, and well-organized. I felt welcome already.


Catered food is always a plus.


There was even a band, only too willing to be photographed.

Oh yeah, and on our way to the picnic, Laura informed me that there IS soft-serve froyo in this town! Her news was music to my ears, and I went that same night after dinner to check it out. It was rocktastic.


Half a mile away, but worth every step.

Well, I finally caught the exhaustion that's been due for a few days. Guess I didn't eat enough yesterday, because I was woken up at 5am by a stark-raving-hungry stomach. I got up, ate, then ate some more, and then went for my scheduled run. It was HARD. Yeesh. A 9-miler, six miles of which were at sub-7:00 pace. Yeesh again. Anyway, when I returned home, I was greeted by the now familiar sight of the Martins hanging out with Merlin. The verdict: anyone excited about playing with a parrot is a good person.


Merlin had a great time lovin up on Martin.

After the run, I was hungry again (duh), and I used my awesome panini maker (thanks Nina and Monica!) to make a sweet chicken quesadilla. It was so tasty that I had to take a picture.


Not ultra gourmet yet, but add some garnish leaves, a dash of diced tomatoes, and maybe a side of steamed wild rice, and you'd have yourself a dish worthy of the most frou frou restaurants. I don't have the time or the stomach for such fanciful things (I can never eat too much right after a run). Lunch #2, an hour later, was just a Clif bar, and not picture-worthy. Maybe next time I'll garnish a Clif bar and snap a photo.

Why just a simple Clif bar for lunch? We were on the road! Martin, Martin, and Leif invited me out to go see the Redwood trees in Muir Park up North. It was beautiful!




These trees, hundreds of years old (some over a thousand), are the tallest living things on Earth. The sequoia trees further North are bigger around, but these Redwoods are the tallest. How tall? Well, take a look at Martin trying to snap a picture of the top of one:


Yep ... it's waaaaaaaaay up there. These things soak up 500 gallons of water per DAY. How do they get it? Well, if it's not raining, they zap it right out of the fog!

But here's a curious sight:

Tallest tree, smallest pinecone. Weird, huh?


Tree slugs. If you kiss them, they turn into lawyers. Just kidding.


From the left: Martin (visiting), Martin (visiting), and Leif (roommate).

Then we went to the top of Mount Tam, which offered a good view of the fog rolling in to SF:


Of course, what visit to the North shore would be complete without a good view of the Golden Gate?


There's Leif, snapping one on his Nikon.


Ain't the bay area grand?

Well, that's all for today.
I'm Ron Burgundy; you stay classy, San Diego.

I feel like a god today. I found myself thinking that if the marathon was today, I would have had a pretty good race.

But let me back up a bit. I've found new running buddies! A girl named Laura sent out an e-mail via the triteam list looking for a running partner last week, and was willing to do whatever distance. Since the marathon schedule Mom and I use called for a 10-12 miles that day, her e-mail very serendipitously gave me a partner for the long run. We've continued to run this week, and she introduced me to another running friend of hers, Lauren (don't get confused. There's a LaurA and a LaurEN in this story. If you are bad with names, take a deep breath and relax).

Yesterday, the three of us went for a nice hill climb up Tunnel Road, normally a cycling route. We had a great 90-minute, low-intensity jog, and stopped to stretch at a little lookout point on the hill.



As usual, I asked for an action pose, and Lauren (newest friend) heartily complied:


Be careful lads, she's a fake-crier. (Just kidding, just kidding!)


Laura thought me odd for snapping this while she was stretching, but I find candid stretching shots to be most definitive of the running spirit, don't you?

Anyway, as I began telling you earlier, I've been feeling terriffic. Heads up for those of you who appreciate nutritional advice. I think it's because of how my eating schedule has been changing. We always hear that the best thing to do is not have three big meals a day, but rather to eat all the time in small quantities. People rarely do that in practice, because it means giving up that big lunch or that big dinner that's so much a part of our routine.

But with so many different things to do, and workouts popping up at unpredictible times of day, it's been much easier to just grab a small bite here and there (a Clif bar between shifts of moving boxes and all that). I end up eating about six times during the day, and always between 200-400 calories at each "meal." It seems strange when your lunch is two pieces of dry bread with some turkey, but it's been awesome, because I'm still eating a good 1800-2000 calories each day, yet I can work out just about any time, and I'm not getting any headrushes due to low blood sugar. For those of you who have asked for my nutritional advice in the past, I really recommend that you try this out. It might be weird to have such small meals, but you'll adjust quickly, and feel terriffic.

Yesterday, Leif and the Martins arrived. They had a fun trip, and are in town for a couple more days before they ship off. They've been playing with Merlin when they're in, which has been very sweet. Sorry, no pics of that. I'll snap one later if I can.

Today, the marathon schedule called for a quick four miles, so I decided to make some adjustments to my TT bike with the extra time. I've been wanting to do this for a while, because it's felt like I can go significantly lower with my handlebars (becoming more aerodynamic). I dropped them by about 15mm, dropped my saddle by about 2mm, and pushed the saddle forward by 5mm. That sounds like nothing to the non-cyclist, but the difference is HUGE. The lower position means my back is flatter (like Dave Zabriskie, hence the post's title), and I'm actually much more comfortable. Look how low the stem is on the steerer tube:


Are you getting sick of seeing this bike? Probably. Am I going to stop posting pictures of it? Absolutely not.


Check out that drop! (For non-cyclists, "drop" is the difference between the height of your saddle compared the height of your handlebars. Casual bikes have little to no drop, meaning that the seat and handlebars are at the same height. Some bikes even have negative drop, meaning the bars are higher than the saddle. However, racing bikes always have enormous drop. Hurts your balls more, but you go a lot faster. Worth the pain? Well actually, I felt less pain today than I did before making this change today.)

Allrighty dear readers, I'm off to the Law School Picnic to meet my future classmates. Orientation is this Friday, and then off to class on Monday! Someone in Berkeley loves you all :-)

Peter, my landlord, moved out on Saturday, leaving the apartment ready for move-in. Moving all his stuff out and then immediately moving all my stuff around was exhausting, but two days later, it's all done. It was quite a task to move all the furniture and clean the place alone (yes, I'm patting myself on the back here), but Peter had his own moving to accomplish, so he left once we loaded his U-Haul. The only really hard thing to move was the TV, which must be at least 150 pounds. At least it didn't need to go far.

Anyway, sorry to dwell on the moving process. What you want to see are some pictures, right? That's what we're about here. Okay, here's the bedroom:


The desk area. Notice my home-made curtains back there. Cut them myself! However, when I was making the loops to hook them over the rod, I got impatient with the sewing. So the loops are stapled on. Don't tell Mom, or she'll make me tear them down. I think they're quite pretty.


This monkey is my bouncer. Don't try anything, or he'll mess you up. For reals. Actually, it's Nicke Nyfiken, which is what they call Curious George in Sweden. A parting gift from a Johanna, a Swedish lass I knew in High School.


The books and poster area. Lance is on the lower left, encouraging me to get off my lazy keister and ride.


And here's the most important stuff in the apartment. When I lay down to sleep, I'm sent off by images of my beautiful family, and some more great shots from Dad's lenses. Colorado's beauty covers the whole wall.


Living room, which looks over to the dining area.


The kitchen. My fridge is pretty empty, so I get home from rides and end up eating breakfast cereal ... sans milk. As soon as I finish this post, I'm gonna do some groceries, I swear. Frightening for Merlin though ... I'm gonna come home starving one day, and think "hmm, there's no chicken in the fridge ... but there's Merlin over there ... "

Just kidding, Merlin, I'd never eat you! You're too small to make a good meal. And you're probably real gamey. Yuck.


The HyperDrive, ready for action. As most of you know by now, I'm doing Ironman in April! I'm incredibly excited, because Mom and Dad are coming to support me. You are the best family ever!

Merlin and I woke up this morning feeling silly, so we took a bunch of pictures in the bathroom mirror.


Smile, Merlin! You're on camera.


Love you, buddy.


I'm all getting into it, but Merlin seems to be thinking, "This is getting stupid, man. Let's go." So, that was the last one.

Bye bye, friends. Love love.

Dear readers, last time on Nick's Knack, we discovered how to make bread using nothing more than water, olive oil, and a box of cheerios! My apologies to all who actually tried out the recipe. Turns out it tastes disgusting.

Anyway, on to the next saga! While perusing a local newspaper this week, I saw a very neat ad. Ray Park, the actor behind the deadly Darth Maul, was coming to Fisherman's Wharf the next day for an autograph session! Hoo-rah, I thought, a perfect opportunity to get Scott his birthday present. Using the bay area's great public transit system, I made it to the Wharf in no time.


The Wharf was sunny, mild-weathered, and swarming with tourists.

However, upon arriving at the locale where signatures were to take place, I discovered that Mr. Park had jumped ship:

"I'm off fighting Jedi. Be back at 4pm. Love, Mauly"

Sorry, Scott. No sig for you. I'll have to think of something better. While you wait, please enjoy these pictures of Berkeley vegetation.


Oooh!


Aaah!

So, today I finally got to meet some triteamers! Yaaaaaay! Bad news was, the ride was long and brutal. Just look at how fast we were goin!


The bluriness is from the speed, not a shaky hand. Promise.


That's Curtis up front, and superstar Kelly in back. She was wicked fast.

That just about wraps up this week's episode. Next time: tight-rope walking ... nude!

Dad and I finally finished the trek into Berkeley. Whew! It was a hell of a trip, but Dad's a trooper, and I hear that as soon as he got home, he was anxious to put more hours in the driver's seat going back and forth to Dillon. He loves driving, and said that he was excited to have been able to see the California countryside. Just south of LA, we crossed an area absolutely covered in giant wind turbines (the kind used to generate power). It was difficult to photograph a nice panoramic shot of them, but imagine going up I-70 and seeing them on every surface of every hill. There were thousands upon thousands of them.


I imagine that when an alien civilization studies us in 3000 years, they will assume we worshiped some tall, thin god with three rotating arms. Anyway, a few miles later and we were in LA proper. Yes, the traffic sucked.


The best part about LA was our hotel room. The beds were SO posh, and we zonked out for like 10 hours. Merlin got a lot of play time once we smuggled him inside. However, LA was less welcoming of Merlin than were some other cities, and he was evicted when I tried to bring him in for breakfast the next morning.

The next morning, we hunkered back in for the last leg. Seven hours of uneventful driving later, we made it.


Completely spent, but very happy to be home. The shirt says it all.

The next morning, Dad drove the moving truck one last time to the new apartment, where my new roommate Leif (pronounced "life") and two of his friends visiting from Germany (both named Martin) sprang into action to help us unload. They were a HUGE help, and reduced the Arizona load time of 3-1/2 hours to a measly 40 minutes. They did it all without being asked, and gave up their vacation time to help us. It was awesome. To thank them, Dad took us all out for lunch at a nice local place Leif recommended.


The place is ostensibly a french joint, so what's with the tiki umbrellas?

No pictures of the apartment for now, because with the former tenant still living here until the 11th, the place is littered with boxes and malplaced furniture. What you can see are some pictures of the famous hills of Berkeley. I went for a bike ride on Thursday, and started out going straight to those hills.


Not a great shot by any means, but stay tuned. There will be more rides in the future.

On the way up, I spotted another rider, and wanted to catch up to him to chat about good rides in the area. As he heard me approaching, he turned and said, "you must be in training." The guy looked to be in his early fifties, but as we chatted, he told me he was having a birthday next month, and would turn 64! "Wow!" I said, "you can break out the old Beatles tune." He replied, "Actually, that's the song my wife and I played as the recessional to our wedding." No joke! The guy was really friendly, and it turns out his name is Nick too. Coincidence, or providence? He talked to me about his wife a bit, and I was in awe of the very close and loving relationship he described. It reminded me of Mom and Dad. At the end of our ride, I asked what I do of all my portrait subjects: give me an action pose. He promptly complied:


Sixty-three years old, and still biking strong. Right on.

After descending the hills, I crossed back into Berkeley proper, which is a very collegy town. The streets are fairly busy, but they're built to accomodate cyclists.


Many of the minor streets are called "Bicycle Boulevards" because every block or two, there is a blockade that stops cars from one side. A motorist would have to go around the block in order to get to the other side. Therefore, although they are accessible to cars the whole way, they are useless as a thoroughfare. The only car traffic they get are residents of that particular block, cutting down on car traffic, opening the way for more cyclists. Hoo-rah.


Stay tuned for more, dear readers. I love you all.