Mizblog

It was an interesting weekend.

Saturday we met at Teetee’s place and then went out for lunch. We had had dim sum at Empress Pavillion in Chinatown. Sangeeta went on all day and all night about how good it was. :)

After lunch, we went to California ScienCenter for a talk entitled “The Promise and Pitfalls of Stem Cells” presented by medical researchers, Senator Ortiz (proponent of Prop. 71 which allocates CA bond money for stem cell research in the state), and an ethicist from the Lutheran Theological Seminary. On the whole it was mainly a pro-stem-cell presentation. I got the impression that everyone in attendance (audience and panelists alike) thought that the people who found their research immoral were either misinformed about what they actually do, or were a radical religious fringe (led by the Pope?) who believed that God created an immortal soul whenever a sperm and an egg were joined, even if it happened in a test tube in the lab.

On Sunday we went to San Diego to see Leslie and Jason. They made a pack lunch of makizushi (actually it was made with unflavored rice, and I don’t remember the proper name for that), as well has fixins for chicken wraps, spinach, broccoli, and grilled onions. We took it to Balboa Park to eat it, and it was delicious. After lunch we walked around the park, visiting art galleries, a bonsai exhibition (or as Leslie calls it, “tree torture”), botanical gardens, an outdoor pipe organ concert, and a brief visit to a German beer drinking extravaganza. On the way back to Leslie’s place we got gelatto and tea.

Once we were back at Leslie’s place we watched Monty Python. We all had a little nap in the middle of that, and woke up refreshed enough to play a game of Yahtzee (Leslie won) and then we went out for Thai food at Sangeeta’s request. We went to a place called Thai Flavor, which smelled vaguely of wet dog. The food was not bad, but the company was very nice indeed. After dinner we dropped by Jason’s house to pick up some chocolate samples he’d picked up from his trip to Europe last month. Some of it was barely sweetened (99% pure chocolate) and was very bitter. Others were quite sweet and delicious. I caffeinated myself for the drive home using this chocolate, and it went very well. We made it back in an hour and a half, despite the traffic and the fact that it’s usually a two hour drive. I’m a fast driver, I guess.

All in all it was a very good weekend, and Sangeeta and I are very grateful to our friends for sharing the good times with us. :)