Ronnie Goes to Fantasy Camp

Lots of middle-aged guys like to go to fantasy camps. Usually they are sports-related, where the paying guests get to hang around with some pros and practice and play with them. Last weekend I went to a “Young Hip Advertising Professional Fantasy Camp” in San Francisco—i.e. I got to hang out with Andrea.

Officially, I went to San Francisco to present a paper at the American Psychological Association conference.

On Thursday, I had a pleasant trip on Amtrak. Andrea met me at the Ferry Building and took me to hang out at her advertising office for a while. I got to see the professional at work—simultaneously taking a conference call and eating a quick lunch with chopsticks. That evening we got some Korean barbecue in Oakland and did a session at the Oakland Temple—we were the witness couple!

On Friday I gave my presentation at the conference at the Moscone Center while Andrea was at an off-site “team-building” exercise with her agency. On the way home she picked up sushi from our favorite place—Lizzy rolls, Kamikaze rolls, yellow tail, edamame, and cabbage salad!

On Saturday, Andrea made sourdough French toast and chicken/basil/pine nut sausages for breakfast. After that we went to the “Boston Terrier Meet” (aka “mutant fest”) at a dog park. There were roughly 30 Boston terriers there, but Zoe made herself known to all the people in attendance. She greeted each of them and smothered each with kisses. There was lots of running and tussling. A fine time was had by all.

Later Andrea took me to her Yoga class. It was my first experience. It was not the serene experience that I expected. The instructor made us do all sorts of difficult things. I did my part to keep up the family tradition of limited physical flexibility. I think that Yoga could be beneficial for me. I may look into it further.

When we arrived back from Yoga, we found a package of English muffins, with 3¼ muffins missing, on the landing of Andrea’s stairway. Zoe was nowhere to be seen. Andrea found her hiding under the bed. Zoe spent some time in her crate thinking about what she had done. Andrea let her out later, but she went back in—I don’t know if she still felt guilty or still had a tummy ache.

After working so hard at Yoga, we needed nourishment, so we went to an amazing Moroccan restaurant (El Mansour). I may never be the same again after eating their bastela (savory chicken with almonds in a flaky pastry crust, covered with powdered sugar and cinnamon). I had lamb with lemons and olives. Andrea had lamb with honey and almonds—I may get that next time. We didn’t stay to see the belly dancer. Instead we went to the “European Deli and Wholesale” across the street to get some sour cream and cornmeal for Sunday breakfast. It was a fun store. Many of the product labels were entirely in Russian (or some other language that uses that alphabet). Then we went back to Andrea’s place and watched episodes of 30 Rock on her Tivo.

On Sunday, Andrea made cornmeal pancakes for breakfast (because we liked the ones that Sarah got at IHOP in Logan). Then we drove to Fremont where we attended church with Grandma and then went to her house and ate lots. We had to have the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream early so that we could have the fruit pizza later. It was fun to be with Grandma for the day. Zoe loved playing in her backyard. Andie had a hard time getting her to leave to go home.

Andrea dropped me off at the Ferry Building on her way to work Monday morning and I had a nice day riding home on the train.