Sound and Fury

Breakfast at Ashland's Tudor House is at 8:30 am. So I got up about then, and ate walnut waffles with a charming lady who had just finished a graduate degree in epidemiology. The first US World Cup game was on (though thankfully not in the room - I can't stand TV near tables where I'm eating). The Czech Republic scored in the first five minutes, which did not bode well for the US.

After breakfast, I had a nice, leisurely shower, packed up, and checked out.

Back on the road. I got a speeding ticket a couple hours into California. I don't think they had bothered to post the decrease in speed though - I was driving as if the limit were 65, and the officer seemed to think it was 55. Sigh. This put me in a rather foul mood for a couple of hours. Eventually I shook it off though.

The rest of the drive was uneventful. I successfully navigated the half-dozen or so interchanges between I-5 and Santa Clara, and even found SCU campus with helpful directions from Chris.

I met up with Amy and Chris at Chris's house and we picked up dinner at Mondo Burrito with a couple of Chris's house mates. Mondo is one of those excellent build-your-own-burrito places of which Chipotle is a mere shadow. It's the kind of Mexican food where if you order the fish burrito, you have to wait a few extra minutes, so they can grill the fresh Mahi-mahi it for you. Which is cool. It's slightly less cool when someone else in your party orders the fish, and then the staff forget about it, and have to grill a second piece. I think the rest of us could have eaten by the time Matthew had his food. Still. Good food.

After dinner, things get a bit fuzzy, as I was getting tired. We went over to Amy's apartment. I unloaded my stuff, and discovered that I had numerous sleeping options. In the living room, there was an extended twin mattress set up for me in a corner. There was also a couch, and a futon mattress. I took the twin.

I also met Amy's roommate Melissa somewhere in here. I immediately learned that she was a soccer fan, and had recently been spending extraordinary amounts of time watching the World Cup with a guy she obviously had a thing for. It was kind of cute. At any rate, I learned of the US team's abysmal defeat at the hands of the Czechs, and had the dynamics of the group stage of the World Cup explained to me.

We made a run to Safeway for necessities (half-gallon of milk and 30 oz of Cheerios). I believe we called it a night at that point, as Amy still had a Spanish final the next day, and I was quite tired.