So a friend and I were talking about what's transpired thus far in our lives and whether we'd go back and do anything differently or regret.  I thought about it for a while, and aside from lamenting about shit like "well I wish I was born into a megatrillizillionaire's family," or "I wish I'd taken out a trillion dollar loan from the Gambino Family and bought stock in Google a few years ago" there's probably just 2 major things that I'd do differently if Doc Brown loaned me his time-traveling DeLorean.  I mean of course there are certain smaller things (relatively speaking) that I'd have done differently (for instance, I wish I'd studied abroad while I was in college), but I didn't really count those things.  Things like "well if you'd done those things differently maybe you wouldn't have met the friends you have today" were also brought up and taken into consideration.  With all that, I still had 2 things that I can say with conviction that I'd do differently.

That then opened another whole new can of worms in the form of "would you be the same person today if you'd taken those different paths?"  Hmmm, I dunno, probably, but it would only be in one facet of my personality.  I don't think that it would've changed my core and I think the lessons that I learned as a result of taking those 2 paths would've been learned anyway in some other way/shape/form.  (Unless real world is like The Butterfly Effect movie, where one wrong move can land your ass in prison and placed in the unenviable position of having to blow some dude to survive.)

Anyhoo, all of these thoughts came up when I was thinking about the next step to take.  I think it's a pretty big one and I surely don't wanna fuck it up and have this conversation with my friend 2 years later and have the answer be "well shit yo, i done did it again and it's now 3 things."  We'll see in a few years I guess, I won't know until I travel down that road and see it for what it is, much like what I'm doing now.

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Went to Napa this past Saturday on a quest to stock the wine fridge.  I was down to my very last bottle of white and he looked so very ronry and sadry arone in the wine fridge by his ronesome.  So I decided to drive out to Napa and get him some friends to keep his ass company before the weather got too hot.  Made an appointment (this whole appt thing for tastings is a real pain in the ass) to check out Cakebread after deciding that Duckhorn (note to Duckhorn: I would've gone to check ur asses out, and buy some of your expensive ass wines if u didn't require an appt, fuckers) was a tad bit too far for me to drive out to.  Was going to go out there by myself but found a fellow alky (Angela) to come along with me in my quest...

Woke up Saturday morning around 10 and *almost* didn't go as I'd been up till 3am the day before with Angela and Peter and was feeling tired from the combo of sleeping late and alky consumption from the previous evening.  Called Angela to wake her up, filled her in on the blanks in her memory for events that transpired after 1:50am the evening before, and told her I'd pick her up in around 30.

Cakebread Cellars:

This was our first stop.  Got here right on time for the 12:30 appointment and went on their wine tour.  They had some decent wines including the Chardonnay Reserve (very good, but at $52 it was way overpriced), the Rubaiyat (which is a nice lil mix of Pinot Noir, Syrah and Zin, I got 2 bottles of this at $32 each), the Merlot (a big ass earthy merlot that I got for my brother, at $52 I kinda wish I could return it, but eh, it's not bad, just not $52 good in retrospect), and a bottle of their Dancing Bear at $98, which I bought blind...

At the end of the tour I asked our tour guide if they were pouring the Dancing "Boar" (it's actually bear) and he pulled me aside and whispered in my ear: "Talk to me later" as if I'd just asked him where I can score a kilo of coke.  After the rest of the tour left I asked him about about the Dancing Bear, he informed me that they were not pouring the Dancing Bear, but that he would pour me some of the 2003 Vine Hill, which is another one of their more $$$ wines.  He snuck off to the back with my glass and poured me like 1/4 of a tasting of the Vine Hill that was barely enough for 2 sips, cheap ass.  Anyway, had a sip of the Vine Hill (also $98/bottle) and thought that it was the mf bomb, and was very impressed.  Brett the guide proceeded to tell me how much better the Dancing Bear (at the same price as the Vine Hill) is but unfortunately they were not pouring that bitch.  I decided to trust Brett and bought a bottle of the Dancing Bear blind, if it's anything like the Vine Hill I'm sure that I will not be disappointed.

Brett also pointed out some additional wineries that we should check out.  I told him that I was going to check out Arger-Martucci (he said this was the bomb-tizzy) and Heitz (said that their Martha's Vineyard Cabs are the bomb-tizzy to the 2nd power).  He gave me the names of other wineries that we should check out next time as they required appts. (again, these appt things suck ass): Anderson's Conn Valley (not to be confused with Conn Creek which poured some of the WORST wines I've EVER had the last time I was there, I poured out every single tasting after one sip, and they had like a flight of 9, they did have the fattest cat u'll ever see there though...), Quixote, Pride, and various other places that I can't remember off othe top of my head.

Thanked Brett and off we went to Heitz...

Heitz:

Hit up Heitz, a well-known winery that participated in the Frenchy vs. American face off over 30 years ago and in 2006:  (Note that the participant was the Martha's Vineyard Cab)

http://www.vinography.com/archives/2006/05/the_rejudgement_of_paris_resul.html

Anyhoo, they were not pouring either of their higher-end wines, the Martha or the Trailside.  We got a taste of their lower-end offerings which was OK, but not very impressive, including the Bella Oaks Cab.  The BOC hits your mouth hard and at first taste it tastes like French Oak juice, but after a few seconds the other flavors come through...that first oaky/smokey taste is very hard to overcome though.  Talked to the dude and he convinced me to buy 3 of their Trailside Cabs blind, figured what the hell, I'll give it a shot.  In retrospect I shoudl've just got a bottle, but hey there was a speacial on 3, can't pass that up!

Arger-Martucci:

Saw reviews of this place on Yelp, and both of the dudes I spoke to at Cakebread and Heitz said that this was def. a place that I needed to check out.  Bitches, lemme say this, if any of you are up in here, up in here in Napa, do yourself a favor, check this bad boy out and thank me afterwards.  EVERYTHING we had here was absolutely wonderful/exceptional/delicious and dare I say...orgasmic.  This is a very small family-owned winery and the tasting experience itself was awesome.  We were served bread with balsalmic vinegar/olive oil as well as chocolate to go with the Cab.  The people here were wonderful as well, and the wines, goddamn they were fucking delicious. 

Angela and I shared a tasting here and I would always ask her to taste first.  This led her to violated the Golden Rule of Taste Sharing of sip --> pass on more than one occasion.  I mean once in a while the sip--> sip--> pass is alright, but she had the sip--> sip--> hold--> think about sip --> pass only when I asked for it shit going on...and yeah, it really was that good, I had no problems getting her to relinquish her stranglehold on the wine glass at the other wineries, but it was def. a problem at Arger-Martucci...

Our favorites here were the Viognier, the Syrah and the Odyssey.  Their Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs were also exceptional.  The Cab left a little bit to be desired, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it would've tasted better if it did not follow the pourings of the Odyssey (Angela got us 2 tastings of this one by responding  "Huh? Ody what?  Ody who?" when one of the guys asked us if we've been poured the Odyssey as she finished up what was left of the first Odyssey pour in her glass.)

Their website describes the Viognier as packing "an incredible mouthful of melon and peaches," and dude, I dunno if that's what it is, but it's pretty freaking incredible for sure.  I'm not a big fan of whites, but I actually bought a bottle of this guy...at $25 each it's (in my opinion) an absolute steal.

Their Syrah was also unlike anything I've ever tasted.  I'm not very good at describing wines in detail, so you can check out their website for the tasting notes.  However, the silky smooth rich texture of the Syrah definitely caught my attention and was one of the reasons that I got 4 bottles of this guy.  For $30/bottle this is an even bigger steal than the Viognier.  The only thing that really compares to this wine (based on my limited experience in wines) in terms of price/ounce is the Ceja red table wine for $20 (the 2003 vintage which originally retailed for $18, now sell for $35, and it's still worth every penny at $35).

Their flagship wine is the Odyssey, and goddamn dude, I don't know if bomb-tizzy begins to describe this beverage.  I mean it's the bomb, and if you're into the real good shit, you'll LOVE this.  The only real high end stuff I've had is Opus One, and over the years I've come to the realization that Opus One is wayyyy overpriced, though it is still very very good, it's just not worth the $160 price tag.  This Odyssey is the only sub-$100 bottle of wine, clocking in at $75, that i've had that comes to being almost just as good (and I mean it's just a very very miniscule small notch below) as the Opus One.  I got 2 bottles of this bad boy and it's occupying the best piece of real estate in my fridege (2nd rack from the top bizatch, that location is like the Atherton of my wine fridge) My friends, this is a VERY good bottle of wine, try it out when you get up there, and you will not regret it bitches...

So, came into work this morning and had a package to mail out from work.  Put the bad boy on the scale and was trying to figure out how much postage I should put on the thing to make sure that it would get sent as the postal rates changed today, and anything that's not flat and is over 1.5 inches thick is automatically  $0.80 minimum.  My secretary sees that I'm trying to figure things out and says "hey, why don't you gimme that and I'll see how much it is, you can figure it out on the USPS website."  I said, "Sure thing, just keep in mind that based on the old rates it's $1.35, and I heard that based on the new rates there's a $0.80 cent minimum for packages like THIS ONE which is not flat."  She replied, "OK. got it."

I returned to my desk and proceeded to "work."  After a couple of hours, I see her come back to the back of the office where I reside, and the following exchange takes place:

Me: "Hey, so how much was it?"

Her: "Well, the 80 year old senile postman came by and said it was $0.58 cents. So I was retarded and put $0.58 cents on the package even though you had told me that the old rates said $1.35 and that there is a $0.80 minimum for any non-flat package based on the new rates.  I am retarded, yes."

Me: "......you're fucking with me right?

Her: "Nope, fity-ocho centavos baby, who cares about the whole $0.80 for the first ounce and $0.17 per additional ounce bullshit?"

Me: ".....the package was 5 ounces"

If this was The Su Group instead of The Udinsky Group I'd have fired her ass on the spot, but given that I was unable to do so I set out to find the postman and was determined to affix the proper postage to the package.  What follows is similar to what you have to do in those video games where you walk around talking to people and gathering info. regarding your quest (think Final Fantasy):

1. I talk to the incompetent secretary (mistake) and she tells me that the postman goes East of Telegraph after leaving from the office.  I give her a death stare, tell her I need to go track this package down, and run off down Telegraph and make a right on Russell.  I go from Russell ALL the way down to College and don't find shit...
2. I come back down towards Telegraph and get on Oregon and head West towards Telegraph.  At this point I was ready to go back to the office and choke a bitch, but figured that I'd finish what I started.  Wandering through the smaller side streets I find a postwoman!!!  I excitedly ask her: "Do you know the really really really old looking white dude that works around here?  Do you know where I can find him???"  She replies: "Oh yeah, him!  Ummm, he works West of Telegraph around Russell or so..." [Clue #1 baby].
3. I run back down Russell and get East of Telegraph.  I proceed to circle the blocks for about 20-30 minutes, finding nothing but empty USPS Trucks.  At this point I called Ben to bitch to him about my incompetent secretary and my task while having him basically laugh at me for the entire phone call for having to chase down a mailman.
4. After about 30 minutes I find another postwoman (I'm befriending them at a fast pace) named Anna Lee.  I proceed to probe her for clues: "Hey, do you know the really really really old dude that works around here?? I need to get a package back from him because my secretary put $0.58 cents on a 5 ounce package.  Anna Lee: "Oh no, that's not enough [me thinking: yeah no shit], yeah, I know the guy you're talking about"  She then proceeds to tell me the exact streets that the dude works on.  She also asks me to write down my number, address, and what the package looked like so she can tell the dude if she sees him!!!  Anna Lee, if you're reading this, I'm going to tell my USA Atty friends that you need a raise, and they'll take good care of you if you ever get sued for running someone over in your truck (I've had 2 such cases already this year).
5. At this point, I was thinking "Jackpot!!!  I've got it narrowed down to 3 blocks, you can't hide from me old geezer."  WRONG.  I proceed to walk around for another 15 minutes not being able to find the dude.  BUT I did encounter an old dude that looke pretty scary who asked me "Are you Chinese?"  Scared that he would stab me to death if I ignored him, I said "Yes."  He then proceeded to talk to me about how he had a Chinese girlfriend when he was young, how he met her Chinese parents, how he moved to China and taught there but was  unable to learn Chinese while teaching because he was teaching in English, how he learned his Chinese after school, and how he moved back to the States not too long ago...now this is all pretty weird as I don't usually have random convos with strangers, what made this weirder was that he was saying all of this in CHINESE, and pretty damn good Chinese too...
6. I was determined not to let the Chinese speaking Unabomber look-alike stop me.  I ask him, in Chinese and English (as I was unsure which language he was more comfortable with at this point), if he saw the postman.  Alas, he did not.  Freaking useless!!  I complimented him on his Chinese and ran.
7. After another 5 minutes or so I FINALLY find the man of the hour at his truck on the corner of Telegraph/Russell. At this point I wanted to ask him if he worked for the League of Shadows but bit my tongue.  I told him that I needed to get a package back because I forgot to put something in there, and he found it within maybe 5 seconds and gave it back to me.

All of this could've been easily avoided if the secretary wasn't acting like she had the mental capacity of a 3 year old.  (Hmmm...yeah, if the post office is raising rates today then it must be cheaper to mail something than it did before...I mean seriously dude, REALLY???)  But then I wouldn't have had the chance to run around Berkeley for an hour plus and meet 2 very lovely postwomen as well as a crazy ass Chinese speaking white dude.  The things I miss doing regular work in the office...

Went to the Warriors game and watched the Warriros completely KILL the Utah Jazz in a huge blowout that the Warriors sorely needed.  Not much to say except that the crowd was absolutely INSANE and the place probably caused some damage to my hearing (even my dad was screaming).  The highlight of the night was B. Diddy delivering the sickest facial that I've ever seen live in AK-47's (one of the best shot-blockers in the NBA) face.  Here it is:

http://nba-boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/nbatv_top10/top10_070511.asx

Do you now...Believe?