Day 4 of San Francisco Trip ...

Date: June 23, 2007

Alcohol Consumption: 1 glass of wine, 1 bottle of beer, 1 Jack and Coke

Money Quote: "No pain, no pain!" by Garrick

Again, I made sure I ran first thing in the morning. I ran up 18th Street again. I felt the burn at the top. Wow! It is good to be alive. No pain, no gain. Right?

Today, I am visiting Garrick down in Palo Alto. He is finally finishing all his glorious schooling, which includes BS from Harvard and MD & PhD from UPenn. His residency at Standford/VA is done. Garrick is a full blown psychiatrist. It is a proud day.

I am nervous about getting to Palo Alto in time, but my sis does not seem to understand my apprehension. I never used Caltrain before or are used to riding the bus/subway in SF. We had a spat. I explained to her I have not figured out the public transportation and where things are. I decided to leave little early. My sis walked with me to a bus stop, where I caught J-line, which was a hybrid of bus/subway. I had to catch T-line at Embarcadero for Caltrain station. It was a good thing I left a little early as T-line did not run as often on weekends. I bought a small bag of pretzel, a Sneakers bar, and one ticket for Zone 3, which includes Palo Alto. The train ride south was quite comfortable although a little slow from making many stops along the way.

Garrick picked up from the Caltrain. It is always nice to see Garrick. I met Garrick's parents and oldest sister when we got to his place. I waited as they got ready for graduation ceremony. We chatted a little and it was time to leave.

There were already people there when we got to Stanford Faculty Club, where the graduation was. My name tag was there much to my surprise. It was really nice of Garrick to put me on the official list. Cool! It was a little hot, but we were all mingling with free hors d'oeuvre and open bar flowing. Even cooler. Nice touch by Stanford. Garrick's middle sister's family joined a little later.


I sat through all eight graduates being introduced, bragged about, and each reminisce about their residency together. It was very nice ceremony. It was nice to hear other graduates mention Garrick throughout their speeches. That goes to show he is well liked. One of them mentioned Garrick's mantra, "No pain, no pain." I don't know why, but it struck me funny. I am sure it means more significantly among psychiatrists.

It was late in the afternoon when the graduation was over. Garrick's sister invited me out to her house out in Pleasanton. I left my sis a voice mail to let her know what I was doing, since she did not answered the call.

Garrick's sister lives in a beautiful two story house with two great kids and her young at heart husband. Garrick and I played with Garrick's niece and nephew while others slaved over preparing dinner. They were expecting some more guests. In the meantime, I played Wii against various opponents.

When it got late after good dinner and conversations, Garrick drove me home to SF. It would been a real shame if we did not go out for a drink on such a happy occasion. Garrick called up a couple of classmates and got one of them to meet us at Bar XYZ in Hotel W. It was really cool just hanging although I was not really dress for the joint.

It felt good to have spent a day getting reacquainted although it never seem like Garrick and I don't spend very much time on the phone, or corresponding, or meeting.