Yesterday I went to Dave Sweet's boatwarming/4th of July gathering. First of all, I was quite happy at the start of the day because I had just finally fixed my project at work. Not only was I confident that the basic engine worked (which I knew months before), but now I'm confident that it will install and work right off the bat. The biggest remaining problem (where to get the applet code) was solved when I stumbled into the solution.

Anyway, Dave's party was supposed to start at 15:00. Dave claims that he worded it so that people should take the hint and come later, but why not write it that way in the first place? In any case, I can barely stand reading Dave's emails so I got the date and time and threw the email away. So when I show up at 15:30 (I was watching a baseball game and couldn't just leave) I find out that I'm the first one to arrive.

Not that I minded as it gave me the chance to get used to the new place without the pressure of being civil to strangers. Although I should have expected it, I was a bit surprised that Dave and Julie had a lot of nice food for the party. Dave finished assembling the snack plate composed of meats and cheeses along with bread to eat it with. There was also a vegetable plate, but who can eat raw vegetables? Apparently white people.

Dave Woo arrived about 16:00 and brought Brisk and something else. Then there was Thomas, one of Dave's old coworkers. Then Donald. So it was basically three groups of people: Dave's old coworkers, Dave's gamer friends, Dave and Julie's family. To a certain extent the gamers kept to themselves, although Dave Pick and Donald are friendly enough to have mingled a bit.

Although it was a sunny day, there was quite a breeze which kept everything cool. Comfortable at first but then a bit cold as the sun set. Unfortunately, you can only have about 6-8 people semi-comfortably in the wheelhouse room and still socialize. So for the most part there were only a few people indoors at any time.

I ate way too many snacks and drinks, so that by the time the barbeque started I was quite full. Therefore I only had a some chicken and a fish. Although the fish had been frozen for a year, I don't think that was why I didn't like it. It was way too... tart or something. I just couldn't taste the fish, and although that can usually be made up if the fish is fried, when it's barbequed there is nothing to back up the flavor.

So by then I was sleepy so I lay down and took a bit of a nap. Donald and some other people left. It was dusk and everybody else seemed to be having a good time. Dave Pick woke me up when the fireworks started. There were two or three different displays that you could see from the boat, although the best was the one in Jack London Square a few miles away.

We oohed and aahed at the red, white, blue, and green colors. For the most part fireworks are kind of neat but once you've seen one display close up there isn't that much variation to warrant looking at other fireworks displays. I suppose got more out of the display than I did, but it was a nice moment to see everyone else enjoying the display.

After that we crowded into the wheelhouse room and talked. People tried to convince Dave to go back to Sun. I don't know if he'll do that or if he'll take a job at Inktomi if that's ever offered to him. Personally I'd feel bad taking another job after Donald has gone to a bit of effort to get me a job at his work. But then again Donald probably won't mind and I'm overly cautious of offending people.

Anyway, it was a nice party. Got to meet some of Dave's coworkers. Got to eat a lot and spend some time with my friends in a non-gaming setting. Next time though, maybe someplace that doesn't move so much?