The rest of CommArch arrived today; Karsten, and I went to pick them up, then headed straight to In-'N-Out where we consumed too many fries, burgers, and milkshakes for our own good (my contribution: 2 animal burgers, 1 animal fries, 1 chocolate milkshake, 1 lemonade). On the way out of the burger joint, we turned around and looked over the shoulder of the building. The sunset had a gradient going from black at the top down to blue at the bottom, with purple and red, orange and yellow in between, and a thin sliver of moon hanging over it all.

It's good to be with my team - no matter how well you work with people online, no matter how quickly and clearly you can make your jokes and pokes and back-and-forths travel over text, it's really not the same as being there in person. You miss the overlapping conversations and the little tics of personality, facial expressions, random things they notice that you don't (was it Max who first pointed out the moon, or Karsten? Maybe Karsten...) and just the sense of being there with people that's so nice. Having them be there without needing to take the extra effort to type and make your presence known online.

At some point this week, I'm told, we're going to the boardwalk and I'll finally see the Santa Cruz beach, which I have somehow avoided seeing thus far (this may have something to do with being in the office past 4am). Karsten has another farm event (summer salon) on Thursday. Friday is our epic road trip to Portland. Sweeeeeet.

Good to be here.