I got home 3 hours early (it pays to ask at the ticket counter!).

While in Tucson staying with a friend, I got to drive this (the white version):

It's a Nissan 350Z.
He does autocross with it - boy it shifts so smoothly (6 gears!) and the brakes are very touchy... I was helping him transfer another car and so got to drive this - the only requirement was that I be able to drive stick - yay for me!! So sweet... After he got in, he showed me how totally sick that car really is - it handles very, very well (even without the racing slicks) :)
I also got to ride a motorcycle - only as a passenger though - one day I'll learn to drive one...

It's nice to be home. My kitty is totally thrilled :)

So I decided that I needed to get off the mountain for a little while (I'll have 7 more nights up there!). Therefore I took the 4:00 shuttle (so many people they actually have a bus!) and got down to the University of Arizona around 5:20. The headquarters of NOAO is on the U of A campus. I met up with my friend Brian for a little bit (he has generously offered his sofa bed for my sleepytime enjoyment) and he meandered off to his already-planned evening and I meandered off in search of things I wanted to see and do.
I decided to walk to a used bookstore in the area, right next to which was a movie theater playing independent flicks. I thought about seeing "Mirrormask" but then decided I'd rather eat dinner. I meandered farther up the street and ended up the place voted best Japanese in Tucson by the local independent weekly paper. It had both a casual, order at a register side and a dining side. I went for casual (being by myself). I had some really good yakisoba :) Then I wanted desert but they ended up having just run out of what I wanted so I tried (on the recommendation of the cashier dude - "it's an orgasm in your mouth!") this ice cream treat called a monaka:
Not quite an orgasm in the mouth, but quite good :) It was vanilla ice cream with thin sheets of chocolate in in encased in a puffy wafer-y type thing... You can kinda see in the cut-away on the package. And it is HUGE - as long as my hand and half as wide!! Damn. But it was good :)
I went to 2 used bookstores and a coffee shop as well :) Briefly chatted with a few people (I don't want to get hit on too bad as I'm only in town for a little while ;) )

Not much else to report currently...

Tomorrow I'll hang out at the U of A for a bit before I head back up the mountain on the 2 p.m. shuttle.