🍀Pinball, Pi, and Patrick's Day 3/16/25

Hi Friends!

Recently, I read something in an AARP magazine that stuck with me (yes I am a member of AARP, not just because I’m an old soul at heart, but because of all the surprisingly good travel deals they give you). It was a profile of travel writer Rick Steves, who said that in the past, we would say “bon voyage,” but now we say “have safe travels” even though transportation is the safest it has ever been. I agree, and we need to change that.

Now with that out of the way, let's find out what’s up with Will…

This week, I scored free tickets to the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda. The ticket gave me access to over 50+ pinball machines. The museum also had a section explaining the mechanics of pinball machines and explained its history from its origin as a variation of the French game Bagatelle, its use as a gambling device, and even New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia’s crusade against pinball due to its “moral depravity”. The coolest part though was playing the different machines over the years and seeing the progression from something rudimentary into the pinball we know and love.

A block down the street, there was an ice cream shop called CookieBar Scoop Shop, so I got Dan Tat ice cream, AKA custard egg tart ice cream. Now I’ve had a lot of wild ice cream flavors, but I don’t think I’ve ever had egg tart ice cream before. I would recommend!

That being said, I had to eat the ice cream as quickly as possible without getting a brain freeze since I had more places to be.

Our friend Tyler Bolo came to the Bay Area to visit some of his Stanford friends, and we got dinner together. We gathered Tyler, Ken, and Jessa and went to a Mexican restaurant called Matador in SF. The food was fantastic (I got two tacos, a crunch wrap, chips and salsa, and a beer for 20 dollars), but my one critique was that the margs were a little weak. 

After dinner, everyone wanted to get gelato, which I would be so down for, except I already got ice cream earlier in the day. I explained my predicament to Ken, and he pointed out that ice cream and gelato are two completely different things, so I was a-okay to get both. I don’t think I’ve ever heard more sage advice. 

We ran to Amorino Gelato, and got there 2 minutes before closing. I got the salted caramel flavor, and while it might be more basic than egg tart flavor, the taste and texture of this gelato beat it hands down. 

Tyler said he’s been doing well living in the Washington DC area, and has been rock climbing a good bit. If you haven’t checked out @tyler_climbs_rocks on Instagram, you are missing out!

This past Friday was Pi Day, which is honestly one of my top 3.14 favorite holidays.

One year in high school, a couple of friends and I had a challenge to see who could memorize the most digits of Pi (which probably shows what high school social group I was a part of). Regardless, Pi Day is a big deal, so to celebrate, I went out to get a small pie from a local gluten-free bakery.

Unfortunately, I won’t be in town to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (more on that later), so we instead celebrated on Saturday. I just want to note that St. Patrick’s Day is not in my top 3.14 holidays.

To start, our wine club had a pickup party where you get to try all the new releases of wine and “pick up” the bottles of wine that you paid for. They always have a live band and cater food, so it’s a great time.

Then with our pickup party pre-game done, we went into the city for a St. Patrick’s Day Bar Crawl. I will be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of bars with blaring music, as I can’t really talk to people, let alone think to myself. That being said, we eventually made it to a few bars that were more low-key, which is more my speed. I appreciated being able to go to multiple bars I had never been to before, as I hadn’t gone out in SF before. The bar crawl is also an excuse to have a snakebite, which is half cider and half Guinness. It’s one of my favorite drinks to celebrate St. Patrick. 

Now, I previously mentioned that I wasn’t going to be around SF for St Patrick’s Day, and that is because I had to fly to a conference in Raleigh, NC on Sunday. 

Getting to the airport though was hectic. SFO is never a busy airport, and I can generally get through security within 5 minutes. So, instead of arriving two hours early, I decided to take a train to the airport that would arrive 30 minutes before boarding started. 3/4ths of the way there though, the train stopped, and everyone had to get off as the line to the airport broke. They also mentioned that they were not providing other modes of transit to the airport, so I had to scramble to get an Uber to pick me up. Thankfully my flight got delayed, but that was probably the most stressful getting to the airport experience I have ever had.

Anyway, I am currently writing this on my layover in Minneapolis, which has not one, but two statues of Snoopy, since Snoopy’s creator, Charles Schulz, was born here. What’s even crazier is that these statutes are just a small part of Peanuts on Parade, a collection of 800 different Peanuts statues.

Anyway, here’s hoping it will be smooth sailing from here. Bon Voyage! I will see you all next week!

I showed my friend Mikk the Wicked Rollercoaster video highlighted in last week’s newsletter, and then he showed me a treasure trove of amazing YouTube videos he has found over the years. This was one of my favorites.