Wild, Wild Weather
I recently said to a friend that the weather in San Francisco is like an old dog in that you really just don't know what it's going to do next. While it seems that things have stabilized a bit now and we'll head in to some somewhat Springtime weather soon, that hail storm (pictured) was something else to behold. I know that it's even snow briefly here, but I didn't get to see that because I was still living in the East Bay then.
The big thing that always cracks me up is the ho-hum attitude people take to weather changes when they drive. They'll just keep putting along doing 90 or whatever and not really pay any attention to the fact that there is ice, or snow, or let's just say... a cow in the road. This is something that is just endemic to San Francisco though as folks in my hometown can handle a bit of rain and definitely the occasional cow.
Naturally this is nothing like what they get hit with in the Midwest where a freakin' tornado came down on them earlier today. I have yet to understand why that are is even populated anymore with how drastic and horrid their weather seems to be. I guess this is why there are a lot of transplants on both coasts. Of course, the one big difference is that folks there, know how to drive there!
28 02 2007 0 comments
Tags: driving, san francisco
More Australia Day
A little while back, I wrote about the Pro Lamb party and the rather hilarious video that was up for it. Well, I had some guests from Australia just staying with me and they had never heard of this video. I showed it to them and then discovered another on for the Australia Day Party. Damn good stuff and an enjoyable watch. Took my mind off this crappy cold I'm having at the moment. Oh look, it was posted to YouTube on my birthday as well. Fate that is.
And if you're up for it, there's even more.
27 02 2007 0 comments
Tags: australia day, lamb
Old Man Strength
God, I never thought this term would be anything but a joke. Now, I read this article which is darkly comic in that someone 3 1/2 times older than their assailant takes him out. And by takes him out, I mean kills him. That'll teach any wannabe 20-year-old muggers to take on 70 year olds.
But, this is not the first story in this regard. This other article goes in to this in more detail and I can't agree more. My generation is pretty damned weak. I look at those coming up behind us and I'm even more afraid. Those born 1975 and after as just going to be known as Generation Wuss pretty soon.
It's to the point where I wish that I actually didn't know how to use a hammer, since San Francisco men seem to be these habitually weak guys. This of course means that when anything real needs doing, I'm always the one that gets called. Yeah right, now I'm just guy bashing, but I can because I'm a guy that lives here and if I see one more dude scream like a five-year-old girl when he gets scared by The Bushman, I'm gonna start punching just so that these weaklings actually have something to really be scared of. I'd never do this in The Castro though, since there are guys there that can seriously beat the crap out of me.
25 02 2007 0 comments
Tags: old man strength, san francisco
Melancholy Taxation
I am one of those people whom everyone hates about the middle of April. I already filed my taxes. Although I gotta say that the reasons for filing late are getting weaker and weaker. The whole online thing is pretty much rock and roll.
But, as I was sorting through all of my receipts and bills for last year, I came across those for travel expenses. Naturally not all of them could be used, but it was still fun to look through them and see the places I had been. Hitting the stack of paper from Europe was a lot of fun. There were these train tickets that when in large quantity seem quite mundane, but when tied to something like the nearly delirious train ride I took from Vienna to Graz (it was right after getting off my non-sleeping plane flight from SFO), I regard them warmly.
It's just fun to see the different wordings and try to figure out what some things meant or why in the hell I was going from Pragersko to Ljubljana. Oh, that's right, that was the closest station to Marko and family in Slovenia. It was also where I sat in a cabin with a girl who initially didn't realize I was an American, but when she did, she was rather taken aback as to why I was in Pragersko, essentially a complete backwater of Slovenia. "Oh, I'm doing a castle tour of Slovenia." Naturally, I told her I was joking minutes later, since the entire concept of such a thing is ludicrous to most Europeans being that there is either a castle or the ruins of a castle every mile or so. Obviously a very unfamiliar concept to we from the New World.
But, it just make me melancholy and look forward to future Europe trips with a great deal of anticipation. That and the fact I'm done with my taxes already. Ha. Ha.
22 02 2007 0 comments
Tags: europe, taxes, travel
American Coins are a Bit Lame
I realized something kind of dumb about the coins we use here in the US. It was when I was telling a guest who was staying with me some time back about how much change she'd need for the bus.
"Oh yeah, six quarters."
"Which one is the quarter?"
"You know, the one that's 25 cents."
"No, I don't know which one that is. None of them say this amount."
It was then that I looked at the quarter and all of the change to discover something I should have already known in that we don't stamp any kind of numerical denomination on our coins. That's nuts! Especially when you toss in the fact that the nickel and the penny are both bigger than the dime. It must take those who visit from out of the country a couple of days to get used to this screwy system.
It must also be frustrating for people considering that the Euro coins are so much smarter. They go up in size as the denominations get larger and the texture around the edges change so that people who are blind know which coin they have. Obviously due to all the languages spoken in the EU, the amount of the coin is then just a number stamped on, not a word. And then of course there is the one and two Euro coins which are fantastic and something we really need to convert over to as the one dollar bill is somewhat worthless in the big scheme of things these days.
20 02 2007 0 comments
Tags: us america
A Taste of the Past
My mom has a bad habit of keeping wine around for far too long. There is definitely something to be said for aging wine, but then again, there's a lot to be said for drinking it.
On my last trip to visit, I finally talked her in to opening on of the bottles, since due to how she has it cellared (in a corner of her kitchen) there was a good chance it may have just been vinegar. While she wouldn't let me touch any of the BV that were sitting there, I finally talked her in to opening a Oakmont Cellars Gamay Beaujolais, 1979. Apparently this was a label that Beringer dumped their excess wines under at the time. This was [is?] something of a common practice so that they can keep the stock of their name brand wines down while not losing any money by selling it at a discount. Of course, when word of a wine bottled this way gets out, it sells out in an instant. This bottle happened to be about $2.50 at the time. That'd be somewhere around $10 now and otherwise known as a quite good level of wine at Trader Joe's.
So, we opened it. At first we thought it had turned. It was not terribly good, but given time and breathing some air from the 21st century, it opened up a lot. It got the nose of a typical California Napa heavy red with dark earthy tones to it and the flavor was much the same. It never quite got the density of a Cab Sauv you could buy today, but at the same time, it was good. Notice that I said good. It wasn't amazing. I would maybe pay upwards of $30 a bottle for it in comparable terms today.
It goes to show that while aging can be good, why bother? There are wines that are great today and ready to drink now and that's what it's really all about when you get down to it. So while everyone else is paying $300, $1000, $5000 or whatever for some 50 years old French wine, I'll be happily downing some $10 or $15 thing I picked up yesterday and loving every drop of it just as much.
19 02 2007 0 comments
Tags: smell my cork, wine
It Is With the Eyes
There was a weird thing I noticed in this one guy at the sometimes office. It's the fact that he never makes eye contact with you when you're talking to him. At first he just seemed kind of arrogant and now I'm realizing that it's just the way he is. Still strange though since I'm used to making eye contact with people the entire time I'm talking to them. Naturally, that probably freaks some people out, especially if they don't want to be making eye contact.
I suppose I've noticed it a great deal in my travels through Slavic lands and dealings with Russian people that they will always look you in the eyes when they are talking to you. It's a little strange to get used to and I kinda see what people on the other end of my conversations must be seeing, yet I like it due to the fact that as cheesy and overblown in movie scripts it may be, it is really hard for someone to lie when you look straight at you.
I have no idea why this I decided to yak about this topic today, but it's probably due to just being overcharged at House of Nanking (which is a terribly tourist trap of a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco.) They are people who will not look you in the eyes when they basically order for you so that they'll give you the most expensive things. Just as a side note, pop to Chef Gia's next door. It's 1/3 the price and twice the goodness. And yes, they look you in the eyes when they take your order, especially when you request no MSG.
18 02 2007 0 comments
Tags: eyes, people
It's Just Great Because...
It's a fun town to live in, this San Francisco. You gotta love things like the new Valentine's Pillow Fight. Probably not the way a lot of people expect to see their Valentine's go, but it looks like fun. It's close to my apartment, so I really need to go next year. More info on The Gate.
16 02 2007 0 comments
Tags: san francisco, valentines
Driving is for Suckers
After a visit to my mom's last weekend, I think I need to swear off cars for awhile. The Bay Area has a rather large problem when it rains in that everyone forgets how to drive. Not a problem for a pedestrian as I usually am, but it's a mighty large issue when you are in a car.
For this trip, I ended up stuck with a Chevy Cobalt. As you can imagine, this American-made auto lived up to just about every possible facet it could with a name like that. So, there it is, raining and I'm trying to get out to the bridge. This is less than one mile from where I picked up the car. It took over an hour. And of course, once on the bridge, the trip took much longer. In fact, what is usually a 2.5 hour drive, took nearly 6 hours.
Obviously, the train at about 3.5 - 4 hours is a much better deal. The only catch is that it's hard to haul back two cases of wine from Trader Joe's on the train. Even still, taking a taxi out to Trader Joe's and then back in the future might be the smarter choice because while on the train, I can relax, watch movies or just generally kick back for a couple of hours and enjoy a very nice ride.
I feel like an ass after this trip because I always recommend the train to others making this trip and of course then I don't take it myself. Live and learn.
15 02 2007 0 comments
Tags: amtrak, public transit
You're Killing Me Sometimes Office
Argh. So, space is at a premium and when you're just a part time contractor at a place, you kinda have to deal with what's given. My only gripe is that it goes over the top sometimes. Take for instance one of my "sometimes offices" where I work, well, some of the time. I was in a cube for awhile when I came in and while that wasn't that great, I am discovering that it was actually pretty good. You see, I've been moved to this little spot back in the corner in front of another guy's space. It looks a little like I've been pad and have been put in to the corner as a "time out". Who knows, maybe this is the case. Of course, to add insult to injury, the table that I work on wobbles like crazy and so my monitor is bouncing all over the place while I work. By the end of the day, I feel a little seasick from all the movement.
It's only temporary I'm told. I hope that's true since I think I'm going to go insane otherwise. It's one of the rare moments where I praise and love the iPod for its ability to block out everything that is not me. Definitely not my prepared choice of a work environment, but given that or overhearing phone conversations with outsourcing consultants, I'll take the iPod any day.
