Staying up past our bedtime

I don't know who Tim and I think we are but we've gone out for the last two nights! And have gone to bed after 11 p.m.!! It's madness.

Monday night we went to the Fillmore Theater - yes Bob (Tim's dad), we went to the Fillmore! Haven't you been talking about that for a while to us now? My friend Troy is a big fan of Robert Cray so we went along with him to the concert. Very cool venue and Robert Cray was amazing and Keb Mo (opener) just as good. I've never been to a blues concert so this was cool.

Of course it couldn't just be a nice concert for us though. Apparently Troy is a dufus magnet and these two guys who were doing the "sprinkler" and other stupid "dance" moves at a blues concert! were always right in front of Troy and kept invading his personal space. Even when we going out the door they were in front of him. Weird. One guy kept bumping into Troy - not cool.

I had never heard of the "sprinkler" until Tim and Troy (two white guys, go figure) told me about it. Apparently it's a "dance move" where you stick your arm out bent and jerk your upper body from left to right...like a sprinkler. There is also something called the "lawn mower". I'm not sure the two dufuses were doing that move too but apparently there is a whole world of dance that I am not acquainted with...thank goodness.

At first I thought...hmmmm, they are extremely affectionate with each other. They were all over each - mostly talking about god knows what so that meant going up close and shouting in each other's ears. Maybe they're a couple I think. But I looked at their shoes - grubby, hair cuts - they needed a shave in the back, and they were saying the stupidest hetero things. And I guess the whole sprinkler thing would automatically make them hetero.

Okay, I think - I guess they must be EXTREMELY drunk. For hetero guys to be touching each other as much as they were I'm guessing they were on something or drunk out of their minds. If you're doing the "sprinkler" at a blues concert you better be really drunk or else a dumba#$. They were the latter.

They were not only invading Troy's personal space but everyone else around them. I soon became distracted by them and Robert Cray & Keb Mo soon became background music as I watched the train wreck of the two dufuses in front of me.

Every time someone came close enough to the two dufuses they would talk to them. I thought they were trying to hit on people but instead they were trying to see if they had pot. They kept mooching hits off of other people. One would think that this would make them mellower but it just made them stupider. Is it stupider or more stupid? Either way - they got worse as the night went on. People who were good enough to share their pot with them moved further away after a while while the three of us (me, Tim and Troy) were stuck in this weird vortex in back of the two dufuses and couldn 't get away from them.

Even when we thought they would be moving away and did at times, they somehow found their way back. I blame Troy. Usually it would be me, but I think it was Troy.

That was Monday night. After three hours of standing up we were exhausted. Poor Tim. For being as young as he is he sure acts like an old man. When we got back home he was complaining about his back, his feet and half way through the show started looking at his watch as if it would somehow speed up time. He enjoyed the show but I guess it was a little too long for the old man. We're also both extremely ADD so staying for a whole show was a stretch for us but we had a good time.

Tuesday night we went to see Tim's cousin wife Frannie in a show. She's an actress so it was fun to see someone we knew. The venue was teeny-tiny, maybe it sat 30 people. Loved it. The show was sketch comedy. Funny. There were times when I thought, should I be laughing about a skit about a fetus?! Whatever, we had a good time.

It was good to get out and see the city a bit more. The theater was in the Tenderloin, i.e., ghetto, but it really wasn't all that bad. Everyone says how scary and dangerous it is but we were just fine.

We're getting to see more and more here and we continue to love it. I'm gonna go practice the sprinkler now.

So many places to eat, so little time

This past weekend Tim and I got out of our neighborhood. Any time we do it's a big deal. Little Chinatown has everything we could need so why leave.

We left Little Chinatown on Saturday to have lunch with a friend of mine, Dennis, from Hawaii visiting for a couple of days. Dennis is so Hawaii. Nice, generous, warm, and LOVES to eat. He showed us a new neighborhood - Millbrae. It's close to the San Francisco airport so about 20 minutes from our place. What a cute little city. If not for Dennis I don't think we would have ever found this place.

We went all the way to Millbrae to eat at Shanghai Dumpling Shop. Since moving here we actually have NOT eaten at a Chinese restaurant even though we live in Little Chinatown which has a Chinese restaurant or two or three or four on a block. We've had dim sum but not any kind of sit down and order kind of place. So this was a first for us - not just Millbrae but Chinese food. Denise knows his food and we had a great lunch - thank you Dennis.

I have never had Shanghai dumplings but it's like soup inside of a dumpling. Yup, soup INSIDE of a dumpling. That means you need to shove the whole thing in your mouth and when you chew it burts in your mouth. Yummy!

Tim was impressed with the menu and at how good the food was - you know, Mr. I've been to China and am like a local now. I mean that in a nice way.

The next day we ventured out to see my friend Andrew in the vastness that is the East Bay. It was time to watch a movie so we saw....The Simpsons Movie. Don't bother watching this at the theater. Wait for it to go to DVD. It was like a long episode of the Simpsons. Yes, I know, it was The Simpsons Movie, but I guess we were expecting...something more. Funnier, you know, more character develop...what am I saying. I know, it was The Simpsons Movie, I don't know why we had such high expectations.

This week is a busy one. We have a bunch of friends coming in to the city. If you call and we don't get back to you, don't worry we will eventually.

Our First Guest

We’re back in San Francisco and just had our first visitor! My girlfriend, Jill, from Seattle visited this past weekend. I started compiling a list of places to see and more importantly to eat. Jill is a foodie so I couldn’t wait to try out some restaurants on my list with her. There is nothing better than trying out new restaurants with someone who loves/appreciates good food as much as I do.

We had some great meals (Bar Bambino, Magic Flute, and Universal Café) and an expensive not so great meal (Greens). Greens is a vegetarian organic restaurant in the Marina neighborhood. Beautiful view but as Tim said, there was something missing in all of the dishes. That something would be meat. I guess we’re not going to be vegetarians any time soon.

Tim and I really feel settled now. We actually knew enough to show Jill some places and not get too lost when we went sightseeing (picture to the right is the three of us at the Palace of Fine Arts). There is still so much more to do, see and of course eat. We have a more friends coming in for the next couple of weeks so we’ll get to be tourists with them and see more of the city.

Still in love with the city and I’m working on getting everyone to move here. Call those movers Jill!

Final Thoughts on Chicago

It's hot. I find it amazing that people actually choose to live there.

Nay Pier - hot and muggy lotsa tourists.

Art Institute is the best ever. Great air conditioning! And the exhibits are amazing - it would take a week plus to go through that museum.

I'm so happy to be back in foggy cold San Francisco. Tim and I are back in the city from our travels and are enjoying the cool temperatures.

Still Raining in Chicago

Tim and I are on the road again – 360 miles from Akron, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois. Tim has some work related business so we left the Buckeye state for the state that starts with an "I" and ends with an "S". I have no idea what this state's nickname is. I only know Buckeye because Tim is from Ohio. This would be my first time to Illinois and this being where Frank Lloyd Wright made a name for himself, I was excited to get into the city and go for some tours!

We didn’t have much time so we booked up. We made it to Oak Park in 6 hours – in traffic and made the last tour at 3:20 p.m. of his first house in Oak Park and his studio. Loved it! The man was oh so arrogant and brilliant.

Highlights of the trip:
Ohio – Indiana: corn and really cool rest stops. The rest stops were destination spots – very nice, very clean and several good choices for food. Ohio Turnpike, you’re awesome!

Indiana – Illionois: corn and surprisingly nice landscape. There were more hills than Ohio, well, I don’t know if they were hills but it wasn’t totally flat like Ohio. Rest stops were okay, but the Ohio rest stops had raised the bar and the Indiana ones were just average.

Chicago: traffic and smog. Don’t know if that’s a highlight but that’s all I remember.

And the biggest highlight – we didn’t fight! It might have been the food that Tim’s mom packed for us. We were sated and calm on the drive.

We’re staying at a hotel right in the city close to everything. It rained our first night while we went out to get some deep dish pizza. I’m beginning to think that one of us is a rain witch. Wherever we go it rains!

Deep dish pizza – eh. It was okay, but all I could think about was all the cheese and didn't I say I would eat healthy in the last post? Wait, I said I would cook healthy so that meal is okay.

Tomorrow Navy Pier and the Art Institute. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain…well, it’s almost guaranteed that it will rain since one of us is a rain witch so I hope it doesn’t rain too much.

Thump in the Night - Scratch in the Eye

Our last night in Ohio at Tim’s parent’s was eventful. It had rained while we were out for our last dinner with Tim’s family – no, that’s not the exciting part yet. What started as dinner for four, went to dinner for five and finally ended up being dinner for twelve. I got to finally meet just about all of Tim’s mom’s side of the family and see the new baby Carmen. And yes, Tim and I both held the baby and we were both afraid we were going to break her.

We get back to Tim’s parent’s after dinner the rain isn’t that bad but it got heavier as the night went on. With the rain came weather that was a bit cooler. With that windows were opened and the air conditioning off. It felt just like Hawaii – a little hot, but cooler at night and humid. So we all go to bed with the windows opened – aaahh, nice summer night.

I take my Tylenol PM and I’m out. The next thing you know I hear Sandy (Tim’s mom) yell about seeing something run out of the kitchen. I go back to sleep in my drug induced slumber. Tylenol PM knocks me out.

We later found out that the kitchen door was open and something (possibly a cat) had come into the kitchen and was eating the cat food when Sandy got up to take one of her cats, Leo, out. She had Leo in her arms to take him out and with all the commotion Leo jumped out of her arms scratching Sandy and ran after the “something”.

So Tim and went to Ohio to help out with his dad and we leave with his dad doing pretty good but tired, and his mom with an eye patch. Yup, she got an eye patch! Leo scratched her eye a bit and she got a good puncture and bruise by her eye. Sandy and Bob are going to be quite a pair; one recovering from a heart attack, and the other with an eye patch.

I don’t know if we helped with our trip but we leave Ohio and Sandy has an eye patch. You all better watch out when we come and visit you. Who knows what freak accident will strike while we’re there.

Next - we're off to Chicago!

Trip to O-H-AYO

We’re in Ohio now. Tim’s dad had a heart attack – he’s doing fine. We found out on Monday when Tim’s dad also found out he had had a heart attack on Sunday. Yes, his dad had a heart attack on Sunday and thought it was flu or something but good ol’ Sandy took him to the doctor’s Monday morning and lo and behold – he had had a heart attack. After four days in the hospital he’s back home thinking (possibly stressing) of what he’s going to do for the next three weeks not working.

The workaholism must be in the blood. Tim talks about how he wants to retire early but I think if he retires early, he’ll just be bugging me about new ideas for a company or concept that he wants to implement. I thought I was a workaholic until I met Tim. I am a totally slug compared to Tim.

So with everything going on with Tim’s dad, we thought this would be a good a time for a visit to O-H-AYO. This would be my second visit to Tim’s hometown of Alliance and I would get to see the city in the warmth of the summer rather than the cold of winter as I did for my first visit last Christmas. Thinking about it, I’ve actually only been to Alliance during times of extreme weather – winter and summer. I’m seeing Alliance at its best.

I’m surprised that it’s not as hot as I thought, although I have been sheltered from the raging heat by air conditioning. I've been going from air conditioning house to air conditioned car to air conditioned building. I've actually been a bit cold.

If Tim’s parent’s house didn’t have air conditioning this trip would be a lot shorter and this post a lot more interesting. More O-H-AYO observations to come.

Week in Review

Last week was a bit busy for us. What did we do you ask? Tim worked everyday even the weekend. As for me, I am the culture and social director of our household so I went to the de Young Museum with my friend Andrew. Thank you Andrew for the pictures again. The picture to the left I am in the standard Japanese tourist pose in front of the de Young Museum.

I was looking forward going to de Young. The building alone was something that I wanted to see. There are copper panels that envelope the building. When I first saw the building and the tower I thought it might be under construction with a protective covering/casing some buildings have when they’re rebuilding. But when I looked closer I saw the patterns and the copper and loved it. Just reminds me not to judge too early. The de Young Museum is a gorgeous building inside and out. The art – eh, but I loved being in that building. It’s like going to the Guggenheim, although the art there was great there, I was more excited to see and experience being in the building.

The café at de Young was also a fun experience. Food was not memorable at all, but the space is nice and airy with a beautiful garden view. There is also an amazing observation deck on the 9th floor. Great 360 degree view.

We also got to go to Giants game. My internship had a staff team building day! We all got to go to a game and significant others also were invited so Tim got to enjoy a night out instead of just working. It was a good night since Bonds was two away from the homerun record. He didn’t get any homeruns that night but it added some excitement to the evening.

After this week I’m just reminded out what a great city this is. I’m still in the honeymoon stage.