You Are Victorious
This weekend was filled with little gems and lots of dillying and dallying around San Francisco.
Saturday we hit the Ashbury and Haights area (birthplace of hippies), twin peaks (great view of the city), and ocean beach. I did not know SF had a real beach! That was cool.
Sunday entailed brunch on Fillmore (trendy "Whyte Ave" style), watching a really neat Kendo demonstration, as well as some traditional Japanese Buddhist dancing and drumming.
I volunteered to try the bamboo sword out on the instructor, and although my kiyaa (voicing of your spirit, aka blood curdling screams) was pretty lame at first I did get one good hit in. I have an interest to sign up for lessons - they looked so bad-ass.
Other choice moments:While walking towards Polk (major 'happenin' street) from my place:
B: "There should be text on both sides of the street sign."D: "Yes, but the road is only one way."B: "Well how are pedestrians supposed to know which street they're on?"D: "I know which street I'm on."B: "I didn't until I already passed the sign, looked backwards and saw the other side of it."D: "Yes, well we shouldn't have to pander to the lowest common denominator."B: "Oh... well I guess that makes me number 1 then!"D: "Ha!"
While walking in the Japanese mall in Japan Town, we stumbled on an cool posted advertisement:
B: "Hey, Kendo lessons! Why don't you take a number from that ad?"
D: "Oh! It's on the other side of the glass!"
B: "Grab it from the other side. C'mon get it!"
D: "Oh, here... it got ripped... it only has ww.kendosite.com, it's missing a w."
B: "Well how are we going to know the web address now? We're going to have to memorize that."
D: "How about you remember one u, I'll remember the other u."
Update: Sirdar asked about the earthquake. I wasn't in town at the time but my friends who were did feel it. All the shaking woke them up.Labels: San Francisco
Farewell Baby
As part of my move, I have to say a
sad goodbye to my baby.
I'm selling my 1990 Toyota Cressida - 190 hp! L@@K! All for the low price of < $2k. Canadian!
It just doesn't make sense to transport my car all the way down to California. Plus, I think they have much more stringent air pollution standards that my car may not meet.
So will I buy a new car? No. I plan on using public transportation, company provided transportation, and renting on those weekends where I go on a road-trip.
Fresh Start with a View
I picked up my keys today, and am now in possession of a nice 1 bedroom plus den in the lower edge of San Franciso's prestigious Pacific Heights neighbourhood. It is also conveniently located close to Japan town (for all my grocery and karaoke needs) and Lafayette Park.
Here are some quick shots I grabbed with my cell phone - it looks like a promising place.
I wonder how long it will take for my goods to come all the way from Toronto, including the complimentary little customs stopover?
Water skiing on the 4th of July
This morning was the start of a holiday, the fourth of July, but instead of sleeping in I started it by waking up pretty early.
I drove down to my coworker's house and after all of his friends showed up, we headed out. First we grabbed some snacks, sandwich supplies, beer and wine at the local organic grocer and then we started or journey to Bethel harbour.
The drive was fun, I occupied myself by listening to the conversation between the two girls sitting in the back of the open coupe. They were talking about why they don't want to get married and settled down... girl stuff. After about an hour and fifteen minutes, we arrived at the harbour and headed down to the dock with our goodies.
We loaded the boat up and started out into the deltas. Soon we were wake boarding (like snowboarding), skiing, and tubing. I got up on my third attempt, and had a good time crossing over the wake and not falling down. My coworker was amazing - like a real professional - doing tricks and jumps.
At the midpoint of our day we docked in the middle of nowhere and broke out the sourdough baguettes, fat tire beer, and white wine. We ate and drank, and indulged in a little bit of horseplay as well. It was a lot of fun swimming around in the fresh water, the temperature was just perfect, and the water wasn't overloaded with watercraft.
On the way back we stopped by the Mexican equivalent of a greasy spoon and satiated our hunger. Then we enjoyed watching the 4th of July fireworks on our way back into the bay area. All in all, it was a great way to spend the day!
-- brief aside:
Unfortunately one of the girls was injured when she fell from water skiing. I checked her out with my bronze-cross skills, and I couldn't feel any broken bones, but she thought she may have torn some ligaments. In any case she was in quite a bit of pain, but selfishly we didn't take her directly to the hospital. She didn't convey that she was in as serious pain as I think she may have been experiencing, and that led the rest of the group to think she was okay. In any case she survived until we got back and then she drove herself to the hospital.
Labels: California
San Francisco Walking
Yesterday I drove down to San Francisco south pacific heights area to take a look at an apartment. A co-worker's friend was looking for a roommate and I had not had a chance to look at any places yet so it seemed like coming down to the city was a great idea.
Of course, before heading out I used
Google maps to find my route, but I also used
"Street View" (link to youtube video) mode to actually
look at the front of the building. Now that feature is amazing!
If you have not tried "Street View" out yet, I think you'll be very impressed. Check it out!
After taking a look at the apartment, which was really nice, I took a gander at the surrounding area. There was a jazz festival going on down Fillmore street, which I briefly enjoyed before taking a stroll down Post through the heart of Japan town. After picking some Pocky (a Japanese snack) up, I walked down Laguna all the way to Market.
Up Market through the heart of downtown to Grant, up Grant through the heart of Chinatown to North Beach's Little Italy where I had brunch with a friend. Then I walked all the way to Harbour Front for some Afghani dessert with Dalban and his missus before sauntering over to his place. We had a little Wii party, drank some beer, sake, and ate some delicious chocolate chip banana bread.
Finally I walked back to my vehicle (on the other side of the very steep hill known as Pacific Heights) and headed home.
Detailed path available on maps through
this link. You could follow along in a virtual tour of my walk using "Street View"... if I haven't plugged that enough yet.
My feet aren't sore yet, but I have a feeling my legs may be tomorrow.
Labels: California, San Francisco
This weekend was filled with little gems and lots of dillying and dallying around San Francisco.
