VB-Day Weekend 2014

I married a Valentine’s baby. Meaning that Wifey and I have two reasons to celebrate in the middle of February. We opted for a weekend getaway to Bodega Bay to ensure the occasion received it’s due.  Bodega Bay is a popular destination for city dwellers like us.  It’s only 1.5 hrs north of SF along the CA coast, promises awesome views of the Pacific, and plenty of quiet little things to do.

One of my favorite things was visiting the Potter Schoolhouse.  This was one of the film locations for “The Birds.” Here’s what it looked like in1963 and here’s what it looks like today.

On the East Coast, an ocean view means that you get spectacular sunrises (as long as you get out of bed before dawn).  On the West Coast, however, sunset is on the menu and we had front row seats to the show. I took some video of the sunset from our deck – don’t watch it for the sunset though…watch it for the last two seconds in the 30 second clip.  During the last two seconds of the video, Jake sees deer come into the yard and TAKES OFF.  While you won’t see the deer or Jake, you can hear Ali start to react. Fortunately, the recording ends before the dialogue hits R rated levels.

The deer outran Jake...this time.  We didn’t see the deer in our yard again.

California Bucket List

Ali and I have moved around quite a bit.  It's a good thing we're adept at the process because there's another move on the horizon!  I received and accepted an offer from a DC based company that will bring us back to the East Coast and, more importantly, closer to our families.  I'm wildly excited about the opportunity and can't wait for my first day (next Monday).

With that in our minds, Ali and I have started to assemble our California Bucket List.  We've managed to see and do a lot of things in the last 1.5 years and there are still many big things to be done.  Truth be told, some of our bucket-list items are outside of CA but it's tough to pass-up the advantage of proximity.  Do you recognize any of these places?

Only time will tell whether we're able to visit all of these places but why not try!?  In the meantime, it's time to start planning the route (hello, Route 40)!

To Jail (and Back)

One of the great things about playing host to family and friends is the opportunity to do the touristy things at which residents otherwise scoff.  Since Mom, Matthew, Hollie, and Mike were in town, Ali and I jumped at the chance to follow in Nick Cage’s footsteps by partaking in the night tour at Alcatraz.

Tickets are difficult to come by.  We, fortunately, secured our tickets several months ago.  My first impression of Alcatraz Island was: wow, this thing is much smaller than it looked in ‘The Rock.’  Measuring-in at a measly 12 acres makes Alcatraz about the size of 10 soccer fields.

The tour was a lot of fun.  The cells were truly tiny.  There was no room for claustrophobia within those walls.  Each one was mysterious and intriguing from a distance.  Standing inside of one evoked very different emotions though!  I posed for a picture from inside of “the hole” but got the heck out of there before anyone could make a prank out of it.

The cellblocks are the undisputed main attraction but the rest of the island shouldn’t be missed.  Even as a visitor, the kitchen and cafeteria didn’t feel safe.  It might have had something to do with the utensil outlines in the cupboards!  Back in the day, the prison guards made painted outlines of the kitchen utensils on the cupboards as a very quick way for taking inventory lest a prisoner smuggle a deadly weapon from the kitchen.

The infirmary was truly creepy.  We walked around the medical ward for a few minutes before promptly returning to the less medieval and rusty parts of the building.  The recreation yard wasn’t much to write home about but it was the site of, perhaps, the most accidentally artistic picture of me ever taken.  This is my best James Dean impression.

Anyone Can be Cool, But Awesome Takes Practice

Happy Birthday David!  Thank you for being awesome, and not just cool.

Love, Wifey and Puppy

This Can't Be Winter?

Across the northern hemisphere, ski boots, parkas, hats and gloves are coming out of closets and storage bags.  Having experienced a variety of winters and noticing that December is half way behind us, I'm taking a more critical look into the San Francisco winter.

I used one of my under graduate elective courses to study weather.  Yep...weather. Go Jackets!  Based on that experience, I do confidently declare the correlation and causation between latitude and seasonal
temperatures.  Money well spent, indeed!

Having spent no less than four seasons in various regions of the eastern seaboard, my interrogation of winter will begin using the popular financial forecasting method of...guessing (otherwise known as observing comparables).

San Francisco’s latitude places it somewhere north of the Richmond and south of the DC domiciles.

• Washington, DC 38°53′42.4″N
• San Francisco, CA 37°47′N
• Richmond, VA 37°32′27.5″N

For those playing along at home, San Francisco is roughly 400 miles further south than Bostonia.  As luck may have it, San Francisco experiences both warmer temperatures and smaller temperature variations.

Winter in DC is an interesting beast.  The daily highs are above freezing and the nightly lows below.  Throw some moisture in the mix and it all makes for an wintery icy mess.

It was the winter at RMC that taught me the true meaning of 100 miles.  In Ashland (10 miles north of
Richmond), snow is rare.  I recall one of the annual snowstorms…er, dustings.  I barely knew how to react when one of our friends confessed that it was their first experience of snow!  Of course,
classes were cancelled the following day.  It was then that I learned that the county didn’t own a single snow plow.  Huh?!

And then there’s San Francisco.  No snow, no ice, no sub-zero temps.  Not too bad, eh?  This is the first January since Jake joined us that I don’t need to put on snowboard pants to go on the night walk.  What a relief!

Conclusion: grab your clubs and catch me if you can.

Thanksgiving 2012 - California Style

Living in California requires more than a little bit of adjusting.  Take holidays for example; flight costs go through the roof and, before you know it, a February trip Eastward starts sounding like a pretty good idea.  Both Ali and I were sad that we didn't venture to Maryland for Turkey but we resolved to make the best of it!

No goofin' around either!  Professional grade all the way - turkey, green bean casserole, stuffing...the works.  We were poised to deliver on our vision too until...

T'was the day before Turkey and all through the house, not a creature was thawed not even the bird...

We're happy Safeway.com customers.  We love the convenience of home delivery (especially considering the topographical variability of the seven San Francisco hills).  Part of the Safeway.com terms and conditions provide the shopper/driver the flexibility to substitute unavailable items with similar product(s).  In most cases, this certainly isn't a big deal.  ...until the delivery is scheduled for the day before Turkey and the unavailable item IS THE TURKEY.  It officially became a big deal at 6p on Wednesday when the replacement item proved to be a 14 lbs frozen turkey.  Rut-ro!

Fortunately, Safeway also prepares rotisserie turk's on Thanksgiving!  I'm happy to report that Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch.

On Friday we drove up to Sonoma to further enjoy the holiday break.  One hour drive time to/from wine country makes for a convenient weekend escape.  ...it's a little bit lost on me though because I'm not a wine drinker.  Nonetheless we had a real nice Thanksgiving weekend.  Here we are at the Sunflower Caffe.

AND...

Once we arrived back in San Francisco, Ted (the 14-pounder) had thawed. I baked an extraordinary Sunday dinner and we'll be eating turkey for the foreseeable future.

Happy Turkey, everyone, happy turkey.  Let the Christmas holiday season begin!

Where the Deer and the Turkey Buzzards Roam

We're settling in!  We're out of the corporate housing and into a proper apartment. Ali's found a new job.  Jake decided on a new dog walker.  There are only 3 moving boxes left.  Go us!

This is the time of year when Ali and I typically make our final trip of the season over to Nantucket.  With fond island memories in our minds, our homesick hearts demand that we go explorin'!  First up?  Carmel.  The bags were packed on Thursday and we were out the door by 7p on Friday. We pulled into Carmel Valley Ranch around 9:30, scarfed some room service, made a fire, and headed for bed.

Whether a hike, (golf) swing doctor, eats, relaxing, beach, or a World Series game...Saturday was full for everyone.  Sunday too; more beach, shops, and lunch with a view.

Jake's favorite part of the weekend was the beach. A close second were the wild turkey buzzards which nearly caused the removal of wifey's arm.  Ali's favorite part of the weekend was lunch at Rocky Point followed by the balcony view and fresh coffee.

I really enjoyed the one-on-one time with Jake, time away with wifey, and the drive home along the California Coast. But most of all, I liked that we made a memory and experienced something new.  It might not sound like a lot but when everythig familiar is over 3000 miles away, every bit makes a difference.

Westward Bound

For the past couple of months, Wifey and I have ruminated about what might lie for us beyond Boston's zip codes.  Despite our love for this city, we've always known that a different place would usher us into the next stage of our lives.  After some intense competition, we've signed a letter of intent with San Francisco!

We'd like to thank the other contenders for their participation!  Washington DC, Baltimore, Dallas, and Chicago: I will always look back on your recruitment with fond memories.

Alas, we'll make our way to California during September (in time for grape harvest - I think?).  Hopefully, they'll have their debt situation worked-out by the time we arrive...