The Day Ali's Been Waiting For

San Francisco has it's pluses and minuses. Pluses, for example, include the year-round weather, it's the center of the Tech universe and boasts convenient proximity to destinations like Tahoe, Sonoma and Carmel.

It has it's downside too, though. The hipster population density, homeless situation and cost of living are all frightful. Aghh! The later means that apartments are modest in size by American standards. In total, our Nob Hill apartment had 1 bedroom and was less than 550 square feet. It was also the most expensive apartment we've ever rented. It meant that we needed to be a bit creative and always put things away.

Truthfully, we loved that apartment. Not as much as Back Bay but close. We both walked to and from our offices (uphill both ways - seriously). The Victorian architecture and Cable Cars reminded us daily that we were living a special adventure. We had convenient access to everything we could ever need. There was hardly a reason to own a car.

In Maryland, things are different. When Ali & I were looking at apartments, we were amazed at the amount of space (and cost) of what we needed. I never thought I'd say this but...wifey, go buy more stuff! We have more space than we know what to do with!!

So Long, San Fran

The time has come for Ali, Jake, and I to bid adieu to California. When we arrived here in ’12 we knew that we wouldn’t be here forever and agreed to think of it as a multi-year getaway. We did much of what California had to offer and are ready to head east.

Believe it or not, the movers came and finished their part today. It’s hard to be comfortable in our home after all of our belongings have left (including the bed). Ali got a beanbag that converts into a double-bed-sized mattress. …Jake promptly claimed it as his own.

We had a lot of fun while we were here but are not real sad about leaving San Francisco. We are, however, very sad to say goodbye to colleagues, friends, and the folks who welcome Jake into their stores and shower him with treats and love.

I’m especially sad to say goodbye to Jeray, my “Little.” We’ve been through highs and lows and I can’t help but feel like I’m letting him down by leaving. Ali’s equally sad to say goodbye to her team at work. The contrasts between private practice and in-house counsel are truly stark. She’s thankful for those relationships she made here.

So, here we are. Finishing up in our apartments and offices. Preparing to pick up our chariot from SFO. Smiling fondly in the rear view mirror. And looking forward to the days, people, and miles ahead of us.

Watch out east coast, here we come! I’m bringing the California weather so make some room!

Trans-San Francisco Run

I'm not a huge fan of running in the city.  Between the numerous sidewalk obstacles (er...pedestrians) and stop lights, much of the fun gets drained right out.  For those reasons my go-to run is a route down California Street, along the Embarcadero to the I-280 ramp, and back.  It's just over four miles and I like to run it 2 or 3 times per week.  It can be a crowded route but it has a relatively few number of traffic lights.  I do like a bit of variety though.  So, I decided to run across San Francisco!

The distance isn't bad (7 miles), but the hills are real downers.  Nob Hill is the steepest hill along the route but certainly not the highest.

I really enjoyed the run.  I started at the Ferry Building on the east side of the peninsula and finished at the Sutro Baths on the west side of the peninsula.  The Sutro Baths are nothing but ruins today, however, in 1896 they were a group of one fresh water and six salt water pools all enclosed by an awesome glass and steel structure.

Here's a nice little tip: if you're ever in the area, go enjoy breakfast and the view from Louis'.  I recommend the ham and Monterrey Jack omelet.

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)!

Oliver's Travels

I got a message from my buddy Owen a couple of weeks ago.  Owen's working on a geography project for school.  As part of their studies, the class read the Journey of Oliver K. Woodman.  What's really cool is that Owen built his own Oliver Woodman and sent him on assignment to San Francisco.  My mission is to show Oliver the sites and teach him a couple of things about American culture and diversity.

Oliver and I did A LOT of sight seeing over the weekend.  We did so much touring that we decided to make a quick chocolate-stop at Ghirardelli Square.

There are just a few more must-see places to show Oliver this weekend.  After that, I'll bid Oliver adieu and send him back home to Owen.

America's Cup

In case you're unaware, the pinnacle of competitive yachting season is upon us.  Oh, yes!  In fact, today was the 19th and final race of the America's Cup.  A matchup for the ages: Oracle (USA) vs Emirates (New Zealand).  It was only a few days ago that the Kiwi held a 8-1 lead over the Americans.  Since then, Team Oracle has battled back to tie the score and force one final, winner takes all, rubber match.

Being on sabbatical and all...I couldn't pass up the opportunity to attend.  I was expecting a raucous crowd and the San Franciscans were happy to oblige!  Actually, I kid.  Yes, there was a surprisingly huge number of spectators but wow...except for the families that had pulled their kids out of school to attend the event (really?), the crowds were very well behaved.

I had an excellent view of the start.  Here's the first 65 seconds of the race.  I don't know very much about yachting - go fast was never my area of expertise - but I was sure that Oracle has D.O.N.E. at the 23rd second of the video.

San Francisco Bay offers loads of photo opportunities from all angles.  The combination of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz ensured that each picture had something special in the background.  This was my favorite pic.

San Francisco is rather proud of it's bridges.  I showed up early enough that I could get-in a run from Crissy Field, across the Golden Gate Bridge and back.  It was really cool - the views were as great as could possibly be expected on a clear day.  Up next is the (new) east span of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge.

Dominic DiMaggio (...and Joe too)

I've been catching up on my reading list over the last couple weeks.  ...one of the many many MANY things that makes sabbatical so sabbaticooool.  OK, now that that's out of my system...

I just finished The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship.  It is, first and foremost, a story about the relationships between Ted Williams and other Red Sox greats Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, and Dom DiMaggio.

This book was one piece of a larger christmas gift from Ali's parents that contained various different Red Sox memorabilia.  If anyone's struggling to find me a gift, this is a good lead to follow!

I was pleasantly surprised as I read about the roots that some of these guys had in the old Pacific Coast League.  As it turns out, Dom grew up less than a mile away from our current home!  I couldn't wait to get home and run over to the place where Dom (OK - Joe too) grew up: 2047 Taylor Street.

If you look at the map, you'll see a playground that was named after Dom's brother (Yankee and debatably the best baseball player ever), Joe.  Despite an excellent career, often against all odds, Dom never really got the credit he deserved.

Here I am in front of the house.  The entrance on the right leads to 2047.  It's difficult for me to say how much the house has changed over the 90 years since they lived there.

Truthfully, it's a bit underwhelming.  I was expecting, at least, a placard.  In lieu of any identifying mark, I couldn't help but wonder if the addresses have changed over the years.  Perhaps I'm at the wrong house!?  ...wouldn't be the first time.

Red Sox in SF

The Red Sox rarely come through San Francisco.  Since they're coming through SF this year, Ali and I jumped at the opportunity to get tickets to the Monday night game.

The trick about AT&T Park is the effect the bay has on wind and temperatures as the sun sets.  We sat high (really high) in the third deck at AT&T and we thought we were going to be exposed to the worst of the temps and bay breeze.  Fortunately, all of the worry was for naught.  We were conveniently blocked from the elements by the safety wall and small overhang above the third tier.  Take that, wind!

We were pretty far away from the field but we loved our seats.  We had a great view of every play and every square inch of the field.  The ballpark is a nice walk from our Apt.  In fact, running along the Embarcadero and around the ballpark is one of my favorite runs.  If you have a good zoom camera, another cool thing about AT&T Park is that you can look into the A's stadium on the other side of the bay.

In the wake of the Boston Marathon tragedy, the Red Sox have been receiving tributes at away games. Ali and I used to live just a few blocks away from it all.  Even though it's been 10 months since we moved, the events were still frightening to us.  We thought the tribute was a very nice gesture.  They even played Sweet Caroline between the 7th and 8th innings!  (So) Good times for the many Red Sox fans that were in attendance.

Red Sox win: 7-0!

Mills in The Hills

The vineyard reservations were booked in May.  The commemorative water bottles were designed and fabricated even earlier.  Wifey and I (OK…mostly Wifey) have been planning this day for MONTHS.

When it finally arrived, we were more than ready to go.  So we picked up the Mom, Hollie, Matthew, and Mike at their San Francisco abode, headed north across the Golden Gate Bridge, and made a beeline for Napa.

Our first stop was a “mule ride” (er…tour) and tasting at The Terraces at Quarry Vineyards.  We did two tastings; balsamic first then wine.  We sampled the vinegars in a small stone building amongst the wines.  It was one of the day’s favorite memories.  Atlas was a late addition to the photo (lower-left of picture).

I don’t recall exactly but I believe we tasted 10-, 15-, and 20-year-old balsamic vinegar.  Each was infused with something different and they were fantastic.  The process of aging was truly fascinating too.  After the vinegar, we ducked into the air-conditioned tasting room and sampled a few wines.  If I’m not mistaken, the wines from The Terrace’s were everyone’s favorite…except Matthew who dislikes all wines.  Abigail, our host, promptly came to his rescue and delivered a growler of Russian River.

Our second stop was at Gott’s Roadside for lunch.  Just a quick stop though, we had a picnic table reserved at the Rutherford Hill winery where we could enjoy the scenery as we gorged on burgers and fries.

After lunch we were whisked off to Ali and my favorite winery by our most attractive chauffer.  Vine Cliff was the vineyard highlight of our first trip to Napa in 2010 and we were excited to show-off our little treasure to the fam.  By the time we arrived, temps were in excess of 105 degrees.  Blah.  Fortunately, the wine caves were a more comfortable 55.  Still, the day was getting long.  After the tasting at Wine Cliff, we rushed back to San Francisco and grabbed pizza and pastries from our favorite two North Beach restaurants Tony’s and Mara’s.

I hope everyone else enjoyed the day as much as Wifey and I did.  We were beyond happy to show you around SF and felt fortunate to get everyone in one place at the same time.  Many thanks to my wonderful wife for, once again, making the perfect plan.

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.

Rule 119: Beware of the Guy with a Saber

Have you ever wished to have been a fly on the wall at the exact moment that a (then obscure) idea was hatched?  Take for example, champagne sabering.  What was going on in the room during the first time that someone thought, “Sacré bleu!  I must open this champagne with my sword!”  Whatever was happening, I bet it was a good party…

Wifey and I decided to test my sabering skills at the local champagne lounge.  It’s not as easy as it looks!  OK, it is as easy as it looks.  Apparently I was not on my game today.

Despite hacking at the bottle for several minutes, the instructor assured me that simply having a larger sword would not make it any easier.  Well, I guess we’ll never know…now.  After I finally severed cork and neck from bottle (6^th time’s a charm), we emerged from the weird underground cave to enjoy our bounty.  Is it too early to start my Christmas list?

Click here for a quick lesson on the history of sabrage.

The Upside of San Francisco Hills

The weather has taken a turn for the better this week!  One of our favorite things to do on these beautiful days is to sneak up to our roof and enjoy the view.  Every breathtaking view must be accompanied with equally awe-inspiring...folding chair (oh yes we did).

The buildings around us provide a nice buffer from the noisy city streets while the hot roof keeps us comfortable as the wind whispers past.  Although private and comfortable, the roof is far from safe; we're sure to stay away from that back edge!  Can you identify Coit Tower, the Trans America building, and Alcatraz?

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!

Relocation Domination: The Bandwagon

Having just relocated to San Francisco, I find myself asking a familiar question: who do I root for now?  Fortunately, I've walked this path before. It isn't, however, a smooth road.

As a child, my allegiances were so clearly defined: 'Skins, O's, Cap's, Bullets, and Blast.  Life was so simple back then. There were no Nationals, Ravens, Warthogs, or MLS for that matter.  Oh, how I yearn for those olden days!  Since then, the trials and tribulations of life have...complicated things.  First the Ravens arrive in Baltimore and later NISL goes bankrupt (again), and later I relocate to Boston.  Still, my allegiance remains in tact.



...and then it happened.  Things changed.  Slowly at first and then faster.  Before I knew it, all of "my" teams were miserably bad.  They had betrayed me.  Meanwhile, the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics were all winning championships!  I had had enough!  First I dropped the Orioles in favor of the Red Sox. To this day, it's one of the best decisions I've ever made.  After I started rooting for the Sox, it
wasn't hard for me to dawn the Celtics green and Bruins yellow.

The only affiliation which I still waiver is the Patriots/Redskins. I don't know why?  The 'Skins are still bad and a turn around isn't in site.  I'm certain Dan Snyder will find a way to screw-up RG3's best
efforts.

Now I find myself in a new city with a 2-outta-3 baseball team and a promising football program.  An interesting factor in the battle for my allegiance is that SF doesn't have a pro basketball or hockey team.  By that account, the B's and C's are safe.  My recent subscription to MLB.tv and NFL Ticket serve to further (un)complicate the issue.

It is cool, however, to go to work and have a front row seat for the Giants Championship parade last week. Time will tell, my friends.  Time will tell.

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...

Do Not Disturb

I'm in San Francisco this week.  Like a lot of places, this is one of those cities which I frequent for all "the wrong" reasons.  By that I mean that, while I spend a lot of time here, it's all business and no pleasure.  Naturally, I'd like to come back to explore the city for a long weekend sometime.

When I'm in town, I always stay in the same Hyatt.  It's perfect 'cause it's (literally) right across the street from my office.

Somebody knew what they were talkin' about when they said there's two sides to every coin.  This week, the view from my window is great!  ...as long as you're not looking straight ahead.  If you're looking straight ahead, then you're just about eye-level with my manager's 5th floor window.

This is the best reason I've ever had to get in earlier (and leave later) than my boss.