Good to Go

It took over a month but Jake received a clean bill of health!  Two weeks of a pharmaceutical haze and two weeks of on leash walks begets one elated Labrador (and a lot of energy).  All in all; we feel like we are rather fortunate.  Welcome back, Jake!

Patient “J” & Charlie Spleen

At some point in every Labrador’s life, they eat something that they truly should not have eaten.  As best as we can tell, Jacob ate a tennis ball during Friday’s playgroup.  This became evident to us on Friday night when 1/3^rd of ball reappeared on our rug.  The second third of the ball arrived at the party on Saturday morning.  Jake was still getting sick on Sunday and Monday morning so we zipped ourselves off to the vet for an x-ray.  Jake’s eaten some goofy stuff but Monday marked the first time that it ever necessitated a trip to the vet. 

The x-ray results showed two things: the last chunk of tennis ball and an irregularity on his spleen.  In the spirit of brevity…  We bid both the last section of tennis ball and “Charlie Spleen” adieu late Monday night and are in full recovery mode. 

Patient “J” is higher than a kite but he’s still rather adorable.  This is him putting his foot down.  I didn’t have the heart to tell him that “down” is the other way.  He’s got a boring two weeks in front of him but we’re expecting him to make a full recovery from the surgery.

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?

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You

My Granddad Allen liked telling the story about his Hollywood debut.  I don’t recall the movie or the year but he WAS in a movie nonetheless!  Whatever the film was, they needed cars from a certain time period and Granddad was happy to oblige.

Who knows?  Maybe Hollywood is in our genes.  We all thought that Big Sis was the actor in the family but directors, movie stars, and the like seem to gravitate towards me these days.

Just a couple of months ago, we saw a Cadillac commercial being filmed outside of our apartment.

A couple of weeks later, I saw this show up on YouTube.  “Yikes” is all that I have to say about this.  My section of the commercial is from 0:30 – 0:34.  Can you recognize the surrounding buildings?

Just recently Ali and I noticed the movie crew setting at the top of Nob Hill.  On the dog walk that night, we sat and watched as they filmed a short scene for the upcoming release of Need for Speed.  After noticing the film crew setup for a couple of days, here was the main event!

The next day I got a close-up of the set car.  Pretty cool, eh?

All Bee It

There are all sorts of opportunities waiting to be had by fellow Gilt City junkies.  Ali and I cruised over to the local Methodist church today to brush-up on our bee keeping skills.  Well, technically, we are rookies…but we were among some serious bee enthusiasts.  Unsurprisingly, most of them hailed from the Berkeley area.  We held our own, though, and interjected a sprinkling of questions regarding monetization, profitability, and global production.

We spent about an hour on the rooftop where the beehives are kept.  I learned that the drones travel up to 2 miles away from the hive to gather nectar.  More importantly, I learned how to survive a bee attack!  Hint: it does not involve jumping into a body of water.

As you can see, the bee suits were both functional and fashionable.  They resemble something between an Oompa Loompa and the Hamburglar.  Thankfully, the bees didn’t pay much attention to us.  

Califooled-ya

Locations often have a brand image that’s communicated to the outside world.  Until recently, my mental image of California was, “Sunny California”: year-round warm temperatures, blue skies, shining sun, and (yes) happy cows.  It turns out that a rather large portion of California, notably San Francisco, is a far cry from my hyped expectation. 

BUT the hype does exist! It’s called Southern California and it is spectacular.  Ali, Jake, and I spent the weekend in San Diego.  We arrived Saturday morning and promptly headed straight for the beach.  The white sand beaches went on for miles.  Jake had plenty of new friends to sniff and surf to keep him cool.  If it weren’t for our growling stomachs, we may never had left.

We stayed in a part of town known as the Gaslamp district, which has grown-up around the new Padres ballpark.  Our first hotel room had a nice view of home plate but we traded up for a view of the harbor and Navy ships docked at the San Diego Naval Base.  The hotel was on one end of Market Street and a long strip of restaurants, shops, and other goodies.  We were never board.  We had awesome bagel sandwiches for breakfast, fresh fish tacos for lunch, and small plates for dinner.

Living in a city can be a challenge for people with large dogs but in San Diego, Petco owns the baseball stadium and has a convenient park in the stadium that is open daily for visitors (and their pets).

We’re not 100% sure yet but San Diego might dethrone Napa/Sonoma as our #1 weekend getaway destination!

(Travel) Agent Ali

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Ali’s missed her calling.  She is, without a doubt, the best vacation planner I’ve ever known.  We had planned a quick daytrip to Napa to pick up the wine from this month’s wine club.  To my surprise, she handed me a sort of two-day Napa scavenger hunt.  There were nearly a dozen items and about 36 hours to get ‘er done but that’s not all!  The theme was, “A Weekend of Firsts.”

 We started with a California staple, In-N-Out Burger (Double Double and a Milk Shake).  Excellent burger, terrible fries, good milkshake.  We will go again. 

 Shortly thereafter we proceeded to a new Napa dog park (even the dog park has vines), checked-in at the new temporary domicile (Beazley House), visited three new tasting rooms (Grgich, Girard, and Corley Farms), and then had dinner at a new restaurant in downtown Napa.

 The “Weekend of Firsts” continued on Sunday with a trip to the Old Faithful Geyser of California, Buster’s BBQ, and reached a glorious crescendo with an afternoon viewing of Top Gun in 3D at the SF Imax Theatre (!!).  I didn’t get a picture of us in our 3D glasses but I did get this!