Day 3 of San Francisco Trip ...

Date: June 22, 2007

Alcohol Consumption: 1 glass of organic wine

Money Quote: "My boss found a smoking gun."

Got up early to go run again. I ran on Valencia instead this morning. As I ran toward Embargodarus on Market, the city was full of noise unlike Mission area. I had a brisk run and felt good.

After just moping for awhile, my sister and I was bound for Napa Valley. She does not have a car, but utilizes a company called City Car for her occasional vehicle needs. She pays monthly due plus hourly and mileage. I think that is great! I mean there are no parking, gas is expensive, no waste on insurance, etc.

We got in her reserved City Car, a blue Prius, and headed out of the city. I hated stop and go traffic in the city, but it was a much smoother ride once we got on a freeway. On our way to Napa, we ran into a NASCAR traffic. I had no idea NASCAR came to the wine country. Hmm! Last minute change, we decided to stop at Sonoma instead. My sister does this quite a bit.

We parked Prius on what looked like the main road. We walked into what looked like a nice cafe for late breakfast. While we ate, my sis had to converse with her boss. It seems he found a smoking gun from thick documents sent from an opposing counsel. It was a great weather for eating al fresco although it would felt hot if we were not under a partly shaded area.

After eating, we walked around and explored what seemed like a town center. We went to a little out of way farmer's market. My sister paid up through the nose on a sweet onion. I bought some kettle corn. Mmm, kettle corn! We kept cruising the commercial area, which included galleries, restaurants, wine stores, etc.

It was getting a little hot. I guess I got very spoiled as it cannot be as nearly hot as Phoenix. Anyhow, I kind of coerced my sis to go back home as I did not feel like staying in Sonoma. Especially, neither of us wanting to sample any wine I failed to see any point in staying very long.

On our way back to SF, we got off one exit to find George Lucas' ranch. Last minute deal with my sister again. We failed to find it, but managed to almost run over a dog, which appeared out of nowhere.

We also stopped to admire Golden Gate. I downplayed the awesomeness of the bridge, but it is always nice to check it out. We sat on a bench a little way out and up and talked a little and enjoyed the scenery.

I coaxed my sister into cooking dinner tonight. I said something about how she always asks me if we want to go out or eat in like I really had a choice. I guess she did not mind cooking once. I am mentioning this, because we want to TJ for grocery. My sis wanted to pick up some grocery for tonight and other necessities since Prius was not due for a couple of hours. The TJ we went to was busier than any other TJ I've ever been. There was a line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot like the pictures I've seen of oil shortage days from 70's. We just parked on a nearby street. What is $0.75 compared to waiting? We got our stuff, and drove home. Unloaded and I carried up the grocery while my sis went to return Prius.

My sis made her "famous bruschetta" along with salad and pasta. Everything was good. I won't even wimp out with being in a new environment or being hungry as the reasons for things tasting good. I was happy.

I decided to go to Dolores park to take city scape pictures. I was hoping to take detailed pictures and put them together. My sister met up with me later. Did I forget to mention there was a huge transsexual rally? It seemed to be a pre-rally of sort for Pride Parade on Sunday. I will just say I saw things I don't normally see.

We hung out to looked around for short time and headed back home. We stopped at Bi Rite ice cream parlor for home-made ice cream. This is two nights in a row. It is a good thing I am running every morning. I felt a sleep as we started watching a movie. Good night!

My dog made me do it ...

Here is a picture of my dog, Cenya, with the new iPhone. I just could not hold off on purchasing this awesome new gadget after everyone's glowing reviews. Even Cenya is howling over it.

So far the phone works like advertised. I have not tried using Edge for internet, which everyone says is very poor. We will see. I need to call few people and inform them I now have a cellphone. I just wish people would stop saying, "welcome to 21st century."

Nemo, the Submarine ...

I was running this morning when I saw this submarine like vehicle parked in Biltmore hotel. I saw this two mornings ago. I thought it would be gone already, but it was still here. I guess it is here to promote the new ride, Nemo the submarine, in Disneyland.

After running, I drove to Biltmore and took a few photos. Check it out! I also saw the ugliest duck. I think it was wearing a toupee!

Do I get the most hyped phone ever?

I am so very tempted to buy iPhone. I mean there are so many reasons not to buy one. Including it is so very expensive, slow internet access via cell network, so on and so on. Here are some desperate reasons from Sprint.

I don't really have any good reasons to buy one except I need a cellphone, love Apple stuff, although I do get buyer's remorse once in awhile, and could use a newer iPod.

I am so on the fence. I would like to wait for the second generation iPhone, if I have the patience. Hmm. I will let you know on Saturday if I go through with the purchase.

Day 2 of San Francisco Trip ...

Date: June 21, 2007

Alcohol Consumption: 2 beers (yeah!)

Money Quote: "Thursday night is the new Friday night!" by Garrick

First thing is first. I ran about a half hour from Guerrero to Market on 18th street and back including a lap around Dolores Park. My sister seemed to have her mind set on biking. We walked to Ritual to grab some coffee. I had a scone to go with my beverage. After that, we separated. I came back to my sister's house and she went to a friend's to get a bike.

I worked on my sister's ancient Mac. Make it work as fast as it can. I just did some maintenance on it while listening to some podcasts. I learned Yelp is a great resource for picking a restaurant.

When my sis came back, she lamented that I did not study physics like I said I would. Oh, well. C'est la vie. I am on vacation. Might as well do as I like. We decided to get some lunch, but did not agree on what to get. I got a lamb shewerma from Ali Baba's and she got two fish tacos from Taqueria el Buen Sabor. I think. We laid out in Dolores park and chowed down. I was not crazy about my shewerma, but my sis's taco was pretty good!

After spending some down time, we rode bikes to Asian Art Museum, where Tezuka's Anime and Manga were being featured. Need I say more than Astro Boy! I grew up watching that. It was great to learn about Tezuka and Japanese Anime and Manga. I spent a little bit of change in the gift shop.

When we came back home, my gluteus hurted. I guess I don't like to bike. I spoke with Garrick, a good high school friend, on the phone. He was coming into town to see ole me. My sis and I waited until he came in town to go to dinner. In the meantime, we watched Hidden Blade, an awesome Japanese Samurai movie.

When Garrick made it to SF, I went down to greet him as my sister's place on third floor. Garrick had a hard time pulling into the garage as the entrance was very narrow. It was a little harrowing to say the least.

After brief tour of my sister's place, we went to Little Star Pizza. It was one of those constantly busy places. We managed to grab a table just prior to closing. Lucky us, we did not go hungry. We ordered ahead a deep dish pizza that we devoured.

We had an after dinner walk to an after dinner drink joint, Little Baobab. It was not too busy or loud, so we could have a drink and catch up. Garrick is finally done with his psychiatric residency at Stanford. I accepted Garrick's invite to spend Saturday attending his graduation.

We walked back to my sis's place. Garrick drove out of the garage no problem. I fell asleep when I made it upstairs.