Another fabulous weekend by the Bay

Hey, all.

Brandy and I had quite the nice Bay Area weekend. Since I'm a bit pressed for time, here's the really condensed version:

• Saturday morning, we drove up to Napa to have brunch with my former roommate, Shandelle, who was in town for a wedding. Always great to see the old roomie, especially since it's now been a couple years since she moved to that magical, far-off land of Texas. It was unseasonably cool in Wine Country, which meant the weather was perfect. Unfortunately, I had to work that night, so we didn't get to partake in any wine tasting this time.
  
  
• On Sunday, Brandy and I relaxed a bit at home, then went to catch the James Bond double feature at The Castro Theatre (a great, throw-back, single-screen movie theater). We saw The Spy Who Loved Me and From Russia With Love, which are two of my favorites, but the highlight had to be meeting Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in two Bond films. Perhaps "meeting" is the wrong word...
  
  
  
  
  
• On Monday, Brandy and I went shopping. The big Levi's store, the new mall, even EB games (they had some Nintendo DS games on sale). While most of the purchases were for the wife, I did manage (finally) to find a thicker black leather belt. And it was even from Ben Sherman.
  
  
• We followed up the very long day of shopping with some homemade guacamole and a super burrito al pastor from El Castillito. And a bottle of Mexican Coke. That's Coca-Cola. And yes, I know what some of you were thinking. Degenerates.          :)

 

41 Preguntas

Since I've been a bit remiss as far as my posting duties are concerned (and because of the first thing that popped into my head at question 29)...

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?
No

2. Do you have any weird sleeping habits?
Other than sticking my feet out from under the blanket?

3. When was the last time you've been swimming in a lake?
Middle school, Lake Mvima

4.Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?
I have trouble snoring when there's no one to bother.

5. Where is the Wizard of Oz?
Apparently, he's at his restaurant.

6. Do you consider yourself creative?
I used to. Now, I've realized that I'm a much better editor than originator. I like riffing on things.

7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?
The Juice is loose. Guilty, but loose.

8. Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears?
Five years ago, Britney. Right now and for the foreseeable future, Christina. She's got lovely... eyes.

9. Do you stay friends with your ex's?
Generally.

10. Do you know how to play poker?
Yes. And I like it.

11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?
No. I start to hallucinate after 39.

12. What's your favorite commercial?

And it will always be so. However, I do also like the Nissan commercial from about five Super Bowls ago with the dive-bombing birds, one voiced by John Ratzenberg. Which I just found on YouTube...


13. What type of food do you eat the most?
I'd like to say Korean, but it's probably Mexican (Carne asada Azteca burrito, anyone?)

14.When was the last time you had a lot of fun?
All the time, brother. All the time.

15. Have you ever had a Choco Taco?
Mmmmm... Choco Taco. I miss those.

16. The Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees?
Red Sox, and anybody playing the Yankees.

17. What color are your bedroom walls?
White.

18. How often do you forget your dreams?
All the time. It's something of a rarity for me to remember my dreams.

19. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
I honestly don't remember. It's been a while, though. Now I feel sad.

20. Can you name 5 songs by N'SYNC?
Does "Sexy Back" count? No? Then none.

21. What's the one thing on your mind right now?
Cleaning my apartment for a landlord walkthrough.

22. If you could swim in any ocean which one would it be?
Indian, somewhere off the ocast of Western Australia. Followed by a nice trip to the Margaret River wine country.

23. Do you put salt on a turkey dinner?
If it needs it. I agree with my friend, Gail. Gravy is better.

24. Do you always wear your seat belt?
Almost always.

25. What cell service do you use?
Sprint. For a long time now.

26. Do you like bananas?
Yes, but only if they're still pretty green. I like them a little tangy, not sweet.

27. Have you almost gotten in a car accident?
Yes, and I've been in a couple, too. Not my fault. Except the Black Ice Incident™ in high school. Which wasn't really my fault, either.

28. What do you wear to bed?
T-shirt and boxers.

29. Been caught stealing?
Once, when I was five. (Bwah ha ha ha ha...)

30. Do you know how to play pool?
Yes.

31. Can you play pool?
Let's just say I can visualize the geometry but not always put it into practice.

32. Do you truly love anyone?
Of course.

33. Bluegrass or rap?
Bluegrass, with some notable exceptions.

34. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?
Christina Aguilera. No, Scarlett Johannson. No, Alessandra Ambrosio. Eh, whatever, dealer's choice.

35. Skim, 1%, 2%, or whole?
Given my druthers, whole. What's in my fridge? 2% (and I had to fight for that).

36. What food do you find disgusting?
Even as a foodie, I'm still cultivating a taste for some cuts of offal. And the rotting shark bits in Iceland (Hákarl) sound pretty gross, too.

37. Windows or Macintosh?
Can't we all just get along?

38. Did you ever play, "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours"?
Sure. Want to play?

39. If you could pet any animal w/out getting hurt, which would it be?
Electric eel. Or a porcupine.

40. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew?
Yes.

41. Have you ever sung in front of the mirror?
No. Only while driving or polishing glassware at work. What a random last question.

Date Night at the Symphony™

Did I ever mention that I'm a geek?

Well, of course I did.

On Saturday night, Brandy and I proved it once again by having date night at the symphony.

The evening began with a very nice dinner at Indigo, a cute little restaurant residing on a street in the Civic Center / Western Addition that you would never think could support such a place. Obviously, Indigo banks on its proximity to the Symphony, Opera and Ballet, as evidenced by its capacity crowd at 6 pm on Saturday night as well as its 1,000-point Open Table offers during the typically high-traffic 8 pm slots (after the Symphony has begun).

We brought with us a bottle of the 2004 Aubert "Lauren" Chardonnay, and it certainly lived up to both the hype and the price tag. This wine was a veritable baby, still coiled and tight, but with such a commanding concentration and presence that it was undeniably enjoyable. Rich, creamy, slightly tropical, with overtones of lemon curd and undercurrents of wet stone, all tied together by a firm acidity that kept the wine from falling into the overripe, over-oaked company of the world's Rombauers.

If you can get your hands on a bottle (and that's no small feat), I would highly recommend picking one up and sitting on it for five years. [Note: I typed this before I even looked up the link to the review. Nice to see that Robert and I agree on something.] :)

After our lovely dinner and wonderful wine experience, we walked to Davies in time for the pre-show talk. Most shows are preceded by an informative lecture, dubbed the Inside Music Talk, and this one was given by Associate Conductor James Gaffigan. We were immediately struck by how young he is (appears) and by the fact that he was an entertaining lecturer. He actually reminded me a bit of Doyle from this season of Gilmore Girls (very enthusiastic about his interests without being too overbearing or melodramatic).

At the conclusion of Gaffigan's lecture, we hiked up to our real seats, the primary reason we were so excited for this concert in the first place. You see, Davies Symphony Hall has terraces around the stage, typically used by the Symphony Chorus. But on nights without any vocal accompaniment, those seats are open to the public. Want to see?

Not only did we sit behind the symphony, we sat behind the symphony as it played a piece with, perhaps, one of the most sweeping, powerful opening volleys in all of classical music, Also sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss). Believe me, if you don't recognize it by name, you'll recognize it once you hear it.

I've never seen the tympani player hit those drums any harder than I did Saturday night, and I do believe he might have pulled a muscle in the process. :)

Also, Also sprach Zarathustra calls for the use of the organ, which at Davies is a towering mass of pipes behind the stage. Awesome, especially sitting at their base.

While AsZ closed the program, the first two pieces were equally good. The SF Symphony seems to really enjoy playing Aaron Copland's music (Michael Tilson Thomas did study under him at one point after all), and their performance of Copland's Short Symphony (1933) was excellent. Meanwhile, MTT's love of Gustav Mahler took center stage for the performance of Five Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, which also was recorded for a CD.

For those of you who don't know, MTT and the SF Symphony have been recording all of Mahler's works. Last year, they won two Grammy Awards for a recording of Symphony No. 7. Brandy and I have now been present at three Mahler recordings, and odds are that if the SFS is playing Mahler, they'll be recording it.

So what can we take away from Date Night at the Symphony™?

• Indigo: Good
• Aubert Chardonnay: Excellent
• James Gaffigan: Interesting and funny
• San Francisco Symphony: Really Good
• Mahler Recordings: Good
• Also sprach Zarathustra: Awesome
• Also sprach Zarathustra from the terrace seats: Fucking Awesome

Gack. More nightmares.

Boing Boing does it again.

This time, they've pointed out a chicken-eating spider.

You read that right, a CHICKEN-EATING SPIDER.

He says it's about ten (10!) inches across.

Here's a link to the original Nature® site.

You should just be thankful I didn't lead with the picture.

Fires, Boing Boing, and Rising from the Ashes

I had most of this entry written on Monday, but after having my browser crash on me (once again) and taking the post with it, I have now decided I will write all future entries in Word or Notepad and just hand-code the damn HTML. It might be bit more tedious, but it’s much better than having to rewrite entire posts. I suppose that’s what I get for having to have twelve browser windows open simultaneously.

Anyway, on Saturday night, Brandy and I went to sleep around midnight (Why? Because we’re old and married, that’s why.). Around 12:30 a.m. and half-asleep, we started hearing sirens. When we were still hearing them at 1 a.m., we decided to take a little walk to see what was going on. Well, it turns out that a building a half-block from us caught fire. And how. I couldn’t find anything about it on the local news sites; trés cool that you can find better photo coverage on flickr than you can through traditional media outlets.

The next morning, hoping to see some television coverage of the fire, we flipped on the TV and were greeted instead by stories of this fire:

And you thought I didn’t go the East Bay much before.

Sometimes, the quantity of cool and valuable information on Boing Boing boggles my mind. From the whole AACS revolt to the anti-DRM (digital rights management) movement to the RIAA boycott, Cory Doctorow and crew present the news that you didn’t know you needed. And also some cool stuff, like the book, Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder. I will definitely be picking up this title.

And on to the last order of business for today. Until this morning, I had been unaware that they had already released this trailer. If you shared my ignorance, you may now consider yourself cured.