Category: Elsewhere

A DC Thanksgiving

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Thanksigivng this year was fail on my part…I made one of the three dishes promised (pumpkin bread).  Fortunately for me and the rest of my family, Thanksgiving was a home run for Joe, who basically cooked the whole feast by himself.  But food aside, we did get to spend some time with extended family which was wonderful, and two friends from grad school joined us for dinner, which was just the icing on the non-existent squash pie I was tagged to bake. 

Next year will be better, nowhere to go but up.

A trip to The Big House

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

To me, few things are more festive than football in the fall.  So imagine my excitement when an old coworker/friend from California, who is in business school at Michigan, invited us up for the Illinois game this past weekend.  No better way to embrace the season.

…except it didn’t feel like fall up north.  We got to Michigan Friday night and it was 27 degrees.  After 5 years in California, neither Paul or I are equipped to deal with any temperature below 50, so we swung by an REI on the way into town.  I was also planning on doing my 10 mile run the following morning before the noon game started (because it definitely wasn’t going to be happening after the game) and needed to get some basic gear for running in the cold.  It was in REI that, in addition to a hat and ear warmers, I was totally suckered into buying a beautiful, completely overpriced running jacket (because I own exactly one long-sleeved shirt that I wear for running…my justification for the purchase.)  I experienced feelings of extreme guilt for spending so much on a stupid jacket…until I stepped outside at 7:30 the next morning in 23 degree weather to start my run.  I am in love.  I love my jacket.  

But enough about clothing.   After pre-gaming at the Michigan Business School Party Bus, we (and 111,000 other people) headed into the stadium…the biggest stadium in the country.  (I guess Michigan had the biggest, then Penn State built a bigger one, then Michigan rebutted and updated theirs to be the biggest again.  Pouring millions into a sports arena even though you can already seat over 100,000 people just to be bigger than the next guy…how American can you get.)   We sat in the student section and enjoyed some chili cheese fries, irish hot chocolate, and a lot of touchdowns.   Some idiot showed up wearing an Ohio State hat, both he and the hat were thrown out of the stadium.  The game went into triple overtime, Michigan won 67-65 (the score was higher than the basketball score for the two teams last year.) 

It was fun to be in college again for a weekend..and it only took me 3 days to recover.  Our hosts were wonderful.  Go Blue.

…+ Denver

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

I was in Denver for a grand total of about 24 hours.  It was a worthwhile stopover, got to see some old friends from high school (who you might remember from a hike earlier this year, one of whom just moved from Santa Cruz out to Denver.)  We had a pre-30th birthday celebration, the first one of our group to turn 30, a scary time in anyone’s life.  I baked brownies to celebrate the occasion, and attempted to decorate it with some frosting I bought from the store, only to realize it was actually frosting dye.  So…yeah.  Fail.

Santa Barbara South

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Santa Barbara, Orange County, San Diego, back to Santa Barbara…over the course of 4 days.  It was a lot of quick hellos and goodbyes and some nice peppers from my parent’s garden.

Totally unrelated to the purpose of this trip, I am including the picture below (even though you can barely tell what is going on) because it was so impressive.

A homeless fellow riding his bike down State Street carrying his life on his handlebars, which included (but was not limited to): clothing, bedding, bags of cans, a boogie board, and an extra bike.  Just in case.  This guy is ready for anything.

This is the house that Jimmy built

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Gonna get me a whole big bunch of grapes off a bush, or whatever, an’ I’m gonna squash ’em on my face an’ let ’em run offen my chin.

~John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath

This is Uncle Jimmy:

This is the porch of the house that Jimmy built:

This is the wine from the vineyards you can see from the porch of the house that Jimmy built:

This is the pizza oven that Jimmy built for a friend well, just, because:

This is totally awesome, the life that Jimmy built.

Next stop: Santa Barbara

Note: Pictures for this post were all taken with my Droid, I was too lazy to deal with lighting settings on my phone, which is why they’re kind of crappy.

No Direction Home

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

As much as I am loving the commonwealth* of Kentucky and the people who live here, I think that coming back to California will always feel like coming home.

I returned from my round-the-state California (+ a piece of Denver) trip this past weekend.  Whirlwind.  But in a good way.

First stop: San Francisco

My first day in San Francisco I went “swimming” (one stroke normal arm, one pathetic lame-armed follow up…but I try) at my old stomping grounds and decided to walk up to Lower Haight to meet a friend for a drink.  On my walk up Market I passed this:

The line stretched around the corner of 5th.  I was late to my drink date because I stood there for about 15 minutes debating whether or not I should ditch the beer and instead try to befriend a person near the front of the line and try to get in (tickets weren’t sold out yet.)  But, a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush…the beer won out.

Next on the list was the hike up to the top of Telegraph Hill with my parents where, to no one’s surprise, my father bared his guns.

See the resemblance to the shirtless guy on the building?

The views from Telegraph, good Indian food by UCSF, the dive bars, the angsty hipsters, the beer at Toronado, Nopalito, the man in a pink polka dot dress walking through the Financial District with a big bow in his nasty hair carrying a huge teddy bear…Walter Cronkite said it best:

“Leaving San Francisco is like saying goodbye to an old sweetheart. You want to linger as long as possible. “

Next stop: Creston, CA

*thanks colleague

Germany 4, Argentina 0

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

I should have seen it coming.

The first words out of Paul’s mouth as soon as they panned to the Argentine sideline the morning of this game were, “Oh, it looks like Maradona got a haircut.”

We were in Chicago and made the stupid mistake of deciding to watch the second half of the game in the cafe on the first floor of our hotel instead of in our room.  So we take the elevator down, me with my blue and white striped cast blazing openly, and walk in to a big room…full of Germans.  Most with face paint.  I get booed all the way to my standing-room-only corner, where I spent the next 45 minutes listening to “JAH JAH JAH JAH JAH!!!!!” and German songs while Argentina completely lost it.  I exited the room at the end of the game to a chorus of “Auf wiedersehen!”s.

Worst. Game. Ever.

…and the things we couldn’t

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Things we couldn’t fit in included:

  • Barriloche: a town at the base of the Andes famous for its chocolates, skiing, and gnomes
  • A tango show
  • The Pampas: home of the Gauchos, rodeos…things like that
  • Tierra Santa: a biblical theme park complete with live musical numbers depicting important scenes from the Bible, the “biggest manger in the world” surrounded by over 100 life-sized talking figures, and a 60 foot Jesus Christ from whose crown you can see all of Buenos Aires.  Missing this was particularly disappointing.
  • And, of course, our entire trip to Peru, Machu Picchu, and the Sacred Valley

The things we could do…

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Evita museum:

I have a minor Eva Peron obsession, so this was an important stop.  It’s a small museum with some of her clothing (she is kind of Argentina’s Jackie O) and footage of her with her descamisados and giving speeches from the balcony of the Casa Rosada.  It even has a gift shop complete with Eva Peron rubix cubes.  Next stop…

Persicco’s:

Cold and rainy?  Only have one functioning arm?  I DON’T CARE!  This ice cream place was recommended by multiple people and it was FANTASTIC!  They even deliver styrofoam cartons of it via scooter.  Awesome.

Final stop…the game.