It's beginning to look a lot like...

It's Christmas Eve and feels a bit like Summer. Matt and I had to do some last minute shopping today and between dodging cars and frantic people we were shedding layers - now, down to a t-shirt and capris, I'm finally comfortable. The one problem is I seem to be the whitest person in all of San Diego. Everyone else is sporting December tans with sunglasses lines (some tinier than others from the "sunglasses" the tanning salons provide).

Ah Christmas, the season of board shorts and tube tops. I can't wait to see Santa in his spanking new cutoffs coming down the chimney!

Headin' Down South

I don't know how it happened, but the holidays are not only upon us, they're almost over! After a whirlwind week wrap up at work (returning from Vegas and dealing with the emails that encroached upon my inbox) Matt and I packed up last night to get out of dodge. Miraculously, we woke this morning at 5am rearing to go - OK, that sounds nicer than it was. We woke at 5am, couldn't get back to sleep, and since I knew I could sleep in the car we hit the road (Matt is too nice sometimes).

Driving down we hit the precursory traffic in LA - if there weren't traffic, it wouldn't be LA. After a nice healthy lunch stop at In 'n Out, we were in the homestretch. I was so bummed stopping - somehow I got my hopes up I'd see a barefoot Britney, but no. Oh well, maybe on the way home.

Crossing into the SD boarder, I realized we weren't in Northern California anymore. All of a sudden cars and trucks seemed to be bigger, clothing smaller, drivers more aggressive (yes, more!), and bumper stickers redder.

The funniest part about making it in to town, as I was cursing the double wide wrangler that cut us off, was Matt said, "You know, even as a kid I had Nor Cal tendencies" eluding to the fact that he was "nice" on the road. Mm hmm.

Vegas Baby!

It's always a bit comical to me that corporations decide to hold their sales conferences' in Vegas - which begs the question, is it the time of year when you want sales folks to learn the most, pay the most attention, and walk away truly knowing the products and road map, or is it the time when you want folks to bond, party, and walk away feeling more tied into the company. I think the latter. Regardless, it's Vegas - the city of 24/7 isms and possibilities.

We arrived to Vegas Sunday afternoon after a not-too-terrible delay. Molly and I checked in and made our way to the Venetian for lunch. To get to one hotel you need to walk through the smokey lobbies and casinos of 5 others or you can opt to walk the strip where you'll be solicited for everything from lap dances to heli rides over the Grand Canyon. We chose the strip. The trip played out from there toggling between fantastic restaurants, night clubs, bars, and of course conference rooms. Funny, it was easier to keep my eyes open at night.

The isms:

• One night we went dancing with Product Management and Marketing. On the dance floor was an eclectic mix of 60somethings grooving (in ways no-one should), boys loitering, and girls prowling.



• Daily I saw at least 4 weddings.



• The food is good, not great, but it all seems to be cloaked in butter or extra oil - maybe more fuel to keep people gambling longer?

Ah Vegas - in another 5 years I just might be ready to go back.

Just another SF Friday

How does time work? if at one moment you’re walking down the street and you’re in the best mood, and someone says hello and they’re not that good looking and have a weird affect, you say “ey” and keep walking as quickly as possible, how would you have acted in another moment? Say a moment of depression? Or boredom? Or drunkenness? Or sympathy?

Linz, Steve, John, Matt and I went to the Groove for dinner tonight and it was excellent. After (too much) sushi, we went to a wine bar for a toast and a conversation, mostly around ‘what would you do if you weren’t doing….’

After wine, the crew were headed out to meet another group of fun #somthings. Being too tired. I decided to head home.

Almost home I happened upon a short, khaki and blue sweater clad man (balding in the back, but that goes without saying). I decided to stay back a few feet – avoid conversation at all costs, you know. When I sped too much. “Hi, how are you?” He said. “fine, how’s every ting for you?” I blurted. “Well, I’m in San Francisco…what do you think?...? Great!” My heart skipped. The city is happy again. The city makes people happy.

'Tis the season to be busy

Belly dancing, concert, dinner, rock climbing and shopping - oh my! The temperature has dropped about 20 degrees, and activities picked up an equal amount - roughly x20.

This weekend kicked off with an SNP dinner with Lynnette and Jess - somewhere in the middle of the Richmond (I thought we were in another city it felt so far away). The restaurant was amazing - decorated perfectly with pillows, gold and blue paint, and hanging cloth panels. During dinner the resident belly dancer got us up (ok, me) and grooving.

Friday we enjoyed a concert night - Iron and Wine. Linz, Steve, Matt and I met at Bart, had a quick Stop 'n Go deli dinner (with mini bottles of wine - classy) and boarded Bart to Oakland. At the concert I learned two things - Iron and Wine is amazing, and Oakland has a tighter density of hairy men than I've seen anywhere since Eastern Europe (99% of the men there had beards, staches, or goatees).

Saturday was a day of rest - shopping rest. Ashley and I made our way to Marin on the hunt for the perfect glasses. Instead, I got a dress and Christmas presents. Post shopping we explored the backroads of Sausalito to find the perfect sushi place (having lunch at 2:30 the "perfect sushi place" was the only place that was opened).

Saturday night brought dinner with Rob and Emily - they were doing Christmas presents before dinner by the ice skating ring at Embarcadero so it kicked off the dinner with holiday cheer.

Finally, the weekend came to a close with a fitness day Sunday - gym then rock climbing with Rob and Emily.

I need a nap from all this!

Niceism

It's been a perfect San Francisco weekend - extended. The length isn't why it's been perfect, but it sure is nice! Last night Matt, Steve, Linz and I went out in North Beach, then over to Union Square, and finally wound up in China Town. A mini city tour if you will. Today mom and I made our way up to Healdsburg - the long way (through Napa, Gernseville, and Yountsville - basically everywhere with a funny name).

While there are a million isms and stories buried in the activities mentioned above, this is about nice gestures. After leaving Marin and aggressively driving back to SF (I live in the city, it's my nature, I can't help it) I was winding around looking for parking. First I passed the lineup on Lombard so wound the other way to cut the line. At the top of the hill was a smoking car with a burned out clutch - oofa. As I made my way down Lombard I struck gold - parking! And it was easy to pull into the 45degree angle spot - it seemed although there was a long line to get to the windy part of the hill, the line wasn't moving. After I parked I noticed another car was smoking - but this one was stuck halfway up the hill (unlucky day for a handful of tourists). A few cars back people were honking and looking quite perturbed. A moment later, a car pulled up onto the sidewalk and all the occupants hopped out - a group of 4 young men - they ran up to the stalled car and without too much hub-uh started pushing until they got the car to the top of the hill.

Above and beyond.

Great to see there are such good hearted people.

Thankful for family

It's Thanksgiving so in the spirit we celebrated with too much food and great family time. The morning started with Linz and I freezing our bums off while waiting for the Turkey Trot - a 5k race over in Polo Field. After the race Matt and I went on an adventure - a public transit adventure.

We decided to ... gasp ... take public transportation to Aunt Jean's for the feast.

The bus:
We started off on the bus from Chestnut and Van Ness to City Hall. Sitting in the front of a bus was a very articulate lunatic talking to everyone in the bus. He actually had a very clear and dignified voice, but only about half the sentences made sense. To ever minority who walked on the bus a hateful slur flew out. An Indian man sat in front of him and the bus talker asked, "Where in India are you from?" The man looked excited to talk about home and said, "The South." To this, the bus talker replied, "Why did your people kill Ghandi? Bad idea. You know, in the days of Nietzche..." and then went off into random tangent number 53.

5min into the bus ride, a man carrying a full garbage bag boarded. He walked on in the middle of the bus talker's rant and started mumbling "Crazy man. You're a crazy man. Be quiet your mouth crazy man." Bus talker stopped for a minute and then looked down the bus to where garbage bag carrier was standing. "Sh, wait your turn. You're crazy, not me. I'm talking." Garbage bag carrier mumbled, "bah." Finally, bus talker stopped - "OK, you're turn to talk," he said to garbage bag carrier. "Bah," was the reply.

Muni:
After the bus we made our way down to muni. We had to shimmy a bit to get to the stairs because two men were fighting over a flask at the top of the stairs. How nice. Muni wasn't terrible - just a bit smelly - then again, I think that was the brussel sprouts I made for Thanksgiving.

Bart:
The worst of the three. When we arrived at the Bart station I got in the wrong line - I got in line behind all the people who couldn't seem to figure out the ticket machine (which ultimately made us miss our train - no worries, the trains come every 20min).

Finally, ticket in hand, we made our way down to the train stop to wait. Matt went to sit and a man about our age looked at him and said - "oof, wait! Don't sit. You sat. Sorry dude I didn't think you were going to sit there." We looked down and Matt had sat straddling a used hypodermic needle. Terrible.

When the train finally arrived we sat in a 4-seat spot to have more space. Matt put the sprouts down and when he placed them on the floor both of us eyed an empty flask under his seat. What is it with public transportation and flasks?

After the train picked up, I learned I had sat in the wrong seat. A dirty man sat across from a dirty woman right behind us - the woman was inches from the back of my head. Throughout the train ride the two introduced each other to one another twice. Then, they started talking about friends who had passed. Then the man started talking about how he was "in the business." The woman seemed to whisper all her replies in the conversation in a childish voice - flirting? A few times throughout the ride the man said, "Girl, you're weird. I want to get to know you. You're strange."

Oofa.

Early Christmas?

In typical fashion, San Francisco is moving in fast forward ... the city is already decorated for Christmas. Union Square hosts the giant Christmas tree (it's now been up a week), skaters can cut the ice across from the Ferry Building, and all the meter posts are adorned with red and green ribbon greeting meter feeders. Yep, we're blazing trails alright - pretty soon the 4th of July decorations will be going on.

Look at me, look at me!

We all know San Francisco is filled with characters - there are the richies, the not so richies (and probably will never hit that stratosphere due to SF prices), the loonies, and everything in between.

Driving home from work Friday I made it to the T-loin (after 2-hours on the road ... ugh). The stretch between the freeway and Taylor is always an obstacle course - people jump in front of the cars, deals 'go down' on the sidewalk, and folks set up shop on all corners.

One T-loiner caught my eye above all the rest - he had an orange cone on his head and was rocking out on the corner. He may not have known what exactly he was doing - his eyes didn't seem to be registering much - but somewhere deep down I think he was screaming "look at me, look at me!"

The last time I saw this same kind of behavior was at a frat party in college. The good 'ol days.

Summer in November

San Francisco always seems to have the best weather in October and November, and this year is no exception. After the gloom last week brought (literally with the weather and figuratively with the new visitors to our front doorstep), this weekend was a welcome sun kissed one.

The roundup:
Saturday was nails and then walking and drinks with Lisa. We enjoyed our jaunt on Union and then made our way up to Sushi Groove. Every dinner at the Groove is excellent - great food, fun atmosphere, and free stuff (somehow we've befriended the head chef and he always surprises us with something amazing). This Saturday I experienced live uni - and it was quite an experience. One I don't need again - been there done that.

Sunday (today) was kayaking with Rob and Emily in Sausalito. It's been a while so it was great getting out on the water with them. The ride was calm at first, but (in standard fashion) the tides picked up just as we were heading back. After exhausting our arms, we went to a local "hole in the wall(ish)" Mexican dive. The atmosphere was great, and food looked amazing, but it felt like a used car salesman's restaurant where at every turn the waitress was trying to up-sell us. "Guac?" "Yes please." "Hot beans or just the normal ones?" "Hot please." "Chips?" "Yes, of course, please." Bill ... bam! Our extras cost more than the meal.

And now it's winding down. Boo.

I'm ready to move

I never thought I'd write that. This morning I woke up though and nearly stepped in something that makes me want to go running for the burbs. The "something" was a homeless woman doing her business on my front door step!

You may think that's enough detail, but no, I'm going to go there.

When I got to the bottom of the steps, I saw a pile of rags out front. At first I didn't think anything - it's the day after Halloween so maybe at the end of the night someone changed their costume to that of a streaker. Nope, wrong, it was a bum pile.

Opening the door I was horrified to see a woman shishi'ing right on the steps! Nast!! I quickly tried to run out and get away while closing the door behind me, but my computer bag got stuck so as the woman finished up I had to un-twine myself from my house.

It's so sad that now I sit in a heated office musing on this morning's occurrence and writing about it like a thing rather than a person in this comical manner. But what can you do? I don't want to go into the politics of it all. Thinking about where she came from and how she got there is an ongoing brain battle.

I just want that image out of my head.

Shake it up baby!

Yep, it's officially Fall in San Francisco. And the quakes begin...

Magnitude
5.6 - regional moment magnitude (Mw)
Time
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 8:04:54 PM (PDT)Wednesday, October 31, 2007 at 3:04:54 (UTC)
Distance from
Alum Rock, CA - 8 km (5 miles) NNE (31 degrees)Milpitas, CA - 11 km (7 miles) E (91 degrees)San Jose City Hall, CA - 15 km (9 miles) NE (45 degrees)Sunol-Midtown, CA - 17 km (10 miles) NE (45 degrees)
Coordinates
37 deg. 25.9 min. N (37.432N), 121 deg. 46.5 min. W (121.776W)
Depth
9.2 km (5.7 miles)
Location Quality
Excellent
Location Quality Parameters
Nst=250, Nph=250, Dmin=3 km, Rmss=0.07 sec, Erho=0.1 km, Erzz=0.3 km, Gp=32.4 degrees
Event ID#
nc40204628
Additional Information
map with fault names

Roundup

This weekend was nothing special but at the same time simply spectacular. It was packed and lazy. It was....OK, I'm sick of the see-saw writing approach. Here's what it was:

• Thursday/Friday: I tried and failed to relax. I'm terrible at it. I need to get a hobby - I'm thinking of: going back to teaching, writing (a book, not a blog), knitting, or the more adventurous - rock climbing, kayaking, scuba diving, golf (these four I've tried - I just need to get up the patience to stick with one)


• Friday party: Friday night we went to Prez a Vie (a posh place in Presidio) for my birthday. Lisa, Zack, Linz, and Ashley showed up to toast in my don'twanttowriteitbecauseimfeelingold. We dined on way too much while listening to the pretentiousness sitting next to us - a table of smashed pediatricians (I now think less of them) comparing salaries, patients, and victories (what illnesses they helped overcome). Throughout the dinner we couldn't quite tell if they were swingers, cheaters, or just perves. Whatever/whomever they were, they were loud!


• Saturday dad day: Yesterday Matt and I met dad at the Grove for brunch. The Grove is a meeting spot for beautiful young families in San Francisco - everyone with a baby, a golden retriever, or a mac (or some combination). After eating too much (again) Matt and I made our way to the driving range (I'm working on that hobby) where I tried and failed miserably to hit the ball to the proper flag. I can hit it far - there's just no telling where it'll go, though.


• Saturday new things: Saturday evening Linz and I went to the very posh Bar Otis on Maiden Lane. Feeling quite Sex and The City, we sipped Manhattans while we chatted up architect divas and divos alike.


• Sunday roundup: This morning mom met me in the city and we walked over to the Ferry Building for birthday brunch (I must admit, this has been a glutenous birthday celebration weekend). We enjoyed Slanted Door - more than the food, though, we enjoyed the other diners. A girl in green (literally, all green - tights, top, shoes, hair, and shadow) dined with her very Republican looking parents. A table of Mid-Westerners gawked at the others (again with the Jack Johnson people watching) in the restaurant. I think I enjoyed the people more than the food, but it was a great morning regardless.

OK, time to veg before the rest of the weekend fades away.

Characters

Jack Johnson just about summed up our afternoon: "I'm just people watching other people watching me..." or some similar musical genius. This afternoon Matt and I made it down to Le Petit Robert for snacks and pink bubbly.

Sitting outside we saw it all walk by - the city truly does offer entertainment 24/7 in many forms. The characters:

• Taxi man: across the street from us a man was trying to catch a taxi for a good 30-minutes. It hurt my heart to watch - the cabs kept passing him by (those with and without the light on) and with every cab that passed you could see this poor man looking more and more deflated. Finally one came up, light on, and slowed right in front of him - the man looked so excited (all 5'5" of him, jeans and blazer clad) and started walking towards the slowing cab grinning. The cab drove on. I thought he was going to cry - I nearly did!
• Kissy kissy woman: a man sat next to us half way through our people watching with a tiny adorable dog. Everyone stopped to say hello to the dog - children, women, and even men (although I have a feeling the men were saying hi to the dog owner just as much as the dog). Then came kissy kissy - an older woman with lips and shadow that made the 80s seem muted. "Hello you fine beautiful thing," she said not even looking at the man, "I love you. Yes, I do! I do!" Then she proceeded kissing the dog. I nearly lost my cheese and olives. The horror.
• Gym rats: Le Petit is next to my gym to half the folks walking by were spandex clad gymsters ready to work off whatever they did earlier this weekend. A couple came through in the pack - the man in shorts and a tee that he likely won from a race somewhere, and the girl in shorts with a matching tee and sweatshirt and shoes - maybe she was sponsored. Both seemed to be trying to one-up the other with talk of how they were going to work "haaaaaaaaaarder" today. OK. Good luck to them.
• The rager: just as we were wrapping up, sirens came blaring down the street. An ambulance came speeding up and somehow got stuck in a traffic jam of people with strollers, two cars, and an angry man who was the eye of the traffic storm. Finally the ambulance made it through, and the angry man stayed in the middle of the street howling. At first I felt sorry for the poor man (I think I jump to the sorry feeling first) and then I realized he was just an angry meany yelling at all the cars and people who got in his way. I hope he drinks some chamomile today.

I love people watching. Can't wait to do it tomorrow!

It's my party and I'll...

Today was my birthday (yay me!) and it was spectacular. I decided to take today and tomorrow off work to live the non-IM-computer-office life for a couple days and had a wonderful time vegging in San Francisco. Matt worked from home today which was even better - while I had books and TV Guide laid out, he had blueprints laid out - I felt so spoilt with my architecture husband doing architecture stuff while I ate chocolate and watched daytime TV (literally).

This evening I went to the gym and almost cried as I input my age in the elliptical (to properly track the calorie burn). When I got home the kitchen was a flurry of activity with Matt making homemade enchiladas, margaritas, and guacamole.

Now, stuffed and older we're enjoying LANDO. Perfection. No real isms today - just the ohmygoodnessi'mgettingoldereeeeeeeeeeekism.

Fluff 'n fold obstacle course

This evening on my way home, I picked up our laundry and dry cleaning. Within minutes, I lucked out and found parking at the top of Lombard - woohoo! After parking, I realized "omg, I have two baskets of laundry and two week's worth of dry cleaning... great..."

Ambling down Lombard I had a car of tourists take a picture of me, two men ask if they could help (one of whom I think wanted to run off with my clothes), and a near laundry loss incident.

Oh the pains of clean clothes in the city.

The fast lane

The world now seems to work in the fast lane. People try to finish school quicker - graduating college at 20 or 21 is the new coo. Once graduated, folks strive to be the top - now. I partake in the world-on-5-cups-of-coffee paradigm. Driving fast (but not in front of my office - I don't want another speeding ticket), cooking fast, eating fast.

Matt and I were turning our brains off tonight (Law and Order - simply the best), and it seemed like every commercial was the latest and greatest way to do something faster. On a commercial Mattel was hyping the new speedy games - Monopoly with no need to count money (it's all automated now) - great, teach kids to use credit cards early and forget math.

Well, I've spent too much time online - gtg quickly and hurry to relax before the weekend ends.

They go too fast

Weekends that is. This weekend wasn't anything spectacular - fondue with Scott and Jody on Friday, the Mission (yes the Mission) for a party on Saturday, supporting the local economy Sunday - a good handful of not much.

It is my favorite time of year though - the rains are starting so the city smells a bit like dirt. Not the icky dirty smell - but the clean dirt kind. The kind of smell where you know two days more of rain and the city will be swept clean. I love this season. It toggles between way-too-chilly and warm. So a handful of nothing is just fine - in fact, it's perfect.

Ism # 832

This afternoon when I went to the gym, the cleaner was mopping the carpet ... uhhhhhh...

The D-word

Today the father of one of Matt's good friends died. We're young, he was young. It wasn't supposed to happen yet. When a grandparent or wizened family friend passes, it hurts, but it's also half OK - they got to live, contribute, experience, and even hurt. They got to feel and go through 80-90+ years of whatever.

He was gardening and stepped on a rake which hit his hip and triggered something. An accident. A freak accident. Escalated into a tragedy. It wasn't supposed to happen. Not yet. He was "the funniest man" and "best father."

Hurts the heart.

I hate the D-word. Too many emotions attached - all different, all from different people, none have names (the emotions, not the people).

Loving life comes easy. It's recognizing that we love life that sometimes is tough.

Time to live. Love. Laugh.

Oh when the sun sinks down

October and November in San Francisco are notoriously great weather months. In the past Linz, Zach, and I have adventured to the water (even in it! - not polar club style, we didn't don wetsuits and swim laps). This past weekend was one of these perfect October weekends with excellent weather, non-stop activities, friends, family, and isms.

Now, not so much. The sun has plummeted to grace some other town or city (probably Novato - they always get sunshine) and now we're back to San Francisco mist. Still beautiful though. Still San Francisco.

Tonight I somehow managed to get Matt to run with me - it's a once a year treat and I was thrilled. We made our way down to the water, around Fisherman's warf, past the Marina (singles) Safeway, up Chestnut, and then home. Running around the Marina is always a bit funny because people take on dog characteristics - checking each other out as they pass (who has the latest Lululemon spandex).

Arriving home gasping for air Matt said "You...owe...me...Aux Delice..." Twisted my arm. Aux Delice was packed tonight - actually, everywhere on Polk was. Always bumping.

Bluegrass taking over the park

Yesterday the annual Bluegrass festival took over GG park. The crowd was a mix of hippies, yippies, and everything in between. Some of my favorite characters:

• Overalls no-shirt man: who proudly walked the park thrusting his gut at anyone who got in his way
• Dancing queen: a blatantly blazed woman giving "peanut butter" cookies to anyone who passed then made them dance in wild cirlces with her
• Tree man: who climbed to the top of a tall tree only to fall 13 feet
• Truck man: who was with a party on top of a moving van, jumped, and lunged his foot through the roof of a porta potty (how I would hate to be in that porta)
• Smell this man: who decided Lisa and I had to smell his weed to get the full effect of the concert, then asked us to smoke, then looked completely dejected when we said no
• Fighting hippies: two long haired 70somethings who started brawling

Nothing like a day in the park.

Road rage

Usually I don't mind the commute from San Francisco to Palo Alto (and back again). It's a nice 2-hours in the day when I can turn my brain off and veg - while paying attention to the traffic of course. Fridays are particularly bad - everyone wants to get home, and they want it "NOW!"

Yesterday it seemed like all the cities finest were out in the T-Loin - people were running into the streets, dancing in place on the sidewalks, and blitzing out everywhere. My personal favorite are the people who seem to love teasing traffic by edging into the road and then back out. Cars always drive worse around these teasers, too.

I have a bad habit of giving the "San Francisco wave" to poor drivers - this wave being my tallest finger pointed at the sky with the others down, usually accompanied by words I shouldn't utter. In the T-Loin, you cannot give this friendly gesture - don't want someone to spit on the car, or worse yet, sit on the car.

Happy to be car free and enjoying the weekend.

Off to Strictly Bluegrass!

Back in action

It's been too long, but yesterday we set to the Bay for a bout of kayaking with my dad. Every time we do any physical activity with dad I'm shamed at how fit he is and how much I have to work on.

We met up at 11am, and lucked out by getting sit inside kayaks (normally we get the sit on tops which are great but slower). Dad knew another kayaker setting off, so we all went towards Tibburon. Making our way across we were greeted by sea lions and jelly fish - a new addition to the paddle.

After kayaking we enjoyed an Indian food lunch on one of the back roads of Sausolito. Inside a woman sat alone drinking chai. The woman was an ism in and of herself - she was wearing a pink silk tunic, tons of blush and blue eyeshadow, and looking down her nose at everyone who walked in. Ah hippies.

After a quick nap, Lisa came over and we geared up for Israel Vibration - a rad raggae crew who is in town.

We met up with Steve, Linz, and the Indiana gang around 9:30 for pre-show drinks at another one of the posh Divisidero bars. The whole bar was black - Lisa made a great point that everyone looked great in the black. And then it was show time.

A great show, a great day, a great group of people that I got to spend my weekend with.

Nopa

Every few months the SNP girls and I meet up to catch up on work and life. Last night we met up at Nopa, a not-so-new "it" restaurant in Hayes.

The patrons at Nopa are all quite hip (to put it mildly). Knee high lace up boots seemed to be in abundance with sweater dresses and belts that didn't quite match on the girls. The boys for the most part donned converse or other retro sneakers, zip up sweatshirts, and tattered jeans.

By the time we were seated I was famished, so I was thrilled when the waitress came over bearing a plate - things were looking up as this seemed to be one of those restaurants where you get a pre-appetizer snack gratis of the kitchen. When the plate was set down, I thought it was a joke - 4 radishes, 4 pats of butter, and a dish of sea salt...uhhh... great, dirt and fat for a snack.

After thoroughly filling ourselves at Nopa we made our way down the street to dive(ish) bar. The Muppets was displayed on the back wall, in front of the video was a DJ rocking out to music I've never heard before, and scattered over the antique chairs everywhere were more coolsters - San Francisco's finest 30somethings.

Jess was laughing the whole night as I still love my "bubble" - my Russian Hill. But Nopa and Hayes were quite fun.

Flying flops

Yes, I know, I write about flights a lot and its not that interesting. This flight is like an uncomfortable film, though. My taxi to the airport had no air so by the time I arrived I was drenched - it's hot here!

Arriving at the airport I realized I had 20min til the flight so I ran. Lots of good that did...

After boarding and happily settling in to my emergency exit aisle, aka best seat in the house, I heard a raucous. The blond and purple (aka PB) haired girl two rows up was yelling at her boyfriend. Something about him taking too long to eat and her not having time to shop blah blah blah. As the plane filled up, she kept on. This time because the woman behind her "kicked" her chair (uh, the woman put her backpack down, but whatever). The woman moved and the girl continued - this time at the flight attendant.

Just as we were about to pull away, we were sent back to the gate because a handful of passengers were coming late.

Then, the older man across the aisle from me pulled out his barf bag (“oh no,” I thought) and started hocking loogies like there was no tomorrow. Nast.

Finally, the late passengers arrived but there we still sat. This time there was a light that wouldn't turn off on the door.

As we were sitting an older woman reseated herself behind purple-blondey. Big mistake - the yelling started again. Oofa! That girl must have the hardest life - I've never heard someone complain so much.

Molly, you'd be proud, the babies didn't bother me one bit. The wailing of PB out-roared their cries.

Warhol life

I feel like I'm living in an Andy Warhol painting. New York feels like a vibrant hotbox of color and sound. Tonight we went to Rockefeller Plaza for wine tasting and dinner. It was a 5-hour dinner by the end of which I was famished because every course was doll sized. Maybe they used an easy bake oven for the fine squab and salmon tartar.

Back in the hotel, the bedroom, besides being tiny, has two lamps perched by the side of the bed both with giant eyeballs painted on them. Creepy.

Boarding the elevator (I say boarding because it takes off like a jet) music is constantly blaring - it wafts between jazz, rock, rap, and soul.

In my Andy Warhol life, though, I feel like the tomato soup painting in instillation art wing of the MOMA. Different, but not quarky enough to be rad.

I must say, though, I heart NY!

My hotel is too cool for me

I just arrived in NY and am lodged at the posh Hudson hotel. The hotel looks like a Sex in the City set with a neon yellow entry and oh-so-modern furniture throughout.

Checking in the boy at the reception desk was eager to tell me about the fab mod architecture that leverages the feeling of dorm rooms crossed with ship hulls for the rooms. My room feels like a dorm room minus a ship hull - tiny. I couldn't sit on the floor if I tried. The bed is low to the ground but a square mirror takes up nearly the entire small wall while a small desk with large silver chair sits perched in the corner looking perfect for an uncomfortable hours' work.

While I love fashion and try to stay "on top of the game" I'm feeling thoroughly out of the loop. I donned my black trousers, Theory white T, and green lululemon wrap, but I stick out like a bumpkin. Everyone is in black ... all black. Black ballet flats, pencil pants, Ts or blouses, and black framed glasses are 'IT.' Oh the horror of being so bold to wear green. (Sigh) I guess I'll just have to go shopping. Life is hard.

Luckily, the great outdoors surrounding the hotel are perfect. Well, the perfection comes in the outdoor roof bar/snack area with wireless. Who can complain if the office suddenly has a view of the entire NYC skyline and the officemates are equally as posh and rad as those at home? I also enjoyed a quick city jaunt to the market after I realized I forgot a toothbrush. There's always something. Hmm...maybe next time I should forget shoes and go on a mandatory shopping outings...nah. I'd prefer a SF abode.

I could get used to this ...

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

It's Tuesday, so you know what that means ... taco night. After going to Nick's Crispy Tacos for 3 years, they've finally capitalized on our favorite weekly ritual deeming this the official "taco Tuesday." They now have $2 specials on tacos, quesidillas, chips, and beer - the dinner of champions. The problem? It's now packed! Even more so than normal.

On top of the menu changes, Nick's now has a live DJ installed in the corner all night blasting Madonna mixed with Flaming Lips and 80s beats. Odd. Oh, and the worst change? No more pinatas! What is becoming of this town?

Change - bleh - I like the old way.

Home

I think my jet lag was a bit delayed - yesterday I "napped" for 5-hours and woke still groggy. After this marathon sleeping, I met up with Lynnette at Solstice on Divis and California for a catch-up drink. Arriving first I scoped the bar for where we could sit with the best people watching view and decided to take over a corner of the bar. A few minutes later Lynnette arrived and we got straight to work talking about careers, travels, life, and her dating stories (I love those stories). It was funny because seated next to us at the bar was an apparent bachelor who did the cursory glance at women's left hands as soon as they entered.

Today was girl day - I met Linzy for a manicure/pedicure/lunch which was perfect (for lack of a better word). After thoroughly pampering ourselves Linz had to get back to studying (she has her architecture exams coming up) so I decided to lap the city soaking in everything I missed.

I started my walk up Polk and then turned on Broadway. The jaunt took me up through Pac Heights, then down and around Laurel Heights, over to Presidio Heights and through the golf course, down around the new Lucas buildings, and over to the water. It was a perfect walking day as the sun was out but was San Francisco sun (ala, not too hot). The entire city seemed to smell like Fall - jasmine and cut grass.

Emerging from Presidio I walked around the Palace of Fine Arts where the was a wedding on the field. People were splayed all over the lawn around the domed buildings sunbathing and watching the geese. Then I made my way around Chrissy Fields, down by the Rolex regatta and along the water. There was a Family Kite event in the lawn so it seemed like kid zone in the city. Toddlers in strollers were straining to see the colorful animal and diamond shapes flying through the air - seriously, I was impressed by some of the stretching poses these kids managed as they cooed at the kites.

Finally, I made my way up past Ft. Mason and home. Lombard is packed as always, and we can still see the regatta out the window. Polk St. is filled with hooting football fans enjoying whatever college game is on.

Happy.

Home again home again

I've made it back to San Francisco and am still trying to shake off the jet lag. 16 hour time difference really gets you!

Last night after work Matt and I met up with Ryan at Velcro near the financial district. Velcro is a great bar with weird instillation art, slow service, cheap wine, and perfect cheese plates. Walking in I was shocked when we found Rye - it was like looking in the mirror. Same wavelength I think - short hair. It's funny because in college we had the same cut and I'm sure the same color at one point (that's a constant change).

Time to enjoy more San Francisco adventures. I'm thrilled because I can finally speak normal English again (somehow I've gotten into the practice of speaking in broken English and acting out what I'm trying to say - less than glamorous).

Work it girl!

On my last day in Korea I headed back to Dosan Park to walk around and enjoy a leisurely lunch people watching. When the cab let me out I started walking around the park and was boiling in no time so quickly headed to my favorite AC'd cafe.

Just in front of the cafe were a gaggle of girls wearing the oddest outfits I'd seen since Japan (neon yellow tights with striped tanks and high heeled purple shoes). Then I noticed the photographers. I was sitting right in front of a fashion shoot for shoe advertisements. Seriously, can it get any better? My goodness I sound petty...but it was fun.

How 'bout them apples

After work I walked around the city a bit so when I got home from work I was starving. My Korean fondue was perfect and tons of food...but all my walking around (ok, fine, I admit it, shopping) I was toast tired. I didn't want to eat in the hotel because for one meal in the restaurant here my entire days food stipend would be used up. Also, being my last night before home (ah, home) I wanted to get out. So, I called the front desk and asked for a great seafood restaurant for which they recommended Todai.

After getting lost more times than I can count to find this "best seafood in town," I arrived to wait in line, get a number, and wait my turn for a table. While waiting my turn patiently, number in hand, I picked up a Korean magazine - had to look busy, and heck, while I couldn't read it I can certainly always enjoy good fashion pics. While flipping through the magazine (which I later learned was a men's magazine about suits - oops) I saw a man approaching out of the corner of my eye. Although I like socializing, sometimes I just don't feel like talking to anyone, and this was one of those nights. The man sat down in front of me.

Stranger: "Hello," he said - I could already tell he was struggling for English words because even this seemed strained.
Me: "Hi," I replied and then quickly looked back down at the men's magazine I couldn't read. Stranger: "Where is your party?" The stranger inquired,"
Me: "I am not with a party." Crud, I was too honest before I could think.
Stranger: "No party! But you are alone."
Me: "Kind of."
Stranger: "Oh, you are doing here?"
Me: "Getting dinner."
Stranger: "No. Here, I mean, you here. What you doing? What are you doing in Korea?"
Me: "Ah, I am working."
Stranger: "I work."
Me: "Nice."
Stranger: "I am a doctor. If you are sick I take care of you."
Me: "Oh."
Stranger: "But you look soooooo heaty." (Dear gracious I hope he meant healthy.) "So you don't need any taking care of."
Me: "No, I don't" I quickly looked back down at the magazine.
Stranger: "What you do?"
Me: "Marketing."
Stranger: "I need marketing for my work. Yes, marketing I need a lot of."
Me: "Oh."
Stranger: "Phone number please so I can call you."
Me: "No. My phone doesn't work in Korea." I was actually telling the truth - thank goodness - otherwise my face would've flushed and ears turned red.
Stranger: "Email address please."
Me: "Uh...fine." Heck, if I get an email it's perfect blog fodder.
Stranger: "Thank you! You, you is great. Wonderful."

As he was walking out I saw his party with him - again I looked down. "This my girlfriend," the stranger introduced on his way out the door. Great, I love being the butt of a bet...maybe, or just that American sitting alone.

Finally I was seated. As soon as I sat down the waitress looked at me like I was nuts. I had no clue what to do so did the dumb smile everyone does when they don't know what to do. "All eat," she said. "All you eat..." I looked up and noticed it was a buffet. Somehow I had landed myself in the Sizzler of Korea. Standing up to see what the goods were I discovered I was in heaven - all you can eat sushi, lobster, oysters, crab, and everything else that's perfect. Another yum (!) for the day. So there I sat, in the all-you-can-eat hot spot of Korea with being watched the entire time (who doesn't watch the lone eater at a restaurant - especially when they're alone in an all you can eat place with the words 'Family style dining' on the napkins.)

The dinner ended with 2 pairs of flip-flops - when I paid I was handed 2 pair. Heck, beats a doggy bag!

Korean fondu

There’s one word that sums up this blog entry – YUM! This afternoon Raymond and (Korean-name-I-can’t-remember) and I went to a restaurant just up the road that specializes in Suja Suja (or something like that). We sat down and were immediately handed Korean-only menus, no pictures. Raymond ordered for all of us which was quite a relief. Within minutes pots were placed in front of us and water started to boil. Then came a plate of vegetables, then a plate of raw beef. After the water came to a boil we set to work grabbing veggies and meat with the chopsticks and letting it cook.

Delicious! Matt, I hope you can learn to cook this.

Korea

Today was a day of work ... and work. Although I didn't explore, or enjoy any wild taxi rides, I decided I love Korean. It's full of oddities (isms) just like any city or town, but they're comfortable. The people seem to go at their own pace and it works. When they talk about their homes or neighborhoods, people seem to have a sense of pride.

After work CS and I went for a traditional Korean dinner - rice with a bunch of stuff on top and 6 bowls filled with a bunch of stuff to put on the stuff on the rice. Delicious!

No major stories, but it truly is great here. In simple terms ... it's rad.

OY!

I'll go into the cultural details later, but for now just the cliffs notes - 'cause I'm in a cliffs notesy kind of mood.

Since I am only in Korea 4 days and after today all I'll see is the office and the hotel, I decided to explore a bit. I went walking this afternoon around the hotel guided by a map the front desk gave me (most of which was in Korean for street names and location names). In search of the Buddha temple in the middle of the city, I got lost and made my way up to a University. Ambling through the buildings I came across a field where 3 baseball games were going on - it was funny, the people on the bench were smoking while the others were up at bat.

Finally I wound down the hill I had somehow hiked and made my way to the temple. When I went to pick up an English version of the brochure about the temple, the guard said, "You're from America?! What are you doing here?..."

After I was thoroughly cultured, I taxied over to an area called Dosan Park that the concierge had recommended. Dosan is a very ritzy square filled with coffee shops, wine bars, and boutiques. It was perfect. The taxi dropped me in front of Hermes' "flagship store" which I quickly walked by - no use even looking in the window. I enjoyed lunch at a coffee shop filled with hoity toities and was thrilled for the opportunity to people watch. After launch I walked around a bit more but the cold I've been fighting off started sneaking back into my head so I decided it was hotel time.

I was quickly able to hail a cab which was a relief - with a sore head, muscles, and body I didn't feel like roasting in the sun. I told the driver "Park Hyatt" and he took off nodding. All of a sudden we were entering a freeway I had never seen and he was frantically making phone calls. Uh... He stopped on the freeway on-ramp yelling into the phone "Hyatt (bunch of words I didn't understand) airport." "No!" I gasped - dear goodness the airport is about 40miles from here. More phone calls and more yelling and we were still stopped on the freeway. Finally I said, "enough" and opened the door. Then he really started yelling. "This is ridiculous," I said. "(bunch of words I can't understand but I'm pretty sure he was cussing at me)" he said. Finally he motioned to get back in and handed me the phone. "Hello," said a thickly accented voice, "Hello, Park Hyatt?" "Yes," I replied. "Where is Park Hyatt?" Said the voice. Um...not so sure this was the best taxi to have caught.

About 45-stressful minutes later we were rolling again - more phone calls and then cackling. After we got up to 50mph the driver was in fits of laughter. F(insert bad word that I won't write here). As the speed was picking up I started pointing to the meter saying "No way. Don't think it. Uh uh." He reset it. I guess he got some English. Then the phone rang again, "Hello," a new thick accent said - this time a woman, "Hello, you are going to hotel. He know now. You go." 'Let's hope,' I thought. 10min later we were at the hotel. Thank goodness!

What a ride.

I guess this wasn't so much cliffs notes after all.

Definitely different

Today my work journey continued and took me to Seoul, Korea. It's a bit interesting being here after our leader's recent fopaux but we won't go into that. The flight was a short 2.5 hours which I spent trying to tell the woman next to me I don't speak Korean. She was eagerly reading a map of Asian and kept pointing at different cities and then pointing at me ... I have no clue why. When the lunch came, I took one look and had to pass. I'm adventurous with food, but when "food" comes in the form of plastic looking pink and yellow things I'll skip that adventure.

After landing and making it through customs I quickly found a cab. As soon as I got in my feeling of safety suddenly hit rock bottom - the driver had a TV installed right next to the steering wheel so he could watch soap operas as he drove. Hm.

Once arriving at the hotel I was thrilled to be out of the cab - I was also starving. Next to the lobby desk is a "snack" area where they serve small meals and snacks - perfect! I made my way up there and ordered chicken broth with ginko. A bit later I was presented with a huge bowl surrounded by lots of tiny plates of orange and yellow stuff (food of course, just not sure what). The soup was indeed broth but had an entire bantam chicken in it and my utensils were chopsticks and a spoon. Unfortunately the soup tasted like liquid cardboard so I abated that meal after trying to take a few gracious bites.

Time to broaden my mind ... more.

Oral XTC

Yes, I know this blog title sounds raunchy, sorry. I was thinking of "Best dinner I ever had" or "Culinary excellence" but neither summed up the story.

Tonight, being my last night in Japan, I decided to venture out for a nice dinner alone. I asked for a great sushi restaurant at the front desk and they recommended Oso Oso. After walking 30minutes to find it, it was full. On to the next.

I went to 4 different restaurants, all of which were full (an easy occurrence in a city of 12million on a Friday night when everyone is too tired to cook). Finally, I found an ally under a building filled with restaurants. In the ally 2 more were full. Feeling thoroughly dejected, I decided to walk home when I spotted a tiny restaurant with what looked like 2 seats at the bar opened.

After entering I was thrilled to find a seat at the bar. When I asked for the menu, not so thrilled - it was 100% in Japanese and no-one who worked in the restaurant spoke English.

I glanced through the menu and calculated what I could afford for dinner - heck, if I didn't know what it was, at least it would fit my business budget. After ordering the chef had a sly smile on his face ... uh oh.

The bar seat was like close up at a premier Benny Hannah restaurant. There were only 4 tables in the restaurant and 6 seats at the bar. The kitchen was a giant burner where everything was prepared.

After sitting a bit the waiter produced a glass of something clear which I soon learned to be sake - holy goodness this was delicious! I normally like the unfiltered white kind (which apparently in Japan is icky nono) and this was like drinking gold. A few minutes later a salad was produced with two pieces of cheese, a tomato, and a piece of lettuce (tiny). Best salad of my life in two bites or less. Then came the appetizer I ordered - pickeled stuff (mom, you would have been in heaven).

I saw the waiter preparing something and as he cooked he kept looking at me. Mustn't have been the dashing good American looks (kidding, don't worry). He sliced a piece of beef to perfection (literally, he weighed it after cutting it, then showed it to me, and when I nodded looked so pleased).

Finally the main course came. Holy toledo divine! It was the steak cooked medium rare and mouth wateringly melting. Only way to describe it was perfect. Seriously.

After two bites the chef looked at me, "You, it tastest, like it, good?" I nodded profusely saying, "Yes! Arigato, yes!!!" He replied, "I am so happy. So happy. Beef good. Happy me." A tear came to my eye - not from the sentimental moment mind you, from the beef. I'm not kidding, this was good!

The gym

I know it's not polite to stare, but sometimes I really just can't help it. The gym in my hotel is pretty blechy but functional. I went down this evening at 6:30 for a workout because I just couldn't get up before work and the gym was packed.

As I was getting my heart rate up, I found myself trying so hard to keep my giggles inside I nearly fell off the treadmill. Two men were standing side by side in front of the mirror - one tiny, the other quite large (especially for a Japanese man). The tiny one was standing in one place throwing his leg up to his head - first the right, then left, right, left - you get the picture. The rest of his body was perfectly still. He could've been a cheerleader in the states!

The bigger man was "shadow" boxing in the mirror. It was quite a site because it seemed like the leg kicker was timing his kicks with the shadow boxers thrusts. Then the shadow boxer starter shadow box dancing in place and I had to leave. Yes, it's rude to stare, but laughing is unacceptable.

Clean slate

The rains have stopped and clouds lifted and all of Tokyo now seems clean(ish). The streets are still littered with cigarette butts and broken umbrellas, but that's about it.

It was my last day in the office and from my night prowling in the rain I came down with a cold - blech. As I was leaving Yoko made sure to stock me up on Japanese drugs. I don't know what any of them are, but they sure are making me feel better :)

Lost in a storm

Today after work I went out walking with Sanae and then to dinner. We walked around the train station where there are stores for almost everything. Puppies and cats - got 'em. Pillow shaped like stuff I don't want to write on the web - yes, those too. Everything.

After walking around a bit, we went into a small sushi restaurant that reminded me a bit of Blowfish at home (ah, home).

When we split, Sanae gave me detailed directions home in broken English. As soon as I was alone and walking the typhoon picked up in full force. During my walk home I went in three circles around the train station and broke two umbrellas. Finally arriving at the hotel I looked worse than a drowned rat - my hair was a helmet of curls, dress was soaked and hitched up (seriously, I looked like I was wearing a 50s style bathing suite), glasses were so fogged over from rain and heat, and shoes were filled with water.

Windy city

No, I didn't jet back to the US and make a stop in Chicago. There's a typhoon in town. I went out to buy water and nearly flashed the entire city (bad day for a dress let me tell ya).

Just now the winds are picking up and the sky is spitting rain - you can tell the air is full and just about to burst by how thick it is.

Always exciting!

Niceties

There is a great pleasantness about the people here. While they don't quite get my jokes (I laugh at them so it's ok) they've got the caring thing nailed. That's a huge generalization, but go with it.

Today at lunch I went to the "Basement" an ally under our building where there are about 15 restaurants - all of which look great. I made my way to one of the many sushi houses where I was sat at the bar - when you're alone and there's a bar you can eat at, that's where you go. Walking into any restaurant is always fun because the entire staff start yelling - I have no clue what they're saying, but they're smiling so it must be nice (kidding - the former thought did not lead to the latter - Srini told me they're saying to make yourself at home.)

Once seated I did the perfunctory look around the room ... ok, I was gawking. The restaurant was a mix of tables on the floor with cushion seats, tables, and bars. There were tons of white shirt black pants sitting on the floor in full business attire which was quite funny.

I picked up the menu on the table and was spinning - all Japanese, no pictures. The waitress saw my reaction and ran over immediately with an English menu with pictures. Perfect. Udon ordered I went back to my staring - or, "soaking it all in."

When my soup arrived I watched the people next to me to make sure I ate properly - the eating-with-the-left-hand incident in India taught me to watch the crowd before diving in. Just as I was starting the person to my left finished and left. Then, the woman to the right was just about done when she called the waiter over. I saw her point at me and smiling and talking and I thought "great - I ate it wrong." But a minute later the waiter came over and poured more water for me. The woman had told him I was out and he should give me more - how nice!

Just after the woman left I went back to my Udon and, while trying to navigate the giant spoon and chopsticks, a noodle went flying right into my eye. I admit, I was slurping. Glad the company was gone.

Uniform-informed

Last night after work Srini and I made our way to a sushi/beer house (I think everywhere you can find food has "beer house" somehow affixed to the name). On our way I mused about the seeming uniform - all the men here wear white shirts and black pants. In the office almost every desk has a black suit jacket hanging next to it. "Yes," Srini said when I asked about this unspoken uniform, "Yes, that's what men are supposed to wear." "But what about the women?" I asked, "They all wear rad (Srini looked perplexed by this word but he went with it) outfits in different colors and styles." "Well of course." Oh, of course?... "That's the glass ceiling." Uh...

The funniest part was just as we were entering the restaurant I noticed a men's clothing shop - it seems I can spot clothing shops from around the corner anywhere. All the shirts in the shop were white, all the pants black or dark grey, and a plethora of dark coats hung on the wall.

Today I wore black pants and a white shirt to work - heh, Waldo no more (I mean this in the "Where's Waldo sense)!

Flushed

I know, potty talk is terrible and so toddler-esque. But I can't help myself. The bathrooms here are a real experience. My first time in the loo, I had no clue what to do. Well, half a clue.

The toilets are almost completely automated. On the side of the toilet is a panel with buttons - a huge remote control if you will. The first time I discovered this, I couldn't figure out how to flush, so I started pushing every button. One made a flushing sound but didn't do anything - it was the sound button. Another started shooting water out. A third made the water harder. After seeing this I was scared of what might happen if I kept pressing buttons so I stopped. Looking up just over the toilet was a huge square button - ah, a winner - the flush button.

Sorry, I know this is TMI, but it really was quite interesting.

It's an automated world I'll tell ya.

Dinner

Srini made it to the hotel around 9pm (my standard bed time) and we headed out for dinner. At every stop light, just as I was about to jaywalk, Srini would throw his arm out and say "No! No. They'll hit you." Srini explained that even though it may not look like a car is coming, they're often speeding up the road and if it's not a green light for pedestrians they have no qualms hitting you. Ouch.

We made our way through the busy streets of Shinjuku, past a handful of booming electronics stores, and to a 4-story restaurant tucked in an ally. Once in the front door we were directed to the elevator to make our way to the fourth floor. Despite not having a clue what anyone was saying, I nodded and smiled and followed Srini.

Once seated I was cloaked with cigarette smoke. All the tables around us had a white haze hovering over them as people were chain smoking between bites of stuff (I don't know what anything was - definitely not California roll). Srini ordered for both of us - something chicken, chicken skin (I gave him mine), a fish, sashimi, something green, and something wiggly. Most of it was delicious! Some I didn't have the guts to try - shocking, I know.

Lost

Forget the "in translation" part - just lost.

Nobody ever said travel would be easy. But it is interesting. This morning I was up and out of the hotel by 7am. At the Singapore airport I wound up having to repack 3 times because my bag was so heavy - all books, I swear. Fine, you got me ... shoes. When I finally checked in I was nailed with a middle seat. Great.

After boarding I realized I was in another kid zone. I think it's just from talking about kids on flights so much with Molly and Kristin.

Once I arrived in Japan, I realized I had no clue what to do. Nil. I went to take money and as I figured the exchange rate at 113:1 I etlt anxious punching in the amount to withdraw.

Then the real adventure - the train. Apparently taxis in Japan are very expensive - ala around $300usd to get to the hotel. Once I had ticket in hand, it hit me ... I ... was about ... to take the train.

Sitting on the train the first thing I did was glance to find English words - anywhere. I looked at the seat numbers for a bit and then my eyes settled on the scrolling red light flashing city names where the train would make stops. A few I recognized vaguely, and then Hiroshima scrolled across the screen. My heart stopped - a moment of sorrow.

Finally reaching the hotel at 8:30pm I called Srini - my Japan safety net. Srini's wife just had a baby and, when he picked up the phone, he proclaimed "OK, they say I've been in the hospital too much. Let's go to dinner." And so it is - 9pm and about to go to dinner. At home I'm usually in bed watching my second Law and Order of the evening about to go to sleep.

China wok

No, I didn't do any fun cooking classes today - I'm just being funny with titles. Hey, when you're living out of a suitcase the smallest things start becoming funny.

This morning I had to go to the United office to switch my ticket - oodles of enjoyment, let me tell ya. Leaving the office I decided to walk home but somehow, of course, wound up walking the opposite direction. You know the navigation systems cars have now? I need one embedded in my brain - no matter where I am, how small the area is, or how long I've been there I will surely get lost. Getting lost when traveling is a bit fun, though, so no complaints from me.

I wound up walking through China Town, Little India, and the Financial District. China Town was just like San Francisco, but clean. Also, I didn't happen upon any men flinging dead pigs over their shoulders but it was early still.

After getting back to the hotel I decided to veg by the pool and read The Black Book of Outsourcing (it's actually much better than it sounds). As soon as I stepped outside the sky opened up - it was like standing under a waterfall.

Goodness I love it here!

Putting the city to music

Last night Paul and I went to see Julian sing. When she's not being a Customer Account star, she's a singing star.

We made it out of the hotel around 9pm and were faced with a huge queue for taxis. Being the antsy Americans we couldn't wait, so instead called a cab - $1 more, but so worth it.

At the lounge where Julian was singing, Paul made the mistake of letting me order the food. I couldn't figure out what half of the things on the bar menu were so I asked what the local favorites were and proceeded to order all three. Just over 30minutes later, we see a delivery boy coming in carrying boxes of food ... odd. At first I thought the staff must be sick of what they served and were eating out themselves, but no - it was our dinner. When the plates were put in front of us, two looked like Trader Joes special sets, and one was just gruesome. Sea-snails. I gusted up and tried a few of the snails - they tasted like foot so I quickly ditched this attempt at trying new things.

Schooled

No, I'm not going to start speaking K-Fed language - I'd get laughed out of the country. As it's time to go back to school for all those I'm so envious of ("those" being young adults and little people who get to enjoy breaks and holidays), I think it's only fitting I write on schoolisms.

Last night while bowling, one of my team-mates was telling me about his kids. His 9-year old son is on a diet. What does this have to do with school you may be thinking - lots! In Singapore, if the school thinks a child is too chubby they put them on a diet. It's thought that one can't think as clearly if they're on the larger end of the spectrum.

At lunch today education was the predominant topic of discussion - alright, I admit it, I brought it up. It was interesting hearing generalizations about schooling around the world. In Singapore, Simon mused, schooling is all about "social modifying." Schooling is very regimented and children are taught to tests instead of being taught to ask questions.

San went to school in Burma where he was hardly able to pass classes because the grading was so strict (on Burmese and on the curvature of writing - no joke). San wound up moving to Singapore for primer and then the UK for college.

Chris grew up in Australia where he thinks schooling is a good balance but still has some to be desired.

Because I don't want to make enemies, I'll refrain from commenting on US schooling :)

Bowled over

Last night after work I went with a group of people from TIBCO and Citibank for a bowling night out. In the ally you feel like the world truly is flat - it's the same as anywhere else in the world. Cheap beer, loud music, games to win stuffed animals you don't really want, and hooting people trying to look rad while unleashing an 11lb ball down an ally. Gotta love it.

Although I bowled a 50 (no, there's no digit missing on the front of that), my team came in 2nd! Turns out one of the players used to be sponsored - he had a score of 207. I told him it must've been TIBCO (software so good you have time to bowl all day instead of worrying about work). I know, I just went running past my no-work writing rule. It's a one-off.

Maybe the world really is flat...heh, only a "pin" head would think that!

Placed

I'm starting to feel a bit like I'm in Dolly Parton's movie Nine to Five. My office is in a bank building that houses a bank, a law office, and our office here in Singapore, so it's always interesting riding up in the elevator with all the bankers and lawyers and their clients. Elevators in Singapore are an entire ism unto themselves but I'll save that for another entry.

Riding down to the rainy streets for lunch this afternoon, I shared the elevator with two men and two woman. The men nodded and shook hands and then, as if it were scripted, introduced their secretaries. They each did it in the same manner, too, which was funny, "This is my secretary XYZ," one would say and the other would nod, smile, shake the secretaries hand, and proceed to introduce his secretary.

On floor 24 a woman got into the elevator and one of the men looked up. "Ah, Gina, how are you? How is your boss?" Gina nodded, smiled, and said, "Great." Then, man 1 turned to man 2 and explained who Gina worked for and that she too was a secretary. "Gina?" "Yes?" "Where is your bosses old secretary?"

I'm telling you, it's a secretary world. In the US I think that word has just gone out of style and people now say Assistant or Executive Assistant. For male assistants they say Helper.

When the elevator made it to the bottom floor, the women scooted out in front of their bosses, each holding a notepad and an umbrella.

I think I'm making this sound more sexist or harsh than it is - everyone seemed quite happy and content. Just an interesting observation.

And yes, it was a very long elevator ride - 36 floors down stopping on nearly every floor.

Poshism

After work I couldn't catch a taxi so I walked home. By the time I arrived at the hotel I was ready for an ice bath and a nap - done. Instead, I met up with some co-workers downstairs and we decided to head back out for dinner. Even at 8pm it was boiling out.

We walked around the water and past four or five malls to the waters edge. Then, spotting one of the colonial barges-converted-to-diners on the water we decided to posh it up a bit. At the hostess bar, the hostess looked at us with confusion at first. We asked if it was OK to go in dressed in jeans and she nodded, then pointed to one of my co-workers and said, "he'll just have to sit in the corner." ("He" was in shorts).

Eye contact isn't always great

Last night Paul, Al, and I went out to dinner in Boat Quay. I took a taxi to meet Paul and Al because they had been with a customer all afternoon (another reason I couldn't do sales - you have to be on call and work on Sundays - oofa). The taxi dropped me about 4 blocks from Boat Quay - I think because people don't tip here the concept of above and beyond is lost on people.

We wound up going to dinner at a fish restaurant where everything was fresh (I knew this because I could see many of the menu offerings in a tank just outside the restaurant). We all ordered fish, of course, and when I placed my order I asked what was the freshest.

My fish came with the head and tail still on, mouth opened toward the sky. For some reason looking my dinner in the eye is just not appetising.

Four seasons

Yesterday I pampered myself and enjoyed a facial. It was funny, the facialist was touting their great "American made" products - in the US I feel like facialists are always saying what great Asian or European products they use. As long as it's from somewhere else it must be good I guess.

At the start of the facial, just as I was dozing off, the facialist asked: "You from USA? Yes?" "Yes," I replied. After a few minutes of cooing about how great that was she said, "Do you have 4 seasons?" It took me a minute but then I realized, being on the equator Singapore has 1 season - hot/rain. "Yes," I replied again and went into describing how CA's seasons (SF specifically) are different than other parts of the US.

I can't imagine 90 degree rain year round. I love it now, but can't imagine...

Poolside

The gym at my hotel is just next to the pool which makes for some fun people watching. What's better is the one-way windows where those inside the gym can see out but those outside just see themselves which makes for great entertainment watching people watch themselves.

The pool crowd:

It seems like everything here is in twos:

• 2-girls in pink: I'm not sure why with the 90 degree temperature, but two girls at the pool showed up dawned in ping wetsuits with pink water caps. They did everything in tandem - jumped in the pool, swam across, they even seemed to come up for air in tandem. Water ballerinas in the making?
• 2-boys in red: I'm not even going to go into what I think of the colors. The boys in red were much less graceful - they too did everything in tandem but in a young boys way. They raced around the pool, yelled, and tagged each other almost mirroring each other the entire time.
• 2-speedo men: thy style here is definitely speedo. Two men perched themselves in front of the mirrored gym windows. Periodically they'd stand up and adjust their speedo while ab flexing in the gym window.

Funny.

So much to do ... so little time

In between working and sleeping I want to adventure as much as possible - I'm not sure if I'll ever come back to Singapore, so I'm trying to soak it all in. Last night, after a long day shopping, Paul and I met up to walk around Singapore. As I had walked home on Friday I became the "leader" in the walk supposedly knowing where I was going. After getting lost in 3 malls and walking in numerous circles, the leader became the follower.

We made our way down to Boat Quay and along the water taking pictures the entire way. Just as we got to the water's edge, the sky opened up and it started dumping rain. With no over-hang in site, and no umbrellas, we found the next best thing - a boat ride across the water. Hopping in a small wobbly boat, our tourism took to water instead of the streets of Singapore.

After a 20-minute boat ride we made our way to another Quay (whose name is evading me). The area felt like North Beach - lively and filled with restaurants. Perfect for dinner.

Now I'm off to adventure more before the sky opens up again.

Sushi grove

Tonight I enjoyed the hotel sushi restaurant for dinner - it's a 20% discount and just 25 floors down so it's perfect. After I told the hostess "table for one please" I was seated at the sushi bar - I think solo diners at a table must be a nono. The funny thing was the restaurant was sprawling with five rooms and three sushi bars. I was put in an empty room at an empty sushi bar - more for me!

After stuffing myself with uni, crab, and fish I can't name, I started chatting with the chef.

Chef: "are you here for business?"
Amber: "yes ... and to explore Singapore - I'm so excited to be here."
Chef: "ah - yes yes. But Singapore is small, not much to explore."
Amber: "are you from here?"
Chef: "no no - Japan."
Amber: "ah, how'd you wind up here?"
Chef: "first I left Japan and moved to L.A., then Germany, then around Asia more, now here."
Amber: "I'm jealous."

The chef at dinner was enlightening and inspiring - he decided at 24 that living in the same place his whole life wouldn't teach him about the world. So he took off - to explore the world. Now that's what I call rad. BAM!

Malling

After work I decided to walk home instead of cab - it was 6:45 and just cooling down so it was perfect timing. As I made my way along the water the clicking sound of two tap dancers on a dock serenaded me.

Further along I came to an underpass and proceeded to cross the street. Once underground I was surrounded by tweens and teens dancing and clapping and stomping their feet. It was interesting - groups of kids were huddled in different parts of the walkway all practicing dances - all to their own beat.

Emerging from the walkway I found myself in a mall - the first of 4 malls that I walked through to get home. Not only is Singapore the "Switzerland of Asia," according to Simon, but it's the mall spot of the world. Malls here are like Vegas - once you get in, you can't get out...but to be honest, I have no problem with that :)

Fly trap

This morning I got up early for a 7am call. The nice thing about working from a hotel room is you can dress business casual - in my case, a blouse and pajama bottoms. After the call wrapped I finished getting ready for work and headed out the door.

Upon getting at work - my first day in the Singapore office alone - I walked through China Bank (the building our office is in) and made my way up to the 36th floor in an elevator packed full of people. As I arrived at the office at 9:30am, I was still quite early and only one other person was there. Around 10:30 the office was bustling (with all 10-people) so I decided to make my rounds and properly introduce myself to all the folks who were out on sales calls yesterday.

During this round I chatted for a long time with one of the higher ups. After all the corporate socializing, thoroughly exhausted, I grabbed a coffee set it on my desk and made my way to the loo. Once inside I realized ... my fly had been down the entire morning! Perfect - in a discrete country where first impressions mean a lot, while meeting new people at work and trying to prove that marketing folks are not nuts, here I am.

Well, at least the embarrassing part is out of the way.

Clean glorious clean

Today was my first day working in the Singapore office and it was beautiful - literally, not in the Russel Crow movie kind of way. To get to work Alix and I took a taxi - work is less than a mile away, but walking just a block leaves you drenched (in either sweat or rain - depends on the time of day).

The office looked just like any other - sterile - but somehow there was an added sense of 'clean.' I'm not talking about clean in the tall bald guy white t-shirt way, or clean in the Dr.'s office waiting room sense. Nor am I insinuating it was clean in the modern-try-to-sit-down-and-you'll-be-bruised-for-a-month sort. Just clean.

At lunch we made our way to a wrap deli where the wraps were named after American fame-cons - my favorite being the "Ike and Tina Tuna." I didn't try this wrap because I just didn't have the legs for it (insert laugh here) but I did enjoys my salad and kiwi juice.

The one and only problem with eating out in Singapore is the AC - you need to carry a winter coat just to walk in-doors. As tomorrow is Friday I think I will treat myself to an after-work shopping spree - big surprise - for a wrap. I feel ridiculous walking around mid-day with my jacket, but at the same time my teeth chattering gets in the way of work.

I have arrived!

To Singapore that is. Last night I slept most of the way through the flight here and hit the ground running. De-boarding the plane I came to two woman at the gate holding signs with my name. I've never seen that before - I felt so special - the little things. 20-minutes and a beautiful car-ride later, and I arrived at the Pan Pacific Singapore. The city is beautiful, and hotel is amazing. I'm ready to move. Matt?

All day it was raining - a hot periodic rain - aka, the perfect weather. This afternoon I worked from the hotel - I gifted myself that after sleeping only 3-hours per night for the past week. My room overlooks the city, the pool, and the island's edge. The view was somewhat comical today while the pool was packed with loungers - sleeping and "bathing" in the rain.

This evening Alix and I made our way to the night zoo. When we first walked in I was feeling the grown-uppy "heh - zoo schmoo." First stop at the zoo was the night show. OK, I'll admit it, I freaked! Animals were walking on ropes over our heads and then the zookeepers pulled a snake out of a box in the row in front of us. I hope the blue leaves Alix's hand (I was squeezing so hard).

Looking forward to working, learning, exploring more!

A tale of a shipping

While in India I did my requisite shopping - hey, just trying to support the economy. Laden with tunics and cloth as well as my already overstuffed bag, I decided to ship most of my new purchases instead of carry them.

After packing everything up and preparing the FedEx paperwork, I had to meet with the FedEx carrier to clear my shipment prior to sending. That was new. First, he reviewed my paperwork. Then apprised the box. Then the paperwork. Then he proceeded to open the box and unpack all of the contents and finally re-tape on top of the now torn open tape. Odd. I guess a good way to save money on x-ray machines?

Always an experience!

It pays to Mastercard

At the Mumbai airport, a platinum MasterCard gets free admittance to the VIP lounge - woo hoo! So, here I sit in the VIP lounge with free snacks and refrigerators filled with pop, Kingfischer, and juice.

Love it.

Since it's India of course an ism is fitting. To get on the Internet you can do one of two things - have an SMS sent to your mobile with a user name and password OR pay - but they only take Visa. If only these two credit cards knew.

The boom

Funny thing about strange and unknown places - you're ready for strange and unknown things to happen but aren't always ready with how to handle them. Usually it's just to smile and pretend 'oh, yeah, I'm used to being stuck in a traffic jam because 50people painted orange decided to go dancing in the street.'

Tonight just as I was falling asleep there was a horrific BOOM outside. Not the monsoon summer boom that would insight me to run to the window eager for rain. Not really 100% sure what the boom was - the only time I've heard gun booms is on TV ... ok, and that one time at 4H when I joined the rifle club (but that was a long time ago and I've put it behind me).

Just after the boom, the whole house shook. This was a shocking act of something considering all the floors are marble and sturdier than Arnold's flexed arm in the 80s.

So, here I lay awake at 1:50am more scared than a 4year old who just watched her first scary TV show and can't dangle her feet over the side of the bed. Seriously. I've locked the door, checked the mothball filled closets, tightened the curtains, and looked in the drawers under the bed. You never know - boogy men can be small.

What a wimp! I think the curry is getting to me.