It's hot in the Bay Area. The weather conditions that are literally burning up Southern California are making for a balmy November weekend in NoCal. Some of my Red Cross friends have headed south to help with the fires - many thanks to them. My NoCal friends, meanwhile, are breaking out their summer clothes. Good thing K and I weren't fooled into switching to our flannel winter sheets or...damn.
Went to see "Boris Gudonov" at the SF Opera last night, starring Sam Ramey (no, not the horror film director) in the title role. I must be genetically conditioned to like bass voices because he had me when he started to sing. Amazingly, Sam is 66 years old. He's had an incredible career. The article in the program discussed the affects of aging on his voice, and how this might be the last time he sings the role of "Boris". I'm grateful I got to see him, and that I've seen him in a few roles over the years at SFOp. Some of his YouTube performances (including one as a toreador who loves the letter "L" on Sesame Street) are thrilling, if not priceless. I'm officially a fan.
So, is it shallow of me to enjoy opera so much in the middle of a meteoric economic crash, in a period when our presidency is undergoing seismic change (thank goodness), and when my work just laid off some longtime colleagues on Friday? Fiscally, these opera tickets are something Dad and I invested in at the start of the year. From a human standpoint, it's nice to have something to enjoy - especially my Dad's company as we approach celebrating his 70th birthday this December. I prefer to think that human experience is a collection of large and small events, positive and negative, and it's best to take it all in with equanimity, an open mind, and gratitude. I am grateful for my friends, my family, and opportunities to support and value them, whether that's by spending an evening together at the opera, or writing them a recommendation on LinkedIn.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Another Sunday night
...another weekend chock full of stuff!
Let's start with last weekend:
Friday
-Dinner with R & R at Zachary's. Yum.
Saturday
-Bay-Friendly Gardening seminar on low-water plants. Lotsa good learning.
-Voluntered at the Alameda Country Community Food Bank
-Dinner with S and C at Soi4. Dessert care of TJ's - molten choco cake. More yum.
Sunday
-Raider tailgate (as described in the previous post)
-Party planning and dinner with Dad at Camino. Super yum.
-Experimental clearing of slow drains using vinegar. Sadly, did not work.
Now, on to this weekend:
Friday
-Dinner with Mom to belatedly celebrate her birthday, at Cortez. Amazing small plates. Really delicious.
Saturday
-Composting with Worms class. Dirt! Worms! Fungus!
-Chinese Lesson
-Dinner at Paul K in SF (nice Mediterranean food...delicious beets)
-San Francisco Symphony featuring Joshua Bell on violin. That boy can play.
Sunday
-All day sewing in preparation for Halloween. (check later for photo)
-KB rocks the chores with grocery shopping, garden shopping, laundry en masse, cooking, and mopping. That's my sweetie!
Oh, KB also attend an industry charity dinner, black tie optional. He borrowed a plaid cummerbund & tie set from Dads, and then proceeded to terrorize folks who knew him before he shaved and cut his hair. Totally awesome. I picked up my tipsy sweetie from the St. Francis around 11:30pm, whereupon he presented me with the lovely flower centerpiece (red roses...odd for a charity event but great for a spouse consolation prize) and told me how much he appreciates me. The latter is something he tends to do when tipsy. My friend J rightly pointed out that this is a rather cute trait.
Let's start with last weekend:
Friday
-Dinner with R & R at Zachary's. Yum.
Saturday
-Bay-Friendly Gardening seminar on low-water plants. Lotsa good learning.
-Voluntered at the Alameda Country Community Food Bank
-Dinner with S and C at Soi4. Dessert care of TJ's - molten choco cake. More yum.
Sunday
-Raider tailgate (as described in the previous post)
-Party planning and dinner with Dad at Camino. Super yum.
-Experimental clearing of slow drains using vinegar. Sadly, did not work.
Now, on to this weekend:
Friday
-Dinner with Mom to belatedly celebrate her birthday, at Cortez. Amazing small plates. Really delicious.
Saturday
-Composting with Worms class. Dirt! Worms! Fungus!
-Chinese Lesson
-Dinner at Paul K in SF (nice Mediterranean food...delicious beets)
-San Francisco Symphony featuring Joshua Bell on violin. That boy can play.
Sunday
-All day sewing in preparation for Halloween. (check later for photo)
-KB rocks the chores with grocery shopping, garden shopping, laundry en masse, cooking, and mopping. That's my sweetie!
Oh, KB also attend an industry charity dinner, black tie optional. He borrowed a plaid cummerbund & tie set from Dads, and then proceeded to terrorize folks who knew him before he shaved and cut his hair. Totally awesome. I picked up my tipsy sweetie from the St. Francis around 11:30pm, whereupon he presented me with the lovely flower centerpiece (red roses...odd for a charity event but great for a spouse consolation prize) and told me how much he appreciates me. The latter is something he tends to do when tipsy. My friend J rightly pointed out that this is a rather cute trait.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Fall Sunday
It's freezy out. (For me, that means 55 degrees.) Yesterday it was sunny and warmish, but after the sun set, all bets were off. Today in the sunshine it was freezy! Phooey! Now I have to go find my turtlenecks and scarves and warm things...
We joined our Raider mostly faithful friends today at the tailgate (but not the game, we don't have tix anymore) and enjoyed a carb fest. Or as K dubbed it, a CARB WRECK followed by a CARB CRASH. (Yes, he was killing himself laughing at this joke.) There was a token slab of meat, but until that was ready we had pumpkin bread rolls, pumpkin bread loaf, bagel chips, bolani, garlic bread, and grapes. Uuuuurrrrgh! It was nice to catch up with the peeps - this is only our second home game of the year, and the weather was good.
Even better was walking through the parking lot to take BART home; we passed a mind-bending variety of people and displays. Parents and kids selling candy for their schools next to the party boys shotgunning beers. Variously "decorated" Al Davis posters. Men in silver masks with wigs smiling in posed pictures with kids. (In some odd inversional rule, the most insanely dressed Raider fans are invariably the nicest). Skeleton Halloween bodies dressed in Raider gear, and sitting in chairs at tailgates. Raider grills. Raider steam cookers 8 feet tall. I didn't see any portable living rooms (sofa, rug, TV set, satellite receiver, power generator) but we have in the past. It was a sunny day in Raider Nation...made even sunnier by the eventual astonishing win against Brett Favre and The Jets, thanks to Janokowski's record-setting field goal.
Fall is really here. Now, how come we haven't played the World Series yet?
We joined our Raider mostly faithful friends today at the tailgate (but not the game, we don't have tix anymore) and enjoyed a carb fest. Or as K dubbed it, a CARB WRECK followed by a CARB CRASH. (Yes, he was killing himself laughing at this joke.) There was a token slab of meat, but until that was ready we had pumpkin bread rolls, pumpkin bread loaf, bagel chips, bolani, garlic bread, and grapes. Uuuuurrrrgh! It was nice to catch up with the peeps - this is only our second home game of the year, and the weather was good.
Even better was walking through the parking lot to take BART home; we passed a mind-bending variety of people and displays. Parents and kids selling candy for their schools next to the party boys shotgunning beers. Variously "decorated" Al Davis posters. Men in silver masks with wigs smiling in posed pictures with kids. (In some odd inversional rule, the most insanely dressed Raider fans are invariably the nicest). Skeleton Halloween bodies dressed in Raider gear, and sitting in chairs at tailgates. Raider grills. Raider steam cookers 8 feet tall. I didn't see any portable living rooms (sofa, rug, TV set, satellite receiver, power generator) but we have in the past. It was a sunny day in Raider Nation...made even sunnier by the eventual astonishing win against Brett Favre and The Jets, thanks to Janokowski's record-setting field goal.
Fall is really here. Now, how come we haven't played the World Series yet?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Red-Letter Day!
Went to see the Giants game. Got the sweeeeeeet company seats. w00t!
Yes, that's my view 3 rows back from the field. Close enough to say things the players and umpires could hear! I sat up in the front row for a few innings too.
And then we came home and made cheese from scratch! Like, for real! We bought some cream-top 2% organic milk from TJ's and followed the directions in our Cheesemaking Kit, and less than an hour later, fresh mozarella cheese! How cool is that?
Om nom nom.
Monday, September 8, 2008
It's that time of year
Driving home tonight from work, the freeway traffic warning sign on the Dublin grade read:
Oakland Coliseum
E V E N T
Expect Delays
First game of the season, Oakland vs the hated Broncos. Monday Night Football. Yes, we love our HD TV.
Goooooooo Raiders!
Oakland Coliseum
E V E N T
Expect Delays
First game of the season, Oakland vs the hated Broncos. Monday Night Football. Yes, we love our HD TV.
Goooooooo Raiders!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
La Frida Bonita y otras cosas
Went to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the SF MOMA this weekend. I was surprised by how many paintings were included in the exhibit, and frustrated by how many people were also moving through the rooms. It was hard to read the information displays, and hard to get in close - even sometimes see from a distance - the paintings. But what paintings! I know Kahlo mostly for her self-focused imagery, her struggles with pain, her representations of inner anguish. The exhibit showed her earlier portraits (straight-up, 30s modern), her later still lifes (vibrant, beautiful, static) and many candid photographs from her years in SF and Mexico...in addition to the amazing images you already know. There was good biographical information about her marital to-and-fro-ing with Diego Rivera, as well as her sojourns in America. Altogether she painted some very beautiful, symbolic, thoughful pieces. I was surprised by my enthusiasm. And while she herself was beautiful and charismatic, and she was tragically in love with Diego Rivera, a doughy dumpling of a man - what was she thinking???
Afterwards we got the super-bonus of an exhibit of modern Chinese artists - including Yueh MinJun whose works shows hordes of painfully grinning Chinese men (on ostriches, as fields of near-identical statues, sitting around, etc.). They are somehow perfect - identical, falsely friendly/happy, artificial, vaguely off-putting. Ai WeiWei had taken Neolithic clay pots (5000-3000 BCE) and painted over them with garishly-colored paints. Sacrilege! What a waste! Or...an interesting point about history, conservation, consumerism. Sui Jianguo created "The Sleep of Reason" - my new favorite, a statue of sleeping Mao (very unusual, as the link explains), and filled the room around him with waves of colored toy plastic dinosaurs, radiating outwards in dreamlike technicolor trip-out patterns. Way cool.
Afterwards we had dinner on Fillmore street at SPQR, a mixed-up Italian joint. It was good, but I can't tell you why. The desserts were confused (the "panna cotta" was a delicious chocolate mousse with chocolate cake on the bottom), and I think we paid too much. I was fascinated by the clientele; Mom had commented recently that people eating out in the East Bay are somehow different than the people eating out in San Francisco - more casual. Sitting there in SPQR, all I could see were white people, all the women were blond (almost none naturally), all from a very high socio-economic stratum, healthy, wearing very nice clothing, and not necessarily enjoying themselves. I felt pretty ghetto in my shorts and stringy yoga top. The couple to the right of us complained the whole time about the food, and the woman to the left of us spent almost the entire meal nattering away to her absently listening partner. Dad and I barely needed to talk for all the entertainment we had. Yes Mom, diners in San Francisco are different. I'll stick to the East Bay.
Afterwards we got the super-bonus of an exhibit of modern Chinese artists - including Yueh MinJun whose works shows hordes of painfully grinning Chinese men (on ostriches, as fields of near-identical statues, sitting around, etc.). They are somehow perfect - identical, falsely friendly/happy, artificial, vaguely off-putting. Ai WeiWei had taken Neolithic clay pots (5000-3000 BCE) and painted over them with garishly-colored paints. Sacrilege! What a waste! Or...an interesting point about history, conservation, consumerism. Sui Jianguo created "The Sleep of Reason" - my new favorite, a statue of sleeping Mao (very unusual, as the link explains), and filled the room around him with waves of colored toy plastic dinosaurs, radiating outwards in dreamlike technicolor trip-out patterns. Way cool.
Afterwards we had dinner on Fillmore street at SPQR, a mixed-up Italian joint. It was good, but I can't tell you why. The desserts were confused (the "panna cotta" was a delicious chocolate mousse with chocolate cake on the bottom), and I think we paid too much. I was fascinated by the clientele; Mom had commented recently that people eating out in the East Bay are somehow different than the people eating out in San Francisco - more casual. Sitting there in SPQR, all I could see were white people, all the women were blond (almost none naturally), all from a very high socio-economic stratum, healthy, wearing very nice clothing, and not necessarily enjoying themselves. I felt pretty ghetto in my shorts and stringy yoga top. The couple to the right of us complained the whole time about the food, and the woman to the left of us spent almost the entire meal nattering away to her absently listening partner. Dad and I barely needed to talk for all the entertainment we had. Yes Mom, diners in San Francisco are different. I'll stick to the East Bay.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Change is good, mostly
I've just concluded a rather interesting month. The short(ish) version: I realized that my workplace had changed strategic direction in a way that really didn't need my skill set very much. So I went to S, the guy who runs the place, and said, "I'm not asking you to fire me, but honestly, you don't need me. Is it okay if I make a few calls?"
My thinking is pretty straightforward. I'd rather work where I'm needed, not just where I'm liked.
So he gave me permission, and I put the word out that I was available. Something must be in the proverbial water, because it seems like I got calls from damn near every major player in my industry within a few days.
Also within a few days, S called me into a meeting to tell me, with a hangdog expression on his face, that he had done all he could, but my position had to be eliminated. My last day was to be in two weeks, at which time I would be handed a very generous severance check.
Weirdly, he was the one who needed to be comforted. "S, man, why the long face? You just got done telling me I get a fat check for leaving, which you know damn well I was doing anyway. Corporate HQ got a camera in here or something?"
I continued interviewing. Either they were all desperate, or I still got mad interview skillz, because each interview resulted in either a followup interview or an offer. Perhaps I shouldn't have done so many interviews...pretty soon I had a lot of deciding to do.
I've chosen one now, and for those who have heard me talk about the options, I chose the one that I can take the train to rather than the one I need a Chinese visa for, or the one I could bicycle to, or the one that might involve exotic foods.
I've learned a lot through this process. Turns out I can make hard decisions after all. Apparently I also have senior-management-level strategic thinking. I definitely have the Best. Wife. Evar.
I haven't ruled out going overseas for work one of these days. Probably will, in fact, before the next summer Olympics. Learning Chinese and French in the meantime might be a good investment of my time....
My thinking is pretty straightforward. I'd rather work where I'm needed, not just where I'm liked.
So he gave me permission, and I put the word out that I was available. Something must be in the proverbial water, because it seems like I got calls from damn near every major player in my industry within a few days.
Also within a few days, S called me into a meeting to tell me, with a hangdog expression on his face, that he had done all he could, but my position had to be eliminated. My last day was to be in two weeks, at which time I would be handed a very generous severance check.
Weirdly, he was the one who needed to be comforted. "S, man, why the long face? You just got done telling me I get a fat check for leaving, which you know damn well I was doing anyway. Corporate HQ got a camera in here or something?"
I continued interviewing. Either they were all desperate, or I still got mad interview skillz, because each interview resulted in either a followup interview or an offer. Perhaps I shouldn't have done so many interviews...pretty soon I had a lot of deciding to do.
I've chosen one now, and for those who have heard me talk about the options, I chose the one that I can take the train to rather than the one I need a Chinese visa for, or the one I could bicycle to, or the one that might involve exotic foods.
I've learned a lot through this process. Turns out I can make hard decisions after all. Apparently I also have senior-management-level strategic thinking. I definitely have the Best. Wife. Evar.
I haven't ruled out going overseas for work one of these days. Probably will, in fact, before the next summer Olympics. Learning Chinese and French in the meantime might be a good investment of my time....
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