July 4 was full of Americana, except for being "hella" cold. But we dealed.
First, Ana, Katie & I went to a Giants/Dodgers baseball game.
And that night, we all headed to Katie's house to watch fireworks from her roof. But things didn't work out as planned....
Monday, July 7, 2008
Bike Rides Summer '08
I've put together a Google map highlighting bike routes of summer '08. I bought my first real road bike a couple months ago and am now getting into it with the summer weather. Pederson my roommate is a biking semi-pro so he's going to keep me in line. We just got back from a 13.29 mile ride which is actually SHORT for a bike ride but it was so hilly I am beat. San Francisco's hills are killer.
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Friday, June 27, 2008
Sebas' BDay Video
My roomie Sebastian worked with our roommate/video producer extraordinaire Andrew to produce this video for his mother's birthday. Guess whose bedroom is featured in it? Yes, it would be mine.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
I definitely had a spring slump on my blog and left my 2 to 3 loyal readers hanging out to dry. It's hard to summarize 3 months, so here's a top 4!, in no particular order.
1. Pederson (my roommate) made a cute video about our "family" a.k.a. the members of our apartment and Pederson's girlfriend. The footage is from our family trip to Mendocino, a tiny & beautiful coastal town 3 hours north of SF. It was a bit like Planet of the Apes; this impossibly quaint, yuppy-looking town but crawling with hippies who seemed to have locked away the natives. Pederson bought a video camera so he can tap into the video editing talents that have always been locked inside, crying for release. Anyway, here's the video:
2. Me, the roomies, and the other "kids" in my program went to China and Japan for a couple weeks. Me & the roomies also spent a few days chilling in Bangkok beforehand. Here is a shot of us jumping at the Forbidden City. I believe it's inspired by a series of photos in a national magazine (Time?) featuring well known figures jumping.
3. We have a water feature. Yes, a WATER FEATURE in our own backyard. It's one of those do-it-yourself ponds that you can build with a kit from Home Depot. It even has a waterfall, with a mostly invisible pump that takes water back to the top. We got a bunch of other plants, lights, patio furniture, and a fire pit for hosting garden parties a la Great Gatsby. Not quite that extravagant though, yet. Behold!
4. So this isn't really one of the 5 most interesting things that's happened to me recently but it's top of mind: tonight I was running and near the end I stepped onto a packet of BBQ sauce. It exploded all over my leg which made for an awkward last half mile. On the good side though, I have finally discovered a great 5 mile route that doesn't require me to climb mini-Everests that SF is all about. I like to do medium-distance runs but the hills aren't really my style for these. Going up into Haight, down through Castro, back into the eastern part of Mission and then back up near Dolores Park is definitely the way to go. The photo uploader thingie isn't working now so I will add the shot of my defiled leg, soon.
In other news, tomorrow begins same-sex marriage in California. At 5:01 pm Gavin Newsom, the mayor, will conduct the first and last marriage of the day, specially set up for two old school lesbian activists in their 80s It's neat to experience history, especially when it's good history. Not to be coastal-centric but with CA, MA, and essentially NY all in the bag, it's getting to be so that most of the gays are going to be marriage-enabled soon enough. My friend Talia (straight and Jewish) was telling her parents that gay marriage was starting Monday. Her dad's response: "Good, gay people deserve to have the same problems as us." Here's hoping so! :)
Adios for now.
1. Pederson (my roommate) made a cute video about our "family" a.k.a. the members of our apartment and Pederson's girlfriend. The footage is from our family trip to Mendocino, a tiny & beautiful coastal town 3 hours north of SF. It was a bit like Planet of the Apes; this impossibly quaint, yuppy-looking town but crawling with hippies who seemed to have locked away the natives. Pederson bought a video camera so he can tap into the video editing talents that have always been locked inside, crying for release. Anyway, here's the video:
2. Me, the roomies, and the other "kids" in my program went to China and Japan for a couple weeks. Me & the roomies also spent a few days chilling in Bangkok beforehand. Here is a shot of us jumping at the Forbidden City. I believe it's inspired by a series of photos in a national magazine (Time?) featuring well known figures jumping.
3. We have a water feature. Yes, a WATER FEATURE in our own backyard. It's one of those do-it-yourself ponds that you can build with a kit from Home Depot. It even has a waterfall, with a mostly invisible pump that takes water back to the top. We got a bunch of other plants, lights, patio furniture, and a fire pit for hosting garden parties a la Great Gatsby. Not quite that extravagant though, yet. Behold!
4. So this isn't really one of the 5 most interesting things that's happened to me recently but it's top of mind: tonight I was running and near the end I stepped onto a packet of BBQ sauce. It exploded all over my leg which made for an awkward last half mile. On the good side though, I have finally discovered a great 5 mile route that doesn't require me to climb mini-Everests that SF is all about. I like to do medium-distance runs but the hills aren't really my style for these. Going up into Haight, down through Castro, back into the eastern part of Mission and then back up near Dolores Park is definitely the way to go. The photo uploader thingie isn't working now so I will add the shot of my defiled leg, soon.
In other news, tomorrow begins same-sex marriage in California. At 5:01 pm Gavin Newsom, the mayor, will conduct the first and last marriage of the day, specially set up for two old school lesbian activists in their 80s It's neat to experience history, especially when it's good history. Not to be coastal-centric but with CA, MA, and essentially NY all in the bag, it's getting to be so that most of the gays are going to be marriage-enabled soon enough. My friend Talia (straight and Jewish) was telling her parents that gay marriage was starting Monday. Her dad's response: "Good, gay people deserve to have the same problems as us." Here's hoping so! :)
Adios for now.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Hawaii and LA, etc.
So I haven't yet written out the last 7 days of my Japan trip (such a chore, ya know? ) So let's imagine I did, and then movie on to Hawaii and other adventures, leaving off at the end of the Japan trip:
So after saying goodbye to Charlie’s host family in Kariya and then to Charlie in Nagoya, I hopped on my plane from Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii where I was to meet roommates Jeff and Sebastian. We all arrived on different flights (Jeff and Sebas came from separate flights out of SFO) and then met up for an inter-island flight to Kauai.
In Kauai, we had a generally leisurely time as there really wasn’t much to do during the day or night that didn’t involve some combination of sun, hot tubs, billiards, or alcohol. We went on a mini group hike near the Waimea Canyon (the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”) and I went on my own 8-mile hike along a coastal trail which led to a beautiful 300-foot waterfall.
The first two nights we spent at the Sheraton Kauai, on the island’s south shore. This was a nice place, but we were dumbfounded when we arrived at the Princeville Resort for our last two nights. Set against the backdrop of mountains, set in a cliff and overlooking a secluded bay, the view of the entire scenery was like nothing I’ve seen before. Jeff had wanted us to stay here since it has one of the “five best sunsets in the world” (whatever that means) and it didn’t disappoint. Check the video here:
After relaxing at the Princeville, we flew back to Oahu for one night in Honolulu on Waikiki Beach. From what I’d heard I was expecting it to be more tacky, with mini golf courses and wax museums, but it wasn’t like that at all. We saw John Lovitz on the beach and heard his signature voice. The next morning we flew back to San Francisco and Hawaii was over.
Completing the month of travel craziness were a two-day Google product team trip to Tahoe and then a full company trip to Disneyland for the two days the following week. Google rented out the two Disney parks in Anaheim the second night that we were there, and good times were had by all. The crew and I also had flown down to LA and stayed in a hotel in Santa Monica the weekend before the trip officially began. It was the first time I spent any real time in LA (photos are all on facebook). Rucker gave us a tour of Beverly Hills mansions and then took us to his parents’ place in Beverly Hills (disclaimer: not a gawdy mansion!) We also explored the market on the Promenade in Santa Monica, ate at Tito’s Tacos, went out at at night in West Hollywood, and tourist-ed a bit of Sunset Boulevard. Being the cool kids we are, no trip anywhere can be complete without a trip to the local Google office so we made a few stops there. We also had some folks over to watch the Super Bowl in our suite, where most of us were pretty pumped that the Patriots lost. Tired of writing. THE END.
I since have had a few little trips to New York & Philly for business and also to see my old Glee Clubbers perform, but no travel for awhile now. SF is an amazing place, so I need to soak it in a bit more.
So after saying goodbye to Charlie’s host family in Kariya and then to Charlie in Nagoya, I hopped on my plane from Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii where I was to meet roommates Jeff and Sebastian. We all arrived on different flights (Jeff and Sebas came from separate flights out of SFO) and then met up for an inter-island flight to Kauai.
In Kauai, we had a generally leisurely time as there really wasn’t much to do during the day or night that didn’t involve some combination of sun, hot tubs, billiards, or alcohol. We went on a mini group hike near the Waimea Canyon (the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”) and I went on my own 8-mile hike along a coastal trail which led to a beautiful 300-foot waterfall.
The first two nights we spent at the Sheraton Kauai, on the island’s south shore. This was a nice place, but we were dumbfounded when we arrived at the Princeville Resort for our last two nights. Set against the backdrop of mountains, set in a cliff and overlooking a secluded bay, the view of the entire scenery was like nothing I’ve seen before. Jeff had wanted us to stay here since it has one of the “five best sunsets in the world” (whatever that means) and it didn’t disappoint. Check the video here:
After relaxing at the Princeville, we flew back to Oahu for one night in Honolulu on Waikiki Beach. From what I’d heard I was expecting it to be more tacky, with mini golf courses and wax museums, but it wasn’t like that at all. We saw John Lovitz on the beach and heard his signature voice. The next morning we flew back to San Francisco and Hawaii was over.
Completing the month of travel craziness were a two-day Google product team trip to Tahoe and then a full company trip to Disneyland for the two days the following week. Google rented out the two Disney parks in Anaheim the second night that we were there, and good times were had by all. The crew and I also had flown down to LA and stayed in a hotel in Santa Monica the weekend before the trip officially began. It was the first time I spent any real time in LA (photos are all on facebook). Rucker gave us a tour of Beverly Hills mansions and then took us to his parents’ place in Beverly Hills (disclaimer: not a gawdy mansion!) We also explored the market on the Promenade in Santa Monica, ate at Tito’s Tacos, went out at at night in West Hollywood, and tourist-ed a bit of Sunset Boulevard. Being the cool kids we are, no trip anywhere can be complete without a trip to the local Google office so we made a few stops there. We also had some folks over to watch the Super Bowl in our suite, where most of us were pretty pumped that the Patriots lost. Tired of writing. THE END.
I since have had a few little trips to New York & Philly for business and also to see my old Glee Clubbers perform, but no travel for awhile now. SF is an amazing place, so I need to soak it in a bit more.
Tokyo travels Part 1 of 2
My brother Charlie pointed out to me that I haven’t blogged in a long, long time, so here we go with an update of the last two months or so. This is going to be rambling and not poetic, so deal!
Since I last posted, life is best described as a whirlwind of travel, online video, and….more travel. I spent the middle weekends of December in Lake Tahoe snowboarding, and went home to Western New York to see the family at Christmas-time. In early January, I spent New Year’s in San Francisco at a friend-of-a-friend’s swanky house party.
And THEN, not long after the New Year, I headed off on vacation on a ten day trip to Japan, where I spent a couple days at a cheap hostel ($25/night) and worked for a day or so out of Google’s Tokyo office in the Shibuya district (home of the famous intersection traversed by more people than at any other place in the world). On my second day, I employed the services of a “Tokyo free guide,” a benevolent student who was part of a service which took English-speaking tourists around the city to show them the sights. All they (unofficially) ask in return is that you pay for any meals, transportation, and tickets to any attractions that require a fee. Hiroto took me to the imperial palace, to the famous Asukusa temple and, our favorite, to karaoke. The first song I picked was “Superstar” by the Carpenters – apparently this struck a chord; it seems the Carpenters are big in Japan and so eventually I was specializing in these old hits.
Also while in Tokyo I met a fellow traveler staying at my hostel, a nice woman who is a lawyer for the EPA. We shared a common complete lack of knowledge of Japanese, and first bonded over our inability to order, or say please or thank you at a noodle bar near our hostel. We met each other a couple times, including going to the Tsujiki fish market for breakfast sushi one morning, and going to a pub known for having many local beers. We also got lost together in this last endeavour which I think must be a Tokyo tradition – most of the streets don’t have names.
On the last day of my stay in Tokyo, I was a total cornball and went to the Tokyo DisneySea park which is next to Tokyo Disneyland and also the ocean. Having been raised on the Disney parks, I’ve always wanted to visit DisneySea, since it’s supposed to have original rides and, as Disney spent over $4 billion dollars on it, it was supposed to be beautiful. Since the Tokyo Disney resort is supposed to be a favorite pastime of Tokyoites, I figured I was actually making by Japan trip more authentic by visiting Disney.
After Tokyo, I had made plans to visit my Japanese-American friend Mana in Osaka, several hundred miles southwest of Tokyo. Mana and I were in the same senior society at Penn and she has been studying in Osaka since the summer, having received a Fulbright scholarship. In my usual fashion, I hadn’t actually reserved the bus ticket which would take me overnight from Tokyo to Osaka, and so had to scramble at the last minute to find a train which would take me. Since I wasn’t in the mood to spend hundreds of dollars on the journey, I eventually found a train which would take me for less than $100 – I just had to make three transfers over the course of 9 hours. It actually didn’t turn out to be so bad.
When I arrived in Osaka, Mana turned out to be a gracious host. She had planned for the fact that I would want to take a shower before doing our exploring for the day. I was a bit taken aback, though, when she said, “You’ll probably want to take a shower – we’ll go to the internet café.”Apparently that’s not a non-sequitur in Japan. So off we went to the closest internet café where you pay by the hour for a couch, a computer and/or game system, and use of the facilities, including showers. You also get to drink all of the soda that you want. Not bad for about $4 an hour. Mana told me that the internet cafes are good places to spend the night if you miss the last train; you just rent one of the cubicles with a couch in it and spend your night there.
There are 7 days of tales to tell! In an installment soon to come we'll discuss adventures with Mana and the Fulbrighters in Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, and Kobe, and then a couple days with my brother and his native host family near Toyota City (where Toyota headquarters is!) Coming soon, promises.
A little preview of things to come:
Since I last posted, life is best described as a whirlwind of travel, online video, and….more travel. I spent the middle weekends of December in Lake Tahoe snowboarding, and went home to Western New York to see the family at Christmas-time. In early January, I spent New Year’s in San Francisco at a friend-of-a-friend’s swanky house party.
And THEN, not long after the New Year, I headed off on vacation on a ten day trip to Japan, where I spent a couple days at a cheap hostel ($25/night) and worked for a day or so out of Google’s Tokyo office in the Shibuya district (home of the famous intersection traversed by more people than at any other place in the world). On my second day, I employed the services of a “Tokyo free guide,” a benevolent student who was part of a service which took English-speaking tourists around the city to show them the sights. All they (unofficially) ask in return is that you pay for any meals, transportation, and tickets to any attractions that require a fee. Hiroto took me to the imperial palace, to the famous Asukusa temple and, our favorite, to karaoke. The first song I picked was “Superstar” by the Carpenters – apparently this struck a chord; it seems the Carpenters are big in Japan and so eventually I was specializing in these old hits.
Also while in Tokyo I met a fellow traveler staying at my hostel, a nice woman who is a lawyer for the EPA. We shared a common complete lack of knowledge of Japanese, and first bonded over our inability to order, or say please or thank you at a noodle bar near our hostel. We met each other a couple times, including going to the Tsujiki fish market for breakfast sushi one morning, and going to a pub known for having many local beers. We also got lost together in this last endeavour which I think must be a Tokyo tradition – most of the streets don’t have names.
On the last day of my stay in Tokyo, I was a total cornball and went to the Tokyo DisneySea park which is next to Tokyo Disneyland and also the ocean. Having been raised on the Disney parks, I’ve always wanted to visit DisneySea, since it’s supposed to have original rides and, as Disney spent over $4 billion dollars on it, it was supposed to be beautiful. Since the Tokyo Disney resort is supposed to be a favorite pastime of Tokyoites, I figured I was actually making by Japan trip more authentic by visiting Disney.
After Tokyo, I had made plans to visit my Japanese-American friend Mana in Osaka, several hundred miles southwest of Tokyo. Mana and I were in the same senior society at Penn and she has been studying in Osaka since the summer, having received a Fulbright scholarship. In my usual fashion, I hadn’t actually reserved the bus ticket which would take me overnight from Tokyo to Osaka, and so had to scramble at the last minute to find a train which would take me. Since I wasn’t in the mood to spend hundreds of dollars on the journey, I eventually found a train which would take me for less than $100 – I just had to make three transfers over the course of 9 hours. It actually didn’t turn out to be so bad.
When I arrived in Osaka, Mana turned out to be a gracious host. She had planned for the fact that I would want to take a shower before doing our exploring for the day. I was a bit taken aback, though, when she said, “You’ll probably want to take a shower – we’ll go to the internet café.”Apparently that’s not a non-sequitur in Japan. So off we went to the closest internet café where you pay by the hour for a couch, a computer and/or game system, and use of the facilities, including showers. You also get to drink all of the soda that you want. Not bad for about $4 an hour. Mana told me that the internet cafes are good places to spend the night if you miss the last train; you just rent one of the cubicles with a couch in it and spend your night there.
There are 7 days of tales to tell! In an installment soon to come we'll discuss adventures with Mana and the Fulbrighters in Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, and Kobe, and then a couple days with my brother and his native host family near Toyota City (where Toyota headquarters is!) Coming soon, promises.
A little preview of things to come:
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