Down in the Haight, 7/27

Here are the other pictures from that weekend.   We went down to check out the Haight on that Sunday and it was every bit of hippie-stoner-craziness that we had hoped for.  After strolling down Haight St., we decided to walk through Golden Gate Park where much to our surprise there was a magical free feast which turned out to be just the Festival of India.  We left the park and ran into a parade of hippies encouraging us to brush our teeth (i need to post the video I shot of this).  Then we saw some funky houses and we finished the day appropriately with some Ben & Jerry's waffle cones.

Pictures from Santa Cruz, 7/26

I have been meaning to post. Honestly, I have.  I was on a pretty good streak until I went on this great trip to Seattle which I really enjoyed (kayaked at Bainbridge Island with my girlfriend, saw Microsoft friends, etc.) but unfortunately I lost my little Canon Powershot 750 (as well some great pictures of Seattle from the sound ferry), not to mention that I got extremely sunburnt.  So I was in no mood to post, then I got really busy at work, eh eh excuses, excuses.

So here are some good photos from my sick new Panasonic TZ5 (with 10X optical zoom!).  We went down to Santa Cruz with Brad and Amy to do a little beach day.  It was way fun.  I remembered to wear sunscreen.  We went to a restaurant on the beach called Margaritaville, and you guessed it, had margaritas.  Got back late and saw Dark Night which was awesome.  Christian Bale is a fave.

Got more pictures from that weekend coming up, but need to hit the sack now.

Lost Dogs on a lazy night...

By 3:00 today, I just wasn't feelin it.  Exhausted already and with the weekend and Seattle seemingly so far away, I blew off my big plans to hit up yoga and cook.  Went home and took a nap and then spent some time on the Ini' just trolling around, mostly on Garry's Posterous actually.  His latest post included a YouTUBES video, spoofing the lyrics of Pearl Jam's Yellow Ledbetter in the subtitles.  The opening chords really captured my mood and reminded me how much I love PJ and this song in particular.  After checking iTunes, I realized I didn't have the song, so I spun up NewsLeecher and got to downloading the record the song comes on, Lost Dogs (2003), double-quick.

Album was actually in FLAC format which my sophisticated audio software complex was not equipped for.  No problemo though, just download WinAMP and you're good.  I actually also employed this quick and easy method of converting to MP3 format so I could get the tracks into iTunes and eventually onto my iPizzle.  But even though I have the tracks in mp3 format now, I am really enjoying this compilation in FLAC.  The guys of Pearl Jam are real musicians so a lossless format really suits them.  You actually can tell a difference.  I'm serious.

But anyway, I will listen to this mellow album and work on my dinner of pita chips and avocado.  Sip my beer and read my books or maybe latest The Economist, before getting some sleep ahead of another early start....

Ridiculous Salad

Went a little nuts on the salad tonight.  Here is the list of things I put in it:

- Tuna fish (w/ hummus, chopped shallots and celery)
- Baby spinach
- Mushrooms
- Baby tomatoes
- Avocado
- Cucumber
- Calamata olives
- Feta cheese

Tastes great and I'm pretty sure its packed with lots of protein and good fats from the fish, olives, avocado and lite mayo.  Seems like a perfect post-yoga dinner.

Update - Finished the whole thing.

We Were Promised Jetpacks

When I first heard "Quiet Little Voices" by the Glasgow 4 piece on KEXP about a month ago, I thought, "This song rocks, but more importantly, that is the coolest name for a band EVER!"  I like most of their stuff I have heard so far.  However, I do look forward to the day when We Were Promised Jetpacks releases an LP so I can stop listening off their MySpace page.  I hate MySpace.  The puddle of vomit they call UX is going to make a whole generation go blind.

Point Reyes + Stinson Beach

Another great day with the SLF.  Cooked breakfast for once, cantaloupe and a delicious omelet (try it: spinach, mushroom, olives, feta).  Then we headed north across the bridge and into Point Reyes National Seashore to explore California's rugged coastline.  Afterwards, we stopped at Stinson Beach on Hwy 1 for our first beach day of the summer (Pebble Beach last weekend doesn't really count).  If you make it to Stinson Beach, try getting lunch outside at the Sand Dollar Cafe.  My Sand Dollar Club really hit the spot and she loved her Crispy Tofu and Avocado Sandwich.

Yeah and to clarify, the kid in the pictures is not ours.  He was just super cute so I shamelessly snapped a little shot of him.  Hope his parents don't mind...

July 4th in SF

Here are some pics from my 4th of July I spent with my super special lady friend from Seattle. 

For breakfast, we hit up this spot on Chestnut, The Grove Cafe (not pictured).  It was ok, but honestly, right off the top of my head, I can think of four breakfast places in Seattle (Coastal Kitch, THE Continental, CRAVE, Portage Bay) that are better than this place and the 2-3 others in SF I have tried so far.  If you have some solid suggestions, please, please comment.

We then took the bus to SFMOMA which unbeknownst to us, was closed for the holiday.  So after cursing the patriotic docents conspiring against us, we proceeded to wander around the city until we found ourselves back in The Marina, where my place is at.

Good music at sushi...

After working from 6a-7p, I grabbed sushi with Jeff.  Naked Fish is moderately good sushi restaurant on Chestnut St. in the Marina district of SF.  The sushi is good for quick weekday meal but I wouldn't recommend it for a nicer weekend dinner.  But tonight, I was satisfied and I got my omega 3s for the day, plus their music was pretty cool.  They played a song I recognized from KEXP Seattle and after asking about it, I was told it was "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John.  The song is from their 2006 album, Writers Block which is almost done downloading now.  Check it out...