Opera in the Gardens; PIT bull run-in at dinner

After an unhealthy Filipino breakfast in Daly City followed by a healthy dose of window shopping at Room & Board, Pablo and I met up with Abbey, Dalan, and Lori at Yerba Buena Gardens behind the Metreon to watch members of the San Francisco Opera in a live two-hour performance. It's a crime that the orchestra members were wearing black under the bright sun. Many of them wore hats, but I can't imagine that they were all that comfortable.


The Dalai Lama teaches us to respect and care for all living things, whereas the slightly less well-known Dalan Lama instructs us to respect and care for all farmer tans.


After the performance, a tri-tip sandwich, and a quick jaunt up to Union Square, we all met up at Le Soleil Authentic Vietnamese Cuisine at 133 Clement. We ran into Irene, one of our fellow volunteers for a cancer support non-profit organization. She recommended the raw beef salad, but this time we opted for, among other things, the sizzling beef & noodle inferno...


So this one family sitting in the corner had a little princess-in-training (PIT) at the head of the table. She wouldn't drink from her juice bottle until she was satisfied that everyone had toasted her bottle. I'm guessing she had an early jump on the "terrible twos", because all she could do was glare at me when I waved hello and smiled at her. There was too much foot traffic to have a good staredown. Perhaps she was jealous because she saw my shaved head and thought, "Something doesn't seem right about that big baby over there, and I don't like it." Sorry, you little PIT (bull). If it's any consolation, my nephews and nieces are all cuter than you.

Dum Dum Dum Dum Da Dum Dum Da Dummmmm...

So today Star Wars Episode III opened in theaters across America. I wonder if Jar Jar bites the dust...perhaps by "friendly fire" or, better yet, by "friendly Force"...

Back in Spring 1997 my sister was about to get married. Her fiance came over to the house a few days before the wedding. We were joking around, and for some reason I came up with the idea to whistle the Darth Vader theme whenever Mom walked into the room. She didn't catch on until the next day when my sister told her.

"What? You think of me as Darth Vader?!!! You're bad!!!"

It's okay. I'm still Mom's favorite. It's easy when 1) I'm the youngest, and b) we share the same birthday. Tough luck, sibs - let my reign of terror continue...

Love, "#1"

The Pacific Ocean is overfished...

...and I have proof! Not one of the four salmon my friends and I caught yesterday WNW of Half Moon Bay met the minimum 20-inch size limit. All of the private charter boats (ours was named "Gravy" - get it?) had a hard time trolling for salmon today. The 4th and final "shaker" was close, maybe an inch short, but as the saying goes, "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades". So much for bringing Victor some salmon fillets. Oh well, it was still better than being in front of a computer all day on a Monday.

I was told that on the last trip, the largest salmon caught was mauled by a sea lion as it was being reeled in, leaving Jeff with only the fish head (hmm, sake kama sounds pretty tasty). I suggested that it would be neat if that happened again, only this time a great white shark or killer whale could rise from the depths and poach the poacher. After all, we weren't that far SE of the Farallon Islands, which happens to be a great white shark "sanctuary".

It could have been more exciting had we been shanghaied by the crewmen of this Yang Ming cargo ship.


Jeff (R) & Carl do very convincing impressions of disgruntled salmon fishermen...


Craig managed to billy club (he couldn't find a Canadian hakapic) an endangered northern Californian Pantone 200 point seal (Chris), laying unconscious in the background...


Hmmm - maybe we should have stolen some Dungeness crabs from the crab pots we spotted on the way home. Once caught by the authorities, our excuse could be that we had succumbed to the hypnotic quality of the Alaskan king crab fishermen documentary series, "Deadliest Catch", currently airing on The Discovery Channel (Tuesday nights at 9). "Yes officer, I admit it. I was Jonesing for some Dungeness..."

B2B 12K 2005

1:26:42 for 12 km (or ~7.46 miles)

11:38 per mile average
5.16 mph average (ok, so we're not out to set PRs)

I kept pace with Del, Pablo, and Catherine. Del, Pabs, and I always stick together for this footrace, never leaving someone behind. I pretty much let Cat set the pace most of the time. She probably could have set a faster pace, but she did well for her first Breakers. Del was having the hardest time, but for some reason he didn't ask us to slow down, so we kept going. I figure that a "bio-break" for Del & Pabs in the park added about 2 min. to our time, so overall we're pretty pleased with our "team" result. Rachel and Ray (not to be confused with the Food Network's Rachael Ray) were a bit ahead of us, finishing a little less than 3 min. ahead of us.

Now to convince all of them to do the Wharf to Wharf 6M on July 24th...

This year I ran into Stefan (climbing friend from PGB) and Fargol (co-worker) during the race. After the race I ran into some other friends: Stephen, a friend who ran the LIVERight 5K a while back; and Stacey and her b/f Billy. Stacey spotted NFL great Jerry Rice, who waved when the three of us shouted his name repeatedly...

Anyway, it's time to start training seriously. These races are much more fun when I'm in shape...

The "Eating Machine" revisits the Swan Oyster Depot

After hitting the Bay to Breakers expo, I met up with a couple friends at Swan Oyster Depot (1517 Polk St., 1 block east of Van Ness, north of the intersection with California St.) for brunch. We had great timing, as we just beat the formation of a long line out the door and up the sidewalk. I had a cup of Boston clam chowder with oyster crackers, some Kumamoto oysters, 3 types of clams, a prawn cocktail, a Dungeness crabmeat salad, a pint of Anchor Steam, and a Pepsi. What a nice way to "complete" my training for the 2005 Bay to Breakers 12K...

Hippo Birdie Two Ewes...

Happy 28th to Loke! To this day I tell people how back in Oct. 2002 we met, and you looked me over, gave me the benefit of the doubt, and asked, "So, how was your race?" I guess I looked enough like an Ironman triathlete. Ha ha ha...you're too kind...

Happy 33rd to G1! I'm still waiting to hear a live guitar performance, buddy...

Bruises and broken eggs

So I'm at my usual Japanese restaurant for dinner with a friend, when she shows me a bruise on her wrist. She just realized she had it when she put weight on her hand at the sushi bar. It reminds me of other friends who also discover X-Files-worthy contusions. Ha ha ha...


Victory is mine! I took a raw quail egg in my right hand, placed it lengthwise between my thumb and index figure, and squeezed it, whereupon it violently shattered and sprayed my waterproof jacket. It was difficult, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to do the same to a regular raw chicken egg. I failed my first several attempts the previous week at the restaurant, but hey, you never know...

5K in Golden Gate Park

Saturday, April 30th, 2005
My second time out jogging after having the flu, and I somehow managed 31:35 (10:10/mile) over the easy XC course. I HATE being out of shape. Anyway, this is a group hug to deal with the pre-race jitters.


Rachel and I are on the right, lining up for the start...