Rays of Light (3:45 to 4:00 pm)

Great Highway across from the Beach Chalet

At Great Highway and Sloat Blvd

Great Highway on the way up to Skyline Blvd

Sunday morn walk across the Golden Gate Bridge

The kids on Haloween

Kyle 7, Marc 12, Brit 11, Jake 1.75

Witchy-poo was featuring a little too hard.

Web Guild hosts Social Media Stratgies

twitter feed – http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23sms08

#sms08 wall of shame

PBR

Enjoying a sunny day at Taylor’s after work

With friends like B:Rad throwing back dozens of PBRs. In cans, no less.

Steven’s surprise SF visit

Big 38 at AsiaSF

$ 10,000  !!

George Michael Bluth = SF Social Climber

The angry boy a bit too insane
- – - – -
I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend

Caught zooming through a FasTrak-Only lane

It happened after the charity golf tournament. Lori and Emily hitched a ride back to the City with me. We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and approach the toll plaza, but I wasn’t paying attention and ended up in a “FasTrak Only” lane—no toll collector, just a scanner looking for a FasTrak permit on my car. Oops. I zoomed through accepting the fact that several weeks later I can expect a hefty carpool violation ticket in the mail.A couple weeks later the dreaded FasTrack letter arrived. I didn’t want to know how much the fine was. I just wasn’t interested. To this date that piece of mail remains unopened. Several more weeks go by and another FasTrak envelope arrives with “Delinquent” in red ink staring at me. Did I open up this letter? Not right away. I let i t sit on my desk. Two more weeks pass—there are random notes and telpohone numbers covering both back and front of the envelope. Tonight I finally had the courage to open it up. Original fine = $40. (I was expecting something like $200+). Delinquent on top of the fine = $75. And there’s a final due date listed in bold letters, which coincidentally is TODAY!No time to be upset, I scan the letter for a URL hoping I can pay the fine online. It’s my lucky day.

• :: Bay Area FasTrak
• :: I type in the violation number and my license plate number
• :: I click on the first link and an image of my car pops up
• :: I read the instructions: Pay the fine or dispute it

Dispute is an option … Who knew? FasTrack-slackers can dispute violations online. So I write this slick draft (in Notepad), then I copy and paste it in the dispute box. I fail to see the “200 character limit” disclaimer, so my 1000+ character Aly McBeal-like argument gets truncated. I spend another hour trimming that sucker down to exactly 200 characters. This is what I submitted. Verbatim.

I seldom cross the GG Bridge, & I was not clear on Cash/FasTrak & FasTrak Only lanes. However, it was my understanding that a car w/3+ passengers is considered CARPOOL. There were 3 of us, so I thought I was OK passing through that lane. Thanks for your understanding.  

When we got to the toll gates,, it was 5 minutes before start of carpool hours. Cross your fingers…

I spy with my little eye something that starts with “F”

It’s one of those “Downtown Falcons” perching and showing off for binoculared people like us on the 24th floor.

Night & Day

This is what Steve’s been up to back in LA — Steve’s Savage Garden

So high… can’t come down!

Up, down, turn around…

I am one of the lucky ones with a window seat at the office. The image you see above is the view I have from my desk on the 19th floor. This isn’t a side view or a tip-toe and crane-my-neck view—this is what I see when I am facing directly forward. I am truly lucky and very thankful.

Planning this blog post brought back memories of living on the west side of losAngeles. On the weekends I used to ride my RockHopper along the beach path from Marina del Rey to Redondo Beach stopping to watch when airplanes would fly low overhead. I stopped to watch every time.

Speaking of stopping to watch… Have you ever stopped to watch a construction team erect scaffoldings on a tall building? I did that for the first time this week—it was AMAZING! Across the street from the historic PG&E building, I found myself stopping to watch a vertical row of workers passing pipes and wood planks non-stop up a single-file human assembly line straight up 20+ stories. It was an awesome display of strength, precision timing and teamwork. Of all days not to have my camera!

The next morning I remembered to bring my camera hoping to shoot some video on the way to the office, but they weren’t doing the single-file vertical line gig from yesterday.  I didn’t see any workers. When I got up to our office on the 19th floor, I looked out the window and saw the entire team working at the top of the structure. From my desk, I have a distant view of the Bay Bridge and a close up view of gothic spires on the roof of the historic PG&E building across the street. I pulled out my camera and clicked a few photos and shot 60 seconds of video while the team erected the top rows of pipes and planks. Some workers had to climb up, down and around corners without safety harnesses. Others had to balance along single pipes in order to hammer in connectors and perpendicularsupports. I can’t imagine doing that job, and have so much respect for those that live it every day.

You’d think the sight of construction would ruin my view of the Bay Bridge. Just the opposite—as people in hard hats climbed up, across, over, and down, it looked less like construction and more like a team of players floating around in a 3-D video game matrix. All this with the Bay Bridge in the background—my view became more interesting, even more incredible, almost surreal. I’m thankful not only for my million dollar view, but also for my new perspective.

Background music for this photo/video montage—
New Order’s Temptation

“Up down turn around, please don’t let me hit the ground…” 

The World Cup of Beauty

As a kid I remember watching Miss Universe pageants on TV with my parents. I could be wrong, but I specifically remember them airing the show from 10pm-Midnight (PST). Anyway, my mom would make me take a nap in the late afternoon/early evening if I wanted to stay up late and watch with her. These are some of the things I remember…

• My parents were always interested in seeing who was representing the Philippines. They wanted to know her last name or what town she was from. Or was she full Filipino or a mestiza. Our family moved to America in 1973, when I was 3-years old. Apparently Miss Philippines won that year and Miss USA was 1st runner up.
   
• I remember another year Miss Philippines was in the top 5. She was the shortest by far, and she wore some weird dress that went off to the sides and she had to hold her arms out the entire time. Miss Trinidad and Tobago won that year—she was the first black Miss Universe. That was in 1977.
   
• The following year, I remember asking my parents why Miss South Africa was white and not black. They told me there were both black and white people in that country, but they didn’t mention anything about Apartheid. The again, how do you expain that to an 8-year old? Miss South Africa won that year—1978.
   
• I also clearly remember an interview with Miss Israel. Bob Barker asked what she did back at home, and Miss Israel said she was a soldier. She followed up by saying she was really good at shooting with machine guns. I remember my parents talking how both men and women have to serve two years in the military after graduating from high school before they can go to college.
   
• My last childhood Miss Universe memory is of Shawn Wetherly. I remember watching her win Miss USA, she was from Hawaii. And I was routing for her to win because she was dating a 49er. Her boyfriend was Dwight Clark. This was in 1980. I was 10 years old.

I don’t have many adult memories of Miss Universe. However, the one I felt closest to was1996 Miss Venezuela—Alicia Machado. I really had no clue who she was until one day I saw a soundbyte of her on Entertainment Tonight. At the time she was getting so much heat from her home country and pageant officials about how much weight she quickly gained. And remember her saying, “So what if I’m a little chubby. Look at me—I am STILL cute!” At the time I was living in losAngeles, and it turned out I knew people who were good friends with her—David and Jose Luis. She would stay with them up at their house up in the Hollywood Hills when she was in town. They joked about how all of her Louis Vuitton luggage filled their entire 2-car garage. I never actually met her, but I think she’s awesome.

From Wikipedia

World Region	Wins	Countries
Europe	12	Sweden (3), Finland (2), France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Russia* and Spain
North America	10	USA (7), Canada (2) and Mexico
South America	10	Venezuela (4), Brazil (2), Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Peru
Central Am. Caribbean	8	Puerto Rico (5), Trinidad & Tobago (2), Dominican Republic and Panama*
Asia	7	India (2), Philippines (2), Thailand (2) and Japan
Africa	3	Botswana, Namibia and South Africa
Oceania	3	Australia (2) and New Zealand
Middle-East	2	Israel and Lebanon

*Russia had to step down one year and was replaced with the first runner up from Panama

Official Miss Universe website

 

Crocs

Boulder company Crocs makes non-slip outdoor sandals designed with airholes and made of a unique foam plastic that prevents foot sweat and odor. Hell-o! If you know me, you know I dig clogs. And you know I hate wearing socks. I love Crocs.

Crocs come in both standard and funky colors. Though I’ve gotten many compliments on my Crocs, I’ve had a few haters tell me they look like kids shoes or gardening clogs. My 4-year old nephew teases me about my clown shoes. Somebody needs to either grow up or pick on someone his own size.

 The unofficial Crocs spokesmodel  | These shoes rule, these shoes suck

   

Birkenstocks

eBay Store:  Midwest Sports Tennis and Sandals Featuring:  Birkenstocks

Birkenstock makes the grooviest, most comfortable sandals that retail anywhere from $95 – $125 a pair. I just purchased brand new sandals for only $41. Visit the Midwest Sports Tennis and Sandals eBay store, bypass the auctions and page through to the end of the listings where you can Buy It Now for less than $45 a pair. The price includes free UPS shipping. My package arrived three days later. Extra kudos to this eBay retailer for super-quick FREE shipping.

Eames Aluminum Group lounge chairs

Designer:  Charles Eames
Manufacturer:  Herman Miller

I found a good deal on eBay for a pair of vintage high back Eames Aluminum Group lounge chairs. New they would retail for over two grand a piece. They’re in great condition, and shipping across the country using Greyhound Express was only $50 total for both chairs.

Does anyone know where I can find a matching ottoman?

Eames Film Festival
Sponsored by DWR

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