Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas time in "The Town"


Christmas time in "The Town"
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
I'm settling back into "normalcy" after Christmas today. Work was busy but very quiet today, and I was actually quite productive. I even risked my personal freedom for art today, snapping this picture outside our office building just as a security guard came around to hassle me about taking pictures here. Apparently they have some sort of post 9-11 no photography policy that nobody really knows about. I actually intended to go back and retake this picture in a portrait orientation, but I guess after the stern warning I got today I'll not be showing up with a tripod tomorrow. What did I do for Christmas you ask? Well lets start with the weekend, Where W and I got some work done on our cars, new tires for the Mitsubishi, and a rotation for the jeep, plus the semi-annual smog check for the Mitsubishi. Next it was off to W's co-worker Morly's house for an open house. The invite said 5:30 to 8:00, and sure enough everyone bailed promptly at the prescribed time. We sat around and chatted and laughed for much longer than that. Sunday I worked, and you can imagine how crazy it was 2 days before Christmas. For Christmas eve I spent way too long hanging out at a Boston Market picking up the food for W's work party. I arrived at 1:00 just like I was supposed to, only to discover they couldn't find our order. I reordered, and they said they'd have it ready in 10 minutes. 60 minutes later a bag of food comes out that does not include everything I had paid for. I stroll up say its not all their and the cashier promises me they're making it up now. 30 minutes later when I decided I'd just take a refund and leave, the cashier disappears into the kitchen and comes out with my mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cornbread. I found out later I was still one cornbread and 2 gravys short of Christmas dinner. The lesson here? Pick up your food from Boston Market a day early, otherwise you can expect to get completely screwed. Its just going to sit in your fridge anyway, so pick it up early. Or just don't give those jerks your money at all. I went home and whipped up some braised short ribs for dinner and W and I cooked up more mashed potatoes and gravy when she got home. I actually spent Christmas day at the airport on purpose, enjoying a nice dinner that I'd worked way to hard for with W and her coworkers.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Getting Myself Straightened Out

So life is boring again with no pictures to take and no trips to plan. The highlight of the week is the arrival of Big Brain academy; Wii degree at the house. It's a game for the Wii that you're supposed to play a little bit of each day so you'll be smarter. It is to your brain what Wii sports is to your body. See that, I'm already smarter, throwing in an old school SAT analogy for your reading pleasure. Wendy and I stayed up way too late the night after her last final drinking gin and tonics and competing in brain tests. Work was not fun the next day after that. Last week was also the office Christmas party, and we played my second ever mystery game. This time I was the lawyer of a wealthy man who had recently been murdered. It was a fun role because it had a big speaking (reading) part, and I got to dress up. I rocked a bow tie for the occasion and won the prize for best dressed. I wanted to enjoy a few more drinks, but since only snacks were served I had to stop when I noticed I slurred a word or two. (Company party + drinks + empty stomach + reading a fake will in front of everyone= potential embarrassment)The weekend went by way too fast. I put in an extra 2 hours at the BRO since they're desperate for help this time of year and I have lots of little things to pay for. Which brings us to today when I began my invisalign orthodontic treatment. I have to wear the mouth pieces as much as possible and remove them when I eat, then I'm supposed to brush my teeth and floss and then shove them right back in. I can assure you I'm going to starve. Choosing between another snack or not having to brush my teeth for the seventh time for the day starts to be an easier and easier call. They're squeezing my teeth fairly hard too, and its occasionally uncomfortable. They're also not quite as invisible as I hoped, but that may be my own perception, not that of others who don't really seem to notice. In 18 months I should have a movie star smile. Things around the office are awfully quiet, I'm one of the few people not taking any extra days off. I really do wish I was going home for Christmas. Its been 3 years since the last time I was home for Christmas, and I'd really just like my yearly egg nog with mom after late night service and too wake up to a big plate of sticky buns and sour cream kuchen, and a cup of Barney's Santa's White Christmas coffee.

Friday, December 07, 2007

tschüs


Our second day in Munich began as we ate our typical German breakfast of bread, cheese and salami in our room. We needed to fuel ourselves for a busy day if we were
going to see anything in Munich at all. Our first stop would be the Enlishcer Garten. Its on the list of the must sees, so being good tourists we decided we'd start our day there. In order to get there we had to pass through the Hofgarten of the Residenz, where we snapped lots of pictures and explored. Then we got to the Englisher Garten and were nearly overrun by marauding ducks. Actually they were quite friendly and turned right around when they figured out we weren't going to feed them.

We studied the map and realized we couldn't possibly explore the entire park in the time we had so we wanted to at least go find the waterfall and then head on to the Residenz. The waterfall was gorgeous, and seemed like a really great thing to have in the middle of a city. After a few minutes taking pictures and enjoying the sights and sounds at the waterfall it was time to work our way to the Residenz. We wanted to see a castle while in Germany, and this was the closest that we were going to get.

No Surfing Allowed
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
On our way out we passed the best surfing in Germany, but I thought it was a little chilly for me to jump in. Even the Wikipedia entry describes this as an unenforced sign, it just made us laugh to see this crazy man surfing out in the cold.
When we get to the Residenz we're surprised to see how reasonable a ticket was, and the price includes free use of the self guided tour. We chose to see the treasury first, and realized we were in trouble when the description of the first item in the collection lasted at least three minutes. We had to choose carefully what to listen to or we would have been there all day.
There were some really great items in the collection, but alas no flash photography. So some of my pictures are either dark or shaky or both, You have to check your backpack, and I neglected to take my tripod out before checking my bag. Coolest items include the one pictured here, and the baby's rattle that was attached to a badger claw. I can't hear badger without thinking of the addictive phenomenon that is badgerbadgerbadger.com. After reviewing all the items in the treasury it was off to tour the rooms of the Residenz. It's huge inside and serves as what the tour called a "museum of decoration". The walls and the furniture were very interesting to look at, and we tried to speed through because we still had a lot of day to go.

Antiquarium
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
Not to mention the fact we'd already walked around a lot and our German breakfast was starting to wear off. If you make your way to Munich some day the courtyard and the Antiquarium shown here are absolute must sees. They are the oldest rooms in the Residenz and are amazing to look at the detail they contain. We were starving after our two tours, so it was time to grab a pastry and a coffee at the San Francisco Coffee Company. I know it sounds ridiculous, but the coffee was quite good, and we sat at a little table outside and had a nice little rest. Our next mission was to check out the Victualmarkt, a farmers market where your average resident of munich shops for food for the next few days. We detoured to get some lunch and bumped into the Christmas market, so we wandered around downtown menu shopping for the perfect lunch. The last street we turned down before committing to a restaurant led us to the world famous Hofbrauhaus. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the prices were reasonable, and they had the red cabbage that Francie wanted to eat and the Schweinhaxen that I wanted. We pulled up at a table (you seat yourself wherever and with whomever you can and wait patiently? for someone to come wait on you. We had some giant beers and a delicious lunch and overall a pretty fabulous time. By the time we got out it was time to explore the Christmas market, enjoy some more gluhwein and take in the Glockenspiel for its 5:00 performance. We position ourselves nicely with cameras in hand, and waited. Except that for some reason the moment never came. Long after the 5:00 church bells rang the clock stood still and we had to move on. I'd been called a glockenspiel many times in life and was finally about to witness one in action, and it left me more than a little disappointed.

Sunset at the Christmas Market
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
Hmm, Guess this just means I have to go back. We took in the rest of the market, visited the frauenkirche, (No pictures inside of course) and then were ready to go back to Tollwood for dinner. We grabbed some brats and some crepes and then sat down in our same tent from the night before and enjoyed a beer. It was a great finish to our day. The next morning it was off to the train, still a nice short walk from our base camp at the courtyard marriot for our 45 minute ride out to the airport. We scored sweet first class seats on our way to Washington DC. I watched one movie and crashed for the next six hours. Customs in D.C. is ridiculous, but we managed to get to the first San Francisco flight just in time. We sat in the back, In 3 of the last six seats, but at least we got home safe. It was bumpy in DC and I felt sick most of the way, but I'd survived another crazy adventure. We barted home and went straight to bed, real life was waiting for me on Tuesday morning

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Guten Tag Munchen


Night Time Cathedral
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
This weeks adventure began with my alarm at 4:45 a.m. on Friday, which brought me back to an old familiar place. I jumped in the shower, grabbed my carry on bag and rushed out the door for the 5:45 bus, just like I used to do back in my first days at the MOHP. The Newspaper guy was shocked to see me so early again, it has been at least 2 years since I was on that schedule. Every working day he sells me a Chronicle for 25 cents, and even lets me borrow one on the one day a month or so when I forget to grab a quarter on the way out the door. The same guy was driving the 6:08 BART train too. He always pulls up to the station waving both hands, and sounds just like Bootsy Collins when he makes the station announcements. I crammed out a bunch of work in the morning and grabbed an 11:40 train to the airport to meet up with W and traveling bud/awesome dinner party hostess Francie. We knew there were only 2 first class seats for 3 people, but W graciously offered it to me, knowing that she'd have 3 of the roomier economy seats (trademarked name intentionally omitted) to herself. Just as I was finishing my second glass of preflight champagne, a flight attendant comes by with a new ticket for me and swiftly banishes me back to one of W's 3 magic seats. I was furious, but because someone who had actually paid for a business class seat that was broken wanted it, I had to go to the back. Francie provided us with the occasional first class ration, carting cheese, champagne, port and ice-cream back to us, and the flight attendants felt bad, and kept us equipped with beverages to ease our pain. 9 painful hours and a viewing of Transformers (again...) and Stardust later, we finally arrived in Frankfurt. We had decided that as long as the timing and the financials were right, we'd take a 3 hour train ride through the German countryside to Munich. It seemed like the perfect plan until we were faced with a 3 hour ride costing 100 euro per person, or a 5 hour ride costing 60 euro per person. We took option C, the one hour standby flight on a certain European airline that's a business partner of W's employer. Of course after we made that decision, we found out the flight was delayed. To compound the delay the had a plane change, and a crew change and once we got on the plane lots of seats were double booked including mine, so after shifting us all around we finally got under way. We finally arrived in Munich and grabbed our first German food, and then took the 45 minute train ride into downtown. After all the delays and this train ride we arrived at the downtown station a few minutes after our 5 hour train would have gotten us there. We checked into our hotel which was an extremely convenient walk from the train and made our way to the Aldi. We picked up lots of chocolate and goodies and some food to eat for breakfast, and then dumped it in our room. The front desk said we should visit the Tollwood Festival, it would be open until 10:30 and was easily walkable. They even gave us a real map and circled our starting and finishing point. It was a welcome relief from our Beijing post office incident.

Old and New
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

To get to the festival we had to walk by the Paulskirche, and it was just begging to have it's picture taken. We were hungry so I promised the girls I'd wait until we were on our way home. As we walked past the bells were ringing, and it was an amazingly powerful sight and sound. It seemed to be ringing all the way in to my bones. The festival was huge and crowded, but there was beer and food and gluhwein everywhere. Because it was a cultural festival, German food was actually the hardest to find, but find some brats we did, and then we settled in for some beers too. W's new favorite beer that we buy at the Englander in san leandro was on tap, so it was nice to drink the Franziskaner Weissbier directly from the source.

We settled for a while near some Mexican Tex mex food that included chicken wings? and a few other things that were more than a stretch at Mexican. We sat with a nice young German couple who at first pretended not to understand English but were quite helpful and fluent when I had asked W to try to interpret a sign for me, They snapped a picture for us too. After enjoying some food and drink we headed back to the hotel, I took some pictures along the way and we crashed early, it was going to be a big second day.

Monday, November 26, 2007

You signed me up for what?


So going to Germany to go to a Christmas Market sounded like a good idea, but take a look at what we're in for when we get there. We won't let the weather stop us, but it will surely be a stark contrast to the weather we saw on our first trip of the year to Bangkok. I just have to manage to stay focused enough to actually get some work done this week and do something fun to entertain Todd as he visits again this week. He's headed off to one of my favorite towns, Hong Kong. We thought for a brief minute about trying to join him, but the idea of seeing something new won the battle. W's Never been to Munich, but does speak German, so this should be a really great. As soon as W showed me Munich's Christmas market website I was sold. You should check it out here. Be sure to check out the pictures link.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Turkeys and Retail or Retail Turkeys

I finished the last China post without even telling you the last of the story. We knew from Betty's handed down knowledge that we should prepare to leave the Hotel about 9:45 a.m. to give us plenty of time at the airport to get last minute souvenirs and to hit the Olympic store. We finished packing, had a leisurely breakfast and made our way downstairs with all our junk in tow. ( I personally hate to pay for luggage service at a hotel, but given how much junk we had I made an exception to my policy) We got in a cab, the first one driven by a female of the trip and were comforted by the fact that she didn't drive like she had something to prove. Most of our other freeway trips were driven as if lane lines and common courtesy had not yet been invented in that part o f the world. My opinion changed however when I realized she'd craftily covered up the meter and asked to be paid far more than what the fare should cost. We discussed for a few minutes and agreed upon something a little more reasonable and were on our way. Our trip through passport control was actually pretty easy, and we were actually given boarding passes for business class seats at the gate. We shopped some more picking up the magnet I was contractually obligated to bring my boss (she's a magnet collector, she got one from Hong Kong too) and a few final things at the Olympic store. We then found a nice quiet Hawaiian themed cafe within earshot of our gate. As we're sitting there they call us up and say we have one upgrade, will you split up? I love the lay-flat seat of first, and W actually prefers the business seat, so we said yes. A few minutes later they called us again and had managed to find 2 First class seats!!!! We even traded with someone to sit together and settled in for our flight. I got to see the Simpsons Movie and Transformers and thoroughly enjoyed the good life for 10 hours.
Real life came calling again once we got home, but thanksgiving has been a nice diversion too. We ordered the Boston Market turkey breast with all the trim. Friends Michael and Cyrus came by to help us celebrate, and we chatted and laughed until it was time go to bed early. W and I both worked, because I sold my soul at the BRO so I could have next weekend off. What could possibly be worth going to work on black Friday for? Well, we've got one more adventure to squeeze in, more to come. By popular demand I've included a picture of that which made our last day in Beijing so difficult. This is a sample of what we had done, if you want to see the rest, you really should come visit us.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Beijing Day 4


100_2115
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
On our 4th and Final Day in Beijing we decided we should finally get over to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden Palace. We started with a quick breakfast with Betty before she took off, and then had to fugure out how to get our enourmous set of frames home, so we had someone look into shipping for us and then mozied out to the square. It wasn't quite like I'd pictured it once we were there, mostly because there weren't actually any tanks trying to mow me down like the only image of the square I'd ever seen before, and it was painfully cold when we first got there. We wandered around a bit and then went inside the forbidden palace to get inside the walls and out of the cold air. The inside of the palace is pretty cool except they were doing maintenance on some of the larger rooms so we couldn't go in. We debated for a long time about getting the audio self guided tour, but were glad we didn't when we saw how much was actually closed for the winter. I guess this means we'll just have to go back sometime closer to tourist season. After taking in the wonders of the palace, we wandered around a bit trying to find a reasonable cab. Sometimes the cabs right outside of tourist areas find any way they can to charge you too much, so your better off walking away a bit to find a regular cab that will use the meter and take you where you want to go. We had the concierge give us the address to a shipping place that shall not be named before we left for the morning so we went there next to see about shipping our stuff home. W is supposed to get a corporate discount, so we figured that would be the way to go. We could not get anyone there or on the phone to actually acknowledge the discount but at the very least they gave us a huge box until we figured out what to do. You should have seen me in the subway with this huge box on a train that was completely packed. When we were trying to get out at our station I had to wrestle like crazy to get it out and still only managed because I handed it around some guy that was standing in the door. So We stopped by the hotel decided we'd try to pad the frames and check them like regular luggage. That would require bubble wrap. I don't know about you, but I don't know the chinese word for bubble wrap, so once we got past that language barrier the conceierge recommended the post office as a place to get some, and we could take the subway or just walk. Well the directions we got sucked, and we couldn't find it. After an hour or so of wandering we got in a taxi showed him the word post office someone had written in chinese for us even he didn't take us to the right place. Frustrated tired and hungry we got on the subway went back to the hotel and paid someone to run out and get us bubble wrap and tape. It was not good use of a vacation day. After getting all our stuff wrapped up we went for happy hour and then a delicous korean dinner. I had the most wonderful beef dish that came on a hot flagstone. Tired but with full tummys we went back to the hotel where we scored a massage for W and a place to sleep for me.

Beijing Day 3


Through the Arch
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
On our 3rd day in Beijing we had arranged for someone to pick us up and take us to The Badaling portion of the great wall, the best restored and most visited portion of the wall. It was rainy and overcast and cold as we left, and we thought we might actually see a little snow on the wall. We woke up early (around 5:30 a.m), Cashed in on our breakfast and said goodbye to Dave, and then jumped in our car for the 2 hour ride out to the wall. It stopped raining but was still cold and gray outside. As you can see from the pictures, my camera had trouble getting through all the low hanging fog, but it was reminiscint of a dark misty kung fu movie, exactly the sort of thing you'd expect to see if you believed everything you saw on the big screen. You start your journey on a chair lift (which having grown up in Florida and never been skiing I'd never ridden on before) that lifts you up to the wall. There were a few vendors at the start and a few other tourists there, but we managed to beat the big groups and it was nothing like visiting during the peak of summer tourist season. We started out in coats and gloves and hats, and as we climbed the steep stairs and hillsides we warmed up quite nicely and were down to just a long sleeve shirt by the time we finished. In my wildest imagination I never actually pictured myself standing on the great wall, when suddenly I looked around and realized there I was in one of the world's most amazing places. The views and the late autumn colors were amazing and the steep climbs and fast descents made it a really fun adventure. As more people arrived at the wall it was fun to watch the choices of footwear, including some high heel boots, that people chose for the climb. We walked out and back for a little more than 2 hours and were rewarded with a ride back down the toboggan ride. Picture a luge that you sit in, running down a curvy metal half pipe. Is it touristy and totally out of place? Absolutely! But was it really fun? You bet! Except for the people who went down before us were really slow and we stopped one time to let them get farther down, when someone crashed into the back of W and hit head to head. That was not so fun. She toughed it out though, and on she went. We then talked our driver Lucy into taking us to a roadside fish place for lunch. Picture a trout farm sort of place where someone scoops your lunch up with a net and then cooks it for you. They really wanted us to eat the sturgeon that they had sitting in the bottom of the pool, but you can't imagine how much that grosses you out if you see someone scoop it up off the bottom of the pool before you eat it. We passed and went for a trout looking fish instead. It came fried in a brown sauce and was awesomely delicious. We also ordered an Eggplant dish that was crisp on the outside and was the most delicious eggplant I'd ever eaten. After a huge lunch (The fish we got was huge, and we ordered too many tasty veggie dishes) we journeyed back to the city, napping along the way of course, and had Lucy drop us off at the spa Wendy and Betty liked. I sat and watched The Mysterius Island on TV and had a beer while they got massages. It was relaxing for everyone. We then proceeded back to the frame shop to pick up our goods and were very pleased with the results. We grabbed some snacks and some drinks at Happy Hour, and then it was back to the silk market for more shopping. I got myself a new backpack by totally turning Chinese culture upside down and insisting I couldn't pay the asked for price because W had all the money and would only let me have more than US $20 to pay for it. Meanwhile W was breaking the spirit of the purse lady in the booth across from my backpack. You do not want to negotiate with her. Then as the market was closing I picked up 3 pairs of shoes for about US$20 each that alleged to be much fancier brands than they likely are. One pair even claims to be made in Italy. By the time we took the very convenient subway home we were too tired to venture out for dinner so we tried to get some room service but for a second day in a row couldn't negotiate the phone system and decided to just go to bed.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Beijing Day 2


Fall at the Temple of Heaven
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

We didn't exactly set the world on fire getting out of bed on our first full day, but eventually made it for our breakfast at the hotel, they served a nice mix of english style breakfast and a few chinese dishes and lots of fresh fruit, including dragon fruit a new favorite of mine. Our first stop was the framing store to get a few of my pictures framed. We needed something else to decorate the walls of our house and wanted something to remember our travels by. So we had lots of decisions about frame styles and matting to make. We then grabbed a snack at a cute little French bakery that I really should have taken a picture of so I'd remember it now, but life's like that some times. Then we decided we wanted to go see the temple of heaven. We didn't have one of the hotel cards that had it's name written in Chinese, but randomly Betty had a postcard with a picture of it on it, and we jumped in a cab and said please take us here. it worked, and off we went. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and there were still some great fall colors to be seen. its hard to believe how much beautiful stuff is nestled in among this smoggy city of 7 million people. The best moment of the trip came when the four of us were huddled around a sign trying to figure out where to go next when a young Chines boy walked up to us with a big smile and waved and said hello. Our tourist instincts made us think he wanted to sell us something when in fact he just really really wanted live subjects to practice his English skills with. We were honored he chose us. We Grabbed an early meal at a really great Malyasian place called Cafe Sambal. They served really great samosas, a mango spring roll, a fried whole fish dish that was amazing, and despite the fact that we were sitting outside in the cold, we really enjoyed. We also had the four sided bean, a new vegetable for me that our waitress recommended, and I would gladly eat it again and again. Then it was off to the Silk market, which according to the shopping bags they give you is one of the 3 must do experiences in Beijing. (The great wall, and eating roast duck being the other 2) I got myself a nice new jacket right at closing time that is a super Polo knockoff.

Ni Hao Beijing!



When working to hard gets us down, sometimes we have to get out and travel a little bit. This time we decided on Beijing. We didn't plan much except for some shopping and we'd been referred to someone who could frame pictures for us, but other than that had done little more than book a room and start watching the flight loads. As the day to leave drew closer we suddenly realized the flight we wanted from SFO was really full. However the flight out of Washington (IAD) was nice and empty. All we had to do was get ourselves there by Friday morning. The red eye on our favorite airline was full, so we once again leaned on our friends over at Jetblue. Flying standby over there gets you a ticket right away, so as soon as we got our bags checked the rest of the day was pretty stress free. We arrived at IAD nice and early, so I rechecked our bag on Airline number one wandered back through security and we grabbed a quiet space in the terminal to get a nap. After nap time W's parents wandered through on their way to Frankfurt and hung out with us while we waited to be called for our Beijing flight. The also dropped me off a very nice birthday present. We got awesome business class seats, drank lots of wine and got to check out the movie Hot Rod, got a little sleep, and finally looked at a few of the guidebooks to figure out what we should do. We got to Beijing around 3:30 local time and met up with Wendy's friend Betty who flew in on the SFO flight. (she had to settle for coach) Then it was off to the hotel. The cab ride is already sort of long, but our cab driver decided we should take the scenic route and drove us around a bit more in an effort to run up the meter. It was actually pretty cool because we got to see the birds nest and the cube, so we didn't have to make a special trip out to see them later. Once we got to the hotel we met up with past travel buddy Dave, changed and went to the executive level happy hour. They brought us prepared snacks and you could pour your own drink, so we had to guard against getting too relaxed before even heading out for dinner. We had the concierge refer us to a place to eat some Peking duck. They sent us over to Quanjude, where we had to wait a while, but it was definitely worth it. To pass the time we sampled a bottle of a fortified rice wine that was powerful enough to knock you off of your feet. The duck comes out to your table whole, and some one comes out introduces the chef who will prepare it, and it is expertly sliced while you watch. It reminded me a lot of house of prime rib, except that it was about 1/10th the price. We crashed pretty hard ready for a busy day on Sunday.

One quick catch up post before the fun stuff


I can't possibly begin another post telling you how crazy I've been the last couple of weeks but lets put it this way, I earned myself some more comp time and needed a creative way to burn it, more on that to come. In the mean time we did survive the largest bay area earthquake since Loma Prieta in 89. The house shook for just long enough for me to crawl under a table and watch all of the pieces of furniture I hadn't tied back down after we put the new floor in. Nothing fell down, we were just pretty well shaken by the time it had finished. The seismological map looked like this

Monday, October 15, 2007

Prost!

This weekends adventure led us to San Francisco's version of Oktoberfest, the Oktoberfest by the Bay. We went on Friday night, which according to some other people I talked to was much quieter than the rest of the weekend. There were long tables in authentic Oktoberfest style, and The Spaten Oktoberfest beer was flowing freely. We also enjoyed some German Potato pancakes a delicious bratwurst with lots of kraut, a weiner shnitzel sandwich, some german chocolate cake, and some apple strudel. Its fair to say that this trip, and last weeks sausage and suds festival have not been diet friendly. We were responsible citizens and didn't drive all the way out there and proceeded to get ourselves stuck there when we couldn't find a cab in time to catch the last BART train back to the east bay (12:30 a.m.). We wandered around a bit and tried to call a cab but came up painfully short. Facing a night stuck in the city, Wendy's friend Dave (the same Dave from our Bangkok trip) picked us up and deposited us safely back in San Leandro. Needless to say we owe him big! Saturday brought us another win for both Auburn and USF, and to make matters more interesting losses for LSU and Cal. All of the Cal grads I work with had such sad little faces today. Auburn travels to LSU this week, and we'll be hoping for more than 9 points out of the offense, and an even more impressive performance out of the defense. USF has a tough Rutgers team on their hands Thursday night, so I'll be desperately trying to get out of the office at a reasonable hour so I can see the game.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Guardian Angel Frog


Guardian Angel Frog
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
This weekend W and I had a rare weekend of little work where we actually got to hang out. Saturday I got up early in the morning and rushed over to Ricky's to watch the Auburn game with the rest of the Northern California Auburn Alumni. They always have a good crowd, and I enjoyed a delicious waffle for breakfast during the first quarter. W and I then went for lunch and we snuck in a quick trip to costco and then tried to empty out the DVR some. I even got to sit and watch the UF/LSU game, making myself a temporary gator fan for the day. For the record that never works out for me. Everytime I root for those jerks they let me down. On Sunday I worked a quick shift at the BRO and W put in a few hours at work too, and then we went to the San Leandro Sausage and Suds festival. It was actually a lot of fun, with beers from our favorite pub, and we ate some delicious barbeque. Horrible for the diet, but a great way to spend an early fall afternoon. I have hidden my camera bag from myself, so I didn't actually bring a camera with me so I'm giving you this as a consolation picture:
Sometimes when we leave the porch lights on, we get a visit from this friendly frog who snaps up bugs and watches over the front door. Frogs have a special place in my house, so this one is always welcome.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Pennsylvania Hills


Pennsylvania Hills
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
I've been meaning to post for 3 weeks straight, so we definitely have some catching up to do here. Things were a little slow at the office, and we knew the madness of a quarter close and a financial forecast so a group of us went to San Francisco to eat at House of Prime Rib. It was fabulously good food in a really great atmosphere. I can't afford to eat there everyday, but next time I have some money burning a hole in my pocket or need to celebrate something it will definitely be at the top of my list. Last weekend was my good friend Adam's wedding. I met Adam while at USF, and we spent a lot of late nights working on group projects, and even more later nights at Applebees and the Copper Top in Temple Terrace. It was a fun wedding and required a cross country trip to Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania. Last Thursday I worked until 9:00 p.m., went home to finish packing and slept for a couple of ours before leaving for the airport at 4:00 a.m. We flew first class, where the featured coctail for the flight was bellinis. After 4 of them and a tasty quiche for breakfast I slept for the rest of the flight. From JFK we rented a Pontiac G6 that we really enjoyed that included the Hertz Neverlost system. It came in real handy since we had to move through 3 states in a short amount of time. We found a nice little restaurant called Haystacks that served addiction forming potato pancakes. Adam + Heather's wedding was a very nice little catholic ceremony and the reception was at the golf club pictured here. After the reception they had rented out the hotel bar so we huddled around a tv to watch the 4th quarter of the Auburn/Florida Game. Adam's a UF grad, and a lot of his fraternity brothers were there. They made the saddest little faces as both of Wes Byrum's kicks went through the uprights to win the game. We couldn't get on any flights offered by W's employer, but fortunately for us she gets a discount on Jetblue also, and there coach seats are nice and roomy and offer your own direct tv screen in every seat. I watched the simpsons and Family Guy, and then watched the sunday night football game. It wasn't first class, but it could have been a lot worse

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Sunset Cruise


Sunset Cruise
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
Since Returning from Hong Kong, I've been trying very hard to get back to normal life, including getting normal amounts of sleep and eating normal food again. Last monday I managed to work from 7:30 a.m. to 11:20 p.m. and was pretty much out of it the rest of the week. Our annual performance reviews were this week too, and mine wen't much better this year than last. On Friday My company's Finance Department annual event took place at the Dave and Buster's down in Milpitas. It was a nice reward for surviving the year, and got me out of the office for a whole day. W happened to be in that part of town too for a job fair for her internship, so she came and picked me up and played a few games with me.

City Lights by the Bay
Originally uploaded by jrherron.


On Saturday the company she's doing the internship for threw a party on a commodore events boat. It was a really great evening, and I snapped a few pics for your viewing pleasure. It was a little bumpy So I had to go easy at both te bar and the buffet, but it was really a great night. Back to the grind tomorrow... My boss was on vacation all last week, so this week should be interesting.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Farewell Hong Kong


Across the Bay
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
On our final day in HK we decided to split from the group to maximize the amount of ground we could cover. I got up early and made a run to the Delifrance that I had discovered was in between our hotel and the Mong Kok MTR station. Kinus took half the day off so that she could hang out with us and show us around a bit more. We took took the train down to the Tsim Sha Tsui station which just happens to be the last station on the Kowloon side. That gave us the opportunity to wander down to the waterfront to take some pictures.

Looking Down on Everyone
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

We grabbed a mango drink and then Kinus escaped from work and showed us a few of her favorite stores. Then she took us to a really great noodle shop where they only had one english menu that they kept hanging in the back of the restaurant. Fortunately we didn't need it, and we didn't accept the offer of a fork either. We took a ferry to the hong kong side, and Went to the observation deck at the International financial Center. From 55 floors up you can really see a whole lot of the city. The views were dizzying, and we took a little time to learn about the creation and history of Hong Kong money. We went from there to the most delicious sushi I have ever eaten. I have been absolutely ruined by how fresh and delicious it was. Believe it or not, we went directly from the sushi restaurant to meet a former co-worker of mne for dinner. We worked up a bit of an appetite getting there, but since we weren't starving we had several appetizers at a ritzy shanghai style restaurant. It was all things that I'd never had before, and were absolutely wonderful. We got done with dinner, strolled through Hong Kong park to the Peak tram. We took the tram to the top of Victoria Peak for some spectacular views of the city and the sorrounding areas. It was a perfect way to close out the trip. We went back to the hotel and met back up with the group and W went and got a massage. I was done, and got some sleep for the long journey back home. Our flight was decent, and I got to see shrek 3, oceans 13, and something else not good enough to remember too.

Final thoughts on Hong Kong. They have way cooler phone technology than we have. Everything is built absolutely straight up.Never has so much great food been gathered into one place. The MTR and the Octopus card are really the coolest public transportation inventions ever. I was dissapointed to have to ride old crappy BART when I got home.

Hong Kong at Night
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

Best Stairmaster Ever


Best Stairmaster Ever
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
More breakfast at the hotel bakery again today, and I'd need all the nutrients I could get, it would be a long day. After messing around and getting a slow start we went and had some lunch at the Cafe De Coral an HK institution of a Fast Food restaurant. Then we took a long ride on the MTR out to the place to catch the bus to the big Buddha. This bus was a little smaller, which was good because the road was even narrower to get there. W doesn't do buses very well, so its a good thing the views were worth the trip. A quick trip up the stairs and some walking around later and we got to do a little shopping for souvenirs. After another bumpy hilly bus ride we welcomed the caffeine and snacks at my new favorite cafe: Delifrance. We made our way back on the MTR and freshened up and then went for our only uninspiring meal of the trip at a restaurant I can't remember the name of at all. We spent a little time at the ladies market, and then ambled our way home and crashed hard again.

Temple Offerings
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

Dim Sum Anyone?


Dim Sum Anyone?
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
On Our first full day I wandered downstairs to the bakery in the hotel grabbed a pastry and a Cappuccino that wasn't very good and went to look for a quiet place to have some breakfast. I wandered up to check out the rooftop pool, but there was no place with shade to sit (It was already blazing hot at 7:30 a.m.) So I went back to our room. W was slowly waking up, and we were starting to think about a real breakfast. We went to breakfast a few doors down the road at Theresa's Coffee Restaurant. I had an English style breakfast that at least revved the engine a little bit, but it was still hard to be faced with all the hustle and bustle in there so early in the morning. After breakfast we dropped in to the Wellcome (a compact urban grocery store) across the street. My natural instinct was to check out a few of my company's products on the shelves, and I grabbed a couple to bring home. Then we moved on to Dim Sum!!! We ate at a place called the Kingsburg Seafood restaurant and If I've googled it properly it was in the Carnarvon Plaza, Tsim Sha Tsui. We ate and ate and ate and everything was soooooo delicious.

089
Originally uploaded by jrherron.


After Brunch we took the long double decker bus ride out to The stanley market, and spent the afternoon shopping.After the stanley market we found another great seafood place that was So so good. Any time you eat seafood in HK you have most likely passed your dinner still swimming in a tank on your way to your table. The freshness is amazing. The rest of the group was ready for a massage, but since that's not really my deal I went for dessert with our new friend and part time tour guide Komon. In HK there are dessert and drink shops everywhere, and inside are the most delicious drinks and mango dishes you can possibly get your hands on.. After dessert I went back to the room and attempted to wait for the group to get home, but was powerless to fight the need for sleep

Welcome to Hong Kong


Welcome to Hong Kong
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
It's taken me a few days to get my legs back underneath me, but I'm finally ready to sit down and tell you about my whirlwind visit to Hong Kong. My vacation Didn't really get started until after I phoned in to a meeting, So from we had to be at the airport early so I could clear security and find myself a nice quiet place to sit and take notes about the meeting. We didn't make the first flight, but knew the second one was nice and empty. After my meeting finished I got introduced to my travel group for the week, and ff we went. We Got Quality business class seats and I got to catch up on my early summer blockbuster movies. I saw spider man 3, Fantastic 4 and something else that wasn't even good enough for me to remember only a week later. As you can see from the picture the skies over Hong Kong were clearer than usual for our arrival, and as I looked down I realized I was unlikely to cover more than a tiny fraction of this enormous city in the 3 full days we had to get around. We jumped off the plane and found a couple of taxis over to our hotel, The Metro Park Kowloon. We checked into our small but comfortable room, changed clotes and Went out on our First Hong Kong adventure. Our Tour Guides Kin and Annie led us to this crowded but authentic Seafood restauarant that even If I lived there I wouldn't have found for years. It was in the Aberdeen Neighborhood, and Our group was clearly the only non-natives there. We also met up with Todd's girlfriend Kinus, and got to hang out with her a good portion of the weekend. It took me a while to get past the fact that you had to sanitize all your dishes and utensils in a bowl that you fill with hot tea, but once I got past that the food was delicious. I ate my first ever Mantis shrimp (I'll spare you the name it is commonly called) and ate lots of clams and shrimp and crab. We took a bus and a rather long walk back to the hotel, and made my first use of an Octopus card. You can literally use it almost everywhere. Every train, bus and ferry, and many grocery and convenience stores. Speaking of Convenience stores in HK you're never ever very far a way from a 7-11 or a circle K. At that point it was time to crash, It would soon be Our first big day.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

A much needed reward



I worked enough the last two weeks to earn myself a few comp days, which i certainly have earned. I'm going to find an interesting way to spend them that I'll get to later. While working so hard to learn my new job I've been squeezing in lots of time to play on the Wii. This week I'm investing a lot of energy in Mario party 8. It's an addictive force in our house and there are even things that require small quick motions that W is better at than I am. W's internship bought us a couple of tickets to Great America, and we used some of her Marriot rewards to get a free hotel stay in Santa Clara. We dragged the Wii with us, only to find out that we couldn't actually hook it up to the TV. To add insult to injury there was a fire at the hotel and we had to evacuate. The trip wasn't all bad though, there was a Bennigan's near by so I got to have my first Monte Cristo in ages, and we ate large quantities of fried food all day including a funnel cake and the most delicious deep fried granny smith apples coated in sugar, and served with Caramel and Whipped cream. Oops drooling on the keyboard a little bit. A new Vietnamese place just opened up near our house, and I won't tell you how many tasty $1.95 Vietnamese sandwiches we've eaten in the last couple of weeks. So things are pretty slow at work this week, and with a 3 day weekend coming up, W and I decided we were ready to squeeze in a quick trip someplace cool. Today's winner: HONG KONG!!! That's right we'll be taking off Friday morning and returning on Wednesday. It's a short trip, we have lots to do, and I actually know 2 people in HK, so we'll even have friends to hang out with. You know me, you can expect pictures galore. I even woke up in the middle of the night to get you this. The solar system is a very cool place sometimes.

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Baseball on the Brain


Swinger
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
I've been working super hard lately transitioning between jobs, but I happened to luck into a Wii at the BRO last week. It is way more fun than I should have alone in the living room. Here you see me playing a little Wii sports baseball. W and I spend a lot of time playing the tennis and bowling games. She has some catching up to do since I have a whole lot of years of obsessive video game practice on her. We also managed to get out to an Oakland A's game this week, meaning I can scratch another major league ballpark off my list. So far we've got Tropicana Field, Tampa; ATT Park, San Francisco, and Mcafee Coliseum , Oakland.

Out in left field
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

We met a friend of W's at the park before the game for a little tailgating, and ended up having so much fun we went in late and left early. I guess the A's lost, but I wasn't really concerned either way.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The Simpsons movie is almost here!

I'm seldom very excited about movies coming out, but since my movie experience last week was so bad, I can't help but be excited about the Simpson's movie. I still have to get out and see Transformers too, but in the mean time I'm keeping myself entertained by watching and listening to this.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Light to Moderate Chop


Light to Moderate Chop
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
I've been busier than usual lately, but have made lots of cool discoveries worth talking about. W and I discovered the wonderfulness that is the Ghirardelli Factory Store here in San Leandro. We had always known it was close by, and I think we avoided it because of how much trouble we could get in if we shopped there frequently. It was as wonderful as you might expect, when you get out of your car the air is thick with cocoa powder from the nearby factory.
Work has been crazy, I'm trying to do my old job and my new job at the same time, so nights are sometimes late, and I'm often still thinking about work when I get home. It's worth it though, my new gig has turned out to be very interesting.
To celebrate ending the Fiscal year our management took us out to lunch and to a movie. There was a vote and Transformers lost to Harry Potter 5-4. I of course voted for Transformers because I was a boy in the golden age of transformers. I have to stop myself from buying toys right now every time I set foot in the BRO right now. It's hard because they're sooooo shiny and cool. We had a delicious lunch at Everett and Jones and then wandered over to see the movie. For the record I've not read a single book or seen one of the movies but I tried to stay open minded and judge the movie on its own merit. I spent most of the time trying to figure out who people were and why I should care about them, and when that got too hard I gave up and stopped caring. I was bored and had too much work left at the office to be sitting around not enjoying a movie. Even the fans of the series in the group weren't super impressed, so I didn't feel too bad.
On Saturday we went to one of W's coworker's houses and had a really great dinner party. We drank great wines, and ate food that was lifted from the Menu at the French Laundry. Our host poached salmon in 110 degree olive oil, and it was absolutely delicious. As is her habit now, W is off to Chicago for the week. We're working on planning a trip for me up there, so I can check off item number 25 on my lifetime list of things to do, catch a game at Wrigley Field. You know you can expect pictures of that from me.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Looking nowhere but up


through the sunroof
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
So we'll start with the big news, I accepted a promotion to financial analyst this week, which means a nice little 12.2% pay raise, an office that's not a pass through area for someone else's, and no more candy office. That probably means my days at the BRO are numbered. My boss sent out an email Friday that talked about how the rest of my group would be absorbing my responsibilities and lots of people wrote or called to say congratulations. It felt really good.

The Bridge
Originally uploaded by jrherron.


W came to O-town to pick me up and we discovered a great little sushi place right near my office. That could be big trouble. Then we wandered over to the city for some fun and had some beer and appetizers at Gordon Biersch. As usual I was good and picture happy. I've included some for your viewing pleasure.

Freeway
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

On the edge of something big

Tomorrow should be a big day at work, the interviews went well, and it turns out I'm the only real candidate. So all this week I've been arm wrestling with myself rather than the 3 other candidates I'd imagined were out there trying to take my job from me. They haven't said I got the job in so many words, but lets just say If I don't get it I'll be looking for another job tomorrow anyway. Its hot in the bay area this week, and the frogs are so loud right now I've had to turn up the TV just to hear it. I haven't seen any wandering around I'll have to go on a frog picture hunt some night.

Monday, July 02, 2007

A quick post to say I'm still alive


100_1023
Originally uploaded by jrherron.
Not much time or energy to post lately, so lets take care of a little business. First of all a birthday shout out to my mom, who doesn't mind too much that her son is occasionally so busy that she has to call him on her birthday. To be fair I was still at work, and I did feel bad about it. Its time to end our fiscal year, so I put in a robust 12 hours at the office today. Why have I been so busy? Well, both jobs keeps me hopping as usual, and Last weekend I sneaked all the way to L.A. to hang out with my dad's family who I've been neglecting for a while now. It was one of those sort of awkward days where the last time anyone saw me I was only this tall, which means there were very few faces that I actually recognized.

100_1023
Originally uploaded by jrherron.


I had a few pictures but the one of me and my dad has so much camera shake in it its not worth posting. This weekend W and I ran out to Lake Chabot Regional Park, which is where the attached pictures come from. I can't believe how close we live to this place and have never gone. We've totally been missing out. We walked a few miles of the bike trail and enjoyed a beautiful day to be outside.

Stop Spying on me
100_1023
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

I'm going to be working hard the rest of the week, so I'm staying home to rest on Wednesday. I also have some internal interviews this week, so think happy thoughts for me as I'm sitting across from someone I'm desperate to convince I need a new job.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Slowing down after a crazy crazy week.

fox on a golf course
Last Friday I took off to Florida and started a whirlwind week that I'm just now starting to think about everything I've done. I got into Sarasota late Friday, hungry, so my mom and I took the opportunity to visit steak and shake to have a shake and some cheese fries. I tried to go to bed early, but given my change in time zone, I couldn't get to sleep until far too late. The annual Cathryn Herron memorial golf tournament was nice and early the next morning, and I played about as badly as you might expect for a guy that only has golf clubs that live in Florida. We had a great turnout this year and made $5,500 to give out in scholarships for this year. There was a fox running around on the golf course,and he took time out of his busy schedule to pose for me. Saturday evening Mom, Donna and I Went to El Greco for some Greek food. I had a delicious lamb shank and some tiramisu, but the best moment from dinner was trying to pronounce a dessert we nicknamed the "Galactic Burrito". Its real name is Galaktoboureko.
Petey AKA BiteyI then hung out with Todd at his new crib, and got a nostalgic bite from my good friend Petey. Sunday it was home again, just in time to prepare for a visit from W's parents. W's cousin Grace was graduating, and having a birthday, so we needed to celebrate.


Golden Gate Fog
We had drinks at the top of the mark, where they have delicious $12 martinis and fabulous views of the city and the Golden Gate bridge. We pounded out more trips to restaurants than one person can normally handle, eating at Frank's Saloon in San Leandro, Louisa's Italian Restaurant in San Francisco, The Englander in San Leandro, and IL Davide in San Rafael. We stayed up in Marin Friday night at the Embassy suites there, and I took a walk with the camera and took some pictures at a nearby park. I won't bog down your computer with any more pictures in this one post, but you can find them on my flickr page. I had a rare day off on Monday, so I spent some quality time at home with the Calvinator, He's been here for 2 weeks and leaves on Wednesday. It will be nice to have the bed back to ourselves, but we'll definitely miss having his company

Sunday, May 13, 2007

The empty house

Mr. Calvin went home today, so its just me here at the house. At least I have my screaming woot monkey to entertain me.



The neighborhood cat is hanging around too. He was nice enough to pose for a photo. He is not nearly as mean as he looks here, he is quick to roll over and show you the belly, and often guards our stairs.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

My newest internet addiction


I have, on occasion, been known to spend a lot of/too much time on the internet (when I actually have time to burn) It is how this blog got started, and how I get away from the occassional mind numbness that comes from being a spreadsheet jockey for a living. My newest addiction is Flickr. You can upload tons and tons of photos and describe them and share them and look at what other people are taking pictures of. Then people come look at your pictures and make comments and put them in groups. Its just the sort of reinforcement my budding photo-nerdiness needs. If you look over there in the sidebar you'll see a link to my "photostream" with some flash previews. My active photostream is limited to 200 pictures, so I'm having to choose carefully what pictures I like the best and think that other people will actually find interesting. I'm sitting at home today wishing I was in the same place as W, she's wandering around Bangkok again, heading for the weekend market tomorrow. I am soooooo jealous, but with my meager 2 weeks of vacation I have to sit out some trips. At least she was nice enough to go someplace I've already been so I don't have to imagine the pictures I'd be taking. At least I have Calvin to keep me company. We got some exercise yesterday and I snapped off a few at W's request.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

An adventure requiring more recovery time


My trip to Tennessee turned out to be a little easier to start than I expected. I had fully anticipated that the flights would be too full for me to make it but suddenly on Wednesday the red-eye to IAD was moved to a larger plane, and there would suddenly be a seat for me. I rushed home and packed my things in 45 minutes and grabbed a cab back to the BART station. I made the flight and found myself in Nashville 15 minutes before most of the rest of my family arrived. We rented a Hyundai Santa Fe, which turned out to be a nice piece of machinery and off to Shelbyville we went. I managed to forget a ton of important stuff like jeans and ties, but other than that I was pretty well prepared. We managed to have far more silly fun than people gathered for a funeral should have. It turns out things like using farm equipment, lifting stuff, cleaning stalls, taking care of livestock, and riding the 4 wheeler are all pretty fun. I certainly don't look too sad above. The services for my uncle were actually very nice. I still haven't learned to like viewings, but sometimes they are a necessary evil. The memorial itself was really great, the minister said something wonderful about how Carson was a man who needed a brace to walk, but never ever let that be an excuse not to do something that many able bodied people would not be able to handle. There was however an awkward interruption when someone (Despite the minister's warning at the beginning) allowed their phone to go off in the middle of the final prayer. Here's a tip: when warned to turn your phone off do it, and skip the cheesy polyphonic "when the saints go marching in" ring tone. We spent my next to last night in town playing some poker, and the next morning got up, kicked everyone else out of the house and had some breakfast at IHOP and a Cherry Lime Aid at Sonic. Then my Uncle and I accomplished a good deal of farm work for 2 city boys and went out for Mexican food and beers for dinner. Monday brought another early day where we got out the door a little late but still should have made it to the airport on time. We stayed on the street level rather than taking the freeway, and it became painfully obvious we weren't going to be on time. I made the timing worse by needing to stop to throw up. We scrambled to the airport and I got to the gate to see the door already closed. I started to feel worse, and was running back and forth to the bathroom as quickly as I could sit down. I took a nap in the airport, but I couldn't hold down any water or any of the pills I was taking so I checked myself into a motel and decided to sleep it off. Turns out 3 other members of the family were busy going through the same ordeal. I finally made it home late Tuesday but it meant I totally blew off the training I had at work on Tuesday and Wednesday. Here's my favorite picture of the whole weekend, the three most mismatched amigos ever. On the left sleepy Asthmatic kitty in the middle the Guinea fowl that believes with all its heart that its a cat and at the bottom right the skittish cat whose best friend is a guinea fowl.