San Francisco, Part One

In case you haven't seen David Letterman's Tribute to Paul Newman from 29 September 2008:



And this one that talks about his charity work:



They made me cry, but I'm a wuss.

As usual, it's taking me forever to write a post. I've been back from vacation almost two weeks (tomorrow night), but I came home sick and very tired. I had a great time in SF and Vegas, although I probably should have switched weeks as the weather was iffy my first few days in SF and it was FREEZING in Vegas. I packed for 90F since that's what was forecasted when I left. Not so much really. And SF had to have its stupid fog which is the reason I'm so prone to bronchitis in the first place. True San Franciscans love that fog. I hate it which definitely indicates that I was never a true San Franciscan.

Schneider pointed out to me last week that every time I travel I get bronchitis. And I agreed with him until I just looked at my calendar. Yes, I did have bronchitis in February, but it didn't happen until a good 2.5 weeks after I had gotten back from Vegas, so there goes that theory. My personal favorite theory is that my lungs suck canal water which is more appropriate than sucking rocks.

I, being completely addicted to yarn and having zero self control when it comes to yarn (and books and CDs and DVDs), should not have gone looking for yarn stores when I was in SF, but I did anyway. The very first full day I was there, in fact. I was heading out of the house on Thursday [I got in so late Tuesday night and then stayed up an additional few hours drinking wine with Suzy and talking and catching up that it was pretty late in the day (2:00-ish) when I finally got into the City on Wednesday] when I discovered that I didn't have a key to the apt. (I had one to the outside door), so I called Sal at work. In the end, his partner came home and we ended up going out to lunch at a vegan restaurant and then walking downtown to the yarn store on Sutter St. OMIGOD, this place was yarn nirvana. The yarns were incredible gorgeous in color and in texture. I was so mad at myself for going there as I did NOT need more yarn. And if you remember, I have ZERO self control, especially when it comes to gorgeous yarns.

They had this model prominently displayed and I had to have it (a tad overpriced I must say, pattern-wise) in this color (Color 09 of Tantra – just in case).

Right next to the Tantra yarn was Sylph which I had to have in color #14 (at least, I think that's the color – it's showing too red on my computer screen). I thought I behave myself pretty well considering I really wanted Kyoto in color #35

After I escaped from Pure Temptation aka Art Fibers, I called Soyon and left her a message saying "I've been really bad." She called me back and asked, "You were really bad? Or really mad?" "Really bad." "Were you just in a knitting store and bought yarn?" Ah, does she know me or what? So, I told her about the place and how they had a website which she immediately got on and I told her about Tantra and she asked, "How far are you from there?" "A few blocks," I replied, whereupon Sal's SO stopped dead, looked at me, and turned around to head back to the store. She wanted the Tantra in the yellow that the pattern is shown in (she can wear yellow, I can't unless I want to appear to be sans clothing). And then she wanted Tsuki (I was very proud of myself for not buying Tsuki for myself as I ADORE mohair) in a very light grey color. She cussed at me for calling her, but how could I not share such a fabulous yarn store with her? I'm very proud of myself for not buying more yarn when I went back the second time, especially Tsuki.

A week after I had been there, I got an e-mail saying they were closing their store and going to be a mail order business only. It's a bummer but understandable as I can't even begin to imagine what their rent in prime downtown SF must be. As nice as their website is, it doesn't do justice to the unbelievable sublimeness that is their yarns, as you can't feel them or really judge the colors properly. Sad.

Thursday night, we, of course, watched the vice presidential debate and played the drinking game. My aunt came by after work (she was leaving for Detroit early Saturday morning, so I wouldn't see her otherwise) and she watched it with us. Since she was driving, she drank iced hibiscus tea (yummy!), but I was worried she wasn't going to be able to make it home w/o peeing her pants with all that damned "change" and "maverick" –iness going on in the debate. I'm pretty sure we made up some rules as the debate progressed, but it was a good 3-4 weeks ago at this point and I don't remember what they were, although one of them might have been to drink whenever she would wink at the camera. Oy vey. That was freaking annoying.

There was a remarkable lack of true sightseeing happening in SF. I hung out with friends, ate at all new restaurants (except for Thai Stick because I had to have crispy crunchy tofu), although I did go to the brand new California Academy of Science with Knucklehead. It was very cool and while I didn't have the childhood memories she had, I did enjoy my time there.

Today is Mom's birthday and I'm due at Grandma's country club at 7:00 p.m. for dinner. Problem with the country club is the "no jeans" rule. *sigh* Makes Grandma happy though and isn't that what is actually important? I gave Mom her presents on Sunday after church when I took her out for breakfast - we went really high class and hit the IHOP. I knit her a fabulous silk/alpaca scarf in a very pretty blue. I told her that I wanted it to be her signature piece. She didn't seem to know what I meant by that.

Grandma moved into assisted living and somehow managed to get a two-bedroom apt after all. She moved into a one bedroom and then the following week or so a two bedroom opened up, so she moved right up into that and apparently it's the biggest apt. in the place. She has new furniture and she's looking forward to taking knitting class which they supposedly offer there, but they haven't had one since she moved in. I gave her some yarn and two pairs of my favorite knitting needles Labor Day weekend and now she's just waiting for the class.

This past weekend we, as in southeast Michigan, got rain the entire freaking weekend - 3-6" apparently. I thought about Fermicat the whole time wondering if we were getting Georgia's share. Sure we hadn't had rain since July, but nothing compared to them and I feel guilty getting rain when they're in such dire straits. Not that we don't need it, too, but I think they need it worse. Of course, I'd rather get the rain now and let them get the wet stuff in the winter when here it would be white crap falling from the sky.

Have I mentioned that I'm heading off to San Francisco at the very end of the month (late on Sept. 30) and spending 9 days there and then off to Vegas to spend time with my racing friends who I haven't seen since April (except for HRH who I just saw Labor Day Friday and will see again this Friday)? The plan is to go back to the Valley of Fire. Other than that, my only plan is to get my Champ Car tattoo with HRH. She wants hers on her ankle. I'm against the ankle as I hear it's really painful there. I discussed the tattoo placement with Ursula who is my tattoo guidance counselor. I want it somewhere which isn't too obvious, too painful, too white-trash or too tramp-stampy...which leaves the inside of my left wrist where I can hide it with my watch.

Oh, I never updated you on the Big Milk Issue. I hated the soy milk - had I told you that part? - so I went with rice milk/drink the next time around and I have to say that it's MUCH better. I haven't tried cooking anything with it yet, but it's working out fabulously with my cereal, which is 90% of my milk usage.

I have no clue what's going on in my city but there are police sirens going constantly! When I was walking home a police car went SCREAMING down Oakwood. And I had to walk *in* Oakwood to get home because of all the roadwork occurring on all the streets around my home - including my very own street which is torn to hell. In fact, I'm not sure there's a street in the western half of my city that's not under construction. I'm wondering if they'd be better off doing ONE street at a time and concentrating all the workers on that one street for a shorter period of time than disrupting a good number of streets and displacing numerous people's parking spots. Of course, if this helps the drainage issue (supposedly they're putting in much larger pipes for the sewage or whatever) and it's done quickly enough, I might regret my whining. I'll keep you posted on how long I have to fight for parking with the apts. dwellers on the other street.

See why I haven't been posting? You'd have been even more bored with the nothingness I have to report. ;-)

Have a lovely week!