Sam Francisco: 05/01/2004

I just finished making this necklace today. I am going to wear it at my Red Hot & Pink party next weekend!

Bay Meadow: A great afternoon out!

Another Birthday

Sunday May 30th 2004

Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of our good friend Vinny who decided he wanted to mark the special occasion with a trip to bet on the horsies. This led to us driving about 30 minutes South on the 101 in the direction of race track Bay Meadows.
This is a great day out! It only costs $3 to get in (plus $4 per car for parking). Betting starts with bets as low as just $2. In the few hours we were there we went from being completely lost with absolutely no idea what to do, to avidly reading the betting papers, dashing down to view the horses and putting increasingly exotic bets on our favourites. By the time it came to the last race (and with no lucky winners under my belt) I was finally confident that horses 5 and 1 were going to come in the top two places so I boxed an 'Exacta' bet on the pair of them for $4. Sure enough my chosen two did not let me down and I won $10.20. Since then I have been kicking myself that I didn't invest more on that last race.

See what Vinny baked us for dinner here

Birthday Boy on the bus
The 40th Birthday Boy

The 40th Birthday

Saturday May 29th 2004

check out the party pictures here

Last Saturday night we set out to celebrate the 40th Birthday of my second favourite Frenchman, Sylvain D. We started out at Cafe Bastille on Belden Lane where we had a long outside table with about 20 people sitting down for dinner, including Sylvain's parents, visiting from France. As the sun slowly set we enjoyed good food, lively conversation and excellent wine. The meal was wonderful and we were well looked after by the restaurant's generous patron, Olivier, and Julie the patient and efficient waitress. Sylvain kindly suprised us by declaring l'addition had been taken care of. I was speechless:Merci beaucoup Sylvain!
The Alessi Decanter and glasses Fred and I bought Sylvain for his birthday present:

By 10pm our trolley bus was waiting for us at the end of the alley to take us on a 'club-crawl' of san francisco. The bus was equipped with a large bucket of ice, perfect for housing the many bottles of champagne we had bought with us for the journey. We boarded the bus and started pouring the bubbly. Everyone was in an excitable mood as we set off in the direction of China Basin. Passing SBC Park, the baseball park perced on the edge of the Bay, a huge firework display started over the water. It was apt timing... beautiful, sparkling explosions in honour of our Birthday Boy.
First stop was Sno Drift where we danced and drank a while and picked up some more passengers for the next stage of our bus ride. We jiggled through the streets of San Francisco, toasting, and screaming at anyone we saw on the street. Whilst some people, their expressions aghast, didn't quite know what to make of us, others responded with whistles, waves and cheers.
After stopping at the Monkey Club, somewhere in the Mission and adding even more strangers to our entourage, we finally took the last part of our journey to Belden Alley for a night cap at Voda.
Merci, encore, Sylvain pour la bonne fete!
Joyeaux Anniversaire.

Help I am being attacked!
The 40th Birthday Boy

The 40th Birthday Boy
The 40th Birthday Boy

SD was 40 on Tuesday

It happens to us all eventually. (Luckily I am still waiting for that day to come :) Many Happy Returns to the charming Frenchman. We are looking forward to the big celebrations tomorrow night. Dinner at Bastille and then a pub crawl around San Francisco on a magic bus... (Friends: NO early morning calls on Sunday, please!)

(I know this delightful graphic image will appeal to the birthday boy's delicate artistic sensibilities)

Our 1st Year Together.

Saturday May 22nd 2004

Yesterday marked the 1st year anniversary of the day Fred and I first met at a private party in Mission-district restaurant 'The Foreign Cinema'. To celebrate we shared half a bottle of Veuve Cliquot in the Jacuzzi whilst watching the KFog annual firework show and then revisited The Foreign Cinema for a late dinner.

Look: San Francisco explodes in FIREWORKS IN HONOUR OF OUR FIRST ANNIVERSARY...

KABOOM! Local Radio Station K Fog's Annual Fireworks as seen from the jacuzzi on our deck.

Lots of Steps

The elevator (lift) in our appartment block is not working today. For the second time today I have climbed 91 stairs to get to our front door.

Van Helsing Wrap Party

Bimbos, San Francisco

This took place back at the end of April. Thanks to Robert for putting up the pics.
You can spot me in two "...fun..." pictures. Once with DJ, and in another with SP and BS.
I ripped my dress that night, dancing to the hot heavy metal spins...

S2k in Marin

Today we met up with the Bay Area S2k user group and went for a drive. We met in the Presidio, SF. There were about 25 S2ks. We drove to Tiburon and then along Paradise Drive where there was a nutter on the sidewalk bashing us with a stick and telling us to slow down even though we were only doing the speed limit. About 5 minutes later there was a crazy guy in an orange suit standing in the middle of the road telling us to slow down. We were only doing the speed limit so I dont know what he was talking about. I guess 25 cars of the same type with lots of revving going on upset him or something. We all met at Denny's for lunch. See my becksposhnosh blog for further details about the food at Dennys. After Dennys we deove up Mount Tam and down to Bolinas then along to Stinson and then back to SF. I was with 4 cars. 1 red (Tony), 1 white ('shift9k') and a black one which was a party. They were smoking cigars and they had a huge subwoofer in the trunk and a tv in the mirror. Yes! a TV in the mirror. I left them behind when we got back on the 101.

Bay to Breakers

The race (a seven mile run across the city from the Bay bridge to the Pacific Ocean) started a few blocks away from our appartement at 8am this morning. We were woken by the sound of many helicopters circling overhead. F and I are assessing the traffic situation carefully as we need to get across the city by 11 at the latest. We may have to go via the East Bay...

some people run the race naked

A Trip to San Jose for the JBL4343

Saturday May 15th 2004

F and I borrowed S's SUV to drive to San Jose which is 50 miles south of San Francisco. The reason for our journey down this grey, ugly stretch of the 101 that passes through Silicon Valley with its huge HiTech builings interspersed with strip malls lining each side of the road, was so that could pick up his 40th Birthday present to himself, a pair of JBL 4343 speakers circa 1976. They are so big they make our normally huge wide screen HDTV look small. F has been telling me how much he wanted a pair of speakers like this since I first met him 359 days ago. These speakers sell for thousands of dollars on Ebay and then you would usually have to add shipping charges on top of that. Considering that they weigh 175lbs each, you could end up spending a small fortune. He was lucky to find a pair, with all of the original components, in driving distance, and at a reasonable price. He told me, many times, that the sound that comes out of these speakers is incomparible with anything you would normally hear. I didnt really believe him until he plugged them in at home. The sound is so incredible it gives you goosebumps and your eyes well up with tears. F has wanted these speakers since he first heard them in France when he was 12 years old. Needless to say, after his almost 28 years of waiting, he is currently the happiest I have ever seen him. (Apart from when he met me, of course...)