Blog Master G

If you haven’t seen the magic of Bubb Rubb and da whistles that go WOO WOO, then stop what you’re doing right now and go to the following URLs in sequence:

1. Original Woo Woo News Coverage
2. Official Bubb Rubb Soundboard (be sure to toggle music on then click on each of the boxes)
3. Bubb Rubb Info Center: Week 1 Archive
4. Bubb Rubb Info Center: Week 2 Archive

Wasn’t that worth it?

(Thanks to my bro, Pete, for originally bringing these materpieces to my attention on Thanksgiving.)

1860. It’s not our new address; it’s the year the historic building that we’ll soon call home was built.

Saratoga Springs, the city in the country, is famous for health, history, and horses. I went to the place that Jen and I will soon call home last week for the first time; it more than lived up to its reputation. I left San Francisco Wednesday and flew back Saturday, a day earlier than I had planned, so that I might avoid the snow storm that hit the Northeast Sunday.

The city exceeded my expectations. It’s full of character and is incredibly charming. I was blown away by the architecture: All the shops, restaurants, bars that line Broadway, the main strip of downtown; the mansions up and down Union Ave; the meticulous preservation of buildings like the post office. There’s so much packed into a geographically small area that it’s no surprise why everyone with whom I spoke raved about Saratoga Springs as being the best place to live. Of course, there’s the famous Saratoga Track that brings thousands from around the world every summer. The New York City Ballet performs in Saratoga every summer. The Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) is in town, as is a place called Saratoga Arts, which regularly shows old movies. The town is filled with health spas, a plethora of pubs and even a wine bar.

As if the built-in attractions of Saratoga aren’t enough, there’s always something going on in town. The Chamber of Commerce maintains a monthly events calendar, too. That there is a community calendar is very much in line with the tremendous sense of community I experienced during my quick three days there. Everyone is so nice. It was easy striking up conversations with everyone I ran into. It’s such a walkable city with but a single main strip that one can’t help but run into folks in passing.

With a population of fewer than 30,000, Saratoga Springs is no San Francisco, by any measure, but I’m certainly feeling ready for something a bit calmer that manages to offer many of the arts and cultural events found here in the big city in the west. Not only that, but it’s only a few hours to New York City, Boston, or Montreal. It’s closer to New York and Vermont skiing than San Francisco is to Lake Tahoe. And, of course, we’ll be close to Jen’s whole side of the family, along with many of our friends from college who are on the East Coast. I feel really good about this move, and even came home with a new apartment lined up for us (a big step in the process to have an address on the other end).

I looked at upwards of half a dozen apartments from downtown to the outskirts of Saratoga (Northumberland). It was refreshing to see so many affordable places, especially when compared with a city like San Francisco. It quickly became evident that, second to finding a place that would allow two dogs, proximity to Broadway was the number one factor. Having spent the past year in an urban center with so many resources at our fingertips, Jen and I can’t imagine having to drive for anything and everything. With that in mind, I had the search narrowed down to two places by Friday evening. Though I wasn’t as excited in person about this place as I was when I first found it online, we had almost made up our minds to go with it when I decided to take one last look in The Saratogian classifieds Saturday morning before my afternoon flight. There it was: The ad for the place about which I had previously called but had not yet been able to get a hold of anyone. I decided to give it one more try.

After speaking with he would become our new landlord, I immediately knew there was something special about this place and that I had to race up to Saratoga one more time before returning home to San Francisco. So I did. And am I ever glad about it. It was serendipitous: This place is perfect for us and exactly the kind of apartment I’ve always imagined our living in. It’s closer to Broadway than any of the other places I’d seen (an easy walk) and in the city’s desirable historic district. It’s an old brick, beautifully maintained building. Our apartment is a huge one bedroom occupying the ground floor with a private porch and entrance around the side. I knew the second I saw the building — and even more so once setting foot inside the gorgeous B&B-like lobby — that this would be the place for us. Inside the apartment, that feeling was confirmed. I wrote a check on the spot for the deposit.

For the first time, I understood what I’ve heard from many homeowners: That as soon as you find the right place, you’ll know. Albeit we’re still renting, but it’s an energizing, all-consuming feeling that recharged my enthusiasm about and confidence in this move. Living in a comfortable place with so much character (and in a perfect location) makes such a difference. Everything about the place just feels right. First item on my list after we move in: Get the owner to fix the fireplace. We have a functioning fireplace here in San Francisco, where it’s not nearly as cold as in upstate New York, so that’s one feature I’ll miss if we can’t get them to fix it.

Saratoga exploratory trip behind, the final stretch now begins. We leave a week from tomorrow. It’s hard to believe. The next week will go by so quickly that my head is already spinning trying to plan everything we have to do, not to mention selling some furniture and packing up the entire apartment — the little things. I had a feeling this week would sneak up on us, and it certainly has. December always goes by in a hurry and this year it’s even more accelerated.

I’m really glad I took the time to visit Saratoga last week. Making a cross-country move is hard enough, especially having never been there before a few days ago. It made all the difference. I came back energized and ready for this exciting change in mine and Jen’s lives (and the dogs’). Of course, the next journey, before landing in Saratoga, is the 3,000-mile drive there.

(Photo on right: Houses on the west side of town that reminded me of San Francisco’s Painted Ladies. The funny thing is that the west side of Broadway is the “up and coming” part of town — and even it is super nice…certainly the place to invest in real estate.)

CNN.com – Baghdad celebrates Saddam’s capture: “After months on the run from coalition forces, a disheveled Saddam Hussein was found hiding in a hidden hole near a farmhouse and was captured without firing a shot, coalition authorities announced Sunday.”

I didn’t think they’d find him alive. The rest of his natural life will no doubt be a living hell — especially if the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay is any indication.

Now about that other guy…what’s his name? Oh yes, Bin something or other. I wonder how his hole compares to Hussein’s.

While giving my beautiful wife a birthday ride to work this morning, we passed corner after corner of yellow Gonzalez signs. I honked in support at each passing. It was a great feeling to see so much support for he who will be the next mayor of San Francisco and the first Green party mayor of a major city. We honestly did not see a single Newsom supporter or crowd between the Inner Sunset and downtown.

Jen and I cast our ballots this morning, so please, if you live in San Francisco, do the same today. Gonzalez needs the voter turnout to win. Even ex-San Franciscan Ben has done his part to remind his readers of the importance of this election.

The time has come for change. Support Gonzalez today!

And happy birthday to Jen!

The photo on the front page of today’s Chronicle was taken around the corner from my house yesterday afternoon — outside the Jamba Juice at 9th and Irving here in the Inner Sunset. In fact, the after-party crew was having brunch just across the street at Howard’s Cafe. We heard the cheers and, knowing that that intersection has been a hotbed of political rallies lately, stepped outside to see a crowd of Matt Gonzelez supporters surrounding the man himself. It was energizing.

Here’s to a Green victory tomorrow, and if you live in the city, please remember to vote!

The Saratogian: “SARATOGA SPRINGS — As the area digs out of the weekend’s snow and begins the work week, Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner Tom McTygue lifted the city’s 12-hour snow emergency at noon Sunday and said the roads were fine.”

Here in sunny California, it’s hard to imagine that in a matter of weeks Jen and I will be in the heart of our new city, where 21 inches of snow fell over the weekend. Good thing I love the snow and have an all-wheel drive car.

Some people call me crazy, but I’m actually looking forward to this. I love snow and think it’s exciting. And yes, I’m even looking forward to shoveling it. Living in San Francisco is almost too easy in that sense. The hardest we have to work to combat the weather here is by opening an umbrella. I welcome a good challenge like nearly two feet of snow.

Despite the occasion of the affair, we didn’t really say any goodbyes. The mood was arguably more upbeat than I had expected. It was a fittingly joyous going away party. Joyous not because Jen and I are leaving (though we are excited about our new adventure) but because we were surrounded by friends. People who care. People with whom we can laugh, tell stories, smile, have great fun. I expected to shed tears Saturday night at Yancy’s, but to my surprise, only now in retrospect am I fighting them back.

Leaving is never easy. Saying goodbye is even harder. Maybe that’s why people don’t like to do it. We’ll see our friends again. Some before we leave this month, others as we become visitors to California, I for the first time in my life. California has always been my home, even when I was in school in New York. California will always be my home, no matter how long we’re away. I’ll never forget the party Saturday night, and our friends will be with us always. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all my friends. To those who were there Saturday night and to those who weren’t. Thank you all just for being my friends.

And as for those goodbyes, it’s better without them.

View all going away party photos on Ofoto

When I’m not streaming audio via iTunes to my home PC and cranking out the sound to my Altec Lansing ACS340 speakers, I have DirecTV tuned to one of the digital music channels, usually channel 822’s Hit List, and pump the sound either directly to my Cerwin Vega DX-7s (note: photo is from college, so representation is meant only to depict speaker, not its current implementation in my apartment), turning the Sony KV27FS12 27″ Trinitron WEGA Stereo TV‘s audio off, or I send the audio to both the TV’s dinky speakers and to the stereo with its substantially more robust speakers. Lately, I’ve been doing the latter since I like the highs produced by the TV speakers and since the stereo sound seems somehow muted, no matter how high I turn up the volume.

Until today.

I stumbled across a new setting in my TV’s audio settings today: Audio Out. Changing this setting from Variable to Fixed makes a world of difference. It turns off the TV’s speakers and locks the volume, sending a fuller, intensely robust sound to my stereo. And what a difference. The sound is amazing. It’s like I’m hearing my stereo for the first time…or playing a CD, something I haven’t done with my home system in quite some time. I can’t believe it took me this long to figure that out. I’ll never go back to any other way of listening to digital music.

I recall having seen this in years past, but want to put the link here for the record. If you’re not easily offended and don’t mind a bit of Jesus humor with a pinch of Grinch and side of Gingerbread Man, then head on over to JesusDressUp.com for some Christmas cheer and interactive fun.

(Thanks to Jane via Jen for reminding me of this Internet treasure.)

I posted this ad today to sell the old PowerShot S110. It’s served us well during the two years that Jen and I have had it. As of today, we have 4,904 photos in Ofoto, spanning from Christmas 2001 through present. Not too shabby. Most of these photos were taken with the S110, though there are a number of 35MM rolls mixed in, such as these old school photos from 1992 and a number of table cameras that we had developed via Ofoto after our wedding. We also took a few rolls of 35MM in Italy last year.

Out with the old and in with the new. Now I just have to hope someone will buy the old one and that I can figure out how the hell to use the new S50 with its manual controls galore.