I enjoy watching the real estate market of my old city, San Francisco. I last wrote about how you pretty much need a million dollars to buy a house in San Francisco.
Today the Chronicle has a story on an unfinished mansion in Gold Coast (near the beautiful Presidio, which overlooks the Golden Gate Bridge, where once upon a time Jen worked for Alexa) that’s on the market for $65 million and still needs at least $1 million of work to complete. They don’t have a photo of the outside of the house — only the below taken from the terrace looking out at the Bay — but be sure to look at these photos of some of the other amazing houses on the market in San Francisco:
Though he passed away when I was away at Vassar and I never really got to know him in my adult life, my Grandpa Elmer (my Dad’s Dad) was a great, admirable man. He was quiet and caring, and had a deep, booming voice. He had lots of grandchildren, but he had a way of making each of us feel special and loved.
(He’s the guy who looks obviously like a grandpa on the far left in the above photo with my little bro as a baby in his lap; I’m the toe-headed kid on the far right in my dad’s lap with my mom behind us.)
I remember when Peter and I were kids how he’d take us to the playground in Marin. And later in life, we’d enjoy visiting him and Aunt Nora in Bodega Bay. We loved Grandpa and spending time with him.
One thing I always wished I knew more about him was his service in the U.S. Navy. But being part of “The Greatest Generation” and a World War II veteran, he never really talked about his military service.
Recently, my Dad did some research online to learn more about the ship Grandpa served on during WWII — it was a destroyer tender called the USS Prairie:
Though never a military man myself, I’ve always been proud to know that my Grandpa served our country in the Navy during wartime.
We miss you, Grandpa, but your legacy will always live on.
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 · Comments Off on Wine Club #2
Wine Club #2 was hosted by Mara and Vinnie on July 24, 2007. Jen and I redeemed our last place finish at Wine Club #1 by bringing the winning wine — the most excellent New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc known as Giesen.
Even though Giesen was the clear victor, everyone thought it tasted vaguely of weed, so Jen tried to smoke it as Sarah awaited her turn:
Wednesday night we celebrated Sarah’s birthday — happy birthday, Sarah (and Johnny, who was with us in spirit)! — and hosted Wine Club #3. Jen did an amazing job cooking up some delicious eggplant parm and lasagna, along with a cheesecake for dessert (all homemade, including the tomato sauce).
To complement the Italian theme of the evening, everyone brought an Italian wine or a wine that reminded him or her of Sarah (the rules weren’t limited to red, but it turned out that everyone brought red, which worked out nicely, given the entrees). The rules of Wine Club — besides the first rule of Wine Club: Don’t talk about Wine Club — are that the guests bring 2 bottles of the same wine (so Jen and I didn’t participate in the competition, but we did in the tasting and scoring), and the hosts provide the hosting and the dinner.
Alexis and Annie brought the winning wine, Foursome, which beat Sarah and Eric’s Nero D’Avola with a total score of 47 to 46 (average of 3.92 on a scale of 1-5 to 3.83). In last place with 35 total points (2.92 average score) was Dogajolo, brought by Brian and Tim. Prizes were awarded to first and last places (good wine with good chocolate and bad wine — at $1.99, Lost Vineyards has the self-proclaimed “world’s lowest cost per bottle” — with Saratoga pony poop chocolate, respectively). The full results are available for download as an XLS doc.
Wine Club #1, where Jen and I placed last, was June 21. Wine Club #2, where Jen and I placed first, was on July 24, and will be the first of many highlights from the busy summer I eventually plan to blog about.
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 · Comments Off on Mayor Keehn Wins the Primary
Big congrats to Mayor Valerie Keehn on her crushing victory in yesterday’s primary elections here in Saratoga Springs!
“The People’s Mayor” earned her self-proclaimed title Tuesday with a commanding victory over challenger Gordon Boyd in the Democratic primary.
Mayor Valerie Keehn was pumping her arms, thumbs up, after only a few elections districts reported in Tuesday night.
“Wow,” she said on her way to a 1,146 to 609 victory according to unofficial results – a margin of nearly two to one. She won every district but three – the 24th was tied, and Boyd won the 19th and 25th by a combined five votes.
Keehn won the office two years ago with the city-wide Democratic sweep — that night Jen and I were thrilled to be part of the victory celebrations.
This is great momentum toward a November win in the general election.
Saturday, September 15th, 2007 · Comments Off on Saratoga Stabbing
Overall, Saratoga Springs is an incredibly safe little city — one of the many reasons we love it here so much. From time to time, though, there’s the occasional minor violence — bar fights, bank robbery, home burglaries, and stabbings.
Typically the stabbings occur weekend nights on Caroline Street outside the bars that line the street. Last Friday night there was a stabbing that struck a little too close to home.
The night before, Jen, Justin, and I had gone out for drinks downtown, starting our evening at 9 Maple, the best martini bar in town. We walked into the bar and saw a guy with his belongings — wallet, keys, cash, credit cards — spread out across the bar. He immediately introduced himself to me. It was immediately clear something was amiss with this guy.
That something being amiss was reinforced as we observed him engaging others loudly in conversation, screaming into his cell phone, and pretty much talking nonsense. When he started talking about Satan and asking me what kind of fish I liked to spear (for lack of a better response, I said ahi tuna), we figured it was a good idea to avoid eye contact — especially after he accused me of spearing ahi dolphins.
After scaring away a few other patrons (the bartender really should’ve kicked him out), he eventually left.
The next morning (Friday) Jen saw him in town again. She avoided him and did not engage him.
That night, following an argument with a 23-year-old on Caroline Street, he stabbed the younger man in the stomach with a 5-inch knife.
He’s now in jail where he should belong (if not in a mental institution).
Moral of the story: If someone seems crazy and acts crazy, he probably is, and it’s best to avoid confrontation — or eye contact. I’m really thankful we weren’t the ones who ended up in the hospital.
That chill in the air is back: Summer is turning to fall, a few stray leaves are beginning to turn vibrant oranges and yellows and reds, and summer (and Saratoga track season) is officially behind us.
Like always, it was one hell of an amazing summer. It was non-stop fun. From the track (Jen and I set a new personal best: 12 visits of the 36-day season!) to Maine to fine dining to BBQs to our fantastic friends, it was another unforgettable summer.
We do have tons of photos (naturally), so I’ll share some highlights of the summer before too long. As summer winds down, I hope to get back into a more regular blogging routine.
As for that chill, I’m actually wearing a fleece this morning!
Our hole appeared earlier this summer as a result of a certain someone (yours truly) having installed our bedroom air conditioning at the improper angle. The water was draining inside the front wall of our house.
The summer of 2007 is flying by, as summers always do. I’ve had a 3-week blogging hiatus and keep meaning to catch up on all the excitement of our action-packed, non-stop summer fun — we’ve already been to the track 7 times, celebrated many a happy hours, seen a few movies, and more. As with most things, though, once you fall out of the routine, it’s hard to get back in.
One noteworthy event is that yesterday en route to an annual Vassar gathering in Albany, the WRX passed the 100,000-mile mark! Maybe I’m cheesy like that, but I was excited about the moment and captured it on digital film. It’s the first car I’ve had for so many miles. From being my daily commuter between San Francisco to Marin County, to our cross-country adventure, to being Jen’s Saratoga to Clifton Park commuter, the Subaru’s been with us for a long time and always treated us right. She still runs like she’s brand new (proof that regular maintenance goes a long way).
It took 5 years, 3 months, and 8 days (from May 4, 2002) to hit the 100,000-mile mark:
I drove the Scoob off the lot brand new with 11 miles on the odometer:
Though it wasn’t until I got across the Bay to Emeryville that I thought to take the inaugural odometer shot:
And then came the Day 1 photo shoot in Emeryville:
And here’s the 100,011-mile moment, marking the 100,000 mile we put on the Scoob:
