Insanity is a dish best served microwaved

This weekend Jen and I took a trip down to the city to visit some friends.  Now of course there are only two cities in the United States as far as I’m concern depending on which coast I am visiting.  If I am on the East coast it is New York City.  And if I’m home, it’s San Francisco.  Other places don’t have the honor of being called THE city… they are just plain ol’ Boston, Chicago, Sacramento.  That is unless it is Los Angeles… then it is just THE Hell Hole.

We headed down after our club’s children’s shopping spree at Kohl’s which was great.  Last year I was under by like under a $1 from the $100 allotment we had.  This year, not as good… I was over by $11.  But this kid really needed what we got him. So even if I had to pay for it myself, he was getting those damn clothes.  It is a great project because as shallow as it might sound, looking good translates into so much more confidence that will further provide more student success.

The drive down was so relaxing.  We had my ipod and just cruised down I-5.  The blessing and curse about driving down to the city is that it is a relatively easy drive, but it’s also boring as hell.  Usually, I’m doing it by myself and it was great to have someone with me that we just talked and joked down the entire trip.  We also stopped at Chevy’s which we used to have in Chico.  The food isn’t that fantastic, but I do miss their chips and salsa.  I swear they lace their salsa with crack to make it taste good.  We drove across the Bay Bridge into the city which I have a huge fear going back to when I was a kid.  I can still remember during the 1989 earthquake and watching on the TV the cars driving over the edge of the broken section of the bridge.  So when I drive across it, I drive like a possessed man to get across it as soon as possible.

We got into the city and Jen’s friends weren’t quite ready for us.  We went to the hotel instead to check in and to get this guy’s required nap.  I hate paying for parking in general.   I REALLY hate overpaying for parking.  Given that our hotel was in the financial district on the weekend, parking was relatively easy to find.  Sadly, when we arrived, we were still on the metered time.  So in reality I paid $3.50 for an hour to nap.  I say money well spent.  We checked in and they put us in the handicap room that I swear was probably a linen closet at one point.  The door opened outward and the shower was so low that I never thought my midsection could ever be so clean.  We woke up from our nap and headed over to Jen’s friends house.

Now to preface this trip, it was really to run me through Jen’s friends for approval.  I was never too nervous about it because I know Jen likes me and I am a pretty easy person to like.  So I was just down there to enjoy myself.  The first stop on the interview tour was Kevin and Myra.  After google maps lied to me yet again, we found their house.  They live near Golden Gate Park and have a great view of the city from their street.  They just had a new baby boy are both Chico grads.  We had plenty to talk about between school and being in Chico.  They took us to this great little spot at the edge of Golden Gate Park called the Beach Chalet and we had a few drinks and just visited.  We were running on a tight schedule, so we had to leave there and head back to change for dinner.  After nearly killing us trying to find a parking spot, we got dressed and headed to my next interview.

Dinner was at a place called Café Divine near Little Italy.  Heather joined us for dinner and her husband was going to come for drinks afterwards.  We sat down for dinner and I think I might have said maybe 30 words for the first hour of dinner.  However, the server thought that I needed two wine glasses in front of me because my meal came with a glass of wine.  Yet, I already had one in front of me.  Oh well… twice the fun.  So I just sat and drank my wine and listened.  Heather worked for United for a few years and of course I’m fascinated by the airline business.  I tried to pick her brain for a bit and she started to loosen up a bit.  We went across the street and met her husband Bob for drinks.  He’s one cool dude.  I had fun just talking about marketing, sports, and Disney stuff.  However, I broke the seal so I had to go the bathroom a lot during the night.  I guess every time I left for the bathroom, they were talking about me… like you’re supposed to do.  I didn’t know this until later in the evening.  We talked about so many different things that we shut the place down at midnight.  Neither Jen nor I wanted to get too drunk because we still had a busy day on Sunday, so we called it a night and retreated back to the broom closet.

I actually woke up at a decent time in the morning, but was upset because I forgot my headphones in the car and I couldn’t work out.  But still getting up early, we still wound up running late to meet my friend Liana for coffee.  She’s going into law school at the same school Jen attended.  It was fun watching Jen try to help her with tips to make it through.  After learning more about the law school process, I have so much respect for those poor people that subject themselves to that torture.  No wonder some of them chase after ambulances… they want to make people just as uncomfortable as they had to be to get the degree.  But it was great to see Lianna and glad that she decided to choose Northern California for her adventure.

I did some research before we left for the weekend and realized that show Wicked had a lottery for limited view tickets before each show.  We were going to try to jump in on it, but when we got there we realized that we were going to be late for lunch if we tried it.  So instead, we decided what they hell, we both want to see it, so we just bought tickets for the 2p show.  We had about 20 minutes before lunch and the BART station was right in front of the theater, so I, being in charge of transportation for the weekend, decided to take BART down to the lunch spot.  The station had two of the four machines broken for tickets, tourists (which I loathe even when I’m one), and the homeless people.  I generally feel bad for anyone is homeless.  In a society of so much wealth, it really is inexcusable that people live without a home.  However, these two cats were pissing me off.  One of them was standing in between both lines holding his hands out… no problem.  Then he tried to steal the change out of machine from a tourist couple.  Well the tourist couple from Middle America was not going to have any of that… and told the security.  They don’t have that where they come from and were definitely not giving up their quarters for this guy.

We got our tickets and heading down to the Embarcadero to meet up for lunch.  Google maps lied to me again (or I just don’t know how to read a map) and we headed down the wrong direction.  I called the restaurant for directions.  Now, I know this place is pretty high class, but it had more phone options than the damn IRS!  I just need help… give me a hostess.  We turned around and high tailed the right direction and at the ended up 15 minutes late which drives both of us crazy.  We met Jen’s friends Joe and Sandy for lunch.  They are both wonderful people… very active and animated which was a great lunch experience.   They just came back from a year in London which is my favorite city of all time.  So we talked about that and the shared experience of remodeling a house.  But in the end, we had to literally run out to catch the show.  I felt so bad, but I already missed this show once in London (I paid a handsome sum for the tickets) and I wasn’t going to do it again.

We got to the show and it was fantastic.  The sets were amazing and it was actually pretty funny.  I read the book a few years ago and I kept trying to remember the story and comparing it.  In some aspects, I wish I went into it cold and I think I would have enjoyed it even more.  Yet, it was still so well done that it would be hard not to enjoy it.  The only thing that I don’t enjoy about musicals is that I can barely understand what they are singing so I just have to guess that it part of the story and move on.  The best part of the show was that the Wizard of Oz looked like Dick Cheney and he was a little slime ball like him… so I got my own private giggle from that.

After the show, I flew back across the bridge and headed to Tracy to have dinner with gma.  On the way there, I tried to debrief Jen on the potential cousins that could be there.  I thought it would be good back up plan in case they were there… and yep, when we got there, they were.  But we just went to dinner with gma so we weren’t there long.  When we got back, they were gone so I didn’t get harassed to badly.  But it was nice to see gma and my aunt and uncle for a while.

On the way back home, I told Jen that we would be back home by 11p give or take three minutes.  When we rolled back into my driveway, it was 11p EXACTLY.  I think I am driving a bit too much when I can predict that close.  If I were on the Price is Right, I would have won both showcases.  Where’s Bob Barker when you need him?