Archive for 'friends' Category
2008.05.28
Kickin’ It in Geumchon
One of the greatest boosters for Seoul American High School is our old art teacher, Mr. Michael F. O’Brien. He’s kept an alumni contact page maintained, kept in touch with loads of people and recently sent me (and probably a ton of other people) this video that I have to say brings back a lot of memories. I was far more familiar with his wife, Mrs. O’Brien, who was my English teacher. I could probably still break down and diagram a sentence based on her lessons!
One of my few regrets is losing touch with my friends from back then, especially Scott Yustas, John Schafer (spelling on the last name?), Sean Stracinsky (spelling on the last name?) and Robert Reynolds. I also wish I had a yearbook from back then. Someday I’ll have to scan the few pictures I have and put them online… That’ll get Mr. O’Brien excited, I’m sure!
Anyways, if you’ve ever lived in Korea, especially as a foreign resident, I highly recommend watching the video. Kickin’ it in Geumchon, indeed!
4 Comments | Catergorized: friends korea memories2008.05.17
Amy and Bill Get Hitched
Speaking of marriage, congratulations to my good friends Amy and Bill… After 10 years they are finally married! I’m writing this after the wedding ceremony at Old Saint Mary’s here in the City. Just dropped off my motorcycle and will head off to the reception.
Yay, Amy and Bill!
2 Comments | Catergorized: friends life san francisco2008.04.13
Heat Wave in San Francisco
I am generally not one that enjoys the heat. It’s humid often, you sweat, there’s little escape. I prefer cooler climates. It’s easier to put on layers; at some point you can’t take off any more clothing. This is at times it’s own benefit but not when you have to goto work.
Contrary to my predilection, however, we’ve been going through a little heat wave here in San Francisco and topped 80ºF (27ºC) and it’s been great. Especially at night. Normally once the sun goes down here you’re wearing at a minimum a thin jacket. Friday and Saturday nights were t-shirts only.
Friday my company celebrated an anniversary with a mini-offsite meeting and bowling party. When that ended a group of about 30 of us went to a bar and played pool, threw darts, talked, drank and had a lovely time. When I got home at 11PM (keeping in mind we’d all been drinking since 2PM) it was cooler but quite comfortable.
Last night was amazing, though. A group of us went to my neighbor’s birthday gathering at Zeitgeist and spent hours on the patio in the shockingly warm night air. I’ve never seen the place so crowded. Sadly I’d also never seen so many huppies (hip young professionals) there, either. Poor Zeitgeist, you were discovered and made popular and you’ll probably never be a proper motorcycle bar again.
Today is looking to be just as amazing as the past several. Sadly this scuttles my plans to go for a ride on my motorcycle as far too many people will be out in droves on the roads today. Still, I think I might go find an outdoor cafe somewhere, read a good book and enjoy the day. Temperatures that hold to warm into the late evening generally only happen a few times a year here. I’m planning on taking advantage of it.
1 Comment | Catergorized: food-drink friends life san francisco work2008.03.23
Going to the Happy Beyond
I drove up to Tahoe on Saturday for my friend Bill’s bachelor party. I met up with everyone on the slopes of Heavenly and, naturally, I wiped out on my first run. I think this was the first wipe out I’ve ever had where I thought I might have a serious injury. Somehow I caught a bad edge, propellered through the air and slammed the inside of my right knee on the hard pack. Fortunately it’s just bruised and swollen. I kept snowboarding but kept it easy.
The weird thing about South Lake Tahoe is that it straddles the California and Nevada border. We stayed in a hotel right on the CA side, and walked out the front door and into Harrah’s and Harvey’s. We had a huge steak dinner and drank a lot, and then hit the tables. Or, I should say, some of us hit the tables. I did not. If I gamble and don’t put money down I win most of the time. If I do put money down I always lose.
It was quite a drunk, but overall well behaved. The married men in the group wanted to get a stripper but, counter-intuitively, the single guys were not interested. I think the bulk of us went to bed around 3AM.
Now I am absolutely exhausted but pretty content. If I ever get married (and that “if” looms larger and larger every year) I think I would do something similar to this party… Goto Tahoe and hit the slopes, hang out with friends, repeat to fade. There are definitely worse ways of going to the happy beyond.
No Comments | Catergorized: food-drink friends life tahoe2008.03.20
Gran Torino
I don’t care what this movie is about… When it comes out I’m going to see it. Clint Eastwood is going to direct and star in a movie called Gran Torino.
We had a 1976 Ford Gran Torino when I was a kid. Four doors, silver, and built like a tank. When I could finally drive in high school that was the car my parents let me use. My friends dubbed it The Beast and the name stuck. We had all kinds of adventures in The Beast, from Jolt dropping to road trips to simply driving to and from school, which was never a direct route… There were always detours and visits along the way. I had The Beast in college, too, and put thousands upon thousands of miles on him. I wonder if my parents had any idea at the time just how far I’d gone.
The Beast was indestructible. We had it in Korea when we lived there the first time. A bus tried to cut into our lane and hit us instead. The bus was a wreck but The Beast had a little ding and paint scratches. The Beast would fix himself, too. Once he had a hole in his radiator and I’d have to fill it up after every trip. Then one day me and some friends were on a road trip to some obscure Ohio town and I was told to make a left turn LONG after it was safe to make a left turn. I slid in the gravel in the median and right into the pole holding up the “No U Turn” sign and flattened it. Afterwards the radiator never leaked again.
I loved The Beast but after college I was off to Prague. I left him in my parent’s care and, while I was on another continent and couldn’t do much about it, they donated The Beast to an auto repair school. Probably a fitting end though I think an escape like any of the chase scenes from Blues Brothers. My sister always complained that I destroyed him and he wouldn’t run (I think she wanted it once she was old enough) but I know he was running perfectly well -or at least well enough- when I left.
I miss that car. Every once in a while I see a Gran Torino on the road and get wistful and nostalgic. I’ve always liked the movie The Highlander and there is one scene, after the fight in the garage at Madison Square Garden and MacLeod is getting the guy’s power, where you can see the front of a Gran Torino in the background. Yes, the car affected me so much that I notice them in movies, even.
No word on what the movie is about, but it had best feature some shots of one of The Beast’s cousins or I’m gonna be pissed!
5 Comments | Catergorized: college family friends korea life memories movies2008.03.18
“Stranger” Visiting
Doug and Erin at Vesuvio’sThis past weekend Erin McCain, a friend from college, came to visit me here in San Francisco. I hadn’t seen her in almost sixteen years now and had really just had sporadic contact after years of silence in the past couple years. When she said she wanted to get out of Ohio for a bit I told her she should come out here, so she did!
Having moved around so much in my life, my memory is a bit sporadic and definitely contextual. Seeing Erin brought back a lot of memories but also showed me how many gaps there were from back then. For instance I have no real recollection of her boyfriend in college. You’d think that would have been important! Sorry, Erin, I guess he never made much of an impression on me…
Anyways, I played tour guide around the City. We stopped in Berkeley so she could sample Betty’s Oceanview Diner’s espresso filled chocolate “twinkies”. We rode my motorcycle to the Japanese Tea Gardens, out to Ocean Beach, walked around the Haight and Fisherman’s Wharf. Got completely sauced at Ireland’s 32 with Mookee (and learned that one of the previous owners that we liked killed himself, which came as a shock). Walked from where I work near Pier 39 all the way to the Metreon by way of North Beach, China Town and Union Square and took the Hyde Street cable car back to Ghirardelli Square. It’s amazing how much of this City you can see in just a couple days, and yet barely scratch the surface!
It was great to see her and I realize that I really like having guests in town!
3 Comments | Catergorized: food-drink friends motorcycle photos san francisco2008.03.03
Tired, Sore and Satisfied
Doug in Tahoe, 2008I’m back from Tahoe. Three days of boarding, one at Sierra at Tahoe and two at the California side of Heavenly. By the end of Sunday, before we left Tahoe, my thighs would burn at the end of each run. It sounds disgusting, but it felt like I pissed down my leg it was so hot!
Every day was great, though Saturday was irritating because they closed the Nevada side of Heavenly and many of the lifts on the California side. This created huge lines, and one of the best runs, Sky Express, was closed. All was remedied on Sunday with Sky Express opened and much shorter lines. If only there wasn’t gale force winds, the day would have been perfect.
My favorite stories from the slopes, probably because I’m involved, involves Mookee. I’m going downhill probably too fast and my friend Redge was ahead of me. Unexpectedly he changed direction and I cut fast to get around him, and then tried cutting back to get back on course. I went one direction but my feet didn’t and in a cloud of snow I went down. It didn’t hurt but it was a little embarrassing with Mookee pointing at me and laughing. To my chagrin, Redge stopped to see if I was OK and hit me with a spray of snow. I thought Mookee would have an aneurism he was laughing so hard. Which is what made events five minutes later so satisfying.
I was following Mookee at a distance when I saw him go over one of the occasionally unexpected bumps on the slope that are far bigger than they look. One of his skis went to one side and the other ski went the opposite direction and suddenly he was down in an explosion of powder, tumbling, sliding way down the hill. I swooped past him laughing and yelling, “How does it feel? How does it feel, Big Boy?” He wasn’t hurt at all, but the wipeout looked so bad that two members of the ski patrol came to make sure.
The lesson: I will always have my revenge. The awesome: both wipeouts were caught on video camera! Alas, I stopped recording a few seconds before Banana Boy bounced down the slopes himself.
Of course this was a group affair and 14 of us were in two condo/cabin/unit things and we drank, ate and made merry every night. I made Meat Purse again (this year’s addition was bread crumbs) and some of my Japanese female companions made curry. I’ll eventually post a gallery of pics and Mookee has threatened to make a video of the weekend from footage and stills. After all of this I’m glad I took today (Monday) off so I could recuperate somewhat. I am tired and sore, but so satisfied. I’ve needed an escape for weeks now.
3 Comments | Catergorized: food-drink friends tahoe2008.02.17
Fun at Mookee’s Expense
This is in answer to Mookee’s post about skiing this past weekend. We went up for a day trip with my friend and neighbor, Shawn, to Sugar Bowl. Shawn is new to snowboarding so I spent the first part of the day with him, teaching him the basics. Then in the afternoon Mookee and I hit some of the more difficult slopes. Since he called me out in his post to give my perspective on his two stories, here they are. Make sure to read his (link above) first, and then come back here.
4 Comments | Catergorized: friends memories tahoe2008.02.10
Being Emo Phillips
Sounds like a movie title, but really that’s how it feels as an audience member when Emo Phillips speaks. You get a feeling, watching and listening, of what a strange world he occupies, hilarious and twisted and yet innocent in the way little kids sometimes say something inadvertently dirty.
I went to see Emo last night with Mookee and his girlfriend at Punchline. In a certain sense Mookee and I have Emo to thank for our long friendship. When we first met I though Mookee was the biggest jerk in the world. Then one summer there was no one else to hang out with. Mookee would just stand there reciting Emo Phillips jokes he’d memorized and somehow it made him just tolerable enough that I could stand him for more than a minute at a time.
So thank you, Emo! You were awesome last night.
4 Comments | Catergorized: friends life memories san francisco2008.02.05
Facebook is Odd
After getting several requests to join this social networking world, specifically on Facebook, I finally made the plunge. I haven’t found any long lost friends yet (it’s not even obvious how to find them yet) and I don’t get a lot of the features. I suppose much of that comes with time and use.
I don’t understand the whole “poking” thing. They do realize this is a metaphor for sex, right?
3 Comments | Catergorized: friends geek life
