The Party with the Dragon Tattoo

Well Sometimes I Go Out, By Myself, And I Look Across The Water...


It rained, and I spent Simchat Torah (the joyful jewish festival) at the House of Sweden for the launch of an eco-infrastructure exhibit.  Waiters in hard hats and plaid served scandi hors d'oevres to diplomatic blondes. A bizarre cast of characters, including:


-A Sudanese Sugar Company Marketer, on holiday.


-A Seemingly prominent movement environmentalist, who mentioned that he was recently "into german hotels."


-diplomat-turned-web-designer with childhood stories of Monopoly with the Prince of Monaco


-Maryland House of Delegates candidate Meyer Marks, taking time off from the race to interact with "real people."

Swedish Dessert on a Conveyor Belt, Sushi-Style

Terrific space, excellent drinks, decent food, odd group. There are worse ways to spend a wet evening in Washington

Weekend Scenes, Bay Area 2010

Sonoma Koi

The Audacity of Hope, September 2010

Japan town? 

Mind the drop

City on the Bay

Norcal Palms

Passing Ship

Blues Skies and Downtown SF

A Banksy original?

Life on the Left Coast

1. IAD-SFO. On a 777, courtesy of United Airlines. ENORMOUS airplane. Letters to Juliet was unwatchable, The Girl who played with Fire sustained. Sat next to a Moscovite Travel Agent leading a group of Russians to see national parks... "in a country without [much] history, it's best to see nature."

2. Met up with K in the international terminal at SFO (impressive).  A classmate from high school who i've not seen for years, K moved to the Bay area for tech. Runs his own company now. We take the BART into the city and have dinner.  

Nice SF view. 

3. I wake up in Emeryville, where i'm staying due to the Oracle convention. View of the bay bridge. 

4. BART into the city. Day of work. 

5. Coffee in South park. 

6. Thoughts on SF: everything is hip or weird. Or both. The fashion reminds me a bit of Wesleyan: cool, eccentric, not entirely put together... un-vicious, like NY. Comfortable. Lots of cotton.

Heading West

Saw "The American" last night, with George Clooney. Pleasant, attractive, and serious. 

Flew to Denver by way of O'Hare on United. The latter flight was on a 767, making it much more pleasant.  
Arrive before 11am to dry sunny heat and blue skies. J (old friend from high school who I ran into in SF) picked me up and we drove off to Boulder, where we hit the farmer's market. Crunchy college students + retired baby boomers. Great food. Sinatra impersonator, charming.






Walk on the creek, with an impromptu fly-fishing lesson from a twelve year old kid.  Down the creek, a man asks me to retrieve his second crutch from the river, as his friend has placed it there. We later encouter a man who has engineered a standing rock, as below. We compliment his work and he is appreciative, telling us that the work is therapeutic.

In the evening, we attend a poker game that consist mainly of professors from one of the departments at the university. I play poorly. 
We drive back to J's home in the mountains, under the sky filled with stars