Browse Category: life

6 and 13 Years Later

Today, Jes and I celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary and 13th year together as best friends.  Instead of taking a trip, we decided to stay local and nerd-it-up at the brand-spankin’-new California Academy of Sciences.  We got up early to take a 45-min ride on Muni and walked another 10 minutes through Golden Gate Park to be greeted by hundreds of other guests hoping to do the same thing.

It was crowded and crawling with children but it’s a really cool place to visit.  The architecture is interesting and they have some pretty fun exhibits.  I think we spent an hour in the aquarium exhibit alone and actually didn’t go into the 3-story rainforest because the line was too long.  Thank goodness for the annual membership because we’ll have to go back for that part.

For dinner, we went to Spruce.  I had the honey-lacquered duck with foie gras and cinnamon apples, which was oh so tasty.  Jes’ pork tenderloin and pork belly were also very good.  Back when I was a poor grad student and Jes had lost his first dot-com job, we started a journal that began with a bunch of wish lists and was a reflection of things we enjoyed doing together. The journal has evolved over the years and it’s become a tradition of ours to go through it each year on our anniversary to recount the events of the past year.  So, we did just that over dinner.  We also made plans for the coming year and added to our “Lifetime To Do” and “Places We Want To Visit” lists.  Each year the lists get longer but we also get to check things off too.  It’s funny to see how our priorities change each year while so many things remain the same.

Lucked out

I got up this morning with the full intention of taking BART to work today.  I was even ahead of schedule and had extra time to walk (not run) to the Muni station.  Then a weird thing came over me as I was about to head out the door.  I thought, “Maybe I should just drive.”  So, as I drove across the Bay Bridge, the guy on the radio said that BART was delayed and that no trains were leaving from Embarcadero (my stop) or West Oakland…BECAUSE THERE WAS A FIRE!!!  Dude, close call.  I would have been totally screwed.  It occured right when I was supposed to get on the train.  I totally lucked out today.

Under the Bridge

Yesterday was our second day of Basic Keelboat Sailing 1 and I had a great time. Our instructor gave us the key to the dock in the morning and had the four of us set-up the boat and start the motor on our own while he grabbed a cup of coffee.  Once he joined us, I started at the helm and steered our way out of the slip and into McCovey Cove where we put up the sails. The wind was light at first so there was a lot of waiting, tacking, and jibing until we caught a decent breeze.

Unfortunately, we weren’t really getting anywhere so we started the motor and headed out to Central Bay, which is basically the water between the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. The water was choppier and the air was colder and wetter but it was great for sailing.

It was so awesome to see the city from the water. It’s a perspective that I don’t get everyday. We sailed under the Bay Bridge and towards Treasure Island before we started tacking back up towards the shore. We also saw the Maltese Falcon, which was a gigantic sailboat that looked like a really big spaceship with plastic sails. (By the way, it’s for sale if you have a couple million dollars to throw away.)  We also spent some time riding the wakes of the tugboats and ferries that passed through the bay.

We had spent all day rotating through all the stations and had a good idea of how the wind was moving so we all took turns sailing solo. This involved holding and turning the tiller and fiddling with the two lines that controlled the jib. I gave it a try and it was pretty fun. I sailed a boat all by myself!! Woo hoo!!

Here are the photos from the weekend.  We’re signed up for Basic Keelboat Sailing 2 (next month), which will end with a written test.  If we pass, we’ll be able to take the 20-ft sailboats out on our own.  Sweet.

Anatomy of a Sailboat

For Jes’ birthday we signed up for the 2-day Beginning Keelboat Sailing course. The company we signed up with is conveniently located just across the street so it was cool to sail around our ‘hood.

The morning started out in the classroom for about an hour to learn how to tie some knots and the anatomy of a sailboat. I learned a figure 8, bowline, and cleat knot. Cool!

The rest of the day was spent on a Santana 22 sailboat and learned how to steer, tack, dock, start the motor, and cast off. On top of that, I finally know where the bow, stern, port side, and starboard side are! We sailed in South Beach Harbor (behind the ballpark) and just south of the Bay Bridge. The wind was gusty but the water was pretty calm.

The weather was really gloomy and sprinkled a little in the morning but the clouds quickly ran away and we were left with a sunny bluebird-sky day. Our instructor was a really cool guy who loves to sail, has raced sailboats, lived on a sailboat, and sailed down the coast from Canada to Mexico.

I am proud to say that I had a great time and survived another day on a boat thanks to trusty ol’ Dramamine!! Woo hoo!! Tomorrow will be another adventure out on the bay and we should be able to sail the boat solo by the end of the day. Oh we’ll see…

Fall is Here!

Boy oh boy…I can’t believe it’s already the 3rd of October.  The season has changed, the sun sets much earlier now, and it rained today!! Soon it will be Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and then we’ll be shopping for a Christmas tree again! Crazy.

After a month of driving to and from work, I decided to go back to my old ways and took BART to work again this week.  Sometimes it’s nice to have a 15-20 minute drive to work.  But then again, I love sitting on a quiet BART train with my newspaper and feeling oh so relaxed when I get to work.  The only stressful part of my commute would be the transitions.  Some mornings (like today), I find myself sprinting from one stop to another.  This morning, I ran across the street to catch the approaching train, got off at Embarcadero and dashed up the escalator, through the turnstile, and down the other escalator to catch the approaching BART train.  Once I arrived at my station, I dashed down the escalator, through the turnstile, and sprinting down to the curb where the employee shuttle was about to take off.  I made it to work in record time…only 30 minutes!!  It usually takes 45 so that was quite a feat.

But I digress…as I was saying, Autumn is here and I can’t wait for the time to change back.  I can honestly say that I never really adjusted to Daylight Saving Time.  I still need that extra hour of sleep.

7 months and Good Friends

We are at the end of Month 7 in our “We Have No Car” Experiment.  This also marks the time in which a car will be occupying our parking spot once again.  I will be starting my teaching job on September 8th and the Sokol-Juns have kindly allowed us to borrow their car for the next 4 months.  Thanks guys!!  We bought insurance, registered the CR-V under our names, will be purchasing two new tires, and will gladly babysit Jack as needed.  It’s going to be weird having a car again but I’m sure I’ll get used to it very soon.  🙂