Dear Ryan (and Friends)

We rode with Allen's brother, Ryan, to the airport yesterday to provide him a proper farewell. The back things up a step or two (or week) for the uninitiated, Ryan had indicated (rather flippantly) that he wanted to visit us once we got settled. Ryan, as it were, is known to be flaky at times--which is a shocking reveal about Allen's family, to be sure--so when he mentioned it we didn't put too much stock in it.

That was a mistake, to our delight, because he came out to visit a week ago and it's been one of the best times I've had in the city since moving here. For a change I got to play tour guide with him instead of filling out the role of tourist myself, so it's been a busy week for us.

Allen and I's place isn't a palace by any means to begin with, but now that we don't have Ryan crashed out on our sofa, it feels extremely empty in there. So, here's to you Ryan. We miss you and hope you'll visit again soon!

As an addendum to my weird emails, I'd like to thank everyone that has sent along warm emails to me. In fact, I'd say the amount of affable correspondence outnumbers the off-setting ones. Now that my life has begun to settle back into it's post-graduate boredom again, I'll be able to reacquaint myself with the fun little insane things around SF that help me keep my sanity.

Diabolical Masterminds

Heading downtown on the 38, a man boarded with a small, black Yorkshire Terrier under his arm. He made a big to-do out of saying hello to the bus driver, as though he were an old acquaintance (prompting the driver to release a long, exasperated sigh, as though he were an old annoyance) then sat down next to Allen (and his brother) and myself.

I learned that the dog’s name was none-other-than Emma Peel, and was introduce quite formally to her. She was on her way to the groomers where she would have maintenance performed on her immaculately sculpted bangs, and likely topped off with an appropriately colored bow of some type.

Clearly the one in charge, Emma Peel rode on the man’s lap in a bored fashion. She feigned disinterest in me; all too accustom to this routine, nothing excited her. However, after our formal introduction (and to the man’s surprise) Emma pounced in my lap to further make my acquaintance. I seemed to have met with her approval. He informed me that she never did that to anyone, and that usually she regarded most Muni riders with apathy.

Allen thought it was cute and ribbed me about finally making some new friends in the city. We ended up getting off at a stop before Emma and only after my soles hit the pavement, it occurred to me I never got the name of the man; not that he had even thought to take the time to offer it up after introducing Emma, either.

Haze gray and underway

Dear San Fracisco, I posit a riddle to you: What's Red, White and gets rattled easily by unexpectedly loud noises screaming Hell across the sky?

The answer is resoundingly Katy Zwick as she dives for cover, spilling coffee and cheerios all over herself. It was only after this point I learned what the phrase "Fleet Week" meant, and I was left startled, soggy and secure in the knowledge the Cold War hadn't heated up.

For the uninitiated, Fleet Week is when the Navy swaggers into town with all the glamor and glitz that only a branch of the military could muster. They have tours of the ships available and the flamboyant Blue Angels puts on one of their traditional air maneuver displays. I'm told they practice the demonstration in the days prior to the actual event, effectively giving off a wonderfully free show over the city.

And when I say over the city, understand what I really mean is that they fly so low (and often so close to the north bay shore) that they should almost require California driver's plates below their afterburners.

Allan's workload is finally starting to relent, so he's planned a trek up to Alta Plaza for us to watch them this weekend. It should be fun to spend some time outside of brushing our teeth together.

000 Montgomery

Do you have a promising start-up company? A team of eager and ready workers? A golden idea set to revolutionize, well, the world?

Fantastic for you! But what about an office building? Oh, I see, you hadn’t thought about that, had you?

Well spunky, young entrepreneur, you’re just in luck because I met just the man to help you out! His name is Edric Kilimann and he owns the office building at 000 Montgomery street.

You can see more about his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by visiting 000Montgomery.com. The gist of it is that Mr. Kilimann stands in a predominant location at the corner of Market and Montgomery and sells ad space for his “office building”, which is more or less a brief-case display of various business cards.

It’s actually very ingenious. I task myself now with getting a business card just for this occasion.

When Memes Converge

My latest love of all things strange has blossomed into a hunt for strange fliers, considering the regularity in which I come across them in the city. Just today I saw one that said something like "LOL Cat replies to Cheezburger!" It's hard enough as is figuring out what it means, already knowing the meme it's referencing, but to help facilitate it's elucidation there was a phone number to call.

I figured "Why not?" and gave it a ring, only to hear a prerecorded message ask me if I'd like to hear a hardcore rap song about LOLCATS! I suppose if I had a list comprised of such things, I could now safely cross it off.

EDIT:
I didn't manage to get a picture while I was out and about, but I did find one online that someone else took, which you can feast your eyes upon yourselves...