international couple of intrigue

I took this photo in SF. It reminds me of something from one of the Bourne Identity movies.

avoiding the nuts on nye

Since I'm not feeling 100%, I won't be doing anything for NYE. Actually, not sure why I felt the need to share this as I rarely do anything on NYE – it’s amateur night! This town gets turned inside out. Most of the locals (at least the ones I know) leave the city for the weekend and hand it over to tourists and teenagers. The fireworks on the harbour are pretty spectacular, but I think (err, I know) the best seat will be on my couch in front of the TV. Once everything is over, the crowd leaving the harbour is overwhelming...at least that is how I remember it last year. We watched from our building and it took a good hour and a half before the people dwindled to almost nothing. Damn, if I only had that zoom lens...

BS

Did I just hear Ben Stein say on CNN that he couldn't take the President seriously because he was wearing a Polo shirt at the press conference today when he was speaking about the crotch bomber?

Really, former Nixon speech writer turned actor turned game show host turned asshole?

Babyboomers have no clue what to do with Obama.

more drinks in sf

drinks in sf

Photos from SF

okay...

Let's see how this goes...not sure about this layout, but I'm going to live with it for a day or two.

Please stand by...

I'm tweeking the color and layout of the blog, so what you see now may not be what you get later. Yikes, some of these combinations are a bit scary!

Skippy the Roo!

What I did on my summer (err, Christmas) vacation II...

So, I've been processing the trip and had a bunch of things I wanted to say, but I didn't write any of it down in time to remember them now. Gawd, my memory is so bad - I wonder why?!? The thing I had the hardest time with is my iPhone not working in the US. I knew this going to be the case, but didn't expect to miss using it as much as I did. I missed getting Facebook updates and I missed sending them! I missed being able to upload to this blog on a whim. These mediums are about immediacy, so it seems kind of silly in retrospect to capture my thoughts and feelings about the trip here now.

With that said, here it goes (in no particular order)...

1. San Francisco is the best city ever and it will always be my home, regardless whether or not we ever make it back there. For the record, I have no regrets about moving to Australia.

2. Traveling great distances can be taxing on the body, but it is a lot of fun. You just have to let go and let it all happen around you until it is over. Otherwise, you'll go nuts.

3. Cancer is a shitty disease. Everyone in my life now who is HIV+ is living healthy productive lives, which I'm grateful. Everyone in my life with cancer has died or is dying. Given the choice, I know which route I would rather go.

4. Americans weren't as loud as I thought they were going to be. The music in bars was loud though, which made everyone talk above it (which made everyone loud, I guess).

5. Everything is ridculously cheap in the US, sadly most Americans have no idea this is the case.

6. I really enjoyed seeing my family, but realise more than ever that I could never ever live in TN/KY again. It is a goddamn trek to get anywhere you want to go. I honestly don't understand how they live like that...spending all that time in a car!

7. P and B need to get over their bullshit and be friends again.

8. The image of K in a jockstrap passed out on the couch...priceless.

9. I cannot drink vodka like I used to.

10. Staying at the Mark Hopkins the last week was fucking awesome!

11. Much of the trip was a blur.

12. On our return flight to Sydney from LA, we were told that our seats weren't together because we had not been flagged as traveling together. WTF VAustralia?!!!??? Get your shit together - okay? This was one of those moments that access to my Twitter account would have been most delightful.

Many thanks to the man who traded seats with me.

Back to city

Waiting on a train at Town Hall Station

What I did on my summer (err, Christmas) vacation...

Being back in San Francisco was wonderful. It was good to see friends. Not much had changed, but the city was cleaner than I remembered it. Perhaps it was because we stayed on Nob Hill for the last week...? Most of the friends were up to the usual (and I will let it go with that). We drank like fishes and ate until our bellies grew! More later...

Waiting for take away @TonTon

The bitch is back!

For the record, living without my iPhone while in the US for holiday
was hell. Stay tuned, I'll tell you all about it soon...

@belvederehotel

Back in the People's Republic!

So, it’s good to be back in California. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, but realise how much I have missed San Francisco – there’s no place like it anywhere…the architecture, the smell, the people, the food. Sydney is magical, but San Francisco is home.

Obamarama IV

Q and A discussion threaded together by The West Wing!

The first 2 questions are from American expats. Funny and not
surprising. We LOVE to be the center of attention.

First Aussie question is about Michelle. Typical male bullshit.

Oh no, back to JFK and Cuban missles!

Wrap up.

Obamarama III

Obama overturning Bush's stupid policies.

More healthcare.

International policies and his critics.

The war.

Greenstein's litmus for a good leader. Cognitive style. Emotional
capacity. Clinton's affair.

Obama admin as think tank.

The Clinton healthcare failure.

Back to identity.

Nobody knows where it's going (the admin)!

Now for discussion and Q and A.

Obamarama Blow by Blow

Speaker intro.

Fred Greenstein speaks. I think he is American. I know he is, the
accent...or a non accent as it were.

He's comparing Obama to finding a new animal in the outback.

He's listing the pres from eisenhower to Obama.

The articulate word. He's very smart for a black man!

Comparison to JFK.

The torch is passed to a new generation!

Brief history of Obama's life. Vietnam is not apart of his life- too
young.

Michelle.

Law school.

Self taught african American identity.

Health care. Obama's challenge.

Fiancial crisis. The happy nation of Australia. Wondering if the
audience cares about the topic?

Major events of hi pres. He's only been in office a year!

Obamarama

I'm at a work function. The afternoon lecture is about Obama. I'll
send some thoughts once this thing gets going...