Beach Fun

The weather was PERFECT last weekend! So, we headed down to Pacifica to try out a new beach.

It was amazing and I wish I was sitting on that beach right now...with maybe one minor change. We hiked down to the beach, found this great cove that looked nice and less populated, sat down to relax, looked around, then realized we were sitting on the nude side of the beach. The nudes particularly enjoyed strutting their stuff in front of others. They played frisbee and football, sunbathed, played in the water, and congregated in the nude. It actually seems more painful than freeing. 

New York City

New York City was a success! It was an exhausting trip but worth it.

The basic gist of the trip went like this: Wake up too early, meet someone for breakfast or lunch, talk for hours, see a few sights, meet someone for dinner, talk for hours, get drinks, stay out way too late, repeat. The people there don't sleep!

Day 1

In between breakfast and lunch was the perfect time to stop by the 4th hour of the Today Show and check in on my girls Kathy Lee and Hoda woman. It was weird being so close to them. I think Kathy Lee smiled at me once.

We also checked our Rockefeller Center, NBC Studio store, and Time Square. After lunch we got ready for the Young Guns event then headed over to the gallery.

Brent's display was awesome! Too bad the picture isn't.

Brent's aunts were in town and came to the show!

Our friend Grace, who was kind enough to let us stay at her place in Brooklyn, also came to the show!

Blurry Brent receiving his award!

Day 2

I don't have any pictures from Friday because it rained all day. We went to the MOMA and I was reminded that I don't like museums. Brent's not a big museum person either so we didn't stay long. We walked to Central Park and it started pouring down rain on us. We huddled close and stood under a tree until it passed.

We got to see Brent's Seegram's Ginger Ale can at all the street vendors carts.

Day 3

We saw Wicked! I didn't think I would like it but I did. So glad we decided to see it!

Day 4

Sunday was our last day in NYC and the only day that we had all to ourselves.

We walked through Grand Central Terminal and talked about all the movie scenes it's been in. We headed over to Brooklyn to eat at Grimaldi's. It was good but Home Slice is better although we had no problem finishing our pizza.

View of Manhattan from Brooklyn.

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan and soaked in the views.

My feet hurt so bad so we stopped to rest and take pictures of ourselves.

We were close to the site of the Twin Towers so we checked it out. We bumped into the Occupy Wall Street camp site and took a look.

We rode the subway all day everyday and loved it. I wish San Francisco had a better subway!

Our last activity of the trip was a carriage ride through Central Park. It was a great way to see the whole park without walking on tired feet.

We are definitely going back to visit (or live...Brent's ready to move there)! And, now Brent can finally stop talking trash about NYC!

ibaby

The new iphone 4S looks pretty awesome, with lots more features than people seem to be giving it credit for. If you disagree, watch the iphone 4s video (the bottom, middle one). One of the new features is Siri, "the intelligent assistant that helps you get things done".

Brent loves his iphone. When he got his first one I called it his ibaby...because he was glued to it.

And, believe it or not, Siri is already in our lives. Last night Brent was talking softly when he got in bed. I thought he was talking to me so I said "What?" Apparently he was telling Siri to wake him up for work in the morning. Same thing this morning. He told Siri to remind him to do something.

Brent isn't eligible for an upgrade for awhile and I'm eligible in December. I'm concerned that by December Brent and Siri (the idea of Siri) will have bonded so much that it will be hard for ME to get the upgrade instead of him....sigh. The noble thing to do would be to give Brent the new one because I'm not the iphone junkie that he is. He said he's happy for me that I will get it. Isn't that sweet!

I can see how AI is slowly creeping into our lives. Ironically, the movie I, Robot was on yesterday. First Siri, then I, Robot...too much! We watched the Singularity documentary and I didn't want to believe it...but I'm in California now so I have to open my mind. I recommend you to watch it if you haven't. You can read up about the general idea here.

Pixar Tour

So...my dream came true and we got a tour of Pixar!

Our sweet friend Sanjay was kind enough to give up his Sunday afternoon to show us around the office. Sanjay has been at Pixar for 15 years and has lots of great stories to share. He is a senior animator and has worked on Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., A Bug's Life, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and more. The dude has talent to say the least.

The Boys (Brent, Sanjay, and our houseguest Ty)

Me making a scary face. What on Earth?!...I've got to work on my facial expressions!

Brent using his nerd skills to make fun of my scary facial expression.

I LOVE this Tokyo poster. If I could reach it I might try to take it home with me.

A few of our favorite characters...

We got to check out the Love Lounge. A secret space an employee found and created this...

Chillaxing inside the LL. This tiny crawl space is completely pimped out with leopard print walls and pillows, drinks and shot glasses...

...and video surveillance of the office.

You can sign the wall...Brent's signing next to the tush.

And, when I thought my day couldn't get any better, Sanjay & Emily invited us over for dinner at their awesome apartment. This is the apartment we ALMOST moved into but we didn't.

Love Sanjay, Love Pixar, wish I had mad drawing skills!

Facebook Tour

We had the opportunity to get an after hours tour of Facebook from Ben, a graphic designer at Facebook. And, I have to say, after checking out the place, I want to work at Facebook and more importantly I have to re-watch The Social Network.

I appreciated the openness of the company and the fact that Zuck's desk is out with the rest of the peeps.

Me at Zuck's desk.

Ben created a physical Facebook Wall. So, we got to write on it. Ty, our houseguest for the week (also a graphic designer), signing The Facebook Wall.

Brent signing the wall....

It was great to see the Facebook campus and learn a little about the company and how they do things. They are a very forward thinking company that values their employees and empowers all employees to have a voice. Which I personally think is something that employers need to do more often (and I could go on and on about employers shortcomings but I won't).

We LIKE Facebook!

These. Journals. Are. Hot!

Go get yourself some Brent's Notes! It will probably be the best 10£ you've ever spent!

Dad's Trip

After Dad recovered from hiking the appalachian trail, he made his first visit to SF since we had moved here. We did a great mix of eating, hiking, resting, activities, chocolate eating, and Dad couldn't resist fixing a few things around the apartment. Here's a few highlights:

We had ice cream at Bi-Rite EVERY day.

We went to Sausalito and had dinner at The Spinnaker where my parents celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary in 1995.

We did several hikes. This one is from our apartment to Crissy Field.

We went to a Giants game, mostly to check out the stadium and be in the sunshine. It was an added bonus that it was Star Wars day.

It was a fun and relaxing Labor Day weekend!