grandpease grandpease the vault july 2008
Amazin Kazin invasion Posted Thursday, July 24, 2008 This past weekend I was totally stoked to have my best friend from college, Mike Kazin, and his wife Gail, who’s also a riot, stay with us for a few days. Not only was it great to see them and hear about their six-week trek across the country (the perks of being a teacher), but it was pretty fun to play tour guide during their brief stay. We managed to fit in a bunch: Giants game, dinner at Scoma’s in Fisherman’s Wharf, cable car through the city, trip over the Golden Gate in the convertible, a stop at Amoeba Records in Haight Ashbury and dinner at House of Nanking at the edge of Chinatown and North Beach. We also had the world’s greatest breakfast at San Jose’s Bill’s Cafe. They went off to Yosemite after staying with us, while we went back to work. Can’t we just travel for a living?  On the train   Through the fence     -cmg iLove it Posted Wednesday, July 16, 2008 So I’m officially a tech nerd now, hence the headline. I bought an iPhone, and I love it. I had shied away from apple’s latest minor miracle for the past year because I felt like it was a luxury I could do without. Then my phone stopped working completely ... aaaaaaaand I only had an iPod on the days that Tiff forgot hers at home ... aaaaaaaand I got a nice stimulus check from the government. The buzz from the improved iPhone completed the perfect storm, and on Monday I waited nearly three hours to pick one up. Pretty amazing that even on the fourth full day of sales people will wait in line from open to close for this thing. Who knows, it might actually get me to answer my phone once in awhile (as long as I’m not busy surfing the web, or listening to music or playing games or learning spanish or whatever else this thing can do).   That damn cat won’t ever get off the phone! (don’t feel bad for Whiskey, she endures endless nonsense like this every day). Elsewhere, our friend Ashley came down from San Francisco with an old Michigan acquaintance of mine, Dave Roth. We spent Sunday at San Jose’s best breakfast spot, Bill’s Cafe in Willow Glen. Not only is the food spectacular, but the place is like a circus on Sundays. I had a waiter steal my fork from my hand and give it to another customer, drank two rounds of tequila shots (the raucous staff gives them out for free on Sundays) and watched an old man (could have been in his 90s, but I can’t confirm) try to stab a waiter with a knife -- I’m not sure if he was joking or not. Before we left we had all laughed until we cried. After an afternoon at the pool we took in the Ralphie May comedy show at the San Jose Improv, which is quickly becoming our Sunday night hangout. -cmg Staycation Posted Tuesday, July 8, 2008 Staycation is one of those lame, made-up newspaper words that pop up every so often in place of a real word and are called “catchy” by people who can’t spell. Staycation was the headline in a recent travel section of the Mercury News, which described easy trips to take in Silicon Valley. All ridiculosity aside, the concept of a “Staycation” is a good one, and Tiff and I took our own this weekend. Sunday is a bit of a haze. After partying late at the boss’s house, I became convinced that the only rationale thing left to do was to stay up for the Federer-Nadal Wimbledon final at 6 a.m. Although I managed to see the match begin, I was likely sound asleep by 6:15. Rain, thankfully, delayed the match long enough that we did wake up in time to see the incredible final set. Completely thrown off by our near “all-nighter” -- which was complicated further by some Moroccan food that did not sit well -- we tucked in early.   On Monday, despite temperatures near 100 and a sky soaked in smog, we put the top down and drove an hour east of San Jose up, around and over the winding hills to Mount Hamilton, where we took a mini tour of the Lick Observatory and gazed out from the Valley’s tallest peak. We completed our lazy weekend with some time at the pool, followed by some Happy Hour, an impromptu steak dinner at The Grill and then more drinks with our friend Ashley.    -cmg  Happiness Posted Wednesday, July 2, 2008 I haven’t had many happy thoughts to write about recently. And, no, it’s not because Chris wore his NC State shirt the other day. So, instead of ignoring the blog any longer, I decided to post this happy oil. It’s a photo I took when my olive oil and vinegar turned into a happy face. It was a freak accident - kinda like one of those Chucky movies - but with food products instead of scary dolls. I was very excited when this happened. (Yes, I may have been consuming more than just olive oil ... speaking of ...). Anyway, maybe this happy oil will make you smile - or just make you think that I’m as crazy as that red-headed doll. Crazy, maybe. But not as crazy as these Chinese rockstars. Here’s a music video we watched in Beijing. If you don’t laugh after this, you are Communist.  - tiff Our new obsession Posted Tuesday, July 1, 2008 Facebook. It was bound to happen, but recently Tiff and I have taken the full plunge into the networking subculture that is facebook. Frankly, it’s pretty addictive. For those unaware, it’s a great way to reconnect with old friends and keep a daily tab on what they’re up to. It also seems to suck away time like a black hole, and subsequently, I haven’t had as much time to update the blog. Although it’s still a regular stop on my daily tour of the web, the initial facebook buzz has worn off. I can now be a normal person again.  Not much to report since our last blog. We did go to see comedian Jim Breuer (above) at the San Jose Improv on Sunday and my throat still hurts three days later from laughing so hard. One of the perks to our new Sunday-Monday “weekend” should be that we can finally, and regularly, attend normal people events, like festivals, concerts or in the case of Sunday, live standup comedy. Also worth noting: We survived another round of Mercury News layoffs. For those keeping track, that’s four rounds of layoffs in the two years that we’ve worked here. It makes me sick to see what’s happened to the profession that I love and to see so many talented people pushed aside. I won’t go into anymore detail (although Tiff might), but, quite plainly, it’s not a good time to be in print journalism. -cmg