Rocca Ristorante

We went to this newish Italian restaurant

last night, based on the recommendation

of a client. I had the Rib-eye and Eva had

the Rigatoni which we didn't finished.

They were very good but we didn't expect

the crab cakes to come with a decent

amount of Arugula. I also had the excellent

Minestrone and Eva had the delicious

Warm Spinach salad.

The prices are very reasonable. The chianti was impeccable.

We'll be back!

http://www.ristoranterocca.com/dinner_menu.htm

Being late. Safari. art

Regarding Debi's late attempt to adopt the

Lhasa that wandered into her backyard:

Reminds me of the reason why I'm not
a big Filipino Superstar. The two times
my cousins dragged me to audition for
the top amateur singing show in Manila,
when I was around ten years old, we were
late.

I really like the Safari Beta, seems faster
and more stable and smoother than
Chrome.

Sun is out, it'll be raining starting tomorrow
and all of next week.

http://www.issalight.com/

Many of you may remember me talking about

my favorite singer/songwriterJane Siberry.

She changed her name to Issa when she turned
50. She posted a question in her email yesterday.
Is it all vanity, Art?
She's pondering if she should get a real job. I guess
being an 'art house' composer/singer doesn't pay all
the bills. Could be the economic mood just made her

even more introspective than she usually is.
I got her first original CD in ten years. I'm hesitant to let
others listen to it. I've had it since November and I'm just

beginning to like it.

Got to work out, still having to squeeze through my size 30
pants. Make use of this beautiful day.

NANO '08

Doing it this year!

http://www.nanowrimo.org

And now something new that was old

In the past I talked and posted links about the

development in the park where I practice Taichi.

This picture is the Academy of Sciences which

will open this Saturday.

I do taichi at the Music Concourse which is in the

foreground. Far in the back atop Parnassus mt. is

the University of California Medical Center.

My apartment is three blocks to the right of it.

You can read the article at leisure and look at the 

rest of the pictures. It's been at least 25 years since

I visited the Academy.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?o=19&f=/c/a/2008/09/21/MNEO12RQBT.DTL

Wild West at Ocean Beach

We went to see this yesterday morning.

I took the picture.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/06/MNFS12OSPK.DTL

tired...

of seeing and hearing my name so much.

I'm happy today will probably be the last

day.  

Yesterday was the first wonderful day

of this birthday weekend. We finally made

it to this little town by the coast called

Pescadero for this restaurant called

Duarte's. It's just an old family restaurant

but the freshness of the ingredients and

the simple way of cooking delighted us

more than the expensive well-educated

fares we've been sampling the last year and

a half.

http://www.duartestavern.com/

Afterwards we spent an hour atop a bluff

over the Ocean and a huge flock of pelicans,

maybe 500, swooped in front of us to land at

a little island a quarter of a mile away. 

This was what we were planning for my birthday

in 2001, which we spent in bed watching tv.

We still have a couple of days to gorge ourselves

fat.

HD TV broadcasts on your laptop

this is the latest toy I got.
really works for me.
looking forward to watching
HD football in bed with
Charlotte. and HD concerts
on Austin City Limits and
Soundstage.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3830963&CatId=1427

Americans eating dogs email

There is a novel called Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn.
It's about Flips.
I thought I've written about dog killing and butchering in the
past. Yup, I've eaten it a few times. Remember enjoying it.
It's been over 30 years since the last time, though.
I remember the last time. I came home one evening from the
University in 1973 or 74. There was a commotion at the house
with so many people I didn't recognize. There was a man crying.
I asked one of my relatives to explain. He or she, I can't remember
which, said that the crying man owned a beautiful large German
Shepherd and his neighbors were eyeing it mischievously. So he
decided that if anybody was going to enjoy his dog gustatorily, it
would have to be his friends. I guess he'd heard or experienced
my clan's experience with dogs.
Normally, we would tie the dog by the great Jackfruit tree and someone,
usually my grandfather, would hit the dog a few times in the head with
a 2x2. But since this is a beloved pet, we hanged it from the fragrant tree.
I think I touched the dog while it was hanging limp.
It was definitely not as normal as killing a pig or a chicken. Usually my
grandfather did it by himself alone. Or so he thought. Me and my brothers
and cousins would hide and watch him do it. I still get bothered when I
see it in my mind.
Never eaten a cat though. Although one never knows, we didn't have,
still don't, regulatory agencies in the Philippines. In a way they're
still as wild as your small town.

Cranberry Green Tea

Started drinking it an hour ago and
I feel better already. This is from Trader
Joe's. Lots of organic stuff.

Sick from the smoke!

I'm staying home today. This respiratory infection
started last Wednesday due to the forest fire smoke
all over California. It started with a scratchy throat
and dry nasal passages. Yesterday nose dripping began.
Started coughing before Audie's birthday dinner at
Hungry Hunter.
This is the worst bout of coughing I can remember.

Kidney Stone gone!

After my last client this afternoon, I felt an
urge and so I rushed to the toilet. I thought I will
pee in my pants, the urge was that compelling.
It was burning as the water made its way out.
And then I felt a rush down the urethra and heard
a popping sound out the meatus and lo and behold
a dark irregular ovoid on top of toilet paper in the
commode. I bent to retrieve it and the automatic
flusher came on.
It feels good not to feel the knives in my groin that
I've been feeling the last two days everytime I had to
pee.
I went out and had a drink with some co-workers.
I hadn't had a drink the past two weeks since I've
been taking medication. The previous two nights
I had to take Vicodin to get some sleep.

The biggest stone in the picture looks like mine.

Last night...

I had to take Vicodin at 2:30 in the morning to
get some sleep. I thought it was going to pass
through. Maybe it did, I feel better this morning.
No feeling of wanting to go to the toilet yet.

3rd reinstall

Yesterday, I bit the bullet and reinstalled Charlotte
for the 3rd time. I will try not to reinstall Bearshare
and any software that installs spyware. Bearshare is
the culprit in this latest corruption of the OS. Of course
if I didn't install it in the first place....

Charlotte

I had to reinstall for the second time the
OOTB software on my Toshiba U405.
It's my fault.
At the same time I renamed it after
Charlotte Gainsbourg, one of my favorite
faces in the entertainment industry.

Love and Brimstone

Lesli's vampire-noir is coming out soon!