Amber is a cool liitle bar in the Castro. well, actually it just seems little when you look at it from the outside. onse inside though, it turns out that therere’s actually lots of space and there are couches everywhere for people to sit on. this place seemed like a really nice mixture of a lot of things. there was fun music playing, yet not so loud that it would drown out everyones talking. the place looked nice and semi-slick in some ways, yet was totally relaxed and didnt give off that stuffy vibe at all. the crowd seemed very mixed: everything from people who were dressed up to people looking gritty, from hip-hop types to indie kids to everything in between. everyone seemed to be having a good time too. you could get fruffy coctails or you could drink pbr. basically, this place was a little bit of everything. unfortunately i ahd a cold so i had to go home early, but i definitely wanna go back again…

Amber is at 718 14th Street in San Francisco

saw depeche mode last night. they’ve been around for 25 years now, and yet they’re still so damn good.

*v

Comcast is seriously pissing me off. their customer service is absolute crap. ugh.

week 1

• last week, received note on door informing me of “signal leak” and saying to schedule appt immediately.
• until “leak” is fixed, Comcast decides to turn down my signal, making reception look like crap
• the appt is scheduled for a 4 hour window so i spend 4 hours sitting around waiting
• cable guy never shows. now that i’ve been waiting for *5* hours, i call them to complain
• they give me $20 credit and call the guy to come down
• 2 cable guys wander around with little sensors for 45 minutes while scratching their heads and looking confused
• finally, they give up. “maybe it’s your neighbor who has the leak?”

all in all, i wasted almost 6 hours of my day for absolutely nothing.

week 2

• all of a sudden, reception goes to crap again
• appt is scheduled for 2 hour window
• wait around for 2 hours. nobody arrives
• call to complain. woman tells me that the guy is running late and “should have called”
• i ask for credit, and she says i have to call billing dept later for that
• guy shows up later, fixes problem.
• when i ask him why he is late, he says “i should have called". when asked why he didnt call, he says “these things happen".
• call billing dept for credit. put on hold for 15 minutes. they hang up on me
• call billing dept again. woman tells me that i should have gotten credit from the person i talked to earlier. she insists that billing dept can *not* issue a credit no matter what
• i insist that it was their own employees that told me to call billing dept, but she rudely keeps blowing me off.
• finally, she agrees to transfer me. transfers me to a number that is disconnected
• call billing dept a third time. the guy is highly unpleasant, but agrees to give credit without argument.

ugh. such a pain dealing with these people. why bother setting a huge 4 hour window for an appointment and then not even bothering to come? why do i have to fight tooth and nail and call 4 times just to get my credit?

*v

we had just barely survived the hellish scene at Mauna Loa and, as if we hadn’t had enough punsihment, we decided to try out a second bar in the marina. from everything i had heard, the Matrix is the quintessential marina bar. looking inside, we could already see that the crowd was gonna suck. every guy in there was wearing the striped button down shirt that is the mandatory uniform required in this neighborhood. i had read online earlier that this place was filled with the kind of guy that this article was written about, and from what i could see, it was totally true. at first i was worried (or relieved) that they might not let me inside, but they did.

he bar itself looks really nice. everything is sleek and black and shiny with a large modern firepit in the center. the drinks were overpriced, but i guess that’s expected for a place like this. when i went to the bathroom, there was a bathroom attendant handing out paper towels. come on, is that really necessary?! i know they’re trying to be fancy and classy by having an attendant, but it just seems lame. we hung out for a while, trying to endure the overcrowded, overannoying, and overly lame scene, but finally, we just had to leave.

the Matrix Fillmore is at 3201 Fillmore Street in San Francisco

for the new year’s resolution, i was determined to explore the districts of SF that i havent really visited too much. so, despite all my reservations about it, we decided to try out a bar in the marina. i’ve always avoided this neighborhood like the plague because the bars there attract the worst people ever. well, within seconds of walking into the Mauna Loa, i could see why i’ve been avoiding this area. i felt like i walked into a frat party from hell. everyone there was super cheezy. the kind of people who used to be a fratboy/jock/cheerleader and now have lots of money and like to brag about it to everyone around them. within a few mnutes of being there, a fight almost broke out. of course, in the end there wasn’t an actual fight, instead it was just some testosterone fueled bullshit where people can act all badass and then go home later and brag to all of their friends how they almost beat someone up. ugh.

the thing is, the bar itself here was actually pretty cool. nice bartenders, decent beer selection, foosball table… the place would actually make a decent bar if it wasn’t for all the idiots that were there. after one drink, richard refused to go back inside but the rest of us toughed it out and had another drink. then, we got the hell out of there.

also, i’m still not sure why this place has a hawaiian name seeing as there is nothing else hawaiian about it.

Mauna Loa is at 3009 Fillmore Street in San Francisco

on April 15th, while most people were frantically trying to finish up their taxes, caryn turned 30.

the present

i wanted to get her something really cool for her 30th bday, and i hadn’t ever gotten her jewelry, so i decided to get her some. it was a crazy hard decision seeing as she doesn’t usually wear jewelry, so i had no idea what style she would like. i finally settled on this silver and blue topaz bracelet. after buying it, i got really worried that she wouldn’t be into it, but she ended up really liking it a lot. unfortunately, it somehow mysteriously broke the very next day after i gave it to her… but then we got it fixed.

the wineries

i thought caryn should do something fun that she’s never before done on her birthday, so i suggested going wine tasting in Napa. we gathered a group of 7 people and hired a limo to take us around. it was so damn fun. the limo picked us up in SF and we spent the day driving around, drinking champagne in the limo, eating bread/cheese, and having a good time. man, limos are so fun!! we ended up going to 4 wineries: Madonna Estate, Robert Mondavi, Peju, and Mumm. at Mondavi we got a tour of the winery where they explained how grapes are grown, how wine is made and stored, etc. i thought it was pretty interesting. tasting wine at all the different places was a lot of fun. i dont really know much about wine, so it was cool to try such a wide variety of different kinds.

Mondavi

Mondavi

Peju

the dinner

on the day of her bday, we went out to some random Italian place with some friends, but i also wanted to take caryn out for a special dinner myself. that following Tuesday, we went to a restaurant called La Foret. it was a small place a bit south of san jose, kind of out there. the place was really fancy, not as fancy as Gary Danko of course, but still really nice. this place was i guess a bit more rustic compared to Gary Danko’s very modern feel. the food was really really good. i had excellent beef w/ chanterelles and caryn had some really good buffalo. wow, it’s so nice trying all these really fancy restaurants!

*v

after 3 weeks of hard work growing a respectable moustache, the day of the moustache party arrived. in the morning i shaved the beard part and was left with a full on handlebar moustache. now i really looked like i crawled out of a trailer home. perfect! i spent the day sporting my heinous new look in public. later on, i met up with natasha who, at 7 pm, still hadn’t bought a fake moustache (nor grown one). we frantically raced to the moustache supply store after convincing the girl who worked there to sell us a moustache after store hours. the next stop was Bev-Mo where natasha convinced the door guy to let her buy champagne after store hours. we were on a roll. after pouring champagne into a bunch of small empty water bottles (classy!), we set off for the party.

the party was hella cool. erica had rented out a private room upstairs at Butter. it was so damn hilarious to see all of these people with moustaches. surprisingly, a lot of people actually put some effort into going with the theme. a bunch of the girls wore fake moustaches, and a fair amount of guys actually had grown some really awful looking moustaches. erica had a bunch of drink tickets that she gave out which we could use at our private bar upstairs. a drink ticket was good for any kind of drink, so plenty of top shelf drinks and long island ice teas were ordered. as the night went on, and more and more drink tickets were used, things get a bit fuzzy, but somehow we ended up at some shop across the street, and then somehow ended up on the roof of the aforementioned shop, and then back out on the streets. what a random and hilarious night…

i won 20$ for all my hard moustache growing work

oh yeah! moustaches!

trent’s moustache was very distinguished

colleen and Erica’s girly moustaches

even natasha had a moustache (for 5 minutes)

oh yeah! 3 weeks worth of moustache!

moustaches are shocking

weird

yes, we are major dorks (w/moustaches)

I somehow managed to take over 200 photos that night! you can click here to see all of the moustache party photos.

*v

it can sometimes be a pain to find parking at my work since there are a ton of people who park in the parking garage. one day i was looking for spots when i saw this mini parking spot at the end of a row of spaces. ok, maybe it wasn’t technically really a spot, but it was almost as wide as a spot, and my car *mostly* fit into it. after parking i looked at my parking job, my right side was sticking out about 3/4 of a foot into the diagonally stripey zone next to where i parked. not too bad. so i went off to work. after work, when i went to go drive home, i found the following note on my windshield:

dude, wtf?!?! what the hell is the problem with some people? ok, i’d understand if i had parked in a handicap spot, or parked across a sidewalk, or blocked a doorway or something… but no, i had just infringed a stripey spot by a few inches. is that really reason for someone to get so pissed off that they need to threaten to vandalize my car?? i swear, some people really need to relax and mind their own damn business.

*v

the hard work of growing a moustache is starting to pay off.

*v

Kevin’s 30th birthday is on the 22nd of April, and he’s celebrating by having a moustache party. the rule is that you have to grow a moustache, draw on a moustache, or wear a fake moustache when you go. i’ve never been a fan of moutsaches… maybe they look ok on some people, but i’ve never wanted to have one myself. buying a fake moustache for the party was going to be the option i took.

unfortunately, after a few drinks at the Lone Palm, a bet was made that kevin, joey, tom, and i would not shave for 2 weeks preceding the party. 2 whole weeks without shaving?? ouch. well, to make matters worse, at some point in time, after even more drinks, the time got incresed to 3 weeks. if there’s one thing i’ve learned, it’s that making bets while drunk is *never* a good plan. unfortunately, i am one of those people that prtetty much refuses to back down from a bet. it’s not losing the 20 bucks, it’s the principal, ya know?

so, as of april 1st, i stopped shaving completely. it’s been 11 days now, and i’m starting to look pretty gnarly. i can’t belive i still have to wait another 11 days before i shave. i’ll be a freaking monster by then. the night of the party (or before then) i will shave the beard part and be left with just a handlebar moustache. oh man.

*v