Russian Hollow

Despite the recent violence (anyone who saw the story about the
panhandler who was shot, that started outside my building and ended a
block away), Russian Hollow is proving to be a delightful
neighborhood. The fact that it doesn't technically exist does not
detract from some of its wonderful features. Russian Hollow consists
of anything on Van Ness or directly adjacent to Van Ness between
Broadway and Lombard. And though it's technically the Russiarina, I
am adopting the north side of Lombard as part of my 'hood.

Some of its best features:

The Matterhorn Restaurant on Van Ness is delicious, and I can't thank
Matt and Trish enough for introducing me to it. Anywhere you can get
a plate of melted cheese and a plate of fried cheese (camembert, no
less) as appetizers to a meal consisting solely of cheese fondue is OK
with me.

Viking Subs on Lombard makes a phenomenal meatball sub, and a turkey
avocado sub which also makes me smile.

The Black Magic Voodoo Lounge is a for real dive bar, and they'll even
let me bring my sub from Viking (two doors down) into the bar to eat.

The Christmas Tree Lot (now gone) was the best thing about the walk to
Union Street. The Delancey Street organization maintains a lot there
every year, and it smelled and looked wonderful. As a bonus, now all
those disposed trees are on the street (new ones come out every day
and January is almost over!) and Satchel just loves them (and loves
marking them).

The Comfort Inn next door gives me free wifi.

Several sketchy corner store owners on Van Ness do not blink when I
bring Satchel in with me for my last minute shopping.

All this, and proximity to Fort Mason, several bus lines, and Polk and
Union street. If you lived in Russian Hollow, you'd be home by now!

I Recognize

That it's been radio silence. A few reasons: work is very busy;
life, while good, is relatively uneventful; and I'm unclear how much
this blog can be "cute things Satchel did today" (on that last one,
since Marji and Roger might be my only readers left, I suspect that's
actually OK).

Some fun things I've noticed lately:

Working at a big company is FUN. We have weird quirks like you have
to bring your own Kleenex and it takes over a month to get your desk
moved when they move you to the wrong spot.

Satchel is CUTE. He's seriously become more hilarious every day. And
since his new walker is in love with him, she takes him out for way
longer than she is supposed to and he seems to need me very little on
weeknights.

My new apartment is GREAT but MESSY. I love the new 'hood, and Fort
Mason has become my favorite Saturday morning dog playground. I'm
also loving the easy access to Greens and Nick's Crispy Tacos, and am
addicted to the arancini at Ottomisto.

That's all. It's not much, but it's all good. I'm heading to LA for
a celebrity (minor, but big to me!) photo shoot tomorrow, and then
back up here with Laura of SE Asia travel fame for the weekend.

Maybe I'll even post some NYE pics eventually.

Rainout

My office shut down at 1pm today because of this storm. And the
message they sent out didn't say, "Feel free to go home early today."
It said, "Please go home immediately." It doesn't seem to be qutie as
bad in the city. Satchel does look like he has jeri curls.

New Year

I know I haven't been posting much. At least one reader has
officially resigned, which cuts my readership by a third. But as you
see below, I don't have a ton to write about as of late.

It was a great break, with lots of catching up and lots of watching
The Wire (season 4 finale: de-pressing. By the way, I was given
season 1 of Friday Night Lights on DVD as a gift, and I still cry at
the end of episode 1. Even though I've seen it before.). I also got
a gym membership for Christmas so my slide to total slackerdom is no
longer acceptable.

Last night was the Pac-10 kickoff for men's basketball, and Stanford
couldn't get it done against UCLA. But they looked decent, and at
least UCLA is a really good team. I also got to go back to Greens,
one of my most favorite places in San Francisco, to watch the game.
Gotta love a sports bar which has no kitchen so allows you to bring
food from any of the numerous good restaurants into the bar. It also
appears Marisa has befriended the bartender in my absence, so we were
treated to table service in a bar with no waiters.

And now the rain is pounding down, so I've broken out my bright blue
galoshes with big red cherries all over them (tres professional coming
into the office), and Satchel once again looks like a construction
cone in his raincoat when we go outside.

I will post some New Year's Eve karaoke photos and the video "Satchel
Gets A Plastic Bottle Stuck To His Foot And Walks Around A Bit" soon.