Jumbo Barking

Bernal Hill

Here's one of Mary's shots of me on Bernal Hill in San Francisco, one of my favorite spots on the planet. Can you tell?

Absinthe and Golf

Went out with Lora last night to hear Liz Larin play and tried some American Absinthe, which tasted disappointingly like Sambucca -- sweet and licoricey. In fact, it wasn't Absinthe at all, so why don't we all just start saying apples when we mean oranges? Realized that when you go out in Royal Oak people you meet like to create aliases and stories and you have to spend way too much time sorting through the BS. Maybe it's because their lives are in actuality quite boring. We ended up talking to a couple of engineers from the Ukraine most of the night.

Went to my first golf tournament yesterday (the Buick Open) and I must admit that it wasn't exactly exhilerating. At one point I put the headphones to my iPod Shuffle on to kind of keep myself awake. This is why I didn't hear Mary say, "There's Kid Rock" when he walked by. He was playing in overhalls.

Met Mary's parents last night for the first time and I really liked them both ... a lot. I had the feeling that I could've chatted with her mom for hours.

Love this Remix

Mp3: Marlena Shaw - California Soul (Diplo Remix)
from The Verve/Remixed 4 CD

Mary and Me at Twin Peaks (photo by Liz)

Random San Francisco Trip Highlights:

• Latin drag queen stopping in the middle of her show to ask Mary: "Do you want a piece of cake?" I've never seen anyone turn down a piece of cake so quickly :-)

• Moving to the front of the bus (the infamous #14 in the Mission) when we realized the guy next to us had his hands in his pants

• Trying to hide from Mary the fact that the pile of poop by the house door was people poop not dog poop

• Walking up to Tess and saying, "C'mon -- let's test our love," and seeing the panicked look on her face. Then saying, "No, I mean ... you test your love and I'll test mine." We were at Musee' Mechanique and they had a mechanical "game" called "Test Your Love."

• Convincing Mary to take her underwear off at Baker Beach (the nude beach with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge)

• Noticing a group of guys standing naked in the Castro the first night we were there and then seeing them walk by again later in the week, still naked

• Waving at the stripper when the partition came up at the Lusty Lady

People Who Need People

What can I say? Being in San Francisco felt like walking around in my favorite pair of shoes. It always does. And a big part of that is having a chance to see some of my favorite people. 

Liz and Tess at Twin Peaks. This was taken around midnight after a night at Mecca in the Castro. The weather was unseasonably warm. Usually the wind is kind of fierce up there, but it was freakishly mild that night. Earthquake weather.

Marcia and Peter at Marcia's Studio. We spent the evening drinking sparkling wine on the roof and chatting up a storm. Then we went to The Phone Booth and turned into zombies. This is Marcia's new boyfriend, Peter. I like him a lot.

We're back.

Anna by the Hockeytown Cafe

The Parade

Took Anna's daughter down to see the Red Wings Parade with her friend, Alexis. We picked Anna up at Cadilac Place and found a spot on Woodward. I got to see Mary just as she was leaving the Fox Theater parking structure with Derek Meech (number 43). She pulled out driving a red Silverado and looking very serious. Let's put it this way: Mary's a careful driver under normal circumstances, so she was probably extra careful today. Anna and the kids were chanting "Mary ... Mary ... Mary," as she turned the corner onto Woodward, but I don't think she heard them.

As a side note: it is so hot today that I watched cotton candy melt and shrink in front of my eyes. That was a first.

Kleerup and Lykke Li (Swedish)

NHL Ad

Chris Draper, Mary, and the Stanley Cup

Well, well, well. Finally, the Red Wings put an end to the madness and captured the Stanley Cup last night and, of course, our Mary was right in the middle of it, partying with the players until the wee hours. In fact, she didn't sleep at all last night.

There'll be a parade down Woodward tomorrow and she'll be driving one of the cars with a team member in the back seat. Top photo: Red Wings Photographer. Bottom photo: NPR

Six Statistix

1. Cost per credit hour at Madonna University: $400
2. Cost per credit hour at Schoolcraft: $75
3. Length of wait list for Schoolcraft's nursing program: three years
4. Famous person who will be in the suite with Mary for the Red Wings game tonight: Sigourney Weaver
5. Number of men who licked Lora on the neck at Como's this weekend: two
6. Hours of sleep I've had in total over the past 48 hours: about eleven

The Lexington Club in San Francisco

Here's a great pic of The Lexington from their website. The Mission needs this place. That's all I can say.

Mary was moonwalking into people last night at the bar.